The War on Sin.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] have a seat. Welcome to Village Church. If this is your first time here, my name is Steve. I’m one of [0:04] the pastors here at Village Church and as always I am thankful and grateful to see each and every [0:09] one of you this morning. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them to Romans chapter 7. We’re [0:14] going to be starting in verse 13 this morning. By God’s grace, we’ll make it down to verse 20. [0:21] Two things as we get started off here. The first thing is that we’re thankful that our [0:27] Mexico missions team made it back into DC about a little bit before midnight last night and a few

[0:33] of them even made it to church this morning by God’s grace. I’m thankful for that, but if you’re [0:40] wondering about when the next opportunity for you to engage practically hands-on in international [0:49] missions, taking a trip and serving some missionaries on the field, we’re going to be taking a trip in [0:55] September to East Asia. We’ve done this trip for a few years now and we’re thankful that God is [1:02] continuing to work all over the world. But if you are interested in joining the team that’s going [1:08] to be going to East Asia this September, I’m going to ask you to, after the service today,

[1:13] see my good friend Mike Little, talk to him for a bit. I think he may talk a little quiet. He’s [1:25] going to be in September. It’s a great time to go to East Asia, so if you’re interested in that, [1:30] contact him. Secondly, happy Father’s Day to all of the fathers here in the crowd. [1:37] Yeah, there’s a smattering of applause for the dads. As I say on Mother’s Day, [1:45] I want to reiterate that I know that Father’s Day is a great day for some of us gathered here. [1:52] We had fathers that loved us well, taught us well, discipled us well, but there may also be

[1:59] some of you in the crowd that days like Father’s Day remind you of loss, remind you of pain. [2:06] Maybe you did not have a great relationship with your father. What I want to say to you [2:12] personally right now is that we all have one great father, and that is God our Father. [2:19] He has done everything to reconcile our relationship with Him so that we can worship [2:25] Him now as well as forever. Whether you’re here this morning and you’re someone that’s [2:32] seeking to be a great father, you’re someone that enjoyed and are still enjoying a great

[2:36] relationship with your father, I want to tell you that there’s a better father and that you need to [2:41] seek Him above even your earthly father. Secondly, if you’re here and you’ve suffered under what you [2:48] may say wasn’t a great father, seek the good father through Jesus Christ. Or if you’ve lost [2:54] your father, seek the good father through Jesus Christ. Or if you’re someone that’s carrying pain [3:00] because you know that you haven’t done well, maybe you’re carrying pain of guilt this morning. [3:08] What I want you to know right now is that the grace of Jesus Christ is here for you,

[3:13] and that you can have that guilt removed. You can deal with that shame in a real way, and that is [3:22] to repent of your sin and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and begin a process whether you’re [3:29] 25 or whether you’re 75 in here this morning. It’s the same. Begin now building a life in which [3:39] you are the Father you should always be. That is the Father that trains His children to love Jesus. [3:48] That is the Father that is there for His children in good times as well as in hard times. You know [3:54] it’s by providence always that I’m preaching the gospel on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Not

[4:01] really. We preach the gospel every week. It’s like a broken record around here, but that’s a good [4:06] thing by the way. But providentially I believe these sermons are mapped out far in advance. [4:13] We’ve been in the book of Romans for a while, and when I’m doing that I don’t really particularly [4:18] look at what holidays are falling on those Sundays because I don’t really care frankly about the [4:25] holidays. I care about the gospel and God’s Word, but I believe that there are times when God

[4:33] providentially assigns a text to a specific Sunday. I believe that that happened today as [4:40] I’ve been preparing this week. I think I found out on Friday that today is Father’s Day, so if you [4:45] want to know how my life works that’s about how it works. I get things about two days ahead of [4:49] time that they’re actually coming. It’s really bad around Christmas and my anniversary. But [4:55] the reality this morning is that I do think that this message and this text is specifically, [5:03] I want to, if the ladies that are gathered here this morning will excuse me, I want to preach this

[5:09] specifically to men. I don’t really care how old you are. I don’t care how young you are. If you [5:17] don’t have any children it’s still for you. If you’re a child it’s still for you. Whatever position [5:22] life you are in right now I want to gear this morning’s sermon towards you because if the men [5:32] in our church and in our culture will wage war on the sin in their lives then it will change [5:42] our culture inside of the church as well as outside of the church. And then what we’ve had [5:49] deficit of for the past few decades is men who find the most masculine pursuit that they can find.

