In this sermon, the preacher discusses the reign of Solomon as king in Jerusalem for 40 years. The first four years were characterized by blessings. The preacher emphasizes the importance of removing any sinful influences from our lives and being accountable to others. He warns against allowing high places, or areas of temptation, to remain in our lives, as they can lead to yielding to temptation and compromising our testimony. The consequences of allowing high places to remain include providing easy opportunities for temptation and drawing us away from our spiritual desires. The preacher encourages believers to take action and remove these high places from their lives.

You know, as you study the life of Solomon, you find that in those days that he reigned as king in Jerusalem, it consisted of 40 years, and if you were to break down those 40 years, you find that the first four years, approximately, were characterized by blessings. The next 20 years were characterized by busyness or buildings, and the last 16 years were characterized by spiritual baroness, as he became an adulterer and an idol worshiper. And I want you to notice, I love the structure of the old King James, for the first word in chapter 11 is a conjunction, that big, bold, pronounced transitional conjunction. The Holy Spirit says, But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zinnians, and Hittites, of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go into them, neither shall they come in unto you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods. Solomon claimed unto these in love. And he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. And it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods. And his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. And Solomon went after Astereth, the goddess of the Zinnians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord. Now underscore this next phrase. And went not fully after the Lord. And went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father. Then did Solomon build a high place for Shemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon. The Lord was angry with Solomon. My family and I recently toured the Museum of Art at Bob Jones University. It's quite a display of various paintings of various religious stories in the Bible. And in one room in particular I was quite taken by a painting entitled Solomon's Apostasy. The painting has Solomon there surrounded by three wives who were pointing toward an idol that had been erected in his home. And you look at the countenance of Solomon and his eyes are riveted on that idol. On that idol. You know it's interesting here in the text, there are certain things that you see as a spiritual digression in Solomon's life that led to his apostasy. You know brethren, I look at Solomon's life and there is a tendency for me to wonder if the man was converted. Now before you react to that, I believe he was saved. But it's interesting that he is not in the hall of faith. There are two reasons why I believe that he was converted. First of all you see to some degree his repentance and brokenness in Ecclesiastes as he says there at the end of the book, Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. But a second reason I believe he was converted was Peter says that the Bible was given to us as holy men of old were moved by the Holy Spirit. And I can see God using an unregenerate man to give us his word. So I believe that he was saved. But his salvation in looking at his life and considering his idolatry and his apostasy is somewhat suspect. Well there's some things that you'll notice here that I believe contributed to this terrible digression. Look in chapter 11 and verse number 1. You find first of all that his spiritual declension began when he allowed the sensual to prevail over the spiritual. The Holy Spirit says, But King Solomon loved many strange women. I believe that when we allow our sensual itches to be catered to more than our spiritual appetites and desires we may indeed be on the high road to apostasy. Listen, one person said, The world is littered with the debris of what flesh has promised but been unable to provide. This man allowed his sensual desires to prevail over his spiritual desires. And at any time in our life that we are more concerned about catering to our own drives, to our own desires than in feeding upon God's word and ministering to the spiritual man within us, friend, we may be on the threshold of apostasy. There's a second thing that you'll see and that is in 1 Kings 11 and verse number 6. His affections were divided between two masters. It says there that he went not fully after the Lord as did David his father. He went not fully after the Lord. Listen, friend, someone has said that he that is abandoned to God will never be abandoned by God. There are many people today that are dabbling with sin who have divided affections. Their heart, their desires, they've allowed to be divided between two masters. They're trying to get the best out of both worlds. And the Lord Jesus said if a man puts his hand to the plow and looks back, he is not fit for the kingdom of God. Someone has said that partial obedience is total disobedience. Amaziah was such a man. You recall in 2 Chronicles 25 that the Bible said he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord but not with a perfect heart, not wholeheartedly. Solomon