Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

Hey, podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word through the most effective media available, like this podcast.

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Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I'm.

Speaker 3

Glad to study God's Word with you every day. This Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

The Christian life is not about exhilaration. It's not about information. It is about transformation. Becoming like Jesus Christ and the way God makes us like Jesus Christ is through the Word of God, but also through the Spirit of God.

Speaker 1

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. Throughout the course of our new study, we've been exploring the fact that every Christian has access to the power of the Holy Spirit.

But how exactly do we tap into that immense resource? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress describes the first conduit through which the Spirit's power flows into our lives.

Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message. Dr. Jeffress.

Speaker 3

Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. All across America in evangelical churches that will gather this coming Sunday, whether in person or online, I believe there's an unintentional trend to overlook the third member of the Trinity. It's not malicious, it's not deliberate, but it is dangerous and it's tragic. You see, God never intended for his Holy Spirit to remain a mystery to his children. In fact, God promised that His Spirit would be your singular source of power.

And if you're feeling a measure of emptiness or you're finding that your quiet times with God have lacked direction, then I want to help you expose what's missing. I've written a helpful book for you called I Want More, and a copy is yours today when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. My book, I Want More, is intensely personal. It documents my own spiritual journey when I felt like my faith had slipped into a period of weakness and boredom.

In my book, I'll help you put a plan into action so that you can overcome the spiritual battles you face. I want you to experience new fire and zeal for the Gospel, just as I have. Be sure to contact us today with your generous gift and request a copy of my book called I Want More.

Now it's time to continue our series on this topic; the title of today's message is how to take a spiritual bath.

Speaker 2

In his book, *7 Reasons You Can Trust the Bible*, Erwin Lutzer poses the following scenario. He says, imagine you're in Los Angeles, California, and a series of wrong turns has landed you in the wrong part of the city. Suddenly, you discover you have a flat tire. You're stranded there, trying to figure out what your next move is going to be. When you look out your car window, you see a gang of 12 young men leaving a building, and they are all headed towards your car. Immediately, you have visions of being dragged from the car, beaten, and left for dead. Would it give you any comfort if you knew that those men were leaving a Bible study? Lutzer says even the most hardened atheist would find some comfort in that knowledge. You see, even unbelievers understand, to a limited degree, the ability of the word of God to change lives. Unfortunately, many Christians today are not aware of that same power.

Now, we talk a good game when it comes to the Bible. We say we believe the word of God is alive and active and that it is powerful, but we don't act that way. You remember in the Reformation, one of the cries of the Reformation was *sola scriptura*, the Bible alone. Yet, if you go into many evangelical conservative churches today, the slogan seems almost to be anything but the Bible. Everything in the worship service is something else other than the Bible. It may be stories, it may be singing, it may be talking about topics, but there is very little emphasis given to the word of God. No wonder so many people are biblically illiterate in our country today.

You know, Jay Leno, in one of his famous jaywalking routines on *The Tonight Show*, decided to test people's knowledge of the Bible. He was out on the street and asked people to name one of the Ten Commandments. Nobody could name one. Finally, one person said, "Oh, I've got one. God helps those who help themselves." He asked somebody else to name one of the twelve apostles. Person after person could not name one. But then Jay asked, "Name the four Beatles." And everybody said, "George, John, Paul, and Ringo."

Now, it's easy to talk about what other people are doing wrong. Let's take the spotlight and shine it on our own lives for just a moment. Does everybody have your Bible with you? I want to ask you a question this morning. How many of you believe this book is the inerrant, inspired, powerful, authoritative word of God? If you believe that, raise your Bibles. Okay? All right. Now, let me ask you a few questions about this inerrant, inspired, authoritative, powerful word of God. How much time did you spend this last week reading this inerrant, inspired, authoritative, powerful word of God? I'm not talking about how much time you spent reading books about the Bible. How much time this past week did you spend reading God's Word?

Another question: If you were sitting with somebody who wanted to know how to become a Christian, and you had no pamphlet, no tract, and all you had was a Bible, using God's word alone, could you lead somebody to faith in Jesus Christ? Imagine you're in a prison cell. You have no access to a Bible. Like many of our Christian brothers and sisters around the world, you had no Bible, and you're in a prison cell. How much of God's Word? How many verses could you recall by memory?

Imagine a friend or a coworker came up to you and asked for real help about how to heal a broken marriage, how to deal with a rebellious child, how to resist temptation, how to break an addiction, or how to have peace when your world is falling in around you. Would you know where to turn in Scripture to give them God's answers to those questions?

Now, my reason for asking you these questions is not to put a load of guilt on you. The reason I'm asking you these questions is to show you one reason that you and I are not experiencing more of God's power in our lives. In this series on the Holy Spirit, experiencing the Holy Spirit's power in your life, we're talking about how to release God's Spirit's power in your life. But to experience His power, there are some things you and I have to do. There are actually four channels through which the Holy Spirit's power surges in our lives. Write them down because they're going to be the outline of our study for these next few weeks: four conduits through which the Holy Spirit's power flows into our everyday life.

First of all, through the Word of God. Secondly, through conversation with God, that is, prayer. Thirdly, through the people of God, that is, other Christians, the church. And fourth, through obedience to God. Now today, we're going to look at this first channel through which God pours His Spirit's power into your life, and that is through the Word of God. I want you to write this statement down because it is the thesis of the message this morning. The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to unleash the power of God to transform us into the image of God. Write that down.

Now, today I want to share with you four examples of the power of God's Word. What is it that God's Word is able to do for you and me? If you will, take your Bibles and turn to James. First of all, the Word of God possesses the power to save us. The Bible tells us how we can be saved. It tells us how we can go back to the Father who loves us. Look at James 1:21. "Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls." Only the Word of God, the Word implanted in people's lives, is what's going to save people.

Secondly, the Word of God possesses the power to guide us. Turn over to Psalm 119 for just a moment. I wonder this morning how many of you have an important decision you need to make in the next three months. Just raise your hand. You've got an important decision you need to make in the next three months. I've got some great news for you this morning. If you're a Christian, God promises to give you the guidance that you need. In Psalm 32:8, God says, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you." Isn't that a great truth? God promises to give you the direction you need to make a decision.

Now here's the question: How does that direction come? Certainly, God can speak to us through prayer, through the counsel of other Christians, through our own desires. But the primary way God is going to give you the direction that you need is through His Word. And that's what we find in Psalm 119. Here's a little trivia: Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, with 176 verses. Every one of those verses is about the value of the Word of God in your life.

Now, this psalm in the Hebrew text is arranged in 22 stanzas. It was a song about the value of the Word of God, and each of those 22 stanzas begins with a different letter from the Hebrew alphabet. If it were in English, it would start with A, then B, then C. It's the psalmist's way of saying God's Word has everything you need from A to Z to give you what you really need in life. Now look at the value of God's Word and guidance. Look at verse 105 of Psalm 119: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

Imagine you're out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, with no moon shining, and you're lost. Fortunately, though, you have a flashlight. That flashlight provides just enough light to show you how to take the next step, and the next step, and the next step. God's Word is like a lamp; it is like a light. Notice it doesn't say God's Word is like a floodlight or a spotlight that illumines the whole path. It gives you just the amount of direction you need to take that next step and that next step and that next step.

Thirdly, God's Word possesses the power to heal us. I want you to turn over to Hebrews chapter 4. Do you remember the story of Gordius? Gordius was that guy who tied the knot with rope that was so complex that nobody knew how to untie the Gordian knot. Person after person would come and try to untie the knot, and they were unsuccessful. Then one day, Alexander the Great came, looked at that knot, took out his sword, and just sliced it in two. He found the way to unravel the knot.

You know, I think of that story every time I think about Hebrews 4:12. The Bible says all of us are enslaved by sin. The Bible says sin is like a rope, it's like a cord wrapped around us. "By what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved." You know what you're enslaved by today? You know what your master is? It's whatever you can't say no to in your life. By what a person is overcome, by this he is enslaved. All sin begins with wrong thinking. Wrong thinking leads to sin, and sin leads to slavery.

Let me show you how that works. For example, we think we're responsible for our well-being; therefore, we are bound up in worry. Or we think that money is the answer to everything we need in life, and so we're bound up in greed. Or we think that sexual purity leads to boredom in life, and so we're bound up in immorality. Or we think that revenge is the best way to deal with mistreatment, and so we are bound up in bitterness. We are bound up in all of these sins that stem from wrong thinking. We try everything we can to break loose. We go to this program or that counselor, we try this program or we make New Year's resolutions, and nothing helps. What we need is the Word of God to slice through those wrong thoughts that lead to wrong actions that enslave us.

Look at verse 12 of Hebrews chapter 4: "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." It lays bare; it exposes the true motives and intentions of the heart. That's why both non-Christians and Christians—so many of them—run away from the church. That's why they would rather be anywhere than sitting here right now. Because they don't want to be exposed to the Word of God. They don't want to have the Word of God slice through them. But that's exactly what it takes to break free from sin. Just like Alexander the Great's sword sliced through that Gordian knot, we need the Word of God to slice through the intentions and actions of our lives.

But follow me on this. The reason God slices us open with the Word of God is not so He can hurt us, but so that He can heal us. The Word of God possesses the power to save us, to guide us, to heal us. Fourth, the Word of God possesses the power to transform us. Now, how does He go about doing that? How does He go about making you like Christ? Turn over to Ephesians chapter 5. This is where I'm getting the message title, "How to Take a Spiritual Bath." Look at this:

Verse 25: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless." Do you know you're going to be a part of a future wedding ceremony? It's going to come when you and I, the bride of Christ, are reunited and connected to the groom, Jesus Christ. There's a great wedding that's going to occur. It happens at the rapture of the Church. Right now, what God is doing is cleaning up the bride for the wedding ceremony. He's wiping away all the dirt and grime of sin, and He's getting you and me ready to meet Jesus Christ.

In order to get us ready, presentable, and acceptable in God's sight, even as Christians, He's got to do some washing. He's got to give us a spiritual bath. And that's what this passage is about—how He goes about accomplishing that. He wants to sanctify us, that is, to make us like Christ. And how does He do it? Verse 26: "Through the washing of water with the Word."

Now, the washing of water is a reference to the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God is integral to making us like Jesus Christ, but the Holy Spirit of God alone won't accomplish that purpose. Let me illustrate that for you. Let's just say yesterday you were out in the yard pulling weeds, working. After about an hour, you had all you could take of that, and so you went inside, looking forward to jumping into that shower. You jump into the shower, turn on the hot water, and it's pulsating all over your body, and you're feeling great. You reach for a bar of soap and realize there is no soap.

Now, the fact is, the water could do a lot for you. It makes you feel good; it's exhilarating. But anyone interested in real hygiene knows water alone won't do it. It takes water and soap. It's the same thing in taking a spiritual bath. We need to have the washing of the Holy Spirit, but we also need to have the spiritual soap. Paul says that is the Word of God.

Now, let's rewind for a moment. Let's say you come in after working in the 104-degree heat, you jump into the shower, grab that bar of soap, and turn on the water, but there is no water. So all you have is that bar of soap. Standing in a dry shower, can you imagine what the experience would be of trying to rub that dry piece of soap over your body? You might get a little bit clean, but you wouldn't get completely clean. It certainly would be a dry, unpleasant experience, wouldn't it? Just rubbing soap over a dry body.

Yet there are a lot of Christians who try to take a spiritual bath that way. They never talk about the Holy Spirit of God. All they talk about is the Bible, the Word of God. For them, the Word of God is a source of information. That's what the Christian life is about. It's not about exhilaration; it's about information. They go to Bible study after Bible study and take notes. When the pastor preaches, they take notes. They have all of these notes, all of these notes. They're acquiring all of this information about the Bible because they really think when they die one day and are standing at the pearly gates, God is going to hand them a blue book and ask them to diagram the end times.

Or they think God is going to ask them to give 10 evidences for the virgin birth of Christ. They really think that's what the Christian life is about—that God judges us on how much information we have about Him. Let me tell you, folks, that leads to a dry Christian life. If your life is only about accumulating information about the Bible, the Christian life is not about exhilaration; it's not about information. It is about transformation—becoming like Jesus Christ.

The way God makes us like Jesus Christ is through the Word of God, but also through the Spirit of God. Remember the thesis of this sermon: The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to unleash the power of God to transform us into the image of God.

Now, I'm going to make an assumption this morning about those of you listening to us, those of you listening to the message on radio and television—an assumption that I have a feeling is pretty accurate. I imagine for most of you here today, there was a time when you read the Bible more than you do right now. There was a time in your life when God's Word had greater prominence in your life than it has right now. It may have been five years ago; it may have been 10 years ago. It may have been when you were first saved. But there was a time you were more excited about God's Word than you are right now.

In fact, some of you would be embarrassed to say how much time in the last month you've really spent in God's Word. You probably think, "If only I could renew my relationship with God, then I would have a greater interest in reading the Bible." But the opposite is really true. You see, reading, meditating, and studying the Word of God is not the result of a renewed relationship with God. It is the means of a renewed relationship with God.

For some of you this morning who want to recapture that relationship with God, you want to enjoy it, the way to do it is through being constantly and consistently exposed to Scripture. How do you do that? How do you allow God's Word to regain its rightful place in your life? Well, next time, we're going to talk about four practical ways to make God's Word central in your life. We're going to talk about the ABCs of spiritual hygiene.

Speaker 3

Already in this series, we're hearing from listeners all across America who are curious to learn more about the Holy Spirit. I'm so encouraged to sense a hunger from those who hear Pathway to Victory. And now it's your turn. I'm eager to place the book I've written into your hands that will teach you how to unleash the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. My book is titled *I Want More*. In my book, I'll help you identify four of the Spirit quenchers that often steal our joy. In addition, I'll teach you how to deploy the power of God's spirit in your life.

So take a few moments today and contact Pathway to Victory with your generous gift. You can call or go to ptv.org, and when you do, I'll send you my helpful book called *I Want More*. Let me assure you that your gifts are truly making a difference. God has opened doors for new television and radio stations all across America to air Pathway to Victory, and it's because of the gifts from friends like you that we've been able to accept these opportunities and to expand as never before.

You see, it's my voice that goes out through this program, but it's your gift that allows us to reach so many lives. Not long ago, Matthew wrote from Ohio and said, "Dr. Jeffress, in a world that wants to define God in its own way, Pathway to Victory has taught me how to stand for Christ with courage." He expressed his thanks to me, but his gratitude should be sent to people like you who give so generously. Thank you for investing in this worthwhile ministry.

Today, God will use your investment to pierce the darkness with the light of His Word. Don't forget you can watch Pathway to Victory on television on hundreds of stations this coming Sunday, including TBN, the Trinity Broadcasting Network at 9am Central, 10am Eastern. Or you can catch us Sunday afternoon at 5pm Central, 6pm Eastern on Daystar.

Speaker 2

David thanks, Dr. Jeffress.

Speaker 1

A copy of the book *I Want More* is yours today when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Call 866-999-2965 or make your request online at ptv.org, and when you give a gift of $75 or more, you'll also receive this month's teaching series on the Holy Spirit called *Unleashed*. You'll get that on both audio and video disc one more time. Our phone number is 866-999-2965, or you can go to ptv.org. You could also send your request by mail. Write to P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. Again, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins. According to Scripture, the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to accomplish the will of God in our lives. But in order for that to happen, we have to read God's Word first. Learn the ABCs to making Bible study part of your daily life. That's Thursday on Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway Partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway Partner, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

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