In this sermon, the speaker addresses the issue of self-evaluation and the pressure to meet God's approval. He emphasizes that evaluating oneself based on personal abilities will always fall short and lead to working harder and tearing others apart. The speaker uses the example of a godly man who strayed from relying on God's righteousness and faced severe trials and suffering as a result. The sermon highlights the need for Christians to recognize their own deceitful and wicked hearts and fully embrace their death with Jesus Christ at Calvary in order to experience victorious Christian living.

Thank you, Brother Ralph. I believe I must tell you that as I prepared for this day, this afternoon, every time I sat down to make notes, every time I endeavored to pray, the Lord just kept saying to me, trust me, I don't have one note to go from, and I'm totally dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ to speak. And if you will bear that dependence with me, let's bow our heads and confess our need. Heavenly Father, I confess that in and of myself I can do nothing, that it's only by the very power of the living life of Christ that we can communicate the words of God. And so we just commit this time to you, we give this vessel over to you to speak as you would want to speak to our hearts. I would entrust every man in this room to you, that you would anoint his eyes with eye salve, and his ears may be opened, ears right to his heart. And Father, communicate to our hearts the very truth of your word, the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. We're going to start by turning to Romans chapter 5, Romans chapter 5, verses 8, 9, and 10. We'll use this for a launching pad and see where the Lord wants to take us this afternoon. My Bible says, but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We probably all understand that concept and that principle in this room this afternoon. Paul in the ninth verse goes on and he uses a phrase which he uses many times, and it's much more. And so he proceeds from a basic premise that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. In our rebellious state while we were rebels towards God, God in his mercy gave of himself and Jesus Christ died for us. He could have snuffed us out like that. He could have stepped on us like we would step on an ant. But instead he gave his son in our place to save us. And so Paul says much more than that we are now justified by his blood. Here's the progress. Now that we have received the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ and we have been justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Now God no longer can snuff us out because it's by his son and we have received his son and the provision of the Lord Jesus Christ that God no longer can be angry with us. Paul bears this out in Romans chapter 8 and he says there's therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. And then in the 10th verse he says this, for if when we were enemies, that's in our prior condition, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more, he says again being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life, not his death. Did you know that right now you are being saved by the life of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is Jesus Christ living? He is saving you right now and it's by his life living in you that you are being saved. Well saved from what? Well as the angel said to the father of Jesus and to before Joseph knew of all of the events that were coming into his life, the angel said to him, you will call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. It didn't say hell did it? He said from their sins. And I got sick and tired in my own life after living the Christian life for 40 years of all of this coming back to Jesus and coming back for more forgiveness and more forgiveness and more forgiveness and more forgiveness, I discovered I needed something else to stop me from sinning. Is there anybody here like that? Are you tired of the routine of coming back to the blood of Jesus Christ to always be forgiven? Wouldn't you like to shut off the faucet of self and stop the water from flowing into the bathtub that's flowing over and stop mopping up the sins? Do you understand what I'm saying? Wouldn't you like to get that faucet shut off so that it wasn't pouring out those sins all of the time? And that you could enter into an experience whereby on a day-to-day, moment-by-moment, second-by-second, minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour, you were being saved by the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Does Jesus Christ sin? Where does he live? Pardon me? Where does he live? Come on now, where does he live? All right. If Jesus is living in you, then why can't he keep you from sin? Do you understand what I'm saying? How many would be interested in finding the secret in God's Word this afternoon, how to shut off that faucet, so that you don't have to come back here next year and go through another round of repentance? How would you like to be able to know at the moment, at the very moment, that you, by your own choice, would walk out of the realm of living in the Spirit, that the Holy Spirit would so chastise you in the very life of the Lord Jesus Christ, it would be so vibrantly alive in you, that you would know in a moment, and you'd have no peace, and you'd want to get back to the peace and the joy that would flow from the life of the Lord Jesus Christ on a moment-to-moment basis, just like that. Would you like that? That's the way Jesus Christ intended us to live. Now, I came to the conclusion after 40 years of living the Christian life that it was very difficult to live the Christian life. And in fact, I finally came to the conclusion that it was impossible. Does anybody agree with me? You know, there's only one person in all of the universe that can live the Christian life, and who is it? It's Jesus Christ, and He wants to live it through you. Now, why did you have children? Why did you have children? Well, so one of them could take out the garbage, another one to make the beds, another one to mow the lawn, another one to do