is following the Lord but he is not going fully after the Lord as did David his father. What is God's desire for each one of us? What does God delight in in mine and your life? Colossians 1 and verse 10 says that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. He wants thorough obedience, not partial obedience. Partial obedience is total disobedience. But thirdly, you find another element in this digression and that is in verse 7. His desires constrain him to make provisions for the flesh. It says there, then did Solomon build a high place for Shemash. A high place. A provision for Solomon's flesh. He still desired to serve to God. And now his secret homage, his secret devotion is being manifested outwardly as he constructs a high place, an altar, a place of worship to express his devotion and affection to this God. Surely the prophecy of the Lord was fulfilled when God said these strange wives will turn away your heart from me. But Solomon clays unto these in love. You find here in the text that there are tragic consequences for serving two masters. First of all, in verse 9 it says the Lord was angry. Angry with Solomon. Secondly, it caused a loss of privilege for his own son, Rehoboam. Look at it in verse 11. Wherefore, the Lord, Senator Solomon, for as much as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statute, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rim the kingdom from thee and will give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding, in the days, I will not do it for David thy father's sake, but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Men, how many of us, if we are content to follow two gods, try to get the best from two different worlds, could we deprive our own children of glorious privileges that God has intended for them? They may lose the honor and the privilege of experiencing greater depth and spiritual height with the Lord Jesus Christ. But there's a third thing, another repercussion, and that is God raised up adversaries against Solomon. You'll notice in verse number 14, it speaks there of the first adversary, Hadad. And then in verse 23, there was Reason. And then in verse 26, there is Jeroboam. These three adversaries were constantly badgering. They were thorns in Solomon's side. Now I want you to look with me, if you would, and this is the message today. I want to speak to you for the next few moments on the danger of high places. The danger of high places. Or maybe a subtitle that would be very appropriate is how to maintain victory over sin in your walk with God. What can we do to experience sustained victory in the upcoming days? You come to a prayer van. You go to a revival conference. And God profoundly, significantly works in your heart. You are cleansed. You experience the fresh bathing of God's grace. You are filled with the Holy Spirit. You leave with a fresh expectation. And then you go home. And how quickly do we go back to the old way of living? How quickly do we seem to gravitate to certain things in our life that causes a loss of enthusiasm towards the Lord and consequently is replaced with a spirit of disillusionment? And so this afternoon I wanted to share with you some thoughts once again out of God's Word and out of my own heart in this matter of how to maintain victory in the days ahead. Well, first of all, you find there in verse number 7 that Solomon built a high place. What was a high place in the life of Israel? Listen carefully. It was a ridge, a plateau, or elevated platform where cultic objects were placed for the purpose of pagan worship. Let me repeat that. It was a ridge, plateau, or elevated platform where cultic objects were placed for the purpose of pagan worship. It was an altar where both Baal and God could be worshipped. Now, there's some interesting side notes in regard to high places, and if you'll permit me, I'm just laying a theological foundation here. Six things I would mention to you concerning these high places. Number one, you find that oftentimes kings were raided by their attitude toward high places. You know, we look at politicians today, and many times we assess them on the basis of how they look at the budget, whether they're for a balanced budget, or foreign trade, or we consider their morals regarding abortion, or maybe even our national defense of the military. But in those days, the people who put these guys in control and leadership, many times these men's lives were gauged, they were evaluated by how they looked, how they related to high places. Secondly, these, or they were foundations of mental images. For example, if a person had a problem with worshipping another god, and say God moved upon their life, if the high places were not level there in that kingdom, in that country, many times they would pass a high place on the roadside, they could look at it, and their mind would immediately flash back at the god or gods that they had worshipped there. It was a foundation of mental images. Thirdly, they were known for immorality. Both spiritual and physical adultery were performed there. You know to worship any god is to commit spiritual adultery. The Apostle James says, Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship with this world is enmity with God. He that would be a friend of this world is an enemy of God. Spiritual adultery is the product of worshipping another god, another idol. Number four. Something else that's of extreme importance about high places is children were sacrificed there. And even in our present day, I wonder how many kids have been sacrificed on the altar of high places in Christian homes. And we're going to look at that in a moment. But children were sacrificed there. Number five. These high places presented the temptation to serve another master. There was always that enticement to be drawn away, to bow down, to worship, to follow after another god. And then number six, they provided always the potential of apostasy. The potential of apostasy. I have two boys in my home, Nathan and Aaron. They're 17 and 18 years of age. The warning that I've pressed upon their mind in the last few years, I said, boys, you have been raised in a Christian home. You've traveled with me all over the country. You've heard me preach. You've heard men far greater than myself preach the Bible. You have been subjected to a Word-centered homeschool curriculum. You've rubbed shoulders with some of God's choicest servants. But I said, I'm here to tell you, if you turn your back upon those good graces of God and go into the world, and you live in the world and you love the world and you forsake God and you spurn the truth of God's Word and you walk in the imaginations of your own heart, number one, it's going to prove that you did not have a saving faith. You had a human faith. And secondly, you're going to run the risk of being an apostate. You will lose even the potential of ever being converted. Now, nobody knows but God when a person crosses over that line. But friend, if you renounce, if you cast off these good graces of God that are conduits that God works through to bring conversion to the soul of men and you go your own way knowing the light, but yet spurning that light, you run the risk of becoming an apostate. And if we allow high places to continue in our life, indeed friend, while we may have had religious experiences, yet ultimately if they turn away our heart from God, we may ultimately go after these things and follow these worldly gods and only show that we were never genuinely born again and we may run the risk ourselves of being an apostate. Losing our soul forever and ever and ever. I love the comments of one man who addressed these high places. Listen to this. He said, The basic problem with high places was that they easily provided areas where the religious practices of Canaan could creep into Israel's worship experience. And friend, if there are high places in our lives, in our homes, in our workplaces, how easily can they draw our heart away to other idols? Now here's some thoughts to consider. You know if you said to the kings of Jerusalem and Judah and Israel, you find that there are only two kings that went all the way with God. And what do I mean by that? They not only removed the idols, they not only leveled the groves, they not only purged from the land of Sodomites, but they removed the high places. Only two kings, the Bible says, removed the high places. In one man's life and reign, a significant reformation and revival occurred. In the other, while the curse of God, the judgment of God was still upon the land, yet he himself was blessed tremendously by the Lord. What were the men's names? Hezekiah and Josiah. Study it for yourself. Listen to this though. To prove the point, just to give you a little insight, a preview into these kings that maintained high places. It says in 1 Kings 3, in verse 3, Solomon sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. In 1 Kings 14, verses 21-24, Rehoboam, the son of Solomon and his people, built high places. You find in the context there that it provoked the Almighty to jealousy. In 1 Kings 15, verse 14, Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, but the high places, the Holy Spirit says, but the high places were not removed. In 1 Kings 22, and verse 43, Jehoshaphat walked in all the ways of his father Asa, doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away, for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places. In 2 Kings 12, verses 2 and 3, Jehoshaphat did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days, but the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. Notice that conjunction once again. But the high places were not taken away. But the high places were not removed. In 2 Kings 14, verses 3 and 4, and Amaziah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. Howbeit, the high places were not taken away. In 2 Kings 15, or excuse me, chapter 15, verse 34 and 35, and Jotham did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. Howbeit, the high places were not removed. The high places were not removed. And then in 2 Kings 21, in verse 3, and Manasseh did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord after the abominations of the heathen, for he built up again the high places. The high places. Once again, let me reiterate. There were only two kings that took away the high places. And a significant reformation and revival occurred under one man's reign, and great spiritual blessing occurred in the life of the other, Hezekiah and Josiah. Now, let's make it practical. How does this relate to you and I? Well, I want to give you, first of all, a definition of a contemporary high place. A contemporary high place. It is any area, thought, or relationship that I permit to remain in my life as a