Sound harmonious to the ear, Then with the echoes shall resound, And all the earth shall hear. Chains by faith alone, Fitted all by plea, Jesus died for all mankind, and Jesus died for me. T'was grace that wrote my name in life's eternal book. T'was grace that gave me to the Lamb who all my sorrows took. Saints, I praise the Lord, this is all my plea. Jesus died for all mankind, and Jesus died for me. Grace taught my wandering feet to tread the heavenly road, And new, sublimely shall I be while pressing on to God. Saved by grace alone, ♪ This is all my plea ♪ Jesus died for all mankind ♪ And Jesus died for me ♪ O let thy grace inspire ♪ My soul with strength divine ♪ May all my power to thee aspire ♪ And all all my days be thine. Space, I praise the Lord. This is all my plea. Jesus died for all mankind and Jesus died for me. Hymn number 400. Would you stand please, 400. ♪ Never could number them more ♪ ♪ They're more than the stars in the heavenly dome ♪ ♪ Or the sands of the wave-beaten shore ♪ ♪ For mercy so great, what return can I make? ♪ For many so constant and sure. I'll love Him, I'll serve Him with all that I have, As long as my life shall endure. They greet me at morn, when I waken from sleep, and they gladden my heart at the dune. They follow me on into shades of the night, When the day with its labor is done. For mercy so great what return can I make, For mercy so constant and sure? I'll love Him, I'll serve Him, with all that I have, as long as my life shall endure. His goodness and mercy will follow me still, even on to the end of the way. I have this sure promise, and that cannot fail, That is mercy endures forever. For mercy so great, what return can I make? For mercy so constant and sure. I'll love him, I'll serve him with all that I have, as long as my life shall endure. I'll love him, I'll serve him with all that I have, as long as my life shall endure. Well, let's get started in Matthew 26 this morning, I had two messages from which to choose this morning. I don't know what I'm going to do tonight. I mean, let me make it clear. I preach to a crowd of two the same way that I would preach to a crowd of 200. But we're doing a series tonight in the book of James, and depending on how many people are able to be here tonight, I don't want people to miss this next step in the series. We need each one. And so I may hold off on James tonight. It'll depend. The best way for you to ensure that you're going to get something from James tonight is to be here. That's the way to ensure it. Otherwise, we may look elsewhere tonight. So we'll see about that. But this morning, I believe the Lord would have us to look to Matthew 26. This would be kind of a starting point. kind of a starting point and we'll move from here for a greater thought. Don't join the Winter Olympics. I am. I've watched more of the Winter Olympics this year than I have any year prior because my wife makes me. And she's all about the pageantry and the snow. She loves the snow. You pray for her. I'm about done with it. I'm ready for spring now. You know, I've learned a few things from watching the Winter Olympics. First of all, snowboarding is a dangerous sport. A girl cracked her head, cracked her helmet the other day falling in the snow. I didn't know you could crack anything falling in snow, but you can. I've learned not to ever snowboard. I've learned that the Canadian men apparently have resurrected Amelia Earhart to skate for them because the dude looks just like her. Looks like Amelia Earhart. I've learned that. I've learned there's a great event in which you ski for a little bit, and you stop and shoot at something. And then you ski some more. I might get into that. That'd be a pretty good one. That'd be a pretty good one. What else have I learned? That's probably about all I've learned. Oh, I've learned I like curling. You know what curling is? They slide a rock down the ice, and then these people with these little brooms start scraping, and they just get yelled at. Y'all seen that? People just scraping in front of the rock, and somebody's at the end going, ah! Ah! I don't know what it's all about. But it's entertaining to watch. And so if you've not had a chance to take up curling, it's like shuffleboard with an edge. I like it. I like it. Tough crowd this morning. Sometimes I use these little conversations just to gauge what I'm up against. Perhaps we should pray right now. If you've been trained in the Bible at all. Then you've learned, and we're talking about this in Sunday school in my class right now, you've learned that every Christian faces three basic enemies. Okay? First of all, we face the devil. And when we say the devil, we would mean the devil and all of those demons that work for him. I've heard some people say that it is unlikely that you've ever personally faced the devil. And I'll admit the devil's not omnipresent like God is and he's not omniscient like God is. He can only be one place at a time and he only knows what he knows. How's that for a deep statement? And so it is possible that you've never encountered Satan himself in your Christian wall. I promise you, you've encountered some of his demons, some of those that work for him, but you may or may not have encountered Satan. But I would remind you of this in 2 Corinthians, it's either 10 or 11. Yeah, 11, 14. We're reminded that Satan is an angel of light. And if he's an angel of light, then perhaps he can travel at the speed of light. And if he can travel at the speed of light, then he can get around pretty good and he can move from person to person. So you may have actually come in contact with Satan himself. But even so, he has an influence, he has a desire to affect your life. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Revelation 12 refers to him as the great dragon, that old serpent called the devil, and Satan which deceiveth the whole world. He's active, he's real, and he wants to destroy you. Then we also, as Christians, we face the world. And when I say the world, I don't mean the physical location or necessarily individual people. We're talking about a system. We're talking about a philosophy. 1 John 2 tells us, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. James gives us a very stark separation between the things of God and the things of the world. In chapter 4, verse 4, he says, Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. So, Christian, you've got the devil trying to destroy you, and you've got the world trying to destroy you, but then there is a third enemy that I want to focus on this morning, and it's the flesh. Whether or not you're honest is between you and God, but I'm going to be honest this morning. I try to be honest with you every time I preach. The devil and the world sometimes don't have to work too hard with me. My flesh does the work for them. If we're honest, sometimes we give the devil and the world more credit than we should. because our flesh does the work for them. Paul, arguably the greatest New Testament saint ever, and if not, he's got to be top five. He said, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. Romans 8, verse 8, so then they that are in the flesh, Cannot, please God. Galatians 5 verse 16, This I say then, walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Galatians chapter 6 verse 8 says, For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. Do we understand that the flesh is not a good thing? It is not helpful to the Christian. Why is the flesh our focus this morning? Because I believe it's our most formidable foe. It's ever-present. It's intimately acquainted with us. The devil and the world don't always have the closest proximity to me, but my flesh is always with me. Now, we look to our text this morning in Matthew 26. Now this is not the text that's going to be throughout the whole scripture. This is this is just kind of a launching point, if you will. You remember when Jesus took Peter, James and John, his inner circle, so to speak, with him to the Garden of Gethsemane? He took all the disciples out with him and then he took these three further with him. And he asked them to do two things. I want you to watch. And I want you to pray. Reasonable requests, are they not? Did Peter, James, and John succeed in obeying God's command that day? They did not. What did they do instead? They went to sleep. Now, don't be too hard on them. How many of us have ever gone into our prayer time and got sleepy? It happens. But I want you to notice something that sometimes we skip over. Verse 36 of Matthew 26, Then comes Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be very sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tear ye here and watch with me. And he went on and he went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, saying, Oh, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh to his disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch, and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. Now watch this. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Peter, James, and John disobeyed the Lord Jesus Christ that night. They failed to fulfill what He asked them to do. And it was not the world that caused this failure. It was not the devil that caused this failure. It was their flesh. These men who were in the physical presence of the Son of God gave way to their flesh. To me, that's a cautionary thing. Am I in the presence of God? I am. Not physically, but does He not indwell me? If you're saved, does the Holy Spirit live in you? Yes, He does. You're ever in the presence of God. And yet, we so often give way to the flesh. So our task this morning is simple. And it's twofold. First of all, we want to see just how effective our flesh is in derailing our Christian goals. And then secondly, we want to take the right action to fix it. So I'm going to ask a question this morning. It is a question that I have to ask myself constantly. And I trust that you will ask yourself both this morning and for the rest of your lives. Here it is. You ready? Here's the question. Is my flesh winning? Is my flesh winning? Father, would you help us today as we look to your word? In my flesh dwells no good thing and I fail you constantly and I'm sorry, Lord, and I ask you to forgive