The Race

I love that song. I think it's definitely beautiful. Of course, I'm a little bit biased, but I'll tell you all, the first memory I have of Sue was seeing her at the Feast of Tabernacles, saving seats for her family, and just looking up and smiling. And some of my other early memories are hearing her sing, and I think she's pretty good at it. But we're here for more than just a year's song service, although I tend to think that I probably could shut up and that'd be enough. But it's the first day of Unleavened Bread. We stand at the beginning of a week-long festival. We've prepared. We've done a lot to get ourselves ready, and our homes, and it finally begins.

I think it's not a coincidence that Mr. Bumgardner and I have very similar topics today, talking about the road ahead. Looking ahead, I want to start this off in a way that might seem unusual. I want to talk about the account of a particular Civil War battle. As I said, that might be unusual for any holy day, but especially the first day of Unleavened Bread.

But as I read it, perhaps you might start to see why I thought this was important, or why it helped me to think of what we have ahead here. Now, the battle was the fight for the possession. It was part of the long-term fight for the possession and control of the city of Chattanooga, there in southern Tennessee.

What had happened, of course, the Confederates had been in control. In 1863, General U.S. Grant had brought his army from Vicksburg, Mississippi, moving westward, and they'd driven the Confederates out of the city. But instead of leaving, the Confederates moved up and occupied the high ground. So they occupied hills to the east of the city, a ridge to the south, another large hill to the west, effectively almost surrounding the city.

The Unionists, the north, even though they had gained control of the city, now they felt that they were practically under siege. They dared not march away with the enemy possessing high ground so close to them. Well, Grant strengthened his forces methodically and a little bit slowly for an attack on the mountains. His strategy was to have soldiers commanded by General Sherman attack both ends to the east and to the west, hoping to draw forces away from the middle so that then soldiers could storm up those heights and take control. That ridge to the south was known as Missionary Ridge. Now, those troops would be defended or were commanded by General George Thomas.

Unfortunately, the plan ended up not working so well. The attacks at both ends were not successful. The center remained strong. A lot of men were there all along. In an effort to not waste the effort, the Union soldiers at the center would be ordered to charge just to the base of Missionary Ridge to take control of some rifle pits, the very front line of the Confederate soldiers.

But what happened would end up being a surprise to everyone, and it's a testament about continuing what you started. So what I want to do now is read an account from one of my favorite accounts of this. It's from the book entitled Sherman Fighting Profit. It's a biography of General Sherman, but it has the account of this battle, and I've read several different accounts, but I found this one to be very intriguing and inspiring. So I'm beginning on page 321. This is backing up to where the attacks were going on on the sides. Noon passed, and Sherman continued his hopeless battering at the Invincible Rocks. Finally, at 3 p.m., he rested his bleeding soldiers. He got a signal from Grant that said, attack again. I said, if the old man was dapped, Sherman said later. He sent an officer to inquire if there was a mistake. Grant replied, there was none. Keep pounding. Major Jenny, the staff officer in question, remembered Sherman's words. Go signal Grant. The orders were that I should get as many as possible in front of me, and God knows there are enough they've been reinforcing all day. The last message of Sherman may have helped jog the center into action. At least as soon as its arrival, Rawlins, an aide to Grant, walked up to Grant, in his mother hen manner, and urged him to make Thomas move. Wilson noted that Grant, with unusual fire, ordered Thomas to command the attack. Thomas, the grave Virginian, came to life and sent word to his troops down on an orchard knob to be ready to take the rifle pits at the ridge base when 6th Cannon would be fired in rapid succession. So they were only to advance to the base of the mountain.

What was really intended, though, was never clear, Grant recalled, that he had considerable difficulty getting the order to attack through to the division commanders. Grant also said that he had ordered the troops to take the rifle pits and then reform preparatory to later carrying the ridge. But the Cumberlanders understood that they were merely to carry that line of rifle pits.

When the orders such as they were came to the Cumberland troops, they jumped up and down with excitement. The battle had so far been a failure. The short November day was nearly done. Thomas' soldiers had the previous battle of Chickamauga on the brain, and they burned for revenge. For a day and a half, they had lain offstage, seeing and hearing the action of their rivals, the Army of Tennessee and the Easterners. Grant's implication that they were not first-rate combat material had fermented inside them.