the chores. No, that isn't why you had children, but somehow we've gotten into this rut with God that God has children so that there's somebody to serve Him. Look it, God doesn't need me to serve Him. I don't think God has any needs. If God has needs, then He's not God. Our service to Him should be from a loving, flowing, vibrant relationship of the Christ who lives within us. And I believe that you had children so that you could give your expression of life through them. Every mother and father that comes together to have children want to express their life through their children. That's the purpose. And God has children so that He can express His love, the vibrant life of the Lord Jesus Christ, through each and every one of us. Now, as a basis for what we'd like to share with you this afternoon, let's turn back to one of the first books of the Bible. It's Job. Actually, Job was a book that we're told was written by Moses. It could likely have been written before Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, although we're not sure. And this man, Job, you all have heard about him, and I'd like to glean some truths from the book of Job that will perhaps put some things into perspective so that we can see what the great restrictor is in our lives of letting the life of the Lord Jesus Christ flow through us, and what God's process is in order to bring us to a place where that vibrant life of the Lord Jesus Christ can live through us. The book of Job opens with this statement. There was in the land of Uz a man whose name was Job, and that man was perfect, he was upright, and one that feared God, and he hated evil. You can move along to verse 8, and it says, The Lord said that, Have you considered my servant Job? He said to Satan, There is none like him in the earth. He is a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and he hates evil, or escheweth evil. Then in chapter 2, And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job? There is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and he escheweth evil. And still he holdeth fast his integrity. Now if you were deciding on a scale of 1 to 10, that's 1 to 10, 10 is perfect in the sight of God, perfect and upright, and on a scale, where would you put Job? What would you give him? You'd give him a 10? 9? I want you to understand, fellows, God said this about this man. What would you give him? You'd give him a 10, wouldn't you? Now while you've got that number locked away in your head, give yourself a number. Give yourself a number. Give yourself a number, and don't tell me. You just put it back there, write down on a piece of paper, do whatever you like, but don't tell anybody, because you're probably, like me, you'd be ashamed of it. But somewhere, write it down, even if it's just in your memory, because we probably, if we have time this afternoon, we'll come back to that. Now here was this tremendous man of God. Let's look at some of the focus in his life, some of the things that he was. It says, there were born unto him, second verse of chapter 1, there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance was 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 she-asses, and a very great household. Now, Brother Gordon out west, would that be a wealthy man? That sure would. And so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. It goes on to say about the conduct of his sons and his daughters, and that he was very careful to offer sacrifices on behalf of them, because it appears that some of them were being involved in some questionable activity. And he would constantly offer sacrifices in order that they would be right before God. He had a concern for his children. You could open up this book, and you would find that he was a wealthy, not only a wealthy man, but he was very benevolent. He gave his goods to look after the poor. He gave of his counsel, and he sat in the town gates, and they would come to him for judgment in all kinds of matters. He was the elder of the elders. Do you know what I mean? He was in his town, he was the most important man. He was accomplished, and today we might call him a successful businessman. We would also call him a successful church member, and we would also call him very benevolent. You understand what I'm saying? He is perhaps the idol of what we might hold up a man in our economy and in our day as being the ultimate as far as a church man was concerned. He was a church leader. He was perhaps not a ruler in the synagogue, but he was well thought of if there were synagogues at that time. I doubt that there were. This man was a compatriot of Abraham, and in Abraham you know that in the book of Hebrews it says that God counted unto Abraham for righteousness because of his, anybody know? Because of his faith. In other words, he had a relationship with God whereby God counted him to be righteous, and I believe that this is the case with Job, and that's why God is saying this man is perfect and he's upright. In God's sight, he was perfect and upright on the basis of what God had given and done in Job's heart because of Job's faith in God. Are you with me? Okay, so here's this very accomplished man, and I guess you all know what happened to Job, right? He lost everything. He lost his health, he lost his family, he lost his possessions, and by the time you get to chapter three in this book, you find that he's sitting on an ash heap, he's in sackcloth and ashes, he's got pieces of pottery, and he's picking away at the sores on his body that are oozing with pus. And we might say, what on earth is going on? Is that right? Wouldn't you say that about this godly man? What on earth is going on? Now we know the process that God had given Satan permission to do this to Job. It said you can't touch his life. You can't touch his life, but you can do anything to him that you want, and we know what happened to Job. Now we won't go into those details, but I'd like to have you turn now to chapter 12 and 13, if you follow along in your Bible, and we're going to get some pictures here of some attitudes of Job's heart, some attitudes of his way and his style of thinking. In the third verse of