Sermon : sic L22 Christian living #9 Page 1 Studies in Christianity Christian Living #9 The War Within Text : Psalm 51: 1-17 ; I John 1: 5-10 S#3. A. We have been studying some practical lessons about living the Christian life. 1. We started observing that a life in Christ must bear fruit for Christ. 2. Bearing fruit for God is a lifestyle not an act to be completed. 3. The fruit we bear must be observable by others and of good report. 4. We identified some specific good works that Christians must do. 5. Satan will do his best to distract Christians, Ten Terrible Consequences of Sin 6. Our goal is to walk with God, but in order to do that, we must know God. 7. We observed that we can only come to know God by reading what HE revealed. 8. Many misunderstand because they don t know what bible is for reveal God & plan B. This week we want to consider why we are not always what we want to be. S#4. 1. We start with an unrealistic self-image. 2. We proceed with an unrealistic self-confidence. 3. We live with an unrealistic view of our potential. I. Most of us embark on our Christian walk with an unrealistic self-image.. S#5. A. Think back to the day before you became a Christian? 1. How did you feel about yourself? a. I was an average Joe or Jane? b. I was basically a good person I was not promiscuous, I didn t steal, I didn t 2. Did you carry a heavy load of guilt? You should have. 3. Were you in fear for your eternal soul? You should have been. * 4. Did you feel significantly different AFTER you were baptized into Christ? B. This lack of a repentant heart is a major problem among Christians today. S#6. 1. Most, or at least, many believed themselves to be a good person before baptism. 2. It is natural for people to think this about themselves. a. Prov. 21: 2 Every man's way is right in his own eyes, S#7. But the Lord weighs the hearts. S#1. S#2.
Sermon : sic L22 Christian living #9 Page 2 b. Jer. 17: 9 The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? 10 I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds. 3. We can fool those around us and even fool ourselves, but we can t fool God. * Remember Dennis Rader the BTK killer. ( Bind, Torture, Kill ) S#8. a. Terrorized Wichita, Kansas between 1971 and 1991 and taunted police b. Worked a number of jobs while killing, but was never a suspect until 2005. c. He was elected president of the church council at the local Lutheran church. d. He was even a Cub Scout leader. S#9. C. If God had been able to view any as righteous, He would not have sent Jesus. 1. In God s eyes the very best we can be is a defiled rag. Isa. 64: 6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; 2. While outside Christ it is easy for one filthy rage to impress another. a. Some are very filthy and would have been considered bad by their peers. I Cor. 6: 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the S#10. kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. b. Some are just average folks. Eph. 2: 1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you S#11. formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. D. Before Ch. you were condemned as an enemy of God and an object of His wrath. 1. Rom. 5: 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we S#12. were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Sermon : sic L22 Christian living #9 Page 3 S#13. 2. When you came to Christ the world may have viewed you as a good ole boy, but God viewed you as an enemy, as an object of wrath, and awaiting a death sentence. II. When becoming a Christian we place unrealistic confidence in ourselves.. S#14. A. When one becomes a Christian he/she vows within himself to live to please God. 1. We expect that it will be easier than it turns out to be. ( quit smoking or lose weight ) 2. The devil works harder to reclaim what he lost than he did to keep it a. He makes accusation against us before God. Rev. 12: 10 Then I heard a loud voice in Heaven, saying Now the salvation, S#15. and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. b. The forces of Satan conduct spiritual warfare against the souls of Christians. Eph. 6: 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the S#16. rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. B. Some erroneously believe God will remove the desire to sin. 1. These folks are devastated by the fact that they are still tempted. Maybe I m not really saved. 2. Matt. 4 Even Jesus was tempted. Heb. 4: 15 yet without sin 3. The Christian lives with a constant internal struggle, a spiritual battle. S#17. Gal. 5: 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. S#18. C. Therein lies the problem we receive a new life, but it is still in the old body. 1. That old body still functions exactly as it did the day before. 2. It has the same needs water, food, air, etc. 3. It has the same wants ( desires, lusts ) economic success, sexual satisfaction, D. The desires of the body provide an infinite number of ways to sin. 1. We fall short of what God expects of us. a. Gen. 1: 27 God created man in his own image holy, sinless b. Jesus quotes God s expectation for His creation : S#19. Matt. 5: 48 - You are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is Perfect. ( Heb. 4:15 )
Sermon : sic L22 Christian living #9 Page 4 c. Everyone lets their creator down. Rom. 3: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 2. Everyone sins sin by violating God s law. a. I John 3:4 Everyone who practices sin, also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5: 17 All unrighteousness is sin... b. Some don t even bother to learn God s will so they violate it regularly. 3. Some disregard God s laws by disregarding the government s rule. S#20. a. Rom. 13: 1-2 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. b. There are very few times when the two laws conflict, but God s law is sovereign. 4. People sin by violating their own law. a. Every person has a law, a code of conduct for himself conscience integrity b. One s conscience is a binding code UNLESS it contradicts a higher law. c. Rom. 14: 14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is S#21. unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Vs. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin. * Never I thought it was a sin, but it s not so I m okay. It WAS a sin. 5. People sin by desiring to do evil. a. Sin is a condition of the heart. Thus, to desire to do evil is sin. 1) I John 3: 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and we S#22. know that know murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 2) Matt. 5: 27-28 You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery ; 28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. b. God judges the hearts of men. 1) I Sam. 16: 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance S#23. or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. 2) Compare Psa. 139, I Chron. 31:21, Heb. 4: 12, Matt. 15: 7-8
Sermon : sic L22 Christian living #9 Page 5 6. People sin when they do not do the good that they know they should do. a. James 4: 17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do S#24. and does not do it, to him it is sin. b. Matt. 7: 21 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. c. Christians exist to actively serve God. Not to serve is to sin. Eph. 2: 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus S#25. For good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. ( withhold service = steal from God ) III. Christians too often have an unrealistic view of our potential.. S#26. A. Our next lesson will much more fully exegete this concept. B. God did not send His Son to die in vain. S#27 1. Jesus died to save those He knew to be sinners. Rom. 5: 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we S#28. were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 2. He died for us because we were objects of God s wrath we were lost w/ no hope. C. Jesus died for sinners so that some would seek a relationship with God. 1. He died for us even though He knew what we are and how prone we are to sin. 2. He died for us knowing that few would surrender to Him. 3. He died so those who would receive His lordship could become something different. Eph 4: 22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the S#29. old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. a. God requires change, but leaves the laying aside and the putting on to man. b. The change starts in the mind, the heart, and results in a different lifestyle. S#30. c. The change is