We were crazy to charge, said the boys of the 6th Indiana, who lay waiting for those six signal guns. Hazen noticed that in his brigade, all the servants, cooks, clerks, found guns in some way or another and crowded into the line, waiting for a chance at the Johnnys. At 3.40, the cannon began booming. One, two, three, four, at five. The men began to run forward like the wind. They howled back epithets and huzzahs and incoherent defiances at the rifles and cannon that blazed from the bottom of the ridge, bottom to the top of the ridge. Led, sang past them as they jumped fallen trees. Over their heads curved Union shells to splash fire against the mountain. Confederates, withdrawing from the rifle pits, backed up the slope, shooting as they went. Many of them seemed dumbfounded, fascinated, as at a mammoth review. Into the pits leaped the Federals. Officers began urging them to convert the shelter holes into trenches facing the opposite direction. But the men paid no heed. They were sucking great chunks of air into exhausted lungs, while their muscles twitched under, as if under some dervish intoxication, and their eyes rolled hungrily upward to the summit, 600 feet away.

All at once, they began to howl, and to run again, breaking out of the pit to scramble up the steep slope, their bodies bursting through entanglements, heaving up rocky faces, their eyes fixed on the heights. Officers stood bawling at them to come back, waving swords and cursing them, and then finally joining in the race themselves.

Soon, the leading Federals were running neck and neck with the slowest Confederates, and they came tumbling into the second line of defenses, all at the same time as the other graycoats tore out of them like rabbits. And the Unionists were too winded and the secessionists too astonished to do much fighting. Both sides simply raced and bellowed.

Back in the rear, Grant said sharply to Thomas, who ordered those men up the ridge? Thomas didn't know. Granger persisted Grant, turning to the next Cumberlander of rank. Did you order them up? No, said Granger, but when those fellows get started, all hell can't stop them. One of Thomas's division commanders in the charge, Phil Sheridan, had tried to recall his men when they surged out of the rifle pits, but he'd wound up by joining them.

One drink he would take before starting up the mountain, he whipped out his silver whiskey flask, threw back his head. Far up on the mountain, a Confederate officer was looking down at him. Here's you, shouted Sheridan, and he drank deep. The Confederate answered with a wave of his hand and a volley from six cannon. Brushing dirt out of his eye, Sheridan said, I'll get those guns for that, and up he spurred, jamming the flask into his coat pocket.

Sixty battle flags were climbing the mountain, the soldiers now traveling and wavering wild goose formations behind the banners. Upon them rolled rocks and shells whose fuses had been touched with matches. The air whimpered with musket balls, which gray gunners had tossed by the hatful into cannon and discharged point blank down the cliff. The angle was not favorable to execution, but the Federals were paying no attention to the enemy anyway.

They seemed to have forgotten the foe. They began to race with each other as they neared the summit. Now, and then, a man fired perfunctorily upward, but they were more absorbed in the obstacle race before them. Boulders, entanglements, precipices, thickets, hauling trees. Captain Bryant of the 6th Indiana was in the lead when one of his privates, Tom Jackson, passed by him.

Passed by snatching Tom by the coattail, Bryant jerked him back and forged ahead. But then Jackson finished just ahead of him at the very end. Only one Confederate captain remained to defend the crest. Dropping his gun, Tom stalked the officer with his bare hands extended. The captain had been brave enough to face hot lead or cold steel, but when he saw those bare hands extended, dropped his gun and ran.

Bryant's Hoosiers pulling themselves onto the crest saw Tom Jackson looking down the rear, calling, Come and see them run! His comrades said it was the sight of our lives, men tumbling over each other in reckless confusion. Hats off, some without guns, running wildly. Everywhere the defenders were fleeing, a squad here and there lingered to battle on for a few minutes before tearing off down the back slope. The Confederate flight was as sudden and inexplicable as had been the Federal assault. We ran because we could see too much, said the Southerners after the battle. When we saw the number of lines coming up against us, we got demoralized. No one could explain the turn of the battle. In a superstitious age, said General Cox, the victory might have been attributed to supernatural influences.

One of Grant's aides, though, Dana, wired back to Washington and said, The storming of the ridge by our troops was one of the greatest miracles in military history. No man who climbs the ascent by any of the roads that wind along its front could believe that 18,000 men were moved up its unbroken and crumbling face unless it was his fortune to witness the deed. It seems as awful as a visible interposition by God.