chapter 12, we hear him saying, I have understanding as well as you. I am not inferior to you, yea, who knoweth not such things as these. Now if a person isn't inferior to someone, what is he? He's equal or superior. Job's one of his greatest problems was that he was comparing himself to other people. He was comparing himself to other people. And that's the nature of the flesh, brothers. And that's why we have the problem that dear brother Bill was talking about this morning. You see, if we feel superior to somebody, or if we feel inferior, there's going to be all kinds of criticism and pride enter into our thinking. Is that right? And so here's Job, and he's got this idea that he's trying to match up with somebody else. He's just as smart as everybody else. Chapter 13, in the second verse, he says, I know also, I am not inferior unto you. Then in the third verse, he gets up on his high horse and he says, I desire to reason with God. Well, what does a person do when he wants to reason with someone? What's another word for reason? Argue. I want to argue with God as to why all of this has happened to me. Now perhaps you and I think that we know better than to argue with God, but how many times do we find ourselves in our lives asking God, why, why, why, why are you doing this to me? Why are you allowing this to happen? What are all these things around me that are being allowed into my life? Is that right? Nod your heads. Okay. In verse 6, he's saying, here now, who's reasoning? Okay. What do we realize is happening here? Here's a man that thinks he's got it all put together, and he's got all the reasoning figured out, and he figures he's on the right track. If you look at verse 15, or 13 rather, let me alone that I may speak, and let come on me what will. Now what do we see? Arrogance. Let come on me what will. Arrogance. Another trait of the self-life, right? Another trait of the natural man. Moving to verse 17, he says, hear diligently my speech. Verse 18, he says, I have ordered my cause. I know that I shall be justified. What's he saying? I've done everything right. I've done everything right. Isn't that what he's saying? And I know that everything's going to be okay. I know that I shall be justified. Now we don't have time, but if you looked at chapter 7, you would find, I think, 21 verses in that chapter, you'd find that 42 times he uses the letters I, me, and my. In 21 verses, 42 times. If you look at chapters 29, 30, 31, you will find that there's something like 92 verses, and 196 times in those 92 verses he says I, me, and my, and look at everything that I've done. I would suggest to you that Job had an advanced case of perpendicular personal pronoun-itis. His life was focused entirely on what he could do. His life was entirely focused upon his accomplishments, and his efforts, and what he could do in life. And it was at that point in time, in chapter 32, that the men who were counseling with him, these counselors, which turned out in this story to be something else to him, he says, these three men ceased to answer Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. What does that mean? Pardon me? He thought he was alright. He was righteous in his own eyes. You could look at verse 2, and there it says, because he justified himself rather than God. In other words, he saw his sense of value, he saw his sense of who he was, he saw his sense of all his accomplishments all wrapped up in what he could do and what he owned. But what does God do when we have an idol before us, before him rather? He smashes it. And you see, God had smashed all of Job's idols. God has smashed all of Job's idols. You know, what I came to realize in my life was God had given me four precious children. I had been so interested in raising them so that they would be godly, and I feared the day that my daughter would come, and hopefully she wouldn't be pregnant, you know, all that stuff. And boy, I hope I make it through this. I'm going to put everything I have into my children so that they'll be a righteous people of God. But do you know what I discovered? I wanted that because I didn't want to be embarrassed. And you see, my interest in them was self-focused. It was self-focused. And then God smashed my idols. I won't tell you how he did it, but he smashed my idols. He took my children from me. Thank God today they're restored, but he smashed my idols. He smashed my Job. He smashed all my involvement in church and what I could do. Because you see, I had my focus on me and what I could do. I had the same problem that Job had. Now, this was quite a punishment for this godly man, wasn't it? I'd like you to go back to chapter 1, and we're going to look just for a minute at the four words that God said this man was. In the first verse of chapter 1, it says that he was perfect and he was upright. I really believe, I haven't got scripture for this, but I believe that in God's sight, God had imputed righteousness to Job because his faith was in God. And God's viewpoint was that he was perfect and upright. But as far as Job was concerned, his reaction to that was that he feared God. That is, he had a wholesome fear towards God, and he was doing God's work, okay, and he hated evil, and that was all right, but he was doing it in his own strength. He didn't have his focus on what God had done in him, but he had his focus on what he could do. Now turn to chapter 13 again, and verse 15, and I want to show you the culmination of this man's attitude in his depraved condition. In verse 15 of chapter 13, this man says, "...though he slay me, yet will I trust him." Sounds good, doesn't it? Is this man trusting God? Is he? Come on, shake your heads. Is he trusting God? Well, he said it. This is what Job said, "...though he slay me, yet will I trust him." What did he say? Read it. Shout it. "...but I will maintain my own ways before him." What's he saying? Put it in common English. What might we say today? "...but I'll do it my way." That's right. Let me reason with God. Well, who does this man think he is? Who do you think you are? You see, as long as you're evaluating yourself on the basis of what you can do, you're going to come up with