The Conquest of Compromise, Part 1

Tonight and next week, I want to look with you at the conquest of compromise. We've already seen the cost of compromise in the life of lot. So we want to teach you what the Bible says on how you conquer that, how you can overcome compromise in your life.

So let's begin with the working definition of what compromise is. Compromise simply is this, a conscious choice which is contrary to one's creed or convictions. The consequences of which seriously threaten one's character, conduct, and commitment. Let me say it to you again.

Compromise is the conscious choice contrary to one's creed, what he believes, or one's convictions. The consequences of which seriously threaten his character, his conduct, and his commitment. Lot was a man of compromise. He compromised from the outset as we begin to read about him in the book of Genesis. And that compromise began with a very small choice. But that small choice led to major, major consequences down the road. And the unfortunate thing about compromise is that it happens so slowly in such little ways that we don't even know we're compromising until we are down the road, down the spiral toward destruction in our own personal life.

That's the problem with compromise. Let me illustrate to you this way. Maybe you've heard this illustration, maybe you haven't. But two young boys were on their way to school. And on their way to school that morning, they had spent time with their father and they had asked him if they could go to the movies that night with their friends, friends from the church. They said, we want to go see a movie that none of us has seen yet. And everybody in our church is talking about it. Everybody in our school is talking about it.

And it's a blockbuster. It's been on the number one of the charts for the last four weeks. It's got our favorite actor in it. And it's just a great movie. And we've looked at the reviews on it. And there are no sex scenes in the movie. There's nothing really bad about the movie. There are a few people getting blown up in the movie. So the gore is sort of there, but really not. And the good thing about it, dad, is that there's only three times that they use the Lord's name in vain. And the father said, let me think about it.

They said, I thought about it. And the answer is no. They said, no. Come on, dad. This is our favorite actor, probably going to win an Oscar. This is an opportunity for us to go with our friends. Everybody in church is going, come on, dad, let's go. He said, no. No explanation as to why. He just said no. So they went out to school, came back that afternoon, and they got in the house. The house was smelling unbelievable. And they walked in, and they said, dad, what's going on? He goes, well, I knew you probably wouldn't be very happy today.

So what I did was I made for you the fudge caramel brownies that we had, or my mother used to make for me, and her mother made for her, and her mother's mother made for her. It's been in our family for years. I said, wow, it smells good. Can we have some? Sure. Absolutely. Come on in. So he came in. They sat down. He cut them up and distributed them out to them. And they just began to eat the brownies. He said, dad, these are amazing. What's in them? He said, well, they're simple. You've got some sugar, and you've got some flour, and you've got some fudge.

You've got some caramel. You've got all the necessary ingredients. You've got eggs. You've got milk. You've got everything you need. And you have one special ingredient that only my mother's mother knew about and passed down from generation to generation, which make the brownies the way they are, the way they smell, as moist as they are. So what is that? He said, dog poop. They said, dog poop? He said, yeah, dog poop. And they began to gag and spit out the brownies. What are you guys doing? Dad, it's dog poop.

We can't eat that. He goes, listen, there's only three little pieces of dog poop. Just three little pieces. That's it. There's this whole bunch of brownie mix, but only three little pieces of dog poop. It can't affect you that much, can it? They said, but dad, we can eat this. He said, that's right. You wanted to go to a movie that would not affect you physically, but would affect you spiritually. What I gave you just affected you physically. Get the point? So the next time his boys came to ask him to do something, and he didn't want them to do it, he would just say, would you like some brownies?

And that would be their answer. You see, compromise comes so easy for us. You know, we watch things on TV today that 10 years ago, we would have never watched. We listen to things on the radio that five years ago, we'd never listened to. We do things today that we would never think of doing years before, but they've become so acceptable today that we don't even think about doing them. We don't even pray about doing them. We just do them because everybody else is doing them. And you know, whether you go to movies or you don't go to movies, you know, that's up to you.

What kind of music you listen to, that's all up to you. I mean, I'm not here to tell you what movies to go to or what songs to listen to. That's not my job as your pastor. My job is just to let you know that as you go through life, we make conscious choices every day. They either agree with our creed and convictions or they disagree with our creed and convictions. If they disagree in any way, at any point, they whittle away at my character, my commitment, and my conduct. And while they might not whittle away right away, they slowly but surely begin to erode all those aspects in my life.

And that's what happened a lot. Somebody had asked me one time, when they asked me, how long have you been doing this series on a lot? And at that time it was six weeks. And he said, well, how long are you weeks? 10 weeks on lot? Is there that much information in the Bible about this guy? I said, oh, there's a lot more than 10 weeks. I just had 10 weeks. That's all I had before the Christmas holidays. But there's so much to learn about the man, about what not to do. There's so many people in the Bible you learn from on what to do, but there's one guy you learn from on what not to do.

And you know what? So many times we just need to know what not to do. And so how is it, how is it we can overcome compromise in our own hearts and minds? How do we do that? Tonight, I want to give you the commencement of compromise, the cause of compromise, the consequences of compromise, and then the conquest of compromise. And we'll finish the conquest. We'll finish it next week, but we're going to begin with the commencement. Okay. The commencement of compromise, you can just write these down, give them to you.

The commencement of compromise, are you ready? Is wordlessness, wordlessness. The cause of compromise is worldliness. The consequences of compromise is wretchedness. And the conquest of compromise is wholeness. Those are our four points. Got them all written down. Good. If you haven't, that's okay. We'll review them enough for you. You'll get them all. Okay. Let's begin with the commencement of compromise. How does compromise begin? It begins with wordlessness. That is the word of God is not primary in my heart and life.

Instead of a life filled with the word, my life is less and less in the word. Lot was a man who never built an altar to the Lord, never called on the name of the Lord, never spent time in prayer in scripture anywhere. You never read anything about this man's devotion to the Lord. See, wordlessness is weakness. Wordlessness is weakness because my strength is based on the power of the word of God. And the less of God's word I have in me, the weaker I become. And when I don't spend time in the word of God with God, who is the incarnate word, then what happens to my life becomes weaker and weaker and weaker.

We don't even know this. You know, we spend less and less time in the word of God because we're too busy. We spend less and less time with the people of God in the church of God because we get busy on the weekends. And next thing you know, we have become no longer word specialists. That is, we know the word because we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. It's at home in our hearts. We become people who are not filled with God's word any longer. It no longer governs how we make decisions. We don't make choices through the grid of scripture because we're not familiar with it any longer.

See, wordlessness is weakness. We need to be strong in the word of the Lord. So important. Over in Psalm 119, the Bible says these words about the word of God.

You see, the word of God is that which strengthens my convictions. If I don't know the word of God, my convictions become very, very small. They become very, very weak. So if I'm in the word, my convictions are strengthened. The Bible says in Psalm 119, verse number one, how blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.

How blessed are those who observe his testimonies, who seek him with all their heart. They also do no unrighteousness. They walk in his ways. Those who delight in the law of God, they walk in the ways of God. They understand the ways of God. Listen to Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 17, verse number five, thus says the Lord, cursed is the man who trusted mankind and makes flesh his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. In other words, you're trusting in your own ingenuity. You're trusting in your own physical prowess.

You're trusting in the things that you can see instead of trusting in the Lord, who is the incarnate word. For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes, but its leaves will be green. And it will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor cease to yield fruit.

That's the one who trusts the Lord. That's the one who believes in the Lord. That's who one that, that, that, that becomes one who, who wraps himself around the truth of the living God versus the person who doesn't do that. God's word strengthens my convictions. It allows me to stand strong. It says over in the, in the, the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter six, my son observed the commandment of your father. Do not forsake the teaching of your mother, bind them continually on your heart, tie them around your neck.

When you walk about, they're going to guide you. When you sleep, they will watch over you. And when you awake, they will talk to you for the commandment is the lamp and teaching is the light and reproofs for discipline are the way of life to keep you from the evil woman. You need not to compromise. So therefore, in order not to compromise with the evil woman, with the adulterous woman, you need to be in the word of God. Do not forsake the teaching of your mother and your father, because it's going to guide you.

It's a lamp. It's a light. It protects you. It gives you direction. It watches over you. You need to be a word specialist. You need to be in the word of God because God's word is that protective agent. God's word is that which you absolutely must hold onto. It is the bread of life. It is your source of life. It's everything in life. Without the word of God, you will become weaker and weaker. That's why the commencement of compromise is all about wordlessness. You will note that people who spend time compromising are those who spend little time in the word of God and under the teaching of the word of God.

But those who spend more time in the word of God, they are less likely to compromise because it's the word of God that governs their decisions. It's the word of God that's the lamp to their feet, a light into the path that directs them in the way that they should go. They need that direction. They need to make wise choices. You see, Lot never sought the Lord. Abraham did. Was Abraham a perfect man? No. But Abraham would build his altars. He would repent. He would turn to the Lord. He would call on the name of the Lord.

He would trust in the Lord. He's a father of faith. You see, and even though he sinned, he knew how to get right with God. Lot, when he sinned, did never get right with God. At least, nowhere is it recorded in scripture. And so his wordlessness, his inability to hear, to know, and follow the word of God in his life to govern his decisions would cause him to make bad choices every time. That's why we tell you that weak devotion leads to worldly desires and worldly desires to wrong decisions. That's the way it always works.

Well, why do you have weak devotion? Because you don't know the word of God. You're not in the word of God. God's word's not fueling your life. I know that sounds simplistic to some people, but let me tell you something.

Either we believe in the power of the word of God, or we don't believe in the power of the word of God. It is the power of God unto salvation. If it can save your soul from eternal hell, if it could transfer you from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son, then it can direct you and lead you and guide you and protect you every single part of the day. And so you need the word of God. So compromise commences with wordlessness and compromise is caused because of worldliness. Worldliness.

If you're a wordless person, you'll become a worldly person because your affection will be drawn away from the truth of God's word to something else out there. And you got to grab onto something. You got to hold onto something. And that's why we've taken you through this long list of things that happened in Lot's life. When he went down to Egypt, he got a taste of Egypt and that was the longing of his heart. So in Genesis chapter 13, when he had a chance to look towards Sodom, that's the direction he looked toward.

The longing caused him to look and then that look caused him to lean in the direction of Sodom. Even though Genesis 13 says that Sodom was exceedingly wicked, why would a righteous person want to lean toward wickedness? He did because there was a longing in his heart that caused him to look towards Sodom and then lean towards Sodom and then move in, live in Sodom. Remember that? He moved into Sodom. Even though the men of the city were exceedingly wicked, speaking of their homosexual tendencies and lifestyle, he wanted to move.

What would cause a righteous man to move that direction? It was that compromise that caused him to move that direction then even move further in that direction. And then we saw not only did he look and not only did he long for that and lean toward that, he lived there. He led in the city and he loved the city, which caused him to linger in the city when the angels came and said, you got to go. Because once he was in the city, been there 14, 15 years, he just loved it. Even though the Bible says his soul was tormented day and night, more about that in a second, but he stayed.

He stayed. You see, Lot cared for the things of the world, the cares of the world. Remember in the parable of the sower and the soil about the thorny soil, how the cares of this world choke out the word of God? Over in Luke chapter 21, the phrase is used. It says in verse number 34, as Christ was talking about his return, he says this, be on guard so that your hearts will not be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the cares of life. And that day will come upon you suddenly like a trap for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of the earth.

That's just a very important phrase. As Christ is talking about those who are committed to drunkenness and the cares of this world, they're the ones characterized by the ones, it says, who dwell on the face of the earth. If you go to the book of Revelation, there's a phrase, katoi kuntas, which means earth dwellers. It's used over 10 times in the book of Revelation. And never one time does it refer to a believer. They are earth dwellers. It doesn't mean geography. It means morality. Not talking about the fact that they live on the earth.

