How to Fight Temptation and Win – Part 2/3

Yahushua said that “You are the light of the world.” Therefore, because you’re the light of the world, “Let your light so shine before men,” not so they can glorify you, but so that His light in you would “glorify your heavenly Father.” Praise Yahweh! And so we’re here to glorify Him. We also talked about last week how we are given the rights to be called “Children of Elohim”. Certain rights that we are granted to us. We also talked about last week, that His name is on our foreheads, and we are people called by His name. There is no greater name that we could be associated with than the name of Yahweh our Father in heaven. There’s no greater identity that could possibly be offered to us than that.

And so, He also said that “We are branches of a heavenly vine”, right? He also said that “We are blessed with every spiritual blessing.” And that “We are chosen in Him from the foundation of the world. From the foundation of the world.” And that “We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people. His own special people who have obtained mercy.”

Now this is just getting warmed up. There are a lot of things that He calls us. A lot of things He calls us that we can rejoice in. But a lot of people, as I talked about last week, there are a lot of people who may feel as though, ”But that’s, I mean I’ve got this problem with, that I struggle with. I don’t know that I’m really worthy of those titles or those things.” And so, they don’t know, they don’t have security that this is who they are. They don’t have that security. And so, they question whether this is them. They wonder.

But as part of our attempts to fight temptation and to gain victory over it, we need to be secure in who we are. And who He says we are. If we have doubts about that, if we’re not sure about that, then, when the enemy comes, and you’re not even sure who you are, you’re going to be very, very vulnerable.

And so, with the shield of faith you’re going to be able to withstand the fiery darts of the wicked one. But when you don’t have that faith in the Word, that you are what He says you are, then you’re going to be questioning whether that’s you. And there’s some out there probably, I know because I’ve been counseling people for a long time, that don’t have what’s called “eternal security.” And for whatever reason they don’t have that security. And so, we need to have that security. It’s extremely important that we have that security. Because when He comes after us, and we’re not even sure we’re a believer, we’re not even really sure that we’re His, then all of a sudden it’s like, “What’s the point. What’s the point. I’m just probably one of those people that, you know, maybe I commited the unforgivable sin. Or maybe I, I don’t know, I just don’t feel like I’m His.”

We’ve got to understand the Gospel. The Gospel. What is the Gospel? According to Galatians 1:11, it says – But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man – Not according to man. That means, it’s not something that he has invented or any man has invented. It is something that Yahweh Himself gave us. He gave us this Good News. –
¹² For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Yahushua Messiah. – We have to believe. If we believe the Gospel, and we truly believe it in the sense that we have accepted it, and we receive it and we live it, then we know all those things that He says about us are about us, or are true about us.

So what is that Gospel that Paul preached, exactly? Same thing I preach all the time. Acts chapter 20 verse 18 says – And when they had come to him, he said to them: “You know, from the – very – first day I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you,
¹⁹ “serving Yahweh with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews;
²⁰ “how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house,
²¹ “testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, – Here we go: – repentance toward Elohim and faith toward our Master Yahushua Messiah.” – Two things he taught. This is the Gospel he preached— repentance toward Elohim, faith toward our Master Yahushua the Messiah.

“Repentance” means “you were going this way, you’re going the wrong way, and now you’re turned.” The word “repentance” – “t‘shuvah” in Hebrew – means “to turn”. Now you’re beginning to walk a different direction. You were doing things contrary to Elohim, and now your heart is turned toward righteousness.

Now, how righteous do you have to be, how much repentance, how far along this journey do you have to be in order for Him to accept you? At what point, how much of the Bible do you need to know? How many times do you need to go to a congregation? Or how many times do you need to listen to Bible studies? How much of Scripture do you need to know? How many laws do you have to keep in order for Him to finally say, “Good boy, good girl, you are doing it right now.” Zero! None. “Well, Tom, Tom! Come on you can’t tell me people just . . .”

Listen. I know, people can’t go out and rape, rob and steal and think they’re a believer, because they’re not. But suppose you were the worst sinner in your local community, and someone visited your house and handed you a Gideon Bible. You’re like, “Pfff, Gideon Bible”, throw it down, didn’t think anything of it. O about a month later you start really thinking about that Gideon Bible. You’re having a hard time in your life, things are not going well for you, and you start looking at it and you’re like, “You know those people were really nice,” and you open it up, you start reading it like, “Man, what a standard to live by. Wow! What a Savior, what an offer. If I’m willing to turn away from my sin and put my trust in Messiah, I can be forgiven for all those terrible things I did last week, and last year, and my whole life.” And so you get on your face and cry out for mercy, cry out for His grace. You make a decision right there, you’re going to turn away from all this stuff. You know it’s wrong, you’ve always known it’s wrong, but you’re going to turn away from this, you’re gonna start living different. And so, you put your trust in the Messiah Yahushua for the forgiveness of sin. You believe the Good News, the Gospel. You get up from that prayer, you have not obeyed a single command yet, you’ve only believed the Gospel, and you’ve only repented from your sins, okay? You haven’t actually made any changes, like provable changes, but you are prepared to do so. At that moment right there, He knows your heart; purifies your heart by faith and accepts you right there, right then. You go into the kitchen cabinets, start pouring all your liquor down the sinks, start flushing your cigarettes down the toilet, with all your drugs down the toilet, you’re getting rid of all this stuff, you’re going to live a different life. Your actions will naturally follow what you believe; what you do, your actions, will naturally follow that, okay?

So, He accepted you before you pour the drinks down the drain. Before you did all that, because He knew your heart was to turn away from those things. And so, you may not have done anything yet, but He looks at you, knows your heart and accepts you at that moment.

