- Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to Faith Forward Baptist Church,
so nice to see you all here on this Wednesday evening.
If you'd all please find your seats now
and take a hymnal, go to hymn 207, we'll begin tonight.
Hymn 207, number 207, Only a Sinner Saved by Grace.
Hymn number 207, we'll sing it out
on that first verse together.
Not have I gotten what I've received.
Hymn number 207, we'll open up on that first now, hymn 207.
Not have I gotten what I've received.
Hymn number 207, we'll open up on that first now, hymn 207.
Hymn number 207, we'll open up on that first now, hymn number 207, hymn number 207.
Hymn number 207, we'll open up on that first now, hymn number 207.
Hymn 207, we'll open up on that first now, hymn number 207.
Salvation for Monday, Tuesday, salvation for Tuesday, we got one over here.
Any other salvations? How many? 15? Anybody else?
And today, 3? What happened? 2? Well, maybe he did.
Anybody else? Back there? 6? Does that include his 2?
Okay, so technically we have how many? 6 it is, amen.
Anybody else? Going once, going twice?
Alright, Brother Hernandez, come lead us in the next song.
You should find the insert in front of your hymnal with Psalm 81.
If you don't have an insert, you can raise your hand and you'll receive one.
We'll sing it on that first verse together, Psalm 81.
Sing aloud unto God our strength.
Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
Take a song and bring it to the temple, the pleasant heart with the psaltery.
Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed on our solemn peace day.
For this was a statue for Israel and the law of the God of Jacob.
Did it see ordained in Joseph, or a testimony when he went out
through the land of Egypt where I heard a language that I understood not?
It loomed to his shoulder from the burden, and his hands were delivered from the litter,
in the sacred place of thunder. I threw thee at the waters of Meribah.
Seel a fear, O my people, and I testify unto thee, O Israel, thou who art been unto me.
There shall no strange God be in thee, neither shall thou worship any strange God.
I am the Lord, thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto Him, but their time should endure forever.
He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat and with honey.
Out of the rock should I have satisfied thee, out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.
Oftentimes the day seems long, but tries hard to bear.
We're tempted to complain, to earn our spare.
But Christ will soon appear, to catch His cry away.
All tears pour open, God's He worth it all. When we touch, trials will seem so small, and we seek Christ.
When we touch, trials will seem so small, and we seek Christ.
Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them.
For their heart studyeth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief.
Through wisdom is in house builded, and by understanding it is established.
And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
A wise man is strong, yea, a man of knowledge increaseeth strength.
For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war, and in a multitude of counselors there is safety.
Wisdom is too high for a fool; he openeth not his mouth in the gate.
He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person.
The thought of foolishness is sin, and the scorner is an abomination to men.
If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be slain,
if thou sayest, "Behold, we knew it not," doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it?
And he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it?
And shall not he render to every man according to his works?
My son, eat thou honey because it is good, and the honeycomb which is sweet to thy taste,
so shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul.
When thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.
Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous.
Spoil not his resting place, for a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again,
but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth,
unless the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.
Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked,
for there shall be no reward to the evil man, the candle of the wicked shall be put out.
My son, fear thou the Lord and the king, and meddle not with them that are given to change,
for their calamity shall rise suddenly, and who knoweth the ruin of them both?
Things also belong to the wise; it is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.
He that saith unto the wicked, thou art righteous, him shall the people curse; nations shall
abhor him; but to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come
upon them.
Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer.
Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field, and afterwards build
thine house; be not a witness against thy neighbor without cause, and deceive not with thy lips.
Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me; I will render to the man according
to his work.
I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
and lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof,
and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
Then I saw and considered it well, I looked upon it and received instruction, yet a little
sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep.
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
Dear Father in heaven, please fill Pastor Mahe with your spirit, please give us all
wisdom and understanding from the sermon this evening, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
It is a blessing to be here tonight in the absence of your pastor.
I'm always thankful for the opportunity to be able to preach at Faith Forward Baptist
Church and it's good to see you all on this very warm summer evening in Arizona.
The title of my sermon tonight is how to get back on track.
How to get back on track.
Throughout my time in church, I've always heard preachers say from the pulpit, they'll
make this statement that the Christian life is essentially two steps forward and one step
back.
Two steps forward and one step back.
essentially saying that the Christian life isn't always
achievements and success and progress.
There are instances where we regress.
We kind of step back a little bit.
Maybe we fail in a certain area.
And the reality is this is that God
isn't necessarily interested in characterizing your life
by that one step back, by that one failure,
by that one bad day, one bad week, one bad month,
or even one bad year of your life.
He characterizes you by the fact that you get back up
again, those two steps forward that you
take after the step back.
And obviously, we're imperfect people.
We make mistakes.
We don't always do right.
And so it's unrealistic to think that we're always
going to take steps forward and never going
to fail in the Christian life.
We're never going to make mistakes.
We're never going to step back.
The reality is this is that we will fall back
every once in a while.
The important thing is to step forward when we do it.
It says in Proverbs 24 and verse 16,
"For a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again.
But the wicked shall fall into mischief," it says.
And I want you to notice that it says that the just man falls
seven times.
Seven, of course, in the Bible, is a number
that symbolizes perfection.
And it goes without saying that we are perfectly imperfect,
meaning that we are always going to make mistakes.
And so we should expect to fail at times in the Christian life.
But again, it says that he rises up again.
So when you fall, and you fall out of church,
you fall out of your Bible reading,
you fall out of spiritual disciplines,
predetermine that you're going to get back up no matter what.
Predetermine that purpose in your heart,
that no matter what happens, no matter what failures you have,
you've got to get back up.
And this evening, I just want to talk to you
about how to get back on track as a Christian.
How do you do it?