It means that they love the earth. They are earth dwellers. And every time in the book of Revelation, that phrase is used. And if you follow it through, you begin to understand more about the end times and the coming of the Messiah. That phrase in and of itself will tell you what you need to know about whether or not the church is on earth in tribulation or not on earth in tribulation. How you interpret that phrase throughout the book of Revelation. Very important. They're earth dwellers. They love what's on the earth.

And that's who experiences the wrath of almighty God. Christ is at here. Christ is at here. And Lot was one who cared for the world. And we told you that downward spiral is that once you care for the world, okay, you've got to be extremely, extremely careful. Because once you begin to care for the world, you will be companioned with the world. And if companion with the world, you'll be contaminated by the world. Have you ever been to a Japanese restaurant? Back when we had only less kids than we have now, it was easy for us to go to a Japanese restaurant because it's so expensive.

And the more kids I had, the less times we could go. But we would sit around the table where they cook in front of you, and we love garlic. Oh, we love garlic. And so we'd ask them to put a lot of garlic on our chicken and on our rice and on our steak and our shrimp, whatever, because we love garlic, you know? And just the smell of garlic was just so good. And we'd have that Japanese where they cook in front of you, you know, and it's really kind of neat. And the flames go up and all that smoke and all that garlic.

And when you left, you'd go home, you'd smell like garlic, right? We had no fear of vampires growing up because we just smelled like garlic, you know? That's just the way it was. And yet we were so, we smelled like the restaurant. See? What happens that when you care for the things of the world and become companion with the world, you are contaminated by the world. That is, you smell like the world. Just smell like the world. And once contaminated by the world, you're controlled by the world. And if controlled by the world, you'll be conformed to that world.

That if you're not careful, you'll be condemned along with that world. And that's what happened to Lot's wife. She was condemned along with the world because not only does she care for the world, everything about her life was the world. She was not a righteous woman, nowhere in Scripture does it tell us that. And she was condemned along with the world. That's why 1 Corinthians 11 tells us that before we partake at the Lord's table, that we need to examine ourselves, because if we judge ourselves rightly, we will not be condemned along with the world.

So make sure you scrutinize your life in light of the sacrifice of Christ on your behalf to make sure you know you know Christ as Lord and Savior. So important. And that downward spiral was where Lot was. He just, he cared for the things of the world. So he moved towards Sodom so he could be companion with the people of the world. He lived in Sodom for upwards of 15 years and was contaminated by all the cesspool of sin in Sodom. He conformed his whole life toward Sodom. Everything about his life was like the citizens of Sodom.

But it all began because he was a wordless person. He would not trust the word. He would not believe in the word. He would not live the word. He was not committed to the word. It just wasn't that important to him. Abraham was. His whole life was the word. He kept waiting for the word of the Lord to come to him and speak to him, and he would hold on to that word. And Lot, he just, just didn't interest him. Just didn't interest him. But boy, the pull of the world, the lure of the world was powerful in his life.

So when the opportunity came, he went that direction easily, not forcefully, easily. And as each passing day came and went, it was easier for him to move into Sodom, become a citizen of Sodom and live in that city. There is nothing there that would indicate that the people of Sodom knew that Lot was a righteous man. None. He was a worldly man. And so the commencement of compromise is simply wordlessness. I can't emphasize that enough. You need to be in and under the word of God, not sporadically, but consistently, regularly.

In depth, you need to be in and under the word of God. It's so important. And so the commencement is because of wordlessness. The cause then is worldliness, and the consequences, wretchedness, misery, absolute misery. That's why the Bible says of Lot in 2 Peter 2, these words.

If he that is God rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men, for by what he saw and heard that righteous man while living among them felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds. Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment. His righteous soul was tormented day after day after day, and yet he did nothing to relieve himself from that torment. That just baffles me.

I don't want to stand that. How do you live that way? But that's how he lived. And the only way you can live that way is because there's something in the world that's pulling you and moving you, that keeping you. And maybe it was his unbelieving wife who put pressure on him. Maybe it was unbelieving daughters that put pressure on him. Maybe it was the people of Sodom that put pressure on him. But where's the man who stands, who stands strong and says, no, this is what we're going to do. This is the way we need to go.