I need to practice reading that more, but when I think of that, it's exciting. It's an example of men who had done their preparation, and they wanted to wait no longer. They wanted to get on with the fight, and having begun it, they didn't want to start part way. They wanted to continue all the way to the end. Now, you might ask, what in the world does a Civil War battle have to do with us and the days of Unleavened Bread? But some of you might already be thinking of how that analogy could apply. I think that at the start of Unleavened Bread, and even more so, right after our baptism, we are much like those soldiers. We've put ourselves in position. We've done the preparation, and then it becomes time to move forward, overcoming any obstacle that's in the way. Never pausing more than momentarily, but carrying on till we reach the prize. Once we start, we want to keep going. It's interesting also, you've read accounts and probably seen documentaries of a lot of Civil War battles where there's a lot of bloodshed and just it's gory and it's technical. But this battle turned into more of a race. As I said, they forgot about the enemy they were racing to see where they were getting. Many of us have more familiarity with foot races than with battle. I do, certainly. The Bible uses both analogies to describe our Christian life. We're described as Christian warriors, but also as running a race. That's another reason why the Battle of Missionary Ridge came to mind when I started preparing this. If you will, let's turn to the book of Hebrews in chapter 12.

Hebrews 12, beginning in verse 1, will have a vision of other warriors, so to speak, or if we often think of soldiers as heroes, and putting ourselves in that cast of knowing those who have gone before, those who have already run the race or fought the battle, the Apostle Paul tells us what we need to do.

Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that set before us. Just like those soldiers were running with endurance, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls, for you have not yet resisted the bloodshed striving against sin. Important for us. He said, lay aside the sin. Now, symbolically, we've already done that, and for the most part in our lives we have, we've laid aside the sin, now we need to keep on running the race.

And if we haven't yet resisted under blood, we need to be ready to do that, if necessary.

What lies ahead for us, though, having begun, is the actual running of the race. I think the days of Unleavened Bread are like that. It's a long-term thing. Now, the start of a race is a big deal. It's exciting. I mentioned a short while back about how I've been in marathon races, and I'm going to talk a little bit more about that. In the beginning, there's a huge crowd of people, and the pistol sounds, there's a cheers and noise and all that. But then, the crowd thins out, and you just have to keep on running. Sometimes you feel like you're the only one on a lonely stretch of road. And I think running, when you're running a race, no single step is a big deal. Just one foot in front of the other, that's not a big deal. But if you add many, many of them together, it adds up to quite an accomplishment. Think of that also, as far as living a life without sin. No single day that we might resist sin is that big of a deal. But if you add day to day, today, today, they begin adding up to something that is wonderful. It's a transformed life that we live in submission to God.

I think that's part of why the Days of Unleavened Bread is a seven-day festival. Think about it. Many of our Holy Days are one day. And they picture particular events. We'll have Pentecost coming up. And we look back to the time when the Holy Spirit was poured out on that one day, on all those people.

And of course, it reminds us that immediately after our baptism, the Holy Spirit is imbued in us in a way that it hadn't been before. But that's still a singular event. We think of atonement. We think of the Feast of Trumpets, plagues, and great things, and then Christ returning. But they're singular events and mostly things that God does. We look back to the Days of Unleavened Bread. It's a seven-day festival. And it doesn't represent just one particular event. It represents the rest of our lives.

The rest of our lives are represented by the Days of Unleavened Bread. And the rest of our life, working on overcoming sin, putting it out, and then keeping it out. Just as we've put leaven out of our homes, and we've swept it out of our cars, and anything that belongs to us, but then we have to keep it out.

So if we think that the Days of Unleavened Bread represents the rest of our life, the analogy of race is not far-fetched. As I said, just like running a marathon consists of a lot of individual steps, each of them unremarkable on its own, the rest of our life consists of thousands and thousands of hours, many hundreds or even thousands of days, depending on where we are, that each of them is not so remarkable, but altogether add up to something fabulous.