me. I'm nothing. And Lord, you know how I feel about me. But I think a lot of my office. And I think a lot of the task that you've given me this morning. And your people have gathered together and our brothers and sisters in Christ from other churches have come today. And they need to hear something from you, from your word. And I'm asking you in Jesus' name to speak to hearts. Please use me in spite of myself. If somebody here needs to be saved, I pray they'd trust Christ before it's too late. If somebody here needs conviction, I pray they'd have it. If they need direction, encouragement, instruction, whatever they need, I pray that they'd have it. But Lord, we also want to make sure more than anything else that Jesus Christ is magnified and lifted up. For it's in His name we ask these things. Amen. Is my flesh winning? God gave me just some questions. And let me tell you something. As is the case with every message that I preach, the first person that hears my message is me. There's no message that I've ever preached that I didn't have to first look at myself and make sure that I was where I ought to be. And so these questions that God has lain upon my heart are questions that I have to ask myself. And there's a couple ways that you might interpret what I say this morning. You might say he's talking about me. I can stand before you and say I don't have anybody in mind as I preach this. But if you feel that way, maybe the Holy Spirit saying something. If you think to yourself, well, he's talking about somebody else. Then you need to get the focus back where it needs to be, and that's your own condition with Jesus. But please know that. This is as much for me as it is anybody else. You know why? Because I have flesh too. You know how I know some of the struggles that you go through? It's not because I've got this prophetic eye. It's because we're made of the same stuff. And when you're made of the same stuff, you understand what other people are going through a little bit. So I've got some questions I want to pose to you this morning to try and answer the greater question of, is my flesh winning? Here's the first one. You ready? If your emotions drive you instead of serve you, then your flesh is winning. If your emotions drive you instead of serve you, then your flesh is winning. Galatians chapter 5 tells us, For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Do we understand from Galatians 5.17 that the flesh and the Spirit do not coexist? They do not get along. We understand that, right? They're mutually exclusive of one another. With that in mind, we fast forward a few verses to verse 22, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. The word temperance means self-control. So that tells me if I am filled with the Holy Spirit of God, what does that mean? When you get saved, you're indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. But when the Bible talks about being filled with the Spirit of God, that doesn't mean that you get more of the Spirit. It means the Spirit gets more of you. It means you're under His control. It means He's having His way in your life. You can be indwelt by the Holy Spirit without being filled by the Holy Spirit. There's a lot of Christians out there, myself included, that have had seasons in our lives in which we were not filled with the Holy Ghost of God. So if a fruit of the Spirit is self-control and I have some area of my life in which I do not have control, that is fleshly. Now listen closely to this. Emotions should point to what God is doing, not prime what we wish God would do. Let me explain that. I'm going to be real honest with you. I need to quit using that expression because I hate hearing other people say that. It implies that I'm not honest with you other times. I always try to be honest with you. But one of the great temptations for a preacher is trying to use emotion to manufacture something instead of letting it reflect something. Good preachers And in this respect, you can say I'm being too hard on myself all you want to, but I'm not very good at this aspect of preaching. Good preachers can fill an altar just with getting people down the aisle. I mean, they know how to say the right things in just the right way and have just the right music playing, and they can flood the altars. I don't do that, and I'll tell you why. Because if these altars are ever filled at Fellowship Baptist Church, I will know that it's a moving of God and not something that I did. Because you know what? It doesn't happen nearly as often as it should. And so if these things are ever filled, I'll know it wasn't me. I'll know it's God and I can rejoice therein. I grew up in a church that had some emotion. When I was a little kid, I was saved when I was four years old. And though I was saved and on my way to heaven, I didn't necessarily understand all that was involved in church and everything that went on. I had to learn that as I grew up. But I can remember going to church, and I'm specifically thinking of Sunday nights. I don't know why I'm thinking of Sunday nights, but I'm specifically thinking of Sunday nights. And we would pull into the gravel parking lot. Back then, parking lots weren't that big a deal. But we pulled into a gravel parking lot, and our church was one of those. You remember how, for a period of time, all the Southern Baptist churches were being built the same way? You remember that? They all had that colonial look, and they all had that certain floor plan, and they all had that. I mean, all of them were being built the same way. Well, this was an independent Baptist church, but I believe when they built the building, they were Southern, something like that. But anyway, it had that Southern Baptist look, and it had those weird things in the sides. Anyway, don't worry about that. But there was a side door. You had two front doors and then you had a side door. You'd go in the side. Those of us that weren't spiritual, we went in the side door. And so my parents, not being as spiritual as the others, went in the side door. And we went up the little steps. And as soon as you walked in to that church, there were two things that hit you immediately. Number one, it had a smell. It was just this combination of a thousand different perfumes and colognes and the plants and the pews and the carpet. Everything came together for that church smell. Number two, Even as a child, I could feel it. Ms. Collins, there was a certain electricity in the air. Something that just stirred your spirit that you understood this was a different place. This was different than going to the meeting hall. This was different than getting together with a group of friends. There was something special about where we were. And the people were walking around and shaking hands and hugging necks and laughing and enjoying themselves. And there was an electricity. Was it a perfect church? No. Was the pastor perfect? No. But you had no problem believing that people were glad they were there. They were excited to be together. They were excited to hear from the Word of God. And they enjoyed themselves. And here's what we've done, Christians. We have gotten so cautious about not being called Pentecostal and charismatic that we have robbed ourselves of the joy of being in God's house. It's a great thing to be in God's house. There's nowhere else that I'd rather be right now than standing in the midst of God's people. And these emotions were an outflowing, a reflection of what God was doing. And that is appropriate and it is right and we need to have more of it. Now, having said that. I have a tendency, I have a temptation, and I've got to be careful because sometimes when I don't feel the emotional climate is where it needs to be, I try to gin it up and prime it up and get emotional and stomp and wave my arms. And you know, all that doesn't accomplish a thing. You know how you get it going? Get on your face before God before Anybody can create emotionalism. Oh, but God, would You send us real, Holy Ghost manufactured emotion? That we get excited about the things of God and about being in the house of God. But when our emotions drive us instead of serve us, It's fleshly, and the flesh is winning. You know what I was talking about getting this stuff going? It's like in 1 Kings 18. You remember Elijah and the prophets of Baal there on Mount Carmel? This is what they were trying to do. And they, the prophets of Baal, cried aloud and cut themselves after their manor with knives and lancets until the blood gushed out upon them. Let me tell you something. Sometimes I preach and it's so quiet I'd almost cut myself just to get a response. I know a little bit what these fellows was feeling. But these guys, they were trying to manufacture something and it didn't happen. It didn't happen, but then you contrast that with Luke 13, 17, and when he, meaning Christ, had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed and all the people rejoice for all the glorious things that were done by him. Preacher, are you saying you want us to rejoice when you start preaching? No, I want you to rejoice when you're walking in the doors. I want you to rejoice during the song service. I want you to rejoice when you go home. I want you to rejoice when you're having lunch. I want you to rejoice when you come back Sunday night. I want you to rejoice when you go to work on Monday. Why? Because He's worthy of rejoicing over. He's worthy of getting excited over. And our emotions need to serve us. They don't need to drive us. Can I give you some emotions that seem to be particularly troublesome for many Christians? And this is as true for me as anybody else. Maybe this is something that sticks to a part of your life. Anger. Anger in and of itself is not a sin. You can be angry and not sin. The Bible commands it as much. But anger. The Bible says in Proverbs 22 and 29, make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man, thou shalt not go. An angry man stirreth up strife and a furious man aboundeth in transgression. Beloved, don't let anger get a foothold in your life. It's not serving you, it's driving you. And if that be the case, then the flesh is winning. How about being easily offended? I'm learning the hard way. I've always known this. I've