I want to preach, make a Baptist want to shout, praise the Lord.
It's a blessing to be back here. Mount Victory Baptist Church and
I am so encouraged. I got in yesterday from Chicago,
came in right in the middle of the, the ministry training work
workers meeting. And I was so thrilled at the at
not just the number of people, it was a great number.
And I was encouraged by that, but just the spirit behind the
pastor saying, Hey, we want to do something for God and we want
to be a going church, a Church of the green light that that is
a blessing and it's a privilege to be back here.
Now. A year ago when I was here, I
reminded your pastor that he was preaching for us really soon.
I don't know how many of you remember that.
So yesterday I was just joking with him.
I said, now you're going to be a preaching for us next week,
right? You should have seen his eyes.
Like a deer in front of headlights.
He is not on the schedule, but he did come last year.
Brother Johnny came with him and.
But what a blessing they were. Pastor Boots preached for our
anniversary Sunday. We saw people get saved.
We had a full house and the Lord blessed and, and then they
stayed and helped work on our basement, which we were able to
remodel by God's grace and add a new prophets chamber, several
classrooms and a brand new kitchen and just the amazing
amount of help that the men provided that came.
And it is good to have good friends.
It is and it's good to be friends with this church.
And even though we don't see each other often, it's been a
year since I've been here. I've thought about this church,
I've prayed for this church and it is a blessing to just see you
going forward. Don't lose what you have, and
there's many ways that could happen.
We're going to look at some of those ways this week.
But God's given you something. You're special, and by His
grace, you want to hang on to it and stand as we just heard.
Take your Bible, turn with me to Second Samuel, chapter 21.
I want to preach a message
entitled A road riddled with Battles.
A Road Riddled. With battles.
Battles are not fun. There are normally casualties
and not everything that happens in a battle is good, but battles
have to be fought. Certain wars simply must be
waged. And our life.
Be nice if it were different, but God knows what's best for
us. Our life is a road riddled with
battles. If you look out over the
landscape of your life. What I'm saying, I know bears
true and I know you can say Amen to the fact that our life is a
road where it's been battle after battle after battle after
battle, and we are tempted to say when will they stop?
Our life is a road riddled with battles.
As you look at Second Samuel chapter 21, there are certain
parts of the reading beginning in verse #15 that I will
emphasize to coincide with what I am preaching.
And so Second Samuel chapter 21, beginning in verse #15 just to
give you a little bit of background music.
This is towards the end of David's reign.
A lot has been done in his reign.
The Lord's hand has been on the nation.
David has done. Everything in this chapter
because of the Gibeonites to have God's hand, a blessing upon
Israel and we come to chapter 21 verse #15 the Bible says.
Moreover, the Philistines had yet war again with Israel, and
David went down and his servants with him and fought against the
Philistines and David Wax. Faint and Ish bin Binab, which
was one of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear
weighed 300 shekels of brass and weight, he being curded with a
new sword, thought to have slain David.
But Abishai the son of Zuriya, succored him, and smote the
Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David swear unto
him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that
thou quench not the light of Israel.
And it came to pass after this that there.
Was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob.
Then was Shabak I, the Husha Thai Slusaf, which was of the
Sons of the Giant. And there was again a battle in
Gob with the Philistines, where El Hanan, the son of Jared
Girore, Jim of Bethlehem, might slew the brother of Goliath, the
get tight, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.
And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great
stature that had on every hand 6 fingers.
How would you like that? Piano players.
And on every foot, six toes, 4 and 20 in number.
And he was also born to the giant.
And when he defied Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shamaya,
the brother of David, slew him. These four were born to the
giant in Gath and fell by the hand of David and by the hand.
Of his servants. I think from the reading of the
text you can see where I'm going.
There was yet again a battle and again and again what a picture
of our lives. Let's pray as we look at a road
riddled with battles. Heavenly Father, I do thank you
for this conference beginning today.
I thank you for the opportunity for a church to immerse
themselves in Your Word and how special and how good and how
needed that is. Now, Lord, from my part in this
conference, I just want to be a blessing.
