Overcoming Sin | SermonIndex

sermonindex Oct 1, 2005

"Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).These two verses sum everything up. Our WHOLE duty is to fear God and keep His commandments. Yet, there are so many who claim that this is an impossible duty to fulfill. "Sure," they say, "we can obey God sometimes, but of course we will still sin." They say this despite the fact that they have no Scripture to back up what they claim. So, many professing believers EXPECT to continue to sin and therefore they do because without faith in God to keep them from sin, they will surely fall--guaranteed. "They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him" (Titus 1:16). They have a form of godliness going to church every week and being "spiritual" MOST of the time, but when it comes down to it, they have not accepted God's provision to overcome sin and thus they deny the power to be godly. What is this provision that God has made for Christians to overcome sin? It is the grace given us by God sending His Son. Through the blood of Jesus, we can overcome, "for everyone born of God overcomes the world" (I John 5:4). Many professing believers have read passages like Romans 6 and I John 3 that state VERY CLEARLY that we are no longer slaves to sin and that those who are in Christ do NOT continue to sin:"We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" Romans 6:2"You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness" (Rom. 6:18)."No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him" (I John 3:6).Despite these and MANY other clear passages throughout the Bible, many do not have the faith to fully believe, so they may turn to a commentary or ask a friend or a "pastor" and it gets explained away for them. Then they FEEL much better thinking that they can continue in sin. So these people are like seed sown along a path: they "hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts" (Luke 8:12). So I ask you, do you have faith to believe the Bible? Have you accepted God's provision to overcome sin in YOUR life? Do you really know what it means to be a SLAVE of righteousness? I pray that you will consider these things. I long to see more people living a victorious life in Christ overcoming sin.John 8:31-47 contains an excellent lesson on being set free from sin. (What I write from here on will be better understood on your part if you have your Bible with you. If you don't have a Bible, please read this message again when you have one with you.)Jesus begins by talking to those who had BELIEVED him (v.31). And so I am writing this to those who believe in the Lord and I tell you what Jesus told them: if you hold to his teachings, you are really his disciples and then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free (see v.31-32).Similar to the Jews (in v.33), you may ask, "we are not slaves of anyone or anything, so what do you mean by telling us that the Truth will set us free? Free from what?"My reply would be (see v.34-38): "do you sin? Don't you know that, according to Jesus, EVERYONE who sins is a slave to sin? So if Jesus sets you free from sin, you will be ENTIRELY free -- free indeed. I have told you this many times; in fact, you have probably read it in the Bible, but you refuse to believe it. Therefore you continue to sin, showing that your actual 'father' is the devil, not God."Some may not like my reply and may try to justify themselves like the Jews did in verse 39. Some may say, "Hey, wait a minute! I'm already a Christian."My reply would be much like Jesus' reply in verses 39-41: "If you are a Christian, then why do you continue to do the things that the devil does (see v.41)? Why do you continue to sin? The whole world is under the control of the evil one and yet you love things that are in the world; therefore, God's love is NOT in you (I John 2:15)." Then I would say, "Turn from your sin and realize that God provides a way for you to stand up under EVERY temptation (I Cor. 10:13). Have faith in God. Rely on Him. Make every effort to be holy (Heb. 12:14; I Peter 1:13-17) and His power will sustain you and keep you from falling (Jude 24; Eph. 3:20). I pray that you will listen and believe the Bible and come to true faith in God.""And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in EVERY way: bearing fruit in EVERY good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience..." Colossians 1:10-11

LetUsPray Oct 1, 2005

Dear Brother Greg,I am very aware of these Scriptures. And, you are totally correct, since it is directly from the mouth of Jesus. Then the difficulties I described in other posts were caused because I didn't obey God's Word; because I liked continuing in this? Nothing could be further from the truth. The problems did not disappear, they wouldn't even have gone if I would have cut off my hands and feet, because the rage was still inside of me. Obviously with no hands and feet it would have been more difficult to make it manifest, but the root was still there.Let me assure you, that no father who has any kind of conscience ever wants to hit his baby daughter, nor kick a puppy. After I became a Christian, years later, I prayed, I fasted, I confessed, I renounced, etc., etc. Yet, the problem did not go away. Did I want it to go away? Yes, but it didn't.

moreofHim Oct 1, 2005

I have written some of this in part to Greg in a PM, but I am convinced and persuaded, it is pressing in on me, that we are to obey the Lord, not only out of love for Him and fear of Him, but also because we love others.The decisions I make will effect others. When I choose to sin or not sin, it will make an impact on others: my children, my neigbors, the next generation, people, who are watching me as to how to live the Christian life. We are to live as overcomers. Someone has to be an example to the next generation that Yes, it is possible to obey the Lord, and say NO to flesh.I feel a responsibility to obey the Lord, not for my sake, but for the sake of others. When my children are older, and they encounter situations where the flesh wants to rule, I want them to have someone to look to, someone that has gone before them and shown that it can be done- through the power of Christ and his Holy spirit.Other people are looking to us, as examples of followers of Christ. Let us not shame Him.No, we will not be perfect 100% of the time. But we can stop sin in it's tracks if we will get our minds off our "selves" and our needs and our wants and our desires- and get them onto God and others.This life is NOT about us. It is about Him. What does our life say about Him?In Him, Chanin

