We've got a few portions to read this evening. We're going to begin with 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18. Put your finger there. Take another finger and put it in Romans chapter 8. And a third finger. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. While you're turning, let me also encourage you to Come out. I know you'll be here, but what I want to encourage you to do is bring someone else with you. Imagine if each one of you just badgered someone enough. Just badgered them enough. I'm tired of hearing that. I'm just going to go and get them off my back. The place will be doubled tomorrow night if you would do that. Ask God whom you could speak to and make an invitation to come. to these meetings. If you have at all been helped by the Lord, then I would think you would want to share that. You'd want to let somebody else know. You wouldn't want to be selfish and keep it all to yourself, would you? If the Lord is speaking to you through His Word, then it would be a good thing to let somebody else know. 2 Corinthians, we're going to start there, read that one verse that's been, what we've been dwelling in the last couple of times in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 18 where the Apostle Paul says, But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Now back to Romans chapter 8 please. We began Sunday morning or I should say Saturday night with Paul's lamentation at the end of chapter 7. Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death. He said I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now verse 1 of chapter 8. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot, please God, but ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Final text, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 19. Quench not May God add His blessing to that reading from His Word for His name's sake. Would you bow your head with me just for a moment and let's all seek the Lord's face for His help tonight in His Word. Let's all pray. Father in heaven, it is in the name that is above every name that we come with boldness to Thy throne. We come, Lord, with empty hands, not ashamed But Lord, come with confidence that Thou wilt fill them as we lift them up to Thee, with Thy grace, with Thy power, with the blessing of the Spirit of God. For Thou dost know we have no strength in ourselves. Thou dost know that this preacher cannot preach aright if Thou art not the one energizing him with the Spirit's power. and the people that thou hast brought in will not be able to truly understand and hear the message of God for their souls if thou dost not enable them by the power of the Spirit of God. So now we pray, Lord, once again in Jesus' name. Fill us with the Holy Ghost, we pray. Bear us along in this message. shut us in with Thyself. May we be keenly aware that, Lord, everything has just been shut out because God has shut us in with His Word. Do a work here tonight, Lord, that will last well beyond this meeting and this evening and to the lifetime and eternity to come. In Jesus' name we pray this and for His glory alone we ask it. Amen and amen. In dealing with our conference theme of sending saints, we return to this Thought tonight, we began on Sunday morning, of how Christ, Paul said that Christ was the one who would deliver him from this body of death, that Christ was the one who was going to enable him to win the victory over the flesh with which he struggled, the sin that dwelt in his members. What we've been looking at is just how that works out. It's not enough to throw out the phrase, Christ is the answer. We need to understand from Scripture how Christ actually brings about that deliverance from the sin that dwells in our bodies, from the sin that plagues you if you're a child of God, from the sin that you struggle with every day, from the sin that you felt very keenly even this day. because this day has not gone by where you haven't sinned with some thought or some word or some deed. I know for a fact that's happened because the Word of God teaches us that that happens. How does it happen? We've been looking at verse 18 of II Corinthians chapter 3 where Paul tells us how it happens. We all, with open face, unveiled face, Behold, as in a glass, a mirror, the glory of the Lord. And as we do that, we are changed into that same image, that same likeness of Jesus Christ from glory to glory. It's by degrees, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. So Christ does this changing in us. He delivers us from the sin that so plagues us and troubles us. by his spirit, and that's why he's called the Spirit of Christ. He is the Holy Spirit, but he's given that unique title of being the Spirit of Christ to his church because he uniquely represents Christ in the work of redemption and salvation and sanctification among the people of God, transformed by the Spirit. You see, the ultimate purpose of God in redemption is that we would be changed, metamorphosis is the word, we would be changed into that perfect image of His Son. He's intent on that. So intent on it, He said, whom He did foreknow You want to know what that means. It's not just God knowing something ahead of time. It actually means who He loved beforehand. Not just for knowledge. Whom He loved beforehand, He also, because He loved them, did predestinate them. It's fixed. It's going to happen. He did predestinate them, what? To be conformed to the image, the likeness of His dear Son. So we're all on this journey, God has said it's going to be so, where little by little by little He's changing our lives to the work of the Spirit. so that we think more and we act