Obliterate Obstacles That Hinder Your Walk and Purify Your Mind and Heart Daily

As you see in your outline, we're going through the alphabet. There are 26 points we're covering for you. Tonight, we're gonna cover two. We covered two last week, covered two this week. We'll cover two next week as we seek to understand these principles. And tonight, letter O and letter P. O is to obliterate every obstacle that hinders my walk with the Lord. And P is to purify your heart and mind daily. Very essential to your walk with the Lord and how it is you live each and every day. And so let's look at letter O and what does it mean to obliterate every obstacle that hinders my walk with the Lord?

And why is this so incredibly important? If you have your Bible, turn to Hebrews chapter 12 with me for a moment. You know, we are to walk the faith walk. We are to walk by faith and not by sight. That's what the scriptures tell us. And so we begin to understand that by looking at Hebrews chapter 11 in the great hall of faith. And faith is simply believing in what God has already said. And if you were with us in our study of Hebrews chapter 11, we spent 35 weeks, a little over a year in Hebrews chapter 11.

Very important to understand that as you will see in a moment. But faith is believing absolutely in what God says and then behaving accordingly to all that God says.

Faith is trusting obedience. It's trusting because you're believing absolutely in what God says. And then it's obedience because you're behaving accordingly to all that God says.

That's simply what faith is. So we walk by faith and not by sight. So we walk in accord with what the word of God says.

So when you come to Hebrews chapter 12, the writer says this. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. So in other words, for us to be able to obliterate these obstacles, there must be an investigation. An investigation of what? This great cloud of witnesses that surround us. That's Hebrews chapter 11. That's all these heroes of faith that the writer of Hebrews speaks to us about concerning their walk of faith.

When you look at Noah, you look at Abraham, you look at Moses, you look at the parents of Moses, you look at Enoch and you begin to look at Sarah and you begin to look at all these heroes of faith and you begin to realize how they trusted God, how they believed in God and what they needed to do to remove the obstacles that hindered their walk with the Lord in order to trust him absolutely.

So there needs to be an investigation. That's why we spent 35 weeks in Hebrews chapter 11 because we wanted to investigate each individual in the chapter and let you understand exactly what was happening in their lives. I mean, you can go through Hebrews 11 in a couple of weeks, you can read through it very simply, but we wanted to do an investigation of those heroes so we would learn exactly what it is that took place in their lives because they had to remove the obstacles that hindered their walk with the Lord.

And when you move from an investigation, the very next point is very important because it deals with separation, a separation. He says, let us lay aside, let us separate ourselves from every encumbrance and the sin which so easily besets us. Now there are two things there. One is an encumbrance, which is not a sin, and then there is a sin which so easily besets us. So in order for you to run the race that God has set before you, the race of Christianity, to live according to what God says, you must lay aside those trappings that keep you from being all that God wants you to be.

He hasn't even dealt with sin yet. He's dealing with the encumbrances, those things that weigh you down, those things that keep you from running the race effectively. Now remember, they're not sinful things. They are encumbrances. They weigh you down because they're separated from the sin which so easily besets us. And the sin, of course, in the context of Hebrews 12 and 11 is the sin of unbelief because every sin has at its core an unbelief. That is, we don't believe exactly what God says, and so we believe what we believe according to what we think or what society says, and we go against what God says.

And so the encumbrance is that which weighs you down. Remember, it's not sin. It could be a relationship. It could be a friendship. It could be all sorts of things. In fact, over in 2 Timothy chapter two, Paul says these words in verse number four, "'No soldier in active service entangles himself "'in the affairs of everyday life "'so that he may please the one "'who enlisted him as a soldier.'" Paul uses the metaphor of warfare, the metaphor of a soldier. He says no good soldier is gonna entangle himself, be involved in the everyday affairs of life so much so that he can't accomplish that which God has called him to do.

So these aren't sinful things. These are everyday life events. And so you gotta realize that in order to be engaged in warfare, you can't entangle yourself with those things that would hinder your ability in combat. The same is true when you run the race of Christianity. You have to lay aside those things that weigh you down. It's important to realize that when you look at Romans chapter 15 verse number four, the writer tells us that these things are written for our instruction, that through encouragement and the perseverance of Scripture, we might have hope.