And I'm going to go over three specific points tonight.
The first point being, how is it that people get off track?
Second point is, how to get on track?
And then the last point will be how to stay on track.
Now, go with me, if you would, to Matthew, chapter 26.
Matthew, chapter 26, if you would.
Let's first talk about how is it that someone gets off track?
How does someone fall and, quote unquote, stays down?
How does that take place?
And the first thing I want to mention
is that it's pride.
Pride is what causes Christians, believers, just men,
to get off track, to fall, and yes, even to stay down.
And one of the best illustrations
of this, in my opinion, in the Bible is the apostle Peter.
Here's a man of God who loves the Lord,
and he's zealous for the things of God.
He's willing to go even unto death, so he says.
But yet we see even towards the latter end of Jesus' ministry
that the apostle Peter takes a step back, does he not?
And where does it start off with?
It starts off with pride.
It says in Matthew 26 in verse 31.
Then saith Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended
because of me this night.
For it is written, I will smite the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
But after I am risen again,
I will go before you into Galilee.
Peter answered and said unto him,
though all men shall be offended because of thee,
yet will I never be offended.
Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee,
that this night before the cock crow,
thou shalt deny me thrice.
Now, what is Peter doing here?
He's being prideful, arrogant.
Why?
Because Jesus himself is saying,
you guys are gonna forsake me,
and in fact, as it is written.
So aside from the fact that he is in real time
giving the revealed word of God as he's speaking,
he's also quoting Old Testament scripture
to reinforce the fact that they're gonna be offended.
And any person who is humble,
any individual who recognizes that the Bible has authority
and you know, they're imperfect,
they're gonna say, you know what, amen to that.
This is gonna happen 'cause the Lord said it,
but not Peter though.
Peter says, not me.
You know, everyone else is gonna fall off track.
Everyone else is gonna take a step back, but not me.
What is he saying?
This applies to everyone else,
but I'm the exception to the rule.
What is that?
It's called pride.
And an example of this or an illustration of this
could be when the pastor gets up and preaches
and tries to warn you about the consequences
of actions that you might take.
And you may think to yourself,
well, that's for the person to the left of me.
That's for the person to the right of me, but not me.
I will never be offended.
That's not in my character.
I'll push through.
I'm built different.
It's called pride.
And one sure way to make sure that you fall
flat on your face and get abased and humbled by God
is you're prideful, you're arrogant.
You think that you are the exception to the rule.
And in fact, the parallel passage to this--
you don't have to turn there--
is in Luke 22, verse 31, Jesus, it says here in verse 31,
the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold,
Satan hath the desire to have you,
that he may sift you as wheat.
So in Matthew 26, he addresses all the disciples in general.
But here in Luke 22, he's specifically talking to Peter,
just in case Peter thought that he's
the exception to the rule.
He says, Satan hath the desire to have you.
He may sift you as wheat.
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.
And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
I love the fact that the Lord has faith in his people
that when they are converted-- not if he's converted,
but when they are converted-- he knows that Peter will bounce
back.
And he wants to use him to convert his brethren, not to--
by the way, this isn't referring to salvation.
This isn't like a New Testament thing
where Peter had to get saved again or something.
When he says converted, it's essentially
saying that when he's transformed
from being this backslidden believer
to having faith in the Lord and coming through and believing
on the Lord for his deliverance, he
needs to be an example to the believers
and strengthen them by his example.
He says in verse 33, and he said to him, Lord,
I am ready to go with thee both into prison and to death.
Not the response that he should have given.
And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not
crow this day before thou shalt thrice deny
that thou knowest me.
So he tries to warn the apostle Peter,
telling him, hey, Satan's out to get you.
He wants to sift you.
He wants to destroy you.
He's out to get you.
And don't worry, though.
I prayed for thee that your faith fail not.
And when you're converted, implying
that something bad's going to happen to him,
but he is going to bounce back, he is going to recover,
he needs to convert his brethren,
help them to be strengthened.
And the response he gives is like,
I'm going to go with you even unto prison, even unto death.
That's called pride, okay?
And we should never think of ourselves so highly
that we think that, well, you know,
I've been in the Christian life for so long.
I've been in this church for so long.
I've read my Bible for so long.
I'm the exception to the rule.
Participating in these actions
are not going to get me out of church.
I'm not going to stop reading my Bible.
I'm not going to stop.
So I'm not going to stop serving God.
Folks, that's called pride.
And the Bible tells us pride goeth before destruction
and a haughty spirit before a fall.
1 Corinthians 10, 12 tells us,
wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth,
take heed lest he fall.
In other words, don't be a delusional Christian.
Don't lie to yourself.
Don't deceive yourself into thinking
that you have all your ducks in order
and it'll never happen to you because it can.
And this is why the Bible tells us to be vigilant,
to be sober and we have an adversary
who's constantly out to sift us as weed.
We need to make sure that we keep our guard up
and make sure that we're not the exception to the rule.
Go back to Matthew 26 if you would.
The Bible also says in Psalm 19 verse 13,
keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins.
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent
from the great transgression.
So one of the reasons why people get off track,
the main reason, the first step is pride.
It's arrogance.
It's thinking that you're the exception.
It's not gonna happen to you.
Maybe for brother so-and-so, maybe for sister so-and-so,
but not for me.
I'm different.
I'm built different.
I know how to walk with God.
I serve God.
I know how to win souls to Christ.
Folks, you may be the very candidate
that Satan goes after and you can fall because of it.
But what's another reason why people get off track?
Well, the first one obviously is pride.
But the second one would be negligence
regarding spiritual disciplines.
Negligence regarding spiritual disciplines.
Let me just say this is that the day that you decide
to stop reading your Bible today, for example,
and then you make an excuse to not read it tomorrow,
it's easier to not read it the day following.
And then it's easier to just skip that week.
And then it's just easier to just say,
I'm gonna hop back on the following week.
And the day you say, well, today I'm not gonna go to church,
I'll just come Sunday night.
But then something always comes up before Sunday night.
And it's like, well, for sure I'll be there on Wednesday
for the Bible study.
But then you miss out on the Bible study
for whatever reason.
And you say, okay, Sunday's the first new start,
but then you miss that Sunday.
The longer you're at a church,
the more you become negligent regarding
those spiritual disciplines,
the more distance you create between you
and the things of God.
And ultimately, it causes you to get off track.
And what people don't realize is that sometimes
failure in the Christian life
happens incrementally, not overnight.
It's just a little here and a little there.
The Bible says that gray hairs are upon him,
here a little, there a little.
Failures come as an accumulation
of just a negligence of spiritual disciplines
when you decide not to do the average today,
and then you end up falling off track because of it.
Look at Matthew 26, verse 38.
It says, "Then saith he unto them,
'My soul is exceeding sorrowful.'"
This is referring to Jesus being in the Garden of Gethsemane.
"Even unto death, tear ye here, and watch with me.'
And he went a little farther, and fell on his face,
and prayed, saying, 'O my Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me.
Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.'
And he cometh unto his disciples, and findeth them,"
What?
"Asleep, and saith unto Peter, 'What?
Could you not watch with me one hour?
Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation.
The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.'"
And I always found it funny that Peter's like,
"I will go to prison, I will die for you."
And just a little bit later, he's like catching some Zs,
he's counting sheep.
He's not staying awake during the apex of the trial
that Jesus Christ is experiencing, he's falling asleep.
It's like Christians are just like, you know,
they're fully committed, I'm King James only,
but then you fall asleep in church
when the pastor's preaching.
You're in one of the most important times to stay awake.
You say, once a time I should be asleep at night
when you go to bed.
But when you're in church, you know, watch, amen.
Watch the preacher, watch the Bible.
Enter not into temptation, the spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak.
And obviously that's like a third application
to this principle that I'm giving here.
But the point that I'm making here is the fact that
once pride sets in, then excuses for why you shouldn't do
the basics of the Christian life also start setting in.
Those accumulate over time, and then eventually
you just don't do them anymore.
Your heart becomes hardened.
It's no longer tender towards the things of God.
It's easier to get out of the habit of doing the things
in the Christian life.
And then what happens?
You get off track.
Okay, look at verse 56, verse 56.
So pride, negligence of spiritual disciplines,
but then also people begin to increase their distance
between them and the Lord.
Look at verse 56, but all this was done
that the scripture of the prophets might be fulfilled.
Then all the disciples forsook him and fled,
and they that had laid hold on Jesus
led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest,
where the scribes and the elders were assembled.
Listen to this, but Peter followed him afar off
unto the high priest's palace and went in
and sat with the servants to see the end.
So we have Peter, he is claiming that he's gonna be
committed unto the prison, even unto death.
He's being prideful, presumptuous, and arrogant.
And of course, he's sleeping on the job, so to speak,
but now he's not right next to Jesus.
How are you gonna go to prison with Jesus
if you're not even going, you're not by his side,
you're not backing him up?
What is he doing?
He's following afar off.
Oh, he's still following the Lord, but just afar off.
You know, people begin to miss church and say,
you know, yeah, I miss church,
but I'm watching online though.
I'm catching the sermons online.
What does that call?
It's called following afar off, right?
Because it's just like,
well, I'm still getting into preaching.
Yeah, but you know what?
Preaching is very much important in the house of God
coupled with the fellowship of God's people as well though.
And God wants you to be here in person,
not only being exhorted by the sermon
and by the preaching of God's word,
but also by God's people.
You know, God wants you to fellowship with other believers
and use other believers as an example into yourself,
be an example to the believers
and have that community of fellowship with God's people.
But we see here that the Apostle Peter begins to create
distance between him and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The parallel passage, you don't have to turn there.
It says in John 18, 18 of the servants and officers
stood there who had made a fire of coals,
for it was cold and they warmed themselves.
And Peter stood with them and warmed himself.
You know, one thing I've noticed as a pastor
is that when members begin to get off track,
specifically in the area of church attendance,
there's a distance that's created between them
and the church, them and the Lord.
And it's almost as if they separate from church,
but they're separating unto someone or something.
And what I see more often than not is that
the less you come to church,
the less you fellowship with people,
the more it's likely you're gonna fellowship
with someone else who's not in church,
someone who is not a Christian,
someone who's not serving God,
and the easier it is to stay out of church.
Especially if you're hanging out
with a bunch of other backsliding Christians
who are also following the Lord afar off.
It's just easier to be peer pressured
into falling into that same condition
of being lukewarm, apathetic towards the things of God,
following afar off, okay?
But you know, the Bible tells us
that God wants us to be in the house of God.
He wants us to keep close communion with him,
to keep short accounts with him in the Bible.
Look at verse 69, verse 69.
We're seeing a progression here with the apostle Peter
of how he got off track, starts off with pride.
Then the negligence of spiritual disciplines.
We see that he begins to follow the Lord afar off,
and then ultimately it leads to this casualty
of denying the Lord, right?
It says in verse 69, "Now Peter sat without in the palace,
and a damsel came unto him saying,
thou also was with Jesus of Galilee.
But he denied before them all, saying,
I know not what thou sayest.
And when he was gone out into the porch,
another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there,
this fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.
And he again, excuse me, and again he denied with an oath,
I do not know the man.
And after a while came unto him they that stood by
and said to Peter, surely thou also art one of them,
for thy speech be rayeth thee.
