Pastor A

It is fashionable today to laugh at sin and to ridicule those who fear it, hate it, and run from it. Television and movies have done a masterful job of destroying virtue by laughing at it. They have taken great pains to poke fun at holiness of life and hatred of evil. If you will notice, they will usually characterize an individual who hates sin in one of these ways: as an elderly person (making it appear old-fashioned and totally irrelevant); as a poor, simple, overzealous “fanatic” (making it appear unsophisticated and purely emotional); or as a mentally unbalanced person (making it appear a psychological fantasy).

And the feeling created by these grossly inaccurate caricatures is, “Sin? That is something for those kinds of people. Me, I’m OK I am relevant enough, sophisticated enough, and surely balanced enough to realize a little sin is all right, as long as I don’t let things get out of hand.”

God’s Word states clearly in Proverbs 14:9, “Fools make a mock at sin.“

There is little hatred of sin today. We laugh at it, wink at it, enjoy it, tolerate it. But the Bible says to hate it, run from it, avoid it. And for the Christian, God says, “Die to it.”

Romans 6 is our guidebook in understanding what God means by death to sin. In Romans 5, Paul writes about the work of Christ in providing grace and salvation for all men through His sacrificial death on Calvary. He paints a word picture of the results of Adam’s sin on the human race: death! However, the results of Christ’s work on the Cross: redemption! He writes much about the fact that God’s grace is so marvelous and abundant because sin was so terrible and universal. Then Paul asks an important question in Romans 6:1, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?“

Paul says, “Hey, if God’s grace is so wonderful and is always more than enough to forgive my sin, what does it matter if I keep on sinning? I will always be forgiven.” Sound familiar?

Listen to the reply in Romans 6:2, “God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?“

“Wait a minute, Paul! Dead to sin? But I’m not dead; at least not yet.” You are not? Better consider Romans 6:6-7

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.“

Tomorrow we will explain what this means for the Christian…

God does not give us in His Word some magical formula for being filled with the Spirit. However, He has given us several principles which relate to this vital area.

There must be a desire to be filled. You cannot be empowered by the Holy Spirit if you do not want to be. God never uses an unwilling servant. Your heart must be gripped with the genuine desire for His controlling of your life.

There must be an examination by the Holy Spirit. This is seldom a pleasant experience, but it is certainly a necessary one. David once prayed in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” The Christian who wants to be filled with the Spirit must pray no less earnestly.

There must be a confession of sin. It does no good to be examined and stop at that. What doctor would examine a sick patient without prescribing medicine to cure the illness? When your life has been examined and you discover that it is polluted with sin, the sin needs to be “cured.” And the only cure is forgiveness. This really narrows it down, because only God can forgive sin. A tremendous promise in God’s Word says in I 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.“

To confess is to fully admit that you are guilty. We do not have to beg for mercy… just admit we are guilty. Our lawyer (Jesus) has already paid the penalty and provided the mercy. That is one awesome promise!

In studying James chapter four, I find that there are at least seven ways to miss God’s will for your life. Here is an overview of the seven:

1. I miss God’s will when I follow my sensual desires. James 4:1, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?“

2. I miss God’s will when I put me first. James 4:2, “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.“

3. I miss God’s will when I pray with the wrong motives. James 4:3, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.“

4. I miss God’s will when I fail to confess my known sin. James 4:8, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.“

5. I miss God’s will when I choose wrong friends for my life. James 4:4, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.“

6. I miss God’s will when I refuse to humble myself. James 4:10, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.“

7. I miss God’s will when I reject God’s grace for my life. James 4:13-17, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. 16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. 17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.“

These seven sobering thoughts should cause us to pause and consider our own personal life as it stands before God.

Yesterday we considered two thoughts regarding the discovery of God’s will: 1) You must demonstrate obedience to the written will of God; and 2) You must demonstrate a willingness to do God’s will before you know it. 

Today, allow me to share two more thoughts:

3) You must demonstrate a willingness to suffer for Christ’s sake. Of the eleven faithful disciples, ten sacrificed their lives for the faith. Only John lived to an old age, and he spent most of his last years exiled from family and friends. God calls upon some men to suffer and sacrifice more than others; but what He is most concerned with is our willingness. Even if we do not endure one day of persecution, He knows what we would go through for Him. One Christian scholar has said, “Fires don’t make martyrs; they just reveal them.”

4) You must demonstrate a clear conscience from past sins. God’s special guidance can be hindered if there are things in your life which have never been made right. Unconfessed sin is one of the most common reasons for uncertainty about God’s will. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.“

Are you demonstrating obedience in these four areas?       

Revival: A Call to Separate from Satan and Sin – When you say you believe in Jesus, do you only believe in those things which make you feel good? Do you reject those things about Jesus which make you feel uncomfortable? We should accept what Jesus taught and do those things which Jesus himself would want us to do. We must not take part in things which Jesus would not like. So you ask, what are those things that Jesus would not like? They are, simply, Satan and sin.

We are to separate ourselves from Satan and sin and believe in Jesus from that position, rather than from a position in which sin, Satan, and Jesus are all mixed together in our lives. The greatest problem that besets our churches today is not Communism, Socialism, Liberalism, or Secularism; the problem in our churches are the people that have a love “affair” with Satan and sin.

We need a heaven-sent visitation from God, accompanied by the sin-convicting power of the Holy Spirit that will revitalize the pulpit and pew causing multitudes of sinners to turn from Satan and sin to Christ. We NEED revival!

The church, like a mammoth organization, has everything BUT the mighty moving of God. As someone has said, “We have equipment but not enduement; commotion but not creation; action but not unction; rattle but not revival.” Spirituality is buried in activity! If, then, we really desire revival we must get down to doing business with our God. We must be prepared to accept the burden for revival as our own personal responsibility (II Chronicles 7:14).

This will demand a confession of every sin, a turning away from all wickedness, a forsaking of every doubtful habit, and an utter surrender to Christ. To separate from Satan and sin will mean the giving up of “idols” that have been cherished for years. For others, it may mean a visit to the “tents” as in the days of Achan to unearth some of the things hidden there. It may be a “wedge of gold” or a “Babylonian garment” or some of the “spoils of battle” have to go before the blessings of the Lord can be realized and personally experienced.

One thing is very certain, to whatever the Finger of God points in condemnation, that thing must GO!