And so when we investigate people's lives in the Scripture, they're written for our encouragement, to give us hope, to give us perseverance, to help us endure. And so when you look at those people's lives in Hebrews 11, you begin to realize what it takes to run the race that God has set before you.

At the same time, there needs to be a separation from those things that weigh you down. For instance, if you go to Luke chapter nine, the Lord says these words in verse 57, as they were going along the road, and someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, the foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. The Lord wants him to understand the cost of following him. Then he says, he said to another, follow me. But he said, Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.

But he said to him, allow the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God. Another also said to him, I will also follow you, Lord, but first permit me to say goodbye to those at home.

But Jesus said to him, no one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. He has three main aspects, materialism, passivism, and sentimentalism. Three things that hinder your walk with the Lord. We get so involved in the things around us that when the Lord says, you know what? Foxes have holes and birds have nests, son of man has no place to lay his head. So if you wanna follow me, you gotta realize it's not gonna be a comfy kind of life. Well, we're not so sure we're gonna follow the Lord.

And then someone said, well, let me go bury my father first. Well, his father wasn't dead yet. Why? Because in Judaism, when the guy dies, you bury him the same day. He's waiting for his father to die to collect the inheritance. And so he's a little passive in his commitment to following the Lord. And then you have the next guy who says, well, you know, Lord, I wanna follow you, but I gotta go back and say goodbye to mom and dad. I'm kind of a little bit of a mama's boy and I gotta go back and say goodbye to my mom and dad.

He said, no, put your hand to the plow, don't look back, follow me. Sentimentalism was what kept him from committing his life to the Lord. You see, there are many encumbrances that weigh us down all the time. How about this? An encumbrance is not having the opportunity or not, no, not having, but not saying no. That can be an encumbrance because you involve yourself in too many activities. Involving yourself in too many activities becomes an encumbrance as well because you can't do anything well.

And so you lay aside that weight, you lay aside that encumbrance so you can run the race with endurance without falling over, like I'm falling over right here. But the bottom line is that you have to be able to make sure that you get rid of those things. We can involve ourselves in too many ministries in the church, thinking that we're doing everything that we need to be doing for the Lord, but we're involved in so many ministries that we're out every night of the week and we can't spend any time with our family and therefore, next thing you know, we're just too busy.

And that becomes an encumbrance. It's not sinful, it's just an encumbrance. Procrastination is an encumbrance. In other words, you put things off. You don't get them done. You lack the discipline to get them done so you put them off and you procrastinate thinking that, you know what, I can do it tomorrow or I can get it done next week or the week after. And next thing you know, your garage is a mess. You gotta be careful about those kind of things. And so there are many encumbrances that we face on a regular basis.

It could be an event, it could be places, it could be habits, it can be entertainment, it can be social media, cell phones. Oh, by the way, do you know the music media? The music industry in 2022 made $92.9 billion. That's the music industry alone. I'm sorry, 31.2 billion. The movie industry made 92.9 billion. Billion, not million. So the movie industry makes 92.9 billion and the music industry makes 31.2 billion, which is equivalent to $124.1 billion. But both those together are surpassed by the gaming industry.

For the gaming industry made $184 billion in 2022 and it's projected to make 284 billion in the year 2024. Think about that. The gaming industry. I know a lot of adult men who like to play games, video games. I'm like, dude, why? Why? But they do. Three billion people. The world has 8.1 billion people in it and three billion people are involved in the gaming industry in the world. That's more than one third.

That's a lot of people, right? Doing what? Playing games. And we wonder why it is we can't discipline our lives to get things done. Now playing video games is not sin, right? It can become an encumbrance though that keeps you from doing the things you need to be doing to run the race effectively for the Lord. So you need to lay aside every encumbrance, every obstacle that keeps you from being what God wants you to be. And so many times we're not willing to do that. But then he says, lay aside the sin which so easily besets us.

