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| Overcoming Sin - is it even possible? |
Overcoming Sin - is it even possible?
Overcoming Sin
Recognizing Satan's Lies and Hearing God's Truth
Lie #1 - Sin is not really that bad - it's no big deal.
TRUTH - God hates all sin
Habakkuk 1:13 – “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.
Is. 61:8 - I, the Lord, love justice. I hate robbery and iniquity.”
Indeed, sin is very pleasurable, that's why you do it. Few people struggle with the temptation to smash themselves in the face with a hammer because that doesn't feel good. Ultimately, you need to learn to see sin as God sees it - not some beautiful thing that God is depriving you of - but a nasty, horrible evil that is robbing you of God's blessings and God Himself.
Ps. 81:8-16 – “Hear, O my people, and I will warn you - if you would but listen to me, O Israel (America)! You shall have no other god among you; you shall not bow down to an alien god. I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways, how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes! Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever. But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
Lie #2 - Some sins are too big to simply stop doing.
TRUTH - No sin is too big
1 Cor. 10:13 – “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
You can always say "No".
Titus 2:11-12 – “For the grace of God that bring salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.”
Don't waste your time waiting for God to give you strength - you already have it if the Holy Spirit lives in you! Notice too that in 1 Cor. 10:13, God never promises to provide strength - He promises a way out. He promises to always give you a way out. It is your choice whether or not to take it. Look at Paul's advice to the Corinthians when faced
with sexual temptation. He doesn't say, "Stand and fight!" He says, 1 Corinthians 6:18 - Flee from sexual immorality. Don't be the fool who puts himself in a tempting situation and expects God to give him the strength to resist the temptation. God's command is, "Run away from that sin! Don't go near it!" Many times the reason you have no power to resist a sin is because you have surrounded yourself with it. You are calling to God for strength and He has not given it to you. The answer is not to keep asking for strength, but to be obedient to what God has already said and get yourself away from the temptation.
You can't change your heart, that's God's job.
Jeremiah 17:9 – “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”
Ps. 51:10 – “Change my heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
But you can change your actions, that's your job
Is. 1:16 – “Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right!”
Change your actions through the power of the Holy Spirit who is already living within you as a believer. Take the way out provided by God and run away from sin. Do this and trust that God will transform your heart into all that He desires it to be.
Lie #3 - It's not like you can just "never do that sin again."
Sure you may have victory today, but you can't keep this up forever. It's not going to get any easier, and sooner or later you will fall, so why not fall now?
TRUTH - It does get easier! Satan will flee from you if you resist him! You don't ever have to do that sin again!
James 4:7-8 – “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.”
It truly does get easier. The first few weeks of resisting a temptation are so very difficult. But after a month it gets easier, and then after two months the battle changes remarkably. After three months the way out is so much easier to take. After six months taking the way out and resisting that temptation have become a part of your character. You are able to say, "I used to do that sin, but no more. God has given me victory over it." Satan has been forced to flee from as God's word says! Indeed, you can still fall. You are never free from the temptation, but the battle is wholly different. Satan wants so badly for you to think there is no hope of ever being free of a sin. God wants you to have victory!
Romans 6:17-18 – “But thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”
Lie #4 - A couple little sins won't hurt
TRUTH - If you expect to have any victory over sin, you must be willing to give your whole self to God - hold nothing back. If you have truly been freed from lie #1, then you will realize that even the smallest sin will rob you of God - don't settle for anything less than intimacy with God Himself, your creator and father.
Romans 12:1-2 – “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
When you surrender your whole self to God you are living according to the Spirit, and God says that those who live by the Spirit will have victory over sin.
Romans 8:5 – “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”
Galatians 5:16 – “So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”
Look back at James 4:7 that was written out above. What's the first thing that verse says? Look at the part before "resist the devil and he will flee from you". It says, "Submit yourselves to God." Follow the path God gives you. Don't attempt to resist the devil without first submitting yourself to God.
Pray now to God and pray those scriptures above back to Him. Claim those promises from His word for yourself and make your choice now. You have been freed from those lies. No longer can you use the excuse that this sin is too big or that there is no hope for victory. God has placed His Holy Spirit in you! Victory is yours if you choose it. God
has provided your way out - now take it.
Created on 09/30/2005 05:18 AM by Giles
Updated on 09/30/2005 05:22 AM by Giles
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