In this sermon, the preacher urges the audience not to waste their lives pursuing worldly things and living apart from the word of God. He emphasizes the importance of coming to Christ, giving Him their hearts, and turning away from sin. By immersing themselves in the Bible and aligning with God's will, they will experience a transformation and receive a new mind, heart, and spirit. The preacher also highlights the power of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, which broke the power and penalty of sin, and opened the way for humanity to come back to God. He encourages the audience to let go of their idols, such as money, and instead follow Jesus, who offers true satisfaction and treasure in heaven.

1st Corinthians chapter 6 please if you'll go there in your Bibles. Why should I turn from sin? Father I thank you Lord God with all my heart for the truth of your Word. I thank you for the power and the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I thank you Lord that in my frailty you are made strong. I'm asking you O God to come upon me. I'm asking you Holy Spirit to quicken me and animate me. I'm asking you to cause your Word to live in the hearts of the hearers. Let every obstruction of the enemy come down, every blockage of the ear, every contrary voice. May these things be in subjection to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We stand against everything sent to rob any person in this house of the truth of this Word. God Almighty thank you for this Lord. Thank you Father. Thank you for the anointing to both speak this Word and to hear this Word. We thank you in Jesus mighty name. Why should I turn from sin? 1st Corinthians chapter 6. You don't get too many amends when you... If I said it's God's will that everyone prosper there'd be all kinds of clapping and cheering. 1st Corinthians chapter 6 verse 9. Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived. Neither fornicators, that's people who have sexual intercourse outside of marriage, nor idolaters, that's those who have another God in their heart that takes a preeminence over the Lordship of Christ, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, that's people who are in the active practice of homosexuality, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, that means abusive people, nor extortioners, that means swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Now Paul had established a church in Corinth. Now Corinth historically was a metropolis very much like New York City. Technically speaking some people believe it was the New York City of its time. A central city, a city very much given to materialism. And in the midst of this city a church was established and it was a thriving church. I think it probably grew quite quickly. I think the worship was most likely profound. A church perhaps with somewhat of a reputation in the nations at that time. But Paul saw something in this church and because he loved this church, this church was so, had so been given to everything that this world has got to offer. And now they had come to Christ and there had been a cleansing in this church. And Paul lists these things. There obviously had been fornicators, and adulterers, and homosexuals, and thieves, and covetous people, and drunkards, and abusers, and swindlers. And thank God, Paul says, and such were some of you. You used to be this, but now you're washed, now you're sanctified, now you're justified by the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. In other words, there had been among many of the people a turning. But I don't know if in this church there had ever been an understanding, a full understanding of the consequence of sin. Or perhaps they had just gone a bit down the road, as a lot of Christian people do, and stopped for a moment like Lot's wife, just to look back and wondered in their heart, was it really all that bad? Everything that I was pursuing, the things I was doing, are they really as harmful as they told us in the beginning? If God is merciful, and if this is all about grace and forgiveness, Paul said elsewhere in the Scriptures, there were some who were saying, well, if that's the way it is, let's go and sin that grace may abound. If God is good, if He loves me, if He died on the cross for me, can't I just go out and enjoy my Friday night and Saturday night? Can't I just repent on Sunday morning, and then come to church and raise my hands and thank God for His grace? If that's what it's all about, if it's about forgiveness, if it's about love, is it possible the Corinthian church were falling into this trap? Now, Paul started this chapter by talking about the fact that there were grievances coming into the body. And the grievances were one against another, to the point that people were taking other Christian believers for insignificant things that could have been handled in the church, but they were taking each other to court. And Paul saw this for the larger implication that it is. There was something getting into the heart of the people. They were losing the fear of God. They were losing the understanding of what it means to be part of the church of Jesus Christ, ambassadors of the reconciliation that God offered through His Son in the world. They were losing the fear of sin. And it's a terrible thing, folks, if you and I ever get to the place where we can sin casually and no longer have that check of the Holy Spirit in the heart, no longer be able to walk away from places that we shouldn't have been doing things we shouldn't have done, speaking things we shouldn't be speaking, without that conviction of the Holy Spirit, without that sense of wrong that should come immediately into the heart of everyone who's called by the name of Christ and has the Spirit of the Living God living within us. I'm going to read to you my definition of sin that I wrote down for the purposes of our discussion this morning. Sin is a willful decision to embrace a practice or a way of living which God says is wrong. It's a willful decision. I'm not speaking necessarily today to the person who has a struggle with something. You're desperately trying to walk away from a pattern of thinking or a form of behavior. To you today, I say that