[6:00] I think it’s the most manliest thing that they can do is to drive their lives into God’s word, [6:07] to spend their lives praying to God, and to live lives for their wives, for their children, [6:14] for their families, for their brothers and sisters, for their fathers and mothers that [6:18] exemplify what Psalm 63 tells us. When Psalm 63 says this great praise it says, Father, your word, [6:27] your love, the actual term is your steadfast love or your never-ending love, your trustworthy love [6:34] is better than life. And what your children need, I’m speaking to the fathers here,

[6:45] whether they are two or whether they are 34, what your children need from you is to see [6:57] a life that exemplifies that text. That they need a father that believes that the love of God [7:10] is more precious than the air that you breathe. That the love of God is more precious

[7:20] than your heartbeat. That you find God more endearing, more lovely, more engaging, [7:32] and more valuable than anything that you have. And what the Psalmist is saying right there [7:40] is that he would rather die than not know the steadfast love of God. [7:50] So my question to the men in this crowd, is that what your family sees when they watch you?

[8:03] Is that the gift that you are giving your families? Or are you spending your time pursuing trinkets

[8:18] to give them a better life? Because it won’t.

[8:24] Fatherhood is not marked by men who bring home the bacon. Is it involved? Sure.

[8:32] Real fathers, disciples, their families. I don’t even for a moment pretend that that is easy. [8:42] It’s a hard task. It’s what we’re going to talk about today in Romans 7. Because you have sin in [8:49] your life constantly. You won’t do it perfectly. But if you believe that the steadfast love of God [8:57] is better than life, I mean that’s a statement. Then you will live a life of continued repentance [9:05] when you do find sin in your life. You won’t make excuses. You won’t make excuses for why you’re [9:11] actually teaching your children idolatry. Which many of us are. I don’t think you should kid

[9:19] around with that. I mean some of you are teaching your children to worship a leather ball.

[9:27] Foolishness. We would rather watch a 20 year old throw a pig skin than worship the father. [9:36] What kind of legacy do you think that’s going to leave? You believe that automobiles, [9:45] you believe that computers, you believe that larger homes, you believe that all of these [9:51] things that won’t even be here in a hundred years are what your family needs. Men. You should [10:02] provide for your family. In the pastoral epistles it says that a man that doesn’t provide for his [10:06] family is worse than an unbeliever. It means it’s hellacious. But some of you aren’t providing anymore.

[10:19] Some of us are struggling with the God of materialism and we really do believe that we’re going to substitute trinkets for God.

[10:29] That will not lead to faith in the third and fourth generation.

[10:36] In Romans chapter 7, starting in verse 13, I believe the apostle Paul begins to talk about [10:44] that war on idolatry. Here’s what he says starting in verse 13. He says, [10:52] did that which is good then bring death to me? So he’s asking a question from last week. [10:57] He’s saying, did the law of God cause sin to come into my life? Did the law of God cause [11:05] this idolatry that’s coming out of me?

[11:10] He says again, by no means. That’s not even on the radar of truth. It’s impossible. [11:18] He says it was sin producing in me through what is good in order that sin might be shown [11:27] to be sin and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. A lot of sin in there. [11:35] For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh sold under sin. [11:41] See what Paul’s saying about himself there? See Paul’s being honest. More honest than you probably are. [11:50] He’s making a statement saying that the law is not the problem. I am. And he’s not treating sin

[11:57] like some outside mystical force either. So don’t read that in there because it’s not in there. [12:02] This isn’t a, you know, if you remember, and I don’t even think I was alive when this came out, [12:08] so I’m really, I’m not dating myself here. I’m just showing how much stupid knowledge I have. [12:13] When Flip Wilson used to say the devil made me do it. That’s not what he’s saying.

[12:20] He doesn’t mention Satan until chapter 16 of Romans. So he’s not talking about an outside force

[12:30] invading you. He’s talking about you. He says we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the [12:37] flesh sold under sin. And he says, for I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what [12:43] I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that [12:48] it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know [12:57] that nothing good dwells in me. That is in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, [13:04] but not the capability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want

[13:12] is what I keep doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that [13:20] dwells in me. There’s three things that I want to talk about from this text, but I want to begin [13:28] by explaining that Paul is dealing with, I think, two different realities. Because I think he’s [13:34] speaking to a larger audience than some of you might think. Paul is speaking to unbelievers in [13:39] this text. He summarizes in verses 13 and 14 everything that he said in the previous texts. [13:46] He says the law is good, I’m the problem. So I’ve got to deal with that. But then as he goes on,

