Sunday Morning March 26, 2000 Bel Aire Baptist Church Hobbs, NM
THE SIGNPOST OF SINFULNESS [#3]
The Mastery Of Sin In The Believer’s Life
JAMES 4:13-17; GALATIANS 5:16-23
Introduction:
Isaiah 35:8: "And a highway shall be there, and a way, And it shall be called The way of holiness..."
1. There is a way that God has called each of His children to follow.
a. It is the way of holiness.
b. And God is so committed to our walk on this path that He has given us easily identifiable signposts to guide us.
c. The question is whether we will choose to follow them.
2. When you come to the crossroads of spiritual decision, you have a choice: to either heed God’s signs and continue day by day on this important way, or to ignore them and muddle through.
a. You may be struggling with sin, wrestling with forgiving someone who has hurt you deeply, or battling with the idea of submitting yourself
wholly to God.
b. No matter where you find yourself, denying or ignoring God’s directions will leave you immature and ineffective; following them will allow you to handle these situations wisely, obediently, graciously- and victoriously.
3. The way of holiness clearly illustrates that each crisis of decision in the Christian life is a turning point.
a. An opportunity to choose God, to express your devotion to Him, and to experience His direction.
b. There are inevitable decisions you will face in your Christian walk.
c. Making biblical choices will free you to enjoy all that God has for you on the way of holiness.
4. One of the misleading half-truths that preachers can convey to babes in Christ is the notion that after conversion there are no more temptations, testings, or
failings.
a. It therefore comes as a great shock when a young believer discovers that it is still possible for him or her to sin.
b. It is the crisis of failure in the Christian’s walk.
c. Of course, "there’s victory in Jesus"; but there can also be defeat when we cease to abide in Him.
d. John the apostle reminds us that "if we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us" (1 John 1:10).
5. The signpost of sin is highlighted in the passages in our
texts and I want to deal with the subject from a threefold aspect: the mystery of sin, the misery of sin, and the mastery of sin in the believer’s life.
a. This morning we will look at the second, the misery of sin in the believer’s life.
"To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin" (James 4:17).
6. Although this verse can be applied to the unsaved, its primary message is to believers.
a. James has referred already to believers as "doers of the word, and not hearers only" (James 1:22)- those who have received "the implanted word"
(James 1:21).
b. At the same time, there is a mysterious "moral dualism" in our text.
c. Here we have "good" and "sin" in the same person.
d. When we search for the explanation, we find it in the Word of God.
In the fifth chapter of Galatians, verses 16-18, Paul writes,
"I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the
lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and
the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one
another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But
if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."
Here is the mystery of moral dualism from several weeks ago.
· A Moral Dualism That Polarizes The Believer’s Life
"For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh; and these are contrary to one another"
(Galatians 5:17).
· A Moral Dualism That Paralyzes The Believer’s Life.
"The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the
flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do
not do the things that you wish" (Galatians 5:17).
7. We are never going to be triumphant in our Christian
experience until we learn to gain victory over the mystery
of sin.
8. Where this mystery is unresolved there is:
The Misery Of Sin In The Believer’s Life
"To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin" (James 4:17).
9. If you remember the misery of sin is found in a worldly
life, a wasteful life, and a willful life.
10.Praise God, there is an answer and that is what we will be
looking at today, the mastery of sin in the believer’s life.
"You ought to say, ’If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that" (James 4:15).
11.The mastery of sin in the believer’s life has a twofold
solution.
I. Recognition Of The Divine Will
A. "You ought to say, ’If the Lord wills’" (vs.15).
1. We have to recognized that this universe is governed
by a sovereign God who is and lives and rules and
cares.
2. God is still on the throne, and he has a will not only
in the material but in the moral realm as well.
B. In fact, you cannot pray the Lord’s Prayer without
recognizing the will of God; and you life cannot be
victorious, pure, or fruitful outside of that will.
1. God has a will for your life.
2. He proved it once and for all by giving His Son to
the death of the cross that you might be saved and
sanctified.
3. "This is the will of God, your sanctification
(1 Thessalonians 4:3).