I've already told you the sin in the context is the sin of unbelief. But it's very important that we realize that any kind of sinful behavior is going to throw us out of the race. That's gonna hinder our walk with the Lord. And we need to obliterate these obstacles in our lives. In fact, Paul says this way in Colossians chapter three, he says, therefore, because you set your mind on things above, because you keep seeking things above, because your life is hidden with Christ in God, therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead.

In other words, mortify your members of your earthly body. Immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed, which amounts to idolatry, for it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. Put to death those things that are a hindrance to your walk with the Lord. We know that death's penalty is done away with, but death's power or sin's power is still rampant in our lives. And so Paul talks about putting off the old man and putting on the new man. It's the principle of mortification, putting to death those things that keep you from running the race as you need to run them.

Christ said it this way in the book of Matthew, in Matthew chapter five, when he said these words, if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out, throw it from you. For it's better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right eye or your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you, for it is better for you to lose one of those parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. In other words, whatever it takes to get rid of that which hinders you from walking with Christ, you need to get rid of it.

That requires killing those things that are sinful habits in your life. Let me illustrate this for you, okay?

Turn back with me if you would to 1 Samuel chapter 15. 1 Samuel chapter 15, and let me illustrate it by looking at the life of King Saul and God's words to him.

It was a great Puritan author John Owen who said these words, do you mortify sin? Do you make it your daily work? Be always at it while you live. Cease not a day from this work. Be killing sin or sin will be killing you. The story of Saul is a story of a man who refused to kill sin, and therefore that sin killed him. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 15, verse number one, then Samuel said to Saul, the Lord sent me to anoint you as king over his people, over Israel.

Now therefore, listen to me or listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has and do not spare him, but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. Pretty inclusive, pretty easy to understand exactly what the Lord God said to Saul. So Samuel relays this message to Saul.

Remember, Amalek is the son of Esau and they came against Israel when they exited Egypt and they came behind them and attacked all the women and children from behind and God's anger burned against Amalek. And there was that great battle in Exodus chapter 17 at Rephidim when Moses was up on the hill and Aaron and Herod would hold his hands up as he began to pray and commit everything to God and Joshua was down on the battlefield fighting Amalek. And God promised Moses on that day that he would blot out the memory of Amalek forever.

That day has come. And now the Lord says to Samuel, tell Saul he is to go and kill every Amalekite, every woman, every male, every child and kill all their livestock. Destroy them all. I want them all gone. So Saul goes to war. It's quite a feat except Saul spares the king, King Agath and he spares some of the livestock. And so verse 10 comes and the word of the Lord came to Samuel saying, I regret that I have made Saul king for he has turned back from following me and has not carried out my commands.

Samuel was distressed and cried out to the Lord all night. Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul and it was told Samuel saying, Saul came to Carmel and behold, he set up a monument for himself then turned and proceeded down to Gilgal. Go down to verse 17. Samuel said, is it not true though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel and the Lord anointed you king over Israel and the Lord sent you on a mission and said go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites and fight against them until they are exterminated.

Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord? In other words, you didn't do what God said. Whenever you don't do what God said, it's evil. It's always evil, why? Because you decided to do what you think is best instead of what God has said. And whenever you do what you think is best instead of doing what God said, it's evil. And you didn't obey the voice of the Lord. Verse 20, then Saul said to Samuel, I did obey the voice of the Lord and went on the mission on which the Lord sent me and I brought back Agag, the king of Amalek and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choices of the things devoted to destruction, the sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal. Ah, I did do what God said. You see, Saul partially obeyed the Lord and partial obedience is always disobedience in the mind of God. Either you obey fully or you don't. You can't partially obey the Lord. But Saul thought if he partially obeyed the Lord, spared the king, mainly because he was sentimental and he was a king and he'd wanna be spared if he was a king and somebody came against Israel, so he spared King Agag.

