Choose Right, Choose Now - #223

What hidden, secret life have you been holding on to? Why have you done everything in your power to keep it concealed, to keep it in the dark? Sin thrives in the dark. It exists in the quiet, secret recesses of your heart and mind. That is where it feeds and grows.

Learn more about the ministry of The Purity Coach at  http://www.thepuritycoach.com

Transcript

Psalm 119:105 tells us that “[God’s] word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” What hidden, secret life have you been holding on to? Why have you done everything in your power to keep it concealed, to keep it in the dark? Sin thrives in the dark. It exists in the quiet, secret recesses of your heart and mind. That is where it feeds and grows.

Welcome to The Point of Purity Podcast. A powerful weekly study filled to the brim with the all the tools from Scripture you will ever need to build a lasting life of Biblical purity and godliness. I’m your host Steve Etner – author, National Speaker, Certified Professional Mentor TM and Purity Coach for The Pure Man Ministry and this is Episode #223 entitled “Choose Right – Choose Now.”

Listen to what Jesus said in John 3:19-20. “And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.” 

Can you see yourself pictured in this text? In the past, and maybe even now, as you are listening to this episode, you love the darkness because it has kept your secrets. You hated reading your Bible, making the time to meditate on what you read, praying, worshiping in church, because each and every time you did you felt like a hypocrite, a phony, a fake, and a fool.

Well, it is time to turn the lights on. It is time to come out of the shadows and face the temptations that have been taking you down. I submit that exposing your sin to God’s light is the very thing necessary to dethroning King Me and living in freedom and victory to God’s glory.

Maybe, as you hear this, you feel both excited and terrified. You are excited because you sense a glimmer of hope shining on the horizon. You are terrified because you fear the unknown. King Me has been a “friend” to you. Yes, it has been destroying you; denying the freedom, fulfillment, and satisfaction it’s been promising (dare I say lying to) you; yet giving in to your temptation has felt so, so good. The prospect of killing it off is a bit scary. What will happen? How will you cope?

In John 8 12 Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” It has been said that darkness conceals but light reveals. I like that. The light does not simply reveal your sin, exposing it so it will die, but also fills you with divine warmth and power. This is not just any power, but God’s power (2 Peter 1:3)—the divine power to leave the slain beast of temptation and sin on the battlefield and live a life full of freedom and joy, a life that truly honors and glorifies your Creator, Savior, and Friend.

This is exactly why the apostle John wrote, “This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:5-7).

Think about this: When you play around with your sinful desires you are both being deceived and being a deceiver. You claim to be a Christian, you claim to have fellowship with God; yet when you choose to give in to your temptations, you are choosing to walk in darkness. Your life is a lie, and you are not living by the truth.

John clearly states that when you “walk in the light as he is in the light” two things happen. First, you are in true fellowship with other Christians. In that fellowship we “take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walk” (Psalm 55:14). However, God is clear: “How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness” (2 Corinthians 6:14)? Remember, God is light. Therefore, when King Me is sitting on the throne, you are choosing to walk in darkness. When you choose to walk in the darkness of your sin, you break your fellowship with God and with other Christians.

Second, when you “walk in the light as he is in the light,” you are cleansed from all your sin. You see, walking in the light must of necessity include exposing your sin. Now, before you hit major panic buttons thinking I am about to instruct you to stand up on the platform at church or log on to your social media page and tell the world about your battle with your specific temptations, calm down. That is not what I mean by exposing your sin to the light.

Exposing your sin to the light begins by confessing your sin to God – who is the Light of the World. Talk with God about it. 1 John 1:9 tells us that when “we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Proverbs 28:13 declares that :He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” And in Psalm 32:5 David exclaims “I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.”

Oh my friend, on this journey toward godliness, you must let the light of God’s Word shine deep into the recesses of your heart. You must discover what is at the heart of your struggle. And you must learn the importance of keeping that light on at all times.

Let me remind you once again of what Jesus says in Matthew 6:24. “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other.” Now, if you have followed this podcast for any length of time, what I’m about to share with you may sound familiar. I make no apologies for repeating myself as repetition can be a great teacher.

