Thanks so much for joining us, friends, on the line of fire. This is Michael Brown. Privileged to serve. As your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Privileged to be with you five days a week to infuse you with faith and truth and courage all this month.
We're focusing on the beauty. Of holiness. We're using the Bible, and we're going to give you a lot of scripture today. And my book, Go and Sin No More. If you don't have this book, I strongly encourage you to get a copy of it.
I was humbled when Bill Bright wrote the foreword to it and called it magnificent. One of those rare, life-changing books. And I've been changed by preaching and teaching on holiness over the years and by applying the lessons from going since more to my own life.
So, if you don't have the book, we want every one of you to get it. Holiness is. Is absolutely essential, friends. It's not optional. Why?
Because without holiness, No one will see the Lord. God is holy. And when he calls us into his family, He calls us to be holy. You know, there are teams. If you play on a certain team, let's say you play in the New York Yankees.
That is the most prestigious team in baseball over the last century plus. Playing in New York, it's the biggest spotlight with media attention and all of that. And when you join the Yankees, you're told you are privileged to be here on the Yankees. They have those distinct pinstripe uniforms, and they don't have the players' names on the uniforms. Other teams do.
They don't. It's just kind of a Yankee tradition. And let's say you come in with a full beard. No, you're going to shave that beard if you want to be on the Yankees and play. Maybe you have a mustache, but you're going to shave that beard.
It's just a Yankee tradition. And let's say you make it, you're a top college player in your sport, and now it's time to, maybe you're in football, it's time to get in the NFL. You're going to have to up your game. You can't say, well, I was best in my class. No, no, because you're at a whole another level of competition.
And if you're going to stay in the big leagues, you're going to have to play like a big leaguer. You're going to have to be disciplined. Maybe stuff you could get away with in the minors you can't get away with in the majors.
So It's not a matter of legalism.
Well, I sinned twice yesterday and only four times the day before. It's not counting things like counting calories. That's not the way holiness is. It's a disposition of heart and mind that then works itself out in our lives. As I said yesterday, holiness is becoming like Jesus in thought and word and deed and heart and mind and conduct.
Hebrews 12, 14 says this. Strive for peace with everyone. And for the holiness, Without which no one will see the Lord.
Now, does that mean that we have to attain a certain level of holiness, otherwise we don't make it into heaven?
Well, no, if that was the case no one would make it. If we had to attain to God's level of holiness and jump over enough hurdles, none of us would make it even cleansed and washed with the blood of Jesus if it was just up to our conduct. On the flip side, You cannot live however you want, live in willful disobedience, sin, and rebellion, and think that you can just go from there and jump into the presence of God. Rather, we are to run in the direction of holiness. We are to pursue that holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Do you get the picture? This is the direction we're going. This is where our heart is set. By God's grace, with His empowerment, this is how we're living. We're striving after that holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Psalm twenty-four. Verses 3 and 4. Psalm 24. Verses three and four. who may ascend the hill of the Lord.
who may stand in this holy place. He who has clean hands and a pure heart. who does not lift up his soul to an idol, or swear by what is false. We should be living differently than the world. We should be living differently than we used to do before we knew the Lord.
Maybe you were not a heavy drug user like I was. Maybe you weren't sleeping around with a lot of different people as others did. Maybe you warn't a sief. Maybe you weren't a drunkard. Maybe you weren't a violent person.
But for sure you were a sinner. For sure you were a sinner in need of redemption, and for sure The work of the spirit in you as a born-again person will produce a change of character. It must. As James Edmund Orr, the revival scholar said, the only proof of the new birth is the new life. And sometimes we're so afraid of preaching legalism and we're so afraid of preaching condemnation that we stop preaching holiness.
I'm going to give you a bunch of scriptures put together, one after the other. It is true we used to be, quote, enslaved. By all kinds of passions and pleasures, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature, and following its desires and thoughts. Titus 3:3. Ephesians 2.3.
But now we have been washed and renewed. Titus three five. sanctified and justified. 1 Corinthians 6.11. Rescued from the dominion of darkness.
Colossians 1, 13. and raised up with Christ, and seated with Him in the heavenly realms. Ephesians two six. Therefore, Sin shall not have dominion over us because we are empowered to holiness by the grace of God. Romans 6.14.
Titus 2, 11 and 12. Or new creatures in Christ. One brother, an ex-K Christian, So delivered from homosexual practice by the grace of God was asked, Can you be gay and Christian? He said, not for long. meaning you cannot practice homosexuality And be a true follower of Jesus.
If that was your lifestyle, you really come to know him, that's gonna change. Or you may struggle with same-sex attraction, everyone struggles with something. And by God's grace, we learn to overcome these temptations and attractions and desires. But you cannot willfully practise sin and follow Jesus at the same time.
Something is going to give. There was a brother that I got to know. Oh, in the in the early eighties and Over the years, always appreciated him. He was a devoted servant of the Lord. Very serious about the things of God.
But before he was saved, he was a drug addict. looked probably 20 years older. Then once he got saved. and was a real womanizer. Lots of different girlfriends, lots of one-night stands.