So I'd like to explore this analogy a little further. Now I realize that we already have a perfect analogy for the Days of Unleavened Bread. That is, unleavened bread. We have an 11-picture sin, and we put that out. But let's think of how the continuing this life without sin is similar to the characteristics of running a marathon. The first and most obvious point to make, we can find in Matthew 24, 13. I'm going to turn there, but I won't blame you if you don't turn, because you know and you know that you know what it says.

Matthew 24, 13 is applicable to running a race, certainly to the rest of our lives. Matthew 24, 13 says, He who endures to the end shall be saved. He who endures to the end. That has to be our attitude in living God's way of life. A life without sin. And I think of that, comparing it to a marathon. One of the races I ran was the Los Angeles Marathon. It's one of the bigger ones in the country. And I did this several years ago. A friend of mine who lived in California, we'd work together at summer camp.

And so one year at camp he said, hey, let's get together and run this race. And so he trained out there in California. I trained in Ohio. And the race is always run early in March. So I flew out there for that weekend. I attended services with him. And then on Sunday we were going to run the race. What's interesting is, when I got there, I learned that he was just getting over having the flu. And so I thought, oh, can you run a race? I said, well, I've been getting better. I think I'm going to try. I said, well, what happens if part way through you don't think you can make it?

Not only was I asking this, his family members were. And that's when the determination came out. He said, I've been planning and preparing for this. If I start, I'm going to finish. He said, I don't care if I wear my legs down to bloody stumps and have to drag myself across the finish line. I'm going to get to the end. Now, fortunately, there were no bloody stumps involved. And he did get to the end. He had to slow his pace and walk for part of it. You know, we ran some, walked some, but we got all the way to the end.

That's the way we need to do as Christians. Let's turn to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews 6. Hebrews 6 and verse 4. I want to make the point that if, you know, in a marathon, you want to get to the end, but you can always drop out and, you know, you just, you don't get a t-shirt. But in a Christian life, what's the alternative of not enduring to the end? Well, beginning Hebrews 6 and verse 4. It says, Jesus is saying, once you've begun this way of life, you can't fall away and then just come back.

Now, you can commit sin and be forgiven again. And I've discussed that recently in sermons, but you can't just turn your back on it and forsake it intentionally. That makes it sound a little scary. You might say, well, is it better to never start? Better to not start the race, not to become baptized and commit myself to God? Well, I'd say no, because just think, what is the alternative?

The alternative to coming out of sin is staying in sin, and that leads to death. So we're going to do things God's way one way or another eventually. And once He's called us out of this world, then we certainly want to commit. We want to run that race to the end. Now, I want to give address to a concern I had. When I first thought of this analogy, as I said, I've run a number of marathon races.

If you'll turn to 1 Corinthians 9, I'll set this up, because it's 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 24. When I first determined to run a marathon, I had no thoughts of winning that race. You get in a race with some 20,000 people, and there's going to be somebody from Nigeria that's going to run the race in two hours. Nigeria or Kenya. It seems like it's always somebody from another country. I think for the women, it's often somebody from Russia. But my goal was to run to the end of the race.

I didn't care about finishing first. And in a Christian life, we think that. But, as I said, it gives me some concern when I read 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 24. Here, Paul is making the analogy of a race, and he says, Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?

So run in such a way that you may obtain it. Okay. That troubled me. In a marathon, I knew there was no way I was going to finish first. But that's okay. I just wanted to reach the end. In a Christian life, it seems that Paul is saying it's like running a race. But he says there's one prize, and you've got to run to obtain it. Well, are we going to be the first place winners in this race? Well, no. No more than I'm ever going to be first place winner in a marathon.

And there are many scriptures we can turn to that make the point that Jesus Christ is the winner. He finishes first. He's first and foremost. He's the firstborn. He's our predecessor. He's the one that's going to win. He's the only one to live as a human being and have a sinless life. So does that mean he won the race and he's the only one that gets the prize? Well, the answer is no.

If you'll turn a few pages more to 1 Corinthians 15, we'll see that, of course, God is not limited by physical things the way we are. And, of course, it's an analogy also, so he's not limited by certain things. But I want to make this point because we know Jesus Christ is the winner, the first place winner of the race. And then here in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 57, Apostle Paul says, Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

God gives us the victory. Now, in a physical race, everyone runs, but only one wins the prize. But in our spiritual race, Jesus has already won. But then he dwells in us through the power of the Holy Spirit and he gives that victory to us. He's able to share it with all of us in his spiritual family. That, to me, is very encouraging. I don't have to run to be the first place winner. I have to run to get to the end and then Christ will give me the victory that he has already won.