And so, now. How far along do you have to be from there? Whatever the Father shows that person individually, okay?—You need to quit cussing all the time; you need to try to reconcile with your long-lost son, your long-lost daughter, your long-lost wife; you know, things will start happening in their life.

And suppose I come along and say, “Well, you’re going to hell because you haven’t kept Sabbath yet.” Sorry, don’t work that way. “O, you haven’t pronounced my Son’s name the right way,” so Yahweh is like, “O, forget it. I can’t hear what he’s saying, I hear this ‘Jesus’ name. What’s that?” He knows what it is, He knows who you’re referring to. Now, I call Him “Yahushua” because I think it’s disrespectful to call Him “Jesus”, it’s not even remotely close to His name. If I thought your name was, suppose I thought Marco’s name here was “Michael”. I kept calling him “Michael”, and you said “Marco” – “Okay, Michael.” That’s not very nice. I’ll give him the same courtesy hopefully I do my Savior and my Savior the same courtesy I give to him. I’ll call him “Marco” because that’s his name. His name’s not “Jesus” His name is “Yahushua”. But people don’t know that, they don’t know, they don’t know, right? So He accepts from where they’re at.

But the real issue is not how far along this path of learning His will for your life that you are, it’s whether you’re truly on that journey. You’ve made that commitment. And so, for each of us who are at different places on that journey, the question is not, “How many commands have you kept?” The question is, “In what you have learned to do, are you making sincere efforts to do them?” You might mess up, but you confess it, you forsake it, okay?

So, now, if you go back and you’re like, “You know what? I’m saved by grace. What am I doing all this for, I’m working too hard, you know. I think I’m just gonna just roll with the ‘grace thing’, you know, and live how I want, and do what I want, and just I believe in grace.” Well, you believe in grace, you believe in faith toward Messiah Yahushua, but you’re not believing in repentance; you’re not believing that repentance is necessary. And so you’re missing something there at that point. Or if it was somebody, “O man, I’m trying really, really hard to get approved by Yahweh, and I hope it’s good enough.” You’re missing faith toward the Master Yahushua the Messiah. We need both—repentance and faith. Both are very, very important! So let’s walk out both.

Now 2^nd Peter 2:20 says – For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Master and Savior Yahushua Messiah, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.
²¹ For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to – What? – turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. – Now, you were turned toward the holy command, now you turned away from it, from it, turned away from it. And then what happens? –
²² But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.” – So, wallowing back in your sin again is not the answer, because then you’re not repenting anymore; and it would have been better for you never even to known, to having known what you’ve known, and to turn away from it. Because now you have no excuse. See, there’s a difference—the sow is living and he’s made peace with this mud, he can’t wait to get back in there again. And he wallows around in it, and there he is, he’s content to be in that condition.

But (Revelation 3:5) – He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from The Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

And so, the one overcoming, the one who is seeking to overcome more and more things in their life the Father’s showing them, that’s the ones who will not have their names blotted out. So it shows, if your name was once there, then your name gets blotted out. So much for, “Once saved, always saved”, huh. You think that, “O, you say a few words and you can’t lose your salvation.” You can lose it if you are no longer in the condition of repentance and faith in Messiah Yahushua.

Now, if you put your trust in that, in those two things, very simple, very, very simple foundation of relationship, really! If I’m constantly hurting someone, and I really don’t care, I’m probably not going to be in a relationship with him anymore, right? I mean, at least not a good one. And so, the same thing is with Yahweh—if you contentiously don’t care, you’re just going to live with how you want to live, hurt Him over and over again, and don’t really care, then how can you be in relationship with Him? You don’t loved Him because you don’t care what you do to Him. You don’t care how He’s hurt; you don’t care about your sin, the way you’ve hurt, you’ve violated His standards. And so, it’s not going to work.

A father, if his son says, “You know what dad, you’re going to give me grace so I’m going to go out here and live how I want. I’m gonna wreck your car, I’m gonna tear up your house, I’m gonna punch holes in the wall, and do what I want, because you know what? You got grace for me.” Is that gonna work? No father-son relationship works that way. And it’s true of our heavenly Father. Now, if our son is like, “Man, yeah, I really messed up. I was a lot angry one day, I know I shouldn’t have, but I wanted to put a hole in the wall, I want to fix it.” That’s repentance. That’s, “Yes son, I hear you. Anger can be a tough thing, but I want to help you. I want to help you overcome this anger thing.” And that’s what our Father in heaven is doing for us.

So, we understand that dynamic between from being sons and being fathers. And the same is true toward our heavenly Father; it’s no different, it’s very relatable, something we can all understand.

So, we understand He loves us when we do. He loved us before we ever sinned, before we ever turn to Him because while we’re yet sinners Yahushua died for us. He showed extended love toward us hoping we will choose to love Him back. And so (1 John 4:17-18) –
¹⁷ Love has been perfected among us in this that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; – Imagine that. You know, all the sin that you’ve done, and on the day of judgment you’re gonna be hanging your head low? Don’t have to. Have boldness, “Yes I was wrong in the things that I did, it was wicked the things that I did. I have no excuse for any of it. But I know You promised in Your Word, that if I turned away from those things and I put my trust in Messiah Yahushua ,that I would be forgiven. If I confess my sins, You are faithful Father, You are just to forgive me of my sin and cleanse me of all unrighteousness. I trust in that, I put my faith in Yahushua, and therefore I know I’m not hell-bound. I’m not headed for the lake of fire. I can have boldness in the day of judgment – because as He is so are we (in this world) – As who is? As Yahushua is! You become a part of His body now, and now as He is, so are you. And it says,”Upon Him was laid the iniquity of us all.” If all of our sin is laid on Him and all His righteousness is laid on us, and all of His righteousness is given to us, therefore as He is so are we. So we can be bold in the day of judgment, because the blood of Yahushua cleanses us from all sin, and we won’t be afraid on that day of judgment.
¹⁸ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. – We’re not afraid of torment, we put our trust in Messiah Yahushua for the forgiveness of sin. If I am afraid that it won’t happen, I have not yet – been made perfect in love. – I’ve not fully received this love He has for me, and fully embraced it and accepted it.

