Great Themes of the Kingdom: Temptation & Sin, 2/14/16

Sermon 2-14-16 temptation and sin              Gal 5:13-18

¹³ You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh^[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. ¹⁴ For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”^[b] 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever^[c] you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Series- kingdom themes – sin and temptation

imagine a discussion of sin that was hopeful, not hateful……

We know about sin….. we get it.  Catholics in northern England have a mobile confessional.

Sin – why we don’t talk about it

          Specifics vs selfishness – tax evasion/gluttony/gossip

Living in character of Jesus holds us together – in him are all things held together

 ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Col 1:17

Sin fragments a life

It is unnatural

We know that intrinsically eccl 3 – he has set eternity in their hearts

Sociopaths

Nature of the gospel

·         I talk to people all the time whose minds are so worried about sin
Honestly, it hurt to listen to it all. 

·         Here is another fine person who has been raised on the gospel of how bad everyone is. 

·         Many American churches have fed this to our people for so long that it is hard to overcome. 

·        It is hard to help people that are infected with this to see the truth.

How do you want to raise your children… filled with fear and worry or filled with love

·        
On this I will stand to my dying day- A gospel based on sin is not good news. 

·         The gospel of Jesus Christ does not begin with sin, it begins with love.  God so loved the world that he gave. 

·        Of course we are sinners, but we do a disservice to our Father and to ourselves when we spend our lives focusing on how bad of sinners we are instead of the amazing mercy and love of God.

In fact, when we spend too much time talking about our sin, the focus is on us.  It's about us.  When we talk about God's love, the focus is on Him and he gets the glory.  The gospel of Jesus Christ begins with love not sin.  We need to Get that.

your image of God will say everything about how you live your life

if you think god is angry and judgemental- you will live in fear and distress

if you think that god is loving and merciful, then you can live with joy

          pay your money, take your choice

          if you hang your hat on the angry god scriptures you can have an angry god

          but there are so many scriptures on love

jesus talked about the abundant life

jn 10:10 ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. [have it more abundantly]

punishment - Sometimes people say, O, God is punishing me for my sins
If we got what we deserve, none of us would be here.
Do you think you can bear the burden of your sin?

E Stanley jones says

God doesn’t punish us for sin, sin is its own punishment

sin the great deciever

is a great deceiver. It always promises what it cannot deliver. The end result is pain.

list of Temptations of us

What are our primary temptations? My list

To covet.  To want more.  

Pride - To want it to go our way. Don’t challenge me.  I want to be in charge. To demean others, to brag, my dog is bigger than your dog

Sloth - To want the easy way - To quit, to give up, to wallow, to worry, to cheat

Revenge-To act w retribution.  Eye for an eye.To hurt back

It seems that it all boils down to what we want

I am the center of it

There is a sin that I think of every time I come back from a mission trip.  It is the sin of forgetting.

We go, and we see, and we think, how can it be like this?  We have so much, they have so little.  It is very easy for us to fall back into our comfortable life, and forget the people that God has called us to love.

is God trying to make our lives difficult?
Why is God against this stuff?

"it's not that God doesn't want you to have fun, God is against sin because it is bad for you.".

Why is God against this stuff?

1. god wants to save us from the pain

it is bad for us -
succumbing to temptation leads to brokenness and guilt

you were convinced that it would be ok, but now you see it hurts

the farmer who picks up the snake – you knew what I was when you picked me up

A few words about Judging others -
judging others Only the holy spirit convicts of sin

It is not our job to condemn others

It is gods job to talk w them about their lives

And he does it with the most gracious and loving ways

The job of the church is to catch them first, then clean them

·         Someone suggested in a facebook post the other day that the purpose of the church is to point out sin or call out sin.

·         While I do believe in sin and I have personal experience with it, this is not the job of the church or the job of the Christian.  

·         That is God's job and God's alone.  

·         When we point the finger at others, all we do is come across as hateful.  There is nothing Christian about that.  

·         We end up driving away the very people that we would have hoped to have won.