This is how we make our choices. This is where we need to live. Lot didn't do that. Didn't do it. And what happened? Complete and utter wretchedness. Complete life of misery. Misery. They lost him. He lost his testimony. The citizens of Sodom had no respect for Lot or his beliefs. He lost his family, his sons-in-law. They had no respect for him. His daughters disrespected him, had sex with him. We saw that last week. They had no respect for Lot. His sons-in-law had no respect for Lot. His wife had no respect for him.

She wouldn't listen to his words or the words of the angels. She would turn and look, although she was told not to. She had no respect for the authority of the Word of God in her life. None. None. In other words, Lot had absolutely no impact in his family. None. No righteous impact in his wife, his daughters, his sons-in-law, and the city. So he'd lose his testimony. He'd lose his family. He'd lose his city. He'd lose his legacy. He'd lose his integrity. He lost it all. He had nothing when it was all he's never mentioned again until second Peter to let us know that he was a righteous man because without second Peter we would never know he was a righteous man.

None of us would know. So God in his grace put it in there so we would know, by the way, he was a righteous man. Like we're shocked. Absolutely shocked to our socks. You got to be kidding me. How? His wife is mentioned again on how not to live. Remember Lot's wife. The city is mentioned over 20 different times. The city of Sodom is mentioned more than Lot is. The sinful city of Sodom made a greater impact on humanity than one righteous man in that sinful city. That's a tragedy. That's sad. One righteous man in the city, one righteous man with a family made no impact whatsoever for the kingdom of God.

None. Because his soul was so tormented he did not listen to his conscience. He did not listen to what was happening in his own life. Just ignored it. He pressed it down. He did nothing about it. Week after week, day after day, month after month, lived in that city. Maybe hoping everything would go away. Maybe hoping everything would turn out okay. Maybe hoping one day his wife would commit to the life that he knew and believed in. Or maybe his daughters would. But never happened. Never happened.

Never took a stand. If you can't take a stand, I mean, what kind of man are you? I mean, come on, let's be honest. Can you take a stand on something? Can you stand up for something? Can you stand strong? Lot did not do that. So what did he leave behind? Nothing. Except a city that stands as a testimony to the wrath of Almighty God, which is mentioned so many more times than Lot has ever mentioned. And you'd think that a righteous man who believed in the living God would make an eternal impact for good.

But he did not. He did not. And the only good that came out of it, we talked about last week, the incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughters. And from that firstborn came the Moabites, came Ruth, came the Messiah. Because God would override all the sin of Sodom and all the sin of Lot's family to let you know that God was in complete control and he's in charge of everything. That's the great thing about our God. In spite of all of our sin, his grace is greater than all of that. So the commencement of compromise is wordlessness, the cause of compromise worldliness, the consequences of compromise wretchedness.

I mean, how long did Lot's soul be in a torment? And how was he oppressed day in and day out? And how did that affect him? It had to affect him some way, somehow. But he did nothing. Didn't repent of his sin. Didn't try to lead his family. The Bible records none of that. And so what do you do? What if that's you? How do you overcome that? How do you conquer that? Well, the answer is wholeness. How do you get there? What I want to do is the rest of our time together this evening and next week is show you how that happens and what needs to happen in your life and mine for us to live a life of wholeness.

Because it's all about a whole life, a life that's been fractured, it's been ripped apart, coming back together and being whole again. How does that happen? Let me give you some principles.

Principle number one is this. You must always install Christ as your priority. Principle number one, install Christ as your priority.

For Lot, God was not a priority. Just wasn't. And you know what? For most people, God's not a priority. You can tell by how many times you miss church whether or not God's your priority, right? You can tell how much time you spend in God's Word whether or not God's your priority, right? Or how much time you spend on your knees whether or not God's a priority in your life. I don't have to tell you that. All you got to do is examine your own life. Is God my priority? I must install him as my ultimate priority in life over everything, anything, because he means everything to me.

That's why we talked about this a number of weeks ago. I can't remember when we covered it, but it was not too long ago. We talked about this over in the book of Galatians chapter 2 verse number 20. Remember we talked to you about the extinguished life and the relinquished life. Remember that? Galatians 2 verse number 20. Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ. That's the extinguished life. That means when you have a candle and you snuff out, it's extinguished. It's out. Paul says, I've been crucified with Christ.

And it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I'm living, but I'm not living because Christ lives in me. That is the relinquished life. So there is the extinguished life. I've died to self. There is the relinquished life. I've given everything over to him. And that life is the only life that is the distinguished life. If your life is not extinguished and relinquished, you'll never be distinguished. So the extinguished relinquished life is the distinguished life. Do you get all that? Good.

Cause Paul says this, but Christ lives in me. That's the distinguished life. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. The characteristic of the distinguished life is that it is number one, a dependent life and a devoted life.

The life which I now live, I live by faith in the son of God. It is a completely dependent life. I am dependent upon the living God for everything that I do. Only a extinguished relinquished life can be that distinguished to be dependent upon the living God. That's what makes it so distinguished because you live a life in complete dependence upon God. And therefore that dependent life is a devoted life. Sorry for those of you in the front, I'm spitting them on because I got all the D's coming out, but it is a devoted life.

I am devoted to God because he loved me. So I love him. So I am devoted to him. See Paul, Paul installed Christ as his supreme authority, his priority. Christ is number one in my life.

That's why he would, he would say over, um, in the book of Philippians chapter, chapter one, he said this, I know that this being in prison will turn out from through your prayers and the proud provision of the spirit of Jesus Christ. According to my earnest expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. Here's my prayer that Christ is exalted in my body. That's all I care about that Christ be lifted up, that Christ be exalted, whether I die or live irrelevant, as long as Christ is exalted.

That's installing Christ as my priority. So Paul lived. That's why John the Baptist said, he must increase. I must decrease. He must increase. I must decrease. Christ must be in the forefront. I got to take a back seat because he is the Messiah. He is the prophet of God. I am a prophet, but he is the prophet. He must be in the forefront. He must have the preeminence. He must be the priority. I am just his servant and I'm unworthy to loosen his sandals. Have you installed Christ as a priority of your life?

See, Lot, he had one priority himself, the way he felt, the things he did, the places he went. His priority was his heart's desire, Egypt, Sodom, that looked like Eden in Egypt. That's what he wanted. So much so he would marry an unbelieving woman so he could stay in Sodom and be a part of Sodom. He wanted to be a part of the cesspool of sin. He wanted to be a part of all that took place in Sodom. He wanted to lead in Sodom and he did. Worked his way up. That's what he wanted. Making God a priority, building an altar in Sodom or outside of Sodom so people would know that Christ reigns supreme in his heart, that God was his God, the one monotheistic God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Lord God of Israel was my God.

He didn't do that. Not at all. No testimony that would ring true of someone who was deeply committed and elevating Christ above everything in his life. And so if we're going to overcome compromise, we must begin by installing Christ as the priority. Have you done that? How do you know you've done that? Let me ask you a couple of questions.

Do you proclaim the Christ? Do you speak about the Christ? Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9, 16, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. Christ was such a priority for him that if he didn't speak about him, he said, I should be cursed. He said, I should be damned. That's what the word cursed means. The word woe means I should be damned if I don't proclaim the gospel of Christ. So let me ask you a question.

Do you speak about the gospel? Do you tell people about Christ? Because if he's a priority, you want him to be a priority in everybody else's life as well, right? Thomas Vincent in his book, True Love for the Unseen Christ says this, he says, it is observed and it's great to be lamented that there is of late years a great decay in the power of godliness among those that are sincere.

And is it not evident in the great decay of love, even in true Christians and to Jesus Christ? Is it not evident that you have little love to Christ when he is but little in your thoughts and meditations? You can think often of your food, but how little do your thoughts feed upon Christ, who is the bread of life? You can often think of your raiment, but how little do you think of the robes of Christ's righteousness? You can think often of your earthly friends, but how little do you think of Jesus Christ, your friend in heaven?