And then some of the people spared some of the choice lifestyle because they wanted to devote it to the Lord. They wanted to sacrifice it to the Lord at Gilgal, see? So they didn't obey the Lord in order to worship the Lord amidst their disobedience. And then Samuel says, has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams, for rebellion is as the sin of divination and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king. In other words, because he didn't do what God said, he loses his kingship. Then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned. I have indeed transgressed the command of the Lord and your words because I feared the people and listened to their voice. Always the downfall of the father. Always the downfall of the leader when he listens to the voice of the people instead of the voice of God. Mark it down. Listening to the voice of your wife over the voice of God will always bring a detriment to your family.

Listen to the voice of the people of the church and so the voice of God will always bring a downfall to the church. You must always listen to the voice of God. What does God say? But Saul compromised because he feared the people more than he feared God. He feared what people would think of him. He feared what people would, how they would react to him. And so that fear outweighed the fear of God and it cost him his kingship in Israel. Well, it says, now therefore please pardon my sin and return with me that I may worship the Lord.

But Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you for you have rejected the word of the Lord and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel. Now what's this have to do with obliterating sin? Read on, verse 32. Then Samuel said, bring me Agag, the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him cheerfully. And Agag said, surely the bitterness of death has passed. And on the contrary, verse 33, Samuel said, as your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.

And Samuel hewed Agag to pieces before the Lord of Gilgal. He cut him up to pieces. Why? Because that's what God said to do and Saul didn't do it. He did not obliterate. He did not destroy that thing that was evil in the sight of the Lord. And this would come back to haunt Israel because if you go further into 1 Samuel chapter 30, the Amalekites rallied back again together and they come against David and his men and they take his wives and they take his children. Why? Because Saul did not obliterate the nation, did not cut off the nation.

And therefore, because he did not do what God said, they rallied back together. 1 Samuel 30, they come after David and his men. They take his wives, his children. David has to rally the troops, go after them and kills them all except for 400 Amalekites who flee on camels. Then you come to 2 Samuel chapter one. In 2 Samuel chapter one, it says these words. There's an Amalekite, a descendant of Amalek who came to David. And the young man told him, verse six, by chance I happened to be on Mount Gilboa.

The old Saul was leaning on the spear and behold the chariots of the horsemen pursued him closely. We looked behind him. He saw me and called to me. And I said, here I am. He said to me, who are you? I answered him, I am an Amalekite. And he said to me, please stand beside me and kill me for agony has seized me because my life still lingers in me. So I stood beside him and killed him because I knew that he could not live after he had fallen. And I took the crown which was on his head and the bracelet which was on his arm and I brought them here to my Lord.

Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them. And so also did all the men who were with him. They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan and for the people of the Lord and the house of Israel because they had fallen by the sword. David said to the young man who told him, where are you from? And he answered, I am the son of an alien, an Amalekite. Then David said to him, how is it you were not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed? And David called one of the young men and said, go cut him down.

So he struck him and he died. Died. David said to him, your blood is on your head for your mouth has testified against you saying, I have killed the Lord's anointed. Whatever you do not kill will eventually kill you. Saul did not kill the Amalekites and an Amalekite killed Saul. You see, there is this obliteration, not just of weights, encumbrances and obstacles that are our lives, but every sin which so easily besets us. There is this mortification of sin, this killing of sin, this destruction of sin in our lives that needs to be paramount if we are to run the race with endurance.

If we are to be the kind of people who walk with the Lord and honor the Lord and serve the Lord, it's so very, very important. And so there comes this investigation, then this separation. And then of course, there comes a determination, which says in verse number, the latter part of verse number one, let us run with endurance the race that I said before.

You can't run with endurance unless you separate yourself from those encumbrances and those sins. You just can't. You'll be hobbled all along the path of the race. And you must rid yourself of those things. There needs to be a fixation, fixing our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despised the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that he's being consideration, a calculation who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Why is it in our walk with the Lord, we get so wearisome, so tired, we grow weary and lose heart? It goes back to the fact that there's not a thorough investigation of those people who've gone before us. There hasn't been a thorough separation of those encumbrances, those weights, and the sin which so easily besets us. And there certainly isn't a determination to run with all that I have, because there's a fixation upon Christ himself. And because there's no consideration of all that Christ has done, his person, his work, his passion, I lose heart.