·         Over and over Jesus dealt with sinners with grace and compassion.  

·         The only people he crushed were those who were crushing others, the Pharisees.  ,

·         too many modern Christians sound more like the Pharisees and not enough like Jesus.

  

When we think of sin, we think of repentance – turn from turn towards

Repentance means to turn around.  To stop one action or behavior and turn to another. 

We tend to think of repentance as turning from sin.  But, what do we turn towards? 
I repent.  I want to stop the bad behavior, but I also want to move towards the great lover of my soul.

jesus in my heart or me in jesus heart

our mission statement – connecting jesus to me? no its connecting people to Jesus

master blaster……

we have left every thing to follow you…

Mt 19:27

²⁷ Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”

so lets end this painful sermon

First, lets admit that everyone has a dark side. All have sinned

Second, regardless of what you have done, no one is beyond hope. That is the great hope of the Christian message. No amount or depth of sin in your past can trump the grace of God.

If you question that remember Saul of Tarsus.

Third, even though your past is soiled, anyone can find a new beginning with God. It is never too late

whatever you are facing, God will make a way for you to get out of it
You do not have to succumb habitually

fight temptations-
1Put your mind somewhere else
2Make good choices-

-avoid compromising situations
-Don’t put yourself in positions of temptation

3stay connected to Christian friends
find new friends

4pray read scriptures [find words of hope]
Jesus is tempted in the wilderness Mt 4 - how did he counter? by the word

5Call upon the name of the Lord for strength
take it to Jesus
lord give me strength

We have a resolution for our sin, Jesus Christ the righteous

1 john 2:1-2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

So We have hope in Christ
and so we turn to him. We throw ourselves upon him.  We trust in him

one day, one step at at time

– lets pray.

Pursuit of God - Restoring the Creator - Chapter 8, Psalm 57:1-5 08/11/2013

AW Tozer – the pursuit of God, chapter 8-  Restoring the Creator-creature Relationship

Psalm 57:1-5

Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me,for in you I take refuge.^(C)I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings^(D)until the disaster has passed.^(E)2 I cry out to God Most High,to God, who vindicates me.^(F)3 He sends from heaven and saves me,^(G)rebuking those who hotly pursue me—^[c](H)God sends forth his love and his faithfulness.^(I)4 I am in the midst of lions;^(J)I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts—men whose teeth are spears andarrows,whose tongues are sharp swords.^(K)5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;let your glory be over all the earth.^(L)

The psalmist is shouting out…… God  I need you.  And you are the top dog, the most high.

order in nature depends upon right relationships;

to achieve harmony each thing must be in its proper position relative to each other thing.

·        The male cardinal is red, the female is brown.

·        Momma birds do kick their babies out after a while

In human life it is the same

·        Parents love your children.

·        children, honor your father and mother.

·        Work for your employer as unto the lord

The correct natural relationship between us and God

Master vs servant

Dominant vs submissive

Father/child

Creator/created

No question who is dominant, but there is also great love

Because of selfishness and sin, we have made it about us ,

It not that god is against your life, he just know that you were made to love him

Lots of songs about the connectedness of love

And until we do, we will not find happiness

Many frightened people ontheir death bed, believed in god but did not love him

salvation is not that we are saved from sin and left in some unhappy vacuum

we are saved to God

loved by him, welcomed by him

the relationship is restored

example of the prodigal son and the restoration that came with the reestablishment of the father-son relation.

It was always there, waiting, the son had to choose to go home

Tozer talks about leaning away from the things of this world

Falls for a bit into the dualism that he earlier scorns

Good and bad.  Sacred and secular.

88 he says come out of the world

In the world but not of it

All I know is I'm not home yet - This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus  -This is not where I belong

vs – this is my fathers world

When god is exalted to his rightful place, the Christian life ceases to be the complicated thing it had been before and becomes the very essence of simplicity.

A we think about the creator-created relationship

We are not talking about a change of behavior

But a change of attitude.  A change of heart

Sitting here is a good start but god is after your heart

 You can tell a child to do certain things.  Or an employee. 