[13:54] I think he also begins to include, based on what’s going to happen in chapter 8, I think he’s [14:01] prefacing everything that he’s going to talk about in chapter 8, in the war between the spirit and [14:07] the flesh. And he’s talking about the actual war that’s going to happen in the life of the Christian. [14:15] I want to talk about both of those realities today, but I want to begin by saying that the [14:22] struggle with sin is real. So it is something that we must engage in our everyday life. We talked [14:31] last week about the reality that none of us like to admit weakness, but that’s exactly what the

[14:36] Word of God drives us towards to show us that we’re in need of a Savior. This is true of life [14:43] before you come to Jesus, but it’s also true of the life that you will live in following Jesus. [14:49] There is going to be struggle, there’s going to be a fight, there’s going to be a war going on [14:54] in your life, or you’re not following Jesus. We have to understand that sin never produces [15:03] anything good for your life, and that is the biggest lie that sin will bring into your life.

[15:14] We even for a moment will at times believe the lie that sin will bring relief, that sin will bring [15:25] satisfaction, that sin will bring joy. But what Paul’s saying here is that sin can only ultimately [15:34] bring one thing into your life, and that is death. That is what sin brings. But the Gospel of Jesus [15:44] Christ does something inside of you. It engages and wages a war on the sin that tempts you so [15:53] often. The Gospel completely relieves you of the condemnation that sin brought you. Totally [16:03] relieved, totally gone. We talked a few weeks ago about how you can walk through life realizing

[16:07] that you through Jesus Christ have completely measured up to all of the law. So you can no [16:13] longer be condemned by your sin. But the war with sin, and actually how you live your life day in [16:23] and day out, is something that you need to experience every day through Jesus. And so some [16:30] of us, we get very confused with that. We say, what are you saying? You’re telling me I need to [16:34] experience war with sin every single day. It’s not just something that’s relieved in a moment. It’s [16:40] not just something that I get victory over in a second. No. It’s something that you will struggle

[16:49] with the rest of your days on this earth until you meet Jesus. And the war is a good thing for you.

[16:56] It’s good. It’s needed. The problem though, is that we’re in the middle of a war and many are acting [17:08] as if it’s a time of peace. Well, I’m good. I’ve got relief from condemnation. I’m just coasting [17:18] to the other side. That’s not faith in Jesus. Faith in Jesus looks at sin, finds it, sees it, and says, [17:28] I’ve got to kill it. I’ve got to kill it. Why? Why? Because when we look at the love of God, what we [17:37] find is that in 1 John it says that the cross of Jesus Christ defines love for us. That we know love [17:44] because of Jesus. God loved us first. God is love. He defines that. Doesn’t let you define it.

[17:53] He defines it. He says, you want to know what love looks like? Look at the cross.

[17:57] What happens on the cross? Penalty for sin paid. War against sin waged. Victory attained. [18:05] Strength. Romans 7 verse 6. We talked about this a few weeks ago. [18:11] You don’t follow the written coding longer. What do you follow? You follow the Spirit. [18:19] Where’s the Spirit going to lead you? The Spirit’s going to lead you to wage a war you could never [18:24] wage without the Spirit because without the Spirit you’re just in the bonds against sin. [18:28] With the Spirit, you’re killing it. You’re fighting against it. But that leads us to three things.

[18:36] The first thing this morning is, is that you are never going to stop needing grace. [18:43] You are never ever going to stop needing grace. You are never going to be so strong in this life [18:53] that you can do it on your own. You are never going to be so strong. You’re never going to be [19:01] so obedient. You’re never going to be so capable that God looks to your life and says, I think [19:09] you’ve got this. Here’s your graduation from your need of grace. But sometimes we act that way.

[19:21] Sometimes we may even put that off in our lives. Sometimes we actually practically do this. How [19:27] I know we sometimes believe this? Because we don’t engage the environments. We don’t engage [19:33] the tools. We don’t engage anything that actually reminds us of our incessant need for grace. [19:39] You see, when we disengage from saturating our lives from the Word of God, we’re actually making [19:44] a statement that I don’t really need grace right now. When we disengage from prayer, [19:51] we’re actually saying, I don’t really need grace right now. When we disengage from the corporate

[19:56] body of the church, I don’t need grace. When we disengage from environments like community groups, [20:02] from environments like personal discipleship groups, from environments where we’re saturating [20:06] our lives with just the Word and others in the Word, for the Word, disengage from the mission, [20:12] feeling this tension, feeling this push where we need to get the good news to other people. [20:17] We disengage from those things. We’re actually saying, I got all the grace I need.

