Guarding the Marriage Bed (Hebrews 13:4) - Part 2 | Worship Service

Kootenai Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

Living and Working in a Bad Situation - Part 3 (Eph. 6:5-9)

11:02

And good morning, and we welcome you to Kootenai Church.

13:14

Would you please stand this morning as we begin our worship service with a call to worship from Ephesians 1.

13:25

A little early, sorry. Psyche. In Ephesians 1, verse 3 to 6, it says,

13:35

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love by predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which

14:01

He graciously bestowed on us in the Beloved. Let's sing together. Come praise and glorify our

14:08

God. Come praise and glorify our

14:23

God, the Father of our Lord. In Christ He has in heavenly realms

14:32

His blessings on us poured. For pure and blameless in His sight,

14:40

He destined us to be. And now we've been adopted through His Son eternally.

14:53

To the praise of Your glory, to the praise of Your mercy and grace, to the praise of Your glory,

15:05

You are the God who saves.

15:14

Come praise and glorify our God, who gives

15:19

His grace in Christ. In Him our sins are washed away, redeemed through sacrifice.

15:29

In Him God has made known to us the mystery of His will, that Christ should be the head of all

15:41

His purpose to fulfill. To the praise of Your glory, to the praise of Your mercy and grace, to the praise of Your glory,

15:58

You are the God who saves.

16:23

Come praise and glorify our God, for we believe the

16:30

Word. And through our faith we have a seal, the

16:35

Spirit of the Lord. The Spirit guarantees our hope until redemption's done, until we join in endless praise to God the

16:52

Three in One. To the praise of Your glory, to the praise of Your mercy and grace, to the praise of Your glory,

17:07

You are the God who saves. To the praise of Your glory, to the praise of Your mercy and grace, to the praise of Your glory,

17:22

You are the God who surrounds.

17:56

And my heart grows faint within when the darkness overwhelms, and my fears are pressing in.

18:08

I will trust in You, O Lord, in the silence

18:14

I will wait. I will stand upon Your Word.

18:20

You're my solid rock and my salvation, my steadfast hope that won't be shaken.

18:28

My soul will wait, my soul will wait for You. You're my stronghold and my shield in the midst of every threat.

18:43

Though the wicked never kneel, they will vanish like a thread.

18:52

Yes, I know the outcome's sure. Satan's evil plans will fail.

18:59

In Your power I'm secure. You're my solid rock and my salvation, my steadfast hope that won't be shaken.

19:11

My soul will wait, my soul will wait for You. You're my comfort when

19:21

I feel forsaken, my refuge and my sure foundation.

19:28

My soul will wait, my soul will wait for You. This is love

19:36

I can't explain. This is mercy unreserved.

19:43

Through Your sacrifice so great, I have peace that's undeserved.

19:52

For the battle has been won, and I fear no shame or loss.

20:00

Now the sting of death is gone. You're my solid rock and my salvation, my steadfast hope that won't be shaken.

20:12

My soul will wait, my soul will wait for You. You're my comfort when

20:22

I feel forsaken, my refuge and my sure foundation.

20:28

My soul will wait, my soul will wait for You. Hearts beat for You, we will trust in You.

21:03

Perfect Savior, strong defender, we will trust in You.

21:23

Hearts beat for You, we will trust in You.

21:35

Perfect Savior, strong defender, we will trust in You.

22:12

With grateful heart, my thanks I bring. Before the grave,

22:20

Your praise I sing. I worship in Your holy place and praise

22:28

You for Your truth and grace. For truth and grace together shine in Your most holy

22:39

Word divine. In Your most holy Word divine.

22:45

I cry to You and You did save,

23:06

Your word of grace through courage gave. The kings of earth shall thank

23:14

You, Lord, for they have heard Your wondrous word.

23:19

Yea, they shall fall with songs of praise for great and glorious are

23:27

Your ways, for great and glorious are Your ways.

23:49

Enthroned in glory bright, You reign above in heavenly height.

23:57

The proud in vain Your favor seek, but You have mercy for the meek.

24:05

Do trouble, though my pathway be, You will revive and strengthen me.

24:14

You will revive and strengthen me. We'll stretch forth

24:35

Your mighty arm to save me when my foes alarm.

24:42

The work You have for me begun shall by Your grace be fully done.

24:50

Your mercy shall forever be, O Lord, my

24:56

Maker, think on me. O Lord, my Maker, think on me.

25:03

Your mercy shall forever be, O Lord, my

25:09

Maker, think on me. O Lord, my Maker, think on me.

25:19

You may be seated. I have for you this morning just two announcements.

25:32

One, the registration for the Spring Conference featuring Owen Strand dealing with gender, human sexuality, transgenderism, the roles of men and women in the home, in the culture, and in the church.

25:44

That's the debate between egalitarianism and complementarianism, if you're wanting some fancy words to attach to that.

25:50

That seminar, that conference, I should say, is coming up in June. It is the first weekend in June, June 7th and 9th.

25:57

Owen is going to be preaching here on June 9th. The conference is 7th and 8th, a

26:03

Friday and a Saturday. You will see in your bulletin that there are some discount codes there for you if you are attending

26:09

Kootenay Community Church. Take the opportunity in the next month or so to register for that if you want to join us.

26:14

I think that it will benefit and bless your soul as we're going to be talking about God's design in creation and then answering some specific issues that, as a church, we're going to be facing in the years to come.

26:27

How do you deal with, how do you handle it when your HR department sends you an email demanding that you put your preferred pronouns in your bio on your social media or in the email signature or the header for your corporation?

26:42

If you own your own business and you get to set the terms, then that's fine, but you may not, and we're going to navigate through some of those issues that the church is going to be facing in a culture that has lost its way, to say the least.

26:54

So I would encourage you to attend that conference, and the discount codes are available there in your bulletin. And then second, there is a parents meeting on February 25th for the parents of anybody who is going to be graduating this year.

