Resisting The Devil Series

Resisting The Devil – Cleaning Up

Last week we talked about how every Christian is to pursue holiness. Every Christian is to pursue purity. Every Christian is to strive to stay away from sin. Holiness is not an option.

For the past three weeks we have been looking at a verse from first Peter where God tells us:

"Be holy, for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:16 (NKJV)

Holiness is what God expects in the life of a Christian. God expects His children to become like Him. He expects His children to “be in His image.” He expects them to become clean.

When God saves you He begins a process of cleaning you up. God is in the business of life change. God is in the process of making us pure. But that process requires our involvement.

He will provide for us clean clothes. But you must put them on. He will provide us the ability to come clean. But you must wash. That is why He tells us:

"Be holy, for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:16 (NKJV)

We are to strive for holiness. We are to pursue purity. We are to have a desire to please the Father – to become like Him.

Last week we said two elements are needed from us to overcome sin in our life. Only we can provide these two elements.

We need SUBMISSION and we need RESISTANCE.

In James chapter four we found these two elements plainly spoken of.

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7 (NKJV)

Resistance and submission are vital for your personal spiritual growth. Go ahead and circle the words “submit” and “resist”. If you are going to grow spiritually you need to be submissive and you need to be resistant.

You need to be submissive to GOD.

All sin is just the opposite of submission to God. In other words:

Sin is being RESISTANT to God.

Think about it. Every time you and I don’t do what God wants us to do we are sinning. Every time I put my desires over God’s desires for my life I am falling short of what God has planned for me. Every time I think I can do things better than God can – I miss the mark of what God has in store for me. Every time I resist God – I sin.

James therefore tells us to, “submit to God.” Last week we examined seven ways that we can be submissive to God. But sin is more than resistance to God.

Sin is also being SUBMISSIVE to Satan.

When I give in to Satan or to evil – when I give in to temptation – when I do what I know is not in God’s will for my life – I am sinning against God.

Today we are going to focus in on what it means to resist the devil. We are going to examine how we can resist that which is evil.

Follow along with me in Romans 6:12. The Bible tells us:

“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” Romans 6:12 (NKJV)

The first thing that we should notice in Romans 6:12 is that:

We are instructed not to let sin reign in our mortal BODIES.

In other words, don’t allow sin have control of you. This is something that we must do. We must be resistant to sin. It is not something that God has done for us. It is something that we must do for ourselves. The experience of becoming pure – of becoming holy – is not a gift like salvation is but it takes work and effort to become clean. If I want to clean up I need to submit to God – but I must also resist that which is evil.

The second thing to note from Romans 6:12 is that this verse begins with the word “therefore”.

Romans 6:12 begins with the word THEREFORE.

Whenever you see the word “therefore” in the Bible it means that something PREVIOUS has been said which is affecting what is NOW being said. In other words when the Bible says, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body.” we need to pay attention to what had just been said because what has just been said affects that which is not being said. To state it another way, we are to pursue holiness because certain facts are true that we have just been told. What are these facts? Here they are:

Fact One:

1. As a believer you have DIED to sin.

When you accepted Christ as your savior not only did your relationship to Christ change – but your relationship to Satan changed also. You are now dead to sin. Romans 6:2 says: