Welcome to the line of fire where all this week and all this month we are studying the beauty of holiness. And how God wants to make us like His Son, Jesus, in thought, and word, and mind, and deed, and heart, and content, and life. Michael Brown here. Welcome to the line of fire, where we are committed to infuse you with faith, truth, and courage to help you stand strong on the front lines. We say it every day, but all of us are in the line of fire.
It's not just a radio broadcast, it's not just the name of our ministry, it is a reality today. We are all in the line of fire, and you better believe it. We have to go against the grain of the world and the flesh. And the devil. And that means walking in the power of the Spirit to live holy and godly lives.
By God's grace, we can be transformed individuals. And rather than sin being the rule of our lives, Sin can be the exception to the rule by the power of the Word of God and the indwelling Spirit. All right, before we open the Word together, and then this week, we get into 20 reasons not to sin. Practical helps. Practical steps, practical things.
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So last week we laid a lot of foundations. We discussed what holiness is. And what it is not. We discussed the beauty of God's holiness and the ugliness and destructiveness of sin, and we looked at a lot of scripture. What I want to do is kind of restate things now to start the week off and then summarize some of the scriptural evidence.
Boom, boom, boom, so you can hear it. But I first want to share a quote with you from John Owen, who was the greatest of the Puritan theologians in the 1600s. And I can drink from a variety of Christian wells. I can benefit from people whose theology is a little different than mine as long as they are within the mainstream of the faith. And I hope it's the same with you.
If someone is a brother or a sister, even if you have a difference on this point or that point, if there are good truths that come from that brother and sister, we want to embrace those truths.
So I would have certain theological differences with John Owen and at other points say, wow, what a brilliant theologian. And of course, What a great brother.
So listen to what John Owens said. There is no imagination. Wherewith man is besotted.
So there's no way of thinking. That we've gone more off the deep end with. There is no imagination wherewith man is besotted, more foolish. none so pernicious as this. that persons not purified not sanctified.
not made holy in their life, should afterwards be taken into that state of blessedness which consists in the enjoyment of God. Neither can such persons enjoy God, nor would God be a reward to them. Holiness indeed is perfected in heaven, but the beginning of it is invariably confined to this world. He leads none to heaven but whom He sanctifies on the earth. This living head will not admit of dead members.
Now We can debate. the question of can a true believer forfeit their salvation. We can have a big scriptural debate and we each come with our verses on either side. We can debate Aspects of Calvinism versus Arminianism. For some, those are familiar words.
For some, you don't know what they mean. No problem at all. But I don't believe we can debate this. I don't believe that when Jesus saves us, he doesn't change us. I don't believe we can debate scripturally.
That the proof of the new birth, as James Hedbenor, the revival teacher, used to say, that the only proof of the new birth is the new life. That if someone says they have been born again, If someone says they have been made a new creation, If someone says they have passed from death to life, if someone says they have gone from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God, from a child of the devil to a child of the heavenly Father, if someone says that That Jesus has saved them from their sin and now lives inside them by their Holy Spirit and gives no evidence whatsoever. Of repentance, no evidence whatsoever of conviction in their conscience, no evidence whatsoever. Yeah. If They show no evidence of a changed life.
What Paul refers to in Acts 26, 20 as bringing forth fruits worthy of repentance, bringing forth the fruit of repentance. Or as James Jacob speaks of in the second chapter of his book, showing our faith by our works. If there is no demonstration of a changed life, if that person remains just as sinful, just as obstinate, just as rebellious, just as carnal, just as unrepentant, just as God-mocking as before, then they're not saved. It's that simple. They're not born again.
They have not passed from death to life. The New Testament knows no such notion. No such concept whatsoever. Which is why it's written in 2 Timothy 2.19 That God's foundation stands sure despite heresy and other things. It says this in 2 Timothy 2:19, that.
that God The foundation of God stands sure. with this twofold inscription. The Lord knows those who are His. And let everyone, let everyone... who calls on his name, turn from iniquity.
paraphrase of that verse. Or Matthew 7:21, where Jesus says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father.
Now, doing the will of the Father means that when you fall short, you say, Lord, cleanse me, wash me. Doing the will of the Father means that you walk in the light you have and seek to honor and please the Lord. And there may be things you're doing unconsciously displeasing and the blood of Jesus is cleansing you. But doing the will of the Father cannot mean being an open rebel. being a willful God mocker.
