Total Commitment — Ralph Sutera

In your moment this evening, I had manuals, booklets, with 21 questions for you. All printed, ready to go, and I left them at the house. So that means you have no choice, you have to come tomorrow night to get them.

We'll have them here tomorrow night. Tomorrow night is a great night, the last night of celebration. Don't anybody miss it? It's a great night. But tonight, it's not a sermon tonight, but it'll sound like it.

I am answering questions that are most asked about being committed to Christ. Questions that people most ask. I'm going to deal with 6 or 7 of them, and when you get the booklet tomorrow night, you'll have 21 of them with the answers, all written out for you to enter into.

See, we really believe that it's not enough just to respond in our spirits, there needs to be understanding as to what's happening in our hearts and lives, so there'll be long-range effects in our lives for the days to come.

So anybody with spiritual needs tonight, just listen and glean in what it is God wants to say, and learn about what we can anticipate as far as being totally committed to Christ. Well... I like the question you're going to share tonight.

Yes. Some people have been struggling as to whether to really open up and let God have His way. They're going to understand what it's all about, and where God can really set them free. Absolutely, absolutely.

Okay, questions that are most asked about being committed to Christ. Questions most asked. Okay? We get started with this. My prayer for the day is, so far today God, I haven't done all right. I haven't gossiped, been greedy or self-indulgent.

I haven't lost my temper, I haven't been grumpy, nasty or selfish. I haven't whined, I haven't complained, I haven't cursed, I haven't eaten chocolate, or charged anything on my credit card.

I'm really good, glad about all that. Sounds like a good day, doesn't it?

In a few minutes, I'm going to get out of bed. And from then on, I really think I'm probably going to need a lot of help. Well, you see, it seems to be all right when we're in bed. Okay? Here. Now I'm going to answer some questions.

I'm going to answer some questions. Questions. If the spirit of pride that we said last night, and we've been saying through this week and Lou's been preaching, if that is the root sin problem, if that's the root sin problem, and we say we have dealt with it, what happens after I've dealt with it?

What then is it when I'm tempted to be proud? Now, how many believe that you have dealt with that spirit of pride, that root problem during these days and nights together? You believe by the act of your will, you've dealt with that.

How many believe you've done that? You've surrendered that to God. Let's see. Let me see your hands. Okay. That's one. Now, how many have been proud since then? There's one. Two honest people. Okay. Have been proud.

Now, I think this brother is proud over the fact that he dealt with the spirit of pride. You see, it's very subtle, isn't it? Very subtle. Very subtle. Okay. Now, what happened then? If you dealt with that spirit of pride, and now once you were proud, what happened?

You say, well, it just doesn't work. Toss it all overboard. No, no. Let me show you the difference. The difference. Here's the difference. There's a big difference between the spirit of pride and the sins of pride that result from yielding to temptation.

See the difference? There's one. Spirit of pride, sins of pride. Big difference between the two. Well, what does that mean? It's a difference between a temptation to be proud on a certain occasion, or a controlling spirit that permeates your lifestyle, your whole being.

See? It's one thing to be tempted, proud in certain situations. Then altogether different from this, a spirit that controls and contaminates and it permeates everything about you. That's the spirit of pride.

Top one is the temptation to be proud. Okay? Let's see if we can understand that more. The temptation to the sin, sin of pride, is the same as any other temptation. What does that mean? It means it's the same as being tempted to gossip, evil thoughts, envy, jealousy.

So now you're tempted to be proud. That's just the same as any other temptation. When you yield to that temptation, you deal with it the same way as when you yield to any other temptation. So, if you gossip, say, Lord, the Holy Spirit convicted you about that.

Remember last night? I said when you begin to walk in the Spirit, it's almost like a dagger to your heart when you grieve that spirit. Okay? So, you deal with it. You say, God, forgive me and cleanse me from that gossip.

Same thing with the temptation to be proud. If you yield to the temptation to be proud in a specific instance, God, forgive me, I allowed that temptation to take over me. I've sinned in pride in that instance.

I ask God for forgiveness, cleansing, just like you do with any other temptation to which you yield. So, don't let temptations run over you, even the temptation to be proud. Don't let them run all over you.

You see? You've seen this. Temptation. Shhh. Get away. Get away. Get away. Get away. Get away. And then it goes on to say, why let temptation build a nest in your hair? You see? You can't stop this. The temptation will always come, but you certainly can stop that.

You don't have to allow it to build a nest in your hair and give in to it. See? The scripture makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 10 .13 that God will, with the temptation, make a way to escape that you can be able to bear it.

There's a way to escape. We need to believe that God has the answer for us. Well, now let's learn a little more about that. The spirit of pride is what influences, controls, contaminates the entire being, our actions, our responses, our decision making of a calmly minded Christian.

That's the spirit of pride. See? It influences, it controls, it contaminates our entire being, our actions, our responses, our decision making of a calmly minded Christian. That's what we have settled when we say, I'm dealing with the spirit of pride.

We surrender all that, so that we don't have to live like that any longer. That's what we're talking about. Well, here. Dealing with pride, after we've made that total surrender to God, relates to yielding to, or resisting temptation.

Not a struggle as to who is in control of your life. That's what we've settled. But here it is, it's a matter of I yielded to that temptation, or I resisted the temptation. If I yield to that temptation to be proud, I repent.

If I resist the temptation, I rejoice. Just like dealing with any other temptation. I hope you're listening, it will keep you out of bondage, because the devil will tell you, see? You dealt with the spirit of pride.

Now look, you were proud there, and it'll make you think that you've completely gone back to being controlled by that spirit. No, no. You yielded to a temptation to sin in pride. Altogether different.

Make sure you grab a hold of that. Well, here's one. I thought I gave everything to God last week. Especially if the meetings go on a week or two. And just think, I thought I gave everything to God last week, and guess what?

God showed me something else this week to make right. What happened? Look what I put. Aren't you glad he doesn't show you everything at once? Yeah, that's for sure. You're glad he doesn't show you everything at once, you're going to be glad about that, sure.

Now, when that happens, you know what it is? It's a sign that God is continuing to reveal things to you and to cleanse your life. So whenever God shows you something else that you need to make right, there's your prayer, there's your prayer, yes Lord, what else?

What's the question? And whenever God puts his finger on something, you deal with what it is that God is putting his finger on. See? That's a sign he's continuing. Do you remember we heard that message about the spirit of pride?

Do you remember what we heard? That that spirit of pride is the blinder, that God does not have access to our hearts. And once we've dealt with that spirit of pride now, that blinder's gone, now God can begin to point his finger, alright, what about this?

What about this? What about this? And what about this? And the answer is, yes Lord, yes Lord, yes Lord, yes Lord. In a number of crusades where we go in churches, a man made for us a little wooden sign.

And we often bring it to a church and let it stay. We put it right on the pulpit, right in the front of the pulpit, and it's only two words long, yes Lord. And that stays the whole time, boom, right there.

So when everybody comes and listens to the sermon, all they're saying is yes Lord, yes Lord, yes Lord, yes Lord, yes Lord. The only negative about reviving is my unwillingness to say yes Lord. That's the only negative.

When God gets us to that place, you see, yes Lord. When he puts his finger on something else, we say yes Lord, that too, yes Lord, that too, yes Lord, that was included, yes Lord, that was included, yes Lord, I see it.

And we keep on growing in grace. A pastor said, some of the most spiritual people in my church now are those who confess the most sin. And the most spiritual people, quote unquote, are now the ones who are hiding their sin.

You understand that? In other words, sometimes we go to a place, and it's amazing, some of the people who are open to God and are confessing their sin are now the most spiritual people. And some of the people who, in quotes, prided themselves as being the spiritual people, but were not willing to be honest with God, when God was showing them some things, they are the ones who are now hiding their sin.