more and we talk more like the Lord Jesus Christ and less like the old flesh. He's determined for that to happen. I've also stressed that this work is primarily, fundamentally the work of God. We have to begin there when we feel what Paul feels, who shall deliver me from this body of death? If that struggle has not brought you and me to the place where we realize we don't have it, We can't deliver ourselves. All of our New Year's resolutions are not going to bring about the answer. However sincere they may be and earnest before God we may be, we do not have the power within ourselves to transform our lives. We have to begin with what God the Spirit does. He is the primary mover in changing us into this image. of the Lord Jesus Christ. That verb translated, we are changed, is in the middle voice in the original language, which means we aren't the ones doing the action. There is a force outside of us, perhaps I should say more theologically correct, inside of us that's doing the acting. We're being changed. We're not changing ourselves. We're being changed. And the wonderful, it is wonderful, the very comforting truth that every believer in every part of his body, soul, and spirit is in the process of being transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Entirely. One day it will be perfect. And we will have a perfect heart, a perfect soul, a perfect spirit, and a perfect body, just like Jesus Christ. One day. And since the source of this transformation, from start to finish, is the work of the Holy Spirit, it is a work that cannot, and it will not, end in failure. So Paul could write, could he not, as he was being led along by the Holy Ghost, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you shall perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Who begins the work? God. Our focus must be upon what He does. He begins it He has a design and purpose that He began. There is a work. There's a purpose He has in His mind when He started that work. There's plans. That's a wonderful way of putting it. There are plans that God has drawn up for your life and for mine. And let me tell you something, folks. It's going according to plan. He knows exactly what He's doing, why He's doing it, when He's doing it, and it's all working out to His plan, and that plan is going to end up a finished product, and we'll all look like Jesus Christ. He hath begun a good work in you, shall perform it. It says, shall continue its present tense, carrying on, shall continue to perform it until that day of Jesus Christ. Perform, by the way, a more literal rendering of that word, he shall complete, he shall finish, he shall perfect it until the day of Christ. So whenever you find yourself afraid that you're not going to make it to the end, when you find yourself trembling because you are sure there's going to be some sin that you've struggled with perhaps in the past or many times and one day, one day it's going to get the better of you and you're going to turn away from the Lord. It's not going to happen. Not if you're His. Right? You have been predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son. At that point in time, if you think you're going to stop God, your theology is really bad. And let me tell you something, even with your bad theology, it's not going to stop Him. He will finish the work that He's begun in every one of the souls of those He has predestinated to be conformed to Christ's image. That, to me, is very comforting. When I feel myself so weak, so bruised and battled by my sin, my failures, my flesh, as Paul describes, this eminent saint describes his own battle and struggles with sin. I find there's tremendous comfort in knowing that this all comes back to God because God And Jesus, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost cannot fail and will never fail. You've sung it, haven't you, how many times? Jesus cannot fail. Seems that there's a disconnect when we find ourselves battling with these sins. The truth remains. He cannot fail. You can and do fail. But this, what theologians call the perseverance of the saints, it's really God persevering in the saints. It's God persevering in sinning saints. Can I be so bold as to say that? It's God persevering in sinning saints right to the end. And so one day we will all stand on the golden shores of glory, whatever that means, and wherever that is, we'll enter that blessed land where sin and sorrow are no more. It's going to happen. Hallelujah. It's going to happen. It's this very same God who has gone to such great lengths to assure us that He will finish the work He began, who also said in this letter to the Philippian church, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, because it's God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. It's God that works in you. That's what I've been preaching the last number of messages. God works in you. To do according to His will and His pleasure. At the same time, Paul says, work out your own salvation. And do it with fear and trembling. You understand, I trust that Paul is not for a moment proposing that man can earn his salvation. He's got to work for his salvation. He's simply calling on them to be active and diligent in living out, living out, working out the salvation that God has already wrought in them. That's all that that means. Perhaps I shouldn't say that's all because I don't mean to minimize it. There's a world of truth in that. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Time would run out on me tonight if I were just to read the scripture texts that teach us plainly that we are not completely passive in the Spirit's work of sanctification. We are not completely passive. There would be no reason for Paul to write in that text we were looking at yesterday, beholding as in a glass. If there wasn't some beholding we had to do to be transformed into the image of His Son. At the end of my message last night, I said that this transformation into the likeness of Christ can be helped or it can be hindered by the believer. This is the only time you will ever hear me refer to synergism in a right sense. Synergism, of course, in the apostate sense, the liberal sense, is, you know, God does His part in salvation and man does his part. They've got to have both together for a man to be saved. That all just, of course, stems out of old Pelagianism or semi-Pelagianism that doesn't teach that man is totally depraved and he can't do anything to save himself. He's dead in sin. That form of synergism we have to reject. But when you come to this transformation process where the Spirit of God works in us, we also work with Him. Can I be so bold as to say that? We work with Him. We work out that which God the Spirit works in. We can help or we can hinder. When I say help, I'm not for a moment suggesting that He is not strong enough, that He needs, that there's a dependence He has upon us. God forbid. He's omnipotent. He can do whatever He wants to do. But this God has decreed that this is how He will do what He wants to do. His pleasure will be by us doing certain things and not doing other things. And in doing that, we help. Similarly, when I say, hinder Him, I'm not implying that we have the power to bring the work of the Holy Spirit to a complete standstill, that we have the power to stop Him. We don't. But what I am saying is that there is here a very clear role that God has called us to fulfill in this whole process. And to the degree that we do or don't heed that call from God to do or not do, that's to the degree that we help or hinder this work of transformation. I will be quoting a Puritan by the name of John Owen several times this evening. John Owen has a tremendous work on sin and sin and temptation. But you're talking about a Reformed? He was. Yeah, he was an independent. He was a Congregationalist. He wasn't Presbyterian, but we'll forgive him for that. But when it comes to God's salvation and God's sanctification, he's hard to beat. He wasn't a Romanian. Listen to what he said, "...although our sanctification and growth in holiness are the work of the Holy Spirit, yet they are also our own work and the duty to which we are called." So first, from that exhortation that Paul made in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 19, I want to address hindering the Holy Spirit in His work of transformation. hindering the Holy Spirit in this work of transformation. If we hinder the work of the Spirit, the impact it will have on our spiritual progress, on our being changed into the image of Jesus Christ, will be disastrous. We ask the question, how come? Some believers are so much more advanced than others. Why is it that there are some who have been saved for only a short season, yet they seem to have a greater reflection of Christ in their behavior than those that have been saved perhaps twice as long as they have? I realize, I understand that God is absolutely sovereign in how He works in the lives of His people, but I do not want to find myself in a position saying, well, you know, God's just sovereign and that's how it is. I think if you will just do a little research, you'll find out that there's been a a little more serious approach to helping the Holy Ghost than hindering Him. And that explains the difference. That explains why there is a greater thirst in some for Christ's likeness than in others. That explains why that there is not as much interest in prayer in some as there are in others. That explains why there's a firmer grasp of the Scriptures by some who didn't go off to Bible college, who didn't take any special courses, but they just were brought to the Word of God. They knew that there was a means whereby they were to obtain this power and this transformation, and they just did it. And God blessed it. They were changed. I dare not sit back and put my feet up and say, well, it's just God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty, as old Dr. Paisley used to say, that's God's business. You just let him take care of his business and you take care of your business. Hindrance. If we do not help but we hinder, the results are not pleasant ones. Quench not the Holy Spirit. The word he's using there is giving a picture of the Holy Spirit under that often used emblem in God's Word, a fire, because the word quench means to extinguish, to go out. So, to quench the Spirit is to do that which stifles, which extinguishes, which hampers His work, of changing us into the image of God's Son. There would be no need, you know folks, for Paul to say, quench not the Holy Ghost if we couldn't do it. Hamper his work. Or if I can flip metaphors for a moment, dampen the fire. What will happen? Well, first we're going to lose the sense of His presence, the awareness. It's the Holy Ghost that makes us aware of God. And when we quench His work, or to borrow the words of Paul, grieve Him, He withdraws. I don't mean He departs from us. He is ever going to indwell the Lord's people. You know, we talk about God coming down, coming down in revival. I understand those words and I use those words. I pray for that to happen. But I also know that God is omniscient. He doesn't move about from place to place. He fills all space with all of His being. That means that God fills all place, all space, both. I got it both out. How do you like that? Place and space with His entire being. He's not divvied up. There's not a part of Him here and a part of Him out in the universe somewhere. He has to to be God. I won't go into the theological reasons for all that. He has to fill all space with all of His beings, so He doesn't come down, literally. What happens? This is for us to, because we're finite creatures and we think, we can only think in times of place. What God does, what God the Spirit does, He opens up our eyes. There's revelations of God's presence. When revival has come, it's been simply, and I don't denigrate the work that's being done by saying simply, but it is simply the Holy Spirit just lifting the veil and in a very great degree manifesting the presence of God and the power of God. That's what happens. You've had little stirrings of heart. You've sensed the Lord is near you. What's been happening? The Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost has just been revealing the things of Christ to you, revealing God to you. God was always there. The Holy Spirit's always there. But we quench His worth and we're going to, He's going to withdraw. We won't have the sense of His presence. I'll tell you what, you'll have a very real sense of yourself. I would remind you of David's prayer in Psalm 51, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. This wasn't some Old Testament saint under a dispensation of works. God save us from that mentality. And he thought that the Holy Ghost would actually be taken. What was he saying? My sin, I've grieved the Lord. And I can't go on if I don't have the presence of the Lord in my life. It would be just like Moses when he said to God before taking Israel into the wilderness, if thy presence go not with us, carry us, not a pence. I can't do it without thee. And David was saying, you can take my crown, you can take my children, just don't take the Holy Spirit from me. Don't let me lose. the reality of His presence in my life. It's obvious then that no loss, no loss is so grieving to the child of God as the loss of God's presence and Spirit. It's not a real and literal loss, as I said, in dwelling of the Holy Ghost. The gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. But what is lost are those sensible, those very gracious influences that work in restraining us, in restraining the flesh. in restraining the members of our bodies that if they're not restrained, if they're not pulled back by the influences of the Holy Ghost, we say things and we think things and we do things that are so unlike the Lord Jesus Christ because we're hindering His work. Something else will go along with that. our joy. He's the spirit of joy. He's the one that really brings us happiness. Yeah, I know you can You can get happy because you get a new car, a new house, a new suit, a new toy, whatever it might be, but that's not what we're talking about now in this context of Christlikeness. We're talking about having the joy of the Lord, experiencing that, tasting that. I need to be careful. I am well aware that there are believers who suffer sadness and sorrow and it has nothing to do with quenching the Holy Spirit. I do not want to add sorrow on top of your sorrow if that's the case. It's not because you have been living footloose and fancy free with sin and been toying with that which is grieving the Spirit of God. You'd have to say you've tried to walk with the Lord, but still you're full of sadness and sorrow. I understand that. And I would not want to add to it. That's not whom I'm addressing right now. I am speaking to those who could tell me right now. I have been grieving the Holy Ghost by my behavior. You don't need pastor to say anything to me. I know right well. I have been quenching his work in my life and that's exactly why I am not happy. That's exactly why I am so sad. And that's exactly why I have been looking for so many things to fill up and to make me happy, but I know deep down they never bring a moment's real joy to my heart. That's whom I'm describing. Maybe I have just described you to a T. You ought to just stop and thank God for it. Because the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost is revealing things to you. And don't dismiss it. Because all you will do is grieve him further. You'll get more insensitive. And it might take something more than just a word of a preacher in a meeting to get your attention. But I'll tell you one thing, he will get it. because He has determined that you're going to be transformed into the image of His dear Son. Because He is the Spirit of Truth, all the knowledge that we have of God, all the knowledge we've gained from our Bibles about God, about Christ, about the Gospel, It will be useless. It won't have any impact upon us. Yesterday we were looking at how the Holy Ghost brings us along in this transformation by bringing us into the schoolroom, the schoolroom of the Word and the schoolroom of prayer where we learn Christ like no other place. But if we quench Him, if we grieve Him, And all that knowledge we've gained will just be head knowledge. You may have a head full of knowledge, but it will have no influence on you. It won't have any impact. If it's not attended by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, this is the thing that scares preachers the most. The thing they're most afraid of. standing up in the pulpit to deliver the Word, and there's not the co-witness of the Holy Spirit as they preach. Because if that's not there, there's nothing going to be done. You may have a very clear knowledge of divine things by reading and hearing and by reasoning, but