Moreover, does it not argue little love to Christ that you speak so little of him and for him in your conversing one with another? If you had much love for Christ, would not this love breathe forth more in your discourses? You can rarely discourse of news and public occurrences, but when you leave Christ quite out of your discourse, it shows that you have not an abundance of love to him because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth will speak of their riches. Such as have much love to pleasures will be often speaking of that subject, such as love their friends much often will be speaking and committing them that they are in company.

And when you speak but little of Christ, it is a sign that you love him but little. That convicting? That's so convicting. I was reading that this week. I was convicted. I'm like, wow, when you speak so little of Christ, it just shows you love him very little. When you speak a lot about your friends and you speak a lot about the public discourses that are happening and the things that are happening in our community and politics and sports, you show that you love those things. Well, how come no one's talking about Jesus?

How come no one's talking about the Christ? How come that is not first and foremost on our tongue? Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks and therefore Jesus is little in the heart. Therefore, he's little on the lips. Can you say you've installed him as a priority in your life? Does he reign supreme? Do you proclaim him? Do you portray him? Do you live for him? Do you want to be like him? We all want to be like somebody. We all want to look and smell and act like somebody, talk like somebody.

We model our lives after someone. To some degree, we model our life. Are we modeling our life after Christ? Are we portraying the true King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Do we want to portray his servant-like life where we serve our fellow man? Do we want to portray his giving spirit where he gave himself totally away? Do we want to portray his humble spirit where he would humble himself even unto death, the death of the cross? Do we want to portray him? Do we really want to live like him? Or do we just pay lip service to things like, I want to be like Jesus?

Really? Do you really want to be like Jesus? You see, if you do, you'll install him as a priority and you'll seek to know him so you can live like him, portray him. So, do I proclaim him? Do I portray him? Do I simply please him? Do I please him? Paul would say in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse number one, I want to show you how you need to walk and please God because I want you to please him.

Paul would say in Galatians 1.10, if I seek to please man, I forfeit the pleasure of God. So, he made it his ambition to please the living God. Who do you want to please? Do you want to please God? Do you do what you do because you want God to smile down with favor upon the way you've spoken, the way you've lived, the way you've handled the things he's given you? As a steward, you've been a good household manager. Do you want to please him? Again, the words of Thomas Vincent, he says, your love to Christ is known by your obedience unto Christ.

If Christ is your beloved, he is also your Lord. If you have true affection for him, you will yield subjection unto him. If you love Christ, you are careful to please Christ. You are not the servants of the flesh to take care to please the flesh, but you are the service of Christ to take care above all persons and all things to please Christ. If you love Christ, you are fearful of giving just occasion of offense unto men. But above all, you are fearful of displeasing and offending your Lord. Do you labor so to walk that you may please Christ in the way of sincere and universal obedience?

Are you hardy in your obedience unto Christ? Have you respect to all his commandments? Is it your grief that you fall short in your obedience unto Christ? If you can say in the presence of the Lord and your hearts, do not give your tongues a lie, that you do not live and allow yourselves in the practice of any known sin, which Christ forbids, nor in the neglect of any known duty, which Christ commands. This is sure evidence of true love to Jesus Christ. Do you please him? Do you want to please him?

Is that your ambition? Do you proclaim him, portray him, please him? Do you praise him? That's always a good one, right? Do you praise him? Whoso offers praise, Psalm 50, verse number 23, glorifies me, exalts me, lifts me up. Not just praise when things are going good, but praise when things are going bad. Do you praise him? Do you live a life of praise and obedience to God, thanking him for everything? I began to write down some things just the other day about the practice of praise and praising my God.

And do I praise him for his holiness? The Bible says in Psalm 30, verse number four, give praise at the remembrance of his holiness.

Do you praise him for the fact that he is a holy God? Do you praise him for his nearness? He's always near to you. Psalm 75, unto thee, oh God, we give thanks and praise for thy name is near. When was the last time you praised God for his nearness? He's never far. He's always close. I can praise him for that. I praise him for his holiness. I praise him for his nearness. I praise him for his forgiveness. You think about that? The Bible says, I thank Christ, Jesus, my Lord, who has shown me mercy and forgiven me.