[20:26] So the question there is, is what are you disengaging from right now in your life?

[20:32] You see, Paul makes a statement in verse 14. Then he’s the ring true in our lives. He says, [20:37] these two things. He says, the law is spiritual, but I am flesh, sold under sin. That’s a statement [20:43] on grace. You don’t realize that it is. See, in verse six of Romans chapter seven, [20:49] he makes a statement that when you come through the gospel, when you put your faith in Jesus [20:54] Christ, you now live under the work of the Holy Spirit. You depend on the Spirit. You need the [21:01] Spirit. You follow Jesus under the power of the Spirit. So he says, the law is spiritual. He’s

[21:08] saying, you can’t do it because you’re under the flesh. What? Sold under sin. Hopeless. [21:17] You will never be able to follow Jesus without grace. How do I know that? Because I woke up this [21:26] morning. So I know that. Because I’m in here. Are you in there for you? Are you in your brain? [21:36] I hope so. I’ve got counselors for you if you can’t figure that out.

[21:42] There’s a lot of problems in this. There’s sin. And I need the grace of God every day. Not so [21:52] that I can make excuses. Not so that I can just flippantly kind of say, well, I’m glad I have [21:59] grace because I’m a pretty wicked sinner. That’s not where he goes with the text.

[22:06] What he’s actually doing is he’s saying the only hope that you have of dealing is if you can tap [22:11] into the life of the Holy Spirit. Because everything that God’s going to do is going to [22:17] need the power of God to engage it. And yet some of you won’t take the personal responsibility to [22:23] depend on grace. You won’t take the personal responsibility to engage in repentance. You won’t [22:28] take the personal responsibility to actually engage in the struggle. And you’ll make excuses [22:33] that the problem is outside of you. The problem, friend, is in you. You are, I’ve said this many

[22:40] times, you are the biggest problem in your life. There’s real spiritual warfare that goes on. [22:49] Don’t hear me discounting that. There is. But what he’s talking about in Romans chapter seven [22:57] is not spiritual warfare that comes from the outside in. He’s talking about the type of warfare [23:02] that works its way inside out. He’s saying that the reason that you’re having the struggles that [23:09] you’re having, the reason that you can’t find the strength to obey, the reason that you can’t do [23:15] what God wants you to do, the reason that the word of God is lifeless to you, the reason that

[23:22] prayer is meaningless to you, the reason that worship is nothing for you, the reason that this [23:29] is just kind of like a hobby that you have to do to kind of feel better about your weak, [23:34] the reason is because you are of the flesh and you’re not engaging the life of the Spirit. [23:41] You’re the problem. You break God’s law. You sin against God. You must wield the gospel to fight [23:49] things that tempt you. No one else is the problem when it comes to the life of you following Jesus.

[24:03] But since you are the problem, okay, this is the liberating reality of the gospel of grace.

[24:12] Since you are the problem, and you’re like, why do you keep saying you? Sometimes they teach you [24:19] in classes and like public speaking, they’ll say, don’t say you a lot. Well with the gospel, [24:25] I have nothing else, so I’m going to have to offend you. Okay? Since you are the problem,

[24:37] you can’t be the solution.

[24:43] And some of you are striving to be the solution to all of your problems.

[24:51] And Paul talks about the struggle here is the reality that since you are of the flesh, sold [24:58] under the Spirit, you cannot before you come to faith in Jesus, be the solution to all of your [25:03] problems, and you will never after faith in Jesus in your life ever be the solution to your problems. [25:10] The answer is always going to be that the grace of God gives you the hope to fight sin with. [25:19] You will never get to the point in which you are strong enough to live under your own strength.

[25:26] Friend, your growth in following Jesus, your walk with him every day shouldn’t be determined [25:35] by how strong you think you are. Rather, it should be measured by how dependent you realize [25:43] you are on the grace of Christ. I’m not impressed by your list of do’s and don’ts and how good you [25:51] think you’ve been this week or last week by all of the things that you’ve been successful for in [25:55] the Christian life, by how much better you are than this person over there. I don’t want to hear [25:59] that. When I talk to someone who is older in the faith, wiser in the faith, they never bring me a

[26:04] resume. They bring me Jesus. They go on and on about how the only good thing about them is Jesus. [26:14] About how much sin he’s redeemed them from. But how good he is. About how much sweeter he gets [26:20] as life goes on. How much more of their sin that they’re learning. How much more repentance that [26:25] they need. They speak continually about the grace of God. Yet with many of us in this room, myself [26:33] included, sometimes we are tempted because of our fleshly nature, we are tempted to talk about our [26:40] relationship with Christ, about how much we are accomplishing. It’s a dangerous thing when you

[26:46] realize the depth of your own sin. Number two this morning, let’s understand that the struggle to obey [26:52] is real. The struggle to obey is real. Don’t pretend there’s no fight.