27:06

This is open to homeschool, private school, and public school kids. If you are here at Kootenay and you're going to be graduating your senior year this year in May or June, we're going to have our normal graduation service here at the church to celebrate you, and we would invite you to be part of that, and if you're a parent of one of those graduates, then please plan to join the other parents after the service on February 25th.

27:30

That is a Sunday. Will you please turn to Romans chapter 6 for our scripture reading today? We're going to read the entire chapter,

27:41

Romans 6, and three times in these opening verses of chapter 6, the word baptized is used, and I'm not going to translate it or read it as baptized.

27:58

I'm going to read it as immersed, since that's what the word baptized means. And in this context, when we read the word baptized, it can communicate or put into our idea, or our minds, the idea of being dunked into water, and that's not what's being described here.

28:12

It is being immersed or placed into Christ. So I'm going to read it as immersed. Romans chapter 6.

28:20

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?

28:26

May it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been immersed into Christ Jesus have been immersed into His death?

28:38

Therefore, we have been buried with Him through immersion into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the

28:45

Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin, for He who has died is freed from sin.

29:10

Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again.

29:20

Death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life that He lives,

29:28

He lives to God. Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

29:35

Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its lusts.

29:40

And do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

29:53

For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. What then?

29:59

Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be. Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness.

30:17

But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.

30:25

And having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I'm speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.

30:34

For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

30:48

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore, what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed?

30:59

For the outcome of those things is death. But now, having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

31:11

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our

31:17

Lord. Will you stand with me as we pray? Let's bow our heads.

31:28

Our Father, what a gracious thing it has done to redeem an unworthy people by Your grace, to redeem us from our sin, from the marketplace of sin, to purchase us through the death of Your Son, and then to give us the

31:43

Spirit by which You have sealed us for the day of redemption. As we've read at the beginning of our service here today,

31:50

You have predestined all of that and appointed all of that before the foundation of the world.

31:56

And You have sent Your Son to die for those who are in Him. You have lavished us with every blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.

32:06

You have promised us the forgiveness of our sins. You have promised us eternal and unblemished and uncorruptible righteousness to stand before Your throne.

32:17

You have clothed those who believe with that righteousness even now. And You've given us the

32:23

Spirit who dwells within us to seal us, to sanctify us. And You've given us Your Word which gives us the instructions that we need to live an honoring and God -glorifying life in this world.

32:36

We thank You for all of these mercies and for all of these graces. You have done this for Your glory.

32:42

You have done this for the good and the eternal glory of Your people. We thank You that You have brought us into Jesus Christ and we thank

32:49

You that You have redeemed us. And we thank You for giving us the power over indwelling sin.

32:55

And we pray today as we worship You and glorify You and put our mind and our hearts upon meditating upon these things that You would encourage and strengthen us in the inner man as we reflect upon these things that we would progress in our sanctification pursuing holiness without which we cannot see

33:13

You. Make us a holy people, Father, not just in being set apart for You. Our God, we pray that You would make us a holy people in our conduct, in our thoughts, in our hearts, in our inner being so that we may honor and glorify

33:28

You and that You would be pleased with us that You would receive the full reward for the sacrifice that You have made to redeem us, a sinful and unworthy people.

33:38

We ask these things for the glory of Christ our Lord. Amen. He came and sought her to be

34:20

His holy bride With His own blood

34:26

He bought her and for her life He died

34:35

He lept from every nation yet won for all the earth

34:50

Her charter of salvation won for one faithful birth

34:59

One holy name she blesses partakes one holy fruit and to one hope she presents when every grace endures

35:20

In toil and tribulation and tumult of her war she waits the consummation of peace forevermore

35:57

Till with the vision glorious her longing eyes are blessed and the great church victorious shall be the church at rest

36:35

Yet she on earth hath union with God the three in one and mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is one

36:53

O happy ones and holy Lord give us grace that we like them the meek and lowly on high may dwell with Thee Like them the meek and lowly on high may dwell with Thee In Psalm 100 verses 3 -5 it says know that Yahweh he is

37:28

God it is he who has made us and not we ourselves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise give thanks to him and bless his name for Yahweh is good his loving kindness endures forever in his faithfulness generation unto generation we're going to sing a new psalm this morning the king of love my shepherd is

38:09

The king of love my shepherd is whose goodness fails me never

38:24

I nothing lack if I am his and he is mine forever where streams of living water flow my

38:48

Savior gently leads me and where the verdant pastures grow with food celestial feed confused and foolish oft

39:22

I stray but yet in love he saw me and on his shoulder gently lay and home rejoicing brought me in death's dark veil

39:49

I fear no ill with you dear

39:55

Lord beside me your rod and staff my comfort still your cross before to guide and so through all the length of days your goodness fails me never good shepherd may

40:39

I sing your praise within your house forever good shepherd may

40:54

I sing your praise within your house forever you may be seated will you please turn now to Hebrews chapter 13 during the course of the message today we're going to be in two passages

41:26

Hebrews 13 to begin with and then Ephesians chapter 4 so if you want to make it easier for you later on you could find

41:34

Ephesians 4 and place your finger there but we're going to be reading a few verses here out of Hebrews 13 before we pray

41:43

Hebrews 13 verses 1 through 6 let love of the brethren continue do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it remember the prisoners as though in prison with them and those who are ill treated since you yourselves also are in the body marriage is to be held in honor among all and the marriage bed is to be undefiled for fornicators and adulterers

42:12

God will judge make sure that your character is free from the love of money being content with what you have for he himself has said

42:19

I will never desert you nor will I ever forsake you so that we may confidently say the

42:25

Lord is my helper I will not be afraid what will man do to me let's pray together our gracious father we ask your blessing upon our time of study and reflection in your word by your word you have given us a clear revelation of yourself our salvation our savior your expectations for us your holy demands and what righteousness requires you have given to us a battle plan for moral purity and for for battling sin and the corruption of our own fleshly nature we pray that today as we set our hearts and minds upon these truths that you would do the work through your spirit and by your word of sanctifying us in the truth may you be glorified here during this time and may you be honored through the preaching of your word specifically we pray in Christ's name amen

43:23

I did not anticipate spending four Sundays on Hebrews chapter 13 verse 4 the marriage bed is to be held in honor among all sorry the marriage is to be held in honor among all the marriage bed is to be undefiled for fornicators and adulterers

43:37

God will judge I had originally planned the first couple of months of this year to spend one

43:42

Sunday maybe possibly two on that verse but as we jumped into it and kind of worked our way through it the importance of applying what is written here and understanding the significance of this required at least in my own heart that we give more time and attention to this and some substantial consideration to this command and what applying this looks like in our lives so we've spent two

44:05

Sundays now talking about the reasons that we honor marriage why marriage is honorable what that looks like what that the implications of that for how we relate to our spouse how we view our spouses how we approach marriage itself and then last week we turned our attention to the command to keep the marriage bed undefiled and we considered what such a command means for our view of marriage and how we how we honor marriage by maintaining the purity of the marriage bed and the fact that the marriage bed can be pure in the eyes of God and holy tells us something of its nature and its purpose and God's intention for that in marriage and this purity and holiness is something that we are to guard we have to work diligently at it because the corrupting influences of the world in thought and in our hearts and in our minds those corrupting and polluting influences seep themselves in find ways into our relationships and into our hearts and so maintaining purity is something that must be diligently pursued and aggressively thought about and maintained lest we fall into corruption and the marriage bed be defiled we looked last week at the things that threatened to defile the marriage bed these are easily and subtly creeping into lives and relationships all around us

45:20

I gave you four of them it was not a comprehensive list but I would just by way of reminder remind you of what those were selfishness in the marriage bed selfishness abusing it using it as a weapon against our covenant partner third sexual immorality in both thought and indeed and then fourth emotional unfaithfulness and today we're going to look a bit closer at an aspect of guarding the marriage bed specifically how we fight the fight against the inner corruption that we all have to battle we didn't deal with that last week other than just very briefly at the end of the message but I don't think that that is sufficient so today is kind of the application of what we looked at last week we're going to deal with how and when we fight these threats because we face threats to our marriage covenant and our marriage bed we face those threats and those enemies are foreign and domestic

46:13

I like to refer to it that way because we can understand that there are things outside of our marriage people outside things outside in the world that are not necessarily within the four walls of our home they're not necessarily inside of our own heart those things threaten our purity and our sanctification and then there is the domestic threat the internal threat the enemy within the terrorist within the gate my own heart my own mind my own corruption my own depravity that wars against me constantly that we have to be on guard against so how and when do we fight those threats and then second we're going to consider the reason that we fight so aggressively namely because of that last phrase in verse 4 fornicators and adulterers

46:52

God will judge that is a sobering warning and then third I want to end by reminding us of the promise of the gospel for fornicators and adulterers because in thought in word or indeed nearly everybody except the little kids who are talking right now nearly everybody in here is a fornicator and an adulterer in thought word or deed so I want to end with the gospel hope for fornicators and adulterers and then

47:21

Lord willing we'll move on to verse 5 next week so how do we fight this now

47:26

I realize that some of you are new here today maybe you haven't been here last week or the last two weeks or whatever

47:32

I have to assume for the sake of time that you're going to be up to speed on what we mean when we talk about honoring marriage and honoring the marriage bed what the marriage bed is how it can be pure why it is pure why it needs to be guarded and all of that I'm going to assume that you've been with us for the last three weeks if you haven't been then go back and listen to those but for the sake of time and everybody else who's here who doesn't want to tread that ground again we're going to move on to how it is and when it is that we fight now when do we start protecting the marriage bed when you say

47:58

I do is that early enough no you do it before you say

48:03

I do in fact you begin protecting your marriage bed from as early in your life as you are aware that a marriage bed exists from that point on you must aggressively protect your marriage bed you start now and I'm talking now to young and single people don't think that the things that we've said for the last that I've said for the last three weeks don't apply to you because you're not married and you're not enjoying a marriage bed yet you must begin to guard your future relationships now you begin being committed to your future spouse now you honor your future spouse now you may have never met them you may not know them you may not know who they are you may think that you know who that person is right now but you may be entirely deceived you might be entirely deceived about who your future spouse is until you stand there and say

48:58

I do because that last minute something could change last minute so you may not know who your future spouse is but even though you don't know that you begin honoring them and respecting them and guarding what you will have with them long before you ever say

49:16

I do long before you ever stand at the altar and pledge your vows to one another in other words while you are young do not give your heart to lusts and immorality do not give your time your attention your affection your eyes your ears your mind your thoughts your dreams your daydreaming do not turn it over to things that are immoral and impure follow the advice of Philippians 4 8 whatever is pure and lovely and of good repute think and meditate on those things begin that while you are young don't be naive because the habits that you form now will chase you for the rest of your life you cannot give 5 or 10 or 15 years of your thought life to a certain pattern and a certain way of thinking and then expect that when you stand at the altar and say

50:05

I do that those habits are all of a sudden going to change they won't don't believe the lie that says that you can't resist temptation now but you will be able to resist temptation once you are married don't entertain the images and lavish your affections upon images and other people and thoughts that you are not able to control now or think you're not able to control now do not give your heart to those things instead learn now while you are young to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness that's 1st

50:35

Timothy 4 verse 7 learn now while you are young to discipline your mind and discipline your heart to resist temptation and to say no to fleshly desires which wage war against your soul learn it while you are young set those patterns while you are young discipline yourself from the first moment from now from this day forward 1st