provision for the flesh, as a provision for the flesh to satisfy the sinful desires of my heart. I want to repeat that. It is any area, thought, thought, or relationship that I permit to remain in my life as a provision for the flesh to satisfy the sinful desires of my heart. Now, brethren, a high place may not necessarily be a sin. But in that high place, if we're not careful, we are drawn away with our own lust and enticed and can commit sin. What am I talking about when I speak of these evil areas? I'm talking about television. I'm speaking of music. I'm speaking of video. I'm talking about books or magazines, sports, materialism. You see, most of these things in and of themselves may not be bad, may not be evil. They can be, but maybe we have an innocent video in our home, but yet it's just got a little part to it that in that is provided a high place. The psalmist says in Psalm 101, in verse 3, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. And the word wicked there means thing of the liable, a literal thing of the evil one. I said not only areas, but there are thoughts. Isn't it interesting in 2 Corinthians 10, verses 4 and 5, that I believe to be the most potent passage on spiritual warfare in all the Word of God, when He says, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, listen to this now, casting down imaginations, that denotes mine, and every high thing, high places, that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. What am I speaking of when we talk about high places in the area of thought? I'm talking about unrealistic dreams. Some of us, we dream at times, resort to thinking about what we could have done athletically, what sexual conquest that we probably could have had if we would have pursued a relationship, sexual fantasies. Regarding past experiences, we draw in our minds from past experiences with members of the opposite sex things that we did before our conversion or even after our conversion, before we took to ourselves a wife, or maybe even after that. There's revengeful thoughts. Maybe someone has harmed you or offended you. You have bitterness in your heart and you take delight at times during weak moments of going back in your mind and picturing and drawing pleasure of what you'd like to do to that person. These are mental high places. But I also mention relationships. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 33. Be not deceived, evil communications, corrupt good manners, good morals. I don't know if you have a relationship right now with someone that is not honoring with the Lord. Maybe it's someone that you work with, another woman, and she ministers to you emotionally. And she'll listen to you. And during weak moments in your relationship with your wife, you go to work and this lady will affirm you and she speaks kindly and graciously to you. Friend, listen, if you cultivate that relationship with that individual, if you allow that high place to remain in your life, it may spell doom for you. It could cause you to lose your testimony. It could cause you to lose your family. And worst of all, as we said a moment ago, it may result in the loss of your own soul, a high place. It could be in the area of a wrong influence. Maybe someone in your own church that every time you get around this person, you cannot help but be critical about the authority in your church. Because they're so critical. I mean, there may be a relationship of sedition. They can't submit to authority and you find yourself having a more difficult time submitting to authority and praying for the authorities in your own local church when you're around this particular individual. I was just up in Blaine, Maine. A lady and her husband came to the church one day and we sat down together. She said, I have a real problem with authority, especially in the church. I found out that they had gone to a number of different churches around Presque Isle, Maine and they were in an evangelical church at that moment and they were having a hard time with the leadership there. And as she talked, she shared with me that she was corresponding with a young minister on Grand Manan Island in Canada that he, too, had a problem with authority in the church, the spiritual leadership of the church. And so he was trying to do a ministry independently of that authority. And I said, Ma'am, I am not promoting a dictatorial leadership. But I said, you are deceived if you do not submit to the authorities that God has placed over you. And if you have a problem with that authority, you need to lovingly appeal to their conscience and share with them what your feelings are about these issues. And even though you may not be able to reconcile some things, you still need to learn to graciously submit to them. I said, Ma'am, I believe you need to quit calling this man and he needs to quit calling you because all you are doing is fueling one another's fire in this area of sedition. It was a high place. I think of a friend of mine who told me that in Bible school he was in a seminary. He had a wife and one child. And he was working for a newspaper. And he was sort of an errand boy. He would go from business to business and place to place running errands for this newspaper. And one day they put a girl with him, college age, very attractive, very shapely young lady. And she came on to him. She was very kind and would listen to him and focused upon him. Made him feel so important, so great. And this went on for weeks and months. They traveled together in the car and they would talk and they got real open with each other. And he said, Don, I misinterpreted her intentions. That was just her personality to be friendly. But I thought that she really had an attraction for me. He said, One day, he said, I failed an examination in a seminary. He said, My wife and I had a major argument before I went to school that morning. And after I left the school, I went to work. And he said, I had purposed in my heart I was going to run off with this girl. And he said, We pulled over on the side of the road there. I was driving. And I said to her, I'm ready to leave everything. I want you to go with me. He said, I told her how much I loved her and cared for her. And this girl looked at me in shock and said, I cannot believe what you're asking me. Do you mean to tell me that you would leave your ministry, leave your marriage, leave your own child for just a few minutes of pleasure? She said, I don't think you know what you're asking. Friend, if you've got any type of relationship with that in your church or in a place of employment, better to leave that place of employment, leave that church than to lose your testimony. It's a high place. Listen, what are some of the consequences of you and I allowing high places to remain in our life? Can I give you four? Number one, it provides during a moment of weakness an easy opportunity to yield to temptation. Some of us, we may have a rough day at work or in the ministry and it's easy to go back to the motel room or back to the privacy of our own home and turn on the television and then as one brother said in a prayer advance, channel thirst and look for something to feed upon our sensual desires to draw off of. And the deception is we think we can handle it. Secondly, another consequence of a high place remaining is it provides a source by which another idol can draw away our affections. Friend, if there's any high place in your life in an area, in thoughts, in relationships, it always provides a place for your lust, your temptation, the temptation to come, for your lust to be drawn away to another god, to another idol. John Wesley asked his mother on one occasion, Mother, what is sin? And she pondered that for a moment and she said, John, whatever increases a desire for more of itself and less of Christ, to you that is sin. Now friend, that is a good definition of idolatry. Whatever increases a desire for more of itself and less of Christ, to you that is sin. High places. Thirdly, it provides an occasion for others to sin. You know, if you study these kings' lives, even the mess of kings that did not remove the high places, it says that the people still worshipped on those high places. It causes others to sin. How about in our homes at this present hour? You have a magazine. You have a video. You have high school annuals where the girls were in modest dress. They wrote romantic messages in the annuals. What if your kids get a hold of that? You've got medical encyclopedias. Maybe you've got some Christian pornography in your home. How to carry on a biblical sexual relationship? Friend, listen to me. No reflection on this man, but I had to get rid of the act of marriage because some of the diagrams, some of the pictures and that, if my son's got a hold of, it could do nothing but defraud them spiritually. Sadly, our children are sacrificed on these high places. I believe one of the worst things we can do is to leave our children unattended in front of a television set. Number four, it also provides the potential of apostasy. Forsaking the Lord. Look in 2 Peter 2 if you would. 2 Peter 2. Friend, when we speak of apostasy, we're not talking about losing your salvation. We're talking about a person who is religious and has an understanding of spiritual truth that casts off that understanding to go after the gods and the sinfulness of this present evil world. And Peter gives us this very stern warning in 2 Peter 2.20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, notice they only had a knowledge. It was not a saving knowledge. It was not a heart knowledge. They only knew it academically, intellectually. But they escaped the pollutions of the world through that knowledge. They are again entangled therein and overcome. The latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, the way of salvation, than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it has happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again and the sow that was washed to its wallowing in the mire. Here's the message. Persevere or perish. Persevere or perish. If we do not persevere in grace, we will perish. You say, well, Brother Curran, is there not a legitimate backsliding? Yes, friend, I believe we can drift. Yes, I believe that we can become dull. Yes, I believe that we can compromise elements in our own conscience. Yes, at times we can neglect truth and walk in our own way. But listen to me, to live in sin and to love sin and to practice sin, he that is born of God doeth not continue in sin. That's what the Scripture says. There's something else. And I just share these thoughts with you on how to remove high places. Maybe the Holy Spirit during these few moments has revealed to you a certain high place. It may be a video. It may be a relationship. But how can we go