This is the Will of God： Santification

I like what you shared, brother. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for your many blessings. Thank you that we can be together again. I pray you would take us further and that we would go deeper, spiritually speaking, that we wouldn't stay the same, and that our love for you and our love for the lost would grow. I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You know, Brother Lane, you were sharing about this guy and his smoking and how it's so disturbing and all these different things. And then I think of how the Lord maybe views us when we come out and we reek of pride and it must be a terrible smell like marijuana to his nose, but somehow he endures with us because he sees something of value there. He's able to look past, you know, the fact that we're still but mere men and that we're still carnal and that we're still trying to find our way and we still have this in our lives in some measure. You know, that area of pride is something that we're going to battle with for as long as we live. We want to overcome it. I heard Brother Zach say that it can be like an onion and you want to get thinner and thinner. You want to whittle it down, but then all of a sudden somebody rubs you the wrong way and all of a sudden, you know, you respond. And we respond from pride. Even if we're defending truth, we can respond from pride, you know, because we know we're right and we can do it the wrong way. And just like disciplining our children, we can be right, but we can discipline them in a wrong way and it can be wrong. And so it's good for us to get light on ourselves. I was sharing not too long ago about, you know, you talked, John, about this word resetting what you know. You know, when we come to the Lord, it's like the people on the Titanic. They don't know what's going to happen, but they see that there's this iceberg. Maybe it was in the dark and you can see this iceberg. And you think, well, surely we've got a strong ship, this iceberg, we can handle this. It's indestructible. But you don't see that there's 90% is underwater. What you know is the 10% that you can see, but you don't see the 90% that God sees. And he knows that the destruction isn't going to come from that which is seen on top, it's going to come from that which is beneath. And so the Lord has a plan, not just to deal with the stuff that we see above the water, but to deal with that which is unseen. You know, you can easily take a package of cigarettes and throw it in the garbage. But how are you going to deal with unforgiveness? How are you going to throw away anger? Are you going to get rid of envy or retaliation, wanting revenge? Or bitterness? How are you going to get, how are you going to throw bitterness in the garbage? These are things that you can't do. You might get a conviction to smash your videos and get rid of your music and to deal with the stuff that you can see. But the stuff that is unseen, God has to do it. He has to bring the victory. And so we've just scratched the surface to this word called sanctification. Sanctification is God setting us apart for a purpose. When I first came to the Lord, I knew that God had called me out of darkness into the light. I didn't know what it was going to look like. And so I grabbed my fat Bible and I thought I was going to go everywhere and start to share wonderful things because I had such a passion for Jesus. And I knew the love of God because he should have destroyed me and have mercy on me. And then I read something about the fear of the Lord. And I said, ah, fear of the Lord. I don't understand these things. I only know the love of God. He should have killed me and he had such mercy on me. And now every time I read something about his word, I start weeping. How could he could love a sinner, a wretch, unclean like me? How marvelous and wonderful his love for me. And I said, this fear of God, Lord. And I said out loud, Lord, if there's anything about this fear of God you want to show me, because I don't believe in it. I believe it's Old Testament thing. Then you have to show me. You have to teach me. And that night I had a dream. And in the dream, we were at a man's breakfast. And there was lots of men, hundreds of men. It was like a full gospel businessman breakfast. We used to have those in those days. And all of a sudden, it was my turn. I felt and I stood up and I started to speak. I had something to say. And I started speaking. And another man stood up and started speaking while I was still speaking. And I heard a voice say to me, sit down and be quiet. Listen to this man. And I remember sitting down in my dream being so offended. Why is this guy so rude? I had lots to say. But again, to realize after many years of walking with the Lord, I didn't have the content. I had lots to say, but I didn't have the knowledge. And then I stopped being offended. I thought I better listen to what this man has to say in my dream. And this man was sitting across from me at the table. And I recognized him. He was an older gray haired man. And he said, brothers, he was speaking to all of us. And he was specifically speaking in front of me. He said, the Lord revealed unto me that we have tons of garbage in our lives. In fact, he said seven tons, which is kind of like a complete number. And I was thinking, you know, my