In this sermon, the speaker discusses the consequences of sin in the life of a Christian. He emphasizes that these consequences are costly and should not be taken lightly, regardless of one's financial status or proximity to death. The speaker warns that sin not only leads to the loss of rewards in heaven, but also to the loss of joy, peace, and other blessings in the present life. He compares the importance of setting goals and finding the best way to achieve them in building a railroad to the importance of setting spiritual goals and focusing one's emotions on them. The speaker encourages listeners to seek the things above and control their emotions in order to succeed in the Christian life.

Will you turn please to Colossians chapter 3, third chapter of Colossians. We've been reminding ourselves since yesterday morning that God's purpose in dealing with us is that we might be blessable, that we might be usable. I shall read as a scripture, not as a text, verses 9 through 12 of the first chapter of Colossians, just to encourage your heart and to let you know that God's design is one of blessing. For this cause also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to be hopeful and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that, more literally, you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, fruitful, every good work, increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. Now this is God's design. This is his purpose. This is what he's seeking to do in your life, to enrich, to bless, and to use you. Now will you turn to the third chapter. Perhaps as we read this third chapter you may feel that this is hardly his design because he becomes very pointed and very direct. If I were to give this message a title, I think I would have to call it, Things You Shouldn't Pray About. Part of our problem is we pray about things that God told us to do, and we try to do the things he told us to pray about. You can just get this straightened out, and obey when he's commanded us to obey, and pray when he told us to pray. See, we reverse it. We feel that if we're praying about it, that's a spiritual service, and that that satisfied the Lord. You know, you say to your mother, now do the dishes, and they look at you and say, dear mother, please do the dishes. Sometime along the way, they're going to get straightened out on that, aren't they? You're going to make, see to it that they understand that things that they're supposed to obey cannot be accomplished simply by asking you to do it. Now, in a sense, that's the dilemma we have here. God has said, you do it. Do it. But it's so much easier for us to say, Lord, you do it. And of course, that excuses us. As long as we're praying about it, we can continue because God has an answer. But when we really come to grips with the fact that there are certain things in our lives which, where God has made us totally responsible, put it this way, he made us. He knows all about us. He knows the things that we can do. He knows the things that we can't do. And God has done absolutely everything for you in Christ that you cannot do for yourself. But he refuses to demean you to the point of doing for you what he knows you can do for yourself. And consequently, if we could just get it straight, and perhaps tonight as we go to the word, well, you listen as I read, and notice the use of the imperative, the understood imperative, or the direct imperative, where the Spirit of God, through Paul, is commanding us to do something. In your mind, mentally underline the imperative. Or if you want to be somewhat more practical, use your pen and underline it. Then you'll recall them in the days to come. So I'll begin reading with the first verse of the third chapter. If, is the first word, but we'll change it. It's better understood, since. You then be risen with Christ. Seek those things which are above. They set us on the right hand of God. Set perfection on things above, not on things on the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When, who is our here, then shall you also appear with him in glory. Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth. Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry for which things sake. The wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience, in the which you also walked sometime when you lived in them. But now ye also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. I, not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds, and to put on the new man, which is renewed knowledge after the image of him that created him where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all, and in all. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, hearts of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also you are called in one body, and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ be with you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord, and whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks by him. And from there on it gets personal. Then he starts to meddle. So we'll stop there and you read that for yourself, that latter part of the chapter. Notice what he has said, put off, put on, mortify. We've been trying to understand something of conditions that God has established for us to be used and blessed of him. Last, yesterday morning I pointed out that there are several things that happen when you as a Christian, and I speak to you tonight as those whose faith is in Jesus Christ, when you, when I permit in my life, or you and yours, that which grieves him. The first thing that happens, we fellowship with God is broken. The second