A few years ago I was asked to preach at a church near where I lived in New Zealand - they never asked me again, not sure if that's because they didn't like what I had to say or if it was because I went for an hour. In my defense can I just say "I'm a teacher, I'm used to lecturing in hour blocks, hard habit to break."
Here is the sermon...
The Problem Of Sin
Intro
· Imagine a river, it is crystal clear, travels merrily along; sometimes deep and narrow, passing between high canyon walls with ferns growing on the side and fish swimming in the shadows, sometimes wide and shallow, winding through fields of flowers where sheep and bunny rabbits come to drink, or through forests with birds singing … etc etc.
The river represents our lives.
· Now add a great big huge iceberg to your mental picture, it squeezes between the canyon walls scrapping the ferns off the walls, bumps through the shallows stirring up the sand and dirt so the water is no longer crystal clear, gives the sheep and bunny rabbits frost bite on their noses, breaks branches off the trees and generally causes mayhem and havoc.
The ice berg represents sin in our lives.
· With an iceberg there is the part that you can see above the surface of the water and there is the much much bigger part that is hidden under the surface of the water.
In our lives we are generally only aware of a small part of our sin, most of it is hidden from us, eg someone knows they have a problem with their temper, but have never realised that they have a problem with gossip, criticism, pride, poor taste in entertainment, etc etc etc.
We can always see more of other peoples ice bergs than we can see of our own, so the tendency is to wonder why so and so does not deal with such and such which is soooo obviously the root cause of all their problems…..
· The sun represents God.
The sun can melt the portion of the iceberg that is above the surface of the water… and this leads to what became my problem – when the top part of the iceberg melts off some more bobs up from underneath.
The more the iceberg of sin is melted in our lives the more we come to resemble Christ.
Rev 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
In 1 Samuel 17 the story of David and Goliath is recorded, David tells King Saul that he wants to fight the giant, the king says “no he’ll kill you” David shares his testimony saying (vs34-37) "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
Saul is encouraged by David’s testimony and says "Go, and the LORD be with you."
Today I’m going to share a portion of my own personal testimony and what I have learned about God and sin.
Testimony Summary
· I think we all wear masks and give each other the idea that “I’m fine thank you, why do you ask…” when if we were being completely truthful we would have to acknowledge that we are anything but fine. Recently someone who I have respected for a long time and always have considered to be pretty close to perfect took off his mask and admitted that he has battles with temptation and as a result of that I realised that I’m not so unique. That I’m not the only one who struggles with sin and I’m not the only one who gets it wrong more than I get it right, this was amazingly encouraging to me. I think we need to share our struggles and our victories with each other more to encourage each other to continue in the ‘good fight.’
· I remember listening to a sermon when I was very young, must have been less than 6 because I was in Dargaville church with both my parents
I realise now that the Pastor speaking against the idea of once saved always saved using the text;
Ezekiel 3:20 Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
From this I got the idea that we only go to heaven if we are free from sin, I must ask forgiveness from everything I do wrong – blanket prayer “please forgive me for all the sins I did today even if I did not know they were a sin” just in case, worried “what if I die after I’ve disobeyed parents but haven’t had a chance to repent and ask for forgiveness?”
· I get baptized when I am 11 – partly because I thought it was the right thing to do, partly because I want to please Jesus and my family, partly because I want to go to heaven and don’t want to go to hell, and partly because all my friends are getting baptized that year.
· End of high school I decide to go to Avondale College
· Last year of degree start thinking about getting a job, Pray first time in very long time, tell God He is “big enough and ugly enough to make sure that the first job I am offered is the one I’m supposed to have and that I am going to apply to every job I can find, that my first preference is to stay in Oz then back to Auckland then Christchurch and PN is bottom of list of places I want to go. And that if I don’t have job by sisters wedding then I’m going to London
First job I’m offered is PN, three months before I graduate.
· When I arrived in PN the first thing I brought was a TV, I had it on all the time to keep me company as I lived alone. Became an addiction.