That is heretical. That is not biblical. And if you'll search for centuries in church teaching, you will not find any such notion that someone can simply pray a prayer and then live like the devil and they're quote saved.
Now, some of you may get upset with me for saying it. I want to say this with all respect. Please take up the argument with Scripture. Please take up your argument with God. Please take up your argument with the consistent testimony of church history.
Please take up your argument with some of the greatest preachers who ever lived, like Charles Spurgeon and others. They knew no such concept. that you just pray a prayer. and that you're in, no matter how you live. whether there's repentance or not.
Yes, we understand, as John Owen said. That holiness indeed is perfected in heaven. We'll never be perfect till we're there. And every single day, one way or another, we're falling short. Every single day, even on our best day, we still live by grace.
We still live by mercy. And God's forgiving us and cleansing us for things we don't even know are wrong. Thank God for his grace. Thank God for his mercy. We are kept by his grace, not by our works.
We are kept by His goodness, not by our goodness. We are kept by His faithfulness, not our faithfulness. Praise God for that. But if there is no evidence of a changed life, there is no evidence of a new birth. Say how long do you give it?
Well If someone claims to have been born again, if someone claims to have passed, as I said, from death to life and from the power of sin to the power of the Spirit, And weeks go by? And months go by. And there is no evidence of change at all. Not only so, they show no evidence of even being convicted of their sin. They're not born again.
They may have said words, they may have said a prayer. but they're not born again. I'm just Friends, I have a responsibility to warn. I have a responsibility to tell the truth. All right, here's another quote for you.
Oh, let's see. Um Uh in fact Let me give you scripture. Let me give you scripture. Galatians 5. Galatians 5.
19 to 24. After Paul has described the fruit of the Spirit, well, no, we'll read all that, we'll read the flesh and the spirit. Galatians 5. Beginning verse 19. Are you ready?
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious sexual immorality impurity and debauchery. Idolatry? And witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy, drunkenness. Orgies and the like. I warn you As I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
By the way, inherit the kingdom of God for Paul does not mean receive a reward in the world to come, it means enter into the world to come with the Lord. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, flesh and blood. will not inherit the kingdom of God. This is something we receive in our resurrected bodies. But the fruit of the Spirit, he writes, is love, Joy.
Peace. patience, kindness. goodness Faithfulness. gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus. have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. I didn't make this up. Th these are not my words. Let me read that again from Paul.
Those who belong to Messiah Jesus. have crucified the sinful nature with its passions. and desires.
Now I'm going to weave in Scripture. And I'll give you the references.
So I've put this in sentence form, and I'm going to weave in scripture. 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 three three, and Ephesians two three. 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 2, 6. Therefore, sin shall not have dominion over us, because we are empowered to holiness by the grace of God. Romans 6.14.
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In Jesus' name, all this month, our focus is on the beauty of holiness. If you're enjoying these broadcasts, call a friend and tell them to tune in on this great station where you are listening. And thanks to all of our stations across the country for helping get this important message out. All right. When I started writing Go and Sin No More, just grabbing a copy off my shelf here.
When I started writing Go and Sin No More, I sent the opening chapter to Nancy for feedback, and she said, no way, no way. I said, I know the content is good. She goes, not for the opening chapter.
Well, it's, I think, chapter five of the book now. And that's where I go through what does the Bible say about holiness? What does the Bible say about holiness?
So it's a really good teaching chapter. It is full of rich content. Every quote that I'm sharing with you on the air this month, every single scripture reference that I'm sharing with you this month, they're all in Go and Sydney Morris.
So whatever you miss, when you get the book, and I'll tell you how you can do that at the end of the broadcast, when you get the book, then you'll be able to go ahead and review everything. But she was right. When I reflected on it, she was right that this was not the way to start the book with this rich theological content. Let's draw people in a little bit, talk about practical life, and then we'll really dig even deeper and say, what does scripture say?
So there's scripture all through the chapters leading up to it, but she was right. It was not the best opening chapter. I I had preached Many years ago, at a pastor's meeting. It was a monthly pastor's meeting in Louisiana. And while praying that morning about the message, I just wrote out a list of 20 reasons not to sin.
It just struck me. I wrote them out. And then I preached on that theme and preached on another theme, which we'll get into, the heaviest, most important message God's ever given me, based on a Hebrew word, acharit. Very intense, and we'll get to that over the course of this month. I preached that message.
And the altar was filled, pastors, leaders just coming up, repenting, crying out to God. It was an extraordinary service. In fact, one of the other brothers, at the end of the message, the pastor who organized the meetings, he got up and he then gave a further call to go even deeper. I remember I went up to get on my face before the Lord. I thought, here I'm responding to my own message.
You know, that's how deep the conviction was in the air that morning.
So I I was writing about 20 reasons not to sin for go and so no more and I realized that's how to start the book. That's where we need to start. Let's get practical. Let's get where we live day by day: the real temptations, the real challenges, the real issues. Let's do that.
So, when I said that to Nancy, he's like, oh, yeah, great. This is how to start the book. On the air, because we're just chatting, we're talking, it's a little different. I wanted to get into the theology first. I wanted to get into definitions first.
I wanted to be sure that we were on the same page talking about holiness and that holiness was something beautiful. Not binding. Not dead legalism, not beating people over the head with the Bible, not externally imposed religion, not you're so bad, you're so bad, you need to be holy, you're just bad, but. No, we want to be like Jesus. Like the early Salvation Army preacher Samuel Logan Brango said: holiness is pure love.
Or like the seraphim, these. Probably to do with these burning, fiery, angelic creatures. That's what the root Saraph is in Hebrews, it's burning, fiery. That the seraphim, the throne of God, or holy, holy, holy, kadosh, kadosh, kadosh, singing that to God. We want to embrace that beauty and then say, wow, we could be like that.
Not in the same quality that God is, but as human beings, He says, You be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
So I'm going to give you 20. reasons not to sin. He said, Well, we all know sin is bad. Let me help you. These have helped me.
And at different times in your life, different ones will be more relevant, right? Life can be challenging. You're tempted one way in one situation, another way in another situation. And maybe the devil's trying to plan out your fall and he's plotting something. And there's so many ways we can get hit.
That the more ammunition we can have, the better. All right, are you ready? 20 reasons not to sin. Number one. Sin does not satisfy.
If you're able, say it out loud with me. Sin does not Satisfy. There may be pleasure. but there is no lasting satisfaction. Let me first illustrate it for you and then tell you why that's so important to remember.
Have you ever seen old potato chip commercials for Lay's potato chips. bet you can't eat just one. Won't Among other reasons, that's because of the salt content. that when you eat it, it now creates a desire for more. She was thinking, oh boy, I'm craving potato chips.
I'll just have a couple.
Well, no, a couple will not satisfy. A couple will create a desire for more. You know, it's the same with some sweets, like you know, chocolate, like Oreos or something like that. There was a study actually done. I read the synopsis, the abstract of the study and discussion of it.
A scientific study where rats were addicted to Oreo cookies. and to cocaine. And when they had to choose between the two, they were equally addicted.
So as someone who is a heavy drug user from the ages of 14 to 16 from 1969 to 1971, I understand the addictive power of drugs. But it's the same thing with other things.
So if I could just, I've never been to a porn and said, if I just go one time and see what's there, or if we just sleep together one time, no, what happens is it doesn't satisfy. There's the momentary pleasure, there's the momentary excitement, there's the momentary release. But instead of satisfying, it creates an appetite. It creates an appetite where you want to do the thing again.
So rather than satisfying, it deepens the wrong appetite. It's so important to remember that. because this lie will hang over your head. Yeah. If I could just do this one time.
I'd have the outlet, I'd have the relief. You know, some of us live with that same lie. For decades? And well, just one more time and I'll be saying, no, what are we going to learn? Since doesn't Satisfy.
I remember friends of mine sleeping around before they were saved. and then getting married and telling me what a difference. It's the same sexual act with someone you were in a relationship with, but one, was unsatisfying and left them feeling empty. And the other was beautiful and satisfying because it was in the context of love.
So the act was not a sinful act.
So, Sin does not satisfy. And here's where we're going next.
Next ones will come up in the next show. Sin leads to more sin? Sin leads to worse sin. Finn. Enslaves.
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.
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Okay.