Now, I'm going to address another thing that comes up to me when I think of running a marathon because, as I said, I have no qualms of thinking I'm going to finish first. But there's also, still being human, there's a little vanity factor.

I might not be first, but I don't want to be last. Nobody wants to be the last one across the line. Now, spiritually, Christ is the winner. Do we want to be the last place in the spiritual race? Well, let's carry this analogy a little bit further if you'll turn with me back to Isaiah in Chapter 48.

Isaiah 48. I had some fun with this, but I've said before, this is a section of Scripture where God is speaking in first person. And we learn a little bit about Him. And as we're running this race of life, remember, one step, one step, one step, just as one hour, one hour, one day, living without sin and overcoming, we don't have to worry about either winning the race or being last. Let's see in Isaiah Chapter 48 and Verse 12.

Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called. I am He. I am the first. I am also the last. So we know God, Jesus Christ is going to finish first, but He says, I'm also last. He said, I'm going to take that last place to make sure no one falls behind. If you'll flip a few pages towards the front to Isaiah 41. Isaiah 41 and Verse 4, we could expound this a little further before I make any comments of my own. Because it's not just a matter of Him being last. Here, speaking God describing Himself, He says, Who has performed and done it, calling the generations from the beginning, I, the Eternal, am the first, and with the last, I am He. Now, earlier He said, I am last, but I like here, He says, and with the last. That means no matter how, in the analogy of race, no matter how slow you're moving, no matter how much you're struggling, He's not going to leave you behind. He's with you. Matter of fact, if you want to go to Isaiah 52, He puts it in another phrase, but I'm just mentioning that I've done that with my friend who had the flu. At one point, He said, well, if you want to keep running, I need to walk a little while. I said, no, I've run marathons before. I want to do this with you. I'll walk with you. We're going to stay together. We started together, we'll finish together. And that's the way Jesus Christ is with us. He says, we started together. He started, He's the one that called us out of this world. He won't run off and leave us behind. Even when we struggle, if we trip and fall, He's there, He'll stay with us. He's with us, even if we're in last place.

Isaiah 52, verse 12, says, He's guarding your rear. In modern vernacular, you could say, God has got your back. He's guarding your back. He's there to protect you.

No matter how grievous your sin, no matter how difficult your trials, He's there. God is there to help you to repent and then to keep moving forward, keep moving down that road ahead.

And one of the reasons that's important, if I could spin out that analogy with a marathon, it's nice to think of, well, actually, I ran the Columbus marathon once, and they brag about how flat it is. Columbus doesn't have as many hills as this part of the country. But in most races, I said it's made up of a lot of individual steps, but those steps are not all created equal. Because in most races, sometimes you've got to go up a hill, and those steps get harder and harder. Or you might have a cold wind blow in, and you're not feeling very good. It's like that way in life. We might be cruising along, and then a trial hits us, and suddenly it's a lot harder to live without sin. And it's difficult.

But God promises He's with us every step of the way. I think of that turning back to the days of Unleavened Bread. We're here on the first day. Probably so far it's been easy to not eat leaven, right? But a few days down the line, something could sneak up on us. We might be unprepared, and it's easy to not sin. But we're never alone in our efforts. God will help us to be alert to make sure that we don't inadvertently eat a donut. It's hard to inadvertently. Well, I was thinking, there's a story I could tell you. A friend of mine, my freshman year at Ambassador College, I joined the choir. And I did it because a good friend of my roommate convinced me to do it, because during spring or break, we were in Big Sandy, Texas, and the choir was going to travel to Pasadena to sing a joint concert with the Pasadena choir. So we did. We practiced all year, and we were ready. And so we went during spring break, which was the days of Unleavened Bread. So they timed it back then, so that spring break would fall during Unleavened Bread. So here we are on a vacation. We're going to perform in the auditorium, and we're having a good time. One evening, a group of us decided to go to a local restaurant. So we're there, and we're scattered in different tables. And one friend of mine decides to play a prank on the fellow of my roommate, who had convinced me to join the choir. So he calls the waitress over and says, See that fellow over there? Today is his birthday. He says, Oh, it's his birthday! Great! We've got a policy here. So she gathers all the waiters and waitresses, and they come parading out, bringing him this birthday cake. And they're singing, and my friend has no idea what's going on, because it's not his birthday. But she plops this cake down. He's like, Hey, I'm not going to turn down free cake. He grabs this fork, he sticks it in. He's going like this. And the first friend comes up and says, I'm having bread! And he goes, Ah! But he almost ate it. Like I said, you think, how could you possibly just start eating a piece of cake on the days of I'm having bread? But situations can come up. And that's one of the reasons it's such a good analogy. Sin is insidious. It sneaks in. It'll be places you don't expect. Or it'll be bright and obvious, but it catches you off guard, and you're not looking for it.

But as I said, we've got a partner. Like my friend saying, No, it's unloving bread. God will give us a warning one way or another. If we're still in Isaiah, go back to Isaiah 41. Isaiah 41 and verse 10. Instead of me telling you this, let's let God say in his own words how he's there to help us.

It says, Fear not, I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I'll strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I'll uphold you with my righteous right hand. If you'll skip to verse 13. Verse 13, he says, For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, fear not, I'll help you.

If I put that into the analogy of running that race where you might be being left behind, or whatever. Maybe you're one of those soldiers trying to charge up the hill and you want to get to the end, you might stumble. But here's God saying, Fear not, I'll hold your hand and I'll help you. And we don't have to do an analogy. Whenever we get a trial, a test, whenever we're ready to go back to sin, because things seem too tough, God tells us this, I'm there, I'll hold your hand. And he says, Jesus Christ is already the winner. Because of that, we have a hope. He wants to give the victory to all of us. And when we get discouraged and we say, well, where is God? We need to remember that He's in the lead, but He's also bringing up the rear to make sure no one gets left behind, and then He's also right beside you, holding your hand when you need it.

That's traveling the road ahead, as Mr. Bumgardner said. We've got that help, every day, day after day, day after day.

Now, of course, analogies can be exciting, and they're inspiring to me. I wanted to start off with something that was a little more upbeat in my mind. That's why I thought that story of those soldiers climbing those ridge just always inspires me.

But then, we think, life can be a little more complicated. How about some idea of how to keep sin out of our lives? It's nice to know God will help us, but what do we have to do?

And the first answer to that is to remember that living a life with sin, unlike running a marathon race, does not depend on our strength and our stamina.

To not sin and to do right is to be righteousness. Let's look at Philippians 3. Philippians 3, and we'll read verse 9. Because there, we can make the mistake of thinking, okay, I've got to grip my teeth, and I've got to resist sin and keep it out.

But we'll see, it's not so much all about us.

Philippians 3, verse 9 says, Be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

So faith is tied to righteousness. So we'll notice also, if we'll go back to Romans chapter 5, we'll begin to see how that works. Romans 5, beginning in verse 1.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, which is where we are once symbolically at baptism or the Passover, we're justified by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulation, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, character, and character hope. So we're going to have trials and tests, and that's going to build up our character. Now hope does not disappoint. Why doesn't hope disappoint? Because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which was given to us.

We want to focus on that. The Holy Spirit is what gives us the love of God. Now we know that sin is the breaking of the law. And, well, actually we can turn to Romans 13 in verse 10. It's just a few pages. Because if the love of God is poured out in us, what is the love of God equal?

So on Romans 13 verse 10 says, Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. So God, through His Holy Spirit, gives us His love, which is the fulfilling of the law. The opposite of that, breaking the law, is sin, which is what we are picturing not doing during these days of Unleavened Bread. We want to focus on putting sin out, keeping it out. How do we keep it out? We have the love of God in us. It's put in us by the Holy Spirit, not our own way of doing things. We get that love through the faith of Jesus Christ, which we ask God to give us. And there's where I wanted to make that point. Too often we tend to want to rely on our own faith. We want to generate that. And I wrote a quote from something Mr. Armstrong wrote, Herbert W. Armstrong. This was an article titled, How to Be an Overcomer. I came across it as a reprint article. And he was talking about, well, let me read this. He said, he was addressing how to have people trying to have faith. And he said, stop trying to work up faith. You have no faith. The Scripture above speaks only of the faith of Christ, not your faith. Christ's faith. Jesus had real faith. He says, here's the secret. He gives, he implants his strong faith to you and me. So Christ's faith, his real faith, can be given to us. So yes, even faith is a gift of God. It's one of the spiritual gifts. So that's a major way of how we keep sin out of our lives. We turn to God and trust in the faith, the love that he'll give us, to push that out. We'll look at Galatians 2. Galatians 2 and verse 20. As I mature, I'm starting to see why this has been the favorite Scripture of many ministers. I remember one in college saying this was his favorite Scripture, and that's why it stuck in my memory. But here the apostle Paul says, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Remember, on that last Passover, he told the apostles, if you love me, the Father and I will come and dwell in you. He meant by the power of the Holy Spirit. So it's not me to live that Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Once again, he's already won the race, and he wants to give us the victory dwelling in us by his Holy Spirit.

