Well, dear congregation, I please invite you now to turn your very prayerful attention to the second portion of Scripture that I read in your hearing there, 1 Peter and the chapter 2. As a church, we've been going through this epistle and studying these verses one at a time, taking small sections and opening up the meaning, the sense of the verses. We arrive in verse 7. morning of 1 Peter, where Peter has been describing the Lord Jesus Christ, the stone of stumbling to many. However, the chief cornerstone of the church. He was the head and the corner of the church. He was the rock of salvation to all who believe upon him. And they that believe upon Christ will not be confounded. They will not be ashamed. And Peter says these words by the Holy Spirit here in 1 Peter 2. Unto you, therefore, which believe, he is precious. But unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but have obtained mercy. And then he adds, dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. The Lord helping this morning as we come to these verses. We have already somewhat considered some of these. I've touched upon some of the verses, particularly verse seven, and 8 concerning the Lord Jesus. And I wish to just recap a little on verse 7 and 8, but later primarily focus on 10 and 11. How now, if we are born again, we are the children of God. We who were once not a people, we were a people of this world, but now we're a people. Just like the people of old who were called out of Egypt, they were not a nation, but God made them to be a nation. But we are a royal priesthood now. We speak of the priesthood of all believers. We speak of the kingship and the priesthood of all believers. It's told in Revelation that God has made us kings and priests forever to serve him. Christ, of course, rules as king over our hearts. But we do not offer up sacrifices of animals But we ourselves, as the Apostle Paul says, now offer up ourselves as living sacrifices. We now are the temple of God. Paul says this even of the Christian's body. Know you not that you were bought at a price? Therefore glorify God in your body. Know you not that you are the temple of God? The church is God's people. We are united in the Lord Jesus. He is head of the church and Lord of all. And he is to have heart, mind, soul, body. He has to have our all being. We were bought by him. He is the husband. We are the bride. We are his people. We can say with Solomon in Solomon 2.16, my beloved is mine and I am his. We belong to him. We will forever be with the Lord if we are His. And we are to show it in this life. We are but pilgrims and strangers in this world. Peter reminds us of this again. He spoke earlier in chapter 1 how we are to pass our time here of sojourning. To sojourn means the Uruguay Traveler, verse 17 of chapter 1. And if you call on the Father, that is if you are a person of faith, If you call upon him in prayer without respect to persons, God who judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. We are sojourners. We are traveling. This is not our home. The Christian is not comfortable in this world because it is an evil world. It is a world that is given over to sin. John says the whole world lieth in sin. It lies in iniquity. It is in darkness. And men will not come to Christ, the light, because they love darkness, because their works are evil. But God, in mercy, has quickened us by his grace He made us to be born again. Peter has spoken of this, that we were born by the Word and by the Spirit. And now we come to Christ, the chief cornerstone, as living stones, being built up upon Him. Well friends, we do not go back to the Old Testament sacrifices. We do not offer up a lamb for Christ, the Lamb of God, suffered once for the sins of His people. Christ is not offered up again and again as the Roman Catholic Church seek to do. They make, as it were, in their mass, offering up Christ again and again. But Christ was offered up once for the sins of his people, taking their iniquity, bearing in his own body, as Peter says, our sin. And by the Word of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are made alive in Him and now have come to Him as living stones. The Christian life is one of obedience. It's one of loving obedience. Grace and obedience are not contrary to one another in the Christian life. Because by grace God enables us to obey. It is by grace that God has put his laws in our hearts. It's the new covenant promise of Jeremiah 31, 32 and following. God says, I will put my laws in their hearts. And every one of them shall know the Lord from the least of them to the greatest, from the youngest to the oldest. Everyone in that covenant of grace will know the Lord and will delight himself in the Lord. This is precious. In the Old Testament, the Jew thought that he was justified in the keeping of the law. But no man has ever kept the law. For all have sinned, all have come short of the glory of God. We read there, didn't we, once again, that passage in Mark chapter 12, where the Lord Jesus, He gives a parable. And the parable is this, that in the Old Testament, God had sent prophet after prophet, servant after servant, to minister to Israel. But they rejected Him. They put to death the prophets. And the Lord Jesus said, Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou who slayest the prophets. They rejected. Eventually and put to death Jesus Christ the Son of God the owner of the vineyard the owner of this world the owner and creator of this universe the maker of all men They disowned him and put him to death, but this was by the Purpose