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Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 686 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text -- Brother Phil Enlow: Well, praise God! Good to see everybody this morning. How many of you have been going through battles this weekend...this week? ( laughter ). Praise the Lord! You know I just sense that in you, and I certainly know it's true in me, that the devil is never going to give up. Do you know that? Not 'til he's made to. And one of his greatest tactics is to hammer at us through our weaknesses. We are flesh and blood creatures. We get sick. We get tired. We get pressed on every side and we become conscious of our failures and the devil just does everything in his power to turn our attention off of our confidence in the Lord, and to those things, and to discourage us in the way. You know the Word spoke of Israel in the wilderness at one point being discouraged because of the way. And I really believe that the devil...that's one of the devil's greatest tactics against God's people is to discourage us by causing us to feel all of these weaknesses and needs. And, of course he's quick to come behind everything with...just hammering our minds. You'll never be different. You've set out to trust God and it's just all in vain. You're just a failure. No matter what you do you're always gonna be a failure. You're always gonna be experiencing these same weaknesses. Nothing is ever gonna change. And, the first thing you know, we get to listening to him. And then what happens? We get all down in ourselves, and bound up, and hindered, and we loose our liberty. And I'll tell you what, God, I believe wants to lift our eyes this morning because...just because we've had a wonderful meeting where we experienced the Lord's presence doesn't mean we're not going to experience battles. It doesn't mean we're not going to experience failure and weakness, along the way. But I praise God today that the war has been won... ( congregational amens ). ...that the outcome of serving God and putting our lives in His hands, the outcome is certain. There's no devil in hell that can stop God from saving those who put their trust in Him. And I just praise Him this morning. I just had a couple of thoughts come to me and then others can certainly jump in as the Lord enables. But I thought of a scripture that's so familiar to us in Hebrews chapter 7. The writer here is...he's writing to Jews who understood the law and so he was speaking in terms that they knew about. Under the law they had priests who represented their needs before God. And when they had a need, when they sinned, when they did something and they had to go to God with it, they went to the priest, and they offered a sacrifice. And the priest became their representative. And in verse 23 it says, "Now there have been many of those priests..."--Why?--"...Since death prevented them from continuing in office...." (NIV). Obviously they were just men like others, and so from generation to generation there always had to be new priests. Then he says, "But because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely..."--it says in this translation. In the King James it says, "...to the uttermost." "...He is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." (NIV). I'm thankful that in my darkest moment of despair, and discouragement, and anything that you might say, I've got somebody in Heaven who has a permanent, unchanging priesthood. No matter what happens down here He does not change. And in those darkest hours He lifts His heart to the Father and says there my son, my child, my brother I guess in this case...my brother is down there discouraged. My sister is having a hard time right now. She's struggling. Things are piling up on her. She feels like she's in a hole and the top's about to be covered over. Oh Father, help her. Send her strength. Send her help, right now. This is the time of need. Do you know we've always got somebody? And I believe we pray one for another. And I believe there's always people in the body of Christ that are lifting up their hearts for you. But I tell you there's one, even if they fail, even if we fail to pray one for another there's one who never stops praying for our needs and He is completely familiar with our needs. And do you think He stops and He says well, I'll tell you what; I don't think they deserve it this time. They've messed up too bad. I have told 'em and I've told 'em and I've told 'em about this need and still they fail. Still they fall short. I'm just gonna sit back and let them stew a little while before I pray for 'em this time. Do you think He's like that? -- Congregation: No. -- Brother Phil Enlow: No! He is an absolutely faithful high priest who bears our needs before His Father and I just praise Him tonight. (Today, I guess it is, isn't it?) Praise the Lord. I told somebody I wasn't quite awake this morning and that was the truth. ( laughing ). ( laughter ). But that's all right. The Lord is awake. And He knows exactly how to help us. And I just praise Him for His faithfulness because we do get tired. We do get discouraged. We get weak in our flesh and we need to know that we always have help. We always have strength. And I thought of another scripture and I'll just try to pick the thoughts that matter out of this. It's in chapter 5 of Romans. And Paul is talking about the grace of God and he's talking about the gift of life that we receive as a result of what Jesus did. Now we know that by virtue of our being born into Adam's family, we are sinners. That's how we got to be sinners. And of course we cooperated with the process. We acted like we were members of Adam's family and so we have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and we're in need of salvation. We're in need of help. We're in need of rescue. We're in need of something that the law had no power to help us with, because all it could do was tell us what to do. It could never give us the power to do it. And so we stood in need of a different kind of help from God. Praise God! "But the gift..."--in verse 15--"...is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification." God has the power, because of what Jesus did to declare you and me righteous. And yet I believe it's more than just a declaration, don't you? Praise God! God is not in the business of simply declaring sinners righteous and then having them continue under the power of sin. There's more to it than that. God's grace is able to do a complete job to bring us all the way to what God has designed for every one of us. "For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man...." Now he's talking about the consequence of sin here is death. That's how death is in the world. That's why men suffer and die. That's why everything is in a state of decay and condemnation...is because of sin and the death that entered the world. "...If, by the trespass of the one man..."--that's Adam--"...death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." Now boy that's a mouthful, isn't it? If death reigned because one man sinned, how much more can we reign in life because Jesus died, because He rose again, and because He extends His grace? Now notice, it's abundant provision of grace 'and' of the gift of righteousness. The gift of righteousness is one part of it. That's God declaring me righteous though I'm a sinner because my sins were placed upon Him. He died. He stepped into my place and said I'm the guilty one. Punish me instead. Let this one go free. Praise God! There's a gift of righteousness. My standing before God is based on what Jesus did. But notice it's not just the gift of righteousness, is it? It's grace! And it's not just grace, it's abundant grace. ( congregational amens ). It's abundant. It's all that we could ever possibly need to succeed as Christians in this world. Praise God! It's enough, in other words, to do the job. "...God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness..."--how much more will be able to--"...reign in life...." I'll tell you a lot of times I don't feel like I'm reigning. Do you? I feel like everything else in the world is sort of sitting on my shoulders telling me what to do and controlling things. But I'll tell you, God has enabled us--has given us what we need to reign in life. ( congregational praise ). Do you know the peace of God is not dependent on the absence of conflict? Did you know that? Do you know that we can have, just like the song that was just sung, we can have peace 'in' the storm? ( congregational amens ). It all depends, not on what's going on in the outside; it depends on what's going on in here. And if we will look to God instead of to the storm, God can give us peace, even if it's in His provision at that time not to take away the storm. I thank God that there is enough in His grace and His provision for my salvation, that I can have victory on the inside when everything else on the outside is against it. ( congregational amens ). I don't have to listen to that. I don't have to go by my own feelings and sensations of weakness. And I've got 'em just as much as anybody...the weakest person in here. I feel my weakness and my need just as much as you do. It's real, but so is the grace of God. That's more real. That's greater! ( congregational amens ). I thank God. I believe He's wanting to lift my eyes this morning to remember that His grace is enough. I can reign. I can have victory in spite of the fact that there's a battle going on. Victory is not the absence of battle. You can be in the middle of a battle, and the devil is just hammering at you, and God's letting him talk to you and whisper all of his negative thoughts. But we can have something on the inside that says, no I don't listen to you devil. You're a liar! ( congregational amens ). I continue to stand fast and believe in the grace of God and we can have victory on the inside. And we can have peace in the midst of all of that conflict that you and I experience. And because of what Jesus did...I'll tell you, the most insidious way that the enemy overcomes us is through our failures. Because if we're doing all right spiritually...and what our assessment of all right is...well we sort of feel like, yeah, I'm okay. I can expect God to bless me, after all I'm doing right. You know what that is? That's just self-righteousness. What we're really trusting in at that moment is the fact that we've done all right. Instead of saying, Lord I'm trusting in You. ( congregational amens ). Because if we are trusting in Him even in those times of weakness when we find ourselves not doing what we should and coming short, we will still know that we don't stand by what we do. We stand by His grace and we can come to Him as a faithful high priest. He represents us. How many offerings did He have to offer in order to accomplish that? -- Congregation: One. -- Brother Phil Enlow: One. You look at the Old Testament priests. They had to go back, and go back, and go back, and go back, and go back, and every day somebody would come with an offering. Well, I sinned again. Offer this...kill this animal for me. And then they'd go in every year to the Holy of Holies with the blood and the special ceremony. Annually they would have the Day of Atonement. All of this was pointing towards what Jesus did. But when He got there, one offering. ( congregational amens ). He took His own blood into the holiest place in Heaven, offered it to the Father and the Father said, I accept it. ( congregational amens ). When we fail we don't have to go back and say, oh, Lord, You've got to come up with another sacrifice. You didn't figure on this now. You didn't plan on my failing here. Oh yes He did. Yes He did. He is able to save you, and you, and you, and me completely because we come to Him by His Son. Praise God! His grace is enough to take care of it--the gift of righteousness, the abundant provision of grace. "Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men..."--That's the consequence of what Adam did--"...So also the result of one act of righteousness..."--That's what Christ did on the cross--"...The result of one act of righteousness was..."--What?