something less than a ten. And when you come up with something less than a ten, you're just going to work harder. And then you're going to tear somebody else apart. You understand what I'm saying? You see that? You're just going to work harder, because there's something in you that knows that you have to meet with God's approval. Now, what happened to this godly man? What happened to this man who God had imputed righteousness to him, but he was off on his own track of doing things in his own resources? What happens to a man like that, through this kind of pressure? Turn to the last chapter. It takes 42 chapters for this guy to get into tune with what God's doing. You know, sometimes God has to hit us over the head with a two-by-four just to get our attention. And then we might be willing to listen to him. In verse 3, we see that Job is saying, I uttered things that I did not understand. You understand? He came to realize that his whole philosophy, his whole sense of value, he did not understand God's way. In verse 6, he says, Wherefore I abhor myself. What's another word for abhor? Despised? Hate? Yeah, that's a pretty humble position. I abhor myself and I repent in dust and ashes. You see, I had to come to realize in my life, just like Job did, that I had to stop repenting of the things that I was doing, and I had to repent of who I was and what I was. I had to come to hate myself. Turn to John chapter 12. I don't know where we're going, fellas. We're just going to follow what the Holy Spirit wants to say to us. Is that okay? John chapter 12 and verse 25. It says, He that loveth his life shall lose it. And he that hateth, what? The things he does? What do we have to come to hate, fellas? Yeah, not the things I do. But we have to actually come to despise our very life. But how many times have we been walking around in our Christian life and our Christian commitment, and we think that we've given God so much by giving him our life. And man, we even distort it to say we put Christ on the center of my life, or on the throne of our life. Well, as long as my life is there, I'm going to do it my way. Understand? You can't put Christ on the throne of your life, because if you put Him there, guess who's going to knock Him off? It's still your life. You can't put Christ at the center of your life, because if you put Him at the center of your life, you're going to soon spin Him out of there while you do your own thing. And isn't that what's happened? So many times in your life, after you've gone home from a rally like this, or you've got home from a Christian emphasis service of some kind, and you find that, yeah, I did put Jesus Christ at the center of my life, but it wasn't very many days, He was way out there again. Hello? And you see, we've committed my life to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, in the verse preceding this, until a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. What we have to come to realize is that our life isn't worth two tidbits. Our life isn't worth two tidbits. It really isn't. God isn't interested in me, my life, but He is interested in infusing the very life of the Lord Jesus Christ into this earthen vessel, so that this earthen vessel can be the carrier and the vehicle by which the life of the Lord Jesus Christ can be expressed in this world. And we must come to so despise our life. And just as Job, he came to abhor, what? Himself. Until he saw that he had to repent in dust and ashes. Not for the things he was doing, but for what he was. Now what happened when he did that? Verse 9, the last five or six words says, when Job repented, the Lord accepted him. And then in verse 10, it says, the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. Also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. I don't know what happened, but he had ten more children. He had a multiplicity of children. He had double the flocks, and double the animals, and double the possessions they had ever had before. And brothers, that tells me that when we come to repentance of what we are in and of ourselves, and we accept Jesus Christ as our life, then the abundance of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ will begin to flow instead of the faucet of self. Hello? And as long as I'm coming to any kind of a daily devotion that says, God, wash me all over again, and if we're saying, help me, help me, help me, what are we saying by help me? When we say, God, help me, what are we saying? Let's do it together. God isn't interested. God isn't interested. In fact, my Bible tells me in Galatians chapter 5 and verses 16 and 17 that there's a war going on between the Spirit that's in me and my flesh. There's a war going on, but every time I say, God, help me, I'm asking God to help what? Well, help me, and me is my flesh. You understand? Now, if God's going to win this battle that's going on between the Spirit and the flesh, is he going to make flesh stronger or weaker? Weaker. What do we try to do when we get weaker? We try to fix it, right? We try to fix the problem. I don't know if you'll catch this or not, but God is fixing to fix you, and you fix the fix that God is fixing to fix you. He'll fix you another fix to fix you. Did you get that? Pardon me? Yeah, it's easy for me to say because I said it before. Okay, but you understand. There are three reasons why Christians don't come to victorious Christian living. There are three reasons. You want to write them down? There are three reasons. One of the reasons is that they don't know that they've died with Christ. One of the reasons is they do not know that they have died with Christ at Calvary. We're going to explain that in just a few minutes. The second reason is that they know it, but they simply don't believe it. They know that they've died with Christ, but they can't accept it as true. And the third reason is they know it, they've embraced it or accepted it by faith, but then they resist God's breaking process in order for the flesh to die, to be rid of. How many have ever made, let's be honest, fellas, let's be honest with ourselves. How many have ever made a commitment of your life to the Lord Jesus