Loren Larson - The Basics Of Sanctification (Romans 6:11)

But one of the things that I grow concerned about as a pastor, as a teacher, is that uh while we are proclaiming the message of the cross, the message of the cross, At times we d fail to give the details of the message of the cross and we have brand new people coming in every single day, every single hour. We you we just got five point two million homes in San Francisco or in California rather. And a lot of them haven't heard the basics.

And so one of the things that we have to keep before ourselves, uh, both as the body of Christ and as individuals, is go back through the very basics, the very essentials, the very Understanding of what the message of the cross is. It's not a mantra. It's not understood by just saying it. It has to be taught, it has to be explained.

And then people's faith can reach out and grab a hold of it. And for those of us that know, it was the Apostle Peter that said, If I bring you back into remembrance of things you already know Then I'm a good steward of the Word of God. And I want to be a good steward of the Word of God. And every time I can say this, I've taught the Book of Romans now in the Bible college, I suppose for the last

22 years. And every time I travel through it, every time I go through uh specific passages, it just comes alive again. Just alive in me all over. Because truth. Just it just grows and and b begins to be more magnificent as we walk in it. And so tonight I want to cover, uh starting with with a key verse, Romans chapter six and verse eleven, I want to begin covering five twenty

uh through six eleven and we'll see how far we get tonight before I wear y the saints out. But I want to lay down the basics of sanctification.

The basics of sanctification. What do we need to know to grow? Because our life here is not made up just of the salvation experience. That only takes a moment. Well there could be uh again fifty years in between the time of redemption to the time that Jesus returns, or the time we go by the way of the grave. There's a lot to do.

There's a lot to be experienced in those fifty years. And if we have never been taught How to live for God, then that 50-year time frame or whatever the time frame is, it's so much of it is just experiencing failure and not knowing what to do with it. And Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. Not that we should be failing and repenting and failing and repenting. And thank God that the road of the repentance never wears out.

If you have to travel it, get back up, travel it, get back up, travel it, get back up, travel it. He paid for that too. But it wouldn't be much more better, as my friend used to say in Tennessee, much more better if we could stay on the road of victory. Because we knew what to believe. And when the battle came, and my friend, if you understand the message of the cross, get ready for the battle.

I said, if you understand the tenets of sanctification, get ready for the battle because God only tests you about what you know. To see if we really understand it and to see if he can't develop us in a greater measure and in a greater way. So I'm excited tonight. I'm thrilled tonight that the Lord has laid this on my heart and on my mind. And we want to begin just one verse, Romans chapter six.

And verse 11, and this is the the highlight. If there was one verse that explains the whole process of what I'm going to try to lay out for you tonight, this is it. Romans chapter 6 and verse 11. And the Bible reads, likewise. Reckon ye also yourself to be dead indeed unto sin. That's a good place to shout, folks. Reckon yours uh your ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

You're not just dead tonight. You're alive in Christ Jesus. I said, you're not just dead. You're alive tonight in Christ Jesus, and I want to minister the basics of sanctification. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you tonight and Lord, as you know, I've prayed for this all week, all day long, and I again say it, without you, I'm helpless and hopeless. I have nothing to give the people. But if your spirit would anoint me graciously. to explain the content of these verses.

And Father, if your spirit would graciously open up the heart and mind of the people to grasp a hold. of the basics of sanctification, then they'll be a little further along the pathway of relationship with you. They'll be a little better equipped to live this life, a little better equipped to do the work of God. And it's for these things that we ask

for your presence, your power, and the manifestation of your spirit. We ask it now in Jesus' name. And everybody said Amen and Amen. As you have heard us say many times when it comes to the book of Romans, it is the greatest single explanation of the Christian faith in a single volume. There's no other book in the Bible that covers your salvation experience or what is to be humanity's redemption plan

the plan of God from A all the way to Z, like the book of Romans. Nothing. So if I only had one book that I could read or only had one book that I could teach from Uh the book of Romans is what I would choose because it takes man's from his dilemma of being lost and undone without God because that's where we all begin. lost in and in God's plan of redemption that He uh exhibited and offers to all men everywhere.

