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1:29But we know what. A good heart is to be. By the way, can you get it on the back by any chance? But we know what a good heart is supposed to be. We've already looked at that. A good heart is a good heart, or what God wants from His people is loving the Lord with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength. Our hearts being at the head of all of that. And so a good heart is that which loves God, and out of that love for God flows all the issues of life, strength, intellect, and everything.

2:12Jesus affirmed that this is indeed what God wants. What is the greatest commandment? Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. What does a defiled heart say? A defiled heart says, no. I will love myself with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength. And that's the difference. That's what happened in the garden. Man raising himself up as the one to be pleased. And so God, who gives man life, then takes that life and uses it and all of its strength to live for himself. I will love myself with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Second commandment that Jesus affirmed is what? And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

3:04A defiled heart says, I will use my neighbor to serve myself. Very different. I will use my neighbor to serve myself. And this becomes the whole source of conflict and pollution in the world. Competing hearts. But it is a supernatural work of God to cleanse the defiled heart. And so, as we look this morning, if you do not understand that which defiles you, you will not be able to understand that which saves. So that's what we want to look at tonight: look at some key concepts, really coming back out of Mark chapter 7, just more by way of review and relate them to salvation, understanding defilement, but then on the flip side of that, what Christ came to do in saving his people from their sins. And so I want to do that tonight, so that we can more enthusiastically embrace the salvation that Jesus has offered. So it's going to be a very simple, straightforward.

4:34That's okay. Okay, it's going to be simple from a thinking standpoint. But talk about the views of salvation. And it's really just going to look at the views of the scribes and Pharisees based on this. Chapter 7, we'll look at some modern views of salvation based upon what society perceives as defilement today, and then we'll look at the biblical view. But look at Mark chapter 7, verse 1. The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around him when they had come from Jerusalem and had seen that some of his disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders. And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves. And there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots. The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands? And so, according to the view of the scribes and Pharisees, the nature of defilement is something that is external to the person. It's an inherent property of physical objects. If you ingest a physical object or touch a physical object, it contaminates you through external contact. And so the authority, the authority is based in their oral traditions. We spent a lot of time on that this morning. Their oral traditions replaced God's written law in defining what was clean and unclean, so they raised their tradition above God's word. Now, let's think about their view of salvation then. If this is their view of defilement, physical properties, physical things, when come contact with the body, defiles the body, then salvation must also be related to that, of also a physical nature. Since defilement is primarily a physical property, then salvation must be of a physical nature. And so external compliance comes into view. External compliance to the Jewish rituals and customs. So that's what it is. Washings, whatever the ritual, whatever the custom was, can not only make a person clean, but keep a person clean. So if a person was unclean, that is how you became clean.

7:28Well, the problem of this view. Was that it missed the entire intent of the Torah? Even as you study the first five books of the Bible, you realize very quickly that compliance with the Torah was never intended to be just a matter of external compliance, but one of heart devotion. We've already looked at this verse: Deuteronomy 6:4, Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. These words which I am commanding you shall be on your heart. That's the requirement that God wants, always has, always been a matter of heart devotion. And so, what the relationship of God, it couldn't be like any other one, like an idol and represented in any kind of material way, like an idol or bowing down to an idol. The way love for God, because of who God is and the nature of him, the way relationship toward God is expressed is obedience to his commands. That's how it has to be expressed. Compliance with what he wishes and what he desires. It was never intended to be a matter of formal legalism, but a response. Of a loving heart. Here is your instruction, O Israel. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and go and obey these things. It will be good for you. This law is good. And the more I study the law, it's like it is good if you have a heart to obey it. What's wrong with the idea of a Sabbath? What's wrong with the idea of the Sabbath year? A year of Jubilee, a celebration. It's all built around when you look, what's wrong with not killing each other? What's wrong with not stealing? These laws are good. But if you have a heart that doesn't love God, then those laws become boundaries that you want to cross. And so movement to the standard indicated movement toward God. Here's the law. Here's the standard. And if your heart is one, okay, I want to obey, I want to figure out how that applies and obey it. But if you're looking for workarounds, that indicates a heart away from God. And so the law becomes this standard of righteousness, and compliance was always a matter of the heart, of wanting to movement toward the standard and what it's revealing, not trying to find a way around it and sort of be kind of within some sort of letter compliance.