So, some of us may struggle to believe that, but that’s what it means to have faith in Yahushua. To know that He accepts you. And if we have any doubt about that final day of judgment, either we’re not a repentant person—we’ve made peace with our sin, we’re content to live in it; we’re more concerned about what people say than what Yahweh says, and so we’re willing to disobey Him. Something’s wrong with our personal life where we’re not really a repentant person. Or, we’re not really trusting that Yahushua saves us. So, I’ve got a question. “What am I standing on right now? What am I standing on?” Most people would say, “the platform,” or “a bunch of wood.” Nope, I’m not. I’m not standing on the platform. I’m not walking on it. No, no I’m not. Where I’m, what I’m standing on is, is my shoes. Put my shoes on this morning and I’ve been walking in those shoes all day.

And so, what’s my point? My point is, as part of this Ephesians 6 armor, we are supposed to have our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. What that means is, we’ve got some Gospel shoes on, okay? We’ve got the Good News shoes.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them that bring Good News. Beautiful Gospel, beautiful Good News you have on your feet, right? Awesome, great news you have on your feet. This is what we stand on.

This Gospel is what we stand on as brothers and sisters. And this belief in the Good News, and if you don’t have that, your foot’s going to slip. Your foot’s going to slip and you’re going to fall. You need that Good News. You need to know what you stand on. You can stand on this Scripture:

(1 John 1:8-10) – If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, – That means everybody here, there, everywhere, has some kind of sin, knowingly or unknowingly. Yahweh, show us if we don’t know. Show us where our sin is. Any areas where we’re not perfected, show us. It may not even be something in Scripture you don’t realize is there, maybe it’s something about your own heart you realize is not there. But He’s perfecting you. Even Paul said, “I’ve not yet arrived, not already been perfected, but this I do: press on toward the goal.” Press on, right? And so, what the difference between a believer and unbeliever is, we trust the Messiah, Yahushua, for the forgiveness of sin, but we also –
⁹ confess our sins, – If we sin. And we try again to overcome. If we do that, – He is faithful and He is just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – Faithful and just.

Don’t say, “He’s not faithful or He’s not just to forgive you your sin!” He says He is faithful and He is just to forgive you of your sin and cleanse you of all unrighteousness. All of you out there in the internet world, listen.
¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned – okay now – we are making Him a liar, – because He says we have, right? So, some of us need to take this Scripture, print it out and put on the wall. Memorize it whenever you have doubt. I feel guilt, but I know Your Word has said, Father: “I confess my sins, You’re faithful, You’re just to forgive me of my sin and cleanse me of all unrighteousness.”

And so, when the devil comes and says, “You’re not all that. That’s not who you are. That’s for somebody else. You’re not the light of the world. You’re not one of the children of Elohim. You’re not this. You’re not that.” You’re going to say: “It is written, we confess our sins, put our trust in the Gospel. He’s faithful, He’s just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.” That’s how you fight doubt. That’s how you fight guilt. Guilt don’t belong on you. Guilt belongs on Yahushua. He wants it. Give it all to Him. He don’t want you carrying part of it and Him carrying the other part of it. He wants it all. It’s already laid upon Him. Trust that it is.

So, now you might say, “Well, I don’t know if I’m going to make it. I don’t know what the future is.” True. You don’t know. But you know now, today, right now at this moment, that you have eternal life abiding in you because you’re doing what Yahweh requires of you to be saved. Right? I hope so! Everyone here? Out there? Everywhere?

And that being the case, you’re going to keep those shoes on. Only time you take your shoes off when you go in the house, right? Well, some of us. We won’t take our shoes off, our Gospel shoes off, until we enter our Father’s house.

Then we won’t need the Gospel anymore. We’ll be with Him. Okay? And so, believe who you are, because right now, at this moment, a nuclear bomb came in and hit Ava,

we are repentant believers in Yahushua. All these things He says about us are true. We can trust in them and believe them.

(Ephesians 2:4-6) – Elohim, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Messiah (by grace, you have been saved), – Some people say, “Well, you’ve not been saved yet. You’ve got to endure to the end to be saved.” You died in this condition right now, you will be saved. That’s what He’s saying. You have been saved. It’s as good as done because the Gospel is a part of who you are.You’ve got your Gospel shoes on, and you’re walking a life of repentance in faith in Messiah Yahushua. It’s as good as done. Okay? –
⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places (in Messiah Yahushua). – He already sees you there. You’re already there in His mind. You’re already there. Because today, right now, in this condition, where you stand right now, if you’re a repentant believer in Messiah Yahushua, that’s where He sees you. –
⁷ that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Messiah Yahushua.
⁸ For by grace, you have been saved through faith, that not of yourselves; it is the gift of Elohim,
⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. – If you manage to keep commands, if you manage to do that, don’t brag on yourself. The truth is, it’s just Yahushua. It’s just Him living in you. It’s just His power in you.