Bar none. God didn't create some men to be saved and other men uh to go to hell. That's not God that's not what he did. It's God's desire To see all men brought to the knowledge of his son, saving knowledge of his son. All men are to be saved, all people of God are to be sanctified, and all people of God are to do the work of God. In the book of Romans.

lays it out from beginning to end, from the start of man's dilemma of separation from God. All men are guilty before God in chapters 1 through 3, and God's answer to that. guilt which was the subject of justification. Primarily in chapters four and five, those aren't exact divisions, but they'll do Chapters four and five tell us that God decided that He would produce a plan that would allow all of humanity

The ability to come back into relationship with him if they would simply believe in his son and what he did for them at Calvary. And the Bible says that the moment the believing sinner comes to Christ. He is justified. He is just as if he has never sinned. He places his faith, she places her faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us.

And God declares them holy, without spot, without blemish, without wrinkle. And from that moment forward, the reason you're going to heaven is not because of your state, it's because of your position that's granted to you a legal. Position as a result of your faith, God sees you innocent of all charges as long as your faith remains in what He's done. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And now that's enough to get us to heaven.

I said, that's enough to get us to heaven. That's enough to get us to heaven. That'll get a white man to heaven. That'll get a black man to heaven. That'll get a red man to heaven. That'll get a yellow man to heaven. That's that'll get the Chinese into heaven. That'll get the South American into heaven. That'll get the African into heaven. Whoever. And the fact that he died on the cross for you and he didn't judge. Just died. He rose again.

Validating the sacrifice and letting the whole world know that he was who he said he was. And that he came to do what he said he'd do. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. Hallelujah! Hallelujah. If that's old for you, well just get saved again and you'll be all right. You'll love it all over fresh and anew.

Because I look at what God did for this drunk, I look at what God did for this drug addict, I look at what God did for this mess thirty years ago, and I know that for the last thirty years or so I've been justified not by What I've done, or how I've performed, or how well I've acted, or the things that I've said, but by my faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Thank God that's enough to get to heaven. I said, thank God that's enough to get to heaven.

Thank God that oh brother Larson, do you believe in a last minute salvation? They're all last-minute salvation. One minute you're lost. And the next minute you're saved. Gore. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It was the last minute I was to live for the devil. It was the last minute I was to live for the world. It was the last minute I was to live for myself. They're all last minute salvations. I said they're all last minute salvations.

Doesn't matter how many breaths I take after the initial salvation experience, they're all one minute I was and bad grammar but great preaching, the next minute I ain't. ¡Aleluya! Glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Glory. Worthy. Holy. Worthy. Holy. Glory. Glory. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Glory and honor. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Glory and honor to the Lamb of God.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you all. ハレルヤ! Glory to God and our Lamb forever. He's worthy to be praised. I placed my faith in him and entered into the kingdom. I was instantly circumcised with a circumcision made without hand, moved from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. All sin was forgiven, passed. present and future washed away in the blood of the lamb.

And all I had to do, my responsibility was to place my faith humbly from the heart in a Savior who loved me, died for me, and rose again. What a plan. What a plan. What a plan. Excluding no one. All are involved and all can come. Whosoever will may come and drink of the water of life freely.

And Romans tells us of that justification and that wonderful imputed righteousness granted to us when the believing sinner comes and places his or her faith in Christ. But that's only the first five chapters.

Somewhere around chapter five and verse eleven, the subject of justification departs. And all of a sudden there seems to be a little switch from five twelve to five fourteen. We begin to look at Adam and uh we find that what one man did We all paying the price for For when uh uh in result of one man's failure, he was the federal head of the human race, he was the father of us all.