[27:07] Don’t pretend that you’ve got it all figured out. Don’t pretend that you’re coasting through life [27:15] obeying God, depending on grace, and just every moment is just so easy. Don’t pretend that there [27:22] is no sin. I mean imagine getting a letter from the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Paul says, [27:28] hey, you struggling with sin? I empathize. In some texts he says, I’m the chief of sinners.

[27:37] And yet what do we try to do? We try to hide our weaknesses. Emphasize our strengths. Life is a job [27:45] interview. Whatever. If you don’t believe the gospel, then go right ahead with that. But if you [27:53] believe the gospel, what the world needs is not you. The world needs to understand how much you [27:59] need Jesus. And so engage it with the terminology that actually will liberate you. [28:08] And the terminology of struggle will liberate you because it begins to engage our hearts and it [28:14] begins to engage our life with the reality that the struggle to obey God in your life is real.

[28:21] And if there is no struggle, then you are not following Jesus.

[28:28] So where are you struggling right now?

[28:33] Where do you need Jesus to work? Where do you need the Spirit to lead you where the gospel is [28:41] concerned? Because if you can’t even for a moment consider where struggle is and you begin to [28:47] think, I’ve got no struggles going on in my life right now. The question is not, man, that’s really [28:53] good. How did you get that way? The question is mercy. You’re not really following Jesus right now. [28:59] How can I tell you about grace? Struggle is real. There’s a fight, but there’s nothing. [29:10] The struggle, though, begins with walking by faith in Jesus. So is that defining your life?

[29:20] If you’ve not been born again by faith in Jesus, then you will simply struggle to do what you think [29:26] is good in this life and you will find yourself failing. No rules-based system will ever give [29:35] you the same hope that Jesus does. So don’t fall for the temptation to come up with some list [29:42] to measure how good you think you’re doing. That isn’t faith. That is religion that will only lead [29:49] to pride and disappointment, as because you’re sold under sin. Now, if you’re a believer in Jesus, [29:58] then growing and following Jesus in life always leads you in the direction of desiring Jesus more,

[30:06] of finding joy in Jesus. This is reality that Hebrews chapter 10 tells us, where the author of [30:12] Hebrews says that Jesus died once for all sacrificed for us, and then he ascended up into heaven, [30:17] and he sat down at the right hand of the Father, and he waits until his enemies become his footstool. [30:23] Discipleship is necessarily kind of this eschatological or view of the future, [30:29] to where you believe God’s going to deliver on his promises then, so you live in light of it now, [30:34] and you gear your life in that direction. See, that’s what faith does. Faith says,

[30:40] I believe God’s going to do this, so I’m going to live in that direction,

[30:46] and forsaking all else. Why? Because Jesus rose from the dead. That’s why. [30:55] So the question for the believer must be, is the life that you’re living [30:59] leading you towards the word where you find all of that?

[31:07] Some of us wish it wasn’t a book. We wish it was a movie.

[31:13] I think they tried that. I don’t know how it worked out. I really don’t. But it is.

[31:22] And so on Father’s Day, here’s what I want us to understand. Because the Father, the husband, [31:31] the man, and if you’re someone right now experiencing the struggle of being both parents,

[31:38] okay? You’re a single mother, and so you’ve got to kind of have two roles. What I want to ask you [31:44] to do is engage the community of the church for that, but also understand that I’m engaging you [31:52] right now in your home as well, because you’re going to have to do a work for this, okay? [31:58] You are the spiritual leader of your home. Scripture tells us that the husband, the father, [32:03] is a spiritual leader, okay? So what I understand is that you have a divine responsibility [32:09] to guide your family towards the type of faith that I was talking about, that God is taking

[32:14] history in a specific direction, and you need to get your family on that trajectory. Don’t believe [32:20] me? Well, the Word says it, so if that’s not enough for you, understand that when you reach [32:24] a man, a husband, a father, in faith in Jesus, he comes to faith, and then his family hears the [32:31] gospel afterwards, the overwhelming majority of the time is that his entire family comes to [32:36] faith in Jesus Christ. When you reach the wife or the mother first, and then afterwards you take [32:42] the gospel to the rest of the family, it’s not the majority of time that the rest of the family

[32:46] comes to faith. So the father will necessarily, fathers, I’m speaking to you, you’re setting the [32:51] spiritual temperature in your home, okay? So that’s a responsibility. So my question is, [32:58] how are you doing that? If you’re a believer, is every effort that you have to lead your family, [33:06] to disciple your family, to love your family, is it leading them to treasure God’s Word?