Then began he to curse and to swear, saying,
I know not the man, and immediately the cock crew.
And Peter remembered the words of Jesus,
which said unto him, before the cock crow,
thou shalt deny me thrice.
And he went out and wept bitterly.
Now, let me clarify something.
I don't believe this means that Peter
was denying being a believer or a Christian,
or that he was saved, or that he just stopped believing
that Jesus was the Christ.
He's obviously denying his association
out of fear of persecution.
And there's nothing new under the sun.
Christians, when they get off track to get out of church,
they backslide.
They're ashamed sometimes.
And why?
Well, because they're around other unbelievers,
lukewarm Christians.
They want to fit in.
And so by proxy, they essentially-- what do they do?
They deny the Lord by denying that they're
even a Christian at times.
Not because they're saying they're not saved,
but just because they are acting like they're not in church.
They're acting like a non-believer.
They're ashamed that they're a Christian
and they're not in church.
They're not serving God.
So in a sense, they're denying that they are serving the Lord.
They're embarrassed about those things
and ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is a very shameful position and condition
for Christians to fall into when they get off track.
I mean, think about it.
Think about you being three to thrive.
You're constantly reading your Bible.
But then you start being negligent and prideful.
You start following afar off.
And then six months down the road,
you're not even talking to people about the Lord anymore.
You're hanging around your unsaved buddies
and you don't even want to talk about the things of God.
You don't want to win them to Christ.
You're not bringing up church.
You're not even going to church on Sunday.
There's a complete contrast of what we see with Peter
prior to his denial of Christ and after, right?
And so it's important that as Christians we recognize
what are some of the steps that people take
into getting off track?
We see here that he begins to deny the Lord.
And why is that?
Because he stopped denying himself.
The Bible tells us, if any man will come after me,
let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.
But yet with Peter, he begins to deny the Lord.
He stops dying to self.
And that leads to his spiritual demise, so to speak.
Go to John chapter 21.
Is this my water?
Did anybody drink out of this?
Is this mine?
I think I ask this every time, huh?
You just never know, though.
Peter essentially becomes a castaway.
And the Bible tells us, you don't have to turn there yet.
But it says, for what is a man advantage
if he gained the whole world and lose himself or be
a castaway?
And there are instances where people can become covetous.
They become involved with greed or lust.
They're entangled with the affairs of this life.
And essentially, what happens to them
is that they become useless to God.
They become a castaway.
They get off track.
They're no longer serving the Lord.
They are as salt that has lost its savor.
Wherewith shall it be salted?
It extends forth good for nothing, but to be cast out
and to be trodden under the foot of men.
God obviously has a purpose for every single one of our lives.
The Bible tells us that we are as workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them.
But when a person allows pride to creep in, they become negligent regarding spiritual
disciplines.
They create distance between them and the Lord.
And what happens?
They begin to deny the Lord.
Look what happens next.
Spiritual matters are no longer a priority.
It says in verse number one of John 21, "After these things, Jesus showed himself again
to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias.
On this Y showed he himself."
This is after the resurrection, by the way.
"There were together Simon Peter and Thomas Chaldeimus and Nathanael of Canaan in Galilee,
and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
Simon Peter said unto them, 'I go a fishing.'
They said unto him, 'We also go with thee.'
They went forth, entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing."
So what do we see here?
Peter went from being a fisher of men to just plain fishing, going back to his old hobbies,
his old job, and from the looks of it, in the very beginning, he was actually really
good at what he did.
I mean, that was his vocation.
But he received that when you backslide, you know what, sometimes you take people with
you.
When you get off track, one thing that Christians do and they don't realize is they take people
with them.
And you don't really realize how much influence you have in this church or in your family
until you backslide.
You go fishing and other people say, "We go with you as well."
Well, one thing you'll notice is that when you get off track, you get out of church,
you catch nothing.
Life outside of the Christian world is meaningless, it's not fruitful, it's miserable.
You will catch nothing.
Peter is a prime example of someone who got off track.
This is a man who claimed that he was going to go with Christ to prison.
He was willing to die for the cause of Christ.
He was willing to stand by him to the bitter end, but yet we see here what happens.
He goes fishing instead.
What happened to him?
He got off track.
This is the testimony of many people.
As a pastor, you see a lot of casualties in church, spiritual casualties.
People who were once on fire for God, they're serving the Lord, they have a brightness about
them.
They have a bright countenance, they love what they do, they love coming to church or
loving the preaching, they love to hate, they love to win souls to Christ.
They just love the things of God and then they just get worse and worse and worse and
it starts off with pride.
The next step is they neglect spiritual disciplines, they create distance between them and the
things of God, ultimately they deny the Lord in the sense that they don't even talk about
being a Christian anymore.
And then of course we see that spiritual matters are no longer priority to them and they become
a casualty. This evening I want to also talk about how to get back on track. Because here's
the thing, no one is exempt from happening to us what happened to Peter, right? And obviously
we need to be vigilant. But if you find yourself in this situation where your heart has grown
cold towards the things of God, maybe you're not reading your Bible anymore like you used
to. Maybe you're not even coming to church as much as you used to. Maybe you stop soulening
or you're not soulening as much as you used to. Let me just remind you tonight, you're
getting off track. You're like, "Well, you know, I don't think so. I think, you know,
I think I'm fine." That's called pride. Called pride. And you know, every once in a while,
we need to reevaluate our spiritual lives and see, where am I spiritually? Am I reading
my Bible every day? Am I coming to church? Am I trying to be a blessing to those in our
church? Am I soulening? Look, if you're checking those boxes, you're probably in a good spot.