Again, black, white, yellow, red, and polka dotted. It didn't matter how you look. It y he's the father of us all and his seed was passed on to you. And so when he failed, the whole world fell into a state of sin. Meaning that on the inside of the human race, within the framework of every heart, mankind is born with a nature that is bent towards sinning.

And chapter five and verse twelve through fourteen tells us that humanity's problem is not money, it's not finances, it's not psychology or lack of, it's not the government. It's our sin. That is the problem. So let's just get focused in on us. Not her, not you, Because I'm the problem. What I find in my heart, what the fall has done to me, the clinging vine, I don't care how long you've lived for God, there are still things in you that need to be changed.

I said there's still things in you that need to be changed. Now you can be self righteous and arrogant and stupid and say that's not true, but you'd be lying and that's a sin too, so We all need to be changed. Because of the fall, there's we we don't realize how far down we've come because of one man. But the Bible also tells us then in chapter five and verse fifteen, all the way up to five and nineteen, that because of one other man.

Because of one other man. While one man brought us into death, uh one other man brought us into life. While one man brought us into disobedience, another man brings us in through obedience. While one man brought us into the statutes of death, another one brings us into life, and you know his name. Brother Swagert said it this morning, there is no other name given unto heaven whereby men must be saved in the name of Jesus.

So five twelve through fourteen explains that all have sinned or all have a sin nature. Thank you, Adam. But now the potential of rising above that bent of ungodliness exists. For all men because of one man. And now we go to chapter five, verse twenty. Please put it on the screen for me if you would. In the basics of sanctification, we'll start here and I can't certainly deal with every aspect of it uh tonight. Uh I I I have to jump through some things, but I'll give you what I feel the Spirit

Of God led me to in my study in the last several days. The Bible says in 520, and this is the listen, this is the beginning, I have to give you this. This is the beginning of the subject of sanctification. Thank God for justification. We're going to heaven because of that. But we're not just saved to remain the same. We're saved to be changed.

were saved to be conformed into the image of Christ. And so this is where Paul the apostle, the one to whom God gave the details of the new covenant, began to deal in scripture with the subject So we have to understand these processes that he outlines here within these verses in order to successfully traverse through the sanctification process. In order to grow, we have to know.

In order to grow, you're gonna have to know what Paul said and what he meant by these passages that we're about to study. If you've never sat under the teaching of these verses Then, as a Christian, you've never been properly discipled. Because if you don't know what you need to know from these verses, I promise you you're gonna go off.

track. Even doesn't matter how zealous you are, doesn't matter how many gifts you have, doesn't matter how strong the baptism with the Holy Spirit in your life was or your salvation experience was. If you don't know what Paul wrote, you won't grow. And we've got to understand it and not only understand it, not only come to grip with it, but we have to apply it on a daily basis. So Paul says this.

Starting sanctification in chapter five and verse twenty, he says Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded grace Now, first principle I need you to get tonight, and that's this. Very simple, but you need to get it. You are not going to solve your problem through what you're doing. The only way to solve the problems that you have as a Christian is by the grace of God.

So you're going to have to learn how to receive what you can't earn, what you don't work for, and what you don't deserve. If you're gonna grow, you're gonna have to learn how to receive what you can't work for. What you can't earn and what you can't labor for, God does not, in his sanctification process, allow you to earn and then he pays out.

You don't clock in with religious activity and then show your time clock to God the Holy Ghost and say, now I deserve or I demand or I should get. Because anything that you get. That deals with your sin problem from God isn't a result of what you do, it's a result of what you believe. So if you're trying to Traverse sanctification, travel through sanctification, based on what you do, you're approaching sanctification in the entire wrong way. It's only by grace that sin that's in your heart.

Okay, let me teach over here. Sin that's in your heart I don't know where to t oh not them. Our problem is sin. And the only thing that's greater than sin is the grace of God. I said the only thing greater than sin is the grace of God. I said for the Christian, the only thing greater than the evil that's in you is the grace that God will give you when you face your relationship with God in the right way.