if you have a sincerity in your heart about this and God will give you the power to walk away. He'll open the prison door. He will set you free. He will give you spiritual authority. If you'll hold on, don't give in. And if you do struggle, be quick to repent, be quick to confess, be quick to walk away. Do not let these things have dominion over your life anymore. Sin, the Bible says, shall not have dominion over you. You and I in Christ are free from the power of sin. So don't believe the lie that you can't get out. Don't believe the lie that you'll never change. Don't believe the lie that somehow if you walk away from this relationship or this practice or whatever it is you're doing, that there's something to be lost there. There's nothing to be lost when you leave sin. Only everything to be gained as you move towards the life of God. Sin is a willful decision. That's the context I'm speaking in. Sin is a willful decision to embrace a practice or way of living that God says is wrong and to reject both the pathway and the power clearly set before you in Christ to do that which God says is right. God would not give you and I a path that He wants us to walk in as Christians if it were not possible to walk in this path. And so to stay in a life of sin, there has to be a willful decision to stay. Sin when infused into the human race, was infused rather into the human race when our first parents, Adam and Eve, made a conscious decision to defy what God had spoken and instead pursued what they thought would bring them happiness and fulfillment. Amazing, isn't it? Nothing ever changes. I'm amazed. So I had one time years ago in this church, a young man who had been here for over two years in this congregation, came to see me one time after service. He said, oh I love this church so much. Oh this has become my life. This is my heart. And he said, but God understands. There are some things that I have to do throughout the week, but God understands these things. I looked at him and I said, well what is it that God understands? And I saw there was a deep hesitancy in him to share these things with me, but also I pressed him. I said, tell me what is it that you do that God understands? He said, well I'm a homosexual prostitute. And he said, you know, but I have to pay the bills and I have to get food. And God understands that I have to do these things. Thank God he didn't run into a pastor that day that agreed with his view of how God saw his practice. God understands what sin is and God understands that sin brings death. And God understands that through the cross of Jesus Christ there was a way made out of sin. God understands it by faith. If we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things that we need shall be added unto us. That's what God understands. God knows. Jesus said, your father knows that you have needed these things even before you ask him. You don't have to steal to survive. You don't have to swindle to survive. You don't have to be an abusive employer to survive. You don't have to do these things to survive. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Seek truth. Walk with God. Walk with God. Don't try to preserve what is going to perish around you, but lay hold of that which is never going to leave you, which is eternal life in Jesus Christ. Paul says in Romans chapter 6 and verse 23, the wages of sin is death. Sin still pays what it's always paid. Sin promises happiness, but pays death. Promises fulfillment, pays death. Promises a future, pays death. The wages of sin is death. Settle it in your heart. If you're living in sin, if you have no desire to turn from sin, if you are willfully doing what you know that God's words says is wrong, you're going to be paid with death. You're going to be paid with a spiritual death. You're going to be paid with a powerlessness, which means a separation from the quickening power of God. Everything that you were to be will be gone. It will all elude your grasp, and how tragic that kind of a life will be when you finally get to the end and realize that you were separated from everything that God intended your life to be. Every sinner, I think, will have that moment when they stand before the throne of God, and perhaps a panorama of what life could have been will open up, instead of what life was, simply because they made a wrong, in some cases, a wrong choice. Remember the rich young ruler? He kind of skidded across the platform in his holy devotion, falling on his knees and saying, Master, what must I do to have eternal life? And Jesus said, well, you know the commandments do these things. He said, I've done them all. But he looked at him and said, but one more thing. There's just one more thing that you need to do. You have an idol in your heart. Your idol is your money. In his case, it was money. He said, get rid of this. Start giving to the poor. Let this idol be broken, and start giving to the poor, and come and follow me, and you'll have treasure in heaven. The scripture says, he walked away sorrowful, because he had great treasure, and he could not bear, as the inferences in scripture depart from that which had brought, as he thought it, such joy into his heart. And so, he hung on to his 401k. He hung on to his business. He retired. He had his life as he thought, and only to get to the end, and find out that the wages of sin is death. Paul said, be not deceived. People who continue in these practices will not inherit the kingdom of God. Now, I want to show you how quickly sin can overtake a life. If you want to go with me right to the beginning, Genesis chapter 3. We're going to go from the entrance of sin into the human race, to the death of almost all of the human race, as it is in only a few short chapters of scripture. Almost all of humanity died. The wages of sin is death. Of course, except for Noah and his family. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 7 tells us that sin takes away a sense of well-being and acceptance with God. And the eyes of them both, that's Adam and Eve, were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. You know, even now, people are sewing fig leaves in their minds, as you're hearing this kind of a word. Well, I'm a good person. I've never murdered anybody. I've never done some of the more negligent and gross sins. Also, I do a little bit of this on the side, and I do a little bit of that. But God knows, and God understands. And you've come in, you're sitting under this kind of a message today, and the very first thing that sin does, is it quickly takes away a sense of well-being and acceptance with God. No matter how many fig leaves you try to put on right now, there's a sense that things are not in order. If you're walking in right relationship with God today, this message will gladden your heart. You'll gladden your, you'll be glad of heart. You'll say, God, thank you that I am covered. Thank you, Lord, that as far as I know, I'm walking away from everything that offends your nature within me. As far as I know, I'm obeying your word. As far as I know, the only covering I have is the blood of Jesus Christ. As far as I know, the power of God is upon me, and I'm changing as I behold Christ from image to image, and glory to glory. As far as I know, the song in my heart is legitimate. As far as I know, God, the faith that I have is real. God Almighty, thank you for the cross. Thank you for Christ. You cannot be condemned by this kind of a word if you are walking in right relationship with God. Verse 10 tells us that sin brings shame and hiding, and he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself. There's a shame that comes with sin, and there's a, there's a hiding. There are people here today. You're ashamed of what you do, and you're hiding in this house. You're hiding in your conversation. Your whole countenance has been altered, but it's been altered by human effort when you came into the house. You've not been altered supernaturally by the Holy Spirit. What's coming out of you is not natural. It's not natural for you to raise your hands. You don't do it on Monday right through to Saturday, and, but, so it's not natural. It's a religious thing. It's something that you're producing in the house of God. There's a sense of shame in the heart, and there's a sense of hiding from God. Verse 16 of Genesis 3, it says, and the woman's, and unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In sorrow you'll bring forth children. Your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, because you've hearkened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree which I commanded thee, saying thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat of the herb of the field. And in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground, for out of it thou was taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return. Sin brings sorrow. Sin brings a deep feeling of unsatisfaction. No matter how much effort one puts into finding something of lasting satisfaction from the ground beneath his feet, you search this world, you travel the streets, you get involved in numerous things around, but there is a deep sense of unsatisfaction. You can never ever find something in this world that causes you to say, I've found what my heart has been looking for. You'll find momentary pleasure in sin, but it doesn't last. Relationships won't last. New jobs don't last. New pursuits don't last. New drugs don't last. New alcohol doesn't last. Nothing lasts. It does bring a moment of seeming relief, but the wages of sin, the scripture says, is death. Solomon said in his last days, he said, I'm paraphrasing him, he said, but in Ecclesiastes, I did everything that a man could do under the sun. And I looked at the end of my life and it was profitless and it was empty and there was no purpose to it. And why then did I do all of these things? Sin only brings sorrow. Verse 23 of Genesis chapter 3, therefore the Lord God sent him from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. Sin brings separation for time and eternity from what God had intended your life to be. That's what sin does. God has a plan for your life today. He said, I know the thoughts I think towards you. They're thoughts to bring you to it is of good and not of evil and to bring you to a desired end. I know what I'm thinking. Now Genesis chapter 4 and verse 5 tells us that sin brings envy and murder. But unto Cain and his offering he had not respect and Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell. And the Lord said to Cain, why are you wroth or angry? Why is your countenance fallen? If you do well, shall you not be accepted? And if you do not well, sin lies at the door and unto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother and it came to pass that when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. Undealt with sin brings something into the heart against other people. The Bible says in the last days that there's going to be wars and rumors of wars all over the world. Ethnic culture is going to rise up against ethnic culture in an unprecedented way. All of humanity, there's going to be a hatred and a murderousness that lays hold of the hearts of those who are walking apart from the Spirit of God and that is the fruit of sin. Verse 9, it says, the Lord said unto Cain, where's Abel your brother? And he said, I know not. Am I my brother's keeper? In one sentence we find sin introducing into the human race. I'm only one chapter away, folks, from where it all began. It doesn't take long for the enemy to overpower your life, you know. Now we see lies and indifference. I don't know where my brother is. What, have you assigned me to be his keeper? It brings that kind. Paul knew that. Paul knew that's what was happening to some hearts in the Corinthian church. I don't care about my brother. I don't care about his condition. I don't care about what makes him do what he did. I'm not called to be his keeper and that's the result of sin. It's a complete loss of the heart of God given to us freely through Jesus Christ. Verse 11, here's what God says now to Cain. He said, and now thou art cursed from the earth which has opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When you till the ground it will not henceforth yield to thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. Undealt with sin turns life into death and brings into your life that which should never have been. You can become