about in the wisdom of the Lord removing these high places? Let me suggest a few things to you. Number one, deal with them ruthlessly. Deal with them ruthlessly. I mean, friend, dig them up by the roots. Cast them from your place of residence. Eradicate them from your life. Recently, as we went through our very small home video library, there was one video that the Holy Spirit had put His finger on for a long, long time in this preacher's life. I remember we got it very cheap through McDonald's. But it was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Oh, listen, when we would watch it with the children, we always made sure that we were there with them. And when we would come to certain parts where they would use hell in a derogatory way, in a flippant way, or when they would take the name of Jesus Christ in vain, we would always make sure we needed that. There was one scene where it was implied that this man had a sexual relationship with a woman. We would always make the kids turn their head. But the Spirit says, that needs to go from your home. So I took it out in the garage one day and took a hammer to it and put it in the trash can after I destroyed it. It was a high place, brethren. A high place. We need to deal with these things ruthlessly. William Grinnell, the Puritan, says, what lust is so sweet or profitable that it's worth going to hell for. Secondly, we need to deal with them thoroughly. Thoroughly. Not only ruthlessly, but thoroughly. 2 Corinthians 10, verses 4-6. I just quoted you verses 4 and 5. But he goes on to say, and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled, complete. Brethren, we're not in a position to really deal with sin until we're willing to go all the way with God. Until we're willing to be thorough in our obedience. Listen, a man called me one night from Zebulon, North Carolina. We at the time were living in Goldsboro. He said, is this such and such that was holding meetings over at such and such Baptist church? And I said, yes sir. I said, I'm he. He said, during the course of your ministry, when I heard you a few years ago, you talked about demonic activity. And I remember just sort of a hit and miss thing, you know, just in passing. I shared that in some messages. And he said, I really believe that I've got a demon. This was 1130 at night when he called. And he said, I was just wondering, would you mind if I come over to your home tonight, which was an hour away from Goldsboro, Zebulon to Goldsboro. He said, would you mind sitting down with me and I'd like for you to exorcise this demon out of me. My friend, I didn't tell him this, but there was no way I was going to bring him or that influence into my home. But I talked to him and you could tell he was desperate. But he wouldn't tell me what the sin was. And normally when someone's that desperate and they won't disclose to you what the problem is, you know what the problem was? Lust and sex. And I said, you've got a lust problem, don't you? And he said, yes I do. I said, listen, let's deal with this thing objectively rather than subjectively. I said, you really want victory over this problem? Yes. He told me that he'd been seeing a girl who was lost. He said, through our relationship, he said, I'm trying to bring her to the Lord. But yet he told me that he had defiled her. He had committed fornication with her. And I said, you think God's going to override that to use you to reach that girl for Christ? I said, sir, you're deceived. As we talked on, I said, you really want victory in this area? Yes. I said, well, listen, I'm not denying the fact that you may have a demon. But I said, if you really want victory and you want sustained victory, I said, I would suggest two things just in my brief conversation with you, two things that I would recommend that you do. What is it? I said, number one, get rid of your television. Get rid of your TV. You cannot have victory, consistent victory, over moral impurity if you allow your television in your home. And then I said, secondly, break off your relationship with this girl. Don't see her anymore. You know what his response was? Much like what we would glean from the rich young ruler when Christ said, for one thing thou lackest, go and sell everything that you have and give to the poor. I sense grief. I sense an unwillingness to repent. He wanted a quick fix. He wanted this demon, if there was such a thing, a being in his life, eradicated. But listen to this, he wasn't willing to deal with it objectively by repentance. And that's where so many people are today. They want a quick fix, but they don't want to daily die to these sinful areas of their flesh. They don't want to repent. We need to deal with it thoroughly. You know, I had a youth pastor in Pennsylvania tell me, he said, Don, if I had to do it all over again, he said, I would have been a lot more conservative in what my children wore, what music they listened to, who they hung around with, and the videos that they watched. But he said, now, today, I've created a monster. And he said, for me to become radical in my approach and to encourage them to mortify these things and to replace them with other things that are more conservative and more conducive for holiness. He said, I know what kind of reaction I would get. Friend, begin early with your children. Number three, not only deal with these high places ruthlessly, not only learn to