life has been up to that point, complete garbage. I've been sowing to the flesh. I've been living like a devil. And now I found repentance. I found grace. But the Lord is trying to tell me that I need to deal with the garbage one ton at a time. In other words, in a big way, start clearing up your old life. And so my past life was full of seven tons of garbage. And now the Lord doesn't want me to deal with five pounds at a time or 10 pounds at a time. He wants me to deal with the garbage one ton at a time. In other words, let's get serious about dealing with things that we know are not right, that part of the iceberg that we can see. And then all of a sudden, I seen the man's face began to, he began to tremble, he began to shake, his face began to distort in a strange way I'd never seen. And he opened his mouth. And out of his mouth, I knew what he was going to say, thus saith the Lord that what they used to say at the end of a prophecy, thus saith the Lord. But when he opened his mouth to say thus saith the Lord, I heard the voice of God from about three, four feet away from from me. And it was a three chord tone that I can't repeat. Because when I get close to those tones together, like a train has like a two, two notes blast, it was three chord specific. And when I heard it, it was like nuclear fusion. I knew that I was undone. I knew I was finished. And I flew back, vaporized on my chair, everyone was vaporized. I didn't understand it. And when I woke right out of the dream, and I was thrashing like I was having a seizure on my bed. And I tried to hide under my my mattress, not just my sheets. I wanted to hide from this voice. It was so exceedingly terrifying. And I for the next three or four hours, at least I took a hot shower, then I was still shaking from this voice. And then when I would see it was like kind of like the tone I couldn't. And then I would weep and weep. And then I would shake. And then I drew a hot bath. And I sat in there hiding in the bubbles. And I had work, I had to go to work. And I was there by myself. And I was rebuking this the devil in Jesus name, get behind me. And I thought it was from the enemy. I wasn't sure. And finally, I was able to calm down enough where I could walk without shaking. And then I went to work. And I did those jobs that I had to do for the day where I was self employed building homes. And then I was thinking all day about this voice. And I said, Lord, I want to know if this is from you, or this is from the devil. Because I can't go on if I don't know what this is all about. And I said, Lord, I, I need to get the garbage out of my life. How do I know what garbage? I don't even know the 10 Commandments. I used to teach Sunday school. I don't even know the 10 Commandments. Where would I find that? Boom. I open up to Exodus 20. Just open my Bible. Is that Exodus 20? I want to read from Exodus 20. It was exactly the 10 Commandments. I said, okay, Lord, I want to know these things that I have to cleanse myself of. I want to get clean. Then the Lord spoke these words, Exodus 20 and verse one, I am the Lord, your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And I would just tremble when I would read this. You shall have no other gods before me. So I start repenting. I'd already been free. I had the joy of the Lord already for a few weeks. I start repenting, Lord, I've been loving money. I've been serving other gods. Forgive me, have mercy on me, help me. And then I would just go through and I'd start confessing, start renouncing, getting conviction, and, and go through all these things. And when I got through to the end of all these commandments, as I was praying and reading and trembling, thou shalt not covet your neighbor's donkey in verse 17, nor your neighbor's servant, nor your neighbor's house or your neighbor's wife or anything that your neighbor has. I said, Lord, I've done these things. I've been envious of people who've been successful and, and have things I don't have. And I repent of these things. I want to be content with what I have. You've blessed me so much. And then I read in verse 18, and it says, then all the people witnessed the thunderings and the lightnings and the flashes on this mountain. And it says, and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they were trembling and they stood far off. And I thought the sound of the trumpet. I said, I wonder if that's what I heard in my dream. Because the people were exceedingly terrified and they were backing away from this mountain because they, the Lord wanted to meet with his people. They told them to sanctify, Moses told them to sanctify themselves because God wanted to speak with them. He wanted to speak with them. He used to speak with Moses as a man speaks with his friend. And he wanted to talk to his people in the old covenant. And the people came to the mountain. He put barricades up so they didn't get any closer. And all of a sudden there was this thundering and lightning on the mountain. And then there was the sound of a trumpet blast and the people were exceedingly terrified. I pushed my Bible away at the time. I said, Lord, could it be what I heard the voice of God? And I started to weep when I thought of the sound and I heard the trumpet and I, and then I pulled my Bible back and I kept reading. And it says, and they trembled and they stood far