· Am in Auckland
Also go to big camp for a few meetings to see old friends, some ideas from the meetings and ideas from the book mix up in my head and as I am driving back to PN am convicted to get rid of the TV. I finally tell God that I am going to advertise it once for an absurdly high price and that if no one buys it then I am keeping it for ever!!!! I try to stack the odds against God by advertising it on a holiday weekend because I figure everyone will be away. It sells! – to someone who came to PN on holiday! Have dreadful withdrawals but after 6 weeks decide I will never buy another TV – life become so much better when you are living it rather than watching a make believe version.
As a result of this I start to go to church a bit, read the occasional ‘God book’
· One boring Sabbath afternoon a couple of years later I pick up a God book off my book shelf – took it out from the church library 2 years previous, think I better read and return this and I have no story books to read that appeal at that moment. Is called “Conquering The Dragon Within” from this book I learn that when I accept Jesus into my life and accept His sacrifice as the payment of my sins then I am perfect in God’s eyes from that point on and all my past sins are washed away I also learn that I don’t lose this when I sin, yes I do need to confess and ask forgiveness but my sin does not automatically stop me from being saved, if it did then my salvation would depend on my ability to 'stay good' this is called works. Because my salvation depends entirely on Christ my salvation is related entirely to my acceptance of Him. This is called Justification. I also learn about Sanctification this is where God says ‘yes you are my child yes my son has paid the price for your sins but it hurts me to see you hurting yourself by keeping sinning it is time for you to stop sinning. This will please me.
Give my life back to God and start trying to stop sinning, (I’m out there with my chisel and hammer trying to knock lumps off my iceberg)
· Worry about verses such as:
o Revelation chapters 2 and 3 list the promises Jesus made to the churches if they overcome:
Rev 2:7 …To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Rev 2:11 …He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
Rev 2:17 …To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
God expects us to overcome.
o Rev 21:7-8 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
The bible is pretty clear about who won't be in heaven.
o Matthew 7:21-22 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
These people thought they were having a relationship with Jesus, they call Him Lord, (realised much later that they believe that they are worthy of heaven because of all the things they have done, not because of Christ.)
· I discover the answer in verses such as:
o John 14:23-24 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
· So I started making lists of all the things we have to do… Feed the hungry, visit the prisoners, do the will of God, Hear Jesus words and put them into practice, overcome all sin in my life, Obey, obey, obey…
So I increased my striving to obey (essentially using a bigger chisel and hammer on my ice-berg.)
And failing all the time!
· I became sick of fighting the same old battles over and over and failing again and again – and feeling like finally I won over something and having something new bob up and having to fight the same old battle again, the battle of “but I like this, I don’t want to give it up”, arguing with temptation, basically to give myself time to be overcome by the temptation cause then I’d have an excuse, “I wasn’t strong enough”, knowing God didn’t like it but doing it anyway and feeling like a hypocrite 'cause I knew He’d forgive me so why not have the cake and eat it too?? But feeling like a failure and very guilty.
· Eventually I got fed up with this and told God to #%$@ off, that it was too hard, that He lied and we could not overcome sin and that I was going to do exactly what I wanted from now on and stop trying to please Him.
· Started thinking about all the things I could do now that I wasn’t a Christian and trying to overcome sin anymore, there is of course the proverbial, ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’ also known as ‘wine, women (or men in my case) and song.’
There were so many things I could do now, but when I began to consider them I discovered they no longer appealed;
What I learned about God, myself and sin:
· I definitely believe in God, I had to force myself to stop having little conversations – cause I’m not talking to Him. I was very sad cause I felt like God had lied – he obviously expected us to obey, an impossible thing
· I still had to choose between my pleasures, nice taste or health? Spend all my pay on entertainment or save for a house? Read book till late at night or have a happy day at school tomorrow? I couldn’t have every thing I wanted even if God wasn’t in the picture.
· My tastes had changed, Went to some movies and found them silly, same for books and even games after awhile.
· Pleasure is my prime motivator – Is it fun??? I was prepared to give up eternal life for a few temporary trivial pleasures.
Eventually my stubborn ran out and I told God grudgingly that He could come back but that I wasn’t going to be trying to obey him anymore cause it was too hard and I couldn’t do it so I was giving up and it was all His Problem.
And then finally I began to learn
· The first thing I learned came one morning not long after I had grudgingly told God he could come back, I decided that if God was allowed back in my life I could at least read my Bible occasionally so I opened it at random to a verse that could not possible have been more appropriate, felt like I had been hit between the eyes.
Gal 3:3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh?
I realised that sanctification is by faith too!!!
Paul describing his conversion to king Aggrippa
Act 26:15-18 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
· Then I learned what faith actually is
Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hope in the original greek was not a wishy washy ‘I hope we have good weather’ kind of hope, but was defined as an eager expectation or expectant trust.)
Jer 1:12 Then said Jehovah unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I watch over my word to perform it.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
Faith = believing that God will keep His word, an expectant attitude that only good things will happen to us and even the stuff that seems bad will turn out to be good for us is some way
God = Life, God = Good, therefore Life = Good
· And from that I learned that through faith every promise in the bible is mine to claim and expect to happen in my life
2Co 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yes, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
John 14:13 ASV And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
John 14:14 ASV If ye shall ask anything in my name, that will I do.
John 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me no question. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it you in my name.
John 16:24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full.
· From Shelly Quinn on 3ABN (over the internet) I learned that the sword of the Spirit is used when we take Gods promises and apply them to ourselves and give them back to God
· And then that just because I don’t see evidence of the promise coming true in the physical world right this instant if God has said it then it is true in the spiritual world and I can expect it to come true in the physical world any time
Rom 4:17 ASV …God, who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were.
God see’s us, his children, through the eyes of faith – he does not see all our sins he sees us through Christ, in whose image we are being remade. God sees the end product not the flawed original.
· God promises to cure our backsliding
Jeremiah 3, God is talking through Jeremiah and telling the Israelites and the people of Judah that they are unfaithful wives for running after other gods but then He says
12 Go, proclaim this message toward the north:
" 'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the LORD,
'I will frown on you no longer,
for I am merciful,' declares the LORD,
'I will not be angry forever.
13 Only acknowledge your guilt—
you have rebelled against the LORD your God,
you have scattered your favors to foreign gods
under every spreading tree,
and have not obeyed me,' "
declares the LORD.
so the condition for returning is to acknowledge our guilt - confession, and then He goes on to promise good things if they return (I think He's talking about the earth made new) and then states
12 Go, proclaim this message toward the north:
" 'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the LORD,
'I will frown on you no longer,
for I am merciful,' declares the LORD,
'I will not be angry forever.
13 Only acknowledge your guilt—
you have rebelled against the LORD your God,
you have scattered your favors to foreign gods
under every spreading tree,
and have not obeyed me,' "
declares the LORD.
so the condition for returning is to acknowledge our guilt - confession, and then He goes on to promise good things if they return (I think He's talking about the earth made new) and then states
22 "Return, faithless people;
I will cure you of backsliding."
I will cure you of backsliding."
so if that is put together the result is "Return ... acknowledge your guilt ... I will cure you of backsliding" which seems to be a rather exciting promise! no wonder they say 'confession is good for the soul'.
Confession makes us aware of more of the iceberg, and when we are aware of it Christ (the Sun) can begin to deal with it.
With the foundation laid I began to learn about what Jesus achieved at the cross,
· When Jesus died on the cross he received the wages for my sins and instant forgiveness and redemption is mine as a result, all I have to do is ask. So in Gods eyes I am considered righteous as if I had never sinned.
This happened 2000 years ago and half a world away long before I was born, so that means He died for, received the wages for, forgave and redeemed future sins.
Therefore all the sins I have yet to commit have already been paid for, forgiven and redeemed.
Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
I think this is excellent insurance in terms of God has already made provision for my mucking up as I learn to walk with Him and how to overcome sin. - He didn't expect us to get it right first time.
This removes any performance anxiety, then as I'm not so worried about doing the perfect job I relax and actually do a better job and enjoy it more and makes me more grateful to God!
· Phi 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
When God offers us Grace it is in two halves;
1. the desire (will) to do God's will
2. the power (do) to do Gods will
Its not me fighting with Satan it is Jesus Fighting with Satan and this is a fight He has already won!!
I just have to claim His victory - this is the power half of grace!!!