through sin a person you never dreamed you would be. Nobody who murdered, nobody who kills ever thought they would when they were five or six years old. People who steal, lie, cheat, fornicate, go out and do things they shouldn't do. Involved in practices that God says are wrong and lock you out of the kingdom of heaven for not just time but for eternity. No, there are very very many people somewhere sitting here today. Now thank God like Paul said that you're washed and you're forgiven and free from these but in honesty looking back you never believed that you would become the person you became. You never believed that you were capable of doing the things that you did. But I warn you the wages of sin is death. When you open your heart to sin there's a law of death begins to work within you and it knows no bounds. It will drive you down deeper and farther than you've ever believed in your heart that you could go. Young people who are sitting here today you listen to me. Don't waste your life and your time pursuing the things of this world and living apart from the Word of God. If you want a song in your heart, if you want to know what life is all about, you come to Christ. You give him your heart. You turn away from sin. You get into this book and agree with God. The power of God will come upon you. The scripture says you'll be turned into another person. The glory of the Lord will become your reward. You'll be given a new mind, a new heart, and a new spirit. You'll walk through this world with the heart of God. You'll have heaven's perspective on the meaning of life. You'll already know where you are in Christ seated at the right hand of Almighty God. You'll be able to look down on your life in this hour you're living in and saying God thank you that in Christ I've already crossed the finish line. I'm already more than a conqueror. I've already won the race in Christ. God thank you for your promises. No matter what happens you're going to keep me Lord. The floods will not overflow me. The fires will not devour me. I will not go hungry according to your word. I will always have a shelter over my head and clothes for my body. Now look at what happens when sin is finally undealt with in Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5. It tells us that undealt with sin leads to continuous evil in the heart and a final and forever banishment from the presence of the Lord. You see folks that's why it's so hard to win an older person to Christ. Very very rare at this altar you'll see somebody with gray hair come for the first time to give their lives to Christ because undealt with sin brings the heart of every person ever born into a place where continuous evil now dominates the heart and God saw that the wickedness of man Genesis 6 5 was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and it repented the Lord that he'd made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart and the Lord said I will destroy man whom I've created from the face of the earth both man and beast and creeping things and the fowls of the air for it repents me that I have made them. A final and forever banishment from the presence of the Lord. That's where undealt with sin leads to. That's why Paul said to the Corinthian church do not be deceived. Do not listen to the voice of your own heart. Do not listen to the coaxing of the enemy. Do not listen to anyone who stands speaking supposedly in the stead of God who gives you any kind of an assurance that you are forgiven when you are living in willful sin against God. Paul said don't be deceived. Those who practice these things do not inherit the kingdom of God. Folks salvation is not just forgiveness it's a way out of sin. It's a way into a new life. And so we go back to the original question why should I turn from sin? There are some other reasons why you should turn. You should turn from sin because God so loved you that he sent his only begotten Son into this world that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. The we might become the righteousness of God through him. God sent his son to a cross. Sin had to be punished. It had to be put away. A penalty had to be paid and he sent his son to a cross and put on him all the sin of the world. That means the sin that you and I have committed, the sin that will try to gain dominion over your heart and your mind and your life. He put it all on Christ and in Christ he broke the power of it. He broke the consequence of it. He broke the penalty of it. And he opened the veil and made a way to come back to him again. Praise be to God. Christ offers drink to satisfy the deepest longing and thirst of your heart. Not only breaking the power of sin but he stood on the last day the great day of the feast. He said if any man thirst let him come unto me. Whoever believes on me as the scripture has said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Everything you've longed for Jesus said if you come to me I'll give it to you. I'm not he's not talking about things of this world folks. It's things of the spirit. You've longed for truth. You've longed for power. You've longed for meaning in life. You've longed for hope. You've longed for the ability to endure. You've longed for a sound mind. You've longed to be delivered from the power of fear and the concern about tomorrow. He said if you come to me I will so fill you with hope. I'll so fill you with life that it will flow out of you. Luke 15 tells us that God accepts you in Christ covers your shame and opens the door to a new way of living. When that prodigal son got up a son who'd gone far from his father and started to come home when his father met him on the road he covered him. That means the shame, the smell of sin, the stench, all that had clung to this young man because of the way he had been living. The father brought out the best robe and covered him. When you come to God through Jesus Christ no matter where you're coming from today if you come to him with an honest heart if you decide to get up and come home to God you decide to accept his offer of forgiveness and begin to live a life that will bring honor and glory to his name. He meets you the moment you start heading towards him he meets you and the