--"...Justification that brings life for all men." I'll tell you, once God removed the barrier of our sins, He was free to give us His life. What happened when Adam and Eve sinned? One of the things that happened was they got kicked out of the garden. You know why they got kicked out of the garden? So they wouldn't partake of the Tree of Life and live forever in that awful corrupted condition. God is not going to give men His life, if their intent is to go on and live in their sins. But I'll tell you, if we come to Him to deliver us from what we are, He has the power to blot out our guilt and to change us. But the thing is, that change doesn't happen instantly, does it? There's no experience where we can come down here and say well, boom, it's all over and you're like Christ. We all know better than that. We all know that day, by day, by day we're gonna have to stand in the field of battle. We're gonna have face the enemy. We're gonna have to face our own failures. We're gonna have to face the times when we are sick, and tired, and beat down by circumstances, and we're gonna have to say, Lord, I'm trusting You here and now. Your grace is not just enough to save me when I'm in church and feel good, Your grace is enough to save me here. ( congregational amens ). When I'm in my darkest pit, Your grace is enough to help me here. When I'm like Jeremiah and I'm sunk up to my armpits in the muck in the bottom of a well, Your grace is enough to help me here. You know about me. You haven't forgotten me. Your grace is enough. "...Brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." How are you made righteous? By His obedience! Boy, the devil hammers that sort of thing--hammers against that truth and makes us think it's what we do that makes all the difference. It's what Jesus did that makes all the difference. And you and I can come to Him for forgiveness the minute we fall. And I believe those who come to Him, He puts a new heart in here that doesn't want to go on in that way. We 'want' to overcome. But He's well aware of our weakness. He's well aware that we need to grow up in Him. We need to 'learn' to overcome...that it is a life-long process, that there will always be the possibility of our falling short in this life or probability in many ways. But I'll tell you, He has made provision that we don't have to fall. We don't have to be overcome by all of those things and when we are, temporarily, we can come to Him and be forgiven of our sins and made free. "...The obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law was added so that the trespass might increase." Now what is he saying there? Man was a sinner before the law ever came around. And I believe in a measure there were men who had enough of a conscience to know that they were doing wrong. There was something about them that whispered in their ears if they did something really wrong...that's not right. But in order for God to save man He had to make him aware of his sin. If we are not thoroughly aware that we're sinners, why would we need a savior? And so God brought in laws and said, thou shalt do this, thou shalt 'not' do that, thou shalt not do the other. And all of the sudden now we've got an objective standard and we can look at that, and we can look at ourselves and say, boy, I'm in trouble. That's what He means by this. "The law was added so that the trespass might increase." All it did was show us what awful sinners we are. "...But where sin increased, grace increased all the more." ( congregational amens ). I thank God that there is no pile of sin so great that God's grace is not greater than that pile. ( congregational praise ). It can cover it, folks. And we need to know that every single day. We need to see...we need to measure in our minds the grace of God is 'greater' than our sin. We sing that song, but do we live it? Do we understand it in those dark times, those times when the devil would hammer at us with discouragement? We need to know that God's grace is enough to take care of our situation and our need. He hasn't forgotten about us and He will not fail to save us completely because our trust is in Christ. Praise God! "...Grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." I praise God this morning. I don't know. I just sensed that in many of you, and certainly it was true of me, the devil has been hammering at us this week, has he not? Trying to say, you think you had this great meeting and everything is just going great now. And now you've arrived on the mountain. Well let me show you, you're not there yet. And so the devil just gets our minds all discouraged and all involved in our own weaknesses and our own failures. But I'll tell you what, I want to keep my eye on the grace of God. ( congregational amens ). I want to know that my help has not changed one minute--for one minute, one iota. He is able to finish what He started. He is able to save me completely--completely. That's more than just forgiving my sins. That's helping me to overcome in this life and to actually grow up and be of some use to Him. You and I can succeed as Christians if we will trust in the grace of God and not on our own strength. I'll tell you, how many times has the Lord allowed you to fall in the mud because you were trusting in yourself? ( laughter ). ( laughing ). I see a lot of double hands going up. You know, God is a wise Father. He knows exactly how to teach His children. And He never does that to hurt us or to harm us but only to cause us to trust in the Lord instead of ourselves. And I'll tell you, the things that we are experiencing right now in our lives are in reality...they are the answer to our prayers. If we're praying saying, God, work in my life. You know what's wrong with me. Help me to overcome and help me to see it. Help me to understand it. And when He answers our prayer, we get discouraged. We say what's wrong? Oh God, I was doing so good. Oh, how could this happen. God's answering our prayers and I praise Him. I want to stand here and be positive this morning. If I'm feeling weakness, all it does is drive me to trust more in Him because I know I can't make it. I know the minute I trust in myself, I 'will' fall. But oh, the weakest human being--the weakest sinner can trust in this grace because it's enough to do the job. It's greater than all that's wrong with us. It's enough to bring us. It's God divine strength. And I tell you, once He takes us in His--once Christ takes us in His hand, and brings us to the Father and says, I've got 'em Lord. And He says, I agree. And He puts His hand around the Son's hand. Praise God! ( congregational praise ). Praise God! You think about that. If the devil says you're in a bad place, you say, oh I'm in the best place there could possibly be. I'm trusting in Christ. ( congregational amens ). I'm in His hands. He won't fail. He's been given a commission to save me completely, and He's gonna do it. Praise God! ( congregational amens ). Praise God for His grace today. ( congregational praise ). Oh, it's greater than my sin, and I praise Him for it. Bless the Lord! ( congregational praise ). 
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