Jesus gives us His victory, His death was His victory (he loved obeying God more than he loved his life), when He paid the price for our sins he victored over sin, what He offers in His blood is not merely the atonement or payment for sin but victory over sin.
therefore the only reason why i keep on sinning is because i want to. and this is where the second half of grace comes in to play, God/Christ will also give us the desire to overcome sin He will change our wants etc.
We are all enveloped in self preservation that makes us resistant to fully surrendering to God, this is where our struggle with the second half of the overcoming sin problem comes from, we desire to preserve our ‘selves’ we resist surrendering our desires etc to God
I learned about surrender from the life of Jacob, in Genesis 32 we find the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel
When we examine the context of this story we find that:
· Jacob is a very strong man, he lifted the well stone for Rebecca that normally takes many to lift.
· At this point in his life Jacob is already converted to God and he is on a journey to the Promised Land.
· Jacob is worried about returning to Canaan because Esau vowed to kill him.
· So he sends messages to Esau saying that he is coming but that he is rich, hasn’t come to get his share of the inheritance, also calls Esau ‘My Lord’ and refers to himself as ‘your servant’ to flatter and look humbler to Esau.
· The reply comes that Esau is on his way with 400 armed men.
· Jacob sends gifts to Esau hoping to appease him and divides his family in half hoping that at least one half will survive (not put all eggs in one basket – lack of trust, acting out of fear? Or being prudent and doing what he can do so that God can bless his works?)
· He is trying to protect his heart and possessions
· So Jacob is by himself on the edge of the river and he is attacked by a man…
Gen 32:24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
· He doesn’t know who man is
· wrestled with man, relies on his own strength
· cant let go because he might go and hurt family or possessions e.g. spy from esua
· wont kill the man because???? So therefore he has to subdue him
Gen 32:25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him.
· God revealed Himself to Jacob causing Jacob pain, and removing his personal strength.
Gen 32:26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me
· Jacob realises he is wrestling with God and clings to him asking for a blessing, no longer is he trying to subdue or overcome the stranger, now he just wants to hold on
Gen 32:27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
Gen 32:28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel
· Not just an angel
Gen 32:29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
· and God blessed him.
Gen 32:30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, said he, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
· Jesus said no one has seen the Father so this must have been Jesus.
Gen 32:31 And the sun rose upon him as he passed over Penuel, and he limped upon his thigh.
Lets think about wrestling:
When people wrestle they are not trying to get away from each other or particularly hurt each other, they are trying to;
a. stop the other person from getting somewhere and make them go somewhere else – eg sumo
b. force the other person into submission to their will – eg losers back on the ground victor with a foot on their chest.
When we are being tempted we think we are wrestling with the temptation, Sin is trying to force us to give in and do something we know is wrong. The problem with this analogy is that secretly we actually want to lose because we like the temptation - if we didn’t like it, it wouldn’t be tempting, and the more we like it the more tempting it is. Eventually we either;
a. resist (often grudgingly) the temptation and then we think we have won the victory over sin but we don’t necessarily feel good about it
b. Or we give in to the sin but don’t really enjoy that either due to a guilty conscience but we blame the temptation for being too strong for us.
What is actually happening is that like Jacob we are wrestling with God, He is standing between us and our sin of choice. We don’t want to leave Him (and He won’t leave us) we are just trying to force Him to say that our pet sin is not really a sin after all.
When we realise that it is God we are wrestling against we have 2 choices;
a. like Jacob to instantly submit, cling to God and cry out for Him to bless us
b. break off from wrestling, grab the object of our desire and run from God
When we realise that we are wrestling with God we can never again claim that the temptation is too great for us as Christ has already had the victory over our sin and we can claim that victory from Him. And God is much mightier than we are, He can lay us on our back in an instant and hold us there with a thought. The only reason He doesn’t is that He wants us to choose of our own free will.
When we know we are wrestling with God we are forced to recognise that by clinging to the sin we are making our choice between God and our own desires, we either;
a. resist God and our hearts are hardened and we grieve the Holy Spirit
b. or we submit to God and then He has victory over our temptation and we feel the joy that comes from obedience and the next time that temptation comes to us it does not hold us with the same strength and it is easier to turn from the temptation and submit to God.