But if you think to yourself, you know what, I haven't witnessed anybody in weeks, in fact
in months. I haven't read my Bible in weeks. In fact, I can't remember the last time I
read my Bible. You've gotten off track. You know, it's like, Oh man, it's just too hot
to come back on Sunday night. It's too hot to come on Wednesday. You know, it's just,
it's just too much. You know, you might be getting off track a little bit. Okay. So let
me show you how to get back on track. Go to Ezekiel chapter 47, if you would Ezekiel chapter
47, we're going to read five verses of Ezekiel 47 and give some spiritual application on
how we can get back on track as Christians and when we read this you're
gonna think to yourself like what does this have what in the world does this
have to do with getting on track this is such a obscure passage here but I'm gonna
I'm gonna explain what it is in just a bit look at verse number one it says
afterward he brought me again into the door of the house and behold the waters
issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward for the
forefront of the house stood toward the east and the waters came down from under
from the right side of the house at the south side of the altar. Then brought he me out of
the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate
by the way that looketh eastward. And behold, there ran out waters on the right side. And
when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand
cubits, and he brought me through the waters. The waters were to the ankles. And again he
measured a thousand, and he brought me through the waters, and the waters were to the knees.
And again he measured a thousand, and he brought me through the waters, and the waters were
to the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass over,
for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.
Now here in Ezekiel 47 we see this vision that God is giving to the prophet Ezekiel
about the house of God. And of course when you compare this to the house of God of the
Old Testament, one glaring difference is the fact that there's water issuing forth from the
house of God. And obviously if you've read the Bible through all the way to Revelation,
you see that this is essentially foreshadowing the temple in Revelation chapter 22 where the
river of life is flowing from the temple of God outward. And that's what's being symbolized here.
And we see that there's a man who's leading Ezekiel from the house of God, passing the altar,
unto these waters that start off shallow but get deeper the further he gets out.
And the Bible tells us here that he measures it, it comes up to his ankles,
he goes a little further, it gets to his knees, he goes a little further, it gets to his loins,
and then ultimately the water's so deep that you can swim in it.
Now what I believe this is referring to is the fact that this unnamed person that's leading Ezekiel
is probably the Holy Spirit, okay? And the waters that he's leading them through
is also the Holy Spirit. You say, "Well, how so?" Well, I'm going to explain to you
in just a bit how that can be. Now let me give some practical application to this particular story
regarding the context of the sermon of how to get back on track. And the first point I want to make
of how to get back on track is that the Holy Spirit leads Ezekiel first to where? The house
of God. It says in verse one afterward, he brought me again unto the door of the house
and behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward. You see,
it all starts off in the house of God. And in my experience, one of the best ways to get back on
track as a Christian and hear me out here, okay, isn't necessarily to pick up the Bible and read
it, although that definitely helps. But let me just say this. Most Christians, if they're off
track, are not just going to pick up the Bible and read it. If any Christians have been backslidden
for any length of time, it's just harder for them to actually pick up the Bible, open it up,
and just start reading it cover to cover. It's actually easier, listen to this, to get to the
house of God first. And one of the best ways for you to get back on track, listen to this,
is just come to church. You come to the house of God. You feel like you're off track. You feel
like you're not where you're supposed to be. Let me just tell you this. Come to a church service.
Come to the house of God to hear the preaching of God's word. It'll put you back on track.
It'll put you back on track. We're like, well, you know, pastor's going through this series
though. And I don't know how it applies to my life. And I don't know how that's going to apply
to what's going on. It'll apply somehow. It always does because the word of God always resonates with
the spirit who wants to hear the word of God. It's always going to resonate with, I mean,
there's been times when I preach a sermon at my church about a particular topic and someone comes
to me like, man, you know what that really spoke to me about? And it just has nothing to do with
the sermon. And I'm thinking to myself, I spent all that time preparing this sermon about this topic
and he gets this out of it, his marriage or something. And I'm just like, you're welcome,
you know, I guess, you know, I don't know how that, but you know what? The word of God is
powerful. And you know, the Holy Spirit is working in that person's life. The Holy Spirit knows
exactly what you need, what you need to hear. It resonates with the word of God. And you know,
if you're off track, one of the best things for you to do is just get your rear end into church.
You'll hear the preaching of God's word. It'll quicken your spirit. It'll quicken your soul.
If your soul is dry, it's apathetic. It just doesn't want to do the things of God.
Drag yourself to church and I promise you, you'll get back on track. It's one of the best things to
do is to hear the preaching of God's word. And it's not just the preaching, obviously,
that's the most important part, but just being with God's people, being in the house of God with
God's people, fellowshipping again, singing the hymns, putting yourself in a state of a spiritual
mind to esteem the things of God, that does something to your soul. It helps you to get
back on track. You know, you get off track, what do you start doing? You start envying the wicked,
start seeing what the wicked has, the way the wicked prospers. You no longer set your affections
on things above. Now you're setting them on things of this earth. Your priorities are out of whack.
What happens? Well, if you come to the house of God, then you will understand the end of the wicked.
You know, it reminds me of Asaph. It says in Psalm 73, you don't have to turn there.
When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God.
Then understood I there. And surely thou did set them in slippery places. Thou casts them down
into destruction. How are they brought into desolation? As in a moment, they're utterly
consumed with terrors. You know, he's saying he starts complaining about how the wicked is prospering.
They're doing better than him. But then he goes to the house of God where he hears the word of God.
And he remembers, oh yeah, that's right. They're going to be destroyed. Never mind. Hey, you get
off track. You get out of church. You're going to start envying the wicked. You're going to start
coveting with the unsaved half. But if you're in church, you get yourself into that first step of
getting into church, you'll remember the end of the unsaved, which first and foremost is hell.
