In this sermon, the preacher discusses two classes of people mentioned in the Bible. One class experiences the wrath of God, with their blood and strength poured out on the earth. The other class has their blood poured out on the garments of a conqueror from Edom, symbolizing the destruction of sin. The preacher emphasizes the need to recognize the cost of Jesus' sacrifice and to confront the sin of indulging in activities like excessive television watching. The sermon also highlights God's mercy and power, but warns that the guilty will not go unpunished.

I want to speak to you about the Conqueror from Edom. Isaiah 63. I'm going to read the first six verses, then we're going to come back to them. Who is this who comes from Edom, with garments of glowing colors from Bezra? This one who is majestic in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength. It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Why is your apparel red, and your garments like the one who treads in the winepress? I have trodden the wine trough alone, and from the peoples there was no man with me. I also trod them in my anger, I trampled them in my wrath, and their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I stained all my raiment. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption is come. And I looked, and there was no one to help, and I was astonished, and there was no one to uphold. So my own arm brought salvation to me, and my wrath upheld me. And I trod down the peoples in my anger, and I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth. I want you to notice that there's two classes of people mentioned here. There's one class of people who experienced the wrath of God, and their lifeblood, it says, their strength. The King James says their strength is poured out. The word means juices because there's a picture here of a man in a winepress, and the treading of the grapes, and the juice of the grapes. One, the blood is poured out on the earth. In other words, it's wasted. It's just poured out. Their strength is gone. Another group, their blood's poured out on garments. The garments of a conqueror from Edom. The picture here is a prophetic picture here. The prophet Isaiah is speaking of none other than Jesus Christ. And he's coming from Edom. Now, that's very significant because Edom was just across the Jordan Valley. If you read in the Bible about this, the Edomites, Edom, you'll find that Edom was always on the border of Egypt. I mean, of the people of God of Israel, Judah. Always there, just right on the border. The moment an Israelite stepped across the border, there were the Edomites ready to pounce on him. The moment they were to let down their guard just a little bit, there were the Edomites. There's a picture here, prophetic picture. These Edomites represent the sin that just hangs on the borders of so many people's lives. It just hangs on the borders. Now, you know what I'm talking about because there are so many that don't know of this conquering Jesus. And when I talk about a conquering Jesus, I'm not talking about the kind of Jesus that many refer to. This is no holiday Jesus. He's not coming in some great pageant. This is not a Jesus that's just a Jesus of celebration. This is a conquering Jesus. I hear a lot about today about the body of Christ going to conquer this and conquer that and so on and so forth. I've, you know, I've said many times we hear a lot about the fact that people are going to take cities for Jesus. I don't believe we've come here to take this city for Jesus. That's not what God has spoken. I don't believe this city is going to be taken for Jesus. And so say, well, you're in the wrong place. Then you don't have enough faith to believe it. No, what I see happening is I see a lot of people saying, let's take our city for Jesus. Let's take this by storm for Jesus. And all we ever see with all the rhetoric and all that happens and all the words is more and more of the world and the city getting into the church. Now, Jesus is a conqueror. And and and this item. This item represents all that would hinder the Lordship of Jesus Christ in my life or your life. And if you read the history of God's people, the item was always there. And right when the festivals that they had were at their highest, the Israelites oftentimes would let down their guard. And that's when the item came right when the celebration was the greatest, right when it was the highest. And we live in a time where there's more talk about celebration and praise and worship. And I don't mean to belittle that. Obviously, there's worship. But listen, the greatest praise and celebration comes out of someone that's been in touch with the conqueror. His name is Jesus. And that praise and worship flows out of a heart that's been conquered by the Lordship of Jesus. And all of the praise is just empty praise. If my heart and your heart hasn't been conquered, I mean, really possessed by Jesus, then the praise is just empty praise. And oftentimes these itemites would just wait. And they saw the festivals because they knew is what the festivals became, came when the celebration came. There was that tendency to let down the guard. And that's when the itemites came. Oftentimes you read in the Old Testament about when the fields were at the greatest time of harvest, right, right when the harvest was the fullest and right when it was ready to ripen. There was there. Here comes the itemites. They would they would sweep down and and destroy and take that. The attitude is described in Psalm 137. I don't want you to turn there, but listen, it says, remember, oh, Lord, against the sons of Edom, who say, seize it, burn it to its very foundation. That was the that was the heart and the attitude of the itemites. We're going to attack God's people. We're going to rise it. We're going to seize it. And what we can't seize, we're going to burn and we're going to destroy it right down to its very foundations. Now, I want you to understand the devil has a plan like that against every single one of us in this place. That's just that's his purpose. I want to seize everything I can seize and what I can't seize. I want to burn it. I want to destroy it right down to the very root, down to the very foundation. I'll tell you what that means in a