When we are tempted and we claim Gods promises with regards to sin we can expect very different answers depending on if we think we are wrestling against temptation or against God;
a. if we think we are wrestling against temptation we tend to ask for strength to resist, why would God answer in the affirmative to this prayer when what is really needed is for us to submit – to Him?
b. if we know we are wrestling with God then we also know that we are on the side of the temptation so we know that the best promises to claim are the ones where God promises to give us a new heart, to renew our desires, to recreate us in His image, this God will supply instantly. Then with our desires changed the temptation is no longer tempting and submission to God is easy, and we can thank Him and glory in His power. This change may or may not occur instantly and at times we need to grit our teeth but it will happen.
Submitting involves us giving up our pride, throwing ourselves on Gods mercy, with our back on the ground, confess our partiality to the temptation, confess that we are helpless against our own desires, request a changed heart and mind and then immediately act as if this change has come about and we will discover that it is so. Then while praising God go on your way knowing that sin has again lost its hold on you. And as long as we are down on the ground look up and behold the risen Christ, He doesn’t put His foot on our chest instead He extends His hand and lifts us up. Every confessed temptation, every changed desire, every time our hearts are renewed makes us more like Him.
Warning – if you do not act immediately or if at a latter date you deliberately act contrary to the change that has been made in you then the ‘old man’ can come back and reclaim your mind and desires.
When we think we are wrestling with temptation it feels like we are fighting the same battle over and over again every time we are tempted we go back to fighting against our own wants and desires. And even if the temptation is for a different thing it feels like the same battle, eventually people get tired and discouraged by this and give up completely. Before we give up however we may try to be witnesses for Christ telling people how they need to fight the devil and run from temptation but because we have not won this victory ourselves people are likely to take this with a grain or six of salt and discount what we say and call us Bible Bashers or God Botherers .
When we realise we are fighting against God the battle is quickly over one way or another. If we break off and run then the fight is over. God does not continue to fight us He lets us reap the consequences of our choices and hopes that when that harvest is fully known we will return to Him where He is waiting with open arms. If we submit then our task from then on is to stand and watch God fight our battles for us, the internal ones by changing our hearts and desires and the external ones by changing our attitudes and events. We experience/exhibit the fruit of the spirit and people around us see the changes in us and want what we’ve got and so we become effective witnesses for Christ without ever having to open our mouths, people come to us in a receptive state of mind to hear what it is that has made such changes in our lives.
Our fight now is to cling to God and plead for a blessing, to Look to the lifted up Christ to be saved.
We can pre-empt temptation by daily, early in the morning, dedicating our lives to Christ for that day and submitting to Him before temptation even has a chance to latch on, when the temptation comes we have already made our choice – this makes it easier to submit on the tempting issue and to step out in faith as if the temptation is not tempting….
To Sum up:
1. We have a problem with sin(icebergs) in our lives wreaking, destroying and ruining
2. At the Cross Jesus justified us – he made us as if we had never sinned, so take the picture of your iceberg ruined river and replace it with the most beautiful river flowing through the best parks and gardens you have ever seen, Jesus gives us His own life and took on our ruined life. In the heavenly realm
3. the process of sanctification is our lives here and now being transformed to match the heavenly pattern Jesus has given us.
4. When we are tempted we can over come by the blood of the lamb – having Faith in the promise and claiming Christ’s life and victory as our own
5. remembering that we don’t wrestle with temptation we wrestle with God, so we love not our lives we surrender and
6. asking for the desire to overcome the temptation
7. asking for the power to overcome the temptation
8. then stepping out in Faith as if the temptation is already overcome we discover that it has been
9. sharing our testimonies with each other to encourage one another and so that seeing how God has lead in the past it builds up our Faith for the future
Will the iceberg ever be completely gone? If you ask here and now in this world then I don’t know, am still thinking and studying that, but Jesus promises
Phi 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
So on the Day Christ comes he smashes my iceberg and my ruined river disappears and is remade like His river, and until that day I rest in the promise that in heaven His river is my river and it is iceberg free. And that is the only river God sees when he looks at my life.
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