Dr. Wayne A. Lawson
Preached at Antioch Institutional Baptist Church
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Sunday, January 18, 2009
RevWLawson@aol.com
TITLE: SAINTS WITH SINNERS PROBLEMS
SCRIPTURE: ROMANS 7:14-25
This is a very exciting scripture that most of us are familiar with. We have often quoted at least a portion of this text at some point during our Christian walk. This particular scripture helps us understand that man has two natures. Although we are Christians, there is yet an internal war going on. Although we have given our life to Christ, we still battle with sin. This often read and studied passage is a poignant description of someone in conflict with himself - -someone who loves God’s moral law and wants to obey it, but is pulled away from doing so by the sin that is in him. It is the personal experience of a soul in conflict. Paul made mention in I CORINTHIANS 15:31 “I DIE DAILY.”
• Paul not referring to a physical death, not possible
• HEBREWS 9:27 “AND AS IT IS APPOINTED UNTO MEN ONCE TO DIE, BUT AFTER THIS THE JUDGEMENT”
• The flesh must die every day
• Spirit man vs. Carnal man – internal struggle
• Spirit and Carnal collide everyday no matter how saved we think we are
We should take some time in an effort to define some of our words or Terminology that will be mentioned, prior to marching forward in this message. Let us define that word Saint. Many are confused by this word, unsure as to who is a Saint and who is not. Sometimes we think we must be very careful as to not throw the word Saint around, that is to say we should us it Sparingly. Much confusion in the Church as to who is Classified as Saints.
• Positionally, every New Testament believer is a Saint
• Every member of the body of Christ is a Saint
• Therefore all the Saved of the New Testament era are saints by virtue of our position in Christ
• In layman’s terms if you and I believe in Christ, live as such, we are Saints
• Paul wrote:
• -- COL 1:2 “TO THE SAINTS AND FAITHFUL BRETHREN IN CHRIST”
• -- EPH 1:1 “…TO THE SAINTS WHICH ARE AT EPHESUS…”
• -- PHIL 1:1 “…TO AL THE SAINTS IN CHRIST JESUS WHICH ARE AT PHILLIPPI”
Let’s quickly define a Sinner. This should not take us very long, it is an area we are very familiar. Sinners are those that violate the divine will of God. It is therefore, as defined by St. Augustine – Any Thought, Word or Deed Opposed to the Law of God – Ethically, Sin is that which is Immoral. Because he was a physical being just like us, Paul knew that sin “dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.” We have limited natural ability to properly live up to right standards and values. We repeatedly fall short of the honorable conduct God expects of us. Paul explained why. We sin, or miss the mark, because of something that dwells in us, in our flesh.
• Jesus identifies the most significant characteristic of the "flesh," or our nature, that causes sin
• Bible Warns – “WATCH AND PRAY LEST YOU ENTER INTO TEMPTATION”
• ST. MATTHEW 26:41 “THE SPIRIT INDEED IS WILLING,BUT THE FLESH IS WEAK”
• It is the weakness of the flesh that gives birth to sin.
Based on our definitions we could think that our topic for the morning – Saints with Sinners Problems is nothing more than an Oxymoron = A Figure of Speech in which Opposite or Contradictory Ideas or Terms are Combined. It is difficult to use the words Saints and sinner in the same sentence. These terms seem to collide – should Bump heads with one another – they should be at Opposite Ends of the Spectrum. Our thoughts suggest to us even now, that you are either a Saint or you are a Sinner but you can’t be both, even behaving Lukewarm God has no use for us, therefore; we can’t have it both ways. Lukewarm does not reference our Internal Struggle. REVELATION 3:16 “SO THEN BECAUSE THOU ART LUKEWARK, AND NEITHER COLD NOR HOT I WILL SPUE THEE OUT OF MY MOUTH.”
Allow me to help you focus on this thought this morning. Many of us or perhaps most of us have some spiritual problems this morning. Not referring to problems paying Bills, problems with Automobile, Maintaining our Weight. Stay with me for just a few minutes this morning.
• We are Baptized Believers
• We have been saved according to ROMANS 10:9 “THAT IF THOU SHALT CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH THE LORD JESUS…”
• No doubt that we Love the Lord!
• Our desire is to operate by the Will of God
• Our daily prayer NOT MY WILL BUT THEY WILL BE DONE
• No longer about us, all about Jesus
• Understand we have Come This Far By Faith
We are therefore by Definition = Saints – Don’t look strange at the person next to you – you have to focus on yourself. I want to address this issue of Saints with Sinners Problems. Well I’m still not with you, what do you really mean Reverend? We are saved but:
• Why did we Cuss at the neighbors child?