Now, of course, still with that understanding, God is going to give us that power, but he doesn't just do it all for us, and we sit down and watch. We have to put that Holy Spirit to work. We have to let it work in our lives. Let's find some important advice of how to do that in James 4. James 4 and verse 7.

Now, this is pretty simple, but it's worth looking to see. How do you keep sin out of your life? This is one principle. Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he'll flee from you. That sounds simple, and as I said in principle it is. Submit to God. Put him first. Obey his law. Resist the devil. Don't go along with his way. Don't give him the lust and temptation. As a matter of fact, earlier in the book of James, we'll see how people are led into sin. This is in James 1 and verse 14. How is it, even though we've put sin out of our lives, sometimes it comes back? The process is described here. Each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. Sin starts with lust. It starts with desire. That is, it starts with the thoughts in our mind. Now, we know later Jesus would discuss the spirit of the law. And in doing so, he showed that things that it's wrong to do, it's wrong to think about doing. At least to entertain those thoughts. That is, to imagine it, to picture it in your mind. If you're really angry with someone and you start envisioning what it would be like to let loose with your fists, Jesus said, that becomes a sin. As a matter of fact, let's go there. Matthew 5. Matthew 5 and verse 27. I find that brought back to memory once when I was at summer camp counselor. My first time as a camp counselor, the kids got me so angry once, I threatened to take them outside and let them have my fists. Which led to a very heartfelt apology from me later on when I cooled down. And I thought, boy, I was so young and immature. Luckily, I didn't entertain those thoughts too long. But Matthew 5 verse 27. He said, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery in his heart. Now, he's saying, thinking about it, entertaining it in your head, is a sin. If we get too close to it, because it's there and we're at the forefront of our thoughts, we could easily be unable to resist it if the actual opportunity came up. Now, that's not to say that a fleeting thought going through our head is sin. It's that keeping the thought, as I said, entertaining it. And I'll make that point, because earlier we know, as I said, Jesus said that hating your brother could be as bad as murder. But in Ephesians 4, 26, the Apostle Paul wrote, be angry and sin not. So it's not wrong that the thought enters your mind. You can be angry. But then he says, don't sin. Control those thoughts. Use the power of God's Spirit to turn those thoughts away. Now, the question is, well, how do you get those thoughts out? Well, the simple answer is by putting other thoughts in. Put the right thoughts in. Now, you've probably heard the analogy before. They say, what's the easiest way to get air out of a glass? Well, part of me is, it doesn't say, well, can I hook up a vacuum pump and find somewhere to suck this air out? But the answer is simply pour water in and it pushes the air out. So, you know, if we put the right thing in, it could push the wrong thing out. Now, that fits well with calling on God's Holy Spirit. With the spiritual guidance from God, we can occupy our thoughts with the right things. We can focus on Bible study. We can meditate on God's power and the wonder of His creation.

We can focus on ways to serve. Think about how the work is going forward. I'll mention one other thing that I found recently I read a book, actually recommended by Gary Smith. I was consulting with him on something and he said, I just read this book. You really ought to read it and pass on. It's called The Best Question Ever, written by, not by someone in our church, but a Sunday church pastor named Andy Staley. He wrote this book on how to foolproof your life. He says, we fall into sin sometimes, not by making a decision saying, I'm going to go sin, but by making a series of decisions that lead us closer and closer to sin. Let's turn to the book of Ephesians, chapter 5. Mr. Staley pointed this out as where he started on the thought process that led him to writing this book.