it won't be a knowledge that's going to transform your life. We'll read the Word of God, but it will be stale and dry. We'll look for the will of God, but we won't find it because it's the Holy Ghost that teaches us the will of God from the Word of God. You need to make some decision, some serious decision, but you're not prepared to make it. And I'll tell you one thing, apart from the sheer mercy of God, you will launch out and make decisions that will be ruinous, because you did it in your own wisdom. You leaned on your own understanding, because your mind, you had grieved the Holy Spirit. And you didn't even console His Word. And now there's a price to pay for that. You won't be helped by the messages of God's Word, because it's the Holy Ghost that brings those messages, those sermons to life. I mean, have you thought about it, folks? There's just some black words on paper up here. It's a sermon. Yes, I walk in with sermon notes. Number one, I don't have a photographic memory. I wish I did, but I don't. I don't even have a good memory. I don't want to miss one thing that the Lord has led me in my study to say. So I put it down. I'm not ashamed to tell you. But I know one thing, no matter how well structured the outline might be, how well I develop the thoughts, I make the application, I know one thing, it'll be like water off a duck's back. if the Holy Spirit is not enlightening and making the application to your soul. It'll be just another sermon. And I know it won't do one thing to change you. You'll go out like you came in. Maybe perhaps even a little worse because you heard the truth and you did nothing with it. We quench the Holy Ghost, our prayers will be powerless. As I said last night, He is the Spirit of grace and supplication. We know not what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit of God has been given to us by the Father, by Christ, to help us in our infirmity. He comes alongside and, as it were, picks up. But we can't have no way of knowing, how should I pray? What should I be praying? He does with groanings which cannot be uttered. But you quench Him. You grieve Him. Prayers just become words that you say. There's no reality to your praying. You're saying words You may have a lot of prayer jargon that you use, but you know, you know, it's just, you're just throwing up words, you're not getting past the ceiling. As William Shakespeare said in his play Hamlet, don't be offended if I'm quoting, he's not a believer of course, he was a pagan, but the thought, he had some tremendous biblical thoughts. The king was there, or Hamlet was praying there, he saw the king, he wanted to kill him, and he heard the king say, My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go. We can say words, they sound so good, but if the heart is not there, the spirit of God has been quenched, there's no power. We haven't touched the throne of God. If there's a praying in the spirit, there is a praying out of the spirit. Something else happens, your assurance will go. Your assurance that you're a child of God will go. Again, I am not implying for one moment that because you have doubts about your salvation, I'm an expert on that. You want to talk about those things? I'll talk to you about them. I've been there and done that for many years. Not everyone who has doubts about their salvation or living lives are quenching the Spirit of God. But one thing that is inevitable when you quench the Spirit, when you grieve the Spirit, and it withdraws those sanctifying, sacred influences, you begin to doubt. The witness of the Spirit. The Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. What evidence do I have that I am truly what I profess to be? What evidence? I can't just make it a profession of faith. Well, you know, I walked an aisle, I signed a card, I believed, I did this, my parents pray with me, yada, yada, yada. I'm not decrying that, all those things, but if that's all that we have, we have no assurance just because we professed or said a prayer. What gives us that assurance, it's going to be our belief in the gospel is going to make a difference in how we live. It's the Holy Ghost working out that transformation in us. I get it. I know that we can get ourselves so much in bondage because we don't see Christ. We don't see Christ-like behavior. And we go like a dog chasing its tail. I can't help but, I come to the word of God, brothers and sisters. For instance, 2 Peter chapter 1, where Peter says, make your own calling and election sure. There's things we have to do to do that. And if we don't do them, we're going to hurt ourselves. We're not going to become unconverted, but we're going to rob ourselves of that assurance. Because we have grieved the Spirit of God. Can I stop? I have to do this. Can I stop and ask anyone here tonight, have you been really struggling with doubts about your salvation, wondering whether or not you're really a child of God? My follow-up question is this. Have you been living in such a way? Have you been engaging in things that you know is a grief to the Holy Ghost and you've quenched Him? I can tell you why you're having doubts. And you're not going to come to that place of assurance once again until you get back to the place of helping the Holy Ghost in this transformation process. Our usefulness, furthermore, is going to cease. We can't do anything apart from the Holy Ghost and the work of God. Oh, we can do a lot of things in the flesh, but the real usefulness for you or for me is as the Holy Ghost works through us. Now we all know that Paul speaks to Timothy about being clean vessels that are fit, suitable for the master's