The first thing I want you to notice in Matthew 6:24 are the words “no one.” No one can serve two masters. It’s what is called an absolute negation, meaning neither man nor woman, not even one. Absolutely, positively no one can serve two masters at the same time. It is not possible. Let me illustrate it this way. Place both your hands directly in front of you, palms up. As you look at your hands, imagine that resting in your left palm is a large rubber ball. Across the front of that ball are letters that spell the words “King Me.” Now imagine that in your right palm you are holding another rubber ball emblazoned across the front with three large letters that spell the word “God”.

Now alternately bounce your hands up and down as if you were juggling. The enemy wants you to believe life is a never-ending juggling act, bouncing between Me and God. Me—God. Me—God. Me—God. Most of the time, I tend to make my life more about King Me than I do God. I definitely need to focus more of my life around being about God and less about me. It’s a daily juggling act. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In Matthew 6:24 Jesus is saying that no one can serve both King Me and God. It is not possible. It will always be either / or.

Instead of holding your hands directly in front of you, fully extend them outward to either side of you (as if you were hanging on a cross) with your palms facing upward. Again, imagine that resting in the palm of your left hand is “King Me” and in your right is “God”.

With your arms fully extended to either side in a fixed position (they stay stationary and cannot move), if you want to look at your left hand, what must you do? You must choose to turn your head to the left. By virtue of the fact that you have turned your head to the left, you have also automatically turned your head away from the right.

If you want to look at your right hand, you must now choose to turn your head away from the left and look at the right. You cannot see both at the same time. Of necessity it is strictly one or the other: right or left, never both.

Now let’s put this illustration alongside Matthew 6:24. “No one can serve two masters, for you will hate one and love the other ...” It is your choice whom you will serve. If you choose to worship and love King Me, you have automatically chosen to hate God because you have turned your back on Him in favor of King Me.

In practical terms, when you choose to give up and give in to your sinful passions and desires you are not just choosing to love yourself, you have also automatically chosen to hate God. You cannot have it both ways.

Jesus goes on to say, “… you will be devoted to one and despise the other.” Again, it is entirely up to you. Your choice. You can choose to despise self, to turn your back on King Me; denying yourself, taking up your cross (Luke 9:23) and turning your whole being to worship and devotion to God. The decision is yours alone to make. Just remember, you cannot serve both.

Only two choices can there be: pleasing God or pleasing me.

(For a deeper look at this principle, read chapter seven of my book Overcoming Temptation: Four Steps to Spiritual Victory.)

OK, I’m going to hit the pause button here until next week’s episode. In the meantime, if you would like to learn more about today’s study, or if you’re interested in learning more about The Pure Man Ministry (what we do to help men across the globe find freedom and victory over sexual sin), be sure to visit our website to see the multitude of resources we’ve made available to you – you can find our website at ThePurityCoach.com     

One of those resources I would like to highlight for you here is the recently updated, 2nd edition of my book entitled “Extreme Mind Makeover: How to transform sinful thoughts and habits into patterns of life pleasing to God.” This newly released 2nd edition is rich with hundreds of Scripture references, scores of practical illustrations, and each chapter now ends with a study guide full of questions and discussion points.

“Extreme Mind Makeover” takes you on a journey through the Bible to examine what God has to say about how your thoughts, words, and actions influence and impact your heart.

If you’ve followed this Point of Purity Podcast for any length of time, then you’ve heard me emphasize the fact that what you think becomes what you do. When you train your mind to think godly thoughts, the things you say and do day in and day out will be godly. On the flip side, when you allow your mind to think sinful, fleshly, ungodly, King Me centered thoughts, the result (your daily attitudes and actions) will be ungodly. So, how do I change the way I think? How do I change the things I do? How do I successfully and effectively guard my heart? This book, “Extreme Mind Makeover” takes you into God’s Word to help you answer those questions.

So, head on over to Amazon.com and purchase your copy of “Extreme Mind Makeover: How to transform sinful thoughts and habits into patterns of life pleasing to God.” today.

And if you have not yet subscribed to this podcast, let me encourage you to do so today so you won’t miss any of our upcoming episodes! So, until next time this is Steve Etner – author, National Speaker, Certified Professional Mentor TM and Purity Coach for The Pure Man Ministry – reminding you that if you are going to glorify God in your everyday living, He must first be glorified in your every moment thinking.