It's amazing to see the difference. You see, why? Because of spiritual pride. They could be some of the pillars of the church. You know what I mean? Some of the pillars, the founders of the church, and in some places I've seen that the pillars of the church are just as dead as the pillars in the church.

See? And because of pride of grace, oh, I've got it all put together, so I don't need it. That's a tragedy. The difference between walking in the Spirit and walking in the flesh. Why? What is it? It's not that we don't have any more problems.

No, that's not the problem. That's not it. No, no. Here's the difference. Now, there's a willingness to agree with God about sin and deal with it. When we walk in the flesh, we argue with God. We tell God, no, it's just a little Christian mistake, and we all make Christian mistakes.

We reason it out, now God, it's not that bad. No, but when we walk in the Spirit, we agree with God and we're willing to agree and deal with it as sin. Not that we've arrived, but there's a whole new agreement with God as to what is sin.

You see? So, God showing you more next week, it's not negating what happened last week. It's actually substantiating it. It's actually confirming it. Why? Because life is a process, and all of our previous dealings with God are a part of allowing God to bring us to the place now where we say, yes, Lord, that too.

So, just let God do it. Just let him keep on doing it. Don't resist it. One pastor said to me, he said, will it ever end? How long must I eat humble pie? You know, we have to deal with our pride. How long must I eat humble pie?

Will God keep on showing me things to make right? And here's my answer. Yes, until you get to heaven. So, cheer up, there are worse days ahead. See, as long as we're in this life, we're here in the flesh.

And you know, and there was a man standing close by who heard me talking to the pastor like that. And guess what he said? He said, Pastor, humble pie is delicious. It's the way into happiness and growth.

I love that. Humble pie is delicious. It's as good as coconut custard pie. Maybe a little better. See? It's the way into happiness. It's the way into growth. So, just keep walking in humility. Let God keep on.

Let the process continue now that we've said, yes, Lord. Just let it continue. A lady said, as long as I'm here, there'll always be the mixture of victory and human frailty. But look at that. This is what I like.

Look at this. But now the ratio has changed. What does that mean? She said, there'll always be frailty, human mixture of victory and human frailty and so on. Now the ratio has changed. You know what she's saying?

She's saying before, it used to be two defeats and one victory. Two defeats, two steps back and one forward. Two steps back, one forward. But she said, now the ratio has changed. Now it's two victories and one defeat.

Two more victories and one defeat. See, the ratio changes. That's growth. Growing in grace and the knowledge of our blessed Lord. Well, how do you know? How do you know when you're in the flesh or when you're in the spirit?

Well, we could say a lot about this, but just a few cues. Here's one. Is the motive to exalt self? Is the glory of God supreme in what is taking place? Is the glory of God the thing that is ultimate in your mind?

Is your peace disturbed? See, let the peace of God rule your heart, it says. Let the peace of God govern your heart. Let the peace of God be the supreme guide. The determining fact, if your peace is disturbed, you know that's not of the spirit.

Is it demanding your rights? Is it demanding your rights? Is the situation demanding your rights? Is there a spirit of revenge in the situation that you're trying to get? And is it for self-gratification, just to make me feel good, just to enhance my own personal lifestyle?

And is the result Christ-centered? Is the result Christ-centered? Are you trying to write that down? No? Look at that again. Is the motive to exalt self? Is the glory of God supreme? Is your peace disturbed?

Is it demanding your rights? Is there a spirit of revenge? Is it for self-gratification? And is the result Christ-centered? That's a good test, how you know whether or not you're in the flesh, or whether you're in the spirit.

You could say a lot more, but that gives you a cue, how we can determine. You see? The road to spiritual growth is always under construction. Always under construction. Yeah, it really is. It's always under construction.

See? In 2 Peter 3 .18, grow in grace and in the knowledge of God. Growing in grace, knowledge of God. And the idea, we'll read the scripture a little bit later. Philippians 1 .6 as well. It's always under construction.