RobertW Oct 1, 2005

Hi LetUsPray,Let me assure you, that no father who has any kind of conscience ever wants to hit his baby daughter, nor kick a puppy. After I became a Christian, years later, I prayed, I fasted, I confessed, I renounced, etc., etc. Yet, the problem did not go away. Did I want it to go away? Yes, but it didn't. The only power that we have to live a life that pleases Christ is to abide in Him. We must have His grace. I am not familiar with the posts you referred to, though I went back and tried to find some. But the statement above makes me think immediately that the solution is clearly a need to be filled and remained filled with the Holy Spirit. One of the fruit of the Spirit is 'self-control.' Remember, there is one baptism into Christ, but there are many fillings. The Apostle tells us clearly;And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; (Ephesians 5:18)Understand here that I am not merely referring to prayer and fasting and confessing (as important as those things are); but getting alone with God and asking Him to fill you with His Spirit. You may need to confess and fast also. Whatever it takes to get a breakthrough- submit yourself to God. If God has a controversy with you- deal with that or you will go no farther.As a point of encouragement, the genuine Christian life does work. There is a people who live holy and righteously before God. They do not do it in their own strength; they do it in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is not self-help; this is a wilingness to submit to God until you have victory and when you begin walking in victory you know for sure that it is God's grace enabling you to live that life. I give a bit of my own personal testimony in the lesson "The life that pleases God." God Bless,-Robert

LetUsPray Oct 2, 2005

I wrote the below thread and posted it 22 Sept. I wrote it after reading questions about dealing with sin, temptation, and especially after someone wrote the m…bation word in the title of his post. It has since been changed to Sexual Struggles. This last post recorded 1959 views to date and 40 responses. The post about the being filled with the Spirit and having Christ formed in you 113 views and 2 responses. Then someone posted Men of God. Where are they? I wanted desperately to be a man of God. I had received the gift of tongues, so by some denomination’s doctrines I was filled with the Holy Spirit. So what happened? Did I want to feel the rage well up in me? And, why is it gone now, after some dear Christians who would not be accepted in certain denominations, ministered to me and I was delivered in the precious name of Jesus? Whether you believe it or not, I did not want to get mad to a point where I would loose it. Yet, I did. I knew then, and know now all that I have quoted in the post below for I taught it then and I teach it now, and I prayed it then and I pray it now. Sadly, very few Christians do this. Be that as it may, there are Christians, people who have confessed Jesus as their Lord, who in every part of their being want to follow Christ totally, and still are not free. All I was attempting to bring forward was that this is a fact, although vehemently denied in many denominations or totally ignored. We have people in many of our churches who need to be set free, but they never will because in their church they are told that this is not possible. Almost every Christian that was honest enough always started of: you will not believe what I am going to tell you. I assure them that I will, because I have been there and praise God, I am now free.Repeat of post of 22 September. If you think that this is useful, WILL YOU?A number of recent threads have touched on: the power of Satan, the conquering power of Christ, law and freedom from the law, etc. For me, and I believe for many others, Christianity is both obedience to God’s Word and the living out of this obedience free from legalism. This seems to be very difficult for many of us; as a result we struggle in our faith to come to a place where we can say with Paul: I have fought a good fight, I have finished (my) course, I have kept the faith (2Tim.4:7).Galatians 4:19. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until CHRIST BE FORMED IN YOU.Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present EVERY MAN PERFECT in Christ Jesus:29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.These are a few Scriptures pointing towards the ultimate PRIZE which should be sought by every Christian: CHRIST IN YOU.Paul in his letter to the Ephesian Church wrote two prayers that He prayed for the Ephesian Christians and, even though this is not recorded, likely for others also. I make this statement, because Paul talks about travailing in birth, laboring, and striving for the Christians in the early churches. The root of the Greek word for what Paul did is AGON. It is also the root of the word AGONIA which is used to describe the intensity of the prayer by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, when His sweat became drops of blood. Our English word AGONY comes from this Greek word. I pray and ask the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him so that the eyes of my heart may be enlightened, each time before I read His Word, and before I share from the Word with the people I speak to. For a number of years I have prayed the entire prayers in Ephesians 1:15-23 and 3:14-21, after I personalized them, for ourselves and for the Christians we worship with. I do this with confidence in faith because Jesus told us: how much more shall (your) heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? (Luke 11:13).Just consider: “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that YE MAY KNOW what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the EXEEDING GREATNESS OF HIS POWER TO US-WARD who believe, according to the working of HIS MIGHTY POWER, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead,” And:“That HE WOULD GRANT YOU, according to the riches of his glory, to be STRENGTHENED with might by his Spirit in THE INNER MAN; THAT CHRIST MAY DWELL IN YOUR HEARTS BY FAITH”I cannot think of a better way to learn to walk “in Christ,” than by the working of His mighty power, being strengthened with power by His Spirit in my inner man, so that Christ may live in me by faith!For years I have done this and taught others. When I ask the Christians I shared this with through the years, if they do this, the answer is always: NO.Will you?