[33:13] Is it leading them to say, you want to know where my father or where my mother find the answers for [33:19] life? The Word of God that leads to the gospel of Jesus Christ, that’s where they’re finding it. [33:26] Or are all of the answers at work? Are all of the answers in the bank account? [33:31] Are all of the answers in the driveway or in the tool shed? Are all of the answers in the toy room?

[33:42] You see, for the believer, you must engage the Word. You must embrace what Paul talks about. [33:47] Read the words that Paul starts saying. He says, I don’t understand my own actions.

[33:58] I think only a believer can say something like that.

[34:05] Unbeliever is like, I get it. I want money. I want fame. I want power. I want success. I understand [34:16] it. That’s what I’m gauging for. That’s what I’m going after. But the believer in Jesus Christ [34:22] must work under an entirely different rubric, an entirely different standard, an entirely different [34:28] measure of what success actually looks like in your life. Are you trusting in Jesus? Are you [34:35] measuring your life by the same standards as those who don’t follow Jesus? Or are you engaging in a [34:43] fight against sin in your life? Look at the fight in Paul. He’s saying, I don’t do what I want,

[34:49] but I do the very thing I hate. Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it’s good. [34:58] So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin dwells in me. Do you have pain over the sin [35:05] that’s going on in your life? Are you just excusing it? And you may be sitting there saying, [35:12] I don’t have any heinous sin. Yes, you do. All of it is heinous.

[35:21] See, some of us have disengaged from the fight because we pharisaically believe that we’re [35:28] better than other people. We believe that the things that our culture minimizes as sin aren’t [35:36] that big of a deal. And because I’m not struggling over here with the things that the culture says [35:41] are terrible, I’m fine. That’s not what Paul’s talking about here. Paul is saying, when I see [35:51] any sin in my life, it causes me pain. In verse 18, he completes the thought. He says, [36:02] I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. See, that’s where grace will lead you.

[36:12] Grace always, at the end of the day, leads you to a place where you look at yourself and you say,

[36:18] I can’t do this. I’m going to fast forward to the end of Romans 7 and let you know [36:27] that’s good news. Because he says, thanks be to God in Christ Jesus, who always delivers us.

[36:37] You see, friend, you need to engage and warn. How do I know that these are Christians? Look [36:41] at 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Paul writes to the church at Corinthian. This is a very engaging [36:45] thing. He says that the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, [36:50] for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they’re [36:53] spiritually discerned. If you’re in here and you’re an unbeliever and you think I say things [36:57] that are crazy about the Bible and you’re like, I can’t believe you would tell me to fight

[37:01] the natural inclination of my life, that verse is why. That’s why. You’ve got to come to [37:09] faith in Jesus to understand some of this. But then in chapter 3, just a few verses later, [37:15] in chapter 3 verse 1, he says this to the church at Corinth. He says, for I, brothers, [37:20] could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.

[37:27] So we live in a culture that doesn’t want to be taught anything. You just want to show up on day [37:34] one and, man, you know just as much as they do. And so we struggle with authority. We struggle [37:41] with being taught anything. We don’t root out the sin of pride that’s in us. So we look at everybody [37:48] kind of skeptically, oh, you think you’re going to teach me something? So much so that we will [37:53] look at the Bible the same way. I mean, I’m telling you, this happens that we have so many [38:00] Bible scholars, and you may be a Bible scholar in here today, and then I’ll ask you the question,

[38:05] well, have you ever read the whole thing? Well, not really. That’s some scholarship right there, [38:09] friend. And so what happens in our lives is that because we won’t admit that we need to grow [38:21] in faith and we’re not at the finish line right now, because we have a world that wants us to [38:26] believe that being at the finish line is where the success is, being at the starting line means [38:30] that you’re a loser. We stay as an infant in Christ that can never grow in the faith. And [38:36] what Paul’s saying here is that if you stay in infancy for too long, you’ll starve, and your faith

[38:42] is not genuine. And so the rest of the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul makes a plea to them that [38:48] they grow in faith, and there were Christians among them who were infants in Christ, who were [38:53] not relying on the grace of Jesus Christ, were not growing in the faith of the gospel, and it was [38:58] because they just excused themselves from the reality of needing to grow in Christ. He has to [39:03] address them as infants. They need desperately to grow in their faith, or they will suffocate [39:08] and starve. And I plea with some of you that you desperately need to grow in your faith, and you’re

[39:14] doing nothing to engage it. Nothing. And therefore, that sin, that struggle inside of you, it goes [39:24] completely unchecked. It goes completely unnoticed. You just say, I’m going to deal with that later. [39:30] It’ll give me a little bit of relief right now. It’ll give me a little bit of satisfaction right [39:34] now, and you get deceived over and over and over and over again.