first thing he does is he covers you. He covers you. You are cleansed from your sin. You are washed from filthiness. He puts a ring on your hand and says I give you power now to tread upon serpents and scorpions and all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Everything that's dominating your mind everything that's telling you there's no reason to live everything that's telling you this is the way to find pleasure and this is the way to satisfaction in life he said these things that are lies I give you power over them now and I give you the power to place them under your feet where they belong. Sin shall not have dominion over you. You're no longer under this law of sin and death but you're now brought into the life of Jesus Christ by the grace of Almighty God and he says I'm going to put shoes on your feet and you and I are going to walk together through this world and you're gonna have a song in your heart that this world doesn't give and this world can't take it away from you. Turning away from sin and turning to Christ is to be indwelt by Christ fully satisfied by him and brought into the power of an endless life. Paul says in Philippians 4 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me praise be to God I can do all things but before that's your testimony folks you've got to make the break from sin you can't stay in fornication you can't be a swindler you can't be an abuser and know this you have to make the choice to turn away from sin and when you make that choice and you begin to realize that sin is no longer any power over your life then something stirs in the heart and you say oh God now that you've taken me from where I shouldn't have been now take me where I could never go in my own strength make me into the kind of person I could never be give me things I could never hope to possess put giftings in my life God that bring your name to honor and glory in the earth praise God praise God praise God praise God why should I turn from sin when you turn from sin you become the person God intended you to be praise the Lord Philippians 3 13 Paul says forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those things which are before I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus forgetting those things moving forward in God through Christ Jesus becoming the person that God intended me to be sin will lock you out of the supernatural and what person today in your right mind would choose sin over what you're hearing from the Word of God if you have a sound mind if there's any sense in your heart whatsoever why would you make a choice to live in a kind of a way that will cause everything that God has intended for your life not to happen turning from sin will turn you into a person of truth and compassion Paul says in Romans 5 5 the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us the love of God is shed abroad we realize that we stand by grace one of the first things that happens when you turn from sin is a deep gratitude comes into your heart you begin to realize that hey this is not human effort that got me out of this this is the goodness favor the grace of Almighty God took me out of my prison washed me clean of my hurts and all the stains that were on my life and you begin to have the heart of God you begin to see people not the way you used to but now the way God sees people you say Lord let your love be shed abroad through my life and my heart let me be kind to all people to the unthankful and to the unholy as well Lord flow through my life and it happens only supernaturally you can't drum this up this is a work of the Holy Spirit in the heart lastly death is turned to life praise be to God everything of death is broken and life begins to explode in the heart David said I waited patiently for the Lord I cried to him and he heard me and he took me out of a horrible pit out of the miry clay he set my feet upon a rock and he established my goings and he has put a new song in my mouth and many shall see it and shall fear and shall trust in the Lord death is turned into life praise God when you choose to walk away from sin and the penalty of sin and the power of sin death in you is canceled and you come into the power of life now and the life of Christ becomes your heritage you are changed the scripture says you become a new creation in Christ when sin is put away you become what God intended you to be some folks here today I want to tell you if you hear these words and if we have yet five years before the Lord returns you'd be stunned a few years from now of what kind of a person you become because you truly let God in Christ through the power of the Holy Ghost govern your life you begin to walk in the path that God set before you you have in your heart a song of trust God I don't know and I don't understand but I don't have to know or understand everything I know who holds tomorrow I know in whose hand I am I know you have marked my steps I know that you're in control of my life I know that sin has no longer any dominion over me I know that salvation is not just for me but for my house praise God I know I know I know I'm not hoping about tomorrow I know about tomorrow I know where I'm going tomorrow I know what the purpose of my life is I know I'll stand in the flood I know I know because God has given me a sound mind he gives a sound mind to all who trust in him through Jesus Christ praise be to God and I know David said goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I know I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever and ever praise be to God praise be to God I know I know I know I know I know hallelujah I know whom I have believed I am persuaded he's able to keep that which I've been trusted to him against that day I know that's got to be the testimony of your heart in this generation and you'll never get it until you turn from sin until you make the decision to do what is right and follow a path of obedience and truth that God has laid out before you why should I turn from sin well here's the last scripture that God's given me on this in Hebrews 10 26 if we sin willfully after that we've received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins and if you follow that scripture a