Christ? You committed your life to him and within six weeks things were worse than ever before. How many? How many? Well, do you know what's happened? Anything that you give to God, he breaks. Anything that you give to God, he'll break it. The broken alabaster box, the broken lamps of Gideon, he'll break it. And what happens is we, in not understanding what God is doing, we will resist the brokenness and we will try to overcome what God is showing in us that needs to change. Do you think Job was broken? Nod your head. Do you think Job was broken? Do you think our Lord and Savior on the cross of Calvary was broken? Why do you think you should escape the process? Do you know that virtually every time that Jesus said to his disciples, come follow me, it was in the context of him walking to Calvary? Not every time, but most times when Jesus said, come follow me, he was talking in the context of going to Calvary. And what he's saying is, are you willing to come with me and willing to be broken so that you will be released from that which binds you yourself? If Jesus had to suffer. You know, Hebrews tells me that even though he were a son, he learned obedience by the things that he suffered. Why should it be any different for us? Fellas, we need to be broken. And you know, for the North American man, that's the hardest thing to take, is to be broken. And what's brokenness for? What's God's brokenness for? Well, God's brokenness is to deliver us from the flesh because unto the flesh there is a way that seemeth right, but the end thereof is destruction. And if God doesn't break us, we'll self-destruct. Did you get that? And so God in his love and his mercy, he wants to bring forth the work of Calvary in our lives by breaking us and showing us what the flesh is really like. Let's look at a few verses of scripture. You won't be able to fully accept the provisions of your death at Calvary until you see you need it. Let me say that again. You won't be prepared by faith to fully embrace your death with Jesus Christ at Calvary until you see the need for it. Jeremiah 17 9 says that the heart of man is what? Deceitfully wicked, and who can know it? Proverbs 14 and 12, Proverbs 16 and 25, they both say the same thing. Why does the Holy Spirit within two chapters repeat himself? Emphasis. There is a way that seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Was there a way that seemed right to Job? But he was trusting God and he was saying, I'll do it my way. There's a way that seems right to Job, but he says, I'll do it my way. I'll trust God, but I'll do it my way. Is that why we get into trouble? Is that why the faucet of self keeps flowing with the water of sin? Proverbs 16 and 2 says all the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but they're the ways of death. Second Chronicles 7 14, Brother Bill McLeod mentioned it this morning, and my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face. And then what? Turn from their wicked ways. Well, what are the wicked ways of God's people? Well, the wicked ways of God's people are nothing more than doing God's work in the ways of men. They're not going out and painting the town red and chasing women and drinking wine and all of that stuff. That's not the wicked ways of God's people. The wicked ways of God's people are doing God's work in the ways of the flesh. And God sees those ways as wicked. And these ways of Job were wicked in God's sight until God brought them to the point to abhor himself and to repent in dust and ashes. And God's Word tells us, God's Word tells us, even though we're children of God, there's a way that seems right to us. But they still may be the ways of the flesh, and they'll end up in destruction and death until we become totally dependent upon something else. Now, what does God do with such a usurper? This thing we call self, this thing we call flesh, what does God do with such a usurper? Well, my Bible tells me in Galatians 2 and 20 that I have been crucified with Christ. I have been crucified with Christ. Now, if this usurper stands in the way of letting God's way be manifest through us, can you agree with me that it's going to take something pretty phenomenal in order for that thing to be destroyed, if it's that bad? It's going to take something pretty conclusive. It's going to take something with finality. It's going to take something that's a fact of history. And my Bible tells me, Galatians 2 and 20, I have been crucified with Christ. And Romans 6 and 6 says, we know that our old man was crucified with Christ. And that means that at the same time and the same place that Christ was crucified, it was there that this usurper was crucified with Christ. There on the same cross. Now, it's not hard for us to understand that because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ that was shed 2,000 years ago, that our sins were washed away, our deeds were dealt with by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we've been cleansed, and we've been justified, and we've been given the assurity of eternal life in Christ Jesus. That's not hard to understand, is it? And it's not hard to understand that we can come back there anytime we need it, that if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness. Let me ask you this question. At the time of Calvary, right back there on Good Friday on Calvary, were your sins, the sins you've committed in your life, at that point in time, were they past, present, or future? All. Well, you see, all of your sins were dealt with back there. Even the ones that I'll commit next Wednesday was dealt with at the cross of Calvary. The blood of Jesus Christ atones for all sin. I don't understand how God works, except that the Bible tells me it's so, that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from our sins. What do I have to do? I simply reach out by faith and I receive it and I accepted it, and then I reckon that it's so. Is that right? I reckon that it's so. I reckon that the blood of Jesus Christ. You see, sometimes I think this word reckon confuses us in Romans. You all know the one I'm talking about, Romans 6 and verse 11. But on that time that you were initially