And I pray that you would fill me with the Holy Spirit, that I
could preach Your Word, Lord, both to myself and to the
hearers that we would leave today edified, built up in our
faith, challenged and encouraged.
Lord, start this conference off right for your own glory.
Convict our hearts, Lord, save the laws.
Do what you want to do in and through us this week in Jesus
name, Amen. Before the battles, we've just.
Read about again and again and again with the Philistines.
You'll know from the life of David.
There were the battles with Saul against Saul.
Saul wanted to kill him. Battle after battle.
David running, facing the foe, running from the foe, doing
everything he can honor Saul. Yet Saul wanted to kill him.
Before that, the battle against Goliath.
Before that, in David's life, a lion and a bear, his life was a
road riddled with battles. It never got easier.
The battles just kept coming. In this life, we have a road
riddled with battles. Some never get into the battle.
They can't even compare themselves with David.
They don't know what it's like to be marred in the battle, to
have battle scars, to be battle worn.
And I believe that's sad because you miss seeing what God can do
in fighting and winning those battles.
We're supposed to fight our battles.
I need to remind you that the Bible says in Ephesians 610,
finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of
His might. Put on the whole armour of God
that you may be able to stand against the Wiles of the devil.
Spiritual warfare. Now you're kidding yourself.
If you come to a Bible conference at a church that's
dedicated to holding forth the word of life, and you think
there's not going to be spiritual warfare, I guarantee
you all this week the devil's going to be fighting, wanting to
get in our minds and our hearts to keep us away from the truth
that God has for us. Why?
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places. Wherefore take unto you the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil
day, and having done all, to stand.
I love how it was brought forth in our Sunday School lesson
today that that means being armored up before the battle,
but a road riddled with battles. I don't see in the word of God,
in the life of David or anybody else that did anything for God,
that there's a time to coast where you can just put it on
idol and coast through life. We have eternity to rest, and I
look forward to that. But until then, it's a road
riddled with battles, battle after battle.
David won those battles and it seemed like as soon as he won
one, another one came right around the corner.
At the beginning of his life here with the Philistines,
towards the end of his life, it didn't get any easier for David.
Churches like this are being destroyed all the time because
they get too tired of fighting the battles.
It's easier to coast for the next generation.
We have to fight a lot of young people in this church.
We're fighting battles now for them.
I love our country and I, I really love visiting this part
of the country because there's so much rich history here
concerning the United States of America.
We enjoy this land that we have with, I know, all of its
problems, with all of his prosperity and all of its
freedom. We enjoy it because of battles
that have been fought, and these men fought battles not knowing
who we would be or what we would look like, but we enjoy based on
their fighting the fossil, Paul said.
I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course.
I have kept the faith. Paul was faithful to the end.
Churches die when they stop fighting battles.
New things come in. As pastors, we have to be up to
date on on fads that come in because it may not be consistent
with the Word of God. New things, old things, things
that have to be fought all over again and in the ministry is
you. You want to think, man, we
fought that battle a year ago, We fought it five years ago and
we fought it well and we won. Surely we won't have to fight
that battle again. And it comes right around the
corner again. You say, Pastor Lewis, I get
tired of fighting battles. Rest is coming.
It is coming. I believe in heaven and I.
Believe that we have that inheritance up ahead for us.
And one of the things I'm looking forward to is some rest,
but not yet. 2025 was the hardest year of my ministry, and
it's because of what I'm preaching right now.
It just seemed like the battles just kept coming.
Now God is faithful, praise the Lord, and He fights and wins the
battles. But we've got to keep fighting
those battles with God alongside of us.
If you're doing what you should be doing, there's going to be
strong opposition. Now, friend, if you're sitting
here at ease and Zion making sure, as was said in Sunday
school, that the chair doesn't move, if that's all you're doing
and you're not feeling the, the, the, the, the fire of
opposition, then my friend, you've been wavering.
But for those of us that, that are trying to hold the, the
banner high, it's a road riddled with battles.
We face an enemy that does not stop and the devil would love to
bring this church down. He would love to bring this
pastor and his dear family down. He loved to bring.
You down and your children down. Young people.
One of the ways he'll do this is saying let's take a new way,
let's take a new path. Turn with me.
