RIP TIDE
4. HELP!
(When you realize you are being pulled
into a Rip Tide)
This is week four in our Rip Tide series.
Have you enjoyed this message series?
I know I have.
It’s a very easy way to understand
the seriousness of the pull and effects
of sin in our lives.
We’ve also learned some very practical ways
to stay away from the pull of sin,
and what to do if you find yourself
already caught in a spiritual rip tide.
A few weeks ago, Gwen helped us learn
about the duties of a life guard.
And we learned that God has placed life guards
in our lives to help protect us and to warn us of danger.
Many times these lifeguards
are in places of authority in our lives,
such as parents, teachers, pastors,
and government officials.
I want to pause right here
because I’ve noticed
a severe lack of respect and obedience
to the authority in some of your lives.
I know most of you try to obey the authority in your lives, even if you don’t necessarily like it, or agree with it.
Most of you realize that God chooses the people
who He wants in positions of your authority.
And He’s the main reason
you should respect and obey
the people in authority over you.
But there are a few here who are loudly disrespecting and disobeying authority, and I want to tell you right now that you are testing God.
God clearly states that we are to obey those
who have the rule over us.
As a citizen of the United States of America,
you are responsible
to obey the laws of the government
and teenagers, that includes traffic laws.
I’m not joking.
I’m the lifeguard that’s blowing the whistle
because I’m very concerned for your safety,
your future, and the future of those
whose lives you are putting in jeopardy.
You need to understand
that when you choose to disobey the law,
you have removed yourself
from under God’s umbrella of protection.
Have you ever heard someone
who’s been caught in sin say
“I didn’t know that was wrong” ?
Well, God doesn’t accept excuses,
and He certainly doesn’t accept that one.
Let’s look at John 15:22
“If I had not come and spoken to them,
they would not be guilty of sin.
Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.”
If you’ve sat under my preaching,
or anyone else’s who’s a true messenger of God,
then you’ve been warned.
If you’ve ever picked up a Bible,
then you’ve been warned.
If you have God-fearing Christian friends
who have been up front and honest with you,
then you have been warned.
If you say you’re a Christian,
and have the Spirit of God living within you,
then you have been warned.
If you’re a child of God,
then you are guilty of your sin
until you ask for His forgiveness.
John 9:41 “Jesus said,
‘If you were blind,
you would not be guilty of sin;
but now that you claim you can see,
your guilt remains.’”
If you’re guilty of sin, then you need to repent
you need to swim perpendicular to the current
and confess it before God and ask His forgiveness.
God says in I John 3
I John 3:6
“No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning.
No one who continues to sin
has either seen Him or known Him.”
Look at that again.
“No one, who lives in Him, continues to sin.”
Now it doesn’t say,
“No one, who He lives in, continues to sin.”
because none of us are perfect.
As Christians, being perfect is our goal,
but until we reach heaven, we will never obtain it.
It doesn’t say that if Christ lives in us,
we won’t sin any more.
It says if we live in Him we won’t sin any more.
There is a difference.
At the point of our salvation,
God has done all of His work.
But after that point, we have to do our part.
We have to Live in Him.
What that means is that we have to stay out of the pull of the Rip Tide.
Stay away from the current.
Warn others about the danger just like I did tonight.
Live your life for Him.
Give yourself to Him and His purpose. Serve others.
These are the things
that will keep you away from sin.
If your true heart’s desire
is to get away from the pull of sin,
then you have to live your life for God.
That is a pro-active thing. It doesn’t just happen.
You have to make it happen. Every day.
Now we are going to look at the different reactions
of people who find themselves
being pulled into the current of the rip tide.
Your response is your choice,
and your choice determines your out-come.
Responses to the Pull of the Rip Tide
Some people just simply give in to the pull
because that’s the easiest thing to do.
1. Give In to the Pull
They are playing around, or floating along, completely oblivious to the pull of the current.
But once they realize what has happened, unfortunately, some people don’t fight it.
You see, fighting it is hard, it takes work.
It’s easier to just go with the flow.
Some people take the easy way out of everything. Do you know anyone like that?
Isaiah 59:7
“Their feet rush into sin;
they are swift to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are evil thoughts;
ruin and destruction mark their ways.”
Psalm 78:17
“But they continued to sin against him,
rebelling in the desert against the Most High.”
Sometimes God tries to help us
by offering us ways of escape from sin.
But if you continue to give in to sin
because it is the easiest response,
you will suffer the consequences in the end.
You see, when you’re going with the flow of the rip tide, you become a slave to it.
It’s making all your decisions for you.
It’s determining your steps.
Psalm 106:43
“Many times he delivered them,
but they were bent on rebellion
and they wasted away in their sin.”
Different sins have different consequences,
but in the end, they all lead to death.
I think there was a key word in that verse—
“Rebellion”.
It says they were bent on rebellion.
That means they continued to do
what they knew was wrong.