little farther just talks about but a fearful looking for of the day of judgment if we sin willfully don't be deceived Times Square Church New York City the Corinth of our generation don't be deceived you can't live in willful sin and still make it to have don't be deceived I don't care how many preachers you find on the internet that agree with you don't be deceived the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God not now and not then salvation was made so that your sin that you've committed can be forgiven and that you can have the power to turn from a life of sin and be a new creation in Christ Jesus bearing witness to the fact that God in his son is alive from the dead sitting at the right hand of all victory and all authority we are left in the earth as a testimony of this reality that Jesus Christ has triumphed and he is alive and he has all authority and all power if we continue to willfully sin after that we receive the knowledge of the truth there remains no more sacrifice for sins in other words if we have had a robe we throw it off we throw off the covering that God freely offered us in Christ if we have had authority we cast it away we just throw it away if we have known the measure of authority over the power of sin and we turn back to a life without hope and ultimately an eternity without God I'll tell you one thing if anybody sitting here today ends up in hell your blood is not on my hands you need to turn from sin you need to turn from what you know is wrong and turn to what you know is right it's a choice it's not a feeling I choose to turn from sin whether you feel like it or not is not the issue it's a choice it's a choice praise God we're going to worship for a little while as we do if you're a sinner today and you need a Savior this altar will be open to you if you're playing with sin and today there's a sense it has come into your heart that this is this is dangerous this is something I need to get away from I need to ask God for the grace to turn from this and to live a new life this altar is open for you you need to have the humility to step out and say God forgive me David the psalmist tried it out the sweet psalmist of Israel he said Oh God don't take your Holy Spirit from me deliver me from this blood guiltiness Oh Lord God don't let me lose your presence and your power now this is not a message given to you so that you start living on eggshells as a Christian walking around worried about your thoughts and worried about it's not about that it's about the willful sinner there's a difference it's the person you are in fornication and you know it and you need to get out you're an adulterer you know it you need to get out you're stealing you know it you need to turn from it you're an abuser you know it and you need to stop abusing other people you're a practicing homosexual and you know it you need to get out of that lifestyle and trust God for the victory it's you're a liar you know it you need to start telling the truth by the power of God stop running around trying to impress other people nobody's impressed they all know you're a liar time to get right with God folks the door of the ark is closing soon time to get right no more games time to get right if the Holy Spirit is speaking to you today you want to confess to God your sin trust him for the power to turn away from it I'm going to open this altar the annex to as well you can stand between the screens and while we worship slip out of your seat have the courage to get right with God let's all stand please for those that are come to this altar this morning for the very first time you want to give your life to Jesus Christ there are people downstairs after the service in the lower lobby that will meet with you they'll pray with you they'll have a part of the New Testament to give you and they can answer any questions that you might have about what it means to be Christian anything in your heart that's not answered yet today now the scripture says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness now that the context confesses means not just acknowledge but it means I want to turn from I say to God this is wrong this is not right and I don't want to live this way anymore I confess it is wrong it's I agree with your word that this is wrong and so the Lord says it I'll forgive you and then I'll cleanse you of unrighteousness now that's something God says he will do you open your heart to the promises of God you open your heart to the power of the Holy Spirit and he says I will come and I will cleanse you of that in you that is causing you to do these things I'll give you the power to turn away from it and you will know that God lives because you'll be brought into the power of his life within you let's pray together please Lord Jesus I've sinned against you and against your truth I ask you today to forgive my sin and I thank you Lord for cleansing me for the wrong I've done from this day forward I choose to trust you I choose to believe your word and to allow you to give me the power to turn from my sin and be a new person use my life to bring glory to your name put a new song in my heart a song that people can see will cause them to know that God is alive in Jesus Christ now I thank you Lord that you have covered me you have cleansed me and you will give me power to be the person that you have destined me to be I believe this with all my heart in Jesus name amen now listen to this the work is not complete until the song is in the heart remember David said I cried out to the Lord that's what you've done here I was in a terrible pit he took me out of that sinking place and put me on a rock and set a new path before me and he put a new song in my mouth he put it there he put it there shouts of joy and victory abound in the tents of the righteous of the Lord would you by faith I'm going to ask you at the altar today by faith join this congregation by faith begin to sing about your victory even though you might be afraid when you walk out the door you're going to go back to your sin can you just by faith say I'm not going back by faith I have the victory by faith I'm going to walk with God by faith I'm going to be a new person God bless you Let's go singing today