If you would to Jeremiah chapter 6.
Jeremiah Chapter 6 We have an enemy that just doesn't stop.
He's relentless and he wants us to stand not in the new ways,
but in the old ways. Jeremiah Chapter 6, As you're
turning, I've been coming across these passages that remind us
not to remove the ancient landmarks which our fathers have
set. And there's a truth that that
came to me as I was listening to a preaching sermon.
And the pastor said that when you move a landmark in God's
eyes, it's as if you removed it. And we like to say, well, I'm
just moving the landmark a little bit.
God doesn't say not to move it. He says, don't remove it.
If you move it, in God's eyes, you removed it.
And so we see here in Jeremiah chapter 6 verse #16.
Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see and ask for
the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye
shall find rest for your souls. But they said we will not walk
therein. Now young people get that the
good that they were told to remain with the old paths.
And their response was, we're not going to do that boy.
That's today in Christianity, Let it not be the story of
Mountain Victory Baptist Church. The old paths is where we are to
stand. And so we want to stand as was
sung just a moment ago. And when we stand adults, we're
standing for him, but we're standing for those young people
sitting right next to us. Understand that.
So we're not going to accept the new ways.
We don't need to accept the the new culture that contradicts the
Bible. Don't need a set of new
standards. Don't need new music.
Don't need a new. Bible The old paths Turn with me
to Second Timothy chapter 2. Second Timothy, chapter 2.
Paul was in prison waiting to get his head chopped off.
What comes to your mind when you're getting ready to get your
head chopped off? Interesting for Paul it was, I'm
going to keep on standing like a soldier.
Second Timothy chapter 2. These are the last recorded
words of the apostle Paul. He was awaiting execution.
It was imminent. And in Second Timothy chapter 2
verse #3 thou therefore endure hardness.
You got to remember where he was.
Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
No man that woreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this
life, that he may please him who has chosen him.
To be a soldier. When I got to the airport to
come here in Chicago, I noticed something that was interesting.
There were a bunch of sailors all dressed in their, in their,
in their Navy Blues. Did I get that right?
Navy Blues. Any Navy people here?
I hope I got that right. Blues, dress Blues.
All right. But they were dressed and boy, a
bunch of them. I mean, I mean, just dozens and
dozens. And I had never seen that
before. They were definitely going
somewhere and a bunch of them were on my plane coming here and
then others going other places and, and I don't know if they're
getting ready to ship overseas to the the war over there in
Iran, but something was going on.
And I don't know, just seeing all those sailors made me stand
a little taller. There is something in.
There is some, some some. Pride in a good way.
Just man, this is our country and if there's a battle to be
fought, man, every. I'm not trying to get political,
but every president in my lifetime said something had to
be done with Iran. When Barack Obama said something
had to be done with Iran, oh, we've got to deal with Iran.
They can't get a nuclear weapon, OK.
And, and, and, and who's doing something about it?
So it just made me proud, OK, just to see them.
They've been chosen to be soldiers and they're ready for
battle. That needs to be us as
Christians, as soldiers. We can't back down.
We've got to teach these old paths thoroughly enough to our
young people so that they understand them and that they
they learn to not just tolerate the old paths, but value them.
It is not easy. I've been saved for over 30
years and and if the Lord lets me pastor to the end of this
month, I'll be pastor for 18 years.
And those battles have not stopped.
They keep coming. Sometimes you're fighting
several at once. That's interesting.
Some are painful to the core. Some in our eyes seem large, and
of course we need to fight those.
But some seem small and they have to be fought too, or else
you'll lose ground. That you've gained battles in a
world where there's a lion loose, the old devil, a lion
that's playing for keeps, a lion that wants to destroy.
You. If you could just get that in
your mind and in your heart, we're fighting an enemy that
wants to destroy us. And the road of our life will be
a road riddled with battles. What are they #1 the battle for
the Bible, The battle for the Bible.
This battle is brewing. It's brewing.
In, in, in, in what used to be good churches.
Turn with me to Second Peter chapter 1.
I believe it's Satan's distraction to keep us from
winning souls. Anything to distract us.
Anything to get us sidetracked. The battle for the Bible,
though, is one that is worth waging.
