Do you know what I once was?
I was once an enemy of God.
I was once what Paul called, in Eph. 2:3, an object of God’s wrath, that is, his anger, his righteous indignation.
I was wasting my life gratifying the cravings of my sinful nature as I turned down the voice of morality in my head until it was no more than an easily ignored whisper.
I was so determined to do what I wanted to do, without being consciously bothered by it, that I actually told God to leave me alone.
My life was filled with emptiness and my soul was so dry it began to crumble.
I was attempting to satisfy my hunger with the things of the flesh instead of the fruit of the spirit, and never guessed why I was always hungry.
That is what I was.
Ephesians 2:1-2 speaks to who I was:
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
Do you know what I am now?
I am alive because of the cross.
I am born again because my old self has been crucified on the cross of Christ and I am alive in Christ because of his resurrection.
I am given new hope every day through the mercy of God shown to me through Jesus Christ his son.
I am fully aware that I must battle every day to keep my eyes, my heart and my life focused upon the Jesus that saved me, and that makes me realize what I truly am more than anything else…
I am a sinner saved by grace.
Ephesians 2:4-5 speaks to who I am:
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
Here is what you have to do, and the sooner the better – you have to ask yourself where you stand.
You have to look deep into yourself and find out if you are an enemy of God or a sinner saved by grace.
The answer you come up with is key to how the rest of your life is going to play out.
If you look inside yourself, if you turn over the rocks and rubble of who you are and find that you have indeed been turning your back on God and ignoring his plea for you to come and allow him to show you what life the way he intended it for you is all about; if that is what you see, then you are living in conflict, and that conflict will dominate your life.
Galatians 5:17 says that the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is contrary to the sinful nature.
What the sinful nature longs for:
Galatians 5:19-21 (NIV)
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.
This isn’t the first time Paul cataloged the desires of the sinful nature.
From Ephesians 5 we can add to the list: greed; obscentity; foolish talk; and coarse joking.
From Colossians 3 we can add: lust; evil desires; anger; malice; slander; and lying.
In First Timothy 6 Paul warns against having an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction.
And in his second letter to Timothy Paul warns against people who are lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love , unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power.
Paul makes sure that we realize there is no wiggle room here.
He wants us to know that sin is sin and evil is evil and no matter how you try to justify it, letting it into your life is plainly in conflict with the Spirit of God.
Let me say it this way – if you looked inside yourself, maybe as I read Paul’s lists of sins to you, and you found that you have indeed been gratifying the cravings of the sinful nature, you are in direct conflict with God. You are an object of his wrath. He will not stand idly by and let you destroy yourself with a constant intake of evil.
God will bring you to your knees so that he might lift you up and embrace you with his love and forgiveness. I know – he did it to me. I am so glad that when I told him to leave me alone, he decided to pursue me and woo me even more.
You cannot outrun God.
You cannot hide from God.
You cannot stop him from loving you.
What you have to do is stop running.
You have to stop hiding.
You have to stop lying to yourself that God doesn’t love you.
Maybe you look inside yourself and see a person who seems to be doing their best to be what God wants them to be, but it’s a struggle.
I have one word for you – AMEN!
It is hard to live a godly life. Do you know why it’s hard to live a godly life?
I’ll give you two reasons (although there are many):
1. We are all sinners – because we come from a long line of fallen human beings, sin is in our DNA; it is, unfortunately, a very real part of the fabric of our being; we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God
2. We are battling forces bigger than we are – “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the power of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm”; evil is all around us, on the earth and in the heavens, and it is powerful.
Paul knew how hard it is to live the godly life.
Even Paul cried out, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. 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. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me (Romans 7:18-21).”
That’s why Paul says to all of us who are trying our best to live for Jesus that…
• we must “stand firm (Eph. 6)”
• we must “press on (Php. 3)”
• we must “keep in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5)”
Alright, what does it mean to keep in step with the Spirit.
It means to get out of line with the sinful nature.
Remember all that nasty stuff Paul listed that has to do with sinful nature?
He also gave us a list of what should occupy our hearts and minds and lives – the fruit of the Spirit.
Remember that Jesus said about his believers, that they will be known by their fruit. Here it is, the fruit of the Spirit God wants to see come from your life as a follower of Christ – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
Don’t let the size of that list fool you. If your life is preoccupied with trying to bear that kind of spiritual fruit, you won’t have the time for any of those “acts of the sinful nature. Why? Because they are of God and that means every one of those things – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – are deeper, broader, and more meaningful than our puny definitions or concepts of them could ever explain.
Here’s the deal – Whether you have looked inside yourself and found that you have been making yourself a child of disobedience that is in danger of God’s wrath or if you find yourself as a child of God that is struggling with sin, and maybe certain sins a lot, then there is something you need to do.
You need to crucify your sinful nature.
Galatians 5:24 (NIV)
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
You need to let God lead you to the cross of Christ, let him hand you the hammer and nails, and let him watch with love in his eyes as you nail your old self, your sinful self, to the cross. You have to do it. It has to be your choice and your action.
Nail it to the Cross. (SLIDE)
It won’t be easy, but Jesus is there for you because he knows how hard crucifixion is; he know you would rather not, you’d just rather not.
And, AND, once it is nailed there you must leave it there.
Do not keep going back to the cross to stare longingly at your old nature because the old is gone, the new has come. You are a new creation in Christ.
Don’t go back to it and pet it and pine over and let it rub it’s nasty self against you.
Let it die!
The thing about crucifixion is it wasn’t a quick death.
That old sinful nature will take a while to die, but you have to leave it on that cross and let it die!
Any time you find yourself wandering back to that sinful nature or even desiring to take it down from the cross so you can nurse it back to health, here’s what you do instead:
Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
Colossians 3:1-2 (NIV)
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
And believe “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (Romans 8:37).”
Real life requires crucifixion
Real life as a true follower of Jesus Christ – knowing, growing and showing – requires that we crucify our sinful nature, on a daily basis if necessary (which it usually is!).
God’s word tells us if we are controlled by the sinful nature we cannot please God.
You know what I was – an enemy of God.
You know what I am – a sinner saved by grace.
Here is what I want to be – a God pleaser.
And that will take sacrifice, on a cross, of whatever keeps from being that.
It will take a constant surrender of my sinful nature to the cross of Christ.
I want to walk in step with the Spirit.
Will you walk with me? May I walk with you?
Action: Hand out nails to everyone as a reminder to crucify the sinful nature. Pray with everyone holding those nails.