thing, God no longer uses us until the issue is dealt with. The third, prayer is unanswered. The fourth, we're exposed to the attacks of the enemy. And the fifth consequence is that we fall into the chastened hands of God. Now you can't afford any of these. Absolutely not. They're all far too expensive. I don't care how much money you have in the bank. I don't care how nearly grown your family may be. These are, I'm not even concerned about how close you might be to seeing him face to face. You can't afford the consequences, these five consequences of sin in the life of a Christian. You say, well if I'm a Christian, if I die, I'll go to heaven, I'll lose my reward. You're going to lose a lot more than that. You may lose a patch of skin. You may lose some joy and peace. You're going to lose many, many things. Sin is very expensive. We've got to understand it. We've got to learn to to look at it the way God does. Now we'll go back and notice some of the things which can beset us. In this fifth verse, I see these things as brigands along the highway. Thinking back to England of the time of John Wesley, for instance, when he rode the toll roads of England and said that he paid more toll fees than any man of his generation. In lawless England of the time, there were brigands that would infest the highway and would seek by every means possible to rob the travelers. And so I see here some brigands of your past that would leap out at you and would seek to work you ill and hurt you and destroy you. There are reasons to think they can because these things did characterize us, we're told. We also walked in them when we lived in them. As we move on in time, we could expect almost anywhere along the journey to have one of these these shades of the past, these footpaths of yesterday, these things which we've renounced leap out at us and and try to destroy us. But what are they? Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. Now if any of these things should touch us, obviously the consequences we've mentioned occur. We are in trouble. The moment that we sense that one of these things or any of them have attacked us, then we've got to understand what we're to do about it. Suppose for instance you've been attacked by one of these. We've seen what we have to do whenever we permit sin in our life. Let's look on however to the eighth verse and see some of the other dogs that could bark at us, the wolves that could attack us in the journey. Anger, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech, lying. These are some of the things which might occur in our lives. Now what do we do? What happens when this or anything that that this wonderful father into his family we've been born? Well we've seen that we have to judge us and judge yourself. No way to be apprehended. The spirit of God through Paul there concerning communion said judge yourself. You take the initiative in it. Don't wait for the infection we talked about to set in. Then as the prophet Isaiah said, let the wicked forsake his way. The unrighteous man is far and let him return unto the law. Be through with it, be done with it. Forsake it and we've seen then that we confess it with a promise that if we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Driving down the highway perhaps you have seen as I have these large stainless steel tank trucks and many times they'll have on the back of a message to the folk in the car to the rear, you'll never outgrow your need for milk. Well I'm not at all sure about that. Maybe we do, maybe we don't. I know that that man man is the only mammal-like creature that has milk to eat but I don't want to get in trouble with the dairy industry so I'm not going to talk about that. The only thing I'm going to say is that they may be right but I know one thing, you never outgrow your need for brokenness. No you never outgrow your need for broken as long as you live, as long as you walk. There's always the possibility of breathing in this this holy God who gave us the holy bible he's called holy father who sent his holy son given us a hold the holy spirit and has said be holy for I am holy. There's always the possibility that we can fall into sin. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. And the moment that you grieve God that is the moment to deal with it as God has prescribed. Judging, forsaking, confessing, and this can get to be a very very painful process. But but don't neglect it if it's needed. It's necessary. But isn't there something better in the Christian life than this sort of a thing where oh God if you forgive me this once I'll never do it again. A pledge, a promise, and God in tender grace forgives and then we do it again. And then to ask forgiveness and then yet to fail again. Isn't there something better? Why there is. Indeed there is. Certainly there is. And that's the apostle is talking about here. Now if you were to read as I trust you will the second chapter you would find that the apostle has established the fact that we are are buried with Christ and quickened with Christ and raised with Christ. He begins the third chapter here with this first verse since or if since you then be risen with Christ. It's a known rule or law of literature that when you take one from an established series and have not qualified it to the point that you do not exclude the others of that series you can infer that they are also included. For instance the apostle in Galatians 2.20 said I am crucified with Christ. But since in Romans 6.4 he said therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death and in Ephesians 2.5 he said we are quickened together with Christ raised up together and in Ephesians 2.6 that we are seated together we might well read Galatians 2.20 this way I am crucified with Christ I am buried with Christ I am quickened with him I am raised with him and I am seated in him in the heavenlies in Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ lives in me. The same approach here is proper since you then be risen with Christ again he's established the series elsewhere so since you then be crucified with Christ and buried with him and quickened with him and raised with him and seated with him in the heavenlies seek those things which are of us. It's important to understand this for instance were we to go back in some detail to Romans chapter 5 we would discover that in the fifth chapter of Romans the apostle is talking about Christ dying for us or as it says that when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly and when we were enemies Christ died for us. Now that's the testimony of the scripture continued consistently that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture on the cross of Calvary the Lord Jesus Christ was there as you dying your death paying the penalty of your crimes against God and God saw his son as you and he accepted the death of his son for you and when you came in repentance and faith to receive Jesus Christ as your own Lord and Savior it was as though God lifted all of your off of you and laid it upon Christ and conversely he counted the righteousness of Christ to you so that you were accepted in the beloved. So the word is justified that's a wonderful word isn't it just as if I never said in the finished word but you see having thus beheld Christ dying for us we have gone into the Christian life and too frequently we have said something like this back here at the cross I was saved from the penalty of my sin there are the gates to heaven and so with fond memory of the day that I came to Christ and saw him die for me I now have been converted and forgiven and pardoned and I'm moving on into the Christian life and I'm serving the Lord well if that's the case I'll tell you one thing about your moving is that a poor snail's pace you're moving or at least it was with me and a great many other people I've talked to you know why well because we only saw Roman five Christ died for us the Romans didn't end with the fifth chapter no that's true Christ died for us but there's also the sixth chapter and the message of the sixth chapter of Romans is that Christ died as us he was not only there for you he was there as you well since you he was your substitute since his identification with you was so complete that when the father saw him he saw him as you and did to him what he had to do to you in a sense the father saw not only you him on the cross but he saw you there now to help help you grasp that at least it helped me to grasp it to look at the cross from the inside and to visualize that the nails that went through his hand went through the beam the board and were long enough on the other side in order to leave room for me have you ever looked at the cross of the inside have you ever turned around as it were seeing the other side of the cross well if you have I think you may have seen that there on the other side of the cross was another person if you'd have looked very closely you probably would have seen a resemblance between that person and you I like to think that in God's eyes he saw me there oh it was a long time later before I saw myself there several years as a Christian a term of service on the missions field personal failure unable to deal with the problems of my traits and temperament my criticism and censoriousness and sarcasm having to write letters of apology and ask my fellow missionaries for forgiveness and finally coming to the place was the apostle dead oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death some of my teachers said no hope fellow you just got to go on that way but thank God I heard one man and he said son turn around and look at the cross from the inside and when I did I saw only that Christ died for me but I had died with him that the day Jesus Christ died that day I died with him you aren't even born yet well one of the reasons that it can be is that the God of the Bible is not bound or limited by time you see we're we're the victims of time because we happen by God's design to put on this little planet that spins on its axis and revolves in its orbit we're very very time conscious but God is in trouble that way at all from his perspective as he well he just lives in the eternal now you don't really have a now all now is is just a invisible line between yesterday and tomorrow but with God there isn't any yesterday there isn't any tomorrow all he has is today he said I am I am sent you was in the instructions to Moses Pharaoh was getting old Moses wasn't so bad himself you know 80 years he said you go down you tell my Pharaoh that that the God who doesn't get old I am I am essential and so the God of the Bible lives in this eternal now and he hasn't begun to learn about you your problem he's always known you he's loved you with an everlasting love he's known all about you until the day Jesus Christ died for you in the father's eyes that's the day that you died with him I can't comprehend it you can't even comprehend how a Jewish man living nearly 2,000 years ago could die for you yet you believe it and in believing it you found peace and forgiveness and pardon and eternal life you can't comprehend it by the same token you don't need to stumble at the fact that you can't understand how that the day Christ died you died that's what the word