use. You ladies don't, I hope you don't, take up dirty pots to cook your meals. I can't use that. That's dirty. I've got to scrub it first and then it's usable. That's the imagery that he's saying. These dirty vessels, these dirty pots, we've got to clean them so they can be usable to God. Same thing with us as Christians. We quench the Holy Ghost because we've not paid really any serious attention about the flesh, about the battle that we have with this sin. We're not really engaged seriously. We're not really serious about following through our discipleship. We're so worldly minded. We've got our attention so much on this world upon things in this world. We're not heavenly minded. We're not Christ minded. And guess what happens? We quench the spirit. We dirty our souls. We dirty our hands. We dirty our hearts. And we're not in a place where the Lord can use us. Am I speaking to someone here tonight who's saying, I'm just not being used by God? Is this the reason? You've quenched him. He's likened in scripture to a dove because of his tenderness. God, it's amazing this to me, the sensitivity of God that he can be so grieved He withdraws. I can't use that child. They're dallying with sin. Their hands are dirty. He that would ascend the hill of the Lord must have clean hands and a pure heart. But that woman's hands, that man's heart, it's dirty. It's dirty. It's dirty. I'm grieved. And perhaps, perhaps the only reason God has sent me along to Balamina from a small corner of his vineyard in South Carolina is to deliver this message to you, whoever you are. You've dirtied your soul and that's why he's not using you. You've grieved him. You ought to be encouraged that he would do that. He brings somebody from a long way just to tell you, you're grieving me. I don't want you like that. I want you clean because I've got plans to use you. To me the most tragic thing of all, by grieving the Holy Spirit, we will not behold Christ. As we saw yesterday, He is the one that takes the things of Christ and reveals them to us. He's the one that brings us to the word and shows us Christ. It's the vision of Christ that transforms us. It's the vision of Christ that breaks the back of sin. It's the vision of Christ. We see him exalted and glorified or we see him crucified and we're brought to want to live in holiness of life. And we're changed by that beholding him from glory to glory. But we grieve the Holy Ghost and we quit seeing the Lord. We can't find him in the Word. He withholds himself. The Spirit's influences have been hampered. We've hindered the work of the Holy Ghost in our transformation. Now, in light of this, in light of this, How long do I have to? I'm not used to this track of time. 930 I should be ending. Let me make an attempt, and I promise I won't keep you past 11, but I need to deal with this. I've only got four more messages, and I've got to deal with this. How do we help? the Holy Ghost. And I say that humbly. The work, work out your own salvation, work out your own sanctification, work out your own transformation, all that. The work we are called upon to do in order to help with our growth into Christ's image is both positive and negative in nature. What I want to spend just a little bit on with the time that I have remaining is the negative aspect of it. The negative aspect of it. The word I will use is mortification. Mortification. Now, Romans chapter 8, please. Romans 8. Let's read verses 12 and 13 together of this. Romans 8, 12 and 13. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit, that's critical, if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. that ye shall live, it's about living that Christ-like life, living that Spirit-filled life that enables us to overcome the sins that so easily beset us. That's what that's about. And what does he say? He says, through the Spirit put to death The deeds of the body. You recall from Romans 7, that's Paul's whole problem. It's the sin in his members. It's the deeds of the body. Now he's going on to expound and explain how he has this victory through Christ, Christ's spirit. If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Christ is the one who does this by His Spirit and by the Spirit. If you will, by the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body, you will really live. It's a debt we have to Him. An obligation, He calls it. We're debtors. Not to the flesh to live after the flesh. We don't owe the flesh anything, but we do owe Christ everything. It was an obligation laid upon you. It's an obligation you have your entire life's journey and that is to put sin to death in all of its forms. To go about killing it and killing it and killing it and putting a gun to its head every time it rears itself. Does he not say, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God? If you're led by the Spirit, that's an indication you're a son of God. If you're not led by the Spirit, it's an indication you're not a son of God. So He leads us, does He not? People talk about the leading of the Holy Spirit. Here's what I want to hear more leading about. The Lord led me. I get it. I use that language. But I think sometimes there's so much an emphasis upon how the Lord led me to this, the Lord led me to that. Well, I want to hear about the Lord leading His people to mortify the deeds of the body, because that's exactly what Paul is saying here, is it not? He will lead you to mortify, to put to death the deeds of the flesh. Not inject life into them, not feed them, not strengthen them, but kill them. Because they're an enemy of Christ. They're an enemy of your holiness. and your usefulness, and your joy, and