Then you'll be reminded of what happens to people when they get out of church and the punishment
that could come upon them, the consequences that they can suffer. It realigns your priorities once
again. And you think to yourself, man, I've known people who have been out of church for so long,
and it just doesn't seem as though God is doing anything to them. Yeah, but you don't know first
and foremost, if God is just being merciful to them, you know, because the goodness and
forbearance of God leads us to repentance. And you know, he doesn't want to bring down the
hammer just yet, because if he does, he's going to just destroy them. Or you don't know what
they're thinking when they put their head on their pillow at night and how dissatisfied
and miserable they are because they're outside of church or not serving God. Their heart is
not right with the Lord. Okay. But let me say this, if you've gotten off track before,
you know, committing to reading 10 chapters a day of the Bible and going so many five hours a day
and then, you know, being excessive in your spiritual disciplines, just come to one service.
And one thing that I've observed is Christians who have gotten off track, if they just determined
to come Sunday morning, give them a couple of weeks, they'll come Sunday night, give them a
couple more weeks, they'll come to a midweek service. And before they know it, they're back
in church, they're back in the saddle, they're back on track. But it all starts off with the
Spirit leading them to the house of God. Not only that, but we see that he leads him. It says in
verse number one, "Afterwards, he brought me again into the door of the house. And behold,
waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward for the forefront of the house
stood toward the east. And the waters came down from under from the side of the house at the south
side of the altar." We obviously know that the house of God has in the Old Testament had an altar
for what? For animal sacrifices. But New Testament, we are the temple of the Holy Ghost,
which we have of God. We are not our own. Those New Testament sacrifices have been done away with
because Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who should take away the sins of the world. And the Bible
also tells us that we are essentially a living sacrifice. The Bible says, "I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service." So we see that once you go to the house of God,
then you begin to be reminded of your priorities. And what do you do? You start dying of self again,
putting others first, putting you last, putting the Bible first, putting Facebook last, putting
someone first, hanging out with your friends last, putting spiritual priorities first, dying to self
and putting everything else last. The Bible tells us you don't have to turn there. Go with me if
you would to Galatians chapter five, Galatians chapter five. Romans 8 13 says, "For if you live
after the flesh, you shall die. But if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body,
ye shall live." Colossians 3 5 says, "Mortify, kill, destroy, therefore your members which are
upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,
and covetousness, which is idolatry. For which things sake, the wrath of God cometh under the
children of disobedience." Now let me get to the main point of this second part here. And that is
that the unnamed person, which from here on out, I'm just going to refer to the Holy Spirit,
leads Ezekiel from the house of God to the altar, and then he starts going through the waters.
And when he leads him through the waters, it goes up to his ankles first. And why is that? Well,
think about this. In the Christian life, when you come to church, you start dying yourself,
we can assess that and say, "Hey, you're walking in the spirit." And if the water in Ezekiel 47
is a picture of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the one who's leading Ezekiel through
the waters, well, if you be led of the spirit, you're also walking in the spirit. One of the
best ways to get back on track is just start walking in the spirit. And you think to yourself,
"Well, that's..." Because it's up to his ankles. And you think to yourself, "Well, that's easy for
you to say. How do you just walk in the spirit? How do you just say I'm going to walk in the spirit?"
Well, luckily, you don't have to start speaking in tongues or prophesying or healing people.
Really, here's a really simple way to determine or to make yourself
walk in the spirit, okay? And that is that you mind spiritual things. Really what it is.
Walking in the spirit is not like, "I'm in the spirit." It's more like, "You know what?
I'm going to actually think about the things of God. I'm going to make time for church.
I'm not going to give that guy who cut me off on the freeway the bird. I'm going to sing hymns.
I'm going to read my Bible." You're like, "Yeah, but I don't feel spiritual when you do it." Well,
because you're not charismatic. It's not a feeling, you know? It's not a sensual thing.
You're minding the things of the spirit is what you're doing. You're basically saying,
"You know what? Instead of doing A, I'm going to do B instead. Instead of sitting home and just
mindlessly scrolling and watching Netflix and watching whatever, I'm going to go to church
instead on a Wednesday night to hear the preaching of God's word. Oh, you're walking in the spirit.
The waters are to your ankles because now you're walking in the spirit. You know, while you're at
work, you're, you're living honestly at work, you're obeying your boss. Maybe you're thinking
about scripture on your break, you're reading your Bible or you're singing hymns into yourself. You
know what you're doing? You're walking in the spirit. Now, here's the thing with walking in
the spirit is that once you walk in the spirit, you're no longer walking in the flesh. And what
people get confused about is just like, Oh, but what if I get in the flesh? You know, does that
mean I lose my salvation? No, it just means you're in the flesh again. And you know, someone asked
me, they're like, How do I know if I'm in the perfect will of God? And I basically explained
that the perfect will of God is like a unicorn. It doesn't really exist per se, because really,
the will of God is just you serving God at any given moment. And no one serves God perfectly,
because we're constantly in and out of the spirit, right? You're in the spirit because you're
thinking about the Bible. But then you get you get worried about your bills when now you're in the
flesh. And you're like, Well, you know, I got to pray and have faith in God that he's going to
provide. Boom, you're back in the spirit. And then you're like, Yeah, but you haven't gotten that
raise yet. You know, God, you really think God's going to provide is like you're in the flesh
again. And then you're like, Well, I'm going to sing hymns to remind me of God's provision.
Then you're in the spirit. So it's like it's like a constant going in and out of the spirit.
And, you know, it should don't marvel at that because we live in the flesh. So the flesh
lusts against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary to the one to the other
so that you cannot do the things that you would. The goal is to be spiritually minded. And that is
how you can walk in the spirit. In fact, where do I have you turn Galatians? Chapter 5 verse 16 it
says, "This I say then, walk in the spirit, you should not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the
flesh lusts against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary to the one to the
other so that you cannot do the things that you would." Look at verse 24, "They that are Christ
have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." If we live in the spirit, let us also walk
in the spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
You know, the apostle Paul says, "This I testify therefore in the Lord, that you walk not as other
Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds, having their understanding darken, being alienated from
the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart." He
goes on to say, "Who being past feeling have given themselves over to lasciviousness, to work all
uncleanness with greediness, but ye have not so learned Christ. If so be that ye have heard him
and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus." They put off the former conversation,
the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of
your mind by coming to church, right? And they put on the new man, which after God has created
righteousness and true holiness. What is he saying? You know, you got to decide that you're going to
walk in the spirit today and don't walk as other Gentiles walk. And when you do that, you end up
doing the right things because he says, let every man speak truth through his neighbor. Let us not
lie one to another, for we are members of the same body. He tells us, let all bitterness and
wrath and anger and clamor and evil speak and be put away from me with all malice. He says, be kind
one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven
you. And he goes through all this Christian conduct. That's a byproduct of just walking in
the spirit. If you're off track, here's what you got to do. Just think about spiritual things.
You're not a psychopath. You're not schizophrenic. You can control what you think about. You can cast
down imaginations in every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God.
You can bring it to captivity of thoughts of the obedience of Christ. You can determine what you're
going to think about. I'm bitter. Okay. Think forgiveness. You know, Oh, I'm, I'm, I just feel
covetous. Okay. We'll think about contentment. You know, I'm scared. We'll have faith. And I'm
not talking about the power of positive thinking here. I'm just saying mind, spiritual things.
And that is a very practical way for you to know that you are walking in the spirit. Go to,
go back to Ezekiel. So we see here that he takes him from the house of God through the altar.
Then he goes into the water and he gets to the ankles. And I'm going to breeze through some of
these points because I'm almost out of time. He takes him through the knees. And I believe what
this pictures is, you know, the Holy spirit will often lead people into hard times, temptations,
trials. You know, it says in Matthew chapter four that Jesus Christ was led of the spirit into the
wilderness, right? And what did I do? It caused him to pray. And you know what? When we are walking
in the spirit, the spirit will often lead us into hardships because what hardships do is they cause
us to get on our knees and pray, which is a very vital aspect of the Christian life is prayer. One
of the first things that goes in the Christian life when someone gets off track, he gets to the
knees, then it gets to the loins. He says in verse four, and again, he measured a thousand and brought
me through the waters. The waters were to the knees. Again, he measured a thousand and brought
me through the waters were to the loins. And what I believe this is referring to is, you know,
when a person starts to go that deep into being filled with the spirit, walking in the spirit,
he begins to make biblical convictions. His core beliefs out of his belly shall flow rivers of
living water. The more you come to church, the more you do the things of God, the more they just
become a part of who you are. And that's the goal there folks, right? When you come to church,
church isn't something that you choose to do per se, it's something you just do.
It's not like you wake up on Sunday morning like, should we go to church today? Do you think we
should go to church today? And I'm not saying, you know, because you're projectile vomiting or
something like that, you know, stay home if that's the case, right? You know, if you're
busting an exorcist and it's, you know, stay home. But if absolutely nothing is wrong,
and you're just wondering, you're just being lazy, you understand what I'm saying? You know,
what I'm saying is, you know, you want to go to church to the point where there's just no question
that you're going to go to church. Your kids are not asking you, are we going to church today?
It's more like don't ask that question. You know, we're, you know, we're going to church today.
And then ultimately what happens, he goes from the ankles to the knees to the loins. And finally,
he just swimming in the river, meaning that he's filled with the spirit. He said, well,
what does this have to do with getting on track? Well, this leads me to my third part,
which is staying on track. Okay. Now I need four volunteers real quick. Okay. Come on up. What's
your name? Jonathan. Stand, stand right here. Come on up. What's your name? Nate. Stand right here.
Come on up. Daniel right here. I need one more. Okay. Man, I saw for a man over here. Come over
here. Here he is. Send him. So in the Christian life, there's certain things that you can do
that will keep you on track. So if you think about Ezekiel, he's in these waters and he's
now he's like in the river and he's swimming in these waters, right? And if we're to just kind
of symbolically represent the shore as being outside of God's will. So the shore is outside
of God's will within the rivers is in God's will. Okay. And that's where we want to be. That's
where we want to stay all the days of our life. Now, the way you could avoid going back to shore
is you got to swim a little further in the further you go or further out, excuse me,
the further you go out, the more distance you create between you and the shore.
And here's the example I'll give before I use these men as the illustration.
Before the day before I got saved, I almost drowned.
And it's because my friends or someone had invited me to church.
It was a Baptist church.
And I said, well, I'm going to go to the beach instead.
And so I'll go to church like another time.
So then, you know, we went to we went to like the beach at like midnight or something.
And my friends and I, my friends are like, let's see how far we can swim before we tire out.
And it's just like, great idea.
Idiots, stupid.
So, you know, it's dark and we're swimming or swimming.
Well, you know, we didn't, we didn't really take into consideration this important thing
is that, you know, what do you do when you're tired?
How are you going to make it back?
So we're swimming and then, you know, they beat me.
And then I'm, I'm, my lungs are burning.
I'm tired.
And then I'm just like, you don't feel the ground under you.
So then, you know, I go under water.
I do one of these things to try to touch the ground so I can like launch myself back up.
And then I just go and there's no ground.
There's just nothing there.
It's just colder.
And I'm like, man, I just burned all that energy just doing this.
So I go back up, I'm just like, I'm going to die.
And the first thing that came to mind was I should have gone to church.
I was like, I'm going to drown out here at the age of 21.
My poor mother is going to, you know, it's going to be a horrible night.
So then with everything I have, I'm just like trying to swim.
And I look behind me and the lights were really dim.
So we swam far and the current is just kind of like taking us.
And I'm just like swimming as best as I could.
I'm a swallowing walk.
Finally, I make it to shore though.
And I'm like super far from my vehicle.
And then needless to say, I went to church the next day and I got saved.
And so thank God for that.
But the point that I'm making is that I wasn't too far from the shore enough
that I can make it back.
Now let's reverse that and just talk about being in and out of God's will.
Let's just picture this is your Bible reading.
This is church attendance.
This is soul winning.
And this is singing the hymns.
These are just like the basics of Christian disciplines, right?
And I'm here in the middle, okay?
Well, the goal is, go ahead gentlemen, get a little closer.
You make Bible reading, slow down.
You make these disciplines part of your life every single day, right?
Every week.
And the more consistent you are in doing these things,
the closer they get, right?
Okay, guys, come on.
You can get on here.
You can get on here too, okay?
So the more you do them, the closer these disciplines get.
You say, well, what's the point with that?
Well, you know, we're sinners, so we make mistakes.
We just have bad thoughts.
We get into a rut.
We backslide in our heart.
We go back to Egypt in our heart, right?
So, you know what happens when you have these disciplines
and you start to drift in your heart?
You're like, man, I'm just kind of tired of the Christian life.
I want you to just a gentle push, please.
Okay, don't just not push me.
I said gently, gentle.
Just kind of, you know, so I'm the way we go.
So, you know, you're, you know, I'm thinking like,
I'm kind of tired of being in church.
I want to sin.
Okay, now you can just.
And what happens?
It kind of pushes me back to the middle where I need to be.
Because I built in the discipline of reading the Bible every single day.
You know what happens when I have stupid thoughts?
When I want to entertain dumb thoughts,
but I read the Bible every single day and the Bible catches me drifting,
it just kind of pushes me back.
So I never make it to shore.
Or I'm just like, you know, I wish I could barbecue on Sundays,
you know, and then, oh, never mind, they're having to cook out at the church.
You know, and then I get back to the middle.
Man, I want to listen to Tupac, you know, which one are you?
You're someone, you know, you, you get,
you become cold and apathetic towards people, right?
And you just kind of get cold towards people.
But then you come to church and you hear a sermon on soul winning and you go soul winning.
And you know what that does?
It causes you to like love people again, once again.
So these right here keep you from going back to shore.
So the goal is to get to the ankles, to the knees, to the loins.
And ultimately you're filled with the spirit.
And just keep going deeper and deeper.
Build these spiritual disciplines in your life as guidelines.
As essentially, you know, these barriers.
They keep you from ever reaching shore again.
Because at the end of the day, folks, do we really want to go back to shore?
No, we don't want to go backwards.
We don't want to go back to old habits, old friends, old ways of thinking.
Fill in the blank, right?
Well, when you're filled with the spirit, you have those thoughts of like,
I don't want to do those things.
OK, then build up these disciplines so that in your heart,
when you're backslidden, you're drifting a little bit,
the Bible pushes you back.
Or you get a little worldly, pushes you back when you sing those hymns.
Man, that guy, what you doing?
You know, you start losing a love for people and it pushes you back
and you start loving the people again that you witness to.
You already used yours up, so we're not going to go.
No, I was kidding.
You know, you whatever, you know, you just,
you don't have the right way of thinking.
You come to church and Pastor Anderson preaches a sermon
and it just helps you to kind of correct your thinking again.
And the more you, what, the more you put in those disciplines,
the closer those disciplines get, the less likely you'll go back to shore.
You understand what I'm saying?
And you just stay, you just stay put.
And look, I'm not saying sinless perfection either,
because the drifting illustrates the fact that we are imperfect.
We do drift, pastors drift, Christians drift.
We have, you know, the heart is deceitful above all things,
desperately wicked, who can know it?
So we got to be smart about this stuff and create these principles
that will keep us still serving the Lord for years on end.
And it's just bouncing back and forth and just keeping us right in the middle where we need to.
We'll never stay in the middle just perfectly still because of our hearts.
But hey, at least, come on, man, at least, at least,
at least you minimize and reduce the space between you and the shore.
Thank you guys.
You guys can sit.
What am I saying?
The sermon is simply this, you know, how to get back on track.
I showed you how we get off track.
I showed you how we can get back on track.
But number three is really important.
And that is how to stay on track.
Because honestly, I'm looking at a group of people here.
I'm sure you want to stay in the house of the Lord all the days of your life.
I know I do.
I want to serve God all the days of my life.
But you know what?
I know me, though.
And I know my tendency.
I know how my heart can be.
And I know my sinful nature.
Therefore, when I'm in the Spirit, I need to create those disciplines
and increase those disciplines so that I never see the shore again.
Doesn't mean I won't drift, but I'd never make it back to shore.
Amen?
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
And thank you for the principles of the Bible, Lord, that help us to stay on track.
And Lord, when we fall seven times, help us to be reminded to get back up.
And maybe there's someone in here tonight that maybe they just stop reading their Bible
over the last couple of days or even today.
May they start once again tonight or even tomorrow morning
Help them to walk in the spirit to get them back on their knees
make those biblical doctrines and principles core beliefs so they can be filled with the spirit and
Construct those guidelines and barriers
That'll prevent them from reaching the shores of the world of sin and of spiritual casualty. We love you
We thank you. Pray this things in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Take your him those please go to him
129 him
129 rock of ages him number 129. We'll sing it out on that first verse
Thou must save, and Thou art the Lord.