And we can't afford to lose heart and be the kind of people God wants us to be, not just in our church, but in our families, with our wives and with our husbands. Number two, or letter P, purify your mind and heart daily.

Purify your mind and heart daily. This is something that I think is so important. As a man thinks within himself, so is he. Proverbs chapter 23 tells us. Proverbs chapter four tells us, guard your heart, for out of it flow all the issues of life, right? So we need to purify our mind and heart daily, not weekly, but daily. Daily. How do you do that? Number one, you pour yourself into the scriptures.

You saturate yourself with the word of God. This is where it begins. Colossians 3.16, let the word of Christ be at home in your hearts. Don't let the word of God become a stranger to your heart. Let it be at home in your heart. Bible says in Psalm 119, wherewithal shall a young man keep his way pure? By taking heed to the word of God. That word I have treasured in my heart, that I might sin against thee, the psalmist says. So I treasure God's word in my heart, so I don't sin against the Lord. It's very important to realize that as I pour myself into the scriptures, the scriptures then are at home in my heart.

And with the meditation upon that scripture, and the memorization of that scripture, it keeps me on a pure path. John 15, verse number three.

You've been made clean through the word that I've spoken unto you. You're cleansed through the word of God. John 17, 17. Sanctify them in truth, for your word is truth. We are set apart. We are sanctified by truth. There needs to be the pouring of our lives into the word of the living God. Coming to church on Sundays, not enough. It's a great place to start. You gotta start someplace, right? But you gotta pour yourself into the scriptures. You gotta saturate yourself with the word of God. It must be a part of your everyday life.

Was it, I think it was Charles Spurgeon who said that dusty Bibles lead to dirty lives. So true. We pick up our Bible on Sunday, and then we don't open it the rest of the week. But you need to be in the word of God. Over in 1 Peter chapter one, Peter tells us why we're not. 1 Peter chapter one, he says, or excuse me, chapter two, verse number one.

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow and respect the salvation. Do you want to know why you don't long for the pure milk of the word? Because there's just too much malice and wickedness in your life. That's why. There's too much deceit in your life. Too much hypocrisy. Too much envy, selfishness, jealousy. Too much slandering, unkindness. Peter says, you gotta lay all that stuff aside.

You gotta strip all that off. And the reason you don't long for the pure milk of the word is because those things have taken priority in your life. Sin has taken first place.

And you gotta get rid of those things so that as a newborn babe longs for the pure milk of the word, that you too will long for the truth of God's word. So you may grow and respect the salvation. But you gotta pour yourself into the word of God. That's where it begins. Number two, you have to understand the choice in temptation.

This is where my whiteboard comes into play. You have to understand the choice in temptation. The reason our minds are not purified and our hearts are not purified on a daily basis is because we make the wrong choice. We make the sinful choice. But you don't have to. You can always make the right choice because there's no temptation taken to you such as come into man, 1 Corinthians 10, 13. So whatever temptation you have is a common temptation. You're not on an island all by yourself and you're having a temptation that no one has ever experienced before.

No, it's come into man. And God always provides a route of escape. You just don't wanna take the route. And so turn with me to the book of Jeremiah.

We gotta go quickly. Book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter one. It says in verse number 16, God says, I will pronounce my judgments on them concerning all their wickedness whereby they have forsaken me and have offered sacrifices to other gods and worship the works of their own hands.

He goes, Israel has forsaken me. Why has Israel forsaken God? Why would they have done that? He says in verse four, or verse five, what injustice did your fathers find in me that they went far from me and walked after emptiness and became empty? In other words, what is it about your fathers that realize that they can walk after that which is empty and think they're gonna be filled? And they forsake me. They did not say, where is the Lord who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through the land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought and of deep darkness, through a land that no one crossed and where no man dwelt.

I brought you into a fruitful land to eat its fruit and its good things, but you came and defiled my land. In my heritage, you made an abomination. The priest did not say, where is the Lord? And those who handle the law did not know me. The rulers also transgressed against me and the prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that did not profit. Think about that. They walked after that which was no profit to them, was no benefit to them. Therefore, I will yet contend with you, declares the Lord, and with your sons, sons, I will contend.

