Last night we talked about something Jerry says in the book that caught our attention, "Duty without DESIRE produces drudgery." Part of the reason we NEED to preach the gospel to ourselves every day is that (again these are Jerry's words) "...the Gospel stokes the fire of our motivation to deal with our respectable and subtable sins. It is the gospel that motivates us to be IN our daily experience WHAT we are before God."
Don't leave the Gospel on a shelf, thinking its for others and not you...recognize that you still have lots of sin in you and that God is faithful and will help you rout those roving gangs that wouuld seek to undo you. Lets finish our questions:
II. GOD HELPS EVERY BELIEVER DEAL WITH SIN
1. Read Galatians 5:16 what hope is promised as we seek to “put to death” sins that keep coming back? What does it mean to “walk by the Spirit”?
The HOPE is that we WILL NOT gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh, but it’s a two part deal, and YOU can not do it alone. YOU have a part to play as well. You can not keep doing all the things you normally do, putting yourself in all the same places, hanging out with all the same people and expect different results. My sister has this saying she always quotes:
“Expectations minus Reality equals Disappointment.
That’s what will happen if you expect different results if you don’t DO anything different. The first part of Galatians says YOU must walk and live HABITUALLY in the Spirit, you must be responsive to, controlled and guided by Him. Then, and ONLY then will you be able to resist the cravings of your lower nature, and even then it will, at times be a struggle. Jerry mentioned seven directions that apply to all of our subtle sins, and will help in our walking in the Spirit, I’ll recap them here:
- Apply the Gospel
- Depend on the Holy Spirit
- Recognize Your Responsibility
- Identify Specific Respectable Sins
- Memorize and Apply Appropriate Scriptures
- Cultivate the Practice of Prayer
- Involve One or a Few Other Believers with You
And in II Peter 1 (3-8) we are told we already have ALL the tools we need to DO everything we are required to live the life God has called us to live. We just have to pick them up and use them.
“For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue). By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature. For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence), And in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety), And in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love. For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).”
But verse nine is a warning to us; we can develop a type of spiritual amnesia when we DO NOT DO. “For whoever lacks these qualities is blind, [spiritually] shortsighted, [seeing only what is near to him, and has become oblivious [to the fact] that he was cleansed from his old sins.”
Again I will quote Bonhoeffer, who said, “Being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin, than about courageously and actively DOING God’s will.”
2. As we ask God to enable us to deal with our sin, what must we store up in our hearts? (see Psalm 119:11)
We must memorize Scripture. On a scale of one to ten? I’d say it’s a one-hundred.
Ephesians 6 in describing the armor of God calls the WORD the SWORD. It is our only defense. Our Faith acts as a shield, to protect us, but the only the WORD defends us. What did Jesus reply to Satan (Matthew 4) as He was being tempted in the desert? He used THE WORD. It is important to note too that Satan twisted God’s Word and used it out of context. Remember, a good soldier knows their weapon.
3. How can we be sure the God the Father and the Son, working through the Holy Spirit who lives within every believer (see I Corinthians 6:19) will help us deal with sin and direct our spiritual transformation? (see Romans 8:31, Philippians 1:6; 2:12-13)
We can be sure because we know that God is for us. (Romans 8:31) While we were YET sinners Christ died for us, (Romans 5:8) and we have the promise that He who started the work of sanctifying us will complete it (Philippians 1:6). He will not leave us, or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5) Greater is HE that is in US than he that is in the world (I John 4:4), and we CAN work out or own salvation but not in our own strength because even that strength is from Him (Philippians 2:12-13)
Sounds so simple right? Then why don’t we just DO IT as the Nike ad says? It goes back to Jerry’s directions. We have got to DO something about it and not just nod our heads and say yes I agree that sin is a real problem. And be prepared, as we begin to move forward in faith and deal with ‘respectable and not so respectable sins in our life and realize that things may get rougher before they get better. Jerry says this is not unusual.
Its important, as Jerry noted, to have one or a few believers involved in the struggle with you. Shortly after I became a believer I had an intense struggle as I lay down many sins in my life all at once. My sister Theresa was instrumental in keeping me sane during that time, I’m sure I drove her to distraction as I called constantly frazzled and wondering what in the world I signed up for with this Jesus dude. She constantly pointed me to Scripture and reassured me that God was faithful. YOU need someone like this in your corner when the bottom drops out of your world, and it often does as you deal with your sin. I have found that sin does not like to leave quietly. Like a rude, uninvited, drunken, guest it makes quite a scene as it is being escorted out, but rest assured, the Holy Spirit is quite the ‘bouncer’ and more than able to handle this pest, but you’ve GOT to do your part.
4. What is the Holy Spirit doing within each believer? (see II Corinthians 3:18)
As we repent, the Word tells us the veil is lifted off our minds and hearts and there is freedom in Christ. Picture again with me that dark dank prison. Christ himself came into that place, removed the shackles and set us free from sin, but more than this, His sinless life was what paved the way to the Father for us. SO when the Father looks at us, no longer does He see MY vile, disgusting pile of sins, but Christ.
But even more than this, II Corinthians and Romans 8:29 tell me that I, ME, vile, guilty sinner that I am, am being made into the image of Him who knew no sin. Because as far as the east is from the west SO far has He removed MY transgressions from me.
So while the revelation of sin in my life is used to crush me, and the pressures of this life are being used to press or squeeze out the sin that yet remains in me, each time that happens the Father is making me over into the actual image of His Son.
You see, Christ’s perfect record has been credited to my account, but I still have within me a rebel army. So the Father is routing them, one by one, and each time He looks at me and says, oh, not quite, and applies pressure, and more sin pops out. But some day, ONE day, He will look at me and say AH there He is. It is then He will be looking back at the perfect who will be revealed when all has been removed at last. THAT is a day I long for, to see Him face to face and know Him as I am known.
This song has been pounding in my heart for weeks...enjoy...and remember that we have a WONDERFUL, MERCIFUL SAVIOR
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