Wednesday, March 15, 2023 PM

Sunnyside Baptist Church

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Father, I thank you for your Son, the Lord Jesus, our

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Savior, who gave his life that we might have life. And I thank you for your

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Spirit that works within us to make us after the image of your Son, the

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Lord Jesus. And I pray that we might cooperate with you in every way as you continue to sanctify us.

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Help us to reflect the character of your Son, the Lord Jesus, and to accomplish your righteous purpose.

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In his name I pray, amen. As a reminder, sanctification is a process that's lifelong after our new birth, and it's a growth in holiness.

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More specifically, it's the work of the Holy Spirit within us as we cooperate with him, the

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Holy Spirit, to make us after the image of Christ.

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And the focus of our life should be on Christ himself as we cooperate with the

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Holy Spirit as he works on us to accomplish that purpose, to make us after the image of Christ.

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And I take that from 2 Corinthians 3,

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I think it's verse 18, where it says, We all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the

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Lord, are being transformed into that same image from glory to glory.

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So the key there is the beholding of the Lord, the beholding of Christ before us.

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There is a, I'll give you a good illustration, there is a common occurrence amongst people that grows more frequent with the more birthdays you have.

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And this common occurrence is, it goes like this.

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You make a decision to go into a certain room in your house and check on something.

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And so you head off in that direction. And on the way, since you have been so great at multitasking in the past, you start thinking about other things.

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You also, on the way, get distracted by maybe a dust bunny here or a picture crooked on the wall or some other little thing that needs attention.

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And eventually though, you get into this room where you're headed. And when you get there, you cannot remember why you came.

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Now that's the common occurrence that I'm talking about. And again, you know, the more birthdays you have, the more frequent this occurrence is.

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And I know the, I know the cause of it. I know the cure of it.

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Focus. Okay. You see, you made this decision and then you head off in that direction and you lost focus.

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When you got there, you had no idea why you were there. Okay. You lost focus.

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You got distracted. It happens on your computer also. Okay. You know, they call it, you know, you're busy, you know, reading something, news or a journal article or whatever.

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And there's always this stuff over here, you know, these ads, you know, and they're always, you know, they don't just stay still, you know, they're either a video or they're flashing on and off, you know, and they're distracting, you know, it's like, what do they call it?

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It's a click bait, right? You know what I'm talking about? You know, they just can't wait for you to get over there and do something, you know, they're trying to get your attention, you know, to distract you, to get your focus off of what you're doing, your concentration, okay?

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Life is like that. We, after the new birth, okay, attempt to focus our life, to focus our heading in life, our concentration in life on Christ, okay?

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And everything else is against that. You know, it's like trying to plant a garden, it's like trying to grow a garden, you know, there's nothing that's for your efforts.

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Everything's against you, okay? Whether it's underground, in the air, it just, you know, it comes from everywhere.

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Focus, that's the key, focus on Christ. Now, one of the aspects of this sanctification is testing, okay, testing or temptation, okay?

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Because you see, this sanctification process, this walk of faith, okay, will be tested.

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Our faith will be tested. This is part of the sanctifying process, okay?

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Now, Peter, in 1 Peter chapter 1, he puts it like this, okay?

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1 Peter chapter 1, verse 6, 7, so that the tested, oh no, verse 6, in this you rejoice, that is your salvation, to be revealed in the last time.

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In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

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Now, James speaks in a very similar manner in James chapter 1.

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He puts it like this, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

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Let your steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

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Now, that's speaking of growth in holiness. Down to verse 12, blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which

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God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted,

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I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one.

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But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

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Then desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.

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Now, I want to give you some illustrations, starting with the

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Old Testament in Genesis 22, if you want to turn there. There are two words here that we need to look at, testing and temptation.

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Now James says, a man is tempted when he is drawn away or lured by his own lust, by his own desires, and if he yields to this temptation, it is sin, and when sin conceives, it brings forth death.

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The word temptation itself, or tempting, has a bad connotation, and that is just of recent.

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Long ago, temptation was a neutral word, like the word testing. Testing is a neutral word, it has nothing to do with good or bad.

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But temptation is very similar to testing, but today it has a connotation of being associated with evil.

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When people are tempted, they are tempted to do something that is wrong, and the temptation itself is designed, or the purpose of it is to tear you down, not to do good for you.