See? It's always under construction. Always under construction. See it? Always under construction. See? Then the scripture says, He which hath begun good work in you, he's the one who's going to perform it.

We'll read that in a moment. And sometimes it's like we're being bopped on the head. All kinds of ways that God ministers to us. Always under construction. I think we'll just let that picture keep playing all night.

So we get the message. So I don't have to say anything more. Just let it keep going. Say, how much under construction is there? Always under construction. Oh, let's go on. Okay. There we go. Is that the helmet of salvation?

Yeah, that's the helmet of salvation. That's right. It saved you from that pounding. Okay, let's stand together. This is the night with all the questions. Let's read. Let's read. In Philippians chapter 1.

Philippians chapter 1. Why don't we stand again as we read. Philippians chapter 1, verse 3. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy.

Now, I stopped there long enough to say. How do we know that St. Paul was a southerner? Because he says, you all. Hey, you know he wasn't a Canadian. See. Look at that. He says that in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy.

For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. Now, watch this. Verse 6. Verse 6. Being confident of this very thing. That he which hath begun a good work in you. Does not have the ability to keep it going after the meetings are over.

Is that what your Bible says? Well, maybe that's what the reverse vision says. Or the devil's perversion. That's what the devil will tell you. See, after it's over, it's over. No, no. Being confident of this very thing.

That he which hath begun a good work in you. Will perform it. Until the day of Jesus Christ. Now, who's going to perform it? The one who has started it. He which hath begun a good work in you. He's the one doing the performing.

He'll perform it. Not your ability. You know what it is? It's your availability to God's ability. Making yourself available. But now, here's the key. Being confident of this very thing. He which hath begun a good work.

He, he. Who is the he? God. Now, if what you think has happened to you. Is something that man produced. Something that somebody twisted your arm. And made you make some kind of a decision. If you think it's something.

That's just an emotional spurt. Or somebody, man did for you. Then I have news for you. After tomorrow night. You're in quotes. You're reviving is all over. It won't last long. But if you are convinced.

That God has begun it. That it's a supernatural work. It's a supernatural God who's doing it. Then you have every reason to believe. That he will perform it. That's an important truth. Grab a hold of it.

Look at verse 8. God is my record. How greatly I long after you all. See that southerner? You all. In the bowels of Jesus Christ. And this I pray. Now he's praying. Saint Paul's praying. That your love.

May get less and less. After the meetings. Is that what it says? I pray that your love may abound. More and more. In knowledge. And in all judgment. You know what? In knowledge. That means it's going to be an intelligent love.

It's going to be learning love. Knowing love. It's an intelligent love. That means you're past the baby stage. You're growing in knowledge. And in all judgment. Means you have the ability to make right judgments.

Wisdom. That's his prayer. That we'll get past the baby stage. And on to loving him more and more. With knowledge. And judgment. And look what else. That you might approve. Verse 10. Things that are A+.

Doesn't your Bible say A+. Mine says excellent. And when we went to school. Excellent was A+. That's the way we were graded. A+. Was excellent. See? That you may prove things that are excellent. You say.

Well I'm as good as the average person in the church. Well you haven't said much for yourself. The average Christianity is not worth talking about. There's a normal Christianity. That's far above the average.

So we need. We want to. He's praying. That we can approve things that are A+. Excellent. Not C That you may be sincere. Meaning transparently honest. Without offense. Till the day of Jesus Christ. Now look here.

Being forgiven of your sins. Oh no. Being filled. With the fruits of righteousness. Oh that's past the baby stage. Now we're moving from forgiveness. To being filled. With the fruits of righteousness.

Which are by Jesus Christ. Unto the glory and praise of God. That's his prayer. And we can believe. That if we're sure that God has begun the work. We can trust him. To continue to do it. You may be seated.

We're so excited. What's wrong? What's wrong with the rest of you? What's wrong with the rest of you? We're so excited. What's wrong? Whatever happened to your sparklers and your bubblers? Don't they work?