[39:41] Puritan pastor John Owen made the statement one time. He says, be killing sin, or sin will be [39:48] killing you. See, in some of you, sin is working as a silent assassin, and it is literally choking [39:55] your faith in Jesus Christ out. He goes on to say this in his book, Mortification of Sin. He [40:00] says, this is the choicest believers, or strongest of believers, who are assuredly freed from the [40:07] condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify, which [40:12] means to kill, the indwelling power of sin. Set faith at work on Christ for the killing of thy sin.

[40:19] His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin-sick souls. Live in this, and you will die a [40:28] conqueror. Yes, you will, through the providence of God. Now get this, live to see your lust dead at your feet.

[40:41] Are you fighting, friend, the sinful person inside of you by repenting of sin that’s being exposed? [40:50] Or are you allowing the inner lawyer in your life just defend every decision that you make, [40:55] excuse after excuse after excuse after excuse? How well are the excuses working? How long have you been making them?

[41:07] Are these excuses that you keep making, keeping you from growing your faith in Jesus Christ?

[41:14] You see, friends, finally this morning, understand that following Jesus requires grace-driven effort.

[41:21] Following Jesus requires grace-driven effort. This is going to be kind of a new category for some of [41:25] us. Because when we talk about grace and forgiveness, it’s like I want some of that. Then when we start [41:31] talking about effort and following Jesus, we get a little bit confused. The gospel is not opposed to effort. [41:40] The gospel is opposed to earning. Look at what the apostle Paul says to a young pastor by the [41:46] name of Timothy in 2nd Timothy 2.22. He says, flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, [41:53] faith, love, and peace along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

[42:00] The first thing he’s saying there is that the gospel empowers you to obey Jesus in two different [42:05] ways. The two different ways that he’s talking about are sins, what I would refer to as sins of [42:11] indulgences and then sins of passivity. Those are the struggles that all of us have. When he says [42:18] youthful lusts or youthful passions, understand that he’s not talking about 12-year-olds struggling. [42:26] He’s not talking about age chronologically there. What he’s talking about is what’s going on in your [42:31] spiritual life, that you need to progress past some of your sins of indulgences. So he is

[42:36] specifically in that sense on sins of indulgences, he’s talking about sexual immorality, [42:41] he’s talking about drunkenness, he’s talking about the issue of greed, he’s talking about gluttony, [42:48] he’s talking about materialism, he’s talking about covetousness on down the line. He’s talking [42:53] about all of them. All right, those things that you know you should not engage in as a follower of [42:59] Jesus Christ. Whatever you need to do to flee those sins, do it. See some of us we’re afraid, [43:13] we don’t want anybody to meddle in our lives, so don’t be a legalist and tell me I need to

[43:17] stop sinning. That’s not legalism, that’s the gospel.

[43:23] All right, some of you need to flee sin through faith in Jesus and fleeing sin through faith [43:29] in Jesus for some of the men in here will look like an internet filter. It will look like getting [43:34] rid of your computer, it will look like turning internet off in your house, it will look like if [43:41] your wife goes to bed before you, it will look like she sleeps with the computer under the pillow.

[43:50] For some of you, you need to stop drinking altogether.

[43:56] You are using alcohol as a medicine for you, it makes you feel better, it cools you down, [44:03] it makes you live it up. You’re an alcoholic, you’re dependent, if you want it all day, [44:06] if you need it every day, if you can’t spend a day without it, you need to stop drinking [44:10] altogether. I’m not a tea totaler, but I know that drunkenness is a sin and so is alcoholism.

[44:21] Some of you need to engage in generosity because you’re so greedy.