II. Resignation To The Divine Will
"If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that" (vs.15).
· It is one thing to recognize the will of God; it is another thing
to surrender to it.
· The passage in the Word of God that helps us understand
God’s will is Romans 12:1-2, where Paul links the life of
surrender to the knowledge of that "good and acceptable and
perfect will of God."
A. God’s Will Is Profitable For Your Life
"That you may prove what is that good... will of God" (Romans 12:2).
Now "to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to
him it is sin" (James 4:17).
1. Here is the will of God that you cannot afford to
neglect, ignore, or disobey, because it is good.
2. Think of all the synonyms bound up in that word good, because all that is good is in the will of God.
B. God’s Will Is Pleasurable For Your Life
"That you may prove what is that... acceptable... will of God
(Romans 12:2).
1. It is "the sweet will of God."
2. There is no place in Heaven or earth more delightful
or more enjoyable than the center of God’s will.
3. And whether you’re serving the Lord as a missionary
on some remote island, or whether you’re in a very
difficult home situation with belligerent parents,
you can still be happy if you’re in the will of God.
C. God’s Will Is Purposeful For Your Life
"That you may prove what is that... perfect will of God"
(Romans 12:2).
1. That word denotes an unfolding drama, not only
experientially now, but eschatologically in a day to
come.
a. If you and I are in the center of God’s will, He
is not only going to condition and conform us
to His image moment by moment, day by day,
but He is going to bring us into all the fullness
of His ultimate purpose in that eternal state.
2. Study the life of the Lord Jesus, and you will
discover that the one consuming passion of His life
was the will of God.
a. He looked into the face of His earthly parents
and said, “Did you not know that I must be
about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49).
b. That was submission to the will of God as the
Son.
3. At the height of His ministry, as He led a sinful
woman at the well of Sychar to the fountain of
living water, He could say to His disciples (who
seemed more interested in sandwiches than in
soul-winning), “My food is to do the will of Him
who sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34).
a. This was submission to the will of God as a
Servant.
4. Then in the garden of Gethsemane, wrestling with the great problem of being made sin for the human race, He prayed, “Father, if is possible, let this cup
pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as
You will” (Matthew 26:39).
a. That was submission to the will of God as
Savior.
b. When Jesus prayed that prayer in the garden,
He mastered sin forever, for that was the
prelude to Calvary where He would cry,
“Finished!” (John 19:30) and where He
gained a victory that you and I can know in
our lives.
5. When you surrender like that, something happens.
a. The Bible says that God gives the Holy Spirit
“to those who obey Him” (Acts 5:32).
b. The verb obey is the same as in verse 29
where Peter says, “We ought to obey God
rather than men.”
c. The word implies obedience to an appointed
authority.
d. So we need the might Spirit of God to
strengthen us to do the will of God, just as
Jesus was strengthened by that angel in the
garden of Gethsemane.
e. You can pray all night, all day, all month, and
all year for the enabling of the Holy Spirit, but
your request will never be realized until you
are prepared to do the will of God.
6. We have thought about the mystery of sin in the
believer’s life- that moral dualism that polarizes
and paralyzes Christian living and explains why you
haven’t made progress in your spiritual walk.
a. That dualism explains why you’re so
miserable, why worldliness is written across
your face, why wastefulness is written across
your life, why willfulness is written across
your soul.
b. But victory can be yours as you recognize the
will of God and surrender to it.
c. When that happens, the Holy Spirit will clothe
you with power to see that will of God fulfilled
in your life with profit, with pleasure, and with
purpose.
d. But the issue is the will of God.
Conclusion:
1. Adelaide Pollard wrote the hymn “Have Thine Own Way,
Lord” in 1902 during a time when she was suffering
“great distress of soul.”
2. Shortly before, she had tried unsuccessfully to raise funds
for a missionary trip to Africa.
3. A prayer meeting had brought peace to her heart and
complete abandonment of self in submission to God’s
will.
4. The first verse of that hymn goes like this:
Have Thine own way, Lord!
Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter;
I am the clay.
Mould me and make me
After Thy will,
While I am waiting,
Yielded and still.