Christian's life. If you're here tonight, you don't know Jesus and you've never been born again. The same thing applies. You sometimes think that the devil's after your marriage. And sometimes we think, well, that the devil's after our children. And sometimes we think, well, the devil's after our finances. And sometimes people think the devil's after their victory. And some people think that the devil's after their joy. And some people we go on and on and on. I tell you what he's after. He's after the very core of the foundation of the life of Jesus. He wants to choke it out of you. Because if he can choke the life of Jesus, he's got everything else. If he can choke that out of you, he's got everything else. That's what he's after. And the Bible tells this in Genesis 36. This phrase, Edom is Esau. Edom is Esau. These Edomites had a characteristic about them. You remember Esau is this type. Here's what he said. And Esau said to Jacob, feed me, for I'm faint. Now, that's where these Edomites work. That's the spirit they work off of. That's what we're talking about. It's that thing inside, that thing that's in a person's life that says, feed me, feed me, feed me because I'm faint. And you realize that there are multitudes of people who come to church just for that very reason. If they can just get a spiritual uplift, just feed me because I'm faint. Give me just a little bit of strength. I'm faint. I'm a little weak. There are people who go to read their Bibles because they feel a little weak. That's about all the time they go, but they go because they feel a little weak. They just want to be fed a little bit. Now, there's nothing wrong with wanting to be fed if what you really want is the lordship of Jesus in your life. But when that feeding comes just enough to get you over the hump for victory, if that's what you're looking for, there's an Edomite on your border. If you're not determined that Jesus is going to be everything in your life, there's an Edomite on your border. If you haven't made a decision, I'm not talking about having made a religious decision or walked an aisle, but if you haven't come to the place where you're going to say, God, I want every remnant of compromise gone from my life, everything that's unlike you, and I'll not rest until it's absolutely crushed and destroyed. If that's not in your life, if that's not the call of your heart, there's an Edomite just waiting on your border. It's just the moment, the moment a person's life ceases to move on into Christ likeness. This destructive force of the Edomites rushes in. Listen to me. I'm saying, listen, there's no option in this. You and I are either going to be progressively and every day changed more into the likeness of Jesus Christ or the Edomites are going to come sweeping in. There's no option in it. There's no settling down in this life in Christ. There's a rest. There's a rest, but there's not an easing of the diligence for Christ likeness and obedience. And yet we have voices on every hand telling us that obedience is an option. It's not necessary. If your faith, if your faith leaves a loophole somewhere, unguarded, the Edomites will find it. Are you getting the picture of the Edomites? If purity, if the desire for purity in your life, if it wanes just a little bit, the Edomites are going to rush in like a thief because that's what the Edomites do. Now, I want you to notice what he says. He says, who is this who comes from Edom with garments of glowing colors from Bulsara? Now, there's a reason here that he mentions this. Bulsara was the capital. It was the capital of Edom. It's the very center of Edom. Now, here's a prophetic picture. Here's the speaker and he's looking and he's looking over the valley and he sees a stranger coming and he sees him from a distance and he sees him. It says that he sees him walking in the majestic, the majesty of his apparel and marching in the greatness of his strength. And as this stranger draws closer to him, he cries out and he says, who is this? Actually, my translation says, who is this who comes from Edom? The Hebrew is much more forceful than that. It says, who is this? He's coming from Edom. And there's a reason he's crying that out in astonishment because you see, the Israelites believed that they would never be able to get rid of this Edomite force. They had resigned themselves to believe that there would always be an Edomite on the border. They had finally bought a theology that said, you're always going to have that struggle. It's always going to be right there. Now, I'm not saying there's not always going to be a warfare in your life, but they had bought this theology that says something like this. You know, you really can't expect to overcome the flesh in this life. It's always going to be there. Now, that's a lie. That's not the truth. It's a lie. And there was this theology that said, you're always going to have to put up with the devil ravaging your life. Everybody has a little compromise. You've heard it. Everybody's got a skeleton in their closet. Everybody, one day it'll all be wiped away. One day we'll all be free. One day the power will be broken. But after all, everybody struggles with a little bit of something. I want to tell you, you buy into that and you've just bought into a lie. And I don't want you to misunderstand me. I'm not saying there's not a struggle against sin. You see, the idea of this theology that comes, of this message, is not the gospel at all. It leaves us on this kind of a stand. And that is that, well, even if there's a little compromise, if there's a little bit of lust, if there's a little grief, if there's a little pride, if there's a little bit of this in my life, I mean, after all, I look out and I see everybody else has got a problem too. Nobody's perfect. That's not what this message says. This message says there is a conqueror marching from Edom and he's been in a conflict. The conflict was so strong that his garments, his very garments are bloodstained. I wonder how many people there must have been in that day that settled for the compromise of the Edomites. See, because I read the history of God's people and not only did the Edomites try to hinder them from getting into the promised land, if you read the story of they walked through the wilderness, it was the Edomites who said, you can't pass this way. They were hindering them. You can't go into the promised land. But then after they got there, it was the Edomites who kept sweeping down, who kept rushing in, who kept harassing, who kept defeating. And you read the history of God's people and you find that they came to a place where some of them sort of liked the Edomites. They liked their daughters. Their daughters were fair and they liked to intermarry with their daughters. They liked some of their customs and some of their ways. And see, when that Esau spirit, that character of Esau remains inside you that says, feed me, feed me, feed me, feed me. Something that's always saying, feed me, feed me. You're not wanting to be fed with the presence of the Lord. It's just, you're just wanting to be fed with something just to get you over the hump. Not so that you'd be totally devoted and possessed by the Lord, but something just feeds you, not to get you, just to get you by that day. Listen, if that's where you and I ever come to, if we come to a place of satisfaction right there, there will be no victory. It'll always be there. That Edomite will always be on the edge, always on the border. I know some have learned to live in peace with their compromise. They get convicted in a meeting, maybe last night, maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow night, but you get convicted in a meeting and that conviction raises on the inside and you feel bad, you may even come forward for prayer. You might sit in your seat and say, well, I believe God's going to overcome it. But then after you're gone from the conviction, after you get out of the presence of the drawing, then the compromise comes back in because the heart isn't settled on Jesus being everything. So the desire for purity begins. It begins to wane. There are people who say we can't expect to live holy lives. There's a gospel. There's a gospel that says you can't expect to live a holy life. And when I talk about holiness, I'm not talking about the outward things. I'm talking about a purity of the heart that's centered on Jesus. But this passage of scripture is telling us there's a conqueror. He's coming from Edom. And it says that he's coming from not only Edom, but Borsra. Borsra was the very center of strength of the Edomites. It was their capital city. And here's the prophetic picture he's giving us. Here's a conqueror. Here's Jesus. And he's coming right from the very heart of the strength of the enemy. And his garments are bloodstained. They've been in a battle. The sword has been dented. It hadn't been an easy thing. There's been agony. There's been suffering. But he comes out marching as a victor. And he declares that not only is the enemy defeated, but the very heart, the very center of his strength is defeated and demolished. Now, that's the gospel. The gospel is that if you and I are walking in the lordship of Jesus, and I'm not talking about sinless perfection, I'm talking about victory over sin. And I want you to notice what he says. When this, when this who sees, this one who sees him coming, ask who it is. He says in verse two or verse one, it is I who speak in righteousness. Mighty to say. I think Brother David said this last night, but there'll be no revival without righteousness. There will be no conquering without righteousness. None. There are those who saying that this kind of a message that has to deal with sin first is a negative message. I've never known what's positive about being bound by sin. When one of the, when one of the major ministries was exposed, sin was exposed, there was a thing in the Dallas paper where a man made a statement. And this was the statement he made. He said the devil is tearing up the body of Christ everywhere. And what we need to do just come together in love and unity. He said, I don't know about you, but I don't need to hear about a Jesus who's going to judge my sin. I need to hear about a Jesus full of love and mercy. That's not the Jesus spoken of here. See, Jesus doesn't come to condemn. He comes to free and release. But he's got to convict. This says he doesn't come. This message of victory over sin and that there must be sin is very explicit. It's very plain. Here's what he's saying. He says, I am the conqueror from Edom. I've coming speaking to my people and I'm going to speak a word of righteousness to them. They're going to hear the word of righteousness and their blood is either going to be poured out on the ground in judgment or it's going to be poured out on my garments in freedom. I'm either going to conquer them by conquering their heart or they'll be destroyed with the Edomites that they love. That's what he's saying right here. I wonder if we really believe that. I'm not saying that to be smart or cute or to speak down to anybody here, but I wonder if we really believed that God was so going to judge those areas of compromise in our life. I wonder if we wouldn't just stop now and get on our faces before a holy God. If we saw what this prophet saw in this message, I wonder if we wouldn't be stopped in our tracks and say, oh God, I, more than anybody else in this place, need your mercy, your grace, and your strength. I need to be conquered by Jesus. You see, what he's saying is, it's I who speak in righteousness mighty to save. He says, I'm coming as a conqueror I'm not going to negotiate with any compromise in anyone's life. And I want to set up a standard of holiness and righteousness. And that's what he's saying. That's and verse two. Notice what he says. Verse two. Why is your apparel red in your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? I've trodden through the wine press alone from the peoples. There was no man with me. I also trod them in my anger and I trampled them in my wrath. And their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments. And I stained all my raiment. The symbol of the bloods here. But, you know, we've even learned how to pervert the symbol of the blood. We've learned we've learned how to just quote the blood as if it were some magical word. Sometimes the blood of Jesus is used as if it were some sort of a mystical covering. Well, I'm under the blood. I've got it under the blood like somehow this blood is just going to cover everything and everything's going to be alright even if I have my compromise. That's not this message. That's not what was spoken of with Jesus. You find in Revelation this passage that says describing the saints that we've washed our robes and they've been made white in the blood of the Lamb. In other words, sin has been conquered. We've been conquered and sin has been conquered in our lives. The blood of Jesus is not something we just throw around as a phrase. I want to say it again. It's not some mystical covering that just excuses us. It doesn't excuse sin. It doesn't cover sin. Nor does it allow itself to be exported. It destroys Edom. If we've genuinely been touched by the blood of Jesus, it destroys the Edomites. Makes no compromise with it. It goes on in verse 9 and it says in all their affliction He was afflicted. I want you to think about that. See, this theology that's not the gospel, this message, again it says we just have to endure the Edomites. And I'm so convinced that this message has settled down in the hearts of so many people. Something hanging there on the borders. And you've gone from place to place, from person to person, prayer here, prayer there. We keep looking for something that's going to change it. Something that somehow is just going to wipe it away. Just keep looking for something. My friends, we don't have to look any further. Because if there's something there that's waging war against us, an Edomite on the border, there's a compromise somewhere inside. That Edomite's been able to look down from the hillside and see a weak place, a place where the faith has been let down, where purity is able to come in and ravage time and time and time again. And oftentimes when it comes the strongest is when the harvest has been the greatest. Are you hearing what I'm saying? I want you to get this part out of the message that I believe. I believe that there's a victory over every Edomite in your life and my life. And I've come to the place if I see a compromise or an Edomite hanging on the border of my life, I'm not looking to see what in my future is letting it stay there. In my life right now, what's letting it stay there? And I'm also convinced of this. I don't care how strong the power, there's a conqueror from Edom that's come from the very center of the strength of that thing and he's able to overcome it in my life and destroy it once and forever. This phrase and all the affliction he was afflicted, it's thrown around again like a covering. I've listened to people. I've read books of counseling that said don't forget Jesus died for all your sins. The blood of Jesus has just washed you away. You're all right. My friends, listen, the blood of Jesus hasn't done its work unless Edom is being conquered. I believe in the blood of Jesus. Don't misunderstand me. See, this scripture says that he trod. I have trodden the wine trough and salvation is not through any works. It's not through any way. It's not through any method. It's Jesus alone. Only he can do it. And I'm not advocating that there's something about the blood of Jesus that's not right and are not powerful enough to do it. What I'm saying is just the opposite. I'm saying this. I'm saying we need to come to a place where we're not satisfied with any gospel. When you begin to hear a gospel that begins to tell you in any way that what you're compromising with is all right. There's no problem on the inside. You know what your life's like. When you hear a gospel that begins to come forth and says, well, you're covered by the blood when you know things are not right in your life, that we come to a place where I said, no, no, that's not the word. The word is I can have victory over this thing. The word of God is that I don't have to live with this thing. Do you really believe that? No, this is not a message with no grace and no mercy. It says in the angel of his presence, first nine saved them in his love and in his mercy, he redeemed them. I want you to look at verse five and I looked and there was none to help no one to help. But I was astonished and there was no one to uphold me to uphold. And so my own arm brought salvation to me. You know what we're talking about? We're talking about salvation. Salvation is not something that happened to you back in 1963. Salvation is not something that happened to you when you had a born-again experience. Salvation is a war with Jesus Christ right now. Right now where every item I in your life is being conquered and destroyed and every compromise is being presented to a holy God and the blood of Jesus is destroying that thing in my life in your life. That's salvation anything short of that's not salvation at all. As a matter of fact, it's a damning message. It's a message of damnation sending people to have anything short of that victory. See, I know that you and I first have to come to a place where we're absolutely convinced of No matter what it is, no matter what it is, it's holding on all these years have struggled. See people get lulled to sleep because they begin to think well, I know I love God. I know I love Jesus, but why can't overcome this thing? And they cry out. They say, well, you know, I love Jesus with all my heart and yet I've got this lust raging on the inside. What's my problem? The problem is the devil's got a place in the heart. I didn't say you didn't love the Lord, but if you accept the gospel that says I love you Jesus with all my heart, yet I got this thing that I just can't overcome something's holding me something's holding me and you don't look down deep on the devil. Are you hearing what I'm saying? I'm not I'm not exaggerating when I say this, but the majority and I have a figure in mind, but I won't even quote it for fear of not being believed, but the majority of the gospel that goes forth doesn't say this. It's a loving gospel. It's a gospel that says even though you're even though you've got this habit that strangling you. It's all right. Don't worry. Jesus understands. Oh, do you understand that if you really believe that's the gospel you're headed to hell. You say what you're leaving me absolutely stripped. What am I going to do? I've done everything I know to do. There's nothing else you can do except come to God and say God, but this says I don't have nothing. You can do about it. God, God, I want to see you. I want to see you marching those would have a problem with lust. I want to see you marching out of the porno shops down here on Times Square. Not just coming out of the porno shops as a victor having destroyed that thing, but coming from the very seat behind it, which is all the strength to destroy it all the way from the gutter to the glitter of this city, this victory. But here's where the victory lies. Here's where it is. What's God looking for? He says right here what he's looking for. Asking of my life. What is it that you want from me? I've done everything I know to do. I've been to every conference that I can think about. I do pray some. I don't know how else I can do anything different. What do you want from me? Here's what he says. Verse 8. For he said surely there are my people sons who will not deal falsely. That's what he's looking for. God is looking for sons who won't deal falsely. If he can get a son who won't deal falsely or a daughter who won't deal falsely. If I can get a son who won't deal falsely he can get a wife who won't deal falsely. He has a wife and a son. And he has a feel pretty bad about it. I used to feel this was wrong. He said, until I heard and he mentioned another famous man who's well known, has written a lot of books. He says, until I heard so-and-so say that they were hooked on them, he said, then I knew it was all right. You see, that's what the spirit of the Edomites does. Instead of saying, this thing is destroying my life with the Lord. This thing is robbing me of my time. This thing is taking away my mind. This thing is creating something inside me I don't want. Instead of doing it, we deal falsely with God. We say, wait a minute. So-and-so's got something. So-and-so's got this problem. They've got that problem. I must be all right. I'm convinced that's why most people are hooked on television. Because it's so easy to find somebody else that says, well, you know, I've got a television. It's so easy to find somebody else to say, well, you know, I lust every once in a while. I mean, I, everybody does it. I'm not saying that to be funny. I'm being as dead serious as I can. If we don't understand that that's such a lie from the pits of hell, that the gospel of Jesus Christ says, no matter what's in my life, there's to be purity and holiness. And if I won't deal falsely with God, he'll produce it in my life. That's what the gospel says. And there will be no victory until we come to the place where we say every other gospel is a false and phony gospel. I don't care who's preaching it. That's okay. But here's the secret of it right here. Here's the secret. Verse nine says, in all their affliction, he was afflicted and the angel of his presence saved them. Now listen to me carefully. When it says the angel of his presence saved them, the word presence there means faces. Oftentimes you'll find even in the Old Testament, you find the showbread, the showbread, you've heard of the showbread that was in the tabernacle. It's called the bread of his presence. Literally in Hebrew, it means the bread of faces. Now, here's what it means. When it talks about faces, it's not face singularly, it's face, plural faces, plural, because God has more than one face. See, there are those people that want to look to the mercy of God as one face and not see the justice of God. He has another face. Now, let me read something from Nahum. Don't turn there, but listen, it says in Nahum one, a jealous and avenging God is the Lord. The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries. He reserves wrath for his enemies. You say, well, that doesn't include me. Yet the scripture says in the New Testament that anytime the mind is set on pleasing the flesh, feed my flesh, feed me. You're hostile toward God and you're an enemy of God. Paul said in Philippians three, eight, for many walk of whom I've often told you, and now I tell you even weeping that they're enemies of the cross of Christ. You see, what to be an enemy of the cross doesn't just mean to not believe in the cross. To be an enemy of the cross is to talk about the blood of Jesus and yet not talk about victory over sin. To be an enemy of the cross is to be able to use the phrases like some mystical covering and all the blood of Jesus has brought us grace. Just look to the cross, take it to the cross. Listen to me. I grew up in a denomination. I grew up in a church. I heard every Sunday, take it to the cross, take your sins to the cross. At the end of every message, we sang just as I am, just as I am without one plea, just as I am. Listen to me. God can take you just as you are. It burning on the inside of you is a desire to no longer be like you are ever again. And I want to tell you, I walked that aisle. I walked it more than once. And where I come from, it was real popular to rededicate your life. That's all I knew. And so I would get convicted of a sin. I knew it was wrong. I knew somehow on the inside I love God. Something on the inside told me I love God. I've done everything that I know to do. But I want to tell you something that was always a compromise. And you know what I'm talking about. If you're here tonight in that Edomites hanging on the board or something you battled, you fought with. I want to tell you something. I wouldn't come to this city if I didn't think I could come here and to declare a gospel that no matter what you're bound with, I don't care what kind of gutter you've been in. I don't care how bad your family life's been. I don't care how much you've been abused as a child. I don't care what alcoholic home you grew up in. I don't care how much drugs you've been exposed to. I don't care how low the gutter is. I don't care how much your heart's caught up in the high finance and the corporate greed. It doesn't matter. If I didn't know there was a gospel that said there's a conqueror from the very center and core of that power wouldn't be here. I wouldn't come to a city like this if I didn't know that. But when we leave an ounce of that compromise, I'm telling you, you'll have a momentary victory. Just like the Edomites, the Israelites wandered along and they said, well, the Israelites, they didn't get attacked. And they would go, a week would go by, a month would go by, six months go by, no Edomites around. They let down their guard. There it is. And some people think that's the normal Christian life. It's not the normal Christian life. And I don't know about you, but I've come to a place where an Edomite hangs around on my border. I know the problem's not God. The problem's me. And I'm going to get on my face before his faces until he shows me what it is in my heart that's giving ground to that. And if a person will do that, that's your answer for victory. Here's what he says in all the reflection, he was afflicted and the angel of his presence saved them. I want you to turn with me to a scripture. Turn with me. If you would. To Exodus 23. Exodus 23, we're going to see this angel. Exodus 23. I'm going to come back to Isaiah 63. It's probably too late now, but if you've got a phone there, keep it there. Exodus 23. I want you to see who the angel of his faces is. I think, you know, but let me just say it this way. The angel of his faces is the angel of his face. It's the one in whom the face of God has been made clear. It's the one in whom the face of what God's really like is made clear. You know, there's a gospel that tells us what God's like, but then look at all of his faces. It encourages you don't get under that condemning message. Don't don't get bound up by legalism and lawlessness. Now, there is a legalism and there is a lawlessness. But it's not called dealing with sin. Now, you see, when you're really seeking his face, you know that Jesus is the only answer. You know, he's the only way you know, there's nothing you can do to work your way to victory. Most of us have tried just about every way on the face of this earth. But there is a diligent coming to seek the face of almighty God and saying, Lord, I'll not turn loose of you. I'll not let you go. I'm not going to compromise and everything you show me that's unlike yourself. I don't care who's got it. I don't care who's doing it. I don't care how many people say it's all right. I don't care what their stature is. I don't care how popular they are. I don't care how many books they sell. I don't care how many tapes they sell. I don't care how big their church is. If somebody tells me that it's a little bit all right, I'm getting away from there because it's not the gospel. Now, what I'm saying to you is an encouraging word. I'm saying the reason you can say that because he promises there's a conqueror from the very source and seat and center, a center of whatever the devil's holding you in to conquer it, destroy it and get it out of your life and set you free. Exodus 23, here's what he says. Verse 20. Behold, look what he says. I told you that the one who reveals the face of Jesus, that's this angel. Let me read 2 Corinthians 4, 6 before I read from Exodus 23. It says, for God who said light shall shine out of darkness. I don't care how dark the darkness light shall shine out of darkness is the one who is shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. That's the face, the face of Jesus. Nahum goes on to say that the Lord is slow to anger and great in power. The King James says the Lord is, I believe, full of mercy and he's great in power. What does that mean? Except that God has enough mercy and enough power to deliver you from whatever holds you. His face is merciful it's omnipotent and powerful. But then the next part of that first says, but he will by no wise leave unpunished the guilty. His faces. Are you getting the picture? There's the face of mercy, the face of omnipotent, mighty power, but the face of justice. If you leave out the face of judgment and justice and only have the face of mercy, you have a perverted false gospel with no power to change anyone's life. But here's the promise to those who come to him with all their heart and say, God, I want to know all your faces. I don't just want to know about your mercy. Let me answer that man's question. Who needs a God who's going to condemn someone of their sins? I do. I do. I do. And I'll tell you something else. I need him more every day. I need a God who's going to say to me, I don't care how good it looks on the outside. I'm not going to tolerate that in your life anymore. I need a God who'll say that to me. I need a God who's merciful enough and loves me enough that he can recognize what's about to destroy me and my family and my children and say to me, no more. I need that kind of a God. If you'll come before all of his faces into his presence, see, but you don't understand. I've tried to come to God before. You don't understand. I've been there. And I know that every time there was something in my life and you know it too. Every time there was something in my life that I wrestled with where the Edomite stayed on the border. At some point, God showed me there was something in my heart that wasn't pure. And it never left until I saw the impurity and took it to him and say, take it, God. Am I telling you the truth? No, no, no. Exodus 23, verse 20, behold, I'm going to send an angel before you all like this to guard you, to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I've prepared. Be on your guard before him. And here's the key. Obey his voice, not the voice of man, not what somebody else says he's like, what he's like. Come before his faces, come before his presence. Let your heart be exposed to every part of his character, his judgment, his severe judgment. You don't have to fear the judgment of God. You don't have to fear the wrath of God. You don't have to fear the anger of God. Not if you recognize a conqueror coming from Edom who has garments that are bloodstained and that's your blood on those garments. You remember in the book of Revelation, in fact, I want to read it. Don't turn there. I'm going to read it before going further here. Listen to me. See if you recognize anything strange about this verse. And I saw heaven open, behold, a white horse and he who set upon it is called faithful and true and in righteousness, in righteousness, he judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire and upon his head are many diadems. I don't believe we'll ever get free unless we see that Jesus right there. A kingly Jesus with eyes like a flame of fire that as you get before his presence, it pierces to the very soul, to the very marrow, to the very inner heart and says, I don't feel comfortable in a whole presence of a holy God with this in my life. His eyes are a flame of fire and upon his head are many diadems. He has a name written upon him, which no one knows except himself. And he's clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean were following him, white horses. Notice this. And from his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it he may smite the nations. He'll rule them. I say he'll rule them with a rod of iron and he treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the almighty. And on his robe and on his thigh is a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But now get the picture. Listen, he's clothed with a robe dipped in blood and those following him are clothed in fine linen, white and clean, following him on white horses. You notice anything strange about that? There's something very strange about that. The strange thing about that is that it ought to read that he's riding on a white horse, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, and following him is a group of people stained with blood. That's the way it ought to read. I say that's the way it ought to read because he's not the center. You and I are. He's not the one with the problem. You and I are. He's the one with the answer. He's the one who is the answer. It doesn't describe an army coming like that. You see, the picture in Revelation pictures the one who should be white and clean as bloodstained. And then it pictures the ones who should be bloodstained as white and clean. That's what he means. If you will obey my voice, if you'll come to my word in obedience, if you'll obey my voice, come before my faces, not just one aspect of my face, all of my faces. Let my word judge you. Let my word deliver you. Yes, it hurts. The only reason a knife ever hurts those when something's alive. Come and let it judge me. And then he says, verse 21, be on your guard before him and obey his voice. I know something about those who've come before his presence. They're standing before his faces. You know what they don't do? They don't come to God, confess it, get prayed for and feel a little better and walk out. They come before his face, having been judged by the sin, the word having pricked their heart, pierced their heart. They're at a place where they're saying, God, I don't belong in your holy presence with what I see in my life. But Lord, I thank you that I can come there by your mercy. And I'm coming because only you have the power to change me. It's part of your face, your faces, and you come before the Lord and and you feel changed, you feel touched by the Lord. But you don't walk out without being on your guard. If the Holy Spirit and the blood of Jesus really did a work, you walk out from the presence of God, hating that thing, saying I'm going to deal with every compromise. Now, everything that lends itself to feeding this thing, I will get rid of it. I want to destroy it. I'm going to crush it under me. I'm going to watch for it every day. I'm not going to go through the morrow like I went through yesterday. I won't be on my guard to destroy the enemy. I'm going to look for every item of order, everything. First, 21 again, be on your guard before him and obey his voice. Do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgression. Please don't miss that. If you're rebellious toward him, if you turn away from obeying his voice, he will not pardon your transgression. I don't care what anybody tells you. Without a walk of obedience, there's no pardon of transgression. You say, you mean I have to be obedient before I get pardoned? No, but you have to come and God reads your heart and says, here's the one who wants to follow me. And you're willing to walk in the obedience that he supplies the strength to walk in uncompromisingly. It's not something you work up, it's something you get in his presence. Now, here's what he says. First, 22. But if you will truly obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. I, God will do that. God says your role is to make your hearts clean before me, willing to walk in obedience. I want to say something else. There's a gospel says, well, if you're just willing, that's it's more than that. You know, we have a lot of people that say, well, I'm willing, I'm willing. If God just do sent my life, I'm willing. No, if God doesn't do something in my life or your life, it's an indication. Something in our heart is not willing because he's a conqueror that goes to the very source of the power of the strength of the enemy. And his enemies become those who plagued us and held us in bondage. We have a conqueror from Eden. And then he says, verse 23, for my angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Jebusites. Here's what I want you to see. And I will completely, not partially, completely destroy them. Your part, you shall not worship their gods nor serve them, nor do according to their deeds, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their sacred pillars and pieces. God says you come with the willingness to deal with all the enemies, all the compromise, and then all of the power of source behind those things, the very center of the power behind it. Listen, the gods that they worship, that wasn't the power. Their sacred pillars weren't the power. It was the parasites and the Hittites, the Canaanites, the Jebusites, the power behind them that animated those things. And deeper than that, it was the power of Satan himself that animated those idols. Paul said an idol is nothing, an idol is nothing. But you go worship it and you worship demons. God says, I'll come to the very heart of it. I won't just deal with the idol. I won't just clean you up on the outside. He's not interested in that. I didn't say he wasn't interested in making you clean. I said he's not interested in just cleaning up the outside. He wants to get to the very core of the power behind what you and I do until he has total possession of our heart. And then he completely destroys whatever holds us. Do you believe that? Now, I want you to turn back to Isaiah 63 and then I'm going to close. Isaiah 63. Isaiah 63. Here's where I start with this. In all their affliction, verse nine, he was afflicted. What does he want? Verse eight, sons who