50:58

Corinthians 6 18 says to flee immorality every other sin that a man commits is outside the body but the immoral man sins against his own body there is a difference between lying and sexual sin they are sins of a different nature they affect us differently they have different ramifications for your life we are created as sexual beings with a sexuality and with a sex drive all of that is true and when you sin in that way you are sinning against your own body and against your soul in a way that you are not sinning when you get mad at somebody who cuts you off in traffic there are different kinds of sin different ramifications different fruit from those kinds of sin 2nd

51:44

Timothy 2 verse 22 says to flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness faith love and peace with those who call on the

51:50

Lord from a pure heart you run from something youthful lusts and you run towards something purity you are fleeing something and running towards something it is not enough to simply flee from something you have to flee from one thing and have in your focus another goal another destination something else you are chasing and pursuing like Joseph I can hardly read 2

52:12

Timothy 2 verse 22 flee youthful lusts without thinking of Joseph he was a man who endured the berating of Potiphar's wife and the enticements of her who probably could have convinced himself with a thousand lies that he could do this against his own soul and get away with it and Potiphar would never find out and that he would be ok but he didn't do that instead he fled he eventually had to get out of her presence and he fled and of course he suffered the results of that but he fled the youthful lusts and got out of her presence and Joseph said

52:42

I cannot sin against you I cannot sin against my master Potiphar and I cannot sin against my God that's the mentality you have to have and don't believe the lies young person the lies that said you can indulge this now and it won't affect your marriage later it will affect your marriage later do not believe the lie that says you can inject poison into your mind and your soul and that it will all go away on your wedding day it doesn't go away on your wedding day

53:10

I'm 52 years old and I can still call to my mind vividly in glossy color images

53:17

I saw when I was 10 do not believe the lie that those things will go away the images begin to fade that every time you call them back it is engraved again as with an iron stylus on the marble of your heart and even deeper and there will come a time when you will wish to God that you had some tool, some device that you could rip those things out of your soul and be rid of them forever but you will not be able to because your flesh will never be sanctified your flesh will never be improved and those things are etched on your flesh so don't feed your flesh now thinking that when you get married it will have no effect on you because what you end up doing is taking all of the images, the ideas, the notions the pictures, all of it and the expectations and you bring them into your marriage bed and all you're doing now is harboring the enemy so that you can take it into your marriage bed later on so don't believe the lie that says you can do this and it won't affect your marriage don't believe the lie that you can look at porn now and meditate upon those things without dishonoring your future spouse you can't you dishonor your future spouse now by what you are doing with your mind and your heart now and don't believe this lie, and this was a predominant one, that once you get married resisting that temptation will be easier, it won't be easier, the temptation doesn't go away, it just takes new forms it just comes up in different opportunities at different times, the most inopportune times, so don't think that I can indulge that temptation now that this desire that I have now, eventually it will go away, you may be thinking, look

54:54

I've seen some of the old guys they look like they can't get excited over anything let alone a woman, and so eventually

54:59

I'll just play footsie with this sin and sooner or later I'll outgrow the temptation I'll outgrow the desire men particularly don't care how old you are, those images those ideas, those desires will be there until the day that you die, in one form or another, don't believe that lie, don't play games with your lust, because it is not playing games with you, it seeks your ruin and destruction and it seeks to keep you in bondage to your flesh, to your lust for the rest of your life now you say, what if I don't ever plan to get married this still applies to you because you can live a single life as a slave to your lust, or you can live a single life as a master of your desires which one are you going to have?

55:41

if you're going to live a single life, you're going to live it either as a slave to your lust and every woman that you see, every person will not be your sister in the

55:50

Lord, it will not be a noble virtuous woman to you, once you become enslaved to those lusts, every woman that you see will have one purpose and one purpose only in your mind, and you will fight to the death to get those things out of your mind, so discipline yourself now to not give your mind to it at all, your passions will seek your ruin until the day you die whether you are single or married so if you are single then this still applies, the fornicators idolaters and adulterers will not inherit the kingdom of God so we still must obey and by faith lay hold of the promise that there will be a reward for holiness and purity on that day and that God will reward the one who is faithful and obedient to Him and learns to master their desires now if we're going to fight this battle, that's when we fight it, we start fighting it now, we start fighting it when we are young and listen, parents teach your children to do this when they are young I happen to be part of a generation that where porn was not accessible to us when we were kids, you had to find some way to get to that now it is everywhere we live in a culture that is utterly awash in depravity and in my generation, we had kids right at the time that cell phones and tablets and the internet had become available and if I could go back and do it all over again,

57:13

I wouldn't give my kid a phone until they had a driver's license and even then it would be a flip phone and when they got married, then

57:19

I would maybe consider letting them have something other than a flip phone. I would do it entirely differently.

57:26

Why is that? Because of the time in which we live. It's different for us who are older than it was than it is for the kids coming up so make it your objective to talk about these things with your kids and to shape them and mold them to think about these things in a biblical fashion now, how do we fight this?

57:47

We fight this by understanding what the source of our problem is the source of your problem is not a demon of lust not a spirit of adultery, not a spirit of fornication not some indwelling foreign spirit that you need to have exorcised from the problem that you have is the same problem that I have it is this unredeemed part of our nature, our flesh, which wages war against our soul

58:09

Galatians 5, 16 -21, I'm going to read you three passages and then I'm going to make a couple of observations these three passages talk about the battle that we fight it talks about what we are to mortify what we are to put to death first,

58:22

Galatians 5, verse 16 but I say, walk in the spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh for the flesh sets its desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh for these are in opposition to one another so that you may not do the things that you please, but if you're led by the spirit you're not under the law now the deeds of the flesh are evident which are immorality, impurity sensuality, idolatry, sorcery enmities, strife, jealousy outbursts of anger disputes, dissensions, factions envying, drunkenness, carousing and things like these of which

58:57

I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God he does not say those who have committed these things will not inherit the kingdom of God because that would be all of us and all of us would be exempt but he says those who practice these things those who impenitently continue in these sins demonstrate that they are not the heirs of the kingdom of God second passage,

59:20

Ephesians chapter 5 verse 1, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us and offering a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma, but immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you as is proper among saints but there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting which are not fitting but rather giving of thanks for this you know with certainty that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God but no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of God comes on the sons of disobedience therefore do not be partakers with them for you were formerly darkness but now you are light in the

01:00:09

Lord walk as children of light 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 1, finally then brethren we request and exhort you in the

01:00:17

Lord Jesus that as you receive from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God just as you actually do walk that you excel still more and more for you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the

01:00:30

Lord Jesus for this is the will of God your sanctification that is that you abstain from sexual immorality that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor not in lustful passion like gentiles who do not know

01:00:44

God and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you for God has not called us for the purpose of impurity but in sanctification so he who rejects this is not rejecting men but the

01:01:04

God who gives his spirit to you let me give you three observations from that number one, there is a clear expectation that believers walk in the light and this is based on the fact of the truth of our salvation, you have been taken from death and put into life you have been spiritually resurrected from the grave, you have been purchased out of the marketplace for sin and you have been made a slave of Jesus Christ and been placed under in his servitude, in his service you are no longer dead but alive you are no longer a child of wrath but you are a child of God, you are no longer dead inside but spiritually alive and not only that if you're in Christ the spirit of God dwells within you and therefore there is this expectation that a believer who has been born, has been taken out of darkness and put into light will live like a child of the light, that one who has been spiritually resurrected from spiritual death will live like one who is alive like one who has been removed from the wrath of God and made a son of righteousness will live and walk in righteousness, that is the expectation of the

01:02:07

New Testament second, the sexual immorality is a work of the flesh so as I said you don't have a demon problem you don't have an indwelling spirit you don't need an exorcism, you don't need a deliverance ministry or a power encounter, you need to kill the sin that dwells within, that's what we need to do, because these deeds immorality, impurity, even sorcery, these are the works, these are the deeds of the flesh and third observation, the power to obey these commands is the possession of every single believer, get that down the power to obey these commands is with every single believer there is no such thing as a person in Jesus Christ who is an unwilling slave to their lusts, that does not exist if you are in Christ and you are a slave to your lusts it is because you have gone back to the taskmaster time and time again and you have put out your hands and you have said shackle me, put me into service make me your slave you didn't have to do that but you did that, you did that willingly, nobody forced you to do that, nobody forces you to sin ever as a child of God so what do we do then?

01:03:21

we need to go to war with our sin because sin is at war with us get this down we have to go to war with sin because sin is at war with us, it seeks to destroy you, to ruin your soul, to enslave you forever it will destroy everything you have it will take everything from you, material and immaterial, sin is merciless it is relentless and it is the devil's tool to destroy you scripture warns us that our adversary the devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, 1

01:03:49

Peter 5 verse 8, and he has an ally inside the gate and it is our flesh, so we have an enemy outside and then we have a traitor within and that enemy outside works with the traitor within to undo us and to destroy us, your sin cannot be negotiated with, it cannot be appeased, you cannot be appeased with it, there is no state of detente with your sin remember that word from the 80's, those of you who grew up in the 80's, detente, sort of the settling down of hostilities between two parties who are at war, there is no detente with sin because sin does not reduce its hostility against you you cannot be appeased with it, you cannot negotiate or broker some sort of peace accord with it, a cessation of hostility you can't do that, because sin is at war with you, and there is no such thing as a peace treaty, and there is no such thing as a ceasefire with sin your enemy is at war with you, you can deny it, you can ignore it, you can redefine it, you can be apathetic toward it you can deceive yourself into thinking that it is no big deal, you can play footsie with your sin, but sin does not care, it will destroy you nonetheless so we might as well wake up to that reality and realize that we are involved in a lifelong battle for our survival, whether we like it or not therefore we are commanded to abstain from sexual immorality and from the lusts which wage war against our soul because sin is at war with us and the battlefield is the battlefield of the heart and of the mind, which is why

01:05:15

Proverbs 4 verse 23 says, watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life

01:05:21

Romans 12, 1 and 2 says we are to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind this is where the battle is fought the spiritual battle is not fought casting down Satan, doing exorcisms, praying hedges of thorns, cantering generational curses, the battle for the spiritual warfare, the battle for truth is fought within the mind and within the heart of the believer that is where the battle rages lay control of your heart, seize control of your heart and your mind, your thought life and your deeds or you will lose that battle for sure this is why

01:06:06

Paul says that we present our bodies a living sacrifice and we are conformed and transformed by the renewing of our mind so that we may prove what the good and acceptable will of God is you are filled with the word of God when you meditate upon and read and study and listen to scripture being preached you and I are filled with the word of God that sanctifying influence comes in and gives us the tools, it equips us and gives us the strength by which we may discipline our heart and discipline our mind for the purpose of godliness and as our thinking is transformed and this does not happen overnight, but as our thinking is transformed and we are conformed more and more to the image of Christ, that battle does get easier it does get, you become a slave of the thing that you obey that is the hope that we have but in the meantime we have to put to death our sin and we have to mortify it, kill it, put it to death have nothing to do with it scripture describes this in different ways it speaks of putting to death the deeds of the flesh, putting to death the deeds of the body,

01:07:04

I'm giving you the language that's being used then I'm going to take you to a passage that uses some of these same phrases scripture speaks of laying aside the deeds of darkness and taking up the deeds of righteousness, reckoning your members as dead to sin and reckoning your members as alive to righteousness, putting off the deeds of the flesh, putting on the deeds of righteousness, crucifying the flesh with its desires denying ungodliness and worldly desires, yielding your members as instruments of sin or yielding your members as instruments of righteousness that's the language that scripture uses

01:07:37

Romans, Ephesians, Colossians all use that language so what does it look like?