10:30But the Torah really was doing something. It was revealing the righteousness of God and just how good He is. And I love those skilled hunting dogs, pointers. Have you ever seen the, if you ever watch dogs who really know how to hunt do their thing, they're fun to watch. They're more fun than anything else, more fun than hunting. Just watching the dogs go and have their nice little point. And it's, well, that's likewise what the Torah was. It pointed to Israel's need. Israel, you need a new heart.

11:12And so God wanted them to understand what was in their heart. And the law was given them to show them what God required and to show them the trajectory of their hearts. If you're trying to get around, get away from, that shows you the problem is with God. That's why standards of holiness today. I don't know how to answer somebody who says, How close is too close? How close can I get to the line without crossing into sin?

11:43The trajectory of that question is off fundamentally and describes a heart that isn't in compliance. A heart wants to, what do I need to do to make sure that I do what's honorable and is an expression of my total love and. Devotion to God. I don't want to play close to the line. And I have no counsel, really, for people who want to get as close as they can to the line without getting, and neither does the Bible. The Bible is going the other way: love the Lord your God with all your heart. And so the Torah itself was given to reveal their need, but it didn't have the power to give them a new heart.

12:29Well, Jesus corrected the scribes and Pharisees' view on a couple of points. They think salvation is basically mere ritualistic outward compliance, and then you're in God's good graces. But Jesus corrected their view, at least on two specific matters. He says in verse 6, and he said to them, Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, hypocrites, as it is written, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. You see, the intent of the word of God is to bring about a heart relationship. And what Jesus is showing them, the problem with you, Pharisees, is that just like Isaiah said, in the same kind of people in his day, your hearts are far from me. You don't love the Lord your God with all your heart. Quite the contrary. So he corrects them that. That the intent of the Word of God is to bring about a heart relationship to God, all of the Word. It's about revealing who He is, and a heart that is inclined to love Him, or that it loves Him, will be inclined to understand and obey. That's the trajectory of a heart that loves.

13:50Where's your heart tonight? Are you on a trajectory of loving Him? Does this Word of God just seem a bunch of rules and regulations that you just want to get around, or is it something that is given to you by your Heavenly Father for your good, for His glory? But He corrects, Jesus corrects them on a second point. Not only is the intent of the Word of God to bring about a heart relationship, but it's God's Word, not tradition, that is the authority. Listen to what Jesus said in verse 7, but in vain they do worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men, neglecting, verse 8, the commandment of God you hold to the tradition of men. You see, the Pharisees had set aside the true authority and had developed a religion of their own, purity.

14:53And really, the way to be saved, to purify a defiled heart, was by observing. The correct customs and the correct purification rituals. And so they stripped the law of its intended purpose to show the need and to show the Savior, to reveal their need and the one who's going to meet that need. They stripped the law of its intended purpose and established human substitutes for God's judgment and for God's grace. And so these substitutes, these focused on external things really pertaining to the body. And so they had become enamored with the outside of who they were, not the inside of who they were. In fact, Jesus later is going to say in Matthew 23, 25, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisees, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish so that the outside of it may become clean also. In other words, the whole being is going to follow the heart. You're doing these external rituals, but you're full of heart indulgences. You're still polluting the world with your defilement. You're polluting yourself, polluting The nation and all around.

16:34Well, this was a big issue in the early church. Colossians 2:23 addressed these matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, so they have an appearance of religion, but they are of no value against fleshly indulgence. And where does that fleshly indulgence originate? From a heart, evil dialoguings, covetous, deceit, envy, fornications, the whole list. That's where all that. And so these external wash-your-hands cannot touch that. It doesn't touch that. It's a spiritual work that needs to take place. Which, by the way, there is, since in your Sunday school, you've been talking about the Essenes.