So the only hope you have is to face your relationship in the right way and depend upon the grace of God. And for every one of you that say, Oh, you're preaching that greasy grace, let me say it again. Jesus Christ paid the price for everything that I get from God, and not one thing that He did on the cross was greasy. He did it so I could freely receive what I need. So if you're gonna grow, you're gonna have to learn how to receive grace.

You're gonna have to embrace the principles of faith and grace. They're twins, they're sisters. They can't be separated. Proper faith will bring you the grace of God. But you have to believe the right thing. And in order to believe the right thing, to receive the grace of God, you have to know the right thing. And if it's not preached to you.

You're going to try to pray your way through. You're going to try to read your way through. And when that doesn't work, you're going to try to 40-day your way through. Five-step your way through. Philosophize your way through. You can't get through any of it except by grace. Through faith. And I can tell you this: whatever it is that you're facing, no matter how long you've faced it, no matter how long it's been there where sin did abound. I said, where sin did abound, grace

Did much more abound. Grace is your answer, my friend. Not your labor, not your work. Not your routine, grace. Learning how to receive grace. By saying that we don't pray, that we don't uh uh have disciplines. No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that those things ought to teach us and help us with our faith to be properly centered in God's redemption plan, but they're not brownie points. And they're not they're not uh uh uh steps that make God pay you something.

The only thing you get from God is a comes freely because of what Christ did for you at Calvary. So if you're going to grow, you're going to have to lose all faith in what you do as the means of sanctification.

Or you're not going to make it. Number two, let's go to verse 21, please. Verse 21 says that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life. by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, the term in verse 21 that as sin hath reigned unto death is extremely important because on that clause turns the rest of the chapter. The word sin here is hamartia, and it is a noun.

It also is a noun that is being personified. It looks like it is a person that as sin hath reigned. It's like a king reigning. And the idea is that sin hath reigned like a king on the throne of your heart. In the past, this is the truth, that sin hath reigned like a king on the throne of your heart. Come on, someone help me. Just ignol yeah, that's true. That's what that's what I was. A person who had A entity, a

Because if you read chapter six and there's 17 times the word sin is given in chapter six and you read it with the mindset of acts of sin, you've totally missed the point of the chapter. The point of the chapter is to teach you that there's a sin nature and now and remember he's writing this to Christians, so as a Christian The whole process of sanctification demands, listen now, that you learn how to live free from the sin nature that has reigned like a king over you.

Which means that as a Christian, the sin nature is still existing in your person. He says this to Christians as he starts sanctification, that as sin has reigned unto death, even so, see here's something else that we want. Here's the other side of what we want to experience. While it's still true that the sin nature could continue to reign, here's the potential. Even so might grace reign.

So you're gonna be living here, sitting here, trying as a Christian to travel through sanctification in one or two statuses, either with grace reigning or with the sin nature reigning. And that's what sanctification is all about. It's not about acts of sin. Acts of sin are the evidence that the sin nature is reigning. All right. The fruit of the flesh is the evidence that the sin nature is reigning and influencing. The fruit of the spirit is the evidence of God's grace reigning.

And now as a Christian, we have the opportunity, we have the potential of either allowing the sin nature to reign as it always had, driving us towards acts of sin and selfishness, or we could learn as a believer how to let grace reign. See, that's what you gotta learn. I have to learn how to let grace reign. See, some of you I'm all upset about the fact that I'm smoking. Well, you should be.

I'm all upset about the fact that I'm jealous. Well, you should be. I'm all excited. I'm all uh worried about the fact that I'm full of lust. Well, you should be. But the problem Is not the action or the attitude, the problem is at the core of your being. The problem is in you, it's a nature that needs to first of all be stilled. so that the new nature can be active. So you've got to be sure, listen now, that in sanctification, that the old nature is stilled

and the new nature is active and it's not automatic. That's why this verse says it's sanctification is this, that as the sin nature has reigned, even so might grace reign. If it was true that grace reigned automatically, we would all grow and would no longer have any failings or falterings. But that's not the way it works. Okay, let me teach over here. That's not the way it works.