01:07:44

I'm going to give you a practical step -by -step guide of how to do this from Ephesians chapter 4 where the apostle tells us how this is done turn now to Ephesians chapter 4 we're going to pick it up at verse 17 all this language that I just gave you the putting to death, the deeds of the flesh laying aside, reckoning, putting on crucifying, not yielding this is the language that you are going to see in the next few chapters and passages that I'm going to read to you

01:08:12

Ephesians 4, we'll pick it up in verse 17 so this I say and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer just as the

01:08:19

Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind, notice the reference to the mind and the thinking and the understanding verse 18, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart and they having become callous having given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness but you did not learn

01:08:43

Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and been taught in Him, just as the truth is in Jesus, that in reference to your former manner of life you lay aside the old self which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and you put on the new self which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth they, that is the pagans, had given themselves over to sensuality and immorality and greediness and impurity and Paul says this is how you once walked when you walked amongst them but now you walk differently, you walk as he describes in chapter 4 verse 1 in a manner that is worthy of the calling with which you have been called so you have a different calling, you've been taken out of that therefore your walk is markedly different you walk in a different way, you live in a different way why?

01:09:32

because once you were darkened in your understanding, ignorant of the life of God which is in Christ Jesus your mind was corrupted you were darkened in your mind and the futility of your mind but that is no longer the case, now you understand the word of God and the light of Christ and the light of truth has shined onto your mind and onto your heart and therefore you are walking now in light and what does that look like?

01:09:55

chapter 4 verse 25 very next verse, notice the language therefore laying aside falsehood speak truth each one of you with his neighbor for we are members of one another so what does he prescribe?

01:10:07

is your sin lying? stop lying and speak truth ah but Jim I can't stop lying, well then you're not a believer if you can't stop lying it's because you're a slave to lying and the only way that you're a slave to lying is if you're not a believer so you stop one activity and you pick up another activity, what is the opposite of it?

01:10:27

you stop lying and you speak truth verse 26, be angry and yet do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger, do not give the devil an opportunity, he who steals must steal no longer but rather he must labor performing with his own hands what is good so that he will have something to share with the one who has need is your sin stealing?

01:10:46

stop stealing stop taking from people and give to people, stop not working and taking from others and go to work so that you have something to give to others, you stop one activity and you do another activity you cease the deed of darkness and you pick up the deed of light, you stop walking one way and you start walking another way well

01:11:05

I make this sound easy don't I? it's not easy it's simple but it's not easy there's no magic formula do this, pray that prayer do this, read that, go here do this for 30 days, 40 days this, whatever, it really is this simple, stop the one activity and start the other activity verse 29, let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth but only such word is good for edification according to the need of the moment so that you will give grace to those who hear stop speaking one way, start speaking another way, do not grieve the

01:11:40

Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice, that's putting off one type of activity put on, be kind to one another verse 32, tender hearted, forgiving each other just as God in Christ has forgiven you this is how we fight sin this is how we wage war against sin

01:12:03

I do this, this is my besetting sin, stop it stop doing it stop giving yourself to that stop yielding your members to that sin that depravity and impurity and start doing the other thing, the opposite of it if you if your mind goes to a certain place stop thinking that grab a hold of your mind and make it your slave, make it think about things that are pure and righteous and holy and true and a believer can do that that's simple, it's not easy but it's simple and it may take years of you grabbing your mind and making it think a certain thing and making it think a certain way to break those habits and if it takes years, it takes years so what, we are all going to have to fight various sins this is the pattern that we are to apply no matter what our sin is, laziness lying, stealing, drunkenness anger, gluttony, gossip bitterness, selfishness idolatry, adultery fornication, lust no matter what the sin, the pattern is the same as a child of the light, you stop doing one thing and you start doing another thing,

01:13:17

Romans chapter 13, you don't have to turn there but I'm going to read to you from Romans 13 and Colossians 3 two passages that describe the exact same thing it's almost as if Paul was just giving the same information to multiple churches people came out of paganism, they struggle with this sin, okay

01:13:32

Paul says here it is he phrases it a different way, gives some different illustrations, but it's the same pattern, it's the same counsel,

01:13:39

Romans 13 verse 11, do this knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep, for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed the night is almost gone and the day is near in other words, time is short, therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light, you put off one thing, you take up something else let us behave properly as in the day not in carousing and drunkenness not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality not in strife and jealousy, in other words stop doing those things and put on, verse 14, the

01:14:09

Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts in other words, you provide nothing for your sin, you don't provide it a mind to linger in, you don't provide it a heart to flourish in, you don't feed it with your thoughts, you don't give it the images that it craves, you starve your sin, you quench it, you kill it you mortify it, you put it to death by not doing the things that your sinfulness wants to do

01:14:34

Colossians chapter 3 and by the way, don't give your sin excuses and rationalizations and justifications either, don't give your sin blame you can't blame your spouse for your sin, you can't blame your kids for your sin you can't blame your co -workers for your sin there's nobody that you can blame for your sin but you, because nobody can make you sin only you can sin only you can commit your sin

01:14:56

Colossians chapter 3 verse 5 therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity passion, evil desire and greed which amounts to idolatry for it's because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience and in them you also once walked when you were living in them but now you also put them all aside anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive speech from your mouth do not lie to one another since you have laid aside the old self with its evil practices and put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him so Paul says you lay aside the old self and the deeds that were corrupted, you put on take up the new self created in righteousness you stop doing one thing and you start doing the polar opposite Galatians 5 verse 24 says those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with his passions and desires and this by the way is what it means to walk in the power of the spirit,