The Bible tells us in second Peter chapter one.
Second Peter chapter one verse #21.
The Bible says for the prophecy came not an old time by the will
of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost. There are those that would take
the Bible you have right now out of your hand and replace it with
an easier to read version of the Bible.
That's the problem with Internet preachers, Internet ministries.
They'll have you turning to so many different versions of the
Bible that you will question whether it's even possible to
have the Word of God now. We've seen this for decades
outside of the independent Baptist realm.
At the heart of this is the devil attacking absolute truth.
If you don't know what Bible to use and if there's Bibles that
have verses taken out which effects doctrine, if you don't
know which Bible to use, then where is absolute truth?
There isn't any. Now I know as a pastor it's hard
enough to keep a church unified when you're using the same
Bible, much less everybody out there having a different
version. But now there are some
independent Baptists saying don't use the King James.
One example is Brian Sam's. He's an he calls himself an
independent Baptist. And yet he has published a whole
set of YouTube videos to teach independent Baptist pastors how
to transition their church from the King James to a version
that's easier to read. But please understand that a
church that is fighting the battle for the Bible is, is not
King James by preference, not King James by tradition.
It's not like we're choosing a paint on the wall that this is
off white and, and, and this is a different color.
We'll just pick one that we like.
No, we're talking about the word of God.
And so we're fighting this battle not out of preference,
but out of conviction. Second, Timothy 316 says all
scripture is given by inspiration of God and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction and righteousness. I like what pastor said about
the the book that he said for the book of the the month that
it that it's scholarly yet simple and I want to say what
I'm about. To say is is really profound.
OK, get this. OK, you got to go to the Hebrew
and the Greek to get this ready. If you change words, you change
the meaning. Yeah, you got to go to school to
understand that, right? No, you don't.
If you change the words, you change the meaning.
Don't change the words of God. Deuteronomy 83 says, And He
humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with
manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know
that he might make thee know that man does not live by bread
only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
the Lord doth man live. That's the kind of Bible I want.
I want in every word Bible, not a most word Bible, every word
Bible. Hey, listen to me.
I need all of the words of God that I can get.
Don't take any of them away from me.
Matthew 44 But he answered and said it is written, Man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God. I'm willing to fight that battle
preserve for us in the in a major world language English.
Hey, it's building churches. Hey from from the from the the
hotel with with a church starting to now a church that is
growing and thriving. It didn't take an NIV for God to
bless this church. Lives are being changed in
Chicago and the church is growing and the church is
thriving in Chicago. And we've only preached the King
James from the very beginning. I'm not going to mess with it.
I'm not going to fool with it. You see, I'm not going to try to
alter it. But that battle is going to keep
on coming. Church, what are we going to do?
You're going to hear about some some church, maybe across town
that transitioned and now it's the thing to do.
Why are we still stuck on that King James Version, a road
riddled with battles? Our job is to battle for the
Bible. And the Lord's allowed me to
come here and preach some messages.
I just want you to know right up front, I'm not going to preach
from six different versions of the Bible and then say you pick
the one that you like best. Not at all that that destroys
faith in the Word of God. Why would I want to change
anything about a book that's been properly translated and it
has God's hand on it. This book right here has
everything that you need. We don't need to add to it.
A battle for the Bible #2 the battle for the beginning.
The battle for the beginning. I'm talking about the Genesis
account of creation. This life is a road riddled
with. Battles.
I like Genesis 11. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth, and if we lose the beginning, we'll
lose the rest of the Bible. If we lose Genesis 11 in the
beginning God created, we'll lose John 11.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. For if Genesis falls apart, the
rest of the Bible falls with it. I'm.
Talking about letting evolutionists influence our way
of thinking. In their so-called scholarly
language. Churches not battling millions
and millions of years. That's what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about churches not battling monkeys into men and
not properly equipping our young people with answers so that they
can fight that battle too. I'm talking about believing that
God created this world in six literal 24 hour periods of time.
They call the opposite science, but God has a different term for
it. Turn with me to First Timothy
chapter 6. First Timothy chapter 6.