and foreknowledge of God that Jesus Christ would be put to death It was by the will of the father that his son would become the atonement, the sacrifice for the sins of his people, and on this he will build his church upon the Lamb of God. Upon the Lamb of God who has dealt with our iniquity. Our hope is in Jesus Christ. You notice how as we read there in Mark's gospel, as he spoke that parable, they knew He was speaking about them who slew the prophets. Isn't that amazing? People can be confronted with the truth. Well, these self-righteous, buzz-eyed hypocrites, my friends, were not concerned that they were, as it were, sepulchres, whited on the outside, but dead man's bones on the inside. They were lost. They had no concern. to honor God. All they were about was keeping religion, keeping appearance, having a form of religion, but denying the power thereof. The true saving grace, my friends, is concerned for the honor and glory of God. Many of them kept saying, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, God will not destroy us. But God in time passed, as in the days of Shiloh. And then again in the days of Jeremiah, the temple was destroyed. And the Lord Jesus spake even of AD 70, when the temple will finally be destroyed. But he said, I will raise it up in three days. And he was thus speaking of his body. will be raised for our justification. Our Lord Jesus, who is the federal head of his people, we are justified and built on him. He is precious, is he not, to them who believe. Christ is precious. There is my salvation. There is my rock. The Lord is my rock, said David. The Lord is my salvation. If you turn with me briefly, to that psalm 118. You know that the Jews would sing this psalm at the Passover time and in this psalm are, as it were, messianic tones of what Christ would do and that he would give a new day, a new day of rest. And often we sing this psalm together, the psalm 118 and I point you First of all, to some verses. We looked at it before. Verse 17 of Psalm 118. I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. You see, it's about the works of the Lord, friend. The Lord hath chastened me, Saul. Speaking of conviction, he hath not given me over unto death. Thank the Lord for that. If we're a believer, We will not see the second death. Open to me the gates of righteousness, and I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord. It's the Lord who opens the gate. Now notice, this gate, the Lord, this gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter. Jesus Christ is the door, he is the gate. It's this gate that we have entrance in to the city of God, to heaven. I will praise thee. Who is he praising? The gate. Notice. For thou hast heard me and art become my salvation. This gate is also the stone. The stone which the builders refused has become the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day. which the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Several things here. There's the stone, there's the gate. Christ is all of these things. He's the entrance of, as it were, the city of God. He is the stone. He is the one who gives. This is the day that the Lord has made. And friends, this Lord's Day Sabbath, Hebrews 4, 9, there remaineth a Sabbath keeping for the Lord's people. It's a blessed emblem, as John Newton puts it, of eternal rest. Christ is our rest. And he's given us a new day. He is the stone of help. He is the stone of our salvation. He is the door. He said, I am the door. If any man enter therein by, he may be saved. Remember what he said in Matthew 7. Enter ye in by the straight gate, for narrow is the way, He is the way. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Blessed be God for Jesus Christ, for He is the way. He is our salvation. Now I've said all these things because there may be some who might be inclined to think that we as Christians have a work salvation. No, no, no, my friends, we do not have a work salvation. But we believe that salvation works righteousness, and thanks, and joy in the Lord. And we delight ourselves in Him. And we long to be in His house. We come here today on the Lord's day and we rejoice in the Lord. Because it looks forward to an everlasting blessed day when we shall forever be with the Lord. Amen. Let it be. How we long to be with Christ. How we long to be set free from this sinful world. Now Peter is reminding us of this great salvation that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. The builders of the Old Testament, these Jewish leaders were seeking, as Paul says in Romans 10, to establish a righteousness of their own, but they were rejecting the righteousness of Christ, the righteousness of God, which is by faith. Oh, my dear friends, we cannot improve upon the righteousness of Christ. It's a perfect and blessed righteousness. We trust in His righteousness, and we rejoice in it, but how we long as newborn babes now to live righteous lives. Friends, if there is not antagonism against sin in our own hearts, we must question our salvation. If there is not a hatred now for sin, we must question, are we born again? You see, the Christian, he's not perfect in this world, but he longs to be perfect. He longs to be changed. He longs, as Paul says, when God shall change this vile body and corruption shall put on incorruption. We long, do we not, friends, to never grieve our Heavenly Father. We long to see our Savior and we long to never displease the Lord again. Well, we are sojourners. Peter's reminded us of these. And of course, these people here that Peter is writing to were actually Jewish