·        Manage your budget. 

·        Clean your room. 

·        Don’t open two cartons of milk at the same time.

They might even do it

But what you hope for is that they do it from the heart

That they get it in their hearts

In a world of relativity and selfishness, god is a fixed point

We can stop thinking of him, but he does not stop being our creator

As the sailor locates his position on the sea by "shooting" the sun, so we may get our moral bearings by looking at God.

Not just moral bearings but the ground of our being

We want to change god to our liking.

We want to shape him

We get mad at god when he doesn’t do it the way that we want him to do it.

Yet he is unchangeable

In the face of evil and suffering, job questions god. 

God does not answer job but offers his own questions

Some of the most rapturous moments we know will be those we spend in reverent admiration of the Godhead.

And so we begin with god.  Above all, before all, in and thru all.

He is with us, our loving creator….

"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for[Pg 102] thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."

God was our original habitat and our hearts cannot but feel at home when they enter again that ancient and beautiful abode.

My life 16 homes.

Home- do you have a childhood home?  A home town?  Of course

Bruce springsteen- my hometown

There is something about that place….

gods loving arms envelop us in joy and completeness

wanting to spend time with your parents………my dad at 72

love involves adoration.  Alli and bobby.  Bobby on the deck

Who’s number one? And there is this painful test…..

Let the average man be put to the proof on the question of who is check your check book. What are we spending on?

“Let a person be forced into making a choice between God and money, between God and people, between God and personal ambition, God and self, God and human love, and God will take second place every time. Those other things will be exalted above. However the person may protest, the proof is in the choices he or she makes day after day throughout their life.”

But God honors intention.  effort.  Sincereity.

When broken people try to honor god, god gives them grace.

What can be said of Abraham, Jacob, David, Elijah God accepted his intention as fact and acted accordingly.

Not perfection, but holy intention made the difference.

·        Are you going on to perfection

·        Do you expect to be made perfect in this life?

Being made perfect in love

Perfect intention         - harry crowell

God desires you

Desiring god.  Desiring your beautiful wife.  It is a type of our relationship with god

conclusion

When we love god, we become a theater where He can display His exceeding kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Joshua 24 – As for me and my house…

¹⁴ “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵ But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

A pastor was asked about his retirement…….

Those whose hearts are turned towards God, whose lives have him in his rightful place are always looking for someone to love, for someone to care about.  Always about our fathers business.

We are the creation.  He is the creator.  Let us love him.  With our heart soul mind and strength.  That is after all, the greatest commandment.

Lets Pray-

Father, Rise up into Your proper place of honor, above our ambitions, above our likes and dislikes, above our families, our health and even our lives.  Let us decrease so that You may increase; let us sink that You may rise above.  Let us join the angels in Heaven crying to You "Hosanna in the Highest." Amen

Thankful for forgiveness of Sin Matthew 9:1-8 11-8-09

Star Date: Thankful for Forgiveness of Sin Matthew 9:1-8 11-8-09

1 Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.

3At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!" 4Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 6But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority n earth to forgive sins..." then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." 7and the man got up and went home. 8When the crown say this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.

Veterans please stand

Intro
November is a time to be thankful
series - start date 33
the ministry for forgiveness - a very simple thing that I think we don't think about as we should or as ofter as we should

what is happening in This story?
the religious crowd is keeping people in bondage
Jesus is setting them free

this story is about friends bringing a friend....
why are his sins forgiven?11
What does this do to your theology?

this story is about a man on the fringe of society.
Broken. Paralyzed. Rejected. Discouraged
What is Jesus expecting?
I am bad, I am unworthy, I am pitiful

Common thinking was that he may have been paralyzed because he had sinned.
Some people believe that God punishes them - John 9:1-3

1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3"Neither this man or his parents sinned, " said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed n his life."

Sandlot theology - populist
Some people think that good people have god things happened to them, and bad people have bad things happen to them, good luck at that.