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Now it says, God cannot be tempted, and he doesn't tempt anybody.

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Now go to Genesis 22, after these things,

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God tested Abraham, and said to him, Abraham, and he said, here am

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I. He said, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the

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Mount of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering. Now if you have an older translation,

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King James specifically, it will say this, after these things,

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God tempted Abraham. Now James says,

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God doesn't tempt anybody. Now here is the thing to understand, it all has to do with intent.

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Let's go through this a little more, and we'll see how this works out.

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Okay, so Abraham, you know, follows God's instructions, and down to verse 10, you know, he's laid his son on the altar, and then

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Abraham reached out his hand, took the knife to slaughter his son, but the angel of the

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Lord called to him from heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, here am

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I. Do not lay your hand on the boy, or do anything to him, for now

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I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

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And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught on a thicket by his horns, and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

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So Abraham called the place, the name of that place, the Lord will provide. And the angel of the

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Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, by myself I have sworn, declares the

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Lord, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bring him as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the seashore, and you are of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.

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Now this reads like God is testing

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Abraham, or you can use the word tempt if you like, if you fully understand that temptation has nothing to do with good or evil, okay?

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God tested Abraham, and it reads like the reason he tested Abraham is so he could find out what was in Abraham's heart, right?

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I mean that's what he says. Now I know that you fear

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God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. Who do you love more, your son or me?

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God says now I know. Now that's what it reads like, okay? But now we know that's not why

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God tested Abraham. Do you think

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God already knew that? Are you sure God already knew that?

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I'm sure God already knew that, okay? But what about Abraham? Maybe, probably,

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Abraham wasn't sure about that. But at this point, okay, when

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God intervened, okay, and believe me the angel of the Lord here is God himself, okay, in a theophany, all right, he says now

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I know. And not only does Abraham now know himself that he loves

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God more than he loves his son, he knows that God knows that also.

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And so he can trust God more, all right, because he knows more about God now than he did before. So he knows more about his own heart, and he knows more about God, okay?

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Now, let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 13.

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If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says let us go after other gods which you have not known and let us serve them, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the

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Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

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Again, it reads like he's bringing them under test to find out if they love him or other gods.

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That's what it reads like. But again, we know God already knows that, but they don't.

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They don't. They're coming under a test, okay, to find out. This is part of the sanctifying work of God, okay?

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Now, you see, the Holy Spirit working within us knows our heart, and he knows when we go astray, we get off our focus, okay?

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And we have this idea that we're going in the right direction. And somehow, he's got to get us back on focus, get us back on the right path.

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Well, how does he do that? One way is he brings us to a test, okay?

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He brings temptation into our life, okay? And sometimes we learn from this temptation.

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Sometimes we fail this temptation, but, okay, the intent, okay, now stick with me here.

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The intent of this is to get us back on the path, all right?

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And the operative in this testing or temptation will be an evil agent, okay?

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You see, again, as James says, God does not tempt anybody, and he's not tempted either, okay?

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But he uses agents, okay, to bring about his will.

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Now, let me give you a good example of that. At the end of the book of Genesis, chapter 50,

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I think it's verse 20, Joseph's brothers come to Joseph, and, you know, they've got this story made up.

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They're going to tell him, you know, that their father wanted them to come to him and ask him to forgive them, you know, and not to retaliate for what they did when they sold him into slavery.

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Now all that's phony baloney, okay? So here they come in to see Joseph and to take care of this business, and this is what

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Joseph tells them. He says, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.

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Now, think about this. Give this a little New Testament context, okay?

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Guess where this comes from. All things work together for good to those who love

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God, to those who are called according to his purpose, okay? Do you think God had a purpose for Joseph when those brothers sold him into slavery?

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And do you think that God was carrying out this purpose to a certain degree?

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Yes, that's true, but who carried it out? The brothers, okay?

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Those were the evil agents that carried out the goodness of God's work in the life of Joseph, okay?

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Now, I hope you see that, okay? All things work together for good. And so when we come in under various trials and temptations, evil will come at us and try to drag us down, okay?

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But at the very same time, God is using this situation, okay, to build us up.

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I hope you see that, okay? Under the sovereignty of God, he brings about good, because he is good, okay?

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God is good. And likewise, okay, he will bring about this evil agent to bring about some occurrence, okay?