You ever seen people who get so excited? About what God's doing? And here's what happened. Some people got so excited. And they looked at the rest of them and said. What's wrong? What's wrong with the rest of you?

Hmm. Well let me see. Maybe there's another. Oh no. Okay. Alright. Here. Let's pause. Let's go this way. Why don't I feel like other people felt? I made the same commitment they made. And I don't have the same feeling.

What's wrong with me? Okay. Let's put both of those two together. Lou and I were in Owens Sound, Ontario a number of years ago. The first night of the meetings. It happened to be a night crusade. I was doing the opening night with a teaching session on the truths that we've been talking about.

And there was a lady, a mother and a daughter sitting off the second or third row. And her husband. The mother and daughter, they were the bubblers. They were so excited. Oh! They were watching. I was using the transparency.

And oh! They were so excited. And the mother turned to her. The father wasn't like that. He was normal. Weren't you glad there was at least one normal one? No, no, no, no. They were so excited. And they went on like that through my whole session.

When I got done. When I got done. It was the first night in the meetings. I didn't even get off the platform. Those two. That mother and daughter come running up on the platform so excited. Oh! Oh! Brother Ralph.

So nice to see you here. It's wonderful. And they said. Brother, it's wonderful to see that the Lord has been teaching you some of the same truths. He's been teaching us. Isn't that right, honey? The mother to the daughter.

Isn't that right, honey? Yes, mother. Oh! It's wonderful. They were just bubblers. The next statement the mother made to me. I'm still on the platform. Brother Ralph. Aren't the people in this church dead?

Aren't the people in this church dead? Hmm. When I finally got to the back of the church. People were shaking hands with me on the way out. Other people. And you know what they said to me? Brother Ralph.

Don't mind those two. We're not all like that. These two are saying. Brother, aren't all these people dead? And I said. Don't mind those two. Don't mind those two. We're not all like that. Well, you know.

The truth is. Those were two godly people. That mother was a godly woman. And that daughter was one of the godliest teenage young ladies we had had in a crusade. And you want to know something else? Those people in the back on the way out who said.

Brother Ralph. Don't mind those two. We're not all like that. They were godly people as well. Oh! See? God wants us to get our eyes off of people. That's it. See? Why don't I feel like other people? I made the same commitment.

Is there something wrong with me? No. No. No. There's nothing wrong with you. Let's learn something about that. No two people alike. Not even twins. Sure you know. One is good looking. The other one isn't.

You know that. See? There are different levels in our emotional tickers. Different levels. In our emotional tickers. See? There they are. There we are. See? You know. Anybody who studied the temperaments.

Books of temperaments. They say there are basically four temperaments. Sanguine. Melancholic. Choleric. Phlegmatic. And they talk about the different strengths and weaknesses of the temperaments. Well, you say.

Where is Lou? Which one is Lou? I'll tell you which one is Lou. This one right here. See? That's Maya. See? That's Maya. That's Lou. Well, you say. Well, where are you? I am the best of all four of them.

And everybody said. Boo! Boo! Boo! Boo! Ha ha! My point is very simple. You can see. You see? That's the happiest he'll ever get. That's the happiest he'll ever get. That smile right there. That's the happiest he'll ever get.

They're all different. See? The point we need to understand. See? God does not make carbon copies. He doesn't make it in snowfall. Nor does he make it in twins. See? See? Which one am I there? Ha ha! Which one?

Oh. See? He doesn't make it. See? Now, look at that picture. Look at that. See? Look at that picture. See? Look at them. See? There. Oh, look at that. Look at that. So, what do we learn about that? Here's what we learn.

People are not the same. That's what we learn. But different does not mean better. And different does not mean worse. Different simply means what? Different. That's all. That's all. We're just different.

See? It's about time we learn that. Quit trying to make everybody like you. You know? If you try to make everybody like you, you know what you've done? You have now compounded our problem. See? See? Okay.

So, get your eyes off of people. And God warns us. He warns us about comparing ourselves with other people. He says those who compare themselves with themselves and with others are not wise. Well, that's a nice way to say it in the Scripture.

Well, if you're not wise, you know what it is? You're foolish. Foolish. Oh. He warns us against that. Get your eyes off of people. But here's what to do. You just be sure that your commitment is right.

Be sure the commitment is right. And you let God take care of your feelings. You just make sure you've made the right commitment. Get your eyes off of people. Recognize that we're all different. So, and then here's another, something else that we need to be aware of.

You know, some who are bubblers and say, Well, I just don't feel like it. I just don't feel like it. Be careful. Satan has ways of attacking us with wrong thinking patterns when we are physically exhausted.

You know, I even had one lady who's here tonight confess to me that she almost slept through my message last night. See that? She even has her hand up right now. And she's about to fall asleep tonight.

I can see it. You see? She's at the morning session this morning, and she's getting weary, and that's why we need to close the crusade tomorrow night, so she'll live. All I'm really saying to you is, but she got the message just the same.

I'm really saying to you, be careful, don't think, don't read too much into your thought patterns when you're weary. The devil attacks. When that's true. See? And you cannot equate reality through your feelings.

Reality is not through your feelings, the way you feel. It's through faith. By the way, you should be interested to know this. That the word feeling is only mentioned, are you ready for this? Two times in the whole Bible.

And neither time does it have anything to do with your salvation. And here's some people who just depend on their feelings to know they're saved. Neither time has anything to do with salvation. Now, see, am I not supposed to feel good?

It's wonderful if God gave you a wonderful feeling and rejoiced. That's wonderful. But I'm saying you don't base your salvation on it. Your salvation is based in faith on the word of God. A dam does not break every day.

The same powerful water that flows downstream and now becomes productive. The only change is intensity. Have you ever been where a dam breaks? Well, it doesn't happen every day. You know what a dam is.

It's a body of water that is being held back by some kind of a construction holding the water back. If that dam breaks all at once, that water gushes. The intensity is great because of how it's been held back.

And it goes... What happens if you go downstream a little way after that dam breaks? Did the water change? Did the water change? Yes or no? No. It's still water. H2O. The only thing that changed was this.

The intensity changed. Now it begins to flow downstream. The most intense place is the place where the dam broke. You don't swim there. You get crushed. But you go downstream. People fishing. People swimming.

And now that water flows downstream. And now that water begins to bless communities as it flows downstream. That's important to what I've just said. Watch. Why did I say that? See? Here's the hidden message.

The water moves from intensity to what? Productivity. It begins to bless communities. The water. Water. The resource of water. Now what am I saying? You see? Even though the intensity of what God has done in your heart and life during these days may change because we're moving past where that breakthrough took place.

What kind of breakthrough? Well, our lives have been all dammed up. Prayerlessness. Worldliness. Carelessness. Sinfulness. Laziness. All those things. All dammed up. And now in some of our lives during these days there's been a breakthrough.

The dam has been crushed. And now we're moving downstream. And some are even sleeping while we're moving downstream. See? But, you see, we're moving downstream. And now what does God want? He wants to move us from the intensity of the breakthrough now to productivity in the life of the church.

And into the kingdom of God. You know what he wants for some of you? He wants some of you to pray about volunteering to start studying to be a teacher in your Sunday school. He wants some of you to act in leadership capacities in your congregation.

He wants some of you to be involved in visitation programs in the church. He may want some of you to write letters to needy people. He may want some of you to be involved in a jail ministry or street ministry.

Whatever. Now how do you want to use that intensity? Moving to productivity. You see, God doesn't set us free from bondage just so we can sit and soak and sour and just wait for everybody to sweeten up around us.

He doesn't set us free just so we can be like a happy holiness huddle. Oh, isn't God so good and we're wonderfully enjoying the things of God and we're getting fatter and fatter and fatter as we sit on our backside and do nothing.