believers that were actually physical sojourners. They had been scattered abroad throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, and everywhere. But they were elect, elect of God according to grace, chosen of God before the foundation of the world. It's amazing, isn't it? And Peter wants them to know that they are precious in the eyes of the Lord. And they too are precious. He is precious to them who believe. Loved of God, not because of anything foreseen in us. What are we but sinners? That's what we are. Christ Jesus came to the world to save sinners. We know the Christian looks in his heart He says, I'm not a good person, I know, I see my sin, I'm conscious, I'm aware of it, and I long for a better place. But I am so thankful that the Lord has not cast me off because of his dear son. He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life. You see, hope is in this rock. And therefore he has become a stone of stumbling to the self-righteous, to the person that thinks he's good. Oh, and I can work my own way to heaven, the self-righteous person thinks. I can fix myself up. No. It is by Jesus Christ, who is the door, who is the righteous one, who is the rock, who will give us an endless day in heaven that never knows night or darkness. and sin will never enter into that place and we rejoice in that. Now Peter is writing these things and he is telling us here that many, as you notice, many stumble at this rock. But I want you to notice the connection that Peter makes. And a stone of stumbling, verse 8, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word. Now I hope you notice there, they stumble at the rock, but they stumble at the rock who is also the word. Notice what he says, a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word. It's not even so much the person of Christ, but it's his word. that people stumble at. Do you notice the connection here? They stumble at the rock, the rock who is the very Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh. But it's His whole Word. They had been rejecting the Word of God. And it's people that stumble really at the Word. You remember how the Lord Jesus said, that receiveth me and my word. You cannot separate Christ from his word. The two are together. Christ tells you exactly what God requires. And what does he require? Perfectness. And none of us have rendered that to God but him. He was perfect and therefore we rejoice in him. We have hope in him. The word humbles us, you see. The word tells us we are sinners. Whether it's the word of the law. The law condemns us. But the word of the gospel points us to Christ. And the gospel sends us, as Samuel Bolton said, back to the Lord to frame our lives. Do we make void, says Paul, The law through the coming of faith, he said, God forbid. God forbid. Now many stumble at the word. Now notice he says, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. Appointed by who? By God. Do we realize? Well, God appoints some to everlasting life. The scriptures are emphatically clear on this. He does also point some to destruction. If you turn with me to Romans chapter 9, you'll see this. Romans 9, and it's not that somehow men are not responsible for their sin. Let me make that very clear at the outset. Romans 9, the Apostle Paul tells us, of course by and large many There are many unbelieving Jews even at this present time. And even as he will tell us earlier on in this chapter how Pharaoh was given so many, not only evidences of God, think of it, Pharaoh saw 10 plagues. And the people of Egypt saw 10 plagues. And yet the more plagues it seemed, the more people were hardened in their sin. It's not that people need more light, they need a new heart. That's the problem, isn't it? Paul tells us in Romans 9, we read verse 17, for the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, God raised him up, that I might show my power in thee, that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. God showed his power in destroying this man. Pharaoh was born with a hard heart. The heart's already hard. Everyone that comes from Adam is born with a guilty heart, heart of enmity. The carnal mind is enmity. The truth of the matter is, God gives to all men what they most surely deserve. Men love their sin. And the Lord Jesus says they will not come to the light because they love darkness. People are responsible for their sin. They will not repent. And God shows his power, he shows his justice, that he is a God of justice. And you see, God would impugn his justice if he didn't punish sin. But my friend, for the Christian, our sin was punished in Christ. God spared not his son, but delivered him up for judgment. And that should melt our hearts. that Christ had to suffer for us. Heed the just for the unjust, as Peter says, to bring us unto God. And yet for some it is appointed to them to wrath. Many people don't like this. Many people marvel But you know, it says even in this chapter of Romans 9, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. And many people think, well, how can God make such a choice? Well, we shouldn't marvel over the fact that God hated Esau, God hates sin. But we should really marvel over the fact that God would ever love Jacob. Did he ever love you? Did he ever love me, Christian? That is a wonder of wonders, isn't it? That God should have mercy on me. That God should not appoint me to destruction. It is that that we should be really marveling over and wondering at His great love towards such wretches. If we think we're good people here today, we're sorely mistaken. God has not appointed