Again, they want to call this science, but God calls it
something else. First Timothy chapter 6, verse
#20. Paul wrote to Timothy under
inspiration of the Holy Spirit and said in First Timothy 620 O
Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding
profane and vain babblings and opposition's of science.
Falsely so-called. Falsely so-called science.
OK, which is with knowledge science, but it's falsely
so-called. False science then was a problem
in the 1st century and it's a problem now.
And I'm thankful there are some para para church organizations
that have done a really good job.
Ken Ham with with of course, the the Ark Encounter and and and
and and the Creation Museum. I don't know if you've been to
visit those. I would definitely suggest it
and was there with our Christian School and Ken Ham just happened
to be there and we took a picture with him and I got to
meet him. That was enjoyable.
But please understand that these para church organizations were
never called or equipped to fight all of these battles at
the same time. The local church is for that.
And we need to be involved in this battle.
And so we need to get the knowledge that we need.
There is knowledge available so that we can defend a young
earth, so that we can defend Noah's flood.
People will say, yeah, I believe Noah probably existed.
Do you believe in a global flood?
No, I don't believe in that. Why doesn't man want to believe
in a global flood? The fossil record proves it.
Why doesn't man want to believe in a global flood?
Because it points back to a creator that they're accountable
to because of sin. You see, and also Noah is a
wonderful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
And that ark is a picture of salvation.
That ark is is Christ. It has one door, and if we enter
in by the door, we can be saved. Of course, the world wants to do
away with Noah. Millions and millions of years
is of the devil, you say. But I've been to university and
that's what they told me. You're wrong and they're wrong.
And and and. Millions and millions of years
is of the devil, you say? What about dinosaurs?
God created dinosaurs with all the other animals on the 5th and
6th day of creation and and and praise the Lord for the animals.
But after the flood, conditions for survival were slim and
different, radically different. Because of that.
Dinosaurs aren't here today, but they existed, right?
Along with man, children are being raised up in churches
where this is not emphasized. It's not emphasized.
They're seeing pictures, little cartoon pictures of Noah's ark
and there's 17,000 animals on an ark this big.
And it's, and it's making the kids laugh, but it's not
reinforcing the truth of the Bible, you see.
And then and we, we teach them that in Sunday school with our
little slides and elucidations and, and, and, and coloring
sheets. And then they go to the public
school and get pounded with the ideology against God's Word.
It's a road riddled with battles.
The battle for the Bible, the battle for the beginning.
And then third, the battle for the blood.
The battle for the blood. I was encouraged in Sunday
school. When we sang about the blood,
that was a blessing. And biology.
We're taught to beware when the body starts losing blood, right?
Yeah. It took science a while to catch
up with the Bible that the life of the flesh is in the blood.
George Washington, when he got sick, they said let's do some
bloodletting. And he kept saying take out some
more, take out some more, and he died.
Beware when the body starts losing blood.
We should apply that to the local church.
Let's beware when the body of Christ does not emphasize the
blood of Christ. Songs like Power in the Blood,
There is a fountain filled with Blood, Are You Washed in the
Blood? They're they're sung in some
places, but they're getting more and more and more rare.
And as new songs are being written that are focusing on
worship and praise, even the good ones, a lot of them aren't
mentioning the blood, mentioning the cross, mentioning
redemption. But blood.
We sang it when we sang in the morning service about the old
rugged cross stained with blood. So divine.
We're to speak of the blood, not to hesitate to speak of the
blood of Christ. There's a battle for the blood.
I mentioned something about John MacArthur a year ago in a
different message, and his teachings have something to do
with the battle for the blood. He said this in 1976, quote, it
is not his bleeding that saved me, but his dying.
And I know there's a lot of people out there that have
appreciation for John MacArthur, but I take issue with that
statement based on Hebrews 922, which says without the shedding
of blood is no remission. John MacArthur worked very hard
over the years to try to clarify his position and and he he did
it by essentially saying the bleeding was necessary.
Yes, it was for atonement that he shed his blood.
But I am opposing those who say that there is some special
property in the blood itself. I don't know what you believe,
but I believe that that blood was divine.
And I believe that there is something different about the
blood of Christ and my blood, you see.
And so the battle for the blood rages.