says we are crucified with Christ that's good enough for me I think I can comprehend how the Lord father saw the Lord Jesus as as me and did to him what he was required to do to me and so I have no problem with it all I needed to do was to understand that that's what the word says look at the cross from the inside what do you see well you see Christ on the outside dying for you and you see yourself on the inside dying with him crucified with Christ oh what a what a wonderful delivery but what does it mean what he that is dead is freed from sin freed from the tyranny of his traits his disposition attitude learned habits of response memories of how to do things and how to meet issues you carried all of that into the Christian life with you and now he said there's victory thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ well what is the well the day he died for you you died with him you were crucified with Christ now that's the that's what he wants you to understand you see you had three enemies the first was the flesh you the second was the world and the third was the devil the world the flesh of the devil you were crucified with by with Christ to have victory over your worst enemy yourself you were buried with Christ to have victory over the world and you were quick you see quickened and raised and seated with Christ to have victory over principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this age so all of that involved in that little expression since you then be risen with Christ crucified with him buried with him quickened with him raised with him seated with him in the heavenlies seek those things which are above well why well in Ephesians 1 3 we read blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heaven in Christ I wonder how many of us actually enjoy spiritual blessings I remember going into a church in Greenville South Carolina some years ago and the uh hostess said well I didn't go to church this morning brother Reid and I said yes I I didn't see you there well she said you'll have to forgive me we had an all-night sing down at the armor oh I said is that so uh yes she said we had a wonderful time oh and uh I had lived in Greenville I knew a little bit about all-night things and uh she said my the Lord was there oh yeah she said the preacher was sitting on the platform just patting his foot my well I don't want to say he wasn't he's everywhere I don't want to either speak for him tell him how enthusiastic he was about it either as she felt he was point I'm making was that what she thought was blessing sure it was but it was solely wasn't spiritual it was her soul that got blessed and many many times you see we have difficulty in distinguishing between the soul and the spirit the soul is the part of us that gets blessed when we look at a sunrise and a sunset and listen to music and there's nothing wrong with that unless you confuse it with the spirit there's a difference he's blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly in Christ and that's why Christ said abide in me crucified with me and buried with me and quickened with me and raised with me and seated with me in me in the heavenlies you abide in me and I'll abide in you he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit well it's on that basis that he's blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies well now because of that the apostle said to these Colossian believers since you are crucified very quick and raised seated with Christ see the reality the experiential reality the dynamic possibilities of those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God see the reality in your life because it's from this place that we pray it's from this position that we witness and it's therefore so very important that we should abide in him and this is a vital part of our our ministry for Christ and that's what he's saying now you say well that's very very deep well maybe it is but remember these people have been converted from from stark sheer ugly paganism just a few months before and if people could have been converted from paganism in a few weeks later the apostle writes to them and says since you are risen with Christ seek those things which are above i don't see any reason why i can't expect a company like this tonight to immediately lay hold of it so i see that i see that certainly seek those things which are above the glorious reality of your union with Christ in his death to have victory over you in his burial to have victory over the world and in your joining him in his enthronement to have victory over principalities powers the rulers of the darkness of this age now that's part of it seek those things which are above so we have the history we have the possibility and we have the obligation seek you see you couldn't die thus atone for sin christ did you couldn't affect this identification this union the father did you could never have said i am crucified with him buried with him and seated with him but the father said it in the word and you couldn't do it he did it but there are some things that you can do that you have to do and so the father says now i've explained it to you i've told you what it is but if you get any good out of it it's up to you it's up to you now it's complicated to be an heir to an estate oh there's problems first you have to open the letter from the lawyer that tells you you're an heir be much easier just to put it with some of the unopened bills and not to have to bother to read it you know but you if you get a law that kind of a letter and you have any reason to suspicion that your uncle horace included you hear me friend you will open the letter you will oh i know you and if there is the slightest possibility that you're included you're you're going to take all the time that's necessary to find out about it you're that kind of a person and so am i frankly all of my wealthy relatives have already done what they were going to do one very much but so i have nothing much to look forward to on this on this score i don't watch the mail like i did a while ago but the fact still remains that if it comes i'll take a look at it i'm going to be careful so it is that here when god tells you that there are he's blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly if you've got the good common sense that opens the letter from an estate lawyer you're going to take all the time that's necessary to find out what these spiritual blessings are he's blessed you with seek seek to understand seek insight seek to possess your inheritance if it was important enough for god to provide it if it was valuable enough for christ to purchase it with his blood it ought to be worth your time to find out about it and if you're just too intellectually indolent i would warn you a little bit because he said there's some place in hebrews that he's got a little bit upset about people treading under their feet the blood of the everlasting covenant and the things that the father provided in christ and christ purchased with his blood may not seem very important to you but they're awfully important to the godhead and out of respect for the father and the son the holy spirit i suggest that you and i take this very seriously seek those things which are about seek them what are we talking about well notice what he says set your affection on things about what is it i want to experience in my life the dynamic reality of everything that the lord jesus purchased for me everything that he intended me to be and i want to live in the good of the purchase of christ the provision of christ i want my inheritance seek those things which are above that's your goal in other words to be a mature christian abide in me was the commandment i will abide in you is the decision whatever that means i will find out and i will seek those things which are above where christ sitteth on the right hand of god now nothing worthwhile in life ever just happens we have to make it happen you see tonight you're just as spiritual as you want to be you're just as holy as you want to be you're just as christ-like as you want to be you're just as effective for christ as you want to be you're the sum of all your desires up until tonight the function of preaching is to show you what god wants you to be to show you how you can be what god wants you to be and then i think to scare you enough so that you're willing to make the effort and pay the price to be what god wants you to be you see god won't make you do it but he will make you wish you had we're told the preachers have a two-fold task one is to comfort the afflicted and the other is to afflict the comfortable and that is a duty that you just have to be faithful to and i i'm intending to try to be faithful to it and if you're not living in the good of what christ purchased then i'm going to try to stir you up with everything i can see those things which are about where christ sitteth on the right hand of god now that's a decision we were talking this evening at the table about jc penny i happen to have read the biography of mr penny some years ago and one of the things that characterized that man was the fact that he wanted to succeed not just to have wealth so that he could lavish it on himself so but so that he could have the means to fulfill the purpose that he had to please god this seems to have been an underlying desire right straight through he had to first set a goal everyone who's ever achieved anything has to set a goal and then he had to reinforce it by a daily focus of his emotion similarly when j.j hill who built with the moving spirit behind the great northern railway had succeeded in getting that second parallel link to the united union pacific across ending up where near seattle they had a driving of the golden spike it really wasn't gold it was gold-plated because they had too much respect to put gold it wouldn't drive anyway and so they put that spike in there as the last spike in the railroad and the reporters came into the private car of mr hill by the way when mr hill was 47 you know what he was doing he was tapping a key as a telegraph operator that's as high as he'd gotten in life strange isn't it that most of the people that are eminently successful in american history didn't really start to get there until they were after 45 and about three-fourths of them after 50 so sure up friend you still you're still in the in this and uh james j hill had the other reporters in the car and they said mr hill how'd you do it how'd you do it because they knew he'd been at 47 a telegraph operator 60 a month or something like that and he began to get the message about this railroad going off into the muskegon northern minnesota and this one and he got the idea of putting them all together and and driving parallel figured out a plan and they said well you're so smart do it and he just did and so the reporters said to him how'd you do it he said it's easy three rules and if you fellas will follow these three rules you can build a railroad too if you want first rule is this finding out exactly what you want to do set your goal you don't just go blaying ties and putting rails down and end up at the coast doesn't work that way you gotta set your goal figure out exactly what you want to do then he said the next thing is find out the very best way to do it don't do anything until you've found out the best way and he said the third rule is the easiest do it he said most people fail because they start to do it before they want to know where they want to go or how to get there that's exactly what the holy ghost says here set your goal seek those things which are above then reinforce that goal with the focus of your emotions you are what you want to be if you succeeded in business it's because you wanted to succeed if you succeed in the christian life it's going to be because you want to succeed just as badly as you wanted to succeed in business set your affection bring all of your how do you control your affection your emotions if i start to say to you tonight be angry now everybody be angry after i said it two or three times you're going to burst out laughing well why because your your emotions are not under the control of your will you can't be angry just because somebody tells you to be angry i remember one young preacher over in athens alabama he was 15 years old doing a good job but he said now everybody be happy and it's sunday night sun and then he figured it out he said i want to see your teeth i want to see your teeth smile when you sing the next song well up next to me was old mr carrier and i looked out and there was mr carrier gumming the song away with the upper and lower plate in his hand hey he the young fella just got carried away see you don't get happy because the song leader says be happy and you don't get angry because he says be angry but if i want to make you angry i'll talk about the things which stir you up and in a little while you'll be angry have you ever read uh julius caesar by shakespeare mark anthony says i haven't come to praise caesar but to bury him in a little while the citizens are going out to tear bruda's house down through stone by stone because he's gotten them to think and he's made them angry and that's exactly what the holy ghost is saying seek the reality of those things that are about and then bring all of your thoughts to focus on the tremendous importance of your personally experiencing this reality now the effect of it is going to be that when these brigands these what were they they were spelled out here fornication uncleanness in order to affection evil desire covetousness idolatry when these things spring out at you to attack you he said mortify you know that word mortify me that's just a nice way to say kill it kill it well how do you kill it when you find something coming up causing how do you kill it oh it's simple back in romans 6 12 he said reckon yourself to be dead what do you mean when any of these things would come out you mortified how you kill it how father and you don't even move your lips you don't have to bow your head or close your eyes but remembering your history that the day christ died you died and you don't even need to change your expression father but it's going on in your mind it's going on in your heart father the part of me that would think this would want this that would do this is the very part of me the very eye that died with christ and just now i reckon myself to be dead do you know what happened well the same thing happens that happens when you put the switch on you release into your personality the resurrection life of christ and there's a flow of divine energy that neutralizes the gravitational pull of these things dynamic powerful not hypnotic you were wired for victory at calvary yes sir all you need to do is find the switch i went into a home the other day went into the room it was dark and i groped around the wall i fell for a string in the ceiling i fell for the wall i looked for a lamp i couldn't find it and finally i went out and i put a light on here and a light on there and i hunted around and i found way back where you wouldn't expect it to switch only once did i grow the next time i came into that room dark is the inside of your pocket i walked right over and put the switch on i found it and there are christian people that have been tortured by a attitude or a habit or a trait and they've got oh god deliver me deliver me deliver me he said kill it why haven't they been able to never found the switch never found the switch you want to find that switch the day that part of me that would think this would want this would do this is the part that died the day christ died there will be a release of life his life his resurrection life it'll flow into you now if you don't know where the switch is you're going to have a hard time getting victory but after you know where it is the issue isn't can i have victory the issue is do i want it you may not know where the light is and have a hard time finding it and cry oh switch switch where are you but maybe after you know where the switch is you still don't want the light on that's where the issue comes and so here it is for instance you get over here to this thing called anger you have a temptation to anger oh you know why what the problem is if you don't know where victory is then you can say oh god please deliver me from anger that prayer never's answer because he did deliver you from anger at calvary in your union with christ and his death and you say oh god deliver me from anger it's like a little child sitting down in front of a table with a full plate saying oh mother feed me and all she says to say is darling eat it's there and she can sit there looking up at the ceiling saying mother feed me feed me and she said turn down there's your plate oh well that isn't i want to be fed from up here i don't want to be fed from down here no