01:15:49

Paul talks about being led by the spirit in Galatians chapter 5 and in Romans chapter 8 and when Paul talks about being led by the spirit he is not talking about downloading private and secret messages directly from God about where you eat lunch or what shirt you should buy or what you should watch on TV or where you go on vacation, he's not talking about any of that when he's talking about being led by the spirit he is talking about those who put to death the deeds of the flesh that's

01:16:12

Romans chapter 8 and Galatians chapter 5, in both places the meaning is the same, Romans 12 so then brethren we are under obligation not to the flesh to live according to the flesh for if you are living according to the flesh you must die but if by the spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the flesh you will live, for all who are being led by the spirit of God these are the sons of God, what is the mark of the child of God, they put to death the deeds of the flesh how do you know the difference between a child of God and one who is not a child of God the one who is not a child of God lives in the flesh, practices these things dwells in that immorality, thinks nothing of it is impenitent but the one who puts to death the deeds of the flesh resists that temptation and mortifies their sin, that is the one who is being led by the spirit of God the leading of the spirit, what does the spirit lead us to do, to know who to talk to, to know who to share the gospel with, to know what city to move to no, the spirit leads the children of God to put to death the deeds of the flesh you want to walk in the spirit, it's not some mystical

01:17:16

Gnostic thing that happens it is you going to war with your sin every single day, that is what it means to walk in the spirit,

01:17:28

Titus chapter 2 verse 11 says the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, put off ungodliness and worldly desires and you take up sensible, righteous and godly being zealous for good deeds,

01:17:45

Peter says, 1 Peter chapter 2, 11, I've quoted it but here's the reference, brethren I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul, your fleshly lusts wage war against your soul, memorize that verse it wages war against your soul, night and day your fleshly lusts are waging war against your soul, so now the question is, are you giving aid and comfort to the enemy, it's waging war against you, are you feeding it and giving medical treatment to its wounded and giving it supplies and ammunition that it needs to fight its fight against you it's waging war against your soul, listen the devil is all in on your total destruction, your sin is all in on your total destruction the world is all in on your total destruction and your flesh is all in on your total destruction and all the chips are on the table and everything is at stake and if the two cards you're holding in your hand are lust and excuses, you're toast it will win that battle and it will destroy you so the sooner we come face to face with the reality that we are in a fight for our lives, in a fight for struggle, for our own sanctification and for our own soul the better off we will be, because then at least we can know who the enemy is and what it plans to do, and we have to go to war with it and we have to destroy it

01:19:03

Romans 6 time is coming to an end, Romans 6 you know what, on a little bit of extra time on today like today, you can take a little bit of extra time as well

01:19:18

Romans 6, therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lust, do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God for sin shall not be master over you, you are not under the law but under grace what shall we say then, should we continue in sin because we're not under the law but under grace, may it never be, do you not know that you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience you are the slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness this is the choice that we as believers have to make,

01:19:56

I can take the instruments of my body these physical instruments, my hands, my brain, my mind, the immaterial part of me, my soul, and I can yield them to unrighteousness to commit sin and iniquity and immorality and give myself to them and if I do that then

01:20:13

I become the slave of those things because I become like a freed man who goes up and says to sin shackle me, take me into bondage make me your slave and I will do your bidding, and Paul says in Romans 6 that the more you do that the more you become the slave of that iniquity the more you sin in a certain way the more in bondage to that sin you become, so there is one answer to that, and this is what we've been talking about the whole time,

01:20:38

Paul says it again here in Romans chapter 6, instead of giving your members as instruments of unrighteousness to do unrighteousness and thus becoming slaves of unrighteousness instead you take your members your mind, your heart, your eyes, your ears, your affections, and you give that as instruments to do righteousness and in doing the righteousness you will train yourself to become a slave to righteousness so that eventually sin will call your name, it will beckon for you to do something, and you will with not even having to think about it say,

01:21:11

I don't want anything to do with that because you are training yourself to do what is righteous instead of training yourself to do what is unrighteous, you become the slave of the one you obey so be careful who you obey, and the more you obey that one the more you will become its slave so you have two masters who are calling your name, and you get to choose which one you're going to obey you obey unrighteousness you will become its slave you obey

01:21:38

Christ and righteousness, you will become a slave of righteousness I said earlier, this is simple, but it is not easy, and it is not easy, which is why

01:21:47

Paul says I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others,

01:21:52

I myself would not be disqualified, it takes discipline, it takes hard work and to start now and to continue in that path of righteousness becoming a slave of righteousness do not expect that that is going to happen overnight in other words, don't come back here next

01:22:13

Sunday and say, look man, I fought the good fight Monday and Tuesday, but by Wednesday, all that stuff you preached about being a slave to righteousness never materialized especially if you have spent years injecting into your mind and your heart poison don't expect that well to clean up right away you're going to have to spend years undoing that damage you're going to have to spend years getting out of those ruts of disobedience and iniquity you're going to have to spend years renewing your mind and fighting against those passions but I promise you the promise of scripture is that you will become the slave of the one you obey so give it some time, be diligent be persistent at it be as relentless in your fight against sin as sin is in its fight against you we have formed bad habits over the years, we have put images into our hearts and our minds, we have injected poison into our souls, that is not going to be undone in 48 hours, that is not going to be undone before this calendar year is up because you have been enlisted to fight the good fight, and you will fight that fight until you finally hear the words, well done, good and faithful servant, then you will know that you are done, and this is the beautiful part, when you hear those words the fight will be over the fight's not going to be easier, the fight's going to be over, there will be a time when we will stand face to face with other people, and we will never have to worry about disciplining our hearts and our minds and our thoughts that will be glorious that will be so glorious,