The Bible says in first Peter 118 For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things, that's
silver and gold from your vain conversation, received by
tradition from your Father's, but with the precious blood of
Christ. As of a lamb without blemish and
without spot. The blood of Jesus is the blood
of God. Acts 2028 says, Take heed
therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over the which
the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of
God, which he had purchased God, which he going back to God had
purchased with his own blood. And there is that false teaching
that it wasn't his blood that saves us, that it's only his
death. But the Bible says it was
necessary that both his death be accomplished by the violent
shedding of blood. And death and blood are not the
same thing. The battle for the blood.
Will we battle for the blood? Will we keep singing songs about
the blood? Will we keep pleading the blood
of Jesus as the only thing that can wash us of sins?
Man, I want to battle for the blood.
There is power. I think about my own life, some
of you read Not Forsaken, and I think about where I should be
today, which is dead or in jail. And I think about how my life
was dead in brother. There's power, power, wonder,
working power in the blood of the Lamb.
It is the blood of Jesus. Christ that can wash away your
sins. It is the only thing that is
efficacious to make you fit for heaven.
And we better be willing to draw the sword for the blood.
Friend. There's a battle for the Bible.
There's a battle for the beginning, there's a battle for
the blood and then forth there's a battle for the body.
The battle for the body. This is really a battle of our
day. Turn with me to 1st Corinthians
chapter 6. We know that the church at
Corinth was tolerating open fornication.
It wasn't just that it happened and that it shouldn't have
happened. The issue that Paul raised his
pen on was that it was open and tolerated by the church.
First Corinthians chapter 6 teaches us that there's a battle
for the body, and we need to take this battle to our churches
and keep fighting it. First Corinthians 618 Flee
fornication. The Bible's too hard to
understand man. We've got to get that ESESV in
here, that NIVKEYMOUSC. We got to get that in here
because it's too hard to understand.
Flee fornication. Flee.
Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that
committed fornication sinneth against his own body.
What know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost,
which is in you, which you have of God, and ye are not your own,
for ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's fornication.
What is it? It is that intimate relationship
outside of the bonds of marriage.
My preaching right now for just a few moments will be part of
our battle for the body. It is always a blessing to see a
couple that that is in their courtship.
They're Christian dating and they're wanting to do it right,
and they're wanting to stay true to the.
Lamb and and be clean. This will always be a sinful and
wicked world. This battle for the body was
raging in Corinth, and it's raging in 2026.
There will not be a time when your pastor should not preach
against fornication. That time will not come.
It will not be a battle that is fought. 1 And then he can relax
and back off from it for 5 or 10 years.
No, no, no, no. It is a road riddled with
battles. And if you don't think that you
need strong preaching about moral purity, then you're
exactly who needs it, friend. A road riddled with battles.
If we're neutral on this sin, we've lost the battle.
And I want to contend today that we need to be against and battle
against anything that could lead to fornication.
There is a danger in touching before marriage.
Now come on. Every bout against fornication
started where with touching and the same God that says don't
fornicate says don't touch. We just need to not be stupid OK
and play around with sin. I know chaperone dating is old
fashioned, but it's wise pornography.
David said. I will set no wicked.
Thing before my eye. We're having a conference in
just a few weeks. Pray for our church at the
beginning of April. We're having a church wide
conference on purity, the pornographic age and victory in
Christ. And we're designing and, and
praying and working towards a conference that is not a, a, a,
a conference to reform people or some type of type of an
addictions program, but for the family.
And, and the messages will be geared in such a way that it can
be for a mixed crowd. It's for anybody that that says
I'm just tired of the filth of this world and I want Bible
truth to help me either get right or stay right.
And churches are not getting out in front of that sin, OK, and
having ministries to deal with that.
And it's very, very, very unwise because it's in our churches.
Friend, notorious murderer Ted Bundy said after spending a long
time in prison. He was interviewed, he said.
I've spent a long time in prison and every murderer he could
point to said that part of the urge to kill and rape.
Without exception, every one of them was deeply involved in
pornography. Mighty men around us Falling
courage almost. Gone will anyone battle for the
body, which is God's two because we're bought with a price.