Because there's some things on the inside of us that God is going to expose to us, and when we see them exposed, it's not there to destroy us, it's there to be destroyed by the grace of God. And sanctification, that's going to be a never-ending process through the rest of my life, whether or not and the closer you get to God, uh the the the more things will come up. That you don't want to see. And you have to know how to let grace reign and not let the sin nature reign.

So the whole chapter of the only time, let me say this to you, and we won't get there tonight, but the only time that acts of sin are referred to in Romans chapter 6 is in verse 15 of Romans 6. Shall we sin that grace might abound? Shall we continually commit acts of sin that grace might abound? God forbid. No, no. That's the only time. The rest of the time you can read Romans chapter six and instead of the term sin, place sin nature there.

And it starts here. And and We says that the rules of Greek syntax, because sin is utilized as a person. Hamartia is referred to as a person personified like a king, that every time there's a noun. Following this text, the rules of Greek syntax allow us to say sin nature, not sin. Plus, it's a noun, a person, place, a thing.

And sometimes, not always, sometimes the fact that there's a definite article in front of the word sin, the sin, even makes it even more secure that we're dealing with the sin nature.

So you're gonna have to number one know that everything that you have to go through, everything you gotta experience, everything you have to overcome can only be overcome by grace. Number two, the only way to live this life successfully is to live free from the impact of a sin nature that evidently you must still have after being saved, born again, even filled with the Holy Ghost, or all of that's for nothing. That's just wasted space and Paul didn't know what he was talking about.

So sanctification is learning to live free from the sin nature versus learning, or that's not how I want to say it, living free from the sin nature and living in the grace of God. And chapter five, twenty, twenty-one, six one and the first portion of six two all declare that there is a presence of the sin nature. Let's go to five uh six and one, please.

Our problem is the sin nature. It can only we can only rule and uh walk free from it through Jesus Christ our Lord. But uh chapter six and verse one says, What shall we say then to Now what we just learned, let's apply it. Shall we continue in the sin nature? Now you gotta get that. What does it mean to continue in the sin nature? Shall we continually be dominated by the sin nature like we were before we got saved?

Shall we continually allow the nature that's evil that moves us towards ungodliness, selfish and sin, sa shall we allow it to continue And the answer to that is God forbid. So again, as we go into sanctification, we have to understand that it's our responsibilities to see to it that the sin nature no longer reigns in our heart and our life.

Yeah? You get it? You gotta get this. It's your responsibility to see to it that the sin nature no longer reigns. Go to six and two. Now we're gonna shift gears here. Because watch this, there's going to be a statement made, and it's a subject all in itself. It says this How shall we that are dead to sin? And again, what can we do with the word sin? Help me? We can say sin nature. How shall we that are dead to the sin nature?

Live any longer therein. Now live any longer therein and continually continue in are basically the same idea. Shall we continue? Shall we continue to be dominated? Shall we live any longer therein under the influence of the sin nature? But a statement is made here that you need to get. Because God doesn't tell you you have to destroy the power of the sin nature.

In fact, Paul comes out very plainly right here and says this to us. All right, it's only by grace, through faith, it's the problem of being freed from the sin nature, and oh, by the way, believer, you're already dead.

You're already dead. To the what? You're already dead. What does that mean? Well it doesn't mean the sin nature is dead, and it doesn't mean that you're dead. It means that your relationship to the sin nature The way that that relationship was before has been changed because death changes relationships. You died and your relationship to the sin nature has already been changed.

So God isn't asking you to destroy the sin nature, fight the sin nature, overcome the sin nature. He's telling you in plain English that you right now as a believer need to know this. Yes, you are dead to the sin nature. Well, wait a minute. I thought it was my responsibility to see too. Yeah, but it wasn't your responsibility to bring about the victory over the sin nature. It's your responsibility to learn what brought about that victory and to continually walk in the victory already won.