[44:27] Some of you need to stop being an alcoholic. Just on down the line, [44:37] you need to begin to actually battle your sin, whatever the cost. Some of you need to [44:43] take a pay cut instead of a pay raise. Not too much for ever, but in the first century church,

[44:55] part of their church membership in the apostolic doctrines, which is a document from the first [44:59] century that summarizes church doctrine, is that there were people actually working as gladiators [45:05] right in Rome, you’ve seen the movie, and they wanted to come to faith in Christ. [45:12] And they said, understand that coming to faith in Christ means you quit your job.

[45:21] Let that fall wherever it wants to. And up to here, most of you are with me. [45:26] All right, you’re like, yeah, sin, terrible, let’s get rid of it. Now I want to talk about [45:28] sins of passivity because I think that’s where you actually are, most of you. [45:32] Most of your problems are you’re passive towards actually sacrificing anything to live for Jesus. [45:38] He doesn’t say flee, and then he stops. He then says pursue something, pursue righteousness, [45:42] faith, love, and peace. Grace-driven efforts means that you are secure and trusting Jesus,

[45:47] just as John Owen said. Your security, though, has led you to make war on anything hindering [45:54] you from obeying Jesus in living his mission. D.A. Carson says that grace-driven effort means [46:00] you will never drift towards holiness. It requires effort. You fight to be in the word. [46:07] You fight for prayer. You fight for boldness in telling people about Jesus Christ. You fight [46:13] to sacrifice to build the church of Jesus Christ. You fight to forgive people who offend you. You [46:18] fight to love on people who you really don’t like that much. You hate sin. You take the fight to love

[46:28] seriously. You take the fight to obey seriously, and you realize that you cannot follow Jesus [46:34] sitting in a lounge chair. How many of us are attempting that? James 4 17 is serious when it [46:41] says, whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it for him, it is a sin. [46:47] And so what you might be saying is, oh, but I worked so hard last week. I just want to sit and [46:53] not do anything. You can do that. You can do that. And then 20 years, you will not have [47:05] grown in your faith in Jesus, and quite frankly, in 20 years, you may find that you’re just not

[47:09] following Jesus at all. Followers of Jesus engage in fighting their sin. Following Jesus is a life [47:16] of growing in your desire for Jesus. Friends, I just have a few questions for you.

[47:30] Do you want Jesus more than you did last year?

[47:37] Do you want him more? Because this is someone, if you read the text, this is someone who wants [47:44] Jesus, he desires him. He yells out in verse 19, he says, the evil I do not want is what I keep [47:55] on doing. For some of us, the evil that you do want is what you keep doing.

[48:04] Are you coasting through life or are you fighting? Followers of Jesus are engaged in a war.

[48:14] Are you toying with sin in your life or are you looking at it like Paul and despising it [48:22] the way that he does in verse 20?

[48:27] Friends, Jesus wants you to grow in him. He wants you to see where you really are and admit [48:34] that you are either not a Christian or you need to start fighting.

[48:39] Followers of Jesus are engaged in a war. The question is, what are you fighting for? [48:46] Because everybody is fighting for something in life. We all are. The question is, is Jesus involved [48:52] in what you are fighting for? As the ban comes up,

[49:04] communion is something that we do every week here at Village Church.

[49:10] Communion is this interesting declaration as a follower of Jesus [49:16] that we are living a life in which we believe that sin is so costly that God the Son actually had [49:23] to come and die for it. He had to bleed real blood. He had to endure real physical suffering, [49:30] real mental anguish, and then spiritually the penalty for all sin of all time under the wrath [49:36] of Almighty God fell on him. That is how serious sin is. When we come and when we eat and drink [49:45] and commune, what we are doing is we are actually saying, Jesus, I see that you suffered from a

[49:51] broken body. I see that you suffered and you shed your blood. I believe that you died from my sin. [49:57] As we go away, what we are saying is, I know what I really need. There is nothing else in life that [50:04] I really need. I need Jesus. So communion is a follower of Jesus testifying to his radical need.

[50:17] You say the only thing that will fill that need is following Jesus.

[50:25] And so when you eat and you drink, what you are actually testifying to everybody in this room,

[50:30] you just think Jesus is what I am chasing. Jesus is what is filling me.

[50:39] And for some of you in this room, you need to think really hard

[50:44] as to whether that is true or not.

[50:51] And do not walk out of here condemned, but instead in your seat. [50:55] Whatever it is that you are struggling with, whatever it is that is keeping you from pursuing [50:59] Jesus, whether you are an unbeliever or whether you are a believer in your seat right now, [51:04] you need to begin the process. Confess your sin. Jesus will forgive you. And then walk up [51:10] as a statement of repentance, saying, I am going to pursue Jesus now. When you are ready, come.