INTRODUCTION
1. I think we all would agree that we each have a desire to serve God.
2. So what happens when we flunk that? Have you been there?
You are just going along thinking everything is great and all of a sudden you find yourself falling into sin of a habit, or a dependency, or a loose tongue, or an action, a temper etc. etc. etc.
3. I’m convinced that inside of everyone of us, there is a Dr. Jekyll and a Mr. Hyde.
Dr. Jekyll. The desire to do good in kindness shown to others, in concern for the sick, in love that is shown to others because of the love shown to us.
Mr. Hyde. The side that says but look out! Don’t cross my path, or say the wrong thing at the wrong time, or step on my feelings.
If you do, Mr. Hyde is liable to come out shooting with both barrels.
4. Can you see the Jekyll and Hyde nature inside all of us?
I’ve seen them in most of us and in myself. I saw it this past week with a situation that was completely innocent. The response of one led to the response of another to the response of another an on an on. You get the point.
A comment was said in the wrong way and bamb – all of a sudden I became someone I did not know existed. I wasn’t Mr. Blunt, I became Mr. Unbelievable. I was stunned. I lost my temper in the most unpleasant way.
I never began to curse but I began to yell. I became angrier as the conversation continued. It was like I was up on a ladder looking down on myself and thinking, “Who is this person?”
5. Have you been there?
I think if we are honest, we all have. But the most important question I want us to consider today is “How do we respond when that happens?”
Many have quit the race, given up on their calling, their position, their ministry, their family, their career, their church and on and on. In fact, I almost did.
6. God’s Word
I found myself in going through this nightmare, turning to several passages. I couldn’t pray because I was speechless. So I simply turned to God’s Word and I want to share where He took me in hopes that when Dr. Jekyll becomes Mr. Hyde in your life, well, maybe you too can turn to scripture.
7. 3 Points of Advice from God’s Word
1. We are “Called to be Holy” – 1 Peter 1:13-16
2. We must “Be Prepared for Spiritual Warfare” – Romans 7:14-25
3. We must “Stand Firm - God is Not Taken by Surprise” – James 4:7-10, 1 Pet. 5:8-11
Finally, “Love Must Prevail” for without it one can not move on. We must “love each other deeply” because “love hides the sins of another (including ourself)”!
I. WE ARE CALLED TO BE HOLY
READ 1 PETER 1:13-16
1- “Prepare Your Minds” – Vs. 13
EPH. 4:22-24
2. “Be Self Controlled” – Vs. 13
a) be “sober” – Be controlled from within and not from outward circumstances
3. “Set your Hope On Grace to be Revealed”
Notice all 3 steps in are involving the mind. A tremendous effort of mental preparation so that…
4. “Do Not Be Of the World”
Eph. 4.1 “Walk (live a life) worthy of the calling you have received” - be holy!
II. SPIRITUAL WARFARE IS REAL
READ ROMANS 7:14-25
1. Verses 14-17
a) the “law is good” - It exposes sin.
b) it’s not me but sin living in me – Understand your enemy – it’s not you but Satan
2. Verses 18-20
a) I have the desire
b) But I still do what I don’t want
3. Verses 21-23
a) War against the “mind”
what I think, my judgments, my attitudes, my surmises, my punishments, my insecurities, etc.
b) War against our “members”
what I look at, where I walk, I touch, what I do,
4. Verses 24-25
a) Wretched – “miserable” - Been there? Been there!
b) to God through Christ
Eph, 1:7; Eph. 2:4-5
III. STAND FIRM THROUGH THE GOOD AND THE BAD
There is a Dr. Jekyl and a Mr. Hyde in all of us. Times we are happy and joyful and times when BOOM it all becomes ugly. Times we can’t make sense of. We want to punish ourselves because of our pain and our confusion.
A. Focus on God – Not Yourself
READ JAMES 4:7-10
1 “Submit” = to render obedience; to melt down; to give up – to yield
2. “Resist” – to take a stand against
3. “He will flee”
4. 1- Come to God and 2- He will come to you “you will seek and find God when you seek Him with all your heart”
B. Remember God is In Control
READ 1 PETER 5:8-11
1. Be Alert – Prepared
2. Resist him and Stand firm
3. He is not picking on you!
4. God will show up and prevail
God is in control and was not taken by surprise. This is not too big for him.
IV. SUMMARY
So what do we do when our Dr. Jekyll becomes a Mr. Hyde?
1. Remember your calling – A Call to Be Holy
2. Know that Spiritual Warfare is Real – we must be prepared and grow daily
3. Stand Firm – thru the Good and the Bad – it all balances out.
4. Know God is in control
READ 1 PETER 4:7-10
1. “Love each other deeply”
“deeply” = to be “strained” or “stretched” – described an athlete with tight and stretched muscles who strains to win a race.
We are to strain unselfishly in a sacrificial manner for another helping them in their race.
Rather than being controlled by outward circumstances, we are to grow to become controlled from within.
2. because “love covers over a multitude of sins”
Word means to hide meaning that when the focus is on Christ and love is in prevail, our sacrificial love will be such that it will hide or look over and beyond our faults and our mistakes.
3. Close
What is so important is to remember that when Mr. Hyde comes out whether in us or from someone else, we must realize that “love must prevail” in all. Go and talk - Go and forgive allowing your “love to deepen” so that it will “prevail and cover” the sins of another or of yourself.
Follow the example of Jesus. It must be about “love” and not of “self”.