17:36The Essenes are another group of Israel in Israel at the time. They're the strictest Jewish sect of the day. And so, what they saw defilement was, was being outside the pure community. So, if you're outside the pure community, you're not going to be saved. If you're not within the group, you're not going to be saved. Going to be saved. And so they had to cleanse people. If you came in contact with the Gentile, you had to be cleansed. If Samaritans, you had to be cleansed. And even some of the Sadducees and Pharisees, you had to be cleansed. And even the temple, they were so isolated, as you who have been in Sunday school know. But the difference, and you get some of this Essene thought today, you have to be a member of our church to be saved. If you're not a member of our church, if you're outside of this church, then you're not saved. Well, that's kind of the Essene thinking. But what they see is purity, or what they see as defilement, is being outside of the pure community. Therefore, salvation or becoming pure is about being devoted to the right community and being on the inside with it. For the scribes and Pharisees, well, their idea of purity resulted in being devoted to the right directory of rituals or directory of observance. You see how their view impacted their view of defilement impacted their view of salvation.

19:15So you've been there. That's more or less review. Let me relate this to some of our modern views today. A lot of modern views floating around out there of what defiles humanity. And I could only mention a couple of them. There's, and really you can, I'll mention about three of them, and they all kind of blend together these days. Although they are distinct, and I'll talk about them as distinct. There is some bleeding of the ages on the edges, and this is just the world in which we live today.

19:54But one's view of defilement, like I said, inevitably leads to one's view of salvation. There is the concept of secular theology. Probably heard of this. What is the concept of defilement in secular theology, secularism? Well, it's the concept of a supernatural being. That's what has defiled the land. Moral responsibility before a holy God is an anthema. Judgment from a holy God is an anthema. The idea of supernatural being, judgment, moral responsibility, that is what defiles the land, and those who propagate those ideas have defiled the land. So you remember that famous atheist, Richard Dawkins? Let me read to you something he wrote on what he calls real child abuse.

20:58Real child abuse. It's that mental abuse constituted by an unsubstantiated threat of violence and terrible pain, if sincerely believed by the child, could easily be more damaging than the physical actuality of sexual abuse. So, what he's saying: an extreme threat of violence and pain is precisely what the doctrine of hell is. And there is no doubt that, no doubt at all, that many children sincerely believe it, often continuing right through adulthood and old age until death finally releases them.

21:48They, therefore, along with many others who were never physically abused, probably experienced mental terrorism of the hellfire type. So, what he's saying is teaching on hell is worse than the most extreme forms of physical abuse. Calls it mental terrorism. Then he goes on and concludes: if you can sue for the long-term mental damage caused by physical child abuse, Why should you not sue for the long-term mental damage caused by mental child abuse? And really, those who teach on the doctrines of hell.

22:44In fact, I read another article not long ago about rapture anxiety. Those who believe in the rapture are propagating an anxiety in our society and harming the mental health of many by teaching rapture. Well, you get the idea. What has defiled the land is a concept of a supernatural being. What is their concept of authority? Well, it's a blend. Atheistic assumption, number one, evolutionary philosophy, scientific method, at least in part. Kind of a mixture of all these put together, and that's their concept of authority. What is their concept of salvation, this secular salvation?

23:43Well, it's freedom. If the one who's defiling, if the thought of God is what defiles the land, what is your concept of salvation? Getting rid of what? God. Yes. Freedom from God. Freedom from religion, freedom from a guilty conscience, from religious constructs, from transcendental moral restraints, freedom from judgment, and the silence of those who believe in such. That becomes their concept of salvation. Nothing new. It's been around a while. Talk to you for a moment about liberation theology, something you've also been around for a long time, though it morphs through the years. Some of the schools you have black, feminist, homosexual, third world, all kinds. And I recognize there are some very significant differences between these groups and in their emphases. But there are some similarities that need to be highlighted. Number one, the concept of defilement. What is the problem in society?

25:03Well, the problem in society is the oppression and exploitation of the powerless by the powerful. And so it becomes more of a class sin than a personal sin. Sin itself is more class-oriented than individual. And so you get a lot of your woke ideology. Another blend, flavor of this, kind of pulling together a lot of these schools of thoughts. The idea of white men subjugating other nationalities, men dominating women, more recent heterosexuals suppressing homosexuals, male-female, genderism dominating others. You get rich countries exploiting poor countries, rich class enslaving poor class. You get the idea of what defiles. So, what is your concept of salvation then? If this is the system that defiles, then what is salvation about? Well, it's about deliverance from the social oppressors.