off. They backed away from the voice of God. And then they said to Moses, you speak with us and we will hear, but let not God speak to us lest we die. Then I pushed my Bible away and I started to weep and I started to tremble. And I realized the sound that they heard of the trumpet on the mountain was the voice of God that they were hearing. And they couldn't endure the words that were being spoken. Because God is holy. He is a consuming fire. He is like a nuclear fusion. The word of God spoke planets and stars and galaxies into being. How much power is there? And then I started to think this dream maybe was not from the devil at all. This dream was from God. And I need to start to think about getting the garbage out of my life because I have so much joy and I've come to experience the love of God, but now I'm exceedingly terrified and I have a tremendous fear of God. But what is this fear all about? I don't understand. Lord, let's keep reading. And Moses said to the people, do not fear. Well, they were exceedingly as afraid, but Moses told them not to fear. But yet Moses himself was exceedingly terrified. But he said, do not fear for God has come to test you that his fear may be before you. Why? So that you may not sin. So all the people stood off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. Moses was exceedingly terrified, yet he drew near to God while he was trembling because he come to know that the love of God surpasses the heart. The love of God is greater than all these things. And so I want to share this revelation that I got at that time. That the love of God was compelling me to do whatever for God. But there's those days when you get disillusioned with what's going on in your life. And then we do one of these. We get in a carnal mind and we look back. The fear of God is to keep me from going back. It's to keep me from sinning. What if I go back? The love of Christ compels me. The fear of God restrains me from doing things that are evil. And I understood the fear of God that day, that it is very necessary where the scripture says, don't fear him who can kill the body. Don't fear the RCMP who have power to throw you in jail for a lifetime. Fear him who has power that after he's killed the body, can cast you into hell for all of eternity. Fear him. So then I said, Lord, I don't want to just deal with some of my sins. You speak to me and you help me to clean up my life and I will go all the way with you. And all of a sudden, he began every day, he'd give me a conviction. Hey, there's a guy you ripped off over there. I want you to go, whatever's in your pocket, you go and you try and make amends. Hey, there's somebody there that you did them harm and they lost money or they lost their business. You go and you make amends. Hey, you did this and that to your wife and to your family. You go confess and you go make amends where you can. And you just tear down that image that you created for yourself for 30 years. And you let him start from fresh and make you a new creation in Christ. I had to unlearn everything that I learned because my idea of God was like when I get to heaven, I'm going to water ski on the smoothest sea of glass and I'm going to barefoot and I'm going to do all these things and I'm going to golf under par and I'm going to do all these things. It's all a deception. When we get to heaven, we're going to worship Jesus. It's going to be that moment of joy that you experience. It's going to be a million times more inexpressible to be in the presence of Jesus and that love and that joy and that peace. We can walk in that. The love of God, the first love for Jesus, which surpasses knowledge. That is what compels us. There's nothing I wouldn't do for Jesus because of his great love for me. And there's nothing we shouldn't be willing to do if we're holding back and we have to reason through things. Brother, sister, we've somehow left our first love. We're somehow becoming religious now. That's not God's will for our life. I want to read something. Brother John, you mentioned something about you knew about Christ. You believe that he was the son of God, all these things, but you didn't encounter the reading of the word except for the last 72 days. I want to read something from Mark in chapter four. When we were up at the creek, we talked about both Dan and myself. We talked about the Lord working the soil of our hearts and dealing with the weeds so that the good seed can be planted. This is the parable of the sower and the seed. And there's heart conditions here. There's four different types of hearts here that we want to examine. Now, if we look at 1 Corinthians 3, we're not going there, but Paul says that I laid the foundation, another man builds on it. He said, you are God's building. You are God's field. And so when good seed has to go in the ground, the ground has to be tilled and to be made soft so it can receive the seed so a good crop can grow. If you go and sow seed on hard ground or on pavement or on a hard path, nothing's going to grow except the birds will come and eat the seed. So how can the heart be made soft except God send a preacher? And so he sends his preachers to go and preach the word of God. And John Baptist, he came preaching a gospel of repentance. And the people came to the water to be baptized by him. And when they came, they were confessing sins. When you start confessing sins, that is when the heart starts to become soft. But the Pharisees were not confessing sins. They were just there to observe what was going on to find out whether it was from God or not from God. And John Baptist said, you're a bunch of snakes. You're a breed of snakes. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? He said, bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And what does it mean to bear fruits in keeping with repentance? But this, the people came, he was preaching, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And the fruit of it was, they were confessing sins. You want to bear fruits in keeping with repentance, you need to start confessing. And that is when the joy of the Lord came. When you purposed in your heart, you hadn't even gone through with it yet. You don't even know what the consequences are, but you knew that God answered your prayers because the joy of the Lord was your strength. Jonah knew that God answered his prayers because the joy of the Lord came in the belly of that fish. He hadn't been delivered from there yet. John hadn't experienced the consequences of his confession. I hadn't experienced the consequences of my confession, but I knew I was going through with God. The joy of the Lord. When your heart changes, when God changes your heart, you know that there's a deliverance coming, even though you don't see it yet. I said, Lord, I'd love to see some brothers born again. I'd love to weep with sinners and be a part of that. Actually, we got a chance to weep together, you know. And I said, but I'm not seeing it so much, Lord. And he said, your job is to go on to that field that has very, very hard ground and you sink the furrow of that harrow deep down, that plow deep, sink it deep into the earth and put her in full steam and plow. Rip it up and keep ripping until the time runs out. That is your job. Because somebody has to go and rip up the hard ground. Oh, Lord, I'd like to be the one to pick those beautiful peaches and enjoy the fruit of it. It says the hardworking farmer will be the first to partake of the crops. May the Lord give us understanding these things. I said, Lord, I've got that beginning job, you know, like I have an excavator and the beginning of the job is to get a good solid base for the foundation. I don't even get to pour the foundation. I get to dig and prepare the ground for the foundation. And in the same way when I'm preaching, I get to go and prepare the field for the seed. Preaching repentance, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And to be hearing guys confessing their sins. That was John Baptist. And I said, Lord, what a measly job I have. I don't even get to be partaker of all of the fruits and all that. He said, listen, one born of woman, there's none greater than John Baptist of the prophets. He didn't prophesy who you're going to marry. He didn't prophesy, you know, how many children you're going to have or whether you'd take a job in this town or whether you'd go over there and all these different things. He was a prophet none greater. He preached repentance. He said, don't think it a small thing. It's hard work ripping up hard ground. Not everyone can do that job. And he showed me, he prepared me for that. You are an evangelist. John, you are also an evangelist. But the Lord has to do a work in you so that you have something to give. He has to season you. He has to make you the kind of vessel who will weep with people. Don't despise his dealings. Obey early and obey often, and you will fulfill the purpose and call of God on your life. He says many are called, but few are chosen. Let's take heed to these things. Because even though we have a call, let's make our call and our election sure. That's what the scripture says. Here he says, there's four types of soil. Again, he began to speak in Mark in chapter four, verse one, by the sea and a great multitude was gathered to him. So he got into a boat. He sat in it on the sea. The whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. Then he taught them many things by parables. He taught them by parables in stories. And he said to them in his teaching, listen, a sower went out to sow his seed. And it happened as he sowed that some seed fell by the wayside, that's hard ground on the path. And the birds came and they ate the seed and devoured it. And he said, and some seed fell on stony ground where it did not have much earth. And immediately it sprang up. But because it had no depth of earth, when the sun came up, it was scorched because it had no root, it withered away. Now this is another type of a heart. There's some who when we hear they hear the preaching of repentance, they hear the gospel, the good news, their hearts are hard. It doesn't even faze them. Some of them, I see them falling asleep up at the creek, when the preaching is there, they don't hear anything. But then there's some people who receive it, and they come and they repent, and they get some joy. But then they fizzle so quickly. They're good for a few days, short period of time, then they get a call, something went sideways, and then they go all off the rails. And you wonder what happened. They received the word of God on rocky soil. Brother, sister, when we were growing up there on Radnor Road there, my cousin there, their property, they would go through and they would till up the ground with the plow. And then all the family would go out there. I thought, what are they doing? And they would go and pull all the rocks out of the soil. And then they would go in again, and then they would plow the ground. And then they would see all these stones coming against it. Where are these stones all coming from? And they would go and they would spend weeks in the fall preparing and getting the stones out after the harvest time. Every year, they were pulling out more and more stones, so that in the spring, it was ready to go. And that's a picture of God wanting to deal. You know what people can receive the word of Godness, but then you know what? Court's coming. Oh, I got to get out of this. I got to get out of this. I don't understand this. They're right. Rather than saying, Lord, these are things from my past I need to deal with. Clear out the stones out of my heart. I want to trust in you. I want to be totally dependent on you. All of a sudden, somebody makes you upset. You get angry with authority. And it's like, Lord, I have resistance to authority in my life. Lord, deal with these stones in my life. I want the word of God to grow roots in my life. I want to become a tree firmly planted by the river of water, bringing forth fruit in season. And in the year of drought, I want my leaf to be green. I want to have the joy of the Lord when everything around me is not going well. There's no life. That happens because you're willing to deal with the stones. He said he went and he sold seed on stony ground. The word of God fell on stony ground because the men have not been ready to deal with the issues that are in the heart. Maybe they see a couple things on the iceberg there, but they're not prepared to start dealing with the garbage one ton at a time. They're not willing to get the stones out. And so they get all joy of the Lord. And then it seems as though they fall over in a small wind. That can't happen to us. We have to take heed to the things that we've heard lest we drift away or we fall over. So say, Lord, whatever it is you've got to do in me to make me a vessel so that I can be used to view because I have a purpose to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to those in prison houses, freedom to those who are captive, to proclaim life and liberty, the acceptable year of the Lord, the year of jubilee, the year of freedom. That happens when we're willing to go through with God ourselves. Then we can share a testimony of what Jesus has done. You can share about facing your Esau's and say, God help me and he will help you. But go through with God. Sometimes you say, oh, like Jacob, I try to cut a deal. I'll send some gifts. I'll make a bribe. I'll plea bargain. I'll make a deal. Say, Lord, I'm at your mercy. I swindled. I've been a swindler. I've been a deceiver, a supplanter, Jacob was. I stole the birthright, the blessing. And now Esau's coming with 400 men. Lord, all I have is you. I'm walking with a limp now because I've been fighting you. Here I come. Leave it to God. His mercy endures forever. His anger is but for a moment, but his mercy endures forever. Then he goes on to speak about another type of a ground. And some seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and they choked the good seed and it yielded no crop. It brought no fruit to maturity. Here's a man who starts well. He deals with some of the stones, but he's not dealing with the weeds and the thorns that are coming up in his life. And he's now he's going to get on with his life and the cares of life and the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for pleasures. They come and they choke the word of God and it doesn't produce the life and the joy and the peace that God intended for us. All the riches that are in Christ, because we're trying to get our joy out of getting our car back. We're trying to get our joy out of getting our stuff. Trying to get our joy out of getting that job or getting that woman or getting this and getting that. And it's choking the word of God. And it's a slow fade. And some of the you say, well, it's not dead. It's just skinny. It's not bringing any fruit. So you become a religious man. You do your church thing. You do your Bible reading, but you have no life because your life is in all of those things that are in the world. The scripture says in 1 John in chapter two in verse 15, do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. He said, well, I don't really just stop my gift. I don't have love for people. You want to know why? You love the world. If you didn't love the world, you would have love for people. You would have love for God. If you don't, you can't serve God and money. You're going to love one and hate the other. If you don't love God and you love things, then you're never going to have love for anyone. You just be upset with people. But if you have a love for God, a genuine love for God, you cannot help but love people. You don't have to tell people that you love them. They know. My favorite part of the week is after I preach hard, hard messages that I know people are convicted. I see them wiping tears. Some of them walk out. They're so angry. And then they come to hug it out with me. And I hug them. I cry with them because I love them. And they know. And it's