He says this in verse 11. Has a nation changed gods when they were not gods? In other words, did the Canaanites ever forsake Baal? No. Did the Canaanites ever forsake Ashtoreth? No. Did the Babylonians ever forsake Marduk? No. But, he says, my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. In other words, but my people have exchanged the true and living God for gods that do not profit. The pagans are more committed than you are. The pagans are more committed to their false god than you are to the true God.

So he says in verse 12, be appalled, O heavens, at this, and shudder, be very desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. He says, evil is defined when you seek to be filled outside of me. That is evil. Be appalled, O heavens. Be astonished at this, that my people have sought to be filled and to find joy outside of me. So they've dug for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that hold no water, none whatsoever, and think that they can be satisfied, but they can't.

And so, the Lord says, when you delight, in something other than me, you become an idolater, because somethings take precedence over me. He says in verse 17, have you not done this to yourself, by your forsaking the Lord your God, when he led you in the way? In other words, would a bride leave her bridegroom? But you did. Verse 19, your own wickedness will correct you, and your apostasies will reprove you. Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God, and the dread of me is not in you, declares the Lord God of hosts.

Remember Saul? Why did he sin? Because he didn't fear the Lord, he feared the people. Why did Israel sin? Because they were living in the fear of the Lord. He was not their dread. Isaiah eight, verse number 13, for the Lord God of Israel, he shall be your fear, he shall be your dread. But they did not fear him. Why? Well, simply this. Everybody comes to a point in their life where there is an emptiness in their lives. And they feel it one of two ways. Either this way, or this way. One of two ways.

You have a choice, and you'll make that choice, right? Now, I've done this with you before, but I wanna do it with you again so you understand it, because I think it's very, very important. Why? Because the Lord says they have tried to fill the emptiness of their lives by things that don't matter. Things that are evil. Why? Because they're not filling them with me. They've chosen to go another direction. They've chosen to go, as Hebrews 11 says, right? They've chosen to go the pathway of pleasure.

Thinking that pleasure brings them joy. But it never does. Why? Because Proverbs 14, 12 says, there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death, not life. The path of pleasure is the way of, that seems right unto a man, but it always leads to death, never to life. The way to sin is what? Death. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So Hebrews 11, Moses chose to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin for a season.

He made a choice. The choice was the pathway of pain instead of the pathway of pleasure. Whenever temptation comes, you have one or two choices, pain or pleasure. This is the pathway of obedience. This is the pathway of disobedience, right? Obedience is very painful at times, but Psalm 16, 11, at thy right hand, are pleasures forevermore. So this is the pathway of temporary because this is the pathway of temporary pleasure. It never lasts. It's the passing pleasures of sin for a season, maybe for a day, maybe for a week, maybe for a month, maybe for a year, maybe even five years, but it's only temporary because it never lasts.

Why? Because there is a way it was seen with right unto a man, but the ends of other ways of death, not life. But the pathway of obedience can be painful. Ask Joseph, right? Joseph chose the pathway of obedience, the pathway of pain. He was lied about, thrown to prison, forgotten, right? And he obeyed, but there was great pleasure in his life because he obeyed. He wants me, I will honor, 1 Samuel 2.30. David, on the other hand, chose the pathway of pleasure. Samson, pathway of pleasure, right? And it cost him greatly.

Were they forgiven? Yes, they were forgiven. They were forgiven, but the consequences still remained. And so you must always understand the choice in temptation. There's always a choice. You either choose to obey or you choose to disobey. And in your disobedience, there's gonna be immediate pleasure because sin is pleasurable, or you wouldn't do it, right? Ice cream, peas. Come on, you're gonna choose ice cream. Why? It tastes better. Who wants peas? What's better for you, peas or ice cream? Some would say ice cream, but it's not.