saved, you came to your forgiveness of sins. You had to reckon pretty heavily for the next three or four days and maybe for six weeks. You had to reckon that your sins were forgiven. You just kept coming back to the truth until it became reality, and you realized that your sins were gone. Praise God, they're gone. Is that right? You just kept reckoning. But when was the deed done? When was it done? It was done at the cross of Calvary. Now, in the same way, so it was that this vile usurper in our lives called self and the flesh, it was crucified with Christ on the cross. Romans chapter 6 and verses 4, 5, and 6 deal with it. It says we were buried with Christ. We were buried into his death. We were put into Christ Jesus. Let me expand on this just one more time. First Corinthians 1 and verse 30. First Corinthians 1 and verse 30. It tells me, but of him, and it means Almighty God. If you look at the context, it's talking of God Almighty, God the Father. But of God the Father, are you in Christ Jesus? Who put you into Christ? Who put you into Christ? What does this verse tell us? God Almighty put us into Christ Jesus. Now, let's turn to Ephesians. When were you first in God's mind? When were you in God's first provision? When were you in God's thinking? When were you first in Christ Jesus? If you read Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4, when were you first in Christ? Before the creation of the world. Can you imagine that, man? God solved your problem before you were even on the face of the earth. God solved your problem even before Adam sinned. That's the way God is, you know. He solves problems before they even occur. Isn't God neat? And so, he saw you in Christ Jesus. He knew that you were going to express faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, he saw you and chose you in Christ Jesus. Now, if you were in Christ Jesus in God's mind before the foundation of the world, where were you when he was praying in the garden before his death? Where were you? You were in Christ. He was carrying you. He was carrying you. Where were you when he was hanging on the cross? You were in him. And you were crucified, and he was crucified, and there it was done. Your crucifixion is as matter, is a fact of history, as much as the fact of history is that Winston Churchill was prime minister of England. The fact of your crucifixion is just as valid as George Washington was the first president of the United States. Your crucifixion with Jesus Christ is just a fact of history as is the bomb that dropped on Hiroshima some 40 years ago. It's a fact of history. When are you going to believe it? When are you going to accept it? You see, we hear all of these things, these funny terms that seem to come into place. I have to die daily, or I'm dying to self. You don't find those terms in Scripture as relating to the person's death in Jesus Christ. You can't die to self. When will it ever be dead? This ugly, vile thing that says, I want to do it my way. God has to conclusively say it's done. Because if I do it, listen, if I do it, who's done it? Me. Oh, ain't I great? Ain't I great? Now I've died to self. We have to accept the fact that God did it. And there it is. It's done. Now the Bible also tells me in Romans chapter 6 that we were buried with him. What do you do with something that's dead? What do you do with something that's dead? What happens if you don't? You know, my wife and I have a problem. We live on the outskirts of the city back in Kitchener. And she has corn, sweet corn, in a garden. She just loves her garden. But we also have some other things around the property. They're called coons. And if you know anything about corn and coons, they seem to just come together at the right time. And they're sort of a mess in the garden when the coons come around. And so I had to do something about this last year. I started to get rid of them. I'd catch them in a trap. And once I had them in a trap, then I'd shoot them. But I discovered I soon had to bury them. And I got a big hole back in my bush. And I think I have something like 47 coons in it now. And they still come. But one at a time. One at a time. Okay. But I discovered that I just bury them in a shallow grave for the first few times. And I discovered there were some of these big crows and these vultures that come around. And man, could they move that dirt in a hurry. And oh, the stink back there. Fellas, if God's Word says that I've been crucified with Christ, you and I have been crucified with Christ, is this maybe why we've got some stink around the house? Is this why we've got some stink around the church? Because we're dead and we don't know it? And we've got to have a funeral and get this thing over with? You understand what I'm saying? Is this why there's some problems in some of our Christian marriages? Because God has already done away with the self-life. But we are trying to make the old corpse work. You know, I can do it. God, help me. Help me a little more, God. Help me. God wants to see that we are nothing. Wants us to see that we are nothing. And let's move on to some good news. In verse 6 of chapter 6 of Romans, it says, not only were we buried with Christ, but in that same resurrection, we were resurrected in newness of life. That now we have a new life. That life is all wrapped up in one called Jesus. We've been resurrected by the very resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe and I trust that I don't say this inappropriately towards you or anybody else in CRF. I don't use the term the crucified life. You see, that's a morbid sort of thing, looking back at the cross and seeing that I'm crucified. But how about looking at Jesus and he lives in me and I can live his resurrected life? Is he victorious over all that will come against me? You see, it's not a crucified life so much as it is a resurrected life. Do you understand what I'm saying, fellas? There's truth in the fact that I can live a crucified life. Yeah, death to self. But let's get our eyes off that and go a step further and realize that the same scripture that tells us that we've been crucified with Christ tells us we've been resurrected in