remove them thoroughly, but thirdly, exercise debilitating accountability by getting radically honest with someone else. James chapter 5 and verse 16. I was felt inside the man's clothing could feel warmth which denoted life. The man that was with Singh went on ahead in the snowstorm. Mr. Singh began to rub this man's arms and then began to also move up and down his legs there with his hands and mobilize him enough where this man, leaning on Mr. Singh and Singh leaning on him, they, life preserving lies, made their way back up on the trail and went on in this blinding snowstorm. They got about a hundred yards from that mission station. And there on the trail before was the man who had gone on, frozen to death in the snowstorm. Why did he perish? Because he tried to make it alone. And men, you will never make experience in this world apart from being accountable with another brother or brothers in Christ. Listen, I make no bones about it. Over the years, I've had at least 11 accountability partners. This is the thing that God has used to preserve my integrity, my morality. At least 11 accountability partners. You say, Brother Curran, who are these people? Eight of those people are laymen. Two of them are pastors. And one is my dear wife. They know everything about me. They know my struggles in the area of lust, my lies, my covetousness. They know these things. But it makes for a sweet mom a healing to have someone that you can unveil yourself before and know that they will accept you and pray for you and help you bear your burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. We need each other. I'm talking about a debilitating accountability. But then number four, let me close with this. In regard to dealing with a high place, we need to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Friend, remember that passage there in Romans 13, verse 14. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh. A high place is a provision for the flesh. But listen, friend, we do not overcome sin. We do not walk in consistent victory by simply putting away all opportunities, occasions for the flesh. We must put on the Lord Jesus Christ. I asked someone, what does it mean to put on the Lord Jesus Christ? It's hard to explain in an experimental way, in a practical way. But I think some insight was given through William Law. Listen to his words. From morning to night, keep Jesus in your heart. Long for nothing. Desire nothing. Hope for nothing. But to have all that is within you changed into the spirit and character of the Holy Jesus. That's putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. Dr. A.B. Simpson was approached by a young man that was very perplexed. Dr. Simpson had been preaching on the exchanged life. The young man had taken the theology, tried to appropriate it, but to no avail. He came into Dr. Simpson's office very frustrated, very discouraged, saying to the doctor, it does not work for me. Simpson was very gracious, very patient with him, and took his Bible, began to take into various scriptures, expound them to him, and suddenly the expectation, the anticipation of that working in his life revived. He sent him on his way with a renewed hope, only to find him back in his office the next day just as discouraged, just as exasperated as he'd been before. He said, it doesn't work for me. He said, maybe I'm not even converted. Dr. Simpson once again was very gracious as he took him to the scriptures. Once again, the spirit revived. He prayed with the young man, sent him on his way. The very next morning, he was back in the office just as distressed as before. This time, he angered Dr. Simpson. Simpson reacted to the young man and said, let me ask you something, young fellow. What if I could crawl into your body and think your thoughts for you and act the way you should act and have the disposition that you long for and respond to circumstances the way Christ would? Would you be satisfied? And the young man lit up in his countenance. He said, oh yes, certainly I would. But Dr. Simpson, how can we accomplish such an act? And A.B. Simpson said, young man, there is one far wiser, far greater, far more victorious than A.B. Simpson that already dwells in you. And if you ever recognize His presence, your life will never be the same. Brethren, that's it. That's it. Could ye own the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof? Don't allow these five places to continue in your life. It's one thing not to make provision for the flesh. It's another thing to clothe yourself with the person of Jesus by faith. Let's bow our heads together in prayer. Men, what is God's dress code? Could ye own the Lord Jesus Christ? That's what God wants. Let us let Him do it. Only you can do it, Father. We trust You, Lord. You're worthy. You've proven Yourself as a worthy source to be trusted. I praise Thee, O Father, that You've given these things, all things that pertain to life and godliness to us in Christ Jesus. Father, victory is possible through Christ. But thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ. Father, how we pray, see, that the victorious life is the victorious Christ. Lord, we commit these truths to You. We pray that You might burn them into our hearts and that they may come to fruition in a life of holiness and conformity to the character of our blessed Savior. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.