been fasting for eight years now. Total, not here. Three here and five elsewhere. If I'm going to get this job done, I better get a thick eye. And I better not be easily offended. And sometimes you may think, well, he's not even moved by what I said, or he's not even moved by how I think. No, I have to, by virtue of my job, I have to be thick skinned. I have to let things roll off of me. So please don't take it personally. But you know what? Sometimes if we're not careful, we can be easily offended. Even though the Bible says, great peace of day that love thy law and nothing shall offend him. Paul told us in Galatians, we're crucified with Christ. If you're crucified with Christ, what are you? You're dead. You're dead, you know what dead people don't get, they don't get offended. They don't get offended. Colossians 3, 3, for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. Is anger winning? Are you easily offended? How about fear? How about fear? Paul told Timothy, God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. How about worry? You know what, the Bible does not command that I do so in that this is a specific sin. The Bible says confess your false one to another, not confess your sin, but I'm going to confess a sin to you. I struggle with worry. I struggle with worry. Is worry a sin? Well, it's in violation of a commandment. Be careful for nothing, meaning anxious, full of care. Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your request remain known unto God. There's two things in life you should never worry about. You should not worry about the things you can change and you should not worry about the things you can't. I can't take care all of it, doesn't it? Why should we not worry? Because we got a heavenly father who loves us and take care of everything if we'll let him. But I stand up here saying that I know that that is easier said than done. And if you say you've got it licked, then I'm going to say that you're not being completely truthful with me. Maybe you struggle with worry. Maybe you struggle with discouragement. Paul said, we're troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We're perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. Beloved, you can be down here and there, but don't you be out. Is my flesh winning? Well, if your emotions drive you instead of serve you, then your flesh is winning. Number two. This is going to get good, y'all. If you use God's Word to defend your position instead of define your position, the flesh is winning. If you use God's Word to defend your position instead of define your position, It's a dangerous thing to be more concerned with being right than you are with being righteous. Psalm 2711, Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies. Psalm 8611, Teach me thy way, O Lord, I will walk in thy truth, unite my heart to fear thy name. Here's what happens, Christians. We arrive at a position, and the position can be arrived at for any number of reasons. Maybe you've arrived at a position because of your culture and what you've been brought up in. Or maybe you've arrived at a position because of your comfort, what you're comfortable with. Or maybe you arrive at a position because of convenience. It'd be too much trouble to change it now. And so what you do is you go digging through the Bible to find some verse out of context to back up what you believe. Beloved, that is exactly backwards of what Christians ought to be doing. Rather than trying to find Scripture to support what we believe, we should let Scripture define what we believe. You know what one of the problems, boy here we go, it's going to get good now. One of the problems that we run into as a movement, I hate using that term, I'm not part of a movement, I'm part of a local church, but as independent fundamental Baptists, right, you're just one of them IFB people. I'm a Baptist because I believe in the Baptist distinctives. I'm independent of any convention or association, and I believe in the fundamentals of the faith. If that makes me an IFB, or so be it, that doesn't mean that I'm lumped in with this crowd that's doing crazy stuff that isn't right. OK? But I am. By definition, I am a Baptist who's independent and fundamental. All right, but you know what? You know, it's killing what's killing our testimony in this world is we have gotten in our traditions and we've gotten in all these little things that we've held on to for all these years. And we forgot to actually check the scripture and see if that's where God stands on it. And we've taken the Bible and we have tried to cram a square peg into a round hole to make it fit the way we've always done it before, and that's wrong and it's fleshly. Here's a crazy thought. How about we just go to the inspired, infallible Word of God, see what thus saith the Lord, and live accordingly? Let me give you three examples. I love you. I hope you love me. But I'm 100% confident that God laid this message on my heart this morning. 