not because I'm a good guy. It's because I love God. When you love God, you love people. You want to have the love of God for people. You need to get the love of the world out. You need to start to tend your garden and say, Lord, have thine own way. I got garbage in my life. I have this love for the world in me. Do not love the world nor the things in the world. All that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life. I'm the best at work. These don't come from the Father. They come from the world. And the world is passing away in the lust of it. But the one who does the will of God abides forever. What is the will of God? This is the will of God. Your sanctification. You deal with these briars and these thorns that are coming up in your heart. You tend the garden of God so that the fruit can come. We have natural gardens. And we know that if we don't deal with the weeds in that garden, they're not going to produce. So we're very diligent to deal with the weeds in the garden so that we can have food for our family. But we're not prepared to deal with our self-righteousness and our pride and being easily offended and all these things. We're not willing to say, Lord, why am I like this? I confess it and I renounce it and I repent. Lord, deal with these things. I'm so concerned what people think about my reputation. Jesus himself became of no reputation. He humbled himself even to the form of death on a cross. And they said all kinds of things about him. We know who our Father is, Abraham, your father. We don't know who he is. We know it's not Joseph. We'd be not born of fornication. We know who our father is, Abraham. As for you, Jesus, we don't know. I mean, we speak rightly that you have a demon, right? Jesus said, I don't have a demon. He dishonored me and he dishonored my father. And Jesus didn't defend himself. He didn't try to defend himself. He didn't have to send emails out. He didn't have to try to save face. He allowed himself as a lamb before the shear was silent, even when he went there and they said, who do men say that I am? And the disciples had a revelation. And then when they came and said, are you the Christ? Tell us. And for the most part, he was silent until the very end. He didn't defend himself. Brothers and sisters, the soil of our heart has to be freed from the love of money, has to be free from the love of pleasure, has to be free from boastful pride of life. Otherwise, we're not going to have the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the love, the joy, the peace, kindness, the gentleness, the self-control, all these things. We're going to miss out on all these things. We're going to bring no fruit to maturity. So we have to bear fruit in keeping with repentance, don't we? We have to say, Lord, here I am, Lord. I have a lot of money. I confess it to you. I love money. I love money. I confess it. Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. They came confessing their sins. Which shall we do? You have two jackets and you see somebody's got nothing be willing to share. Oh, you're in a position of authority and you're using it to get ahead. Stop doing that. We need to take heed to the things that we've heard. Take them seriously. That leads us to the last type of soil. A good, obedient, hard type soil. And some seed fell on good ground, brothers, sisters, and yielded a crop that sprang up and increased and produced some 30 fold, some 60 fold, some 100 fold. And Jesus said to them, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. There's some people who don't want to hear. They don't want to hear because the cost is too great. We just tune them out. Oh, there he goes. He's talking to me. I bet you he's, I bet you Randy's talking right to me. You just tune him right out. What does it matter if I'm talking right to you? Is it true? Isn't that the question? Lord, is it true? If it's true, it's not about the messenger. We don't want to kill the messenger. Say, Lord, here I am. Have mercy on me. Which of the prophets did they not kill? And where did they die? In Jerusalem. Always with God's people there. They hated him who reproves in the gate, and they despise the one who speaks uprightly. They don't want to hear. Stop his words. When Stephen was saying, you stiff-necked and hardened of heart, you always resist the Holy Spirit, they just shut their ears. They just went after him with stones and just shut his mouth with stones to kill Stephen. Brothers, this can be in our hearts when we're so very proud. We can't receive correction. We hate correction. Say, Lord, I have a hard time receiving correction. Lord, help me to come to a place where I can receive correction, where I can say, Lord, I don't know, but is it true? If it's true, then help me to to change. I can't change without your help. To be humble. To be kind. To be gentle. Gentle John. We want to become that. We can have that name and word, but we want to become that in spirit. A humble and gentle spirit. May the Lord help us to become this way. I want to become that way. I am still kind of hard. I want the Lord to make me soft. I want the Lord to make me meek. I want to preach the word of God boldly, but I want to be humble, humble, and humble. I don't want to consider myself better than anyone. Otherwise, God will resist and oppose me because he's opposed to the crowd.