26:32And it's really more aimed at the political level, control, than really it is at the heart level. It's not about changing the heart of fallen man as much as it is about changing the law. Their view of the Bible, of course, it's different in the spectrum of liberation theology, but basically, it boils down to a few things. The Bible is not a book of eternal truths. It's not a book about rules of conduct. It's really more of a history that God outlines how he delivers through political means. God is active in the struggles of the oppressed. The Jews, in the Exodus, under Pharaoh, judges, liberation from Babylonian captivity, and so on. The Bible is about God liberating the oppressed from the oppressor. So their whole paradigm of Scripture is very different.

27:42Some view it as a patriarchal way for men to hold on to power. And in these systems, humility is not seen as a virtue because it tends towards accepting oppression. It's about asserting, not humility. Humility is not needed, assertion is. Humility is not a virtue. The view of the Bible is that there are no absolute rules or ethics involved in the liberation process. In other words, the method of deliverance is dependent upon the specific situation. Whatever you need to do justifies liberation.

28:31And liberation itself, if that's the goal, justifies all kinds of manner of evil. In fact, a flash mob can run into a store, plunder, and rob, and justify it because they have been oppressed or they have been part of an oppressed class in the past. And so they are justified, at least in their own minds, to assert themselves in such a way. There's another concept floating around. Again, this is nothing new. Existential theology. That's a big word, but you'll recognize it here in a moment.

29:18But the, and I won't bore you with all the details. It's, of course, German. What do you do? And as Spurgeon said, if you took hell and turned it upside down, it'd probably say made in Germany on it. And referring to the German higher criticism, there's a lot of good things that have come out of Germany, for sure. Reformation being one of them. But certainly this higher, anyway, well, move on. Existential theology. What is that about? It's about not being true. To yourself, absolute truth is a problem.

30:08There is no absolute truth outside of oneself. That's kind of the thinking. What existential theology is, it's a recognition that real faith and spiritual meaning cannot be found in religions, it can't be found in texts, it must be found within oneself. One prominent writer wrote it like this: Existentialism is about being a saint without God, being your own hero without all the sanction and support of religion or society. Another says this: Existential theology demands that faith be individual.

30:58You see, the idea is that because most people are born into a religion, they do not have faith so much as a sense of community. And so, what religion, what we're doing here, is really more not about an expression of faith in the true God, but a way that we have grown up in a way to connect with each other. It's not really about connecting with God at all. So, when you boil it all down, what is existentialism about? It's about self-actualization. Realizing your own potential. So, what is this concept of authority in this system? Well, one's own ideas, personal experience, and your understanding of reality or your perception becomes reality and then in and of itself becomes authoritative, at least for you. Maybe not for everyone, but for you.

31:58And so, what is the concept of salvation? If your concept of defilement is not being true to yourself, what is your concept of salvation going to be? Getting rid of anything that would cause you not to be what? True to yourself. True to yourself. So, being delivered from or overcoming those forces which cause a person to fail to exercise one's ability to do what one wants to do. So, like I said, you've seen these systems. They all kind of blend together. There are some bits and pieces that just make up the American and worldly thinking that we're in.

32:46But they need to get rid of those constraints, whether they're social constraints, the laws of nature, or the laws of God. And really, even though it comes in a big word, You will really recognize this thought. This is really about, this shows up in just about all the movies, all the TVs. This is the main thought today. Follow your heart. Since Langston prepared this video for another situation and it took him time, I'll show it again. But you'll get the idea here. You'll recognize this thought because it is, well, it's very prevalent. I'm going to show a little video.

33:51I believe that you and Miss Lawrence have something that you won't allow yourselves to lose. And if you search your heart and listen to its instruction, you won't go wrong. So make your own pay show the beauty within. When you follow your heart, there's no way you can win. Your duty was to stay home, but your heart told you to break the rules. How did you decide between duty and heart? By following my feelings? I wound up doing the right thing. I guess I learned that my duty is to my heart. My duty is to my heart. My mother feels in her heart that we be free to write our own story.

34:54Follow our hearts. When life gets me down, I play my guitar. The rest of the world may follow the rules, but I must follow my heart. I can show you the world. Shining, shimmering, splendid. Tell me, Princess, now, when did you last let your heart decide? I suggest you try it again, Luke. This time, let go your conscious self and act on instinct. With the blast shield down, I can't even see. How am I supposed to fight? Your eyes can deceive you, don't they? To trust them, stretch out with your feelings.

36:14By the way, I'm not on a crusade against Disney or anything like that. I just point out to you that this is the school of thought. And my wife and I will sometimes watch some sappy love stories about Hallmark that they put out. And this is the story. I mean, follow your heart. You've got to do what you want to do. But it really is this idea of getting rid of anything in your way, whether it be rules or constraints or whatever, that would keep you from following your heart. And so you recognize that, right? That is the mantra of our times. Now, I would qualify that and say, yeah, if you will sanctify your heart, if you will love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, yeah, do what you want. Yes, in that sense, you can follow your heart, but in a context of an unredeemed heart, guess where your heart is going to lead you? Into that self-love.

37:30Self-actualization and getting over and using people. I will love myself with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. My duty is to myself, not to rules, not to laws. My duty is to myself. It's just repeated over and over. So that takes us, you see how the nature of defilement is going to impact your understanding of salvation. But let's talk about the biblical view for a few moments. In Mark 7, verse 14, look at what Jesus did. After he called the crowd to him again, he began saying to them, Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Listen to me. It is Jesus rather than the traditions of men or our self-perception or our self-awareness or evolutionary thought or scientific method or you put in whatever it is, any tradition, it is Jesus who has the authority to declare what is pleasing to God. Why? Because he understands God. Why? Because he is God. Colossians 1:16 says, For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether through Thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him.

39:07He understands everything there is about the law. He understands everything that there is about God's righteousness. He knows the letter of the law. He knows the intention of the law. He knows it. He also understands what is pleasing to God because he himself is God. And since he is God, he alone can tell us what defiles. And that is what he has done. And we looked at this morning. In verse 20, he says this. This is the nature of defilement. It's not what goes into the heart or goes into the stomach. It's what goes in, that comes out of the heart of man. And he says this in verse 20: that which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these things proceed from within and defile the man.

40:08And so, what Jesus clarifies is that the essential purpose of the law is a matter of inward purity and motive rather than mere external compliance to a ritual. Uncleanness to Jesus is not a property of objects, but a description of inner action. Attitudes and intentions. That's what uncleanness is. What is your intention? What is your inner attitude? What's going on in the dialoguings of your heart? And defilement happens when you continue to have evil dialogues in your heart. What characterizes your disposition as you're going about your day-to-day routine? What's going on in your heart? Are there envies? Are there, you know, what's going on? Or is it one of walking with God? And how do we walk with God? By meditating on His Word. God is Spirit. And so we pay attention to what He says, and we think about what He says. And in so doing, we walk with the one who says these things.

41:21You know, I think about as parents, we try to isolate our children from corrupting influences, don't we? Not because the outside corruption will defile them. We shelter our children because of the evil that resides within them. One of the reasons I was always very strict about what they watched, I was loose on some other things, but I was pretty strict on what might go into their heart and start them meditating upon and dialoguing. Is this true? Is my duty to God's law or is my duty to my heart? What is and so? Corrupting influences on the outside do connect with their fallen nature and give rise to evil dialogues. And so we shelter our children because of the evil that resides within their heart so that it doesn't resonate with them. And hopefully, in the process of growing up, is teaching you how to deal with this stuff. Yeah, you can watch the movie, but just understand the well from which this is coming from, and to be able to understand and not meditate, know the truth. Know your duty is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. It's not to do what you think you ought to do or want to do. It's to love him and then do what you want to do.

43:00But Jesus understands what offends God. He understands the moral requirement of the law. He knows what the law can do and what it cannot do. He knows how to bring people. Let me say this, he knows how to bring about the righteous requirements of the law in his people. And this is exactly what he came to do. So the biblical view of defilement is something that's in the heart. Of man, those evil musings, dialogues, and then acting them out, letting them. So, if that's the nature of defilement, what is the nature of salvation? Well, Jesus came to save their people from their sins. This is the fundamental problem that fouls up the earth, that fouls up your life and my life, and pollutes your relationships and the world we live in. Matthew 1:21 says, She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. So, if he's going to save his people from their sins and take a defiled heart and give it a clean heart or a pure heart, first he's going to have to remove he's going to have to deal with the penalty of sin. He's going to have to righteously deal with the sin in his people in a way that doesn't make him an unrighteous judge. And that's exactly what he does at the cross.

44:34But he also has to save them from the power of sin. He doesn't just save them from the penalty of sin, but it's mastery over them. If he's going to deliver his people from their sins, he must break the hold that this fleshly nature has upon his people. And he does that by crucifying the fleshly nature upon the cross. And those who are in Christ have been crucified. With him, and that fleshly nature is dead. Now, we still live in a fallen body.

45:10Got a new heart. There's some anti-rejection issues going on between the flesh. And that's where he also has got to save us from the disposition to sin. Not only does he save us from the power of sin and the penalty sin, but he's got to give us a new disposition that saves us from our ongoing propensity to sin, even though we live in a, I mean, while we live in our fallen human flesh, waiting for the resurrection of our bodies. And how does he do that? Well, he rejects, he redirects our affections from fleshly ones to heavenly ones.

45:55And so he saves from the penalty of sin, power of sin, and the disposition sin. And so, what Mark 7 does is it orients us to a correct view of defilement, which then leads to the correct view of salvation. That which defiles comes from the heart of man. That which saves is he who comes down from heaven. That which he transforms is the heart of man. He puts his spirit in them. This is the salvation that he brings.

46:36You see, many people missed it during his first advent. Many people still miss it today. But there were those who did not. There were those who understood who he is. There were those who understood the nature of defilement and what's really wrong with us. And they turned to him for cleansing, for renewal, for strengthening. And they put on, were given a new heart. And without such a miracle, supernatural heart transplant, you never will long for the things of heaven. And that's why we need a new heart. One that aspires for heavenly things, one that has affections for heavenly things rather than for earthly things. And I don't know how I can't give that to you. No one can give that to you save God Himself. And that is why you are to turn to Him and ask Him because He won't say no. And I know He won't say no because He says He won't say no, and He's the authority on these things.

48:00Listen, I want to read to you an account of one of the first successful heart transplants. It was performed by Philip Blaiberg, performed on him, on Philip Blaberg, by a heart surgeon named Christian Barnard. While a patient at Grootscher Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa, Philip Blaberg, told of the night when Christian Barnard, gowned and masked, walked into his sterile room carrying in his hand a plastic box. It contained his old heart. The eminent surgeon said, Dr. Blaberg, do you realize you are the first man in the history of mankind to be able to sit as you are now and look at his own dead heart?

48:56What a dramatic moment. What a miracle. Second to it was when the courageous patient met for the first time the wife of the man who had given him life. Blaberg asked, What does one say in such circumstances? She had lost a life, I had gained one. This is precisely the gift of Christ. I came, he says in John 10:10, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. And it begins with a heart transplant, with a heart that is going to go the distance with God.

49:40Well, many of you need a new heart today. Ask for it. Many of you need greater self-control. Ask for it. God grants salvation and self-control to those who ask. I want to leave you with this truth. Luke 11:13. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Meditate on that. Ask Him. He grants salvation and self-control and whatever you need for a life of godliness to everyone who asks.

50:40Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening. We thank you for the truth. Thank you for salvation. Father, thank you that you have delivered us from the penalty of our sins, from the power of our sins, and you've given us a new disposition, one that is inclined to. Distinguish between good and evil and prefer the good. Father, put your spirit in us. You came to have life. You came to give us life that we might have it more abundantly. And Father, I pray that that would be true. That by your spirit you would accomplish these things and all of those who've gathered here tonight for the praise of your great name. Go with us now in Jesus' name. Amen.