And so, people praise you, “O, you’re such a great believer,” whatever. If there’s anything good in me, it’s just Yahushua. By grace, I’ve been saved, not of my own work, by grace. That’s His work. Maybe you don’t feel like you’re seated in the heavenly places right now, but He says you are. He says you are. That’s where He sees you. He’s outside of time, you see. Think about Abraham.

Romans 4:16 – Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
¹⁷ (as it is written, “I have made you,” – Past tense. – “a father of many nations ”) – Now, Abraham had no children. He says, “I’ve made you a father of many nations.” Abraham’s looking around, where’s my children then? It’s already happened, Yahweh said. You’re already a dad, of many nations. – in the presence of Him whom he believed-– Elohim, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; – You’re a father of many nations, Abraham, even though you’ve had no children. You live in the heavenly places, children of the Most High, even though you’re not yet raised from the dead. You live there, He says. It’s all the same. He calls the things that are not yet as though they are. –
¹⁸ who, contrary to hope, in hope – Abraham – believed, so that he became the father of many nations. – Because he did believe Yahweh. Because he did believe Yahweh, therefore it was accounted to Him for righteousness and it actually happened, what Yahweh said happened.

Now, if you are Messiah’s, then you are that seed of Abraham to whom belongs the promises, right? (Galatians 3:29). Now, if you’re Abraham’s seed, that means you are Yisrael. All of you. I’m looking at the children of Israel in this room today. I can’t see the children of Israel behind a camera, but one of them showed up today, so I know they’re out there. Two of them showed up.

So, call yourself that. That’s an identity that was purchased for you at a very weighty cost! That you could be a part of His body. Believe it. Take that identity, and that identity treasure in your heart above all identities that the world has to provide for you, or to try to give you.

(Galatians 2:20) – I have been crucified – I have been impaled – with Messiah; It’s no longer I who live, but Messiah lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of Elohim, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

And so, we’re not going to walk like Gentiles. Paul said to Peter, “We’re not sinners of the Gentiles.” Right? We’re not sinners of the Gentiles. We are Israel. And so, live as Israel was called to live. The way Yahushua lived. You are the body of the Messiah. Therefore, let the body of Messiah live like the Messiah did. And so, start acting like the Messiah acts. Start living the way He lived. Keeping the commandments He kept. Because He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever.

And as you do these things, you become (Ephesians 2:10) – His workmanship, created in Messiah Yahushua for good works. So, you are the workmanship of Yahweh! You are the seed of Abraham! You are Israel! These are identity statements that He has given you. Believe them.

(Ephesians 1:1-3) – Paul, an apostle of Yahushua Messiah, – That’s his identity. – by the will of Elohim, To the saints – Their identity. “Holy ones”, the word means in the Greek and the Hebrew. To the holy ones – who are in Ephesus. – Well, “Hello holy ones of Ava! How are you today? Hello, holy ones of whatever town you’re in around the world. How are you today, holy ones, saints?” That’s what Yahweh calls you. – And faithful (in Messiah Yahushua) – He’s right with faithful saints today. To the faithful saints, he says –
² Grace to you and peace from Elohim our Father and the Master Yahushua Messiah.
³ Blessed be the Elohim and Father of our Master Yahushua Messiah, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Messiah, – You are blessed with every spiritual blessing that could possibly be given! Wow. Wow. Then he goes on to say –
⁴ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, – You were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. Again, people are going, “Well, I haven’t yet finished a race. I haven’t quite endured to the end. I don’t know, is that really me? Is that really me?” If you died today, that’s you! Just accept it. And do it again tomorrow. And do it again after that. We’ve gotta start with embracing who He says we are. And what happens you start embracing who He says you are—you start living out the identity that He says you are. If you haven’t fully accepted that identity, you’re gonna be like, “Well, who am I? I’m not really sure yet. I’ll find out one day.” Don’t go there. Do what Paul did. You are – holy and without blame – You are holy, you are without blame. Not a single thing can be blamed on you because all your guilt’s on Yahushua the Messiah. – Without blame – before Him in love, – you –
⁴ having predestined us to adoption – He already decided He was gonna adopted you, adopt you a long time ago. You’re His adopted son and daughter – by Yahushua Messiah to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, –
⁶ to – the praise of you? No. – the praise of the glory of His grace, – Yeah, you’re a mess, guy. You’re a mess, lady. The glory of His grace, the praise of the glory of His grace, these things are yours. – by which He has made us accepted . . . – You were not accepted, but He made you accepted. He made you accepted. Wow. What an honor. I love it.

This is what Yahweh says you are. You are accepted in the beloved. You are a holy one.

You’re the light of the world. You’re a city on a hill. You’re a child of the Most High.

You’re called by His name. You’re a branch of the heavenly vine. You’re His chosen people.

You’re a royal priesthood. A holy nation. His special people. The people of Yahweh. ISRAEL. You’re a new creation. Other Scriptures say you’re more than conquerors.

You’re holy without blame. Saved by grace through faith, but redeemed by His blood. Fearfully and wonderfully made. You’re the temple of His spirit. You’re the body of Messiah.

You’re His workmanship. You’re His sons and daughters adopted. You’re His special treasure. Partakers of the Divine Nature.

You’re ambassadors for Messiah. You’re a people of power, love, and a sound mind. You are complete in Him.

You’re transferred to the Kingdom. You’re the head, not the tail. You’re above and not beneath.

You’re friends with Messiah. You’re forgiven and cleansed. You’re a people at peace with Elohim.