won't deal falsely. That's where you start. You say, God, I'm not going to deal falsely with you anymore. I'm going to just admit to you, I'm going to say to you that the problem that I've got, it's not because of my past. It's not because of something that's hanging on to me, that's down deep inside, that somehow my past is responsible for. God, whatever has got me is because I'm practicing it right now. There's a compromise in my life right now. Has nothing to do with my past. That may have contributed to it, but God, the problem's me. And I don't want to deal falsely with you anymore. God, all I want to do is come before your faces, your mercy, your omnipotent power to mightily save and deliver me and your justice. I want to be opened up, Lord, and I want every compromise dealt with. I never want to be the same. I may come to you just as I am, but I never want to be like I am again. You do that. And the Bible says in his love and his mercy, he redeemed them. He lifted them and carried them all the days of old. He'll lift you and he'll carry. You know what happens? You begin to see something and I'm convinced we have to see this. This was no holiday. Jesus. I said that this was no celebration, Jesus. This was a Jesus who came from Edom, from Bosra, and he's been in a battle. There was affliction involved. But what you and I really see, the power involved in the price that it took for us to be free of sin. You know what it took to set me free from lust? It took Jesus Christ dying on the cross. That's what it took. Not so the blood could cover my lust and I can say, well, I'm covered and going to heaven with my lust. No, no. The Bible says that he came to destroy the works of the devil. And when I see that that's the cost involved, there comes a new impulse on the inside, a new heartbeat on the inside. And there's a new desire for a holy life. You want to know how you've really been touched by Jesus? Whatever experience you had, whether you cried, whether you didn't cry, whether you had goosebumps, whether you didn't have goosebumps, whether you felt broken, whether you didn't feel broken. You know, you've been in his presence when you leave that place with a love for obedience. Then God's touched your heart and you may look at the problem and say, you know, I hope I've got enough strength to overcome this. You need to understand that he walked through the wine press alone. You say, well, how do I know it's going to be different? I mean, I don't. There's been times in my life when I felt more than I feel right now. How do I know? Here's how you know this time there's something beating like a new heartbeat on the inside and it's a love for obedience. God, I have got to walk out of here, obedient to you. You say, wouldn't that work? No, because it comes from the inside. In his love, he redeemed them and he pours that love through the power of the Holy Spirit. It says in Romans five, he sheds it abroad. He pours it on the inside and it begins to shed out and says, now, God, I just, I love obedience. I want to love obedience. If you're willing to do that tonight, there's not anything here can hold you. As I'll say it again, I don't care if it's in the corporate greed. I don't care if it's in the glitter behind the closed doors and all of the wealth and fame and all of the things that are in the city. If it's in the lowest gutter from the gutter to the glitter of this city, there's a conqueror from Edom and he came from the very center and source and seat of power that's declared his ugly name and raised his head in this city. And he's come with bloodstained garments. And he said, I didn't come as a hero. I didn't come. Jesus won't be a hero. He said, I didn't come as a hero. I didn't come to some pageant and celebration. I came to destroy sin in those who will walk with me. And he is the one majestic in his apparel, mighty to say, deliver and conquer. I want you to bow your head with me. I want you to bow your head. I want you to believe the Lord tonight. I want you to say, God, I'm going to be different. And tonight with the boldness in the balcony down here, I'm going to ask you to do something first. I want you with every head closed. I want to pray first. And Steve, if you'll come and it seems to get ready. I want you to just say, God, let me see that compromise. You know, nobody I'm convinced will ever deal with the sin of television unless they see the cost. It cost Jesus with bloodstained garments and the sin of sitting before that for hours. And I'm not going to hark on that. I don't think anybody will ever see that sin of just picking up that pornography magazine just the one time, just the one time of walking in to a market where they sell them or walking past a newsstand and just lingering and looking with the eyes a little longer and then walking on. I don't think you'll ever be free until you come to a place where you say, God, to get rid of my lust, to get rid of my spiritual laziness, my backsliding, that thing that holds me, my greed. I want to see more than I've ever seen before, those bloodstained garments, the cost. The cost. And God, I'm not interested in the blood of Jesus that will just cover my sin. I'm interested in the blood of Jesus that will absolutely deliver me of every single compromise in my life without reservation. Lord, I'm making that renewed commitment to you tonight. I'm not rededicating my life. I'm not making a decision to turn over a new leaf. I'm coming to die. I'm coming to die to everything about myself. And I realize, God, that that's not going to happen overnight. But everything that I know that needs to die is going to die tonight. And I'll walk with you, God. I want to love for obedience. That's what I want. I don't want to be satisfied with where everybody else is going. I want to love obedience. Lord, I want to be pleasing unto you with a walk that does not tolerate any gospel. No matter where it comes from. That says, I won't be bound by this thing. I refuse to receive that gospel. Will you say that to the Lord tonight? If you're willing to say that and God's touched your heart, he's spoken to you and you know tonight there's something he's dealing with, a compromise that has to go. I want you, first of all, just to stand. Would you stand? Don't be ashamed. You stand.