No, no. He wants to move us to productivity in the glory of God, in the kingdom of God. That's what's all about. Well, somebody sent me some old cartoons that are classics. Here's one of them. Look at this.

Look at this. Here's a man building his house of religion. See here? See them here? And look at this. It says, it will wobble, brother, till you get to bedrock. And then you begin to see. See? He's up there.

He's waiting for the next log to come. The next two by four, four by eight. Look, see? And this one down here is saying, hey, look, it's going to wobble. This house is going to wobble if you don't get to bedrock.

Look at this here. See? It's going to wobble if you don't get to bedrock. See? Look at that. Look at that. See? There's your quake. Look at your feelings. See? It's going to wobble until you get to bedrock.

There's bedrock. Thus saith the Lord, the Word of God. It's going to wobble. And if you build your religious house or your spiritual house on feelings, on all kinds of things that shake, you're not going to make it.

You're not going to make it. See? So build your life on the solid rock. Jesus Christ. The rock. I'm on the rock. Hallelujah. I'm on the rock just for today. No, no. To stay. See? For feelings come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving.

My warrant is the Word of God. Not else is worth believing. I'll trust in God's unchanging Word till soul and body sever. For though all things shall pass away, His Word shall stand forever. Who said that?

Martin Luther. Martin Luther. Coming out of the Roman church. Now here's a picture of it. Look. See? See? See the feelings are like on a roller coaster. See up here? Like a roller coaster. But here's faith that's built on the fact of the Word of God.

Here's the foundation. This can come and go any direction. But that's not where the foundation is. It's on this that we build. There's another picture. The same thing but another picture. Look at the feelings of being dumped off.

Oh, look. I like this one. Look at this one. See? He's falling out of the car. Seems to me that ever since I've made my commitment to the Lord, Satan is bothering me more now than ever. Wow. Is that so?

I thought it was going to be rosy. Satan's bothering me more now than ever? Well, I wonder what that's all about. If not, you ought to check up on your commitment. Because see, the devil can't stand it when you begin to respond to God.

You know, some of us, when we get serious about walking with God, it's the first time we've upset the devil. We are consciously aware that we've given the devil some business. He doesn't like it. See?

Huh. That's interesting. When you look at the Scripture, victory and conflict come together in the Scriptures. The struggle with self ends. But the battle against Satan intensifies. See? We've settled the issue of that spirit of pride.

But the battle against Satan intensifies because he does not like it. He does not like it. See? You can accept being dead indeed unto sin in a moment's time. But God will take the rest of your life to work it out.

See? It's a crisis and then a process. Well, Christ is an example of that. When did Christ die on the cross? When do they say they crucified Christ? What time? They say generally about nine o 'clock in the morning.

Most say that he was crucified. How long did it take him to die? About six hours, they say. Sometimes, some say at noon. Some say about three o 'clock in the afternoon. See, he was crucified at nine, but it took him several hours to die.

You and I can accept being crucified with Christ in a moment's time. Agree with God about that. But it will take the rest of our lifetime working out the process of daily being crucified with Christ, walking that death union with him.

See? And that's a process. Well, we need to be sure it's Satan. Be sure it's Satan. Be sure it is Satan. See? The Bible says we're to examine ourselves to see whether or not we're in the faith. But God is the one who searches the heart.

See? I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins of man to see what is in the heart of every man. If you search your own heart, you know what the problem is? Because the heart is so deceitful, we wouldn't even be honest with ourselves.

So, you just let God do the searching. Let God put his finger on it. Now, we can be sure whether or not we're in the faith, whether or not we've genuinely been born again of the Holy Spirit. But you let God do the searching of the heart.

Don't try to pick yourself apart. No? Otherwise, it becomes morbid introspection. Always try to find something wrong with yourself. Always try to find something wrong with yourself. And you should have been in my morning session this morning.