You are dead to sin. You’re anointed with His Spirit. You’re loved by Him. And you’re a citizen of heaven.

And that’s not all of it. Do you see how many things He says about you and about me? What He calls you, how He sees you, embrace it. Believe it, believe it, believe it! And it all happened.

One day, you decided: “I’m turning away from my sin. I’m putting my trust in Messiah Yahushua for forgiveness of sin.” If you’ve not done that, do that now! And all these things are yours. One decision.

One choice, and this whole world will be transformed! If everyone made that one choice, this whole world would completely change. We would be brothers and sisters. We’d be part of one family. No more, “You’re that race, you’re this race.” Just the race we’re all trying to finish. Pressing on toward the goal.

So, what I’m getting at here is—when you know who you are, when the enemy tries to discourage you, remember the shoes He gave you, the Gospel shoes. Stand on that. Stand on that.

Not your righteousness, not your… Stand on the Gospel shoes and put your trust in Him. Some people are like, “Well, you know, probably… I don’t know. Is that really me?” Yes, it’s you!

I’ve got a handout on identity. That graphic I just showed, you can download it, print it out, EliYah.com/id. Go to that link, download it, print it out, put it on your refrigerator. Believe it. That’s who you are. Full study on that, EliYah.com/identity.

Now, you might think, “O, I probably sinned too many times.” It’s not how many times you sin. (Proverbs 24:16) – For a righteous man may fall seven times – It says – and rise again. – Get back up again. It’s not how many times you fall, it’s how many times you get back up again, you try again.

You’ve got a child, you try and teach him how to ride a bike. New habits, new ways. First time you get on that bicycle, you try to propel him along a little bit, what’s going to happen? They’re going to fall. But you don’t, when they fall, you don’t go, “Ah, I guess you’re just never going to make it. Forget it.” Walk away. Go in the house. No! “Come back, son. Let’s try this again.” This time you go a little bit further. You crash. “Come back. Try again.”

That’s what Yahweh is doing with us. You’ve got new habits to learn, new ways of thinking, a renewing of your mind. You may mess up. You may make a mistake. You may fail. You may get weak. But He says, “Get back up again. Get back on that bicycle and try it again.” Eventually, eventually you’ll get it.

Some people think, “Well, maybe I committed the unpardonable sin. For some reason, I just can’t seem to get . . .” Listen. How many times are we supposed to forgive our brother? Seven times? Yahushua said, “No, seventy times seven.” That means like into infinity. So, how about you? Do you think that Yahweh would expect your grace towards someone, to exceed His own grace toward you? Do you think that you’re going to be more merciful than He is? He’s going to expect you to be more merciful than He is? Of course not! You forgive, you’re forgiven.

(Hebrews 6:4-6) – For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,
⁵ and have tasted the good Word of Elohim and the powers of the age to come,
⁶ if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of Elohim, and put Him to an open shame. – They crucify Him again, and so some people think, “Well, maybe that happened to me. Maybe I just can’t get through to them. I can’t seem to make it here. I just . . . I don’t have it.”

Well, they’re really concerned about their soul. It bothers them that maybe the Father won’t accept them. They’re doing their very best, but they’re worried maybe the Father doesn’t accept them.

I’ll tell you how you can tell whether you’ve committed the unpardonable sin. Here’s how you can tell: You have no desire to repent. Don’t care to. Don’t want to. You’ve made peace with your sin. You’re just going to live how you want, and you die in that condition. Then you’ll know. All right? Because, listen. You cannot come to the Son unless the Father draws you. (John 6:44)

How does He draw you? By His Spirit, He draws you. If you have come to a place of repentance and trust in Yahushua, Yahweh’s not going to say, “Well, sorry, too many times.” No. He’s drawing you by His Spirit. You cannot have blasphemed the Spirit, because it’s by His Spirit the Father draws you.

And so, if you are a repentant person, when you mess up, you truly care, it bothers you, you come to Him for forgiveness, He says, “Okay,” He accepts you. You confess your sins, He’s faithful and just to forgive you. But Yahweh draws you by His Spirit.

Now, none of us would even probably be here unless we are repentant believers in Messiah Yahushua. So here’s the answer—Never let your trust in grace take the edge off your zeal for obedience, but don’t let your zeal for obedience cause you to forget your obedience alone is not enough. You need a Savior every day of your life.

And so, what do you do if you still struggle with eternal security? You don’t feel you have boldness on the Day of Judgment? Study these Scriptures, put them into your heart, let Yahweh draw near to you as you draw near to Him, and let that Word be written right here. Memorize these Scriptures. Look for people that are around you who will build up your faith, and not cause you to feel bad about yourself and, you know, plague you with guilt.

Those people who are trying to do that are being used by the enemy to cause doubt to creep in, and you have to defeat those things with the sword in your hand: “It is written. It is written. I confess my sins. It is written. I’m not one of those who’ve fallen away because I am repenting. I have renewed myself to repentance. Okay? I can do this. I cannot blaspheme the Holy Spirit. I cannot have done so because Scripture says if I even have a desire to walk in righteousness, that can’t come from me. It comes from Him. The Father puts that desire in me and causes me to want to draw near to Him.”

Okay? Now, speaking of identity. When you believe that’s who you are, your reactions follow. If you believe you’re a baseball player, you’ll probably buy you a catcher’s mitt and a baseball, practice every day—your reactions will follow your beliefs.

