The Remedy for Our Sin

 Session Two

I don’t know about you, but I was quite anxious to read these three chapters. I know the gospel, and I understand that Christ died once for all of my sin, past, present and future, but there are times when I think, really? Because there are times I struggle with the same nasty sin that seems to have its claws sunk firmly in my soul and I cry out HOW, WHY AND WHEN will I be free? Like Paul in Romans 7 “I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe which my moral instinct condemns].”

I know that the short answer is when I draw my last breath, and trust me I long for that day when I will struggle no more. Until then, though I think that we are to continue to battle those roving bands of guerillas that wage war from within and without who would draw us away from our Savior. That’s why these chapters were so good for me. We can never lose our salvation if we are in Christ, but we can lose our joy, our peace and our productiveness.


I Corinthians 3 (12-14) tells us that we can build on our foundation (Christ) with wood, hay, or stubble, OR we can build with gold, precious stones and silver, and that some day all of our works will be known. Our works will not save us, but what we do here, on this earth, matters. Likewise James says in James 1 (23-25) as he admonished the believers when he wrote these words: “For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror; For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience).”

In other words, faith without works is dead. (James 2:17)

 So, as we mentioned last time we met, if you are a believer, you will be, at some point manifesting some of these spiritual fruits. Maybe not all of the fruit all of the time, but SOME of the fruit SOME of the time, because not everyone is full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, all of the time.

That IS the goal though, lofty as that may seem.

Corrie Ten Boom, whom many of you may remember, is an amazing woman, who survived the Nazi concentration camps, watched her sister starve to death and be mistreated by German guards and later forgave those same guards, was not all of those fruits at the same time and struggled as you and I do, but you know who was? Her sister, Betsie. Corrie often talked about how Betsie would encourage her to turn the other cheek, to pray for the guards, and how she, herself would struggle against the hatred she had in her heart for the Germans. Later, Corrie came face to face with one of the guards who was particularly cruel to she and her sister during their stay in the camps, and again the anger and hatred welled up in Corrie. Here are her words:

“It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former SS man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing centre at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s pain blanched face. He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. “How grateful I am for your message Fräulein”, he said, “To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!”

His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your Forgiveness. As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”


We may struggle with our sin, but there is victory in Christ. We CAN overcome, because the victory has already been won, we just have to be obedient. So, let us put into practice what we already know, or as Pastor Todd says, how can we apply what we have learned? Isn’t that where the rubber meets the road? In the actual application? Wounds won’t heal without the application of a healing ointment, and we won’t become doers of the word without actually DOING what we’ve learned. So, like Corrie, we must stretch out our hands and shake the hand of the the thing that seems most detestable to us, or in some cases loose the hand of the thing that seems most comforting to us.


Let’s get to our questions:

I. AS FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST, WE’RE DELIVERED FROM SIN’S POWER

1. At the moment we receive salvation through Christ, what does God do for us regarding the guilt and reigning power of sin? (see Romans 6:1-2; Colossians 1:13-14)



Romans 6:1-2 is asking us a question, what shall we say to all of this? All of this being the knowledge that at the moment of salvation (discussed in chapter five of Romans) we are reconciled to God through Christ, this act of reconciliation being called grace and as Pastor Todd reminded us a few Sunday's ago, grace is:


Getting

Riches

At

Christ’s

Expense



Colossians (1:13-14) tells us that immediately we are transferred, from out of the control and dominion of darkness, and into the kingdom of the Son of His love. Yet many Christians do not LIVE this way.


A friend of mine, Charles Busby, once described it to me like this (I hope my memory serves me) Imagine prisoners, sitting in a dark and dank prison, chained to the walls, literally wasting away. Now imagine those same prisoners being liberated, light fills the prison where darkness once loomed, the shackles have been loosed, and the prison doors stand open. Some prisoners have joyously run from the prison without a second look back, some wander up and down the corridor, but quickly retreat to the “safety” of their cell; still others stand in their cells unmoving as though they are still chained to the walls. Sounds silly doesn’t it? Yet, this is exactly how many Christians behave.



2. What does God use to convict us of our sins--including our selfishness and judgmental attitudes? (see 2 Timothy 3:16)

Timothy tells us that EVERY Scripture is effective in convicting us of our sin. David tells us (in Psalm 119:11) to store up God’s word in our hearts so we won’t sin against Him.

God uses people and events in our lives to make those Scriptures come alive to us. Washing dishes, or doing endless loads of laundry or picking up tools left scattered about by my husband I am reminded of Proverbs 14:4 which says, “Where no oxen are, the grain crib is empty, but much increase [of crops] comes by the strength of the ox.” or this one from I Thessalonians 5:18 that Pete reminded me of when I was complaining about having to purchase my first pair of bi-focal, which says, “Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].”


Sometimes He uses people, and conversations to bring to mind scriptures to remind you that you are indeed a great sinner, and He is indeed a great God.


It is the WORD Hebrews (4:12) tells us that is alive and full of power and sharper than any two-edged sword, “penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.” And in Romans 10:17 we come again to the WORD which brings faith. “So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself).”

So, as Jerry says over and over the remedy for our sins, both the ‘acceptable’ ones and the not so acceptable ones is the Gospel.



3. What assurance do we have that, when we acknowledge our sinfulness and ask God’s forgiveness, He will forgive us and no longer hold our sin against us? (see Romans 4:-8; Ephesians 1:7; and 1 John 1:9)


Because God is not a liar.

He says that he does not keep a record of our sins. I John say if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive them but more than this Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” And Titus 1:2 reminds us we are currently “[Resting] in the hope of eternal life, [life] which the ever truthful God Who cannot deceive promised before the world or the ages of time began.”

Jerry said on page 35 in the book (bottom of the page last paragraph) that “The assurance that God no longer counts my sin against me, and that in my struggles with sin, He is for me produces within me a strong sense of gratitude for what He has done and is presently doing for me through Christ.”


There are times though, for me at least, that the realization of my sinfulness has completely overwhelmed me, the thought of how utterly vile I am before Him has made me feel completely hopeless. It is then that I am comforted by Scriptures like II Timothy which say, “If we are faithless [do not believe and are untrue to Him], He remains true (faithful to His Word and His righteous character), for He cannot deny Himself.” I am no longer my own, I was bought with a price, and made HIS own. (I Corinthians 16:20)


4. In Matthew 5:6 what did Jesus promise to all who pursue righteousness, who earnestly desire to see their sin put to death and be replaced with the fruit of the Spirit?

In Matthew 5:6 Jesus promised those who pursued would be filled and satisfied. Gratitude for what Christ did and grief over what you’ve done drives you to pursue righteousness, even in the midst of many failures. And God is faithful, He is the One Who called You and He will keep you. (Philippians 1:6)


Dietrich Bonhoeffer was rumored to have said that perhaps the beatitudes were not meant to be taken literally here is a direct quote I found from his book the “Cost of Discipleship“, because there is indeed a great cost.

“Having reached the end of the beatitudes, we naturally ask if there is any place of this earth for the community which they describe. Clearly, there is one place, and only one, and that is where the poorest, meekest, and most sorely tried of all men is to be found – on the cross at Golgotha. The fellowship of the beatitudes is the fellowship of the Crucified. With him it has lost all, and with him it has found all. From the cross there comes the call ‘blessed, blessed.’” (113-114).

The fellowship of HIS sufferings.


“[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [[a]which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]” Philippians 3:10


I'll leave you with the video from Casting Crowns to remind you that He removed your sins as far as the east is to the west, and I'll post the rest tomorrow~ Be blessed today and remember WHO you are IN Him, you were bought with a price, live like it...