100%. Let me give you three examples. It happens with church polity. Church polity is how we do business, how we conduct ourselves. And some people grew up in a situation in which the pastor did whatever he wanted. There was no votes, no nothing, and they'll find scriptures to support that. And then you've got people that grew up in a polity of church business that they voted on everything. I mean everything. Preacher, I make a motion that we buy toilet paper this week. We have a second? Any discussion? Why don't we just bring her out? Are you kidding me? And that's the mentality that they grew up in, and they have Scripture to support it. And then you have people that fall somewhere in between. You know what? How about we just do things the way the Bible says to do them? You ready for this? What's the answer? It's both. What do you mean the Bible, according to Hebrews, clearly gives the pastor authority to lead the church. Clearly, it's there. It says, obey them that have the rule over you. And in the context, it's talking about a pastor that's preaching the word. It's there. We can't get away from it. It's there. But then he tells the pastor in first Peter five, three, neither being lords over God's heritage, but being in samples to the flock. So what's the answer? The biblical Bible balance standard. That's the answer. But we'll find scriptures just to cram our position in it, because that's how we've always voted on everything. Or the preacher's just always told us what to do. Tells us when to be here. Tells us when to leave. Tells us how to dress. Tells us what the Bible's supposed to mean. The Holy Spirit doesn't tell us anything. That's not right either! Amen? I need y'all to come with me on this thing now. How about music? It's interesting. In every church in America, you have extremes. And I'm not saying an extreme is wrong, necessarily. I'm just saying there are extreme positions. You have people on one side, and all they sing is the Psalms. You know? If it doesn't say a Psalm of David or a Psalm of Asaph ahead of it, then we won't sing it. And listen, I respect that, and that's great. And then you've got people over here, man, I mean, they're making room for the drums. And we're going to bring in a praise band, and we're going to rock it out. By the way, that's not my position. I disagree with it. But we need to be careful and not say that these people don't love God. They may be wrong. And I believe that position is a little bit further than what the Bible allows. But you know what? I know some people that embrace that music, and they love God. Be careful about how you put a judgment on somebody's spirituality. That's not good. Me? I fall somewhere in the middle. Or you're just a moderate. I guess in this one I am. Because on the one hand, I appreciate the high and holy standard of those over here, and even those that would only sing the Psalms, that they've got a good idea. I like that. But you know what? I don't necessarily think it's wrong that music stirs a little joy in our lives. that we enjoy singing to our Savior. But you know what happens? Everybody across the gamut of musical theory will find a verse or verses to support what they believe. How about this one? How about dress? I have personal standards and convictions about how men and ladies ought to dress. I hold those convictions, I believe those things. But it is not going to be a front and center issue in my preaching. You know why? Because there are people out there that need to be saved. And there are people out there that need to be discipled. And people are at different levels of spirituality and different levels of development, and you bring them along where they are. You try and help them. And I have known people, and at times I have been this person, that I had my suit, and I sat in church, and I mean, I looked the part, brother. I had the suit, and I had the tie, and my shoes were shined, and I had my hair just as it should be, Hadn't grown a beard and all that kind of thing. I mean, I looked good, independent, fundamental preacher boy. And my heart was as far away from God as it could be. I've also known sweet little old ladies that sit at home wearing their pants that read the Bible and pray and love God and love people. I'm not telling you there's not a right or wrong here. I'm telling you we need to be careful that we don't take a position the way we've always done it before, how it's always been our tradition and find a Bible verse and cram a round verse into a square hole. It's killing fundamentalism and it is killing churches like ours. It is just as fleshly to take a position that is to the right of Scripture as it is to take a position to the left of Scripture. Oh, preacher, that's crazy. I'd much rather be too far to the right. No, I'd rather be right on it. I don't want to be over here. I don't want to be over here. I want to be right on it. And I can prove it. You know, Joshua 1, verse 8. This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe according to all that is written therein. But then thou shalt make thy way prosperous. Then thou shalt have good success. One verse ahead of it says this. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Watch this. Turn not from it to the right hand, nor to the left. God specifically says, Joshua, do not go to the right of My Word. And consequently, do not go to the left of My Word. Stay right there. Can I give you something that helped me? One of the devil's most effective techniques is to couch fleshly attitudes in spiritual terminology. Let that sink in for a second. Is the flesh winning? Hey, if your emotions drive you instead of serve you, then your flesh is winning. If you use God's Word to defend your position instead of define your position, then your flesh is winning. And then finally, now listen to what I have to say after I read this, OK? If your main goal in this service Right now, sitting in a pew of Fellowship Baptist Church, if your main goal is anything except to be more like Christ, your flesh is winning. Now, there are a lot of good reasons to be in church. Good goals. But that doesn't mean they're the main goal. Let me give you some good goals. I need instruction. That's a good goal. I need direction. That's a good goal. I need encouragement. That's a good goal. I need fellowship. That's a good goal. I want to enter into a time of worship. That's a good goal. These are all good goals. But they all bow to the main goal. And that's to be more like Christ. Let me give you some bad reasons to be here today. If you're here to gossip, you're here for the wrong reason. If you're here because you feel like you need to fulfill some religious duty, then you're here for the wrong reason. If you're here because if you're not, people are going to talk about you, then you're here for the wrong reason. If you're here because you've got to keep an eye on somebody, even if it's the preacher, then you're here for the wrong reason. If you're here because you're trying to impress somebody, then you're here for the wrong reason. If you're here because you want to stir up trouble, I promise you, you're here for the wrong reason. If you're here because you want to be entertained, you're not only here for the wrong reason, you're going to be disappointed because I'm not very entertaining. These are wrong reasons to be in the house of God. But these good reasons, you know what? If your main goal is to be more like Christ, it'll take care of the instruction and the direction. and the encouragement, and the fellowship, and the worship. It all comes down to being more like Christ. That should be the prime motive for every Christian being in church this morning, is to be more like Christ. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. What is God's goal for you? It's the same goal for me, to make you more like Christ. I sure would like to be more like Dr. Such and Such. I sure would. Hey, let me make it personal. Man, I'd like to be more like Adrian Rogers. Oh, to have that voice. Oh, to be able to say joy and greatness in the world. I mean, just to be able to preach with the tenor of Adrian Rogers. To have his outlying ability. To have his hair. His great hair. His pulpit. I love his pulpit. I covet it! My job is not to be like Adrian Rogers. Oh, to be like David Jeremiah. Oh, to be like Charles Stanley. Oh, to be like Joel Osteen. No. Oh, to be like Jack Hiles. Oh, to be like Lee Robertson. Oh, to be like Oliver B. Green. Oh, to be like Harold Sightler. Listen, these are worthy men, good men. How about, oh, to be like Christ. Preacher, do you want Fellowship Baptist Church to be the next great independent, fundamental Baptist church in America? No, I do not. I want it to be the next great church that belongs to Jesus Christ. You notice I didn't just say Church of Christ because then y'all really got scared. Colossians 3 says, Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. All of the good motives of being in church are achieved by just having the greatest motive of being more like Christ. You see, if your greatest motive this morning is not to be more like Christ, then the flesh is winning. If you're using God's Word to defend your position instead of define your position, then the flesh is winning. If your emotions are driving you instead of serving you, then the flesh is winning. Alright, preacher, I'm sitting here and I've determined that the flesh is winning. What do I do? I'll tell you. The same thing I've had to do. First of all, you respond. It's not enough to sit there and realize that this is for you. You got to respond. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But we got to confess it. You know what confess means? It doesn't mean, oh, you got me, Lord. That's me. It means, Lord, I agree with you. It's as bad as you think it is. And I need to get it fixed. I confess. So you got to you got to respond. Then secondly, you need to reenlist. You need to rejoin the fight against your flesh. Because the flesh will always be there whether you fight it or not. It's always going to be there. You might as well fight it. Re-enlist. Paul gives us some good advice. He actually got it from a Philistine in 1 Corinthians 16. Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, which you like men, be strong. If you're a man here today and you've given up fighting against your flesh, then you're a spiritual coward. You need to get right with God. Willow just can't win it. Well, you can win it. God will win it for you. But you've got to re-enlist. So you've got to respond. You've got to re-enlist. Thirdly, you've got to rely. Understand that only God can give you this victory and rely on His willingness to do so. Paul said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body, from the flesh of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Beloved, if I make it to the end of my pastorate here, whether it's this year, whether it's 10 years, whether it's 30 years, whether it's through death or the rapture or whether it's through getting fired. If I make it to the end of my pastorate here. Having not dishonored my wife in our marriage. And having not dishonored my calling. And having not dishonored my Lord. It will not be. Because I'm some great spiritual giant. It will not be because I am made of some different stuff than everybody else is. And it will not be because I am a super preacher. It will be because God is a gracious God who gave me the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. So you respond and you re-enlist and you rely and then you replace. You get rid of what's feeding the flesh in your life and you replace it with what feeds the spirit. Romans 13 says, but put you on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Colossians chapter three says, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. So we asked a question today. Is my flesh winning? Well, if your emotions drive you instead of serve you, then your flesh is winning. If you use God's Word to defend instead of define your position, then the flesh is winning. If your main goal right now is anything except being more like Christ, then your flesh is winning. I'm going to offer you two challenges this morning. And then we're done. I'd ask that everybody just sit still, you don't need to put anything up, just listen. If you're here today. And you've never trusted Christ as your savior. I'm not asking you to be a Baptist, I'm not asking you to join this church, I'm not asking you to be baptized, I'm not asking you to turn over a new leaf, I'm not asking you to like me or agree with me, I'm asking you to do one thing. I'm asking you to let Jesus Christ be your savior. I'm inviting you to realize this morning that you're a sinner. And that your sin separates you from God, and it offends Him. He loves you, but it offends Him. And your sin disqualifies you from heaven, just like it does all of us. But Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, came to this earth. He lived a perfect life. He went through a cross, and He took your sins and mine, and He paid the price for our sins. He was buried, and on the third day, He rose again. And if you'll put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and Him alone, you'll be saved. There's nothing else I care about for you right now than that you know you're going to heaven. That's it. And if you're here today and you've never trusted Christ, I invite you to come to Christ today. I invite you to be saved. If you're here today and you're saved and you're on your way to heaven, maybe, maybe, and we've all had seasons of this, maybe the flesh is winning. I invite you to recognize it. I invite you to respond to it. I invite you to re-enlist. I invite you to rely on Him. I invite you to replace the things that are feeding it. That's the question. Is my flesh winning? Let's stand with our heads bowed and our eyes closed with no one looking around. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. The ladies are coming to play hymn of invitation. The altar is open. If God's spoken to your heart, I encourage you to go ahead and respond to that right now. If God doesn't tell you to come to the altar, then don't. But if He tells you to and you don't, you're disobedient. That's between you and God. I don't know that. I have no part in that. Is the flesh winning, Christian? As the ladies begin to play a hymn of invitation, heads are bowed and eyes are closed, I've got a question, a couple of questions for you. I wouldn't embarrass you. I won't call you aside. I won't pull you aside. I just want to pray for you today. With heads bowed and eyes closed, I wonder if there'd be somebody today by an uplifted hand just high enough for me to see it. I'd say, Andy, I don't know for sure I'm saved. I don't know all there is to know about being a Baptist. I don't know all there is to know about baptism in church and all that. But I'm not sure I'm saved. Would you pray for me? And I'll just pray for you. Can I pray for you today? I don't know for sure I'd go to heaven. If I entered into eternity today, I don't know for sure I'd go to heaven. Can I pray for you? Anybody? Christian, I wonder by an uplifted hand if you'd say this morning, Andy, I'm just like you and I'm made of the same stuff that you are. And sometimes my flesh wins. Sometimes my flesh gets the upper hand. Would you pray for me today? Can we pray together by an uplifted hand? Everybody's looking around. That the flesh would not have the victory in my life. Father God, would you help us with our flesh?