If you believe that you’re a disciple of Yahushua the Messiah and that you are saved by grace and that you have all these things that He says you are are true about you, then you’ll start doing and living according to those things. And there’s no greater thing in which you can, an identity you can truly embrace that will do more to help you overcome than this Scripture right here. You died, – Colossians 3:3 – and your life is hidden with Messiah in Elohim. –

Yahweh’s living Word says that you, sir, you, madam, are dead. What? Hands are moving. I’m a living, thinking person. Why did He say I’m dead? Important question. You’re the living dead. Well, how’s that make any sense? I’m not saying you’re a zombie, okay? But there’s a certain life that Yahweh has taken out of your mortal flesh and put it somewhere else in the heavenly places in Messiah Yahushua.

These things have already happened. We’re reading these things. These things have already happened.

You say, “But how”. You know, listen. Your starting place is from a point of acceptance, not from a point of not sure about acceptance. It’s from acceptance. If it’s from acceptance, it means if you died right here at this spot, all these things are true about you. Your starting point is acceptance. Yahweh’s not waiting till you’re, you know, like a high school, finish your 12th grade, they hand you your certificate. He’s not waiting till you reach a certain level and hands you the salvation certificate. He gave it to you a long time ago. You just need to receive it.

And so He meets you right there. And the only time you’re going to have a problem with the teacher is when you don’t want to listen to what the teacher has to say. Right? You go to school, you’re not paying any attention to the teacher. That can be a problem. If you’re a disciple, you want to listen to Yahushua’s teaching. He’s a good teacher. The problem in Yahushua’s day, people didn’t want to listen to the teachings. Disciples were like, “You have the Words of eternal life. That’s why we follow You.”

And so, please understand the starting point is acceptance. He accepts you if you have repentance and faith in Messiah Yahushua.

And you’re going to believe that. No matter how it cramps your style, you’re going to walk as He called you to walk. And so this is your identity. You are a dead man. You are crucified. Only reason why you’re alive right now is because Yahushua lives in you. It’s His life that’s in you. You believe that? Raise your hand. You believe it? It’s true!

Genesis 1:1 says, “Elohim created the heavens and the earth.” It also says, “You died.” Uh-huh. Already happened. Now, since you’re dead, Paul says, (Romans 6:1-4) – What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? – It’s not possible for you to live in sin any longer. Because you died to it. You died. –
³ Or do you not know that as many of us who were baptized in Messiah Yahushua were baptized into His death?
⁴ Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, – Into death! Baptism into death. You were buried! We’re going to bury a couple people today. A Man named Yahushua is going to come up and take residence. – that just as Messiah was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life. –

So. Since that’s true, since that is true and you believe it’s true, then that means sin cannot have power over you. You cannot be enslaved to sin. You cannot say, “Oh, this is too hard, I can’t do this. I’ve got this addiction and I just can’t stop, I can’t help myself. It’s more powerful than I.”

Not true. You died to sin. You died to it. Scripture says you died to it. You just need to believe it. Whatever it is—cigarettes, drinking, meth, whatever addictions, whatever struggles, pornography, whatever. You died to it. Scripture says that.

Now, you believe that’s true? Yeah, you overcome it. And so, willpower is not the secret to overcoming. Belief in His Word is the secret.

You died to it. Now, temptation comes knocking, “Why don’t you try this?” – “I died to that. Scripture says that. I died to that. I believe it.”

The enemy’s like, “Oh, man, I can’t penetrate this wall called the shield of faith. All my fiery darts aren’t working. Because he believes the Bible says it’s true, that he died to sin. Every time I shoot an arrow, it hits that shield of faith. And then, sometimes he comes back at me with a sword.”

Resist the devil, he’ll flee from you. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony, of what Yahweh did for you, your testimony of what Yahweh did for you. And one thing He did for you was—cause you to die to sin. Scripture says it. You have to believe it. That’s your testimony. I believe I died to whatever sin you struggle with, believe it. You died to it. And you’ll overcome it. It’s that simple. It’s just hard.

Okay. Believe this: You don’t live anymore. Yahushua lives in you. Believe this (Romans 6:5-7) –
⁵ For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
⁶ Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. – You are not enslaved to sin at all. If you were enslaved to it, you couldn’t have any power to stop it. But you do have power to stop it.

So you’ve been baptized. We’re baptized into His death. Yahushua says (Luke 12:50) – But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! – Because that baptism He was baptized in, crucifixion, will become your baptism. The death and then the resurrection.

So, we believe these Scriptures. We are freed from sin; old man crucified; no longer a slave of sin. We believe these Scriptures! We believe that old things have passed away. We believe that we are a new creation. We believe all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). It’s already happened. We believe it has already happened. It says it’s happened. I believe it happened. That’s what you need to do.

This is not pep talk, brothers and sisters. This is not self-affirmation talk. No. These are weapons! These are weapons of war against the enemy—your shield of faith; your breastplate of righteousness that He gave you, He gave you righteousness; your belt of truth that comes from knowing His word; that sword to defeat the enemy. This is weapons of war with which you wage your war and fight temptation and win!

We don’t sin that grace may abound. We don’t live any longer in it (Romans 6:1-2).
⁸ Now if we died with Messiah, – We died with Messiah. And so – we believe that we shall also live with Him,
⁹ knowing that Messiah, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.
¹⁰ For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to Elohim.
¹¹ Likewise you also – This is a command. – reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, – It’s not an option. It’s not a hint from Heloise, you read the newspaper. This is a command. Reckon yourself to be dead to sin! Not just believe these things about you, but regard it. It’s a command. Walk in it. – But – you’re – alive to Elohim in Messiah Yahushua our Master.