You're dead to the sin nature. I don't care what's manifesting in your life. If you're a believer, you're dead to the sin nature. You're dead to the sin nature. That's where you start this relationship with God. But the question now pops into our brain, and it has to be asked: well, how did I become dead? If I have to operate by faith and grace, and I have to operate knowing that I have to live free from the sin nature, and I've already become dead to the sin nature, then then then then

How did that happen? Verse three, don't you know?

Don't you know that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus, how did I become dead to the sin nature? The moment the believing sinner said yes to Jesus. He was immersed into the very person of Christ. And if you're immersed into the person of Christ, you became one with him. And if you become one with him, then his past is your past, his present is your present, his future is your future.

Right now, if you are a believer, I know you look like you're sitting in uh in in eighty nine nineteen mi World Ministry Boulevard. But you're not. You're seated in heavenly places in Christ. Not eighty-nine nineteen world ministry habit. No, you're in Christ. Read it in him in heavenly places. Why? Because you became one with him, and wherever you he is, that's where you are. In the future, Romans uh Revelation twenty, you're gonna rule and reign with him.

So by virtue of your union with Christ, by virtue of your baptism into Christ, by virtue of your becoming one with Christ, Then his past is your past. And you, like Paul, can say, I am crucified with Christ. Because as many of us as were baptized into Christ, we're baptized into his death. How did you become free from the impact of the sin nature? Thank you, Adam, for giving that to me. How did you c become free?

from the impact of any sin. How did you become free from the sin factory? You said yes to Jesus. You were united with him, baptized into him, crucified with him. But not just that, you were buried. Because everything that you used to be, dominated by the sin nature, we don't ever want to see it anymore. You were buried with him and then raised up with him to live in him.

From a brand new power source. Romans 6 and 4. Go there quickly. Notice what it says here. We're buried with him. Then it like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Now the term newness of life is uh is it's correct, but it would be better said this way, from a new source of life.

And that new source of life is the grace of God. It's the effectual work of the Holy Spirit. So here's what you got as a result of being saved. This is what Jesus did for all humanity at the cross. He brought those of us dominated by the sin nature, which was all of us, that believed in him into union with him, were crucified with him at the cross, buried with him.

raised up with him now free from the sin nature and the Holy Ghost planted on the inside of us becomes a new source of life and now grace Begin to reign because my faith is in him and the power of the sin nature is shut down and unplugged. I'm dead to the sin nature by virtue of being baptized into Jesus. Woo! So I began with everything in order. I begin with it all accomplished. But see, if I don't know that, invariably I'll try to accomplish again what he's already done.

So to secure it, go to six and five. We see this. If you want to be experiencing the resurrection life, then you realize that because you were united with him, because you were planted with him in the likeness of his death, that's the cross. Oh, why do they say the cross, the cross, the cross? Because the cross brought you freedom from the sin nature. You know what that means? That means that whatever your problem is at the cross, it was defeated. And your union with Jesus.

Your union at salvation with Jesus is enough to bring you freedom from what you are now facing. Oh, we did need to teach this again. Because that should have brought a shout. That means that whatever you're facing is already a defeated enemy because of the cross. That means whatever habit that you can't quit has already been destroyed by the event of the cross. That means that whatever attitude you can't get above and rise above has already been destroyed by virtue of the event of the cross.

See you're looking at it all wrong. Well, I gotta get this right. No, no, he's already got it right for you. Oh I gotta hurry. Time's already over. But you need to understand that you're freed from the sin nature by virtue of your union with Christ. It's not what you do, it's what you believe. Now to reinforce this, and I gotta hurry, look at Romans 6 and verse 6 and 7, because 6 and 7 say this. These are your emancipation proclamations. You need to know this. That your old man

The person and the old man is the human being dominated by the sin nature. Old is an adjective describing what kind of man. A man who was being dominated by the sin nature is the old man. That's why in Ephesians, Paul says to us, put off the old man. Don't live that way.