Ephesians 5, verse 15. The apostle Paul is addressing the church in Ephesus, and he tells them, See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. When he says, walk circumspectly, he means be careful. He said, see that you're careful, not as fools, be wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. That's his way of saying, be careful out there because it's a dangerous time. And that applies to us even more than them. We need to be careful. There are people that want to hurt us. There's temptation all over the place. So he says, be wise, be careful. And verse 17, Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Don't be unwise, which is what we're saying, be wise. Understand the will of the Lord. Now, he's not saying, telling us to somebody, just commanding us to understand something we didn't already understand. I think he's reminding us, we generally know what's right and what's wrong. We've been reading the Bible. We know the things we should do and the way we shouldn't. So knowing that, since we most of the time know what we should do and shouldn't, Paul says, be careful. Don't be foolish. And that's, Mr. Staley applied that. He said, whenever you're going to make a decision, and it's not just big decisions, but mundane, everyday decisions, whether it's what to eat, what to buy, what to wear, who to spend your time with, he said, don't ask the question, is it a sin for me to do that? Ask yourself the question, what's the wisest thing for me to do? What's the wise thing to do? Because what happens, and he made the point, a lot of young people especially will tend to say, how close can I get to sin? You know, if sin is here, can I go here? He said, well, if you make a decision, well, it's not wrong to go here, so you do that. And then, well, it's not wrong to go here, so you do that. Well, it's not a sin to go here, and they want to see how close I can get to the edge. But the next thing you know, then you've gotten so close, the final decision is when you could fall over. He says, the wise thing, ask, that's the higher standard. Ask, which direction is this going to lead me? And it could be, well, I mentioned this, we don't have any young unmarried people here, but for those people, they tend to want to say, how close can I get to sin? Where is the line where I'm still okay? But we don't want to do that. My advice to young people is, don't go out on dates with someone who doesn't have Christian standards, because they're going to try to push you as close to the edge as possible. Now, if you think of sin as like a cliff, you might say, can I hang my toes over the edge? Can I balance on one foot? If you're doing that, the wind can come along and push you right over. It's easy to let sin be that way. How are we going to keep from getting leaven back in our lives this week? When you go to the grocery store, are you going to pick up the package of cookies and look it over? No, you're going to leave it on the shelf because you don't want to accidentally put it in your cart if you got distracted. If you go to a restaurant, you typically ask the waiter, don't put it on my plate. Don't bring out the roll, because if you let it on your plate, you could be distracted and it's all new. So that's the way it is with sin. We want to stay away from it. Don't pick it up and look at it. Don't let it on our plate anywhere near us. We don't want to see how close we can get to it.

We're not probably going to go into a donut shop this week and go, ah, smells good. Now, of course, that wouldn't be a sin, but you'd be getting closer to it. I saw the analogy. Could you say, don't go into a sin shop? Well, I haven't seen the strip malls don't usually have a science store that says sin. You go in and take a big whiff. By analogy, we want to stay outside the door. It's not even get close to it. We want to make each decision in our life a wise decision that leads us away from sin, not closer to it, thinking, okay, I'll get this close and then I'll back away. If we want to put sin out and keep it out, let's stay far back from it. Let's focus our thoughts and do the wise thing each time. I started off today talking about a group of men charging up a mountain to conquer the enemy.

The beginning of the days of Unleavened Bread can seem kind of like the beginning of that charge. We're excited. We're ready to give it all we've got. But then, like those soldiers going up a steep slope or like someone in a marathon race, our strengths can start to fade when the challenge goes on and on and on more. We have to determine that we're going to carry on no matter how long it takes. Just as reaching the end of a marathon requires continuing to take that one step after another, so living a life according to God's will, that is, without sin, requires not sinning, one day after another after another. And the only way we can do that is by the power of God's Holy Spirit. And of course, God knew that. That's why He made the Holy Spirit available to us. We have to put that Spirit to use then. We have to institute good habits into our lifestyle to replace the bad ones. We have to use the power of that Spirit to control our thoughts. And we have to make good and wise decisions. Now, in this world, with Satan fighting against us every step of the way, it's not easy. But with God's help, we can do it. We can reach the top of the mountain, and we can put sin out and keep it out.

Thank you.