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Now, under the sovereignty of God, he brings about good directly, and he brings this into our lives.

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And when it comes time for some temptation to come to us, okay, it comes through an evil agent.

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It doesn't come directly from God. You see, God is good.

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That's through the whole Bible. And God permits evil, okay?

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He brings about good. He permits evil. He doesn't cause evil.

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It comes through this evil agent. For example, think about the cross.

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The cross, who carried this evil act out?

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It was the Jews and the Romans, okay, in concert. The Jews, you know, initiated it and carried it on, and the

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Jews, I mean, and the Romans finished it off, okay? And yet we know from the book of Acts and other places that it was

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God's will that brought it to pass, right?

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By the same token, by the same token, all those people who were involved in the crucifixion, okay, will be held accountable.

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They were totally responsible for their own acts. You see what I'm saying? They carried it out, okay, and they will be held responsible for it.

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But in the final analysis, it was the goodness of God that brought it to pass out of His sovereignty.

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You see that? Why do we call it Good Friday? I mean, it was the cross that made our salvation possible, right?

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That's the whole reason that Jesus, not the whole reason, the main reason that Jesus came, okay?

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Was to die on the cross for our sins, to shed His blood on our behalf, to give His life that we might have life, okay?

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That was the plan of God, okay? And He brought it to pass, and He used evil agents to bring it to pass, and here's the thing, okay?

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Any goodness that comes to pass, okay, the credit goes here.

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He gets the glory, right? That's just the way the Bible explains who

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God is. He brings good to pass, and He gets the glory. Now in this case, whatever comes to pass, the evil agent gets the blame.

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I mean, who was responsible and who is blameworthy for selling Joseph into slavery?

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His brothers or God? His brothers, okay?

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They get the blame. They are blameworthy, okay? They carried out what

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God, or what even Joseph said, God meant it for good, but you meant it for evil, okay?

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And so, when God brings temptation to us to test us, okay, because years ago, my wife and I and a number of you in here went to a seminar, it was on principles of spiritual growth, and they passed out these little, what do you call them, buttons, okay, with a little needle on it, you could stick letters on it, had these letters on it, okay?

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That was on the button, that's all that was on there, those letters, and here's what they mean, okay?

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Please be patient. God is not finished with me yet.

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Now, in a very real sense, you're wearing this little button, right?

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I mean, if you're indwelt by the Holy Spirit, if you've been born again in a symbolic way, okay, you're wearing this little button.

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Please be patient. God is not finished with me yet, okay? And somewhere along the way, you know, as we grow, you've been there, you've been there, you think, ah,

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I've arrived, you know, I've, you know, I've read my Bible so many times,

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I've taught so many classes, I've given so much money, I've spent so much time at church, you know, you know,

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I've arrived, you know, take this little button off, just put it down, you know, we don't need that, you know, and then wham!

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The Holy Spirit, okay, devises this little event, okay, you lose your temper, you say some words that you later regret, but you go on, you know, letting the sun go down on your wrath for a couple of more days and finally, you know, you put the button back on.

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You know what I'm saying here, okay? But you see, the Holy Spirit is faithful to bring us into a situation, okay, that lets us know we're going the wrong way.

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He may bring an evil agent into our life, okay, to bring this to pass, okay?

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The evil agent, his intent is to drag us down, okay? At the same time, this is the goodness of God coming to us to build us up, okay?

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To get us back on the right path, to get us refocused, redirected on Christ Himself.

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That's how testing works in sanctification.

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I know all of you have been there. One last word, it's this, and you know this, so it's a reminder, okay?

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God will not allow us to be tempted above that which we're able. Now, that doesn't mean, that doesn't mean that we will never yield to temptation.

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Hey, have you yielded to temptation since you've been saved? It means you will never lose your salvation, okay?

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That's what it means, all right? He will never allow you to be tempted above that which you are spiritually able.

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You belonged to Him, and no one can take you away from Him, okay?

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And number two, and in every crisis, in every temptation, okay, His grace is sufficient, right?

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His grace is sufficient. So, I leave you with this, keep your focus.

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It'll work, even if you're heading for another room in the house, believe me.

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Keep your focus on Jesus, that's the key to sanctification.

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I'm finished. Brian, would you come and… Yes.