See how all of things these work together.
By the way, battle for the body, the passage says we're bought
with a price. What is that that price?
The blood of Jesus Christ. What do we read that from the
Bible itself? If we, if we, if we miss one of
these. Battles.
We miss them all, friend. Transgenderism.
We have a sign at Cornerstone Baptist Church, right?
We have a men's bathroom here, a ladies bathroom here, and a big
plaque that we had made-up in the middle that says these
words. Our bathrooms are only for those
whose birth anatomy matches the word on the outside of the
bathrooms. Not what you say or think or
feel. You are.
Violators will be expelled. We live in a day and age where a
little. Boy.
Can be transitioned and a government that says the parents
ought not to know and a church that's quiet.
We need to battle for the body. Modesty is in this battle God.
And I was so appreciative of the, again, the workers meeting
yesterday where that was emphasized to the workers in the
church. And what a blessing to have a
church that wants to say, hey, God's word says, if you're a
Christian, don't you think you ought to dress so other people
know you're a Christian too? Praise the Lord, it's a battle
and it needs to be fought. There's a battle for the Bible,
the beginning, the blood and the body.
I want to give you one more in this life, which is a road
riddled with battles, there is a battle for brokenness, a battle
for brokenness, and what I mean by that is brokenness over sin.
Boy, the Sunday School lesson today on King ASA was so good.
It was so convicting and as he talked about Asa's life and and
even what led to his destruction and in the end, his compromise.
In the end, was there any, anything in your heart that made
you broken over anything? My friend?
When we lose our brokenness over sin, then we're going to be in
position to let go any of these other battles.
Brokenness over sin precedes revival.
Turn with me to Hosea chapter 10.
Hosea, Chapter 10. You can have all of the others,
right? You can be willing to fight all
those other battles that I just gave, but but if you fail here
friend, then then then you'll lose the rest.
The battle for brokenness. In Hosea Chapter 10, we have a
farming illustration which is very important to help us
understand revival. Hosea Chapter 10 verse #12 Hosea
10/12 The Bible says sow to yourselves and righteousness,
reap in mercy. Break up your fallow ground, for
it is time to seek the Lord till they come and reign
righteousness upon you. I'm not a farmer, I'm not the
son of a farmer, and I don't have much of A green thumb, but
I understand that there are two types of ground.
There is fallow ground that is ground which is undisturbed.
It is ground that if you, if it could talk and if you could
interview it, it would say, I'm proud of my stability.
But it's full of cracks and it never sees new growth.
And there's another ground. It is the cultivated ground.
It is the ground that is broken up.
It is disturbed. And that, that that plow comes
in and it's noisy and it's disruptive and it breaks things
up and, and, and listen, it causes a little bit of chaos in
the ground. But by that chaos can come new
growth when something is planted in the same way, there are two
types of Christians. There is the ground, the
Christian that is fallow ground. He's proud that he's
undisturbed. He tolerates the pastor's
preaching. He's there and he's content.
Just leave me alone. At least I'm here.
I'm not going anywhere. You can count on me to be
stable, but there's no new growth.
And then there is the Christian, hear me, friend, that will come
to a Bible conference like this and say, I know that I'm not
everything that I ought to be, but I want to see God do some
things. And I'm even willing to welcome
the plow. And you let that plow come, men,
and start tearing things up. And the Word of God, the seed of
God's word drops on that cultivated land.
And God can do something, Friend, there is a battle over
brokenness. There is a, there is a precious
record in God's Word of men and women who got to the end of
themselves and they were broken hearted because of their sin.
And God forgave them, restored them, and made them even greater
for His glory. I think of Peter, didn't Peter
mess up big time and denying his Lord?
But there came a point where he wept bitterly and it wasn't
weeping like Judas who was just remorseful.
Peter was repentant and then we see him on the day of Pentecost.
He had brokenness. Today.
People want to hide their sin, cover up their sin.
Boy, I would I would suggest Psalm 51 reading that for this
conference. David broken by his sin with
Bathsheba says have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy
loving kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies blot out my transgressions.