us unto wrath. Friends, if we could just have a sight of God's holiness, of His majesty and His glory, our hearts would be filled with fear. But now there's filial fear, because we know that He has turned that wrath upon His Son. And now we say, how can I sin against my God? who could have sent me to hell, who could have cast me off forever and ever. What mercy, what grace, what pardon, what forgiveness. My friends, you look at the religions of this world, and I don't mean to be unkind, how foolish they are. Can a man ever pay for his sin? How many prayers will do? How do you know whether you've ever done enough? Salvation must be heaven sent. It must come down from heaven. It must be Jesus Christ. He came to bring salvation. But he comes also to give it in the heart, to make you a new person, to make you thankful, to make you holy. That's what God has done in the lives of his people. And he calls them, be holy for I am holy. Grace and obedience are not, as it were, enemies, and they are not contrary to one another, for grace will work obedience in the heart. Well, first place, men are appointed unto destruction, but some to eternal life. Those who are appointed to destruction will stumble at Christ. They will stumble at his word. There's the truth, isn't it? You know, there are many people who say they're Christians, but they stumble over the word of Christ. There are parts of the scripture they don't like. When the word of God tells them to do something, they sort of shrug it off. But that is not the Christian. He knows he comes short. And he doesn't shrug it off. He longs by the grace of God to obey. And he mourns over his sin. We do not stumble at the Word. We do not stumble at Christ. So we see the appointment of men to destruction. And then, the Apostle, he tells us, as we thought a little last week, you're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. We do not offer up sacrifices. In the New Testament there are no more priests, for Christ is the High Priest. We have ministers, we have pastors, we have teachers, we have those who lead in the church. There's no more sacrificial system, for Christ has died. But we ourselves offer up ourselves. And what are we to be? We are to be people who show forth, we show forth the praises. Our life should be to the praise of God. When the Lord Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, he opens up the teaching of who God's people are. Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek, blessed are the humble. And then he speaks of the fact that his people are the light of the world. They are to let their light shine before men. Why? So that they see our good works and praise our Father which is in heaven. Not praise us, but praise our Father. This is a work God has done in my son, God has done in my daughter, in my grandchildren, in my mother, in my father. It's a work of God. They were once darkness, but now they're light in the Lord. You see, it is all about setting forth the praises of Him who called us out of darkness. Notice, into His marvelous light. What a glorious light it is. We were once in darkness, friends. The world didn't make sense. Did it? Nothing made sense. We were taken by the latest things and thoughts of this world. But now we're brought into the marvelous light. And if we walk in the light, says John, we have fellowship with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and with one another. Somebody that says I'm a Christian, but they have no fellowship. And they do not attend the house of God and the preaching of God's word. You must know they're still in darkness. But we are called to show forth His light and His praises. were now the people of God, which had attained mercy. And that's really what salvation is about. It's about God having mercy. Now I wish to concentrate our time specifically this morning on the verse 11, because Peter gets straight to application. What really is it to spend our time of sojourning, as he said earlier, in fear? And it's not a fear of dread. But it's a fear of veneration. We venerate God. We respect God. We thank him for all that he's done for us. Now notice what he says. He addresses in the most endearing terms. He says, dearly beloved. You must know that you are beloved of God. And we must love the brethren. And what I have to say this morning, I trust will be said in the right spirit. and in a spirit of love as I seek to exalt from God's word how we should spend our time here upon earth. He says, I beseech you. The word beseech is a very respectful approach. That's the sense of the word in the Greek. I beseech you. I implore you. I beg you. Why? Well, we will see why Peter, by the Spirit, exhorts such. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts. Now, when he uses the word abstain there, he doesn't mean, you know, have a little bit. No, the word abstain means have nothing to do with it. Be far away as possible. from fleshly lusts. Now, what might be termed as fleshly lusts? We might ask, what is fleshly lusts? What might they be? Well, the word here, flesh, is a very important word. If you turn with me to Galatians, and you notice in Galatians 5, we saw this in our previous studies, Paul speaks here of the works of the flesh. And here, Peter is by the Spirit speaking of fleshly lusts. There are 17 here in Galatians and this is not a comprehensive list as such. There are more, more areas, anything that tends to the flesh. And the word here flesh is used in the sense of sinful lusts, sinful appetites. There are many things that are legitimate in life and desires. But there can be an overindulgence in certain things of the life. Things that are wrong. And we'll touch on that later. But notice Galatians 5.18, But if ye be led of the Spirit, Paul is speaking here, as he said formally, those of the flesh are calmly minded and so on. But he says here, But if ye are led of the Spirit, you're not under the law. That is, we're not under the condemning power of the law. Now, the works of the flesh are manifest. Which are these? Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness. Now you notice some of them are not things that you can see with the eye. For instance, envy. Where does that reside? It's in the heart, isn't it? So when he speaks of here flesh, he doesn't necessarily mean something you see somebody do with their body. But these may be sins of the heart, envying, seditions, heresies. That is a corrupt mind about a corrupt God. False teaching. These are the works of the flesh. Things that please the man. And that's what all heresies will do. They will please the flesh. All of these things. Now, another passage. And then we'll seek to expound. Titus 2, 11. The Apostle Paul, he writes about worldly lusts. And Peter has reminded us there how we are to abstain from fleshly lusts. Now what is a lust? We will think on this. Titus 2.11, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Now what does the grace of God teach? Well, he tells us here that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly. There is the, as we've said before, the arrow pointing to the heart, the lust of the heart, the lust of the flesh, the vain glory of life, worldly lusts. So if something is a lust, it's sinful, isn't it? We don't excuse it. That's the first thing I want to say. makes us lustful and there's no control. It is a sin. Now we need to call it out as it is. Sin is sin. Lustful means really a lack of control. What does the Holy Spirit teach us? Self-control. To control both bodily and appetites of the heart, sinful appetites, sinful thoughts. We are not to give in to these things. We are to abstain, that means keep as far away as possible. Why? Because he says they war against the soul. These things do you no good, Christian. That's the first thing I want to say. Sin does you no good. You cannot walk closely with God and harbor bosom sins. It's impossible. If something has taken you over, you cannot walk close with God because you've already grieved the Spirit. And the Spirit says your body, your mind, everything is mine. You were bought at a price. You belong to Jesus Christ. Glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which is Christ, says the Apostle Paul. You cannot know the blessedness, a sweet communion, a closeness with God, if you entertain worldly lusts and flesh. of the things that displease God because they war against your soul. This is not profitable. Now think of it. You and I, if we are Christians, we are not really... I mean, we can be happy wherever we are in this world. Paul said, I've learned to be content in whatsoever state. But his contentment was in God. His contentment was not in the world and the things of the world. John tells us, if any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. If you love the world, you're not of the world to come. I have some painful news for you. If you love the world, you're not of the world to come. It's as solemn as that. If you turn to Psalm 119, verse 19, look at what the Psalmist says. He says, I'm a stranger in the earth. That's the psalmist. I'm a stranger in the earth. I'm not known by this world. I'm not comfortable. It's not my fixed abode. The things of this world, I'm a stranger in the earth. Hide not my commandments from me. You see that? Psalm 119 verse 19. Why are we not happy here? Because it's an evil world. And people around us who are not Christians don't think the same. We value things that they don't value. They value things that we don't. It's like this, I don't know, it's like this for me. You imagine, you perhaps go and stay somewhere for a night. Maybe you're on a business trip, and you have to go somewhere, and you stay there for a night. And it doesn't matter how plush and how elegant the place is, and you might appreciate some of those things, you still long to be home, don't you? You still want to be back at home, because that's where you are settled. That is... Christian, you see, is like a fish out of water. in this world because it is an evil world. Our citizenship, says Paul, is in heaven. We don't belong here. And that includes the way people behave and what people esteem and what we esteem. Everything has changed for us now. We are a new creature in Christ. Everything has changed. You see, holiness now is the principle of the life of the Christian. And that means a battle against fleshly lusts, as Paul tells us here. Peter tells us, abstain from fleshly lusts because you, as a Christian, you know in your experience of life, how has fleshly lusts not warred against your soul, Christian? If you're honest with yourself, you know. how sin has made your conscience very hard. You know how sin has impeded your prayers and your fellowship with other people. You know how sin has made you just, you come along to a sermon and you're there, but you're not really there. And you cannot engage with the Word of God. And you cannot have that blessedness Like the man in Psalm 1. Blessed is the man. And the word there, blessed, means of course blessed by God. But in a sense he is content. For he meditates on the law of God day and night. He taketh not delight in the counsel of the wicked or the