In the same way—Messiah died, a new life, He now lives to Elohim, you say, “My old self died. I now live to Elohim. I reckon myself to be dead to sin.” Why? Because it’s true! Scripture says it’s true. It’s not a struggle to reckon. It’s not a struggle. It’s a belief! It’s who you believe. Do you believe Satan, the devil? Or do you believe Yahweh? Who do you want to believe? Important question. Who do you believe? We believe we’re alive in Him. Yahushua is our Master. And we’re dead to whatever temptation comes our way. We’re dead to it. So by faith you overcome. –
¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
¹³ And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, – This body you have now, are members of the Messiah. They are instruments now of what? Instruments of righteousness. Alive from the dead, you have these instruments.

We saw some brothers and sisters today playing instruments. Violin. We saw the guitar. We saw the ukulele. Instruments that are being played by the individuals. Well, your body is an instrument that is being used by Yahweh to perform His good Word in this planet called “Earth.” Your body is the instrument through which the Holy Spirit will accomplish His will on the Earth. Formerly it was an instrument of the devil to accomplish the devil’s will. Now it’s an instrument for Yahweh’s will to be done.

Those of you who were laboring with us this week, you were instruments for Yahweh to accomplish what He is doing in our community. I praise Yahweh for the Florges family and for Joshua and for my wife. My wife works so hard. We work together. We’re a team. I praise Yahweh for all those labor with us. I praise Yahweh. I praise Yahweh because you’re instruments. And I thank Him that you are.

And so, we’re not in a condition where we’re under the law. We are under grace. Sin does not have dominion over us, because we are not under the law (Romans 6:14-15). If we’re under the law, you’d be under the law’s condemnation. You would not be under grace; but you’re not above the law either. The law is right here in your heart, that you may walk it out so that you may do it.

That being the case, the fact that you’re not under the law doesn’t mean you continue sinning. No, absolutely not! You don’t take advantage of grace like, “All right, I’ve got grace, I can live how I want.” That’s what he’s saying, don’t do that because you’re not a slave to that sin. You’re an instrument of righteousness, not an instrument of unrighteousness. The prophets all predicted this.

Oh, I find it interesting that when you tell people that you’re seeking to observe the Torah, they say, “Oh, you can’t do that. It’s impossible to keep the law! He only gave that law to Israel to show them how impossible it was to keep!” And then they’ll say, “I can do all things through the Messiah who strengthens me.” Wait a minute, except keep the law? No, it says “All things.” We can. We can to the extent that we know. To the extent that we’re aware, we can.

There is a prediction in the Prophets, in Isaiah 45:23. He says – I have sworn by Myself; – Now, when Yahweh takes an oath, pay close attention. It’s big. It’s big. – The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, And shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow, Every tongue shall take an oath.
²⁴ He shall say, ‘Surely in Yahweh I have righteousness and strength. To Him men shall come, And all shall be ashamed Who are incensed against Him.
²⁵ In Yahweh all the descendants of Israel Shall be -what? – justified, (and shall glory.)’” – Justification by faith. Only in Yahweh do I have righteousness. Only in Yahweh do I have the strength to walk in righteousness.

You can say it now or you can say it later. Say it now, you don’t have to say it later, because then you find out, “Oh yeah, I should have done this and I didn’t do it.”

So the same faith that enables you to be forgiven is the same faith that enables you to walk in righteousness. Do you hear that? You see that there? Surely in Yahweh I have two things: I have righteousness and I have strength. So I believe in Him I can have salvation, I must also believe in Him I can have the power to walk uprightly and to live uprightly as I put my faith in Him. When you put your faith in Him, His Spirit comes in you and you defeat the enemy! You defeat the enemy!

And so, those of us who have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires, are able now to live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:24-25). And you are of Elohim.

So (Colossians 3:1-3) – If then you were raised with Messiah, seek those things which are above, where Messiah – He – is, sitting at the right hand of Elohim.
² Set your mind on – heavenly things – things above, not on things on the earth.
³ For you died, and your life is hidden with Messiah in Elohim. c Him up there. So set your mind on heavenly things.

When you set your mind on heavenly things, all the earthly gobbledygook that goes on, you’re like, “Okay, well, that’s them. That’s temporary stuff. Whatever, you know, whatever. I’m focused on where the Spirit’s leading me today. Where has the Holy Spirit got me going today? Where am I being? I woke up this morning. I’m a soldier in Yahweh’s army. Woke up, okay, reporting for duty. Oh, I got a temptation to defeat today. Oh, there’s somebody here that needs help today. There’s someone, how can my body be an instrument for Yahushua today?”

So many people are focused on building their own little kingdom on the earth. “Oh, I gotta do this.” And their houses are made out of cedar, and the house of Yahweh lies in ruins.

We gotta show up for duty. And you can overcome, because this Scripture says (1 John 4:4) – . . . He who is in you is – always, always, always – greater than he who’s in the world. – So let’s walk in love, and (Romans 12:9) – Let – our – love be without hypocrisy. – Hate – Abhor what is evil. – Because your mind’s on heavenly things! You see evil on earthly things, you hate the evil!

There’s a temptation come saying, “Hey, do this evil.” You have to hate that evil if you ever want to overcome it. If you love it too much, it’s gonna be really hard, really hard to overcome it, because you love it too much. Hate it!! Ask Yahweh to give you a holy hatred for whatever sin Satan’s trying to ensnare you with. Ask Yahweh to give you a holy hatred for it. To give you His eyes, the heavenly eyes, the spiritual eyes to see that as He sees it.