sermonindex Oct 2, 2005

Despite these and MANY other clear passages throughout the Bible, many do not have the faith to fully believe, so they may turn to a commentary or ask a friend or a "pastor" and it gets explained away for them. Then they FEEL much better thinking that they can continue in sin.It's true. Many do not even fight temptation because they don't believe they can overcome anyways. They think they will always have to give in to lust, jealousy, selfishness, etc. If you expect nothing, you get nothing. Not many will fight a war they don't believe they'll win. It is indeed a fight, but it's a fight of faith.Think of the lame man in John chapter 5. Christ first spoke to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk" vs 8. The man was put in the position to do one of two things. 1) He could believe what the world tells him, that it is impossible for him to get up and walk. Or 2) He could believe Jesus and get up. And to the glory of God, he believed Jesus and by faith he walked!Then take a look at vs 14. Jesus said to the very same man, "Sin no more." Again the man is put in the very same position. He could 1) Believe as the worldly teaching that it is impossible. Or 2) He could believe Jesus and by faith sin no more. Which of the two will you do?We all know well John Owens historical spiritual classic "Justification by Faith". I've thought of writting a book, or at least an article called "Sanctification by Faith". "By faith he forsook Egypt" Heb 11:27"For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith." 1 John 5:3-4 "to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me." Ac 26:18 Justification and sanctification are like a pair of shoes. They are seperate, and yet they are the same pair. You cannot walk rightly with God without wearing both. But praises be to God that through Christ, we can do all things and be more then conquorers! Yes, all glory "to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling" Jude 1:24

sermonindex Oct 3, 2005

This is an excerpt from today's Watchman e-message, from his message "Three Enemies".Quote:OVERCOMING SELF "Anyone wanting to walk in My footsteps must deny Self, take up the cross daily, and then follow after Me (Luke 9:23)." ""The second enemy to overcome is Self. In many respects this enemy is even more formidable than Sin, for the strength of Sin is Self. Indeed, if we are completely dead to Self then Sin has no ground in us. It is only when we are alive to Self that we are tempted by Sin. This enemy is difficult to recognize and acknowledge. We prefer to think of the enemy as being "out there", but the reality is that the greatest enemy is staring back at us whenever we look into a mirror. We must understand that whatever comes from Self is defiled. Paul says, "I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing (Romans 7:18a). Some have not learned this lesson. They still think they can serve God in their own strength, according to the flesh, by doing enough good deeds to outweigh their bad deeds. We must learn, as Paul learned, that Sin is not the only thing which defiles, but that "good and proper thing" which proceeds from Self also defiles. It is easy to identify the evil in Sin because such behavior is recognized as "bad". It is not so easy to identify the evil in Self, because Self can prompt us to do many seemingly good things, such as reading the Bible, praying, attending Church, paying tithes, and witnessing to the lost. But Paul proclaims that anything coming from "the flesh" is totally worthless. Some feel they are victorious because they have long ago given up the outward sins of the flesh. They do not drink or cheat on their spouse. They go to church and live a good life. Are they not victorious? Perhaps - but the true test is not their outward deportment but their inward mastery. Before they served satan, and now they say they "serve" God, but in whose power do they serve Him? Do they serve Him in Spirit and Truth, or in flesh and blood? Often they do not serve God or satan, they serve Self. This explains why "church people" are often found to be self-righteous. Their holiness consists of outward things - do not eat, do not touch, do not wear, do not say, do not go, etc. It is a religion which consists of doing or not doing to be seen and approved of men, while the weightier matters - pride, greed, jealousy, ambition, etc. - are covered up. Such is a holiness which comes from Self, and not from Christ; hence, "self"-righteousness is not the same as Christ-righteousness. God's answer to the problem of Self is the Cross. The Blood takes care of sin, but the Cross takes care of the sinner. The Blood cleanses me from sin, and keeps me from sinning; the cross executes Self so that I no longer desire to sin. By removing the sinner, the problem of sin is eliminated. If I have died to Self then I have died to everything. It is one thing to put away Sin; it is quite another thing to put away Self. Both are necessary in order to overcome.""http://www.watchman.net/articles/enemies.html