The rain falls on the just and the unjust. [Matthew 5] You can't expect good results because you have been good. And bad things in our life does not mean that you are bad. It is complicated, and we have to learn to trust God, no circumstances

Anyway, Jesus says....
"Take heart, Son; your sins are forgiven."
Yet he says, take joy.
Joy in what
Your sins are forgiven

To those on the margins, to the broken, to the paralyzed of life
Your sins are forgiven
This is not just a pie in the sky thing.
This is a here and now thing.

Some Christians say, I can't wait until I get to heaven because I have felt guilty my entire life for 60 years worth of sermons that told me I was a sinner.

Today I am thankful for this...our sins are forgiven

How can this be good new for us today?
Big and little sins
They don't seem the same to us.
If it is our sin, they seem huge
God can forgive everyone but me

middle
what is we got what we deserved...What it you were being punished - What if you were not forgiven

Ever have a friend that would not forgive you? Even after a divorce or separation, there remains a judgement.

If I do not forgive Dan I do not release him to live
He can hate me
He can self differentiate
He can so everything he can to more on

Bu the fact remains,
Every time I see him and he sees me, he is drug back into the pain of the brokenness
Only when I release him, is he free to live.

If I do not forgive someone else, can I ever understand the forgiveness of God?

Let's look at this another way
What would be the worst thing that your pastor could say on Sunday morning.
I don't believe in the resurrection. The resurrection is a myth.
What is that bad?
It is the core of the Christian faith
If Christ is not raised, we are still in our sins.

1Corinthians 15:17
17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

Why do we act like we are still in our sins
The message we give to others is that Christ is not raised.
Our witness of the faith is that the resurrection is a myth

And this is what Jesus is saying

You don't have to worry about the bad things that you did when you were in college. The bad things you did when you were in a mid life crisis...

We can live with a heart that is clear and clean.

But what I did was so bad and it was just a month ago
So here is the new formula, Jesus died on the cross for everyone's sins
that are at least a month old and medium size or smaller

Either his blood cover our sin or it does not.
These are his words...your sins are forgiven
See, this is good news

This relationship with God, the story of redemption begins with love, not sin
Remember your faith story
What do you remember
I am a bad person - I am a big sinner
No
God loves me - Jesus died for me.
I am forgiven

conclusion
we must make a choice about our lies
will our lives be sin centered or Christ cantered
everything is bad or everything is good
guilt centered r grace centered

to the life o bondage , to the life o being paralyzed by sin, to the life of---a life of joy and celebration
And so I am thankful that my sins are forgiven

So we have good news
Take joy, your sins are forgiven

Dale, take heart, you sins are forgiven. Ann take heart. Bill take heart. Janet take heart. Matt take heart, your sins are forgiven.

Behold The Lamb of God John 1:19-29 7-13-97

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John 1:19-29

Sin is like a dirty diaper: when it comes into the room, no one wants to recognize it. Maybe it will go away. I don't want to have to be the one who is going to have to deal with this thing. It is not a good thing, and unless a change is made, it is only going to get worse.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

These verses remind us that people can get disconnected and lost in this world. They can be out of touch, living as if this life was only about their issues, oblivious to the work and call of God, and that they need help. These verses have been used by well-meaning Christians to "guilt" the lives of people. If you want to feel guilty, there are plenty of things for you to feel guilty about. But is this God's intent? Is He a cosmic kill-joy?

When we accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven. Ps. 103:12 -- As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. It's just as if we had never sinned.

If we are unsure of our standing with Christ, it is easy to feel guilty for every little thing. But when we know who we belong to, a relationship exists and we are free to live life. I talked to one friend this past week who is sure of his faith; life is too short to sweat the little things.

Friends, there is a pecking order in this world: Jesus Christ, then me. John the Baptist knew this. Whenever we think that someone else should tie our shoes, we are out of touch. We cannot, by our own authority, forgive sin. Time does not forgive sin. Acceptance and forgiveness by others does not forgive sin. Attending church does not forgive sin. Only God, through the ministry of Jesus Christ, forgives sin.

I encourage you today to think and remember that our goodness in this life is not based on your own righteousness. But hear the good news -- behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. I invite you to throw yourself on the mercies of God and accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and find the joy of the forgiveness of sins. You can't get it anywhere else; it is available only in the Kingdom of God.

Finding a Clean Heart John 1:5-10 6-26-05

Sermon 6-26-05 finding a clean heart

5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin.
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.1 john 1 5-10

We are all in this
Here is a creative fund-raising technique used by "Fighting Bob" Shuler, an early radio preacher in 1926. …."I know a man listening in," Shuler told listeners. "If he does not give a hundred dollars, I will go on the air next Tuesday night and tell what I know about him." ……A lot of money was raised for the church before Tuesday night. Indeed, it was one of the biggest nights in the history of the broadcast. How many of us would have been tempted to send money in?

Paradox in this passage
. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

We want to avoid willful deliberate sin
We need to admit that in spite of our best efforts,, sin will still be with us
we are called to press on to a life of perfect intent,

cars
1. Even when you think a car is clean, there is something about them that intrinsically get dirty

2. Cars get a nice collection of dirt from time to time and you have to wash them
This is when people write on them….wash me

3. Then there are the cataclysmic moments where you drive your car thru the mud, eggs, or tar., and there is something that cannot be ignored. It consumes all of your consideration for the car…it is the first thing on your list until it gets taken care of

Now have talked with you about the dirt that gets on cars, I want to talk to you about the dirt that can get into our souls

Sin
1. Just as cars are going to by nature get dirty, so people, by nature have a bent towards sin.
Without ever doing anything overtly wrong, we have a propensity, a likelihood to be selfish. It is a part of our nature [original sin]

2. There are common sins….I need to be a better father,

3. I want to spend the rest of our time today talking about the third kind of sin
A besetting sin, it is on your mind. Every week, everyday it has a hold of you
You are here, god wants to cleans this from your life
16These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. Prov 6

An unforgiveness. An anger, we cheated someone, we taken that which did not belong to us. An addiction
Spiritual pride
Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"

There is a good thing about sin
Opens the door for dependence upon God -----Grace
You can come to understand you need for Jesus

But if we take an honest look at our sin------It calls us back to God

Remedies for sin
Remedy for original sin…….one prayer, one time

Remedy for ongoing sins……..prayer, decisions, commitment

Remedy for besetting sins…..warfare. grow tired to being controlled by something, tired of making destructive choices…..

You can become bitter
You can stop going to church
You can pretend it isn’t there

go t the priest….

I don’t have time to hear your confessions…..you must take them to Jesus
I am busy with my own.

go to Jesus….cathartic moment when you call on the name of the lord

14Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
15For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
16Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Heb 4:14-16

There may still be consequences
You may still have to work on forgiving yourself
An old woman in the village was said to be receiving divine apparitions. The local priest demanded proof of their authenticity. "When God next appears to you," he said, "ask Him to tell you my sins, which are known to Him alone. That should be evidence enough."
The woman returned a month later and the priest asked if God had appeared to her again. She said He had. "Did you put the question to Him?" "I did," she said. "And what did He say?" "He said, 'Tell your priest I have forgotten his sins.'"
Only the holy spirit convicts of sin
How do you know if this is something for you? Don’t listen to the preacher…don’t let anyone put the guilt on you. If this isn’t for you today, then fine, go on, God will find you in his time.

But look inside, and if the holy spirit is shining the light on your soul, if he is calling your name then maybe it is time to put this behind you.

If it is keeping you from God, then let today be the day that you begin the process to let it go

Cleansing
This is really hard to talk about, except that there is good news.
Verse 9..If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us from our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness
It seems incredible, but I declare to you that it is true.

Closing prayer time
Today we are going to close with a time of silent prayer. Use this time to confess your sins to the lord and hear his word of forgiveness…..

If you want to come up here and pray, then do so…..If you want to pray in your seats then that is fine too….If God is calling you today, then do not leave this place without leaving your sin at his feet.
Let us be in an attitude of prayer