Shall we continue in the sin nature that grace might abound? God forbid, put off the old man. We're not going to be living dominated by the sin nature anymore. Why? Because the old man, the man dominated by the sin nature, is crucified with him. There it is again, that the body of sin might be rendered ineffective, useless, and idle. The sin nature still exists in us, but it's unplugged. You're freed from it.

So that from now on you don't have to. Listen, from now on you don't have to. Listen, from now on you don't have to. I said from now on you don't have to. I said from now on you don't have to. The chains have already been broken. Whom the Son set free is free indeed. That henceforth we should not serve not acts of sin, but the sin nature. Now watch this. Here's your emancipation proclamation, no matter what color you are. Chapter six and verse seven. Look at it. It says this for he that is dead.

Is freed from how uh from the sin nature. How did I become dead? You were united with him, you were crucified with him. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet not I. Colossians 3, 3, you are dead. And your life is hidden with Christ in God. Every believer is dead, therefore every believer is free by virtue of the cross. Don't you know it?

He died unto sin once. He destroyed the power of the sin nature once, 2,000 years ago at Calvary. He defeated it. It is finished.

When the battles come we don't understand. But as as I said earlier, you're only tested over what you know. So if you've placed your faith in the cross, believing that grace is sufficient to overcome the problem that's manifesting in your spirit, soul, or body, and you haven't seen the victory yet. Your faith is being tested to see if it's real.

Unfeigned legitimate faith, singers, musicians, come back. Is your faith real? You're still drinking, Christian. To some people that's not a problem. It is a problem. You're still cussing, Christian. You're still lusting. You're still you fill in the blank. Because there's a mess inside of all of us. Well what's your mess, Brother Larson? Taint none of your business. Mess is a buffet line. Eat off your own plate. It's full.

I can't change myself. I can't routine myself out of this. I can't save myself, change myself. Only you have the ability to change me, and I surrender, and I praise you for it. I bow the knee to you and raise and you know this gets a little tiring just like Mo and Moses got tired and he had to sit down on a rock. My friend, there's no better place to sit than on a rock. That rock was Christ. And as he sits there, even then sitting on the rock, his hands get a little tired.

And he gets a friend on one side, Aaron, and another on the other side. See, when you get a little tired of praise and surrender, you just need somebody from SBN to come back and tell you, it's all about the cross. Don't give up. Don't give up. It's all about the cross. And as you lift your hands. And we as the agents of God, the people of God, the pr the the preachers of God grab a hold of those hands and help lift them up. Jesus fights in your valley.

And he will never fail. Stand with me here tonight. I don't know what you've got to overcome in your life. I don't know what you're facing. But I know that if you're a believer and you love Jesus, you're on the path of transformation. And every now and then we get to that place where, man. I'm just not getting beyond this. But if you don't quit If you won't quit. And you keep those hands lifted in surrender. And your faith is in Christ and what he did for you at Calvary.

Then the sin nature will stay silent. And that new source of life, the flow of the Holy Spirit given to you at salvation, will continuously transform you. Because now the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. will make you free. From the law of sin and death. And I've taken you over a little bit of time. We got to get up in the morning. But if you have a need tonight, you've been struggling, we can take five minutes.

And you head down to this altar, I don't want to know what it is, I don't care what it is. You just want somebody to hold up your hands with you. And say, Help me because I'm struggling. Make your way right now, as they sing. And whatever the Lord's laid on their heart, let us pray with you, let us stand with you. Let us bootress your faith tonight. Come on, help me.

As we learn to depend on who you are. And Father, for that heart that's discouraged tonight, let the joy of salvation return. Let faith rise, let peace come. Let rest and strength be theirs in Jesus' name. And Lord, we give you all the praise. And give you all the glory in Jesus' name.