So He gets saved, but he's still living with his girlfriend. He gets saved. He is brand new in the Lord. He goes home Next day He has sex with his girlfriend. And The moment the act is done, He comes under terrible conviction.
The girlfriend doesn't know she has no idea what's going on. And he falls to the bedside weeping and repenting. Why? Because he was a new person. He was a new creation.
And the spirit within him was saying, you cannot live like this any longer. Oswald Chambers said this. Holiness is the characteristic of the man or a woman. after God's heart. Holiness.
as the characteristic of the man, I add the words, or woman. after God's own heart. M. P. Horbond said it like this.
True holiness. is learning to enjoy friendship with God. True holiness. is learning to enjoy friendship with God. Again, these are mind-blowing concepts to me.
The idea of holiness being enjoying friendship with God, but it makes sense. Look, before I was saved, I hung with certain people. We did certain things. When I got saved, unless those people also got saved, we didn't hang out together because we did bad things together and we talked about bad things together and we shared bad desires together and we acted on those desires.
Now that I'm saved, I want to share the gospel with them and be a true friend. But I don't hang out with them as a new believer the way I used to because I'm a new person. If if If you're a thief. And you hung out with other friends, and you just plotted each, you know, where you're going to break into and steal the next.
Now you get saved.
Well, that friendship is going to be broken. If all you did was try to pick people up and go to bed with them, or find the latest buzz or high, or go out and get drunk together and get into fights.
Well, now you're saved. You're not going to do that anymore because you're changed.
Well, God calls us into friendship with Him. which means living new lives, living holy lives. This first week in particular, really trying to get us to renew our minds to think differently about holiness. This is what God calls us to do. as holy people.
All right. This is what God calls us to do and calls us to be. as holy people. He calls us to Present. our bodies as living sacrifices on his altar, wholly unacceptable.
That's Romans. Chapter 12, verse 1. He calls us to present our bodies as living sacrifices on his altar, wholly and acceptable to him. Remember, the sacrifices in ancient Israel had to be. without blemish.
So he calls us, your whole body, give it to me, lay it down on the altar. We'll talk about where we fall short. We'll talk about how to receive forgiveness. We'll talk about God's empowering grace. We'll talk about living without that cloud of condemnation over us.
We want to cover all these things, and we want to lay out practical steps that will help you overcome sin and lead a holy life. Right now we're laying out the foundations, laying the fundamental. groundwork that we'll build on. We're called to present our bodies as living sacrifices on this altar, holy and acceptable. Romans 12:1.
We are called to Purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit. Everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God, that's 2 Corinthians. Chapter 7, verse 1. We're called to be sanctified. by avoiding sexual immorality and learning to control our own bodies in a way that is holy and honorable.
not in passionate lust like the heathen who do not know God? 1 Thessalonians 4. Three. through five We're called to die to sins. and live for righteousness?
1 Peter 2. Yeah. We are called to be kept blameless. Through and through? Body Soul.
And spirit until the coming of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 23. And then 2 Peter 3. Verses 10 through 12 says this. 2 Peter 3 10 through 12.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar. The elements will be destroyed by fire. and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. since everything will be destroyed in this way.
What kind of people ought you to be? You want to live wholly. And godly lives. as you look forward to the day of God. and speed it's coming.
Oh In light of what is coming, this is how we should live. All right, we've got an important announcement. And we will be right back. I'm Paul Burnett, a board certified doctor of holistic health, and I want to take this opportunity to talk to you about the importance of healthy blood flow. And at Trivita, we take blood flow seriously for our members.
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Michael Brown, so blessed to be with you. Are you getting our updates every week where we let you know about the latest articles we've written and the latest videos we've put out? They're all relevant. They're all dealing with major things going on in the world today.
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Love to be a resource for you. Love to pour into you. That's what God's called me to do. He hasn't called me the pastor of church. He hasn't called me to do other things that others do, but he has called me to take on the difficult, controversial issues, the great issues of our time, and to equip the body to help the church get healthy.
to help the church get holy. To help us be all that Jesus has called us to be, to help you be all that Jesus has called you to be. Let me remind you of some things that will help you in holiness. All right, remember. Remember.
You have been born again. Into a new life in Jesus. The Spirit lives within you. And you are empowered by God's grace. These are themes we're going to open up in the days ahead.
You have been born again Into A new life in Jesus. The Spirit lives within you? And you are empowered. By God's grace.
So it literally is a new birth. You literally have passed from death into life. You have passed from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God. You have gone from guilty. to justified from Wicked to righteous, from a child of Satan to a child of God.
from unholy to set apart as holy. That happened when you were born again. And the Holy Spirit lives within you. That's why Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6. You were bought with a price.
Therefore, glorify God with your body. We're bought with a price and purchased to be holy by the precious blood of Jesus, and the Spirit lives inside of us. This is not just mystical talk. I'm indwelt by the Holy Spirit. It's Israel.
It's reality. And we're empowered by God's grace. Think of God's grace carrying you. Think of God's grace picking you up, and and over the temptation and the sin and the bondage. There's a little poem, I believe it goes back to John Bunyan, to run and work.
The law commands. yet gives us neither feet nor hands. Yet better news the gospel brings. It bids us fly and gives us wings. Yes.
If you will cultivate intimacy with God. through the word and prayer. You'll find that is absolutely essential. to holiness. and as something that will cause holiness to to be your portion naturally.
You know, for example. looking in in the natural realm here. In 2014, God helped me to radically transform my lifestyle. And in less than eight months, I went from 275 pounds to 175 pounds. And that's where I am now between 175 and 180.
And this is now. Depends on when you're listening to this. almost 10 years later or more than 10 years later. And by God's grace, it's been amazing, it's been wonderful, it's been glorious. and the thing was to get rid of all the bad food.
I was a chalkaholic, a pizzaholic, a lifetime unhealthy eater. Get rid of all the bad food. only eat good food, only eat healthy food.
So you know, 69 years old. I'll hit a workout with guys in their 20s. And if I set up the workout so it's something I'm used to as opposed to something I've never done before, if I set up the workout, I'll beat these guys in their 20s even though they're in the gym all the time. It's not because I'm some gym rat. And like the fittest guy on the planet, it's all the healthy food day and night, these massive salads and lots of fruits and unprocessed whole foods and just pouring that in, it's healthy for the system.
So I'm thriving. I'm thriving. There's not a thing, and my wife Nancy, the same way, thriving because of this, make a healthy way of living. We were talking the other day. And as of this show, again, depends on when you hear it.
Uh uh but both 69 years old. There's nothing that we could do in our 30s that we can't do today. There's nothing that, oh, I wish I could do that, but we're too old. Because you put the healthy stuff in. It has an impact.
So the same way you cultivate intimacy with God through the word and prayer, it makes a massive difference.
Something else to do. Consider yourself dead to sin. and alive to God. Consider yourself dead to sin and the life to God. All these things we will unpack in the days ahead.
all these things we will unpack. and open up and get into the scriptures and talk about how we do this. But You don't You don't have the right to sin anymore. You don't have the freedom to sin. It's off limits.
It's off. It's not to be touched.
So you're married.
Well, that person's really nice. No, no, you're not married to them, you're married to your spouse. You don't give that other person the time of day in terms of developing a relationship with them, an illicit relationship. That's off limits. You don't touch that.
You're set apart. You're married.
Well, we're married to the Lord. Oh. Sin's not for us. We renew our minds. We're dead to sin.
We're alive to God. And and then we we put simple practical things into our lives. Like like flee useful lusts. Again, concepts we're going to open up. There's a time to fight, you're tempted, you fight, but there are other things you flee, get away from.
Doctor Brown, I feel like such a mess. I go to the beach. I I'm so weak. See all these girls like bikinis. It's so tempting.
You're not weak. You're stupid. Get off the beach. You you you won't you won't die for lack of being on the beach. You won't die for lack of swimming.
And if you've got to sun yourself or swim, find a place where you can do it without all the temptation around you. Flee, youthful us cut off the offending hand. These are concepts we're going to open up greater light. If you have an illicit relationship with someone, An adulterous relationship with someone. All right, well, we're going to stop sleeping together, but you know, we'll still text.
No, no, no, you still don't text. You don't cut things back. You cut them off. Yeah, you know, I got a porn problem, so I cut off most of my porn subscriptions. No, no, no, you You break things off if you want to be free.
You got to break things off entirely. And remember that that sin is is never, ever good for you. Never. The devil does not have one good thing for you. He may have some temporary good feelings, he may have some temporary highs, he may have some temporary satisfaction, he may have some temporary success that makes you proud, but no, he's got nothing good for you.
And sin has nothing good for you. It will only hurt you in the long run. It always leads to death, not life. Oh, a hundred times out of a hundred. I don't care who you are, President of the United States.
biggest ministry in the entire world. Most successful home schooling mom in your city? greatest business person in your community. That's not who you are. Doesn't matter.
You pray eight hours a day. Doesn't matter. You mess with sin. You give way to sin, it will always mess with you. It never.
does you any good. And then remember How beautiful holiness is. Remember what our destiny is to be. You know, it's it's like some young lady used to dress like a prostitute and give herself to guys because she had such a miserable self-image.
Now she's changed, now she's transformed, now she's shining in the Lord. And you don't want to go back to where you were. You don't want to go back. There's a beauty in holiness, and there's a beauty in modesty. And there's a beauty in separation to the Lord, and you don't want to go back.
to the old ways when you were selling yourself to Even th the lowest bidder. No, no, no. Holiness is beautiful, and God's called us. to be holy. Let's shine for him.
Friends, I hope faith is building in you. I hope you're being encouraged. I hope you're starting to see things differently. And those that are in a rut. Does it abound?
those that are slaves to sin habitually, I'm not here to condemn you. I'm here to help you. And I believe, by God's grace, you're going to get some help. In the days ahead, we'll be back with you tomorrow. This is Dr.
Michael Brown. Thanks so much for tuning in. Just a reminder that we are listener-supported. If we have been a blessing to you, if you're being enriched in the word and prayer and your own walk with God through this broadcast, then stand with us so that we can reach many, many more and bless many, many more. Together, friends, we're making a difference.
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Okay.
