This is the sermon formally known as 'Big Green Crocodiles with Sharp and Scary Teeth.' I had to cut the crocodile illustration out due to time constraints, that obviously necessatatetid a name change. Seeing as a sermon with Crocodile in the title should have a Crocodile in the actual speaking bit. 

As always the odd formatting is to allow room for translation.

I hope this blesses you. 

The Power Of Positive Choice

A few years ago I had just finished an in depth Bible Study topic that I had been working on for quite a long time and I was trying to decide what I wanted to study next.

But, I was having difficulty.

There were so many interesting ideas.

I would spend a few days on one idea and then get distracted by another idea and then get distracted by yet another topic.

After a few months my computer was full of just started Bible studies and none of them were anywhere near completion.

I decided I had to choose one topic and stick with it until it was finished.

But how to choose?

Eventually I decided to write each idea on a piece of paper.

Then I would put all the pieces of paper into a bowl.

My plan was to pick one at random and that would be the one I would study.

So that’s what I did.

I put over 100 pieces of paper with idea’s written on them into a rose bowl.

The bowl I used was very similar to the one in the picture, notice how small the opening at the top is?

Then I prayed that God would lead my choice and stuck my hand in the bowl.

I gently gave the bowl a 180 degree stir and as I did one of the pieces of paper leapt up, slipped between my wrist and the edge of the bowl, flew through the air and finally landed on the ground under the desk that I was sitting at.

I looked at it in shock, there is no way my stir was strong enough to cause that to happen.

“Well, I guess that’s the one I’m meant to study next!” I thought.

After crawling under the desk to pick the paper up I opened it to read “Victory in Christ.”

Victory in Christ means overcoming sin.

Today I am going to share some opf the things I have learned on this topic.

I definitely do not feel qualified to present anything on this topic seeing as I fail so often.

However the story of Thomas Edison and his failure with the light bulb encourages me.

In the early 1900’s light bulbs were very dim and had a life of about 13 hours before the filament inside died.

Edison wanted to improve this.

He tested thousands of substances to see if they would make a brighter light that lasted longer.

And he failed thousands of times.

His description of this experience is;

"After we had conducted thousands of experiments ... without solving the problem, one of my associates ... expressed discouragement and disgust over our having failed to find out anything. I cheerily assured him that we had learned something. For we had learned for a certainty that the thing couldn't be done [those ways], and that we would have to try some other way."

The quote above comes from an interview with Edison that was published in the January 1921 issue of American Magazine.

Eventually Edison succeeded, he discovered a substance that gave a much brighter light and lasted for about 1200 hours.

Our Christian life of overcoming sin is the same.

We may fail many times but as long as we get up, ask for forgiveness and try again then we are on the right path.

Proverbs 24:16

¹⁶ For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again,
   but the wicked are brought down by calamity.

According to this verse the difference between a righteous man and a wicked man is not the falling but the getting up.

The righteous man rises and goes back to God every time he falls into sin.

The wicked man stays down and wallows in his sin.

A righteous man learns from his mistakes.

“Well that is one way that doesn’t work.” He says, and after asking for and receiving forgiveness, he rises to try to overcome sin again.

Mrs White calls this experimental religion.

Experience is knowledge derived from experiment. Experimental religion is what is needed now. {AG 252.5}

Now I will share some of the things I have learned in my efforts to overcome the sin in my life.

1.       Every time we sin there is a moment of choice, a moment when we choose to sin.

How do I know this?

I used to have a very bad temper. I did not lose it very often but when I did it was spectacular.

When I was 14 (16 in Korean age) I tried to stab a boy in my class.

He sat behind me in maths and every day he would annoy me.

He threw spit balls over my shoulders.

He poked me in the back with his ruler.

He dripped glue down the back of my dress.

He did many other things.

This went on continually for a long long time.

I tried to ignore him, but it irritated me – a lot.

One day he started pretending to cut my hair.

This really upset me.

Then he actually did cut my hair.

Great big chunks of it fell to the floor.

I got up out of my chair.

I picked up my hair and I put it in my pencil case.

In my pencil case I saw the knife I used to sharpen my pencils.

I very deliberately picked it up and tried to stab him in the heart with it.

Fortunately for both of us the blade broke.

The reason I tell this story is that the moment when I saw that knife I recognised that I had a choice.

I could choose to keep my temper under control or I could choose to lose it.

I deliberately choose to give in to my temper.

This moment of choice took maybe half a second but I have never forgotten it.

Over the years I have come to realise that every single time a temptation is put in front of me it is a choice.

I can choose to give in to the current temptation.

Or, I can choose to turn to God, for His strength to overcome the temptation.

Unfortunately I do not always choose well.

(You also may be happy to know though that I have never chosen to lose my temper since that day. I’ve come close a couple of times, but I can honestly say that you don’t have to lock up your knives if I come to visit.)

2.       We can only overcome sin by Gods power.

For me overcoming sin is identical to dieting.

I can have all the desire in the world to stick to a diet.

I can have big wonderful plans that will guarantee me success this time.

But the sad truth is that I have never managed to stick to a diet for more than about 4 weeks.

The problem is that sheer determination will only take a person so far before they are overcome by a temptation.

Whether that is the temptation to eat or the temptation to fulfil some other desire; anger, covetousness, lust, etc.

The solution to this problem is God.

God is eagerly waiting to give us the power we need to overcome sin.

Paul told us in Philippians that

... it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Philippians 2:13.

Notice God does two things:

                                First He gives us the WILL to do what is right – that is the desire to do what is right.

                                Second He gives us the DO to do what is right – that is the ability to act on our Godly desires.

Our part in this solution is to make the choice to ask for and act on that power

Overcoming sin = God’s desire (WILL) + God’s power (DO) + Our Choice.

3.       The key to overcoming sin is putting choice into action, this is called surrender.

Something that perplexed me for a long time was how to use the power that God was giving me.

I had prayed asking God to ‘will and to do’ His good pleasure in me.

I had the WILL to do right, I desired to do right but when faced with a temptation I would still fail time and time again.

I could not seem to get the DO part right

I heard people talk about surrendering to the will of God, but I thought I had no experience in this and I could not understand what this looked like.

One day it occurred to me that while I had no recognisable experience of surrendering to God I had a lot of experience in surrendering to Satan.

Every time I gave in to a temptation I was surrendering to Satan.

I’m going to use the dieting analogy again.

Imagine, I have a chocolate bar in front of me.

It is definitely not on my diet.

My taste buds are saying “Eat it!! It will taste so good!”

My brain is saying “It’s not on the diet, you really shouldn’t eat it.”

Half of me wants the chocolate desperately.

Half of me does not want the chocolate at all.

The moment I make the choice I am surrendering to one of those wants.

Either I surrender to my taste buds and eat the chocolate.

Or I surrender to my brain and put the chocolate down and walk away.

In both cases I have a desire; ‘eat the chocolate’ or ‘don’t eat the chocolate.’

In both cases I make a choice between two desires.

And in both cases I surrender to the chosen desire and act on it.

If I didn’t act I would be stuck looking at the chocolate forever.

For the record I am not in any way suggesting with this analogy that eating chocolate is a sin.

But the analogy very nicely illustrates the same process of desire, choice and surrender we go through whenever we are faced with a temptation.

We desire the tempting thing. (If we didn’t desire it, it wouldn’t be tempting.)

We make a choice between our conflicting desires.

And we either surrender to the temptation and sin or we surrender to God and become victorious overcomers.

(In the last 18 months I have lost something like 50kg’s. This is entirely by surrendering to God’s power and the health message. I don’t always get it right but I get it right more often than I get it wrong.)

4.        important points I have learned about surrendering to God:

a.       Put your choice into action as soon as you have made it – flee temptation, don’t give Satan the chance to change your mind.

b.      For each of us our moment of choice comes at a different place.

When it comes to chocolate my moment of choice is when I see it in the supermarket.

If it gets into my shopping cart then there is a 99.9% chance that I will buy it and eat it.

I have to surrender to the desire for health before I pick the chocolate up off the supermarket shelf.

Other people can have chocolate in their homes for weeks and not touch it.

c.       God has promised to change our hearts, but this process happens gradually.

Each time we are faced with a temptation and choose to surrender to the Godly desire the satanic desire loses some of its power over us.

Eventually we will no longer desire that thing and it will no longer be a temptation for us.

Satan can never again attack us through that particular desire.

d.      Sanctification is a process, the work of a life time, God doesn’t try to fix everything at once.

Instead He chooses one or two things and points them out to us.

“Look,” he says, “See that, I want you to surrender that desire to me.”

When we have overcome in that area, then He points out another area, and another, and another.

And it is always the same choice, What do I love more? God? or my own sinful desires?

e.      God has made provision for my failure. And, He promises rewards for success:

1 John 2:1-2

... if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins ...

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

James 1:2-4,12

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ... Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

Conclusion:

Joshua’s challenge to as all is to

“... choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve ... But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15-16

The choice to serve the Lord must be renewed day by day, moment by moment, temptation by temptation.

Will you persevere in making this choice?

It is my prayer that we all continue to grow in grace as we choose to surrender to the Godly desires Jesus places in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.