your peace, and your happiness, and you just go down the list. Sins are an enemy to those things, and you kill the enemy. I mean, it's a no-brainer, right? Someone wanting to kill you would just say, come on into my house and make yourself comfortable. Would you do that? You've got things in your home, however. that are your enemies and they're killing you spiritually. They're killing you. And you treat it like it's your friend. I'll tell you one thing, the Holy Ghost did not lead you to do that. Not the Holy Spirit. He's never going to lead a child of God to bring an enemy into his home. that's going to hurt Him, that's going to grieve Him and quench His work. The Holy Spirit leads us to put to death the deeds of the body, the sin that dwells in us, in our members. It can all be summed down to one word. That word is self. That's what sin is all about. Self. Sin, we know it's a want of conformity to or transgression of the law. But why is there that lack of conformity? And why is there that transgression of the law? Because self doesn't want it. It wants its own way, which is contrary to the way of God. So in essence sin is really all about self being God, self being on the throne. I want what I want when I want it and don't anyone tell me I can't have it. That's what sin says. It's all about self. You just go ahead and reflect upon those sins that give you so much grief and tell me if I'm not correct. It's all about self. You indulge in some sinful pleasure because you want self to be pleased. It's not about pleasing God. So what do you need to do? You kill it. You don't play with it. You don't put it in the closet. You don't put it under your bed, you kill it and you get it out of your life. Kill it. Putting sin to death. Let me read a few verses out of Colossians chapter 3. Verse 3 of Colossians 3, for ye are dead, listen to that, you're dead, ye are dead, and your life, your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye 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 thing sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. Mortify. Put them to death. That's our obligation. That's a debt we have. A daily debt. What do I mean by mortify? Let me tell you what I don't mean first. I'm not, when I talk about putting sin to death, we're talking about what we do to help the Holy Spirit in this transformation process. When I say we mortify the deeds of the body, we put the sin to death, we kill it, I don't mean for one moment that we're going to eradicate sin completely from our life. That is not going to happen. I say it again, the body of sin, this flesh will be with us till the day we die or Christ comes again and takes us home to glory. It's going to be there. It'll be a fight every day. That's not what I mean. Nor does it mean that we have occasional victories over these sins. You know, in a time, I'm sure you've been there, in a time of deep trouble, a deep trial, you've been made to search your heart, and what's, Lord, what's, there's something wrong in my life, and I, oh, God's put His finger upon it, and you say to the Lord, well, I'll just, I'll correct this, and I'll stop doing this, It'll be better. And you do it, and you put it away, and you go to God, and you weep before Him, and, Lord, I'm sorry. And the trouble goes away. And as soon as the trouble goes away, or not long thereafter, that sin that you thought you had killed comes right back out of hiding because you didn't kill it at all. We're not talking about an occasional victory over a sin. Listen to what God said about Israel in Psalm 78. When He slew them, then they sought Him. That's God. He caused them pain, suffering. When He slew them, then they sought Him, and they returned and inquired early after God, and they remembered that God was their rock and the high God their Redeemer. Listen to what comes Nevertheless, they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues, for their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant. They seemed to put the sin away, but they didn't. He flattered him. What does it mean? Three things that are undone. First off, It is the habitual weakening of sin. It's the habitual weakening of sin. It's what Paul says in Galatians 5.24, this crucifying of the flesh with the lusts thereof. One divine said, we are to be executioners, dealing cruelly with the body of sin, which has caused the acting of all cruelties on Christ's body. We treat sin cruelly. That means we don't spare it. We don't pamper it. We treat it cruelly because it's an enemy. And by treating it cruelly, we act as executioners and we habitually, habitually weaken sin in our lives. In Romans chapter 6, verse 6, Paul puts it like this. Our old man is, literate reads, has been crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Oh, crucified? Well, that means he's dead. Listen to an old Baptist preacher that preceded Charles H. Spurgeon. The name is John Gill. The old man, though crucified, and under the restraints of mighty grace, and cannot reign and govern as before, yet is alive, and acts, and operates, and oftentimes has great sway and influence. But whereas he is deprived of his reigning power, he is said to be crucified. Putting him to death. It is the denial of things that feeds sin. Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. The Apostle Paul, Titus chapter 2 verse 12, denying, it's denying what sin wants. Romans 13, 14, make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. If any of you men are battling, struggling with overcoming pornography, I am telling you right now, I am telling you now, get rid of anything in your home that gives you access to it. You do not need a computer or a smartphone to get to glory. It will ruin you. It will ruin your marriage if you are married. And it will make you an unfit husband if you do one day get married. Your mind will be filled with filth. You deny yourself. It doesn't matter how embarrassed it may make you, how shame it might bring you, there's something far more important than your personal pride. And that's your soul. And that's your marriage. Let's get serious. If we're talking about we want victory, we want to be holy, we want to be used, we want to have joy, we want to have peace, And we don't play with the sin. We don't play with that which is ruining us. We put it to death. We habitually weaken it at every turn. We deny it. Flee also youthful lusts. You run away from them as fast and as far as you can. I can hear all the arguments, but I need to have a computer because ABC. I want you to fast forward to Judgment Day when the books are opened and everything secret is made public and you tell me I needed to have it. You will have wished that you listened to that man long ago who said to get rid of anything that's leading me down a path of sin. Get rid of it. John Owen. Sin, he wrote, will no otherwise die but by being gradually and constantly weakened. Spare it. Listen to him now. Spare it and it heals its wounds and recovers strength. You can't spare it. Not only is it the habitual weakening of sin, but secondly, it is the ongoing war with sin. We read about that war in Romans chapter 7. Paul talks about it again in a different category, a way of putting it in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Listen to him. I fight, not as one that beateth the air, but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. I should be rejected. I should be set aside from the ministry, because I did not keep my body under. He said, I buffet my body. The literal idea is I beat it black and blue. I keep hitting and hitting and hitting my body because I know what it will do to me. I know what effect it will have upon my ministry and I'll be a castaway. Ongoing war. Fighting it. Not walking hand in hand with it. not joining it in its arm and say, let's walk down the road together. Yet some of you have been doing that. You've not put up any fight. Oh, you felt the guilt. Yes, you felt the guilt. You felt miserable because you have, but you really haven't put up a fight. As one old preacher said, you do a lot of shadow boxing. But when you shadow box, of course, you hit nothing. You do no damage because it's just shadow. It's the Spirit of God talking to you. You want to know why He's doing it? He's saying, come away, come away, fight that thing that's fighting against you and fighting me. War against it. Work out what I am working in. Finally, mortification is about winning over sin. Weakening? Yes. Warring? Yes. But winning. Complete elimination from sin in the life can never be. I've made that point numerous times, but we can mortify sin to such a degree. We can weaken them and war against them to where we actually win victory over them. We stop doing them when we put them to death. We stop doing them. We stop it. We don't do it again. Wouldn't that be your testimony when the Lord saved you? Men and women, you were sinners of all stripes, shapes, and colors, and you did all kinds of things. And I know for a fact there were things that you just stopped doing. You might have had a foul tongue. You cursed like a sailor. But the Lord saved you, and He stopped it. I'm not cursing anymore. You might have been a drunk. Enjoyed your alcohol. You really enjoyed it. You loved it. But the Lord saved you and you just stopped it. You stopped it. That's mortification. One sinner at a time. Weakening, warring, winning. John Owen said something else. The long, the vigor and power and comfort of our spiritual life depends on our mortification of deeds of the flesh. That's a big statement. The vigor and power and comfort of our spiritual life depends on our mortification of the deeds of the flesh. He also made this terse statement, be killing sin or it will be killing you. It will kill us. It will kill our joy. It will kill our love. for Christ, for sinners, for others, it will kill our peace if we don't kill it. Our sins have been nailed to the cross. The old man's been crucified. He's dying slowly, but he will die. Completely. One day. What we have to do. One day at a time. One day at a time. Put the sins to death. Deny them. Don't feed them. You do whatever you have to do. Go to whatever lengths you have to go to. If you're dead and earnest about wanting the power of God, the joy of the Lord, visions of Christ, revival. The Lord write His word on our hearts for His namesake. Let's bow our heads in prayer. O our God and our Father in heaven, we don't know what else to say tonight. Thy servant has poured out his heart as he has sought to explain thy gospel truth. And Lord, I know it's a work that Thou must do in all of us. And we cry to Thee to do it. We admit we need revival. We all, Lord, would have to confess the world has come in like a flood into the church of Christ. And we play with things. We should be killing. We kill things we should be embracing. O Holy Ghost, revival comes from thee. Send a revival, start the work in me. Thy word declares, thou wilt supply our needs. For blessing now, O Lord, we humbly plead. Search hearts, we pray. Let us all go out tonight with a hush of heaven upon us. Search us, O God, and see if there be any wicked way in us. And lead us in the way everlasting, that we might be transformed more and more into the image of Christ. In His name we pray, Amen.