you see this is the way it is oh god deliver me from anger god had he knew you had a angry spirit he knew you had problems and at calvary he didn't just want to save you from hell he wanted to save you from you so he didn't just die for you he died as you and the way you're delivered from anger is father the part of me that would get angry and father by the way has a good reason to get angry too i might add sometimes you have to add that if you're going to be honest to the lord but nevertheless it's your your responsibility to take care of it not mine father that part of me that would get angry is the part that's died the day jesus christ died and just now i reckon myself to be crucified with him and that reckoning releases the resurrection life of christ into your personality into your heart and the anger subsides because of the inflow his life a couple of christmases ago some friend gave my little daughter who's now nine she would have been seven then one of these uh iron filing magnet pictures put iron filings under a sheet of plastic and a little pencil like thing that's uh charged magnetically and you could draw the filings around and you could make uh hippie creatures with all these little uh you know and it was fun and i started to play with it and then i i got the wrong end of the magnet you know what happened i pushed the filings away i sat there playing with it near my wife said honey what are you doing that's too young a toy for you i said oh that's not a toy that's a servant illustration that's exactly what happens that awful magnetic pull my disposition my traits my nature anger wrath malice but when you turn it over that part of me that died the day christ reversed magnetism pushes it away when you reckon yourself to be dead crucified with christ you release the very resurrection life of christ into your personality at the point of that issue of that temptation of that problem and so he said mortify kill it put off put off how do you put off well you know where it was you got angry last you know the people who make you angry most maybe it's your husband maybe it's your wife one man said to his wife said you know when i first met you you look good enough to me to eat and i wish i'd he'd done it uh perhaps there's with your neighbors and your friends uh you know where you get angry do you understand how you put off well put it this way there when you get as old as most of us are here nothing new is going to happen to us it's just going to be a repetition as something's already happened couldn't possibly be anything new by this time and you know the place where you've gotten angry and upset and disturbed and perturbed you see yourself moving into that situation crucified with christ and buried with him and quickened with him and christ living in you and if you have the ability to imagine the difference that christ will make then instead of there being anger there can be mercy and kindness and humbleness of mind and meekness and long suffering and forbearing of one another and forgiving of one another and so what we're talking about is spiritual dynamics reality power power of the risen christ released into you in your daily life in your business life your home life your school life wherever you are and that's the reason why the apostle said to this church or to these believers and through them to us since you've been united with christ crucified with him buried with him quickened with him raised with him seated with him seek the dynamic reality of all that is yours in christ who sits on the right hand of the throne of god and not only make this your goal but reinforce it by the focus of your thought that in all of these areas you're going to enter into the victory and the triumph of the lord jesus christ now we don't always we could always but we don't always because sometimes we're very tired and sometimes we've got an awful lot of pressure and so we use fatigue and pressure as an excuse not to appropriate the life of christ but there isn't really any excuse because he's provided victory now you've got a wonderful opportunity to test one another maybe tomorrow some of you get upset disturbed i heard about two young people up in massachusetts last week driving along one of them said to the other said you know you bugged me something awful and the other one looked up and smiled and said you know you don't have to be bugged by me is that's right you can't stop them from bugging you but you don't have to be bugged by it because there's victory in the lord jesus christ nobody can bug you unless you let them and the part of you that lets them is the part that died with christ the day he died there's insulation there's victory in the lord jesus christ well our time is gone and the truth is here and now the question is we're going into the laboratory to put it to work and tomorrow night i'll see you and i'd like to take a test and find out how many of you have had an opportunity to use spiritual dynamics in your own relationship but because i've got a word for you between now and 7 30 tomorrow night you're going to have one or more situations develop where you have a marvelous opportunity to prove whether or not what i'm saying will work or not or won't work i just hope that when that moment comes you're going to say father the part of me that would think this and feel this and say this and do this is the part that died with christ on the back of the cross the day christ died and just now i reckon myself to be dead i'll have some sermons that are on feet and shoe leather tomorrow if you'll do it and that's the best kind there is living illustrations of the truth