For instance, pornography. What does Yahweh see? He sees a troubled woman who thinks this is her worth and her value. What a shame. What a shame. This is your worth and your value. This is all your worth. This is all you are. This is what you are. That’s a very terrible identity. Very terrible identity. That woman needs to know her worth in Messiah Yahushua. That woman needs to know the way of salvation. That woman needs to realize that there’s something far better for her. Look at it through Yahweh’s eyes and reject the things that are carnal and sensual and embrace the things that are of the Spiritual mind. So I beseech you, hate evil!

Hate it. Conscious choice to hate it, whatever the evil is. Think about what fornication is doing to our society. Think about what pornography is doing to children. Abortions come out of those things. And those who want to repeat what they see on the screen. How many babies, innocent babies, have been killed in the most innocent stage of life? Inside mama. The most innocent life that could possibly be killed is killed because some guy saw something on a screen and wanted to do what he saw. Shame. Holy hatred!

And then, the ones that are born, there’s no active father in the home. He’s out, finding more women to do what he wants. Making more babies. And the children grow up without a dad. Hurting. And there’s that hole in their life that’s missing a father. That’s what that pornography and fornication, that’s what it’s promoting. Destruction of the family! Destruction of children’s lives. Neglect of what they need. Have a holy hatred for it! Because of what it does to people and what it does to the most innocent children of all. And sadly, people that get addicted to these things, they start getting more and more deviant. Younger and younger. And children get molested. Sick! Destruction of children. Their life. And when they are born, the kind of life they end up in. Have a holy hatred for evil!

And so, (Romans 12:1-2) – I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of Elohim, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to Elohim, which is your reasonable service. – Because your body is the body of the Messiah.
² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, – Ask Yahweh, “Give me that renewing of my mind. I want to know Your good and acceptable and perfect will. I want to know it. I want to have that renewed mind. I want to have that holy hatred.”

Be alert. Be clear-headed. Be alert. (1 Peter 5:8-9) – Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
² Resist him, – Fight! – steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. – Don’t allow him even a little, a little tiny temptation.

Because, you see, if you open that door, he gets his foot in there, pretty soon he’s busting the door wide open. Be attentive to the small things. He’ll try to convince you it’s no big deal. It’s too little to worry about. Uh-uh. Don’t go there.

That’s why I don’t drink! I don’t drink any alcohol. People I know, they drink some. You know what? I’m not going to let the devil get the foot in the door. I don’t want to. Not because it’s a sin to have a little bit of wine that doesn’t get you drunk, or a little bit of something that doesn’t get you drunk, but because I think to myself, “How many millions and billions of lives have been ruined by this stuff? How many people have been destroyed by alcohol, and how many families have been broken up? How many children have suffered because of alcohol, and the choice to drink it, and it gets out of control?” I’m like, “You know what? Why go there? Why get involved in something that you know has destroyed millions of people?” For me, I want to be sober, be vigilant. I don’t ever have to worry about temptation. I don’t have to worry about temptation of alcohol.

And so, he’s looking for the ones that he can devour, the ones he may devour. He can’t devour you if you’ve taken on the identity that Yahweh has given you. He can’t devour you. Believe that! He can’t devour you because—being sober; being vigilant; being aware; walking by faith; putting my trust in the Gospel; got my Gospel shoes on. I’m going to shield of faith, repel everything the devil throws at me because of who he says I am, who Yahweh says I am, not who the devil says I am, who Yahweh says I am.

And with the sword, flee youthful lusts. With the sword, be sober, be vigilant. Goodbye porn. Goodbye lust. Goodbye drugs and alcohol. You’ve got a weapon. This is not who I am. In the name of Yahushua, I’m dead to those things. That’s not who I am. So, accept Yahweh’s standing offer to believe in His Word, to reckon yourself to be dead to sin.

And by your faith. . ., some people say, “Well, faith is one oar, works is the other oar, and if I only have faith, then I’ll go around in circles. If I only have the works, I’ll go around in circles. We need both oars to move forward, faith and works.”

I disagree. What I need is faith, and that’s it. But, it’s a living faith. That means it moves, it does something. And so, both oars are marked faith. And the works is me actually using the faith and being propelled forward. And so, by using the faith, I say, “That’s not me, I’m dead to that. Scripture says so. I believe it.” Now the oars are moving. It’s not a dead faith, it’s not, “Oh, two oars and a boat. Oh, nice oars,” no good unless you actually use it, right?

And so, the faith’s no good if you don’t use it. So the faith is, “I died to that. It’s not me. And so, go somewhere else. Because that’s not who I am.”

And so, we’re gonna talk more about some practical steps in part three.

But we’ve gotta have this foundation. We’ve gotta know who we are, and we’ve got to believe who we are. And by faith, we can overcome anything.

Let’s pray. Almighty Yahweh, we want that spiritual mind that gives us life and peace. For any within the sound of my voice who wants that spiritual mind to give them the life and peace that they’re looking for.

Let them turn away from whatever sins have easily beset them, because they have not come to a place of faith. And give them victory as they turn away from it and put their trust in Messiah Yahushua. Let them receive the Gospel and put those shoes on, so they can get a grip and no longer slip and fall.

Thank You, Father, for looking upon us while we are yet sinners, and letting it be that Yahushua would die for us. That we might have power to overcome and be Your children. What an honor to be granted the identity that You have given us.

So many amazing things. Nothing compares to the promise we have in Your Word toward us. Nothing this world could possibly offer us could come remotely close to what You are willing to do for us.

And so, we thank You, we praise You and we honor Your glorious name. Truly Yours is the Kingdom and power and glory forever. In Yahushua’s name we pray. Amein.