Are you guilty of being bent on rebellion?
If you are, it is time to repent.
If you are continuing to disobey the traffic laws, even though you have been warned,
then you are bent on rebellion.
Romans 7:20
“Now if I do what I do not want to do,
it is no longer I who do it,
but it is sin living in me that does it.”
Another Response to the pull of the Rip Tide is:
1. Give in to the pull
2. Fight against the pull
And that means to fight no matter what.
Whatever in your life is drawing you to,
or keeping you in the pull of sin, remove it.
Matthew 8:8-9
“If your hand or your foot causes you to sin,
cut it off and throw it away.
It is better for you to enter life
maimed or crippled
than to have two hands or two feet
and be thrown into eternal fire.
And if your eye causes you to sin,
gouge it out and throw it away.
It is better for you to enter life with one eye
than to have two eyes
and be thrown into the fire of hell.”
Those are some tough words aren’t they?
Those are some pretty graphic pictures.
Why would God talk like that?
Because that is how serious He is about sin.
Nothing in your life is worth keeping
if it drags you towards the pull of the Rip Tide.
Friends, possessions, family, wealth, occupation.
Nothing.
If you really want to be freed from the pull,
then you have to get rid
of what moves you in the direction of the flow.
Cut it off.
That’s an immediate and abrupt separation.
Don’t play around with it, don’t try to fix it,
don’t try to change it, just cut it off.
Free yourself from it. Look around.
Look at the support you’ll have
when you make the move.
Hebrews 12:1
“Therefore, since we are surrounded
by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off everything that hinders
and the sin that so easily entangles,
and let us run with perseverance
the race marked out for us.”
Once you have removed or cut off
the things in your life
that has kept you in the current of the rip tide,
you will need to begin to fill those voids
with other things—Good things.
Psalm 119:133
”Direct my footsteps according to your word;
let no sin rule over me.”
Learn more about God.
Do that by reading His Word. Daily. Daily. Daily.
Memorize it.
Psalm 119:11
“I have hidden your word in my heart (why?)
that I might not sin against you.”
Fill your mind with spiritual things.
Pray. Listen to Christian radio stations,
read Christian books and magazines.
Go out and do something for someone else.
Get involved in some of the projects
we have going on around here.
Journey is an excellent choice.
We can fill up your every Saturday
from here to Christmas if you want!
And some Sundays too!
There is no reason
why anyone should feel powerless
against the pull of sin
with all of the opportunities
God has surrounded us with.
These are His ways of escape for us.
If you aren’t serving others,
If you aren’t giving back,
If you aren’t contributing to someone else’s life, then you are not fulfilling your duties as a Christian, and you are setting yourself up for a fall.
Once you have been freed
from the pull of the rip tide,
you are no longer a slave to sin,
but a slave to righteousness.
Freed from the Pull of the Rip Tide
Romans 6:18
“You have been set free from sin
and have become slaves to righteousness.”
Romans 6:20
“When you were slaves to sin,
you were free from the control of righteousness.”
Romans 6:22-23
“But now that you have been set free from sin
and have become slaves to God,
the benefit you reap leads to holiness,
and the result is eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Did you get that?
When you’re in the pull of the rip tide,
you are a slave to sin, which leads to death.
Romans 7:11
“For sin, seizing the opportunity
afforded by the commandment, deceived me,
and through the commandment
put me to death.”
But when you are free from the rip tide,
you are a slave to righteousness, which leads to life!
Are you as addicted to the Christian life
as you used to be to your sin?
You should be serving God with as much time, money and effort as you served sin in the past.
We just read that before, we were slaves to sin,
but now we are slaves to righteousness.
Romans 8:2-3
“because through Christ Jesus
the law of the Spirit of life
set me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law was powerless to do
in that it was weakened by the sinful nature,
God did by sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,”
Where do you want to end up?
If every one of you here
would give yourselves over
as much to righteousness,
as you did in the past to sin,
this place would explode.
That’s my desire.
I firmly believe that the most hardened criminals would make the best Christians on fire for God,.
How about you?
Why don’t you put as much time and energy
into living the Christian life
as you did living the life of sin?
Try it and see what kind of results you get!
I guarantee they will be more fulfilling and rewarding
than the life of sin could ever be.
You will only get as much out of the Christian life
as what you put in.
Salvation is more than a decision, it’s a way of life.
Romans 8:10
“But if Christ is in you,
your body is dead because of sin,
yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.”
What about you?
What has your response been to the pull of sin?
Do you do nothing
and just let it carry you out to sea?
Or do you fight it with all your might,
with God’s help?
What is your Plan?
• Squelch your Rebellious Nature
• Stay away from the Pull of Sin
What are you going to use
to fill the void that sin leaves in your life?
• Bible reading and prayer
• Christian literature and radio
• Investing in the lives of Others
• Service to God
Let’s Pray