ungodly. He sitteth not in the seat of the scorner. Well he's denied the world. He's denied fleshly lusts. He's not interested in other people's opinion. In the blessed state, he's enjoying the presence of God. He's blessed. He's encouraged. He's lifted up. And you see, if you are engaged in fleshly lust, these things war against your spirit, Christian. Because you can't have sin and God at the same time. God has said it, you cannot serve God and mammon. You can't have your foot in both camps. And so it is for the Christian. He can sadly at times be engaged in so much lust. You'll think of the various areas of lust. It might be lust of the mind. It might be the lust of the body. It might be the vainglory of life. If we are not resisting these things, abstaining from them, We'll know a great unsettledness in our own hearts. And we will not know the peace and the joy of the Lord to be our strength. So I hope you see this. You know, there's some things we can desire wrongly. For instance, it's not wrong to desire money to feed your family, to pay your bills, to live an honorable life, and to help others. But you can have the lust of money. We're told the love of money is the root of all evil. To want more and more and more money, to have a bigger house and a bigger car and... Well, where does it end? Where does it end? Do we not know? As Isaiah tells us, the wicked, or as the troubled see, that can get no rest. You see, we can desire money, and it might be good, but excess, you see, is wrong. We can desire good health, and we should desire good health. But you know, some people worship body beautiful. The body is just given over to these things, and that's Not good. Some people can desire food. There's nothing wrong with desiring food. But my friends, gluttony is a sin. Your body and my body are the temples of the living God. And to stuff our bodies with all the wrong food and not to look after our bodies is a grievous sin. People are given over to all kinds of, and you know, it's amazing today, we live in a day and age, everything it seems almost is labeled as a disorder. Oh, he's got this condition, he's got that condition, everything's always a disorder. No, my friend, it's sin. I'm not saying that there aren't some mental conditions that some people suffer with. But even anxiety can become a sin. When you don't cast all your burdens upon the Lord and you stuff your face and your body because of a nervous condition, that is sin. That is sin. And we can even take pleasure in it. Children today at school, bad behavior is termed as this disorder, that disorder. Never had it when I was a young man. I'll tell you what, The cane that we received sometimes did us a great deal of good. They had master's office. You didn't do it again. So many young children today are wrapped up in cotton wool in their homes, and the parents don't discipline them. That is wrong. Sin is sin. Stop excusing your uncontrollability. We are to abstain from every fleshly lust, whether it's money, food, indulgence, pornography, whatever it is. Whatever it is. If it displeases God, it is a sin and it wars against your soul. You must realize sin always promises It'll be well. You'll enjoy yourself. But then what does sin do? Well, Isaiah tells us, God says in his word, thy sins have separated thee from thy God that he will not hear thee. You can then start to approach God in prayer, but your prayers are so dry. Your heart is so distant. You see, we have to be sensitive to God. What is His will for my life and your life? Your sanctification, my sanctification. Paul says, I buffet this body, lest after I have preached to others, I may become a docimos, a castaway. He says, I, you know, Paul had to, he was disciplined. Some men fancy going into the ministry. But you better look after your body. You better look after your time. Because otherwise you're a walking hypocrite in the ministry. You're a walking hypocrite when people look at you. And they look at your life. If you cannot control your appetite for things of this world, for lust, for pleasure, you are a docimos. And Christians can be in a docimos. Nobody is going to listen to you. I thought Christians learnt self-control. I thought we had the Holy Spirit. Yes, we do. But they war against your soul. Let us not excuse our sin on some disorder. on somebody else seems like today there's a pill for everything. But what about self-control and discipline in our life? And it's important we don't try to mask, you know, we can mask over problems. We can surely do that. We can try to substitute a problem by doing something else, but pray about it. Because that sin, whatever it is, in my life, your life, it wars against your soul. What is the sin? What is the problem? Bring it to God. Your eyes. What did the Lord Jesus say? If I cause thee to sin, pluck it out. He didn't mean literally. If you turn there with me to the gospel of Matthew. And you see what our Lord says concerning these things. Matthew 18. And here He is, by the way, He is speaking to disciples. He is not talking to lost people. Woe unto the world because of offences, for it must needs be that offences come. But woe to that man by whom the offence cometh. Now notice, wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. Now the Lord of course is using and he is speaking here in the extreme of cutting off and plucking out. He didn't mean literally because you know you can cut the hand off, you can cut the finger off, you can pluck the eyes out and still sin. The sin is in the heart, he is saying, do what it takes, my friend, to deal with