01:23:42

I will never have to worry if somebody else is thinking an ill thought toward me, and I will never have to check myself and say you shouldn't be thinking that about that person because the battle will not just be easier it will be over, it will be non -existent but until that point we're called to fight the reason we fight is sobering

01:24:00

Hebrews chapter 13 verse 4 that final phrase, for fornicators and adulterers God will judge,

01:24:06

I want to tell you what this does not mean, this does not mean that if you have committed adultery or fornication in your life that you are forever damned, abandoned hope, all ye who enter here, that is not what he is saying he is talking about people who persist in these sins and demonstrate by their impenitence and their unrepentance and their unwillingness to forsake those sins, those are the people that will receive the judgment of God that is bad news if you are an unrepentant adulterer or a fornicator and as I said earlier in thought and in word all of us have violated the command against lust and adultery, because we have all thought or done things that we should not have thought or done that is true of all of us so this is not a blanket damnation for everybody, but instead it is a blanket damnation upon those who by their deeds, by their lifestyle by their habits demonstrate that they are not children of God and therefore have no inheritance in the kingdom of God Paul says in 1

01:24:59

Corinthians 6 verse 9 do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God, do not be deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor homosexuals nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God that passage doesn't stop there the very next verse says but such were some of you some of you were swindlers, adulterers fornicators, homosexuals covetous, drunkards, revilers idolaters such were some of you

01:25:34

Paul says, but you were washed you were sanctified, you were justified that is declared righteous in the name of the

01:25:40

Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God, such were some of you there is mercy at the cross of Christ so for those who are adulterers or fornicators, here is my promise to you upon what

01:25:51

Scripture says if you continue in that sin, impenitent and unrepentant, then on the final day

01:25:56

God will damn both you and your lust and all of your sin in eternal damnation away from His presence forever, and you will suffer the just wrath of God for your sin just as you deserve let that awaken you and sober you to the believer

01:26:11

I say this, if you are guilty of any of those sins and many many more, there is righteousness at the foot of the cross, there is forgiveness at the foot of the cross, that one sacrifice of the

01:26:23

Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, paid the full penalty and the full price for all of the sin, every last sin for every person who will ever believe upon Him and be counted as righteous there is infinite sufficiency in the cross of the

01:26:37

Lord Jesus Christ, and if He paid your price, then your sins are forgiven and there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, none, you never have to worry about seeing the frown of God on His face, over you and over your sin, but instead you have complete and perfect forgiveness for your every sin and so we come to Christ, we come to His cross in repentance recognizing our unworthiness our sin, and even the corruption that continually exists inside of our own hearts, and we confess that we don't hide it, we don't excuse it we don't make

01:27:10

Him fake promises and instead we come to Him with full face understanding our iniquity confessing our iniquity owning our own sin and pleading and praying for grace each and every day to fight the battle for that forgiveness for that grace, for that righteousness for mercy from Him we plead and we pray with Him every single day for that, understanding and knowing that those who are in His Son who are in Jesus Christ are secure both now and forever we are righteous, we are forgiven, we are adopted that is

01:27:44

His promise and because of that amazing righteousness that amazing grace that amazing adoption you and I are free and you and I are forgiven and you and I are able to wage the war and fight the good fight against sin you see, my acceptance in the

01:28:03

Beloved does not encourage me to sin, it makes me want to not sin it is because I have been accepted in the

01:28:10

Beloved it is because we are in Him that motivates our fight against sin not taking it for granted we do not want to remain slaves of sin and in bondage to our iniquity, so, unbeliever

01:28:23

I say to you this day and I want to speak to some who may be false converts in Christ, you think you're a

01:28:29

Christian but you live as a slave to your sin if you cannot go a day without sinning, if you cannot go a day without diving into that iniquity and you are in bondage to that you have every reason to examine yourself to see if you are even in the faith, you should question the reality of your salvation have you made a false profession of faith because if you have then

01:28:50

God will damn you, your lust and your false profession of faith to hell forever have you been born again has your heart been changed, have you been given new affections, if you have and you're in Christ, you are free, so I plead with you stop living as if you have no control over your lust, stop giving aid and comfort to the enemy of your soul stop giving yourself to the sin that you have been set free from and unbeliever, your only hope is to come to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, to turn from your sin, to forsake it and to call out to the

01:29:24

God whom you have deeply offended with your iniquity for mercy and grace, lest you stand before him on judgment day and hear him say you have been warned in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 4, the fornicators and adulterers

01:29:36

God will judge if you're an unbeliever and you don't turn from your sin, those words will echo in your ears on judgment day,

01:29:42

I promise you that, come to Christ today believer, come to Christ today, for the grace to fight the good fight, let's bow our heads

01:29:52

Father we thank you for your mercy, your goodness and your grace we are dependent upon you not just for righteousness and for forgiveness initially, but we are dependent upon you for the strength to fight the fight against sin the fleshly lust which wage war against the soul, encourage our hearts together with these truths, strengthen us to do that very thing, to go to war with sin, and to do so with vigor and with strength until you call us home, we want to be faithful and we wish to be obedient and we wish to honor and glorify you through lives lived for Christ's sake for he is our master and we are your slaves teach us that and remind us of it each and every day we pray in Christ's name amen would you please stand, and we're gonna change the last song since it was a new song and we had a slide missing, we're going to sing the king of love, my shepherd is one last time the king of love my shepherd is whose goodness fills me never

01:31:12

I nothing lack if I am his and he is mine forever where streams of living water flow my savior gently leads me and where the verdant pastures grow where through celestial fields confused and foolish oft

01:32:07

I stray but yet in love he stod me and on his shoulder gently laid and home rejoicing brought me in death's dark veil

01:32:32

I fear no veil with you dear lord beside me your rod and staff my comfort still your cross before to guide and so through all the length of days your goodness fills me never good shepherd may

01:33:20

I sing your praise within your house forever good shepherd may