Peas are better. But the bottom line is you choose what you feel like choosing, or you choose based on faith because you walk by faith and not by sight. But every time there is a temptation, when you have this empty feeling, or when you have the decision that you have to make, you have one or two choices. Pain or pleasure. Temporary pleasure or temporary pain. Obedience or disobedience. Those are always your two choices. And when you choose obedience, you will be honored because God will honor you.

Might not always be the easiest way because Moses chose to endure ill treatment with the people of God. He chose that. He chose the pathway of obedience instead of enjoying the passing pleasures of sin for a season. And so you must understand the choice and temptation. But you can't understand the choice unless you pour yourself into the truth of God's Word. Saturate yourself in Scripture so you understand that there is a temptation that's going to come your way that's very common, but yet you can make the right choice because God always provides a route of escape.

The problem is we ignore the route. We decide not to take it. And then we engage in the passing pleasures of sin. You see, it's not rocket science. It's either obey or disobey. Those are your two choices. But if you pour yourself into the Word of God, you can better understand your choice and temptation. And then you come to the next letter which is what? R. And that is you run as fast as you can away from the passing pleasures of sin and run and pursue spiritual virtues. Verse 76, verse 76, verse number 11.

Paul says these words, but flee from these things, you men of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, perseverance, and gentleness. Just flee these things. Fuego, be a fugitive, be a running man. Run as fast as you can. Run away from sin, but just don't run away from sin. Run toward the spiritual virtues of righteousness, gentleness, godliness, faith, perseverance. Run toward those things. You're just not running to run. You're not running for running's sake. You're running because you are running away from sin and you're running toward the spiritual virtues.

And so you must understand the choice in order to make the proper journey. And then you involve yourself in accountability. And of course your best accountability partner is your wife if you're a husband, if you're a man, because she knows you better than anybody else does. You can lie to your pastor, you can lie to your elders, you can lie to your coach, you can lie to your teachers, but you can't lie to your wife. She knows you pretty well. So you involve yourself in accountability so that you know exactly that someone's always going to ask you the tough questions.

Proverbs 27, 17 says, as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs 13, verse number 20 says, he who walks with a wise man will be wise, but he who is a companion of fools will suffer harm. So make sure you hold yourself accountable. If you really want to purify your heart and mind and you're having trouble doing that, put yourself under accountability. If you have to have someone make you be accountable, it's not going to happen. You have to choose accountability because that means you really want to remain clean and pure.

See? So you choose accountability. And then F, fortify your defenses. Fortify your defenses. Each of these could be a sermon in and of themselves. But Ephesians 6 is the armor of God, right? That's how you fortify your defenses. The shield of faith, the belt of truth, the helmet of salvation, sword of the spirit. All those things are so incredibly important. In order for you to fortify your defenses against the wiles of the devil. And then, of course, you yearn for the revelation of Jesus Christ.

That's a very purifying thing. First John 3, he who has his hope in him purifies himself even as he himself is pure.

What's that? That the Lord is going to come again. I love what it says in Psalm 135. Psalm 135. Listen to this, verse 15. The idols of the nations are but silver and gold, the work of man's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak. They have eyes, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not hear. Nor is there any breath at all in their mouths. Now listen very carefully. Those who make them will be like them. Yes, everyone who trusts in them. You understand that? Those who make false idols will be like them because they have fixed their heart and gaze upon them.

They have trusted in them. They will become like them. How much more so is it for us who fix our gaze and our trust upon the true and living God? If so, will we not be like him as well? If pagans become like their false gods who cannot see, who cannot hear, who cannot speak, how much more are we who trust in the true and living God, who fix our gaze upon him, be like him, right? And so in yearning for the return of the Christ, you become more and more like the Christ because you begin to purify yourself as he himself is pure.

And that's how you begin to purify your heart and mind daily. Let me pray with you. Father, thank you, Lord, for tonight, a chance to be in the word, and thank you for the opportunity you give us to look into the scriptures. So much to say, so little time to say it, but we thank you, Father, for the opportunity. And our prayer, Father, is that you would go before us that our lives might truly represent you with all purity and holiness and godliness, seeking to honor you above all else. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.