Christ. And if we'd get our eyes on Jesus instead of on sin, then he can provide the victory over sin. God's purpose isn't to expose sin necessarily. As long as we have our focus on Jesus Christ, we can be victorious over sin. Romans 8 and verse 2 says that the spirit of life in Christ Jesus sets me free from the law of sin and death. But if I've got my eyes on the law of sin and death and all my temptations and all my troubles and all my trials, guess what's going to happen? If I realize that I'm going to have to come back here next year for more forgiveness, guess what I'm going to do? I'm going to sin. What happens to a little boy that's told five days a week that he's a bad boy? He's going to be a bad boy. But do you know that the grace of God provides for all the needs that we have and it provides for them in Jesus Christ? Colossians 2 and 10 says, you have been made complete in Christ Jesus. Do you know that 2 Corinthians 5 and the last verse of the chapter says that he who knew no sin was to be made sin for us? Now, how many deeds of sin did Jesus have to do in order to be made sin? God made him to be sin. But why did he do that? So that you could be the righteousness of God. Do you know that Romans chapter 5 tells me, and verse 19 says, it's by one man's disobedience that we're made sinners. Who would that be? Adam. Did you know that the same verse says, by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous? Whose obedience? By whose obedience are you made righteous? Well, why not rejoice in your righteousness? And you see, if I believe I'm the righteousness of God, guess what? Guess what? Will I get an expanded head? No, it's just by the grace of God. But turn to it. 1 Corinthians, we'll show you this right from Scripture. 1 Corinthians chapter, I can't find it now, wrong book, no wonder. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, I think it is. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 34. Someone read it for me, please. Just the first sentence. Don't go too far. Just to the first punctuation mark. Stop. Awake to what? What does that mean? Paul is shaking his New Testament Christians here. He's grabbing them by the neck and he's saying, why don't you wake up and realize that you're the righteousness of God? Why don't you believe instead of all this other stuff that in Christ Jesus you are made the righteousness of God? What's going to be the result of that? Next phrase. And sin not. What's going to happen if you begin to believe that you're the righteousness of God? Oh, listen, fellas, when you're sitting at the 11 o'clock news, the news goes through, you fall asleep like some of you are doing right now. OK. And then one of these real sexy movies comes on. OK. And by the time you get waking up, there's all that gory stuff on the TV screen. And what's going to... Tell me, which is going to turn that temptation away? I better not do that and my wife wouldn't like it. I better not do that. I'm dead to self. I better not do that. I'm in enough trouble with God and God wouldn't like it. Or you might even add to that, that would harm my testimony. There's three ways we try and fight that stuff, isn't it, guys? But what happens if you say, thank God by the grace of God. I'm the righteousness of God and that's against my nature. Do you understand what I'm saying? Is there any fight left? No fight left. But you see, you know that in the New Testament, there are nine references to the fact that Jesus Christ is in us. There are 167 references that tells us who we are in Christ Jesus and tells us about our new nature in Christ Jesus. 167 of them. Now, what's more important then? If the Holy Spirit has said 167 times, this is what you are in Christ Jesus, that you're complete in Him, that you're righteous in Him, that you're holy in Him and He is your holiness. What's the Holy Spirit trying to tell us? 167 to 9. What's more important? In Christ or Christ in us? Well, they're both important. But who we are in Christ is far more important. And fellows, what I'd like to challenge you with is to discover who you are in Christ Jesus. And get your focus on Jesus. And Jesus is the one who's victorious over sin. Realize that I can't do it. And it's only His life that lives in me that's victorious over sin. You can't fight sin. You can't fight temptation. You'll never make it. But Jesus Christ has accomplished it all. And He leads us from victory unto victory. And in Him we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. One more verse. Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 6. I don't know who else has drank out of this glass, but... It says here, By grace ye are saved, and He hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Where's Jesus? Where is He? He's in heaven. Where else is He? He's in us. Where are you? You're in heavenly places, but you're also here. Do you know that Jesus said, The things that I do, the things that you see me do are not me, it's the Father that's in me that does them. Remember that verse? Nod your heads. Stay awake now, come on. Jesus said, It's not me that does them, it's the Father that's in me. Do you know that Jesus refused, He absolutely refused to be the cause of His own effect? In other words, He was totally dependent upon the Father who lived in Him. He didn't do anything of His own volition other than to be obedient to the power of the Father in Him. And while He was walking on the surface of the earth, He says, Don't you know that I'm in the Father? Didn't He say that? And He's in me. And then in John chapter 17, He prayed that God would make each and every one of us have the same life union that He had with the Father so that Christ could be in us and we could be in Christ. Now, do you believe that God would answer the prayer of Jesus? Do you believe that Jesus would pray in the will of the Father? Yes, He did. And fellas, that's exactly what's happened. In John chapter 14 and verse 20, And Jesus said, In that day you will know that I am in the Father, you are in me, and I am in you. And you can have victory over every temptation that comes into your life as long as you are dependent upon the life of the Lord