your lust. The problem is you are putting something else before God. It might be money, it might be your belly, it might be something else, but nothing is to have the command of your heart but God. His word must rule and regulate you as a person. Put away the lust because this spoils, this wars against the soul. Now we believe that the Christian will never lose his salvation. We are Calvinists. We are reformed in our teaching and we believe in the preservation and the perseverance of the saints because all who are the Lord's overcome. We have it in the book of the Revelation to the seven churches. He that overcometh. He that overcometh. Every time the Lord says, I have this against thee, to the church here, to the church there. I have this. But he says, but he that overcometh. How do we overcome? Well, I said at the beginning of the sermon, grace is no enemy to obedience because grace gives us obedience. Doesn't it? I mean, who is he speaking here to? The disciples. They have the grace to cut off and pluck out. The world will not cut off and pluck out. That's a lost man. He is cast into the lake of fire. Paul says, therefore, I buffet my body. Christian, what is that besetting sin? What is it today? What is it? What lust is it? The mind, the body, the world, whatever it is, it's warring against your soul. And it's not good. You will not know the blessedness of God. As you pass your time here in sojourning, remember who went to the cross for you to subdue your sin. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul says if we by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body, we shall live. You live now, you live a proper life and you will be an overcomer of sin. You won't need props. You'll have God to be your help and strength. My friends, we must be disciplined in our lives. The Bible speaks of us casting off and putting on. Cast it away. I'm sick and tired of hearing people say, well, I can't overcome this sin. I've got this problem, I've had it for years. You're telling me God doesn't change a man? You're telling me that God's work of His Spirit is insufficient? You need something else? I remember once, You don't know who this is. But the man wanted me to modulate his internet activity. How faithful he was. Well, if you're living before God, and I'll get all the reports and everything else. Well, if you're living before God, you should live before God. It doesn't really matter what other men think, what other people think. What matters is you know God is seeing you. Peter will tell us that the eyes of the Lord are in all the earth. They go to and fro. There is nothing hidden from him. And that, my friends, should put a spark in you. When you're there late at night on the internet, And you're surfing and you're looking at something you know. You know you should not be looking at. You're watching something. You are reading some lurid joke. You're engaged in some conversation. Remember, the eyes of the Lord are to and fro in all the earth. When you're eating and drinking, do it to the glory of God. If you cannot do it to the glory of God. The Lord Jesus was not a drunk and a winebibber. and a glutton. Neither should we be. We are His. We were bought at a price. Do not indulge in these things, friends, because they war against the soul. You must know that you will not know the blessedness of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life if you so do it. Let us turn quickly to Psalm 1. You cannot know this if you engage in what is contrary to the Spirit. If you're engaged into that which is of the flesh, you shall not know the blessedness of the man of Psalm 1. The man of Psalm 1, what do we read of him? And I like to call this, often it's said, and the old Puritans used to say this, Psalm 1 is the heavenly bouncer. You know, if you don't get past this, you're not blessed. You don't delight in the Lord, you're not born again. You don't delight in His Word and wanting to live a different life. You're still of this world. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. You see, he doesn't sit there and he's not scorning other people, And running everyone down, he's humble. He's poor in spirit. He knows what's in his heart. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law doth he meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither. and whatsoever he does shall prosper. We're going to sing in a moment that lovely old hymn. Oh, for a closer walk with God, a calm and heavenly frame, a light to shine upon the road that leads me to the Lamb. Where is the blessedness that I knew when first I saw the Lord? Where is the soul-refreshing view of Jesus and his word? What peaceful hours I once enjoyed, how sweet their memory still, but now I feel an aching void the world can never fill. If you, dear Christian, engage in what is spiritually and morally sinful, you will not know the blessedness of the Lord. And you will ache in your heart because the spirit must withdraw himself from you in your sin. Why? Because you are not meant to live this way in the world. You are to be an overcomer. The psychiatrist is not your help. Other helps are not your help. But God is thy help. God is thy strength. Be a strong man in the Lord. Call upon the Lord. Thou will hear me in the day of trouble. He will help thee. Fleshly lusts, war against the soul. Peter tells us earlier, lay aside all malice, all guile, and then he says, and then desire the word. You won't desire it until you put away. You can't be engaged in both. May God bless his word. Write it upon our hearts for his name's sake. Amen.