God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven me. Do you praise him for his forgiveness? He can't be near to you unless he's forgiven you. And so, because he's forgiven you, he lives within you. I praise him for that. Do you praise him for his willingness? His willingness to descend from heaven, his willingness to die for your sins, his willingness to deliver you from the bondage of Satan, and his willingness to decree every event that takes place in your life. You praise him for his willingness? The Bible says, thanks be unto God for his indescribable gift, his willingness to come and die for me.

And then I thought we should praise him for his greatness. For the Bible says in Psalm 145, verse number one, great is the Lord and highly to be praised.

And I said, well, we should praise for his goodness because the Bible says the earth is full of his goodness.

And it says, praise the Lord for the Lord is good. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good. So I praise him for his goodness. I praise him for his greatness. I praise him for his nearness, his forgiveness, his holiness, his willingness. I praise him also for his graciousness. The Bible says, I thank my God always for the grace which God has given you in Christ, Jesus our Lord.

Have you praised him for his graciousness? Have you praised him for his loving kindness? Psalm 117, praise the Lord for his loving kindness. Have you praised him for his faithfulness? I will praise thee with a heart, even thy faithfulness, the Psalmist said in Psalm 89. How about this? Have you ever praised him for his uniqueness? His uniqueness as father, he cares. As son, he was crucified. As spirit, he comforts. Just a few things to think about as you think about praising God. You see, if you install him as a priority, then you can't help but praise him.

No matter what happens to you physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, you praise him. Because you give thanks in all things and for all things, the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5 and Ephesians 5.

So live a life of praise to you. I never read of Lot praising God, do you? Never did. Well, if you're not praising him, he can't be number one because he was too busy praising his own lifestyle.

He wasn't seeking to please God, that's for sure. He lived in a cesspool of sin. Certainly, he wasn't trying to portray Christ because no one knew anything about his God, right? And he certainly, certainly never proclaimed his name because even his own family didn't know who God was. So he wasn't a priority. Oh, by the way, not only do you proclaim him and portray him and please him and praise him, but you pursue him, right? You pursue him. Your chief pursuit in life is what? Christ. You can't help but pursue him because you can't wait to know all you can about him.

So you seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. You are in a pursuit of knowing and living for your king. That's where it begins. That's how you begin to turn the tide in your own personal life. Say, Lord, I'm going to install you as the number one priority in all things in my life.

I'm going to speak for you, proclaim your name. I'm going to demonstrate and show that you're my king. I'm going to portray your life because I want to please you. I want you to look to me from glory, know my heart, try me, see me, know if there'd be any wicked way in me, lead me in the way of righteousness because I want to please you. And while I am seeking to please you, I'm going to praise your name. I'm going to praise it no matter what, not just the Thanksgiving when I'm with my family, not just a Christmas.

I'm going to live a life of praise. When I'm going under the knife for an operation, I'm going to praise you. When I lose a loved one, I'm going to praise you. When there's a car accident, I'm going to praise you. When there's a shooting in my church, I'm going to praise you because God, you are preeminent. You are king. And my whole life is going to be about praising God. See, that's one thing Satan can never do or even wants to do or demons do. They can't praise God. They don't want to, but we do.

We want to praise him. We want to live for him. We want to honor him. We want to lift him up. That's how you begin, installing Christ as your priority. And next week we'll cover the rest. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this night, a chance to be in your word. Truly Lord, you are great and greatly to be praised. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Our prayer, Father, is that every one of us, no matter where we are today, in our spiritual pilgrimage, can install you as number one.

We subject ourselves to you. We live for you. We honor you. We need to stop playing games with our Christian life. So many people in church play games with God. You don't want us playing games with you, Lord. You want us to be serious. I do believe that the reason these people are here tonight is because they're serious. That's why they're here. Why else would they be here? Some way, somehow they're serious about honoring you and living for you. And I pray that your spirit would enable them to do so for the glory of your kingdom.

They might see the working of the spirit of God in their lives that would cause them to live for the glory of your kingdom. That's our prayer. In Jesus' name, Amen.