Jesus Christ living in you. If you try it on your own, what's going to happen? Down the tubes. But you can abide in the resurrection life that is yours in Jesus Christ. Now, what do I have to do? Well, we have found that this prayer is helpful. I don't know if you can see that. When you became a Christian, you prayed a sinner's prayer. Is that right? Something you called a sinner's prayer. It had sort of a pattern to it. And if I was talking to men here that weren't saved, I would try to lead them to a sinner's prayer. Is that right? And I have found that in the counseling environment, and as I expose this to men and to women, and show them this pattern of prayer called a selfless prayer. You can't see the title, probably. It's called a selfless prayer. It's way up there in the ceiling. The selfless prayer. This is the prayer of a man, woman, boy or girl who's been trying to live the Christian life. Been trying to live it. And found that it's a failure. And it's impossible. So, what do we have to do? Well, I have to give up my life, right? It's always going to stand in the way. My ways. I have to give up my life. What did Jesus pray when He was preparing for Calvary in Gethsemane? What did He pray? That's right. But you see, every time we've come to a commitment in the Lord Jesus Christ, hear me, haven't we said something like this? God, I commit my life to You, and I will do whatever You want me to do, and I will go wherever You want me to go, and I will say whatever You want me to say, and I will try to do my devotions more faithfully, and I will try to witness to more people. If You will help me. And what we must do is come to our Father and say, Father, I lay down my life as a sacrifice. And I'm going to give You permission to do with it whatever You choose. And that's called surrender. Did Jesus surrender in the Garden of Gethsemane? Did He surrender? He did. Now, you see, we as Christians want this abundant life that we've been talking about. We want this victorious life. But what's repulsive to us? What's repulsive to us? Pardon? Giving up? It's the toughest thing that you guys are faced with, giving up. And you've been exposed to this truth. You've been exposed to the truth of your death with Christ through the satyric crusades, through Canadian Revival Fellowship crusades. And if you're still struggling with sin, God's trying to show you. He's trying to break you. He's trying to bring you to a point of full and complete surrender so that He can do with your life what He chooses. Would that be better than you doing it? Would that be the purpose of God? Would that be the fullness of God? But you see, there's no life until there's death. There's no life until there's death. So this prayer says, Father, I admit that I'm a selfer and I've been struggling in my own resources to live the Christian life. I confess that my life is a failure and a mess. I now give up my life and I affirm with you my death with Christ You could put in here, I also affirm that I've been buried with Christ. I affirm that I've been risen with Christ and that today I'm seated in Him in heavenly places. I give you complete control of myself and everything I'm hanging on to to meet my needs. Do with me whatever you choose. I now thank you that Christ is my life and stroke the words, help me out of your prayer life. Because every time you say, help me, you're contradicting your faith that Jesus Christ is your life. And say something like this, Father, I thank you for the life of Christ, which lives within me and I simply yield to it now and do with me what you choose. Colossians chapter 3, I think it's in verse 3 and 4, it says, when Christ who is our life. In Philippians 1.21, Paul said, it's in Him, or it's for me to live as Christ. And in Acts 17 and verse 28, it says, in Him I live and move and have my being. What does that sound like? Well, it sounds to me like I have my identity in Him. I have my whole sense of value all wrapped up in Jesus Christ. And it's in Him that I live and I move and I have my being. Acts 17 and verse 28, Colossians 3 and verse 4 and Philippians 1.21. And you see, maybe you've received Jesus Christ as your Savior. And perhaps you've received Him and made Him Lord in your life and accepted Him as Lord in your life. How long has Jesus been Lord? How long has He been Lord? Through all of eternity. But there came a day in your life when you accepted Him. You accepted that principle in your life. And there can come a day, and it could be today, that you can accept Jesus Christ as your life. Because He's been it all this time since you were born again. And maybe you didn't know it. Maybe you didn't realize it. But now today you can come and from a heart that's aching because of failure and difficulty, you can accept Him as your life and give up on yours. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you that all of our needs are provided for in Christ Jesus. We thank you that your word says that eternal life is found in Jesus Christ. And I'm sure that everyone in this room would want to know the experience of living the eternal abundant life of the Lord Jesus Christ this afternoon. But Father, in your unique way, with the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, show us just where we are and what steps of faith we have to take and what you've provided for us that we could have victory in each one of our lives. While our heads are bowed, is there someone here, God has showed you something this afternoon? You've seen something different. You've said, yes, that's the answer to my need. Yes. Anyone else? Yes. I'll give you permission to look at the screen. And why not just in the quietness of this moment, nobody moving around. Maybe there's some of you who would like to pray a prayer from your heart just like this. Don't read it, but read it and then make it the prayer of your heart until it becomes real to you. We'll just pause for that moment right now. Father, we thank you that we are able to respond to the work of God as you speak to us by your Holy Spirit, doing us what you must in order to conform us to the image of Christ. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.