This is a precious chapter. As a bus kid, I went to this
chapter dozens and dozens of times when I would mess up and I
come to God maybe hanging around with a bad friend that I
shouldn't have been God convicting my heart.
He says in verse 2, Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me against thee the only have I
sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be
justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my
mother conceive me. Behold, thou desire is truth in
the inward parts and in the hidden part.
Thou shalt make me to no wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I
shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me to hear joy and
gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Hide thy face from my sins, and blot on all mine iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit
within me. Cast me not away from Thy
presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation and uphold me with Thy
free Spirit. Then will I teach transgressors
thy ways, and Sinner shall be converted unto Thee.
David says I can't get anybody saved because I'm backslidden,
but once I get right with you and and I have that clean heart,
people would get saved, they'll come to God.
Verse 14 deliver me from blood guiltiness.
Oh God, thou God of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud
of thy righteousness. Man.
It was affecting how he sang. Come the congregational singing
and I just don't feel like singing.
Why? Why?
Verse 15 O Lord, open down my lips and my mouth shall show
forth thy praise. Thou desirous not sacrifice,
else I would give it now delight.
It's not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a
broken spirit. That's verse 17, a broken
spirit. That's what David had here, and
a broken, a kind of contrite heart.
O God, thou will not despise. Do good and thy good pleasure
undesign, build out of the walls of Jerusalem.
Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
with burnt offering and whole burnt offering.
Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.
That's a broken man. Those are the words of a broken
man. Do you get broken over your sin?
There can be no revival without a brokenness.
There is a need to be broken for revival.
And I'll tell you one way to approach a conference like this
is this. God break me.
You know my heart, you know my mind, you know my ways.
God's ready to forgive. Stay in the church where you
hear the type of preaching that that, that, that that cultivates
A brokenness. OK, conviction.
The Lord's ready to forgive. Let me ask you a question.
When was the last time you were broken hearted over your sin?
When was the last time you? Expressed it in wording.
OK. David took words to express his
brokenness. It was real.
Will you let him break you? Not just one battle in this
life. It'd be good if we could say 1
and done. It's not reality.
There's something fleshly inside of every one of us that would
like to fight a battle and then coast.
The battles are hard, but after all, aren't we soldiers?
I cannot close this message without reminding you of the one
who said he would fight the battle for us.
He is the God of battles and he will fight and win the battle,
but he wants to empower you as a soldier to get it done.
He uses soldiers. Pastor.
Amen. Let's stand our seats with our
heads bowed and our eyes closed. You know, that's that's you're
used to it, but that's hard preaching.
But it's not something that we need to apologize for because
it's in the Bible. And I say this all the time, but
why are you here if you don't want to know what you need to
change and what you need to do better and what God wants us to
change and how God wants us to do better, right?
And there may be some things that you've never heard before.
There may be some things that are hard for you to hear.
Pick one of them. Take one thing that God spoke to
your heart about and work on it like God continue to work on
your heart, right? We want to be closer to him.
I don't think there's anybody in here that would raise their hand
and say, I don't want to be closer to God, right?
I think if I asked, everybody would raise their hand and say
that. And everybody's in a different
place. Some people have been Christians
a long time. You've had a long time to mature
as a Christian, and you might be farther along than somebody else
in your Christian walk, but that battle's coming back and you're
going to have to fight it again and fight it again and fight it
again. We have another generation
that's coming up behind us, and they need to hear it.
They need to see us fighting. They need to see us standing.
They need to, they need to know that we're not giving it up just
because the battle gets tough or just because it gets hard.
But I think it all comes down to exactly what he said in that
last point. It's brokenness.
God's going to break you sometimes, but that's what we
need in order to grow. You cannot grow without being
broken. You cannot see new growth in
your life without that field being plowed up.
God has to do that, and it's an amazing thing when he does it
and you respond to it and you see the growth.
It gives you strength to keep battling the other things that
the devil's going to put in your way, right?
It's important, it's important. Father, we thank you so much for
the message this morning. May you speak to our hearts and
where decisions need to be made. God, I pray that we'd make those
decisions this morning. That would be pleasing to you.
Thank you again for all you do for us in Jesus name, Amen.
As the piano plays If God spoke to your heart this morning.