• Turn up the Liquor bottle when we felt stressed
• Keep running back to the Drug Dealer with my paycheck
• Carry that Lie about that Bro. or Sis. Sitting next to me
• Cuss all day long on the job
• Cheat on my timecard last week
• Cheat on my Taxes
• Have those thoughts about the new Secretary and I am happily married
• Talking about Saints with Sinners Problems
Stopped by this morning to let you know that we are Saints with Sinners Problems. Because we have been saved and washed in the Blood of the Lamb, does not mean that sin will no longer knock on our door. You need to understand that there is nothing wrong with you because of the struggles you encounter in your life.
• So quick to point a finger at one another when we fall
• We gage our spirituality by viewing our hurting neighbor
• I am spiritually okay because I’m not behaving like my neighbor
• Line our lives up in the Word – None of us look so good then
• Because your faltering and Falling, God still on your side
I am reminded of a flippant young man who once remarked to a Preacher in mocking fashion, "You say that unsaved people carry a great weight of sin. Frankly, I feel nothing. How heavy is Sin? Ten pounds? Fifty pounds? Eighty pounds? A hundred pounds?" The preacher thought for a moment, then replied, "If you laid a four-hundred-pound weight on a corpse, would it feel the load?" The young man was quick to say, "Of course not; it’s dead" Driving home his point, the preacher said, "The person who doesn’t know Christ is equally dead. And though the load is great, he feels none of it" The Christian, unlike the average non-Christian, is not indifferent to the weight of sin. He is actually Hypersensitive to it. Having come to Jesus Christ, his senses are awakened to the reality of sin. His sensitivity to sin intensifies as he matures spiritually. Such sensitivity is what each of us feels whenever we err and allow Sin to Creep into our lives. The Holy Spirit begins to Quicken our Spirit to the point we can not get rest until we get it right.
Vs. 14 “FOR WE KNOW THAT THE LAW IS SPIRITUAL: BUT I AM CARNAL, SOLD UNDER SIN.” Paul is reminding us that there is an internal battle going on. The spirit man that is the nature of Christ dwelling in us is constantly at war with the carnal man. It is often a struggle to do the right thing. Carnal means the Flesh, and we all know the Flesh wants to do what feels good, which is ordinarily contrary to the Will of God. When we consider that the Law is Spiritual we must then determine what we understand and believe about Man’s Nature. Is our nature Dichotomous (Body and Soul) or Trichotomous (Body, Soul, Spirit)? There are good arguments for both views, but the point being that we Struggle Internally with more than One Nature. We will learn more about this in a Bible Study Class that I am designing. Paul reminded us that No good thing dwelth in the flesh. It is only by the Help of the Holy Spirit that we are able to put our flesh under subjection. Adversary causes us to walk in the flesh or by Sight
• Glamorize Sin
• Feels good do it
• Law of Spirituality states we Walk by Faith not by Sight
Let me also tell you that we serve a God of completeness. Well…what does that mean? When God works His will in us, He does not do a half way job! He does not save us half way. Everyday should be a growing process. Should not make same mistakes today that I made yesterday.
• Things we used to stumble over, we no longer stumble today
• Habits that controlled our life, are no longer habits in our life
• Foul language when I was angry no longer exits in my moments of anger
If you have not reached this stage yet – there is still hope, God has not given up on you, He is still performing a work in you. ISAIAH 10:12 “WHEREFORE IT SHALL COME TO PASS, THAT WHEN THE LORD HATH PERFORMED HIS WHOLE WORK UPON MOUNT ZION AND ON JERUSALEM…” Therefore, God is still working on you, so you hold on this morning, God is not through with you yet. God is right there working in and through us helping us to work out what we have need of and He has the strength and the right tools to do the job. We need to let God accomplish His perfect will in and through our life. He knows what we have need of.
You see my Brothers and Sisters, Saints have had sinners problems all throughout the Bible and even today it is a struggle, but God is able to work it out in you.
• EXODUS 2:11-12 “AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THOSE DAYS, WHEN MOSES WAS GROWN, THAT HE WENT OUT UNTO HIS BRETHREN, AND LOOKED ON THEIR BODIES: AND HE SPIED AN EGYPTIAN SMITTING AN HEBREW, ONE OF HIS BRETHREN, AND HE LOOKED THIS WAY AND THAT WAY, AND WHEN HE SAW THAT THERE WAS NO MAN, HE SLEW THE EGYPTIAN, AND HID HIM IN THE SAND.”
• Yet God still used Moses to be his first Pastor, one of the greatest Pastor’s/Leaders of the Old Testament – Saints with Sinners Problems
• II SAMUEL 11:2-4 “AND IT CAME TO PASS IN AN EVENINGTIDE, THAT DAVID AROSE FROM OFF HIS BED, AND WALKED UPON THE ROOF OF THE KING’S HOUSE: AND FROM THE ROOF HE SAW A WOMAN WASHING HERSELF; AND THE WOMAN WAS VERY BEAUTIFUL TO LOOK UPON. AND DAVID SENT AND INQUIRED AFTER THE WOMAN. AND ONE SAID, IS NOT THIS BATHSHEBA, THE DAUGHTER OF ELIAM AND WIFE OF URIAH THE HITTITE? AND DAVID SENT MESSENGERS, AND TOOK HER; AND SHE CAME IN UNTO HIM, AND LAY WITH HER, FOR SHE WAS PURIFIED FROM HER UNCLEANNESS: AND SHE RETURNED UNTO HER HOUSE.”
• We know later on that David even had Uriah killed
• Yet it was after this that God said “Man After My Own Heart”
• Greatest King that ever lived – Saints with Sinners Problems
• ST. MATTHEW 26:74 “THEN BEGAN HE TO CURSE AND TO SWEAR, SAYING, I KNOW NOT THE MAN…”
• Peter walked with Jesus, sat at his feet, yet denied Jesus with foul language, Saints with Sinners Problems
• Thomas refused to believe resurrection of Jesus, very essence of Christianity. Won’t Believe Unless I See For Myself…
The list goes on and on, not only in the Bible but throughout all of life, God’s Great Men and women, have faltered and failed along the way. They have been Saints with Sinners Problems. Paul wrote the majority of the New Testament, I used to think well…Paul…everyone elses problems have been exposed through the Scripture, but you have not been exposed, I used to hold Paul in high regard, don’t see any sin in his life. Paul reminded us Not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought.
Paul said in our preaching text, I am Saint with Sinners Problems
---- FOR THE GOOD THAT I WOULD I DO NOT
---- THE EVIL WHICH I WOULD NOT, THAT I DO
---- WHEN I WOULD DO GOOD EVIL IS PRESENT WITH ME
---- THINGS THAT I SHOULD DO I DON’T DO THOSE THINGS
---- THINGS THAT I SHOULD NOT DO, I FIND MYSELF DOING THOSE THINGS
Even in the child of God evil is present with us. Nowhere do we see more clearly the conflict natures at work in each of us. Paul is living in all good conscience yet he fails to do what is right - But thank God there is hope, because of the Blood of Jesus, he is able to Wash Me Whither Than Snow, able to Pick Me Up. Because of Calvary’s Cross, I still have Hope. Because He Died for Me, able to remove my Sin, Because he Rose again on the Third Day Morning, he is able to call me his Child.
Saints are not Perfect yet. God gives Pastors, God gives teachers to the churches. Why? One reason is listed in EPHESIANS 4:11-12 “AND HE GAVE SOME, APOSTLES; AND SOME, PROPHETS; AND SOME, EVANGELISTS; AND SOME, PASTORS AND TEACHERS; FOR THE PERFECTING OF THE SAINTS, FOR THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY, FOR THE EIFYING OF THE BODY OF CHRIST…” So it’s for the Perfecting of the Saints. Do saints need perfecting? Are saints already perfect? They’re not perfect, are they. They need perfecting. They’re still saints but they need perfecting. So, don’t ever think that a saint is perfect yet. We all need perfecting. The church is a hospital for sinners, not a club for impeccable faultless saints.
---- Because of the Holy Ghost dwelling on the inside, able to keep me from sin, able to clean me up, keep the flesh under subjection.
---- So, therefore, I realize that - I was a sinner now I am saved by Grace
---- We must be humble about ourselves and know that without God we can do nothing. There is no good thing in man. It is only through the power of Christ Jesus that we can accomplish the things we do. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak
---- I don’t dwell on the flesh being weak – I dwell on the fact that the Spirit is willing
---- We need to ensure that we have been Washed in the Blood of Jesus.
WHAT CAN WASH AWAY MY SINS – NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS
WHAT CAN MAKE ME WHOLE AGAIN NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS
