14 February 2016
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 5:22-24
1 Thessalonians 5:22-24 (NIV)
22 Avoid every kind of evil.
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you
through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do
it.
-- hold your place right there and either turn with me or
listen as I read Jude 24 -- Jude is the little book right before the Book of
Revelation -- Jude 24
Jude 1:24-25 (NIV)
24 To him who is able to keep you from falling and to
present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy--
25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power
and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and
forevermore! Amen.
-- not many people today are familiar with the name of
Amy Carmichael -- in fact when people mention ministries and outreach to the
poor in India, her name is not the one that pops into our minds -- we think of
Mother Theresa -- but it was Amy Carmichael who paved the way for Christian
evangelism and ministry in India and whose legacy and faith inspired Mother
Theresa to devote her life to the mission field
-- Amy Carmichael was born in Ireland in 1867 and was
called by God to be a missionary at the age of 25 -- at first she was led to
Japan, but her ministry there was short-lived -- God called again and Amy found
herself alone in India in 1895, where she remained until her death 56 years
later -- never once taking a furlough -- never once returning home to her
beloved Ireland -- the work was too great, she said, the need never-ending
-- Amy spent her career reaching out to the children who
were being sold into prostitution in the temples in India, beginning first with
girls, later with boys, and eventually opening an orphanage for both children
and infants -- the children there called her "Amma" --
"mother" in Tamil -- and she fought tirelessly to rescue them from
the bonds of forced prostitution and to protect them from those who sought to
gain from their servitude
-- how was this ordinary girl from Ireland -- without any
formal seminary or Bible college training -- able to survive in a hostile
country and make a significant difference in the lives of thousands of boys and
girls while influencing untold others to devote their lives to Christ?
-- in Amy's own words, it occurred when she was ushered
into a life of faith -- for Amy this life of faith came after conversion -- it
occurred when she finally trusted God for all -- when her fledgling faith
became real and she truly believed in a God who could do all
-- in September 1886, Amy had been struggling with the
problem of how to live a holy life, and she found the answer at a series of
evangelical meetings in Glasgow -- it was not the message of the speakers that
God used to reach her, but the closing prayer of the chairman -- in his prayer
he paraphrased Jude 24, which we just read together -- "To Him who is able
to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His glorious presence
without fault and with great joy"
-- when Amy heard the promise of God's faithfulness and
providence in those words, she realized that God loved her and would lead her
down new paths of faith and victory if she would quit trying to live her faith
on her own but trust Him instead -- thus started a life of faith that touched
others for eternity1
II. The Problem
of Sin in the Life of a Believer
-- this morning, I wanted us to use Amy Carmichael’s story
as a basis for a discussion on living the victorious life in Christ -- a couple
of weeks ago, we talked about original sin and how we are all born with this
sin nature within us that does two things
-- first, it makes us all sinners in need of a Savior --
we are born corrupted -- we are born into sin and need to be saved from this
great infection inherited from Adam and Eve
-- secondly, this sin nature within us is what causes us
to choose sin over God -- it is this sin nature -- our flesh -- the old man, as
Paul put it -- that leads us to choose to disobey God and do wrong things in
our lives
-- this is why Jesus came to earth -- He came to defeat
this sin nature in our lives and to offer forgiveness for the sins that this
sin nature had led us to commit -- that is the gospel message in a nutshell --
this is the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ
-- not only that our sins have been forgiven, but that
this sin nature within us has been defeated so that we no longer have to live
in bondage to sin in our lives, but we have the capability to choose to say no
to sin
-- that’s what John means when he wrote in 1 John 2:1, “I
write this to you so that you will not sin” -- because of Jesus’ death and
resurrection and His power in us through the Holy Spirit, we can choose not to
sin any longer
-- but, for most of us, our lives are similar to that of
Amy Carmichael’s early life -- when she received Jesus as her Lord and Savior
and put her trust in His finished work on the cross, she was forgiven of her
sins -- she became a Christian and tried to follow Jesus
-- but she ran into problems -- she found she couldn’t
live a holy life -- she found out that when she tried to live like Jesus and
tried to not sin, she kept giving in to sin over and over again and just
couldn’t live a holy life -- sound familiar? -- yeah, it sounds like us -- it
sounds like most of the church today
-- that’s the problem that I want to talk about this
morning -- the problem of continuing sin in the life of a believer and why it
happens -- I’ll confess to you -- I sin -- I sin a lot -- I know I’m not
supposed to -- I know the Bible tells me I should choose not to sin, but it
seems like that no matter what I do, I’m not able to turn away from temptation
and not sin -- and, if you’re honest with yourself, you’ll probably admit that
you’re just like that, too
-- there are times in my life when I do pretty good --
I’ll sin and I’ll repent of my sin and then I’ll go days, weeks, even months,
without sinning in that way again -- I’m really doing my best to live a holy
life -- but, all of a sudden, temptation comes on me and there I go again --
before I even know it, I’ve given in again and I’m right back at the start --
does that happen to anyone else or is it just me?
-- I think that’s the experience of most of the church
today -- you’ve heard the statistics -- if you look at our sins in the church
compared to the sins outside the church, we’re no better than the world --
almost the same number of Christians get divorced and have affairs and cheat on
our taxes and steal and lie and do all the other things that the unbelievers do
-- there’s really not a difference in the way we live our lives versus the way
the world lives its life -- but that’s not the way it should be
-- remember, Christ came to destroy that sin nature and
to make it possible for us to choose not to sin but to choose to live holy
lives in His name -- so what’s the problem? -- why do we continue to live in
sin?
-- I think it comes down to a lack of faith and to a lack
of understanding about how we are supposed to live this Christian life
-- to get to the bottom of this, let’s back up and think
first about salvation -- how are saved in the beginning? -- when someone first
comes to believe in Jesus, how do they get saved? -- they get saved through
faith, right? -- we tell people, “you can’t be saved through your works -- your
works are like filthy rags in the eyes of God -- you can’t buy salvation -- you
can’t be saved by trying to do good things -- it is only through grace that you
are saved -- it is the gift of God”
-- we point them to Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace
you have been saved -- through faith -- and this not of yourself -- it is the
gift of God, not by works, lest any man should boast”
-- and as it says in Romans 10:9-10 (NIV), “That if you
confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. -- For it is with your
heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you
confess and are saved.”
-- that’s the plan of salvation, right? -- believe in
Jesus -- put your trust and faith in Him and ask Him to forgive you of your
sins and you will be saved -- everybody good, right?
-- now, what happens next? -- when someone comes to God
in faith and becomes a Christian, what’s the next step? -- they have to live it
out -- they start living a holy life -- they start following Jesus and trying
to live like He lived -- and that’s where we get in trouble -- because before we
know it, we find ourselves giving in to temptation and falling back into sin
just like we did before we got saved
-- that was exactly what happened in Amy Carmichael’s
life -- she didn’t understand how to live a holy life, and every time she tried
to be holy and not sin, she kept finding herself falling back into sin over and
over again, even though she was a believer
-- so, what's the problem? -- why does this happen? -- it
happens because we’re not told how to live this Christian life -- we’re simply
told to “just say no” to sin and to be holy as Jesus is holy -- we’re told that
if we sin, we should just repent of our sin and try again -- and what happens
is we try to live this Christian life on our own -- in our own strength and
through our own power -- and we fail
-- it's really kind of funny, when you think about it --
we tell unbelievers that there is nothing they can do about their sin -- they
can't work their way to heaven -- they can't buy their way to heaven -- only
God can forgive them through His grace because of Christ's atoning death on the
cross -- only God can deal with their sin
-- but, once someone becomes a believer, we give them the
idea that it is their responsibility to live holy lives -- now that they are a
believer, they are supposed to repent and stop sinning and become holy all on
their own -- we kind of get the idea that it is our job to deal with any sin in
our life once and for all
-- do you see what we're telling people? -- to the
unbeliever we say, "Trust God to take care of your sin" -- to the
believer we say, "you have to take care of your own sin -- sure, God will
forgive you if you fall, but it's your responsibility to repent and not do it
again"
-- here's a truth we need to get deep in our hearts --
and this is critical when it comes to living a Christian life -- we can't do
anything about our sin
-- we couldn't do anything about it before we came to
Christ, and we can't do anything about it now -- just like we need the power of
the Cross to bring us to salvation, we need the power of the Cross to defeat
sin in our life once and for all -- we can't do it on our own, and that's where
these scriptures we opened with come into play -- look at what they say
-- look back at 1 Thessalonians 5:22-24
1 Thessalonians 5:22-24 (NIV)
22 Avoid every kind of evil.
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you
through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do
it.
-- in other words, Paul is saying, “don’t sin” -- that’s
what we tell people when they get saved, right? -- “you’re a Christian now, so
avoid evil -- don’t sin -- don’t give into temptation -- choose to not sin”
-- and that’s all good advice -- that is what we are
supposed to do -- but it brings up the question, “Yes, but how? -- I couldn’t
choose not to sin before I became a Christian -- how do I do it now?”
-- verse 23
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you
through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
-- how do I avoid every kind of evil? -- how do I choose
not to sin? -- through faith -- by believing that God will do it through me --
Paul says here God will sanctify you -- your whole body, soul, and spirit will
be kept blameless -- how? -- Paul says, “the One who calls you is faithful and
He will do it” -- not that we will do it, God will do it with us
-- when we’re talking about living the Christian life, we
are talking about becoming holy as God is holy -- about becoming sanctified --
and in the church, we talk about three types of grace, right? -- prevenient
grace -- the grace that comes before -- the grace that leads us to the cross --
there’s justifying grace -- the grace of the cross -- the grace of salvation --
the grace that forgives us of our sins and overcomes our sin nature and makes
it just as if I never sinned -- but, finally, there’s sanctifying grace -- the
grace of God that makes us holy
-- the problem is that we have turned sanctification from
an act of faith and a reliance on God’s grace to an act of works -- when Paul
tells us to avoid every kind of evil, we march off and try to do it as an act
of our own will -- we forget God’s grace -- instead of living the Christian
life in faith, we live it in our own power
-- but we can’t do it -- our lives show that -- we can’t
live a sinless life on our own -- it is impossible -- but Paul says here that
God can do it through us -- God is the One who sanctifies us -- God is the one
who keeps our body, soul, and spirit blameless -- not us, but God within us
-- Jude said the same thing -- Jude 24 and 25 -- “To him
who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious
presence without fault and with great joy -- to the only God our Savior be
glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages,
now and forevermore!”
-- who keeps us from falling? -- God -- who presents us
before His glorious presence without fault? -- God
-- it is not us -- to paraphrase Ephesians 2:8-9 to
reflect what should be going on in living the Christian life, “For it is by
grace that you are sanctified, through faith, and this not of yourself, it is
the gift of God -- not by works -- lest any man should boast”
-- if we couldn’t save ourselves from our sins in the
beginning, what makes us think we can save ourselves from our sins now? -- what
makes us think we can live a holy life in our own strength and through our own
will?
-- that’s what God showed Amy Carmichael -- when she
heard Jude 24 preached, the Spirit showed her that her part was to have faith
-- not to do it on her own -- and when she stopped striving in her own strength
and in her own power, she began to live the victorious Christian life and God
used her mightily
-- you see, that’s why we’re failing -- we’re trying to
do it on our own, apart from God, and it’s not working -- when we hear the word
repentance, we have this idea it means that we are to do better -- we are to
work harder -- we are to try more -- but that’s not what biblical repentance
means
-- true biblical repentance isn't about us doing
something about our sin -- true biblical repentance means admitting we can't do
anything about our sin, and trusting God to work with us to overcome it
-- true biblical repentance means that we put faith in
God to work in us through His Holy Spirit to overcome sin in our lives rather
than trying to solve sin on our own
III. Closing
-- so how do we stop this cycle of continuing sin in our
lives? -- how do we stop this cycle of sinning and repenting and sinning again?
-- how can we start living a truly victorious life in Christ?
-- the first step is to admit you can’t do it on your own
-- to admit you’re a sinner and that you need God’s grace in order to overcome
this sin
-- the second step comes from 1 John 1:9 -- confess your
sins -- what does it mean to confess? -- it basically means to admit your sins
to God -- to agree with Him that you have sinned -- that you have disobeyed His
word
-- confession is a surrendering of your ideals to God's
ideals -- it is saying, "I was wrong in what I was thinking -- I was wrong
in what I was doing -- when I compare myself and my actions and my thoughts to
your Word, it doesn't line up -- I agree that I have sinned against You"
-- now, you need to keep in mind that confession doesn't
resolve your sin -- feeling sorry about what you have done doesn't make your
sin go away -- admitting our sin is an important part of the process, but words
do not resolve sin
-- confession is an alignment of the mind to God to
prepare the heart for the next step
-- the third step is remembering who we are in Christ and
what He did for us -- we are not the same person that we used to be -- we are
new creations in Christ -- we have new strength and new power through the very
presence of the Holy Spirit within us -- that’s something we didn’t have before
we trusted Jesus as our Lord and Savior -- we have to remember God with us and
in us and trust in His power to sustain us
-- we have to believe that we do not have to live with
sin any longer -- those chains were broken at the Cross -- as Paul wrote, we no
longer live, but Christ lives in us and He has defeated our sin through His
body and His blood
-- the final step is true biblical repentance
-- and here's where the rubber meets the road -- we have
already woken up and seen our sin -- we have confessed our sin and agreed with
God that we have disobeyed Him -- and we remember the work of Christ on the
Cross -- we remember who we are -- we remember grace
-- now, when we repent, we repent through that grace and
not through our own power -- we don't try to manage our own sin, but we trust
in what Jesus has already done
-- when you start to realize that repentance is not
something you do but something that God does, you realize a real power over sin
for the first time in your life -- the work of Jesus is for every sin, not just
for the forgiveness of sin, but for the healing from those sin
-- repentance then is trusting that Jesus has already
forgiven you of your sin and believing that He will work with you to give you
victory over the sins that remain -- repentance is a surrendering of yourself
to God and trusting in His power to help you live a holy life
-- when you put all these steps together, this is what
your prayer will sound like:
-- "God, here we go -- I did it again -- I made a
wrong choice -- I sinned against you -- I agree with your holy Word that this
was an act of disobedience
-- God, I remember what Christ did for me on the cross --
I remember that I am a new creation because of Him and that He broke the power
of sin in my life with His death and resurrection
-- God, here is a sin I trust you to do something about
-- I am convinced I cannot deal with this sin -- I trust what you did at the
Cross is powerful enough, not only to bring me to heaven one day, but powerful
enough that it can break this very sin's power that is now plaguing my life
-- God, I repent of my sin and I put my trust in You and
Your power to heal me of this sin -- Thank you for what you have done and what
you will do through your Son in my life -- Amen"
-- a truly victorious life in Christ is possible -- we no
longer have to live in bondage to sin -- we no longer have to go through our
lives bound by sin’s power -- but we can live holy lives through faith in the
sanctifying grace of Christ
-- let's pray
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1Wiersbe, Warren W.
10 People Every Christian Should Know, Chapter 8: Amy Carmichael.
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