Posts Tagged ‘sin’

Most of the time when we think of ‘sin’ or of what would bring the LORD’s wrath upon us, we consider all of the ‘really bad’ things we could be doing but aren’t doing. God’s standard is much higher. James 4:17 says, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” God cares not only about sins of commission, but also, sins of omission. And further, Romans 14:23b states, “everything that does not come from faith is sin.” For the majority of us, I think this is where we most often fall short of the glory of God. We assume that our good works will please the LORD when all they do is bring curses upon us.

This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on the flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD… But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him… I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:5-10 NIV)

Where do we put our trust? In whom or what is our confidence?

Expanding on Reason 3: It enables you to fight the fight of faith.

“By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” (Hebrews 11:24-26, ESV)

If you are battling a sin, please memorize these verses. At a minimum please memorize the idea of these verses. Particularly “By faith Moses refused to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin, for Christ is a greater reward.” This text tell us several very important things about fighting sin.

• It takes faith to fight sin. It was by faith that Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. You will see that this faith was looking toward something. The faith was strengthened by a promise. And by this faith we can fight sin.
• Sin has fleeting pleasures. Some say that sin does not offer pleasure. This verse clearly shows that it does, however, it is also clearly fleeting or temporary. Sin will never satisfy, Sin will not last, and it has deadly effects. ”Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:15, ESV)
• Remember Christ is better. The thing that faith looks to is this: Christ is greater wealth than all the treasures of Egypt. Because sin offers a temporary reward of pleasure, we must fight sin by looking to a greater reward namely Jesus Christ. There is nothing greater than Jesus Christ. Nothing will satisfy like Jesus Christ. Remember this in the face of temptation. When temptation offers you it’s bait – cry out God “I refuse to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin, for Christ is a greater reward!”

Look to Jesus,

Pastor Ray

Reason 3: It enables you to fight the fight of faith.

Christians are to grow in holiness. We are saved through sanctification (2 Thessalonians 2:13) or through an increase in holiness. An increase in holiness is an evidence of conversion and faith in Christ. The Christian life is to be fought. “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:12, ESV).

Therefore, we know that we are to be saved through sanctification and that we must fight for faith. The question is how?

We grow in holiness and fight sin with the promises of God. It is the word of God that enables us to fight sin. Sin offers a promise; and God offers a promise. Our fight of faith is to trust God’s promise over the promise of the sin. Faith is to trust God.

Example 1

For example, one may be tempted to steal money. The promise sin offers: If you steal this money then you will have money for food.

The way to fight the promise of that sin is to counter it with God’s promise:  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:25-26, ESV).

Therefore, we counter the lie of the devil with the promise of God to provide. Of course we are more valuable then birds of the air!

Example 2

Another example may be one who is tempted to lie or cheat because others oppose us. The demonic promise: That by lying or cheating we will overcome those who rise against us.

However, we can fight this temptation to sin with the promise of God in Romans 8:31, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Example 3

Perhaps you struggle with anxiety and are tempted to be anxious. We can fight that sin with the promise of God in 1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” Or “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” (Psalm 56:3, ESV).

Memorizing Scripture provides us with the promises God ordained we use to live the Christian life. If we do not know the promises of God then we are only able to listen to the promise of Sin. We have nothing to offer in opposition to Sin. Every moment of everyday we should be trusting Christ. How can we trust that which we don’t know? Faith in Jesus is trusting Him for salvation. It is trusting Him for the finished work on the Cross. It is trusting Him for the forgiveness of sin, however, it is also used to fight sin and to prevent sin. The Word of God is to abide in us.

For the keeping of faith,

Pastor Ray

A phrase began to jump out at me each time I ran across it in my reading of Scripture: “But God…” I noticed that the phrase illuminated a contrast with God’s plans and ways and the world’s plans and ways. I recognized that we could have eliminated the need for the “But God” phrase if we had just begun with God’s perfect plan.

I did a search for the phrase, “But God,” in multiple translations of Scripture and found over eighty examples; each shed light on God’s sovereignty, grace, justice, and mercy. Here are just a few cases in point.

Beginning in Genesis 3, the serpent is questioning, “Did God actually say…” and the woman’s response includes, “But God said.” That should have been enough; the serpent should have been silenced by God’s Word. But he wasn’t.

In Genesis 8, the wickedness of mankind had resulted in a worldwide flood. “But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.”

In Genesis 17, Abraham is asking God to consider Ishmael as a solution to the problem of Sarah’s old age and her not being able to produce offspring, “But God said, ‘No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac…”

Genesis 20 finds Abraham attempting to pass Sarah off as his sister in order to protect her. Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah; “But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, ‘Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”

Genesis 50 contains one of the more famous “But God” phrases in Scripture. Joseph is putting his brothers at ease when he explains, “You intended to harm me, But God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Psalm 73:26 says, “My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Acts contains a few instances of the “But God” phrase concerning Jesus Christ, “But God raised him from the dead.”

Romans 5 states, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this; While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

One of my favorite “But God” phrases comes from 1 Corinthians 1:27. “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”

Hebrews 12:10 declares, “Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; But God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.”

Our sin requires correction. Thank the LORD for all of the “But God” passages, where his will is proclaimed against the backdrop of our need.

I know that the chapter and verse designations in Scripture aren’t part of the original documents, but … I couldn’t help but notice the similarity in message between John 3:16 and 1 John 3:16.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

Christ set the example and lived the life of love without faltering. When we have that same love, “we know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.” (1 John 3:14a)

Observations from Tony; Scripture quotes from ESV.