Leave the Prison Forever!

2/12/1993

I wanted to make a little bit of a clarification with what I was talking about a minute ago. A scripture that came to my mind is from 1 Timothy. You don’t necessarily need to turn there, it’s just a couple of the terms that Paul uses. It talks about, “The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” What I was talking about…about put the armor on! Don’t just let it be in the corner. What Rich is talking about of “Wake up! You’re free. Don’t live like you’re in prison. You’re free. The bond’s been paid. The ransom has been paid and you’re free. Be free! It’s for freedom that you were set free. Be free. Don’t be in bondage.” To have that kind of an attitude, for that to work spiritually, for that to be a possibility, there needs to be a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith, otherwise you’re just fooling yourself. Otherwise, it just becomes a game.

I mean, if you are allowing sin, if you are allowing things, if you’re knowingly sowing bad seed or cutting corners or doing anything to dishonor God, and you’re just letting those things go on without any turning and repentance and calling out to God, if it’s just sort of something you’ve made your peace with, then you won’t have a pure heart, a good conscience, a sincere faith. And you won’t be able to just say, “Ok, I’m free.” Because God won’t let you off the hook, because God wants your heart, and God wants holiness. And God wants you to have a pure heart, a good conscience, a sincere faith-pure heart, good conscience, sincere faith. That’s what God’s looking for in each of us.

Now, if you have those things, if you know that before God, “God, You know me. You’ve searched me and You know me. And I’ll tell You all the things I know that are wrong, but I’m not going to make peace with those things. This is unacceptable, this cannot be allowed to go on. God, I’m sorry.” And you mean it, and if there’s anyone else you need to talk to you take steps. There’s action, there’s fruit of repentance. Then you can walk with a pure heart, good conscience, sincere faith. And you may still at that point, find yourself feeling like, “I’m still in the prison.” Or “I want these things to be true—let them be true.” But if you are walking and you know that you do have a pure heart, a good conscience- good conscience-and a sincere faith, then it becomes possible by faith to look to God and to leave the prison forever. Or to put on the armor and not to just leave it in the corner, but to have it on. And that there’s faith and love, the belt of truth and all that Jesus was becoming expressed in your life more and more. But you can’t get from point “A” to point “B” without there being a pure heart, good conscience, sincere faith—those are just base level prerequisites for being a Christian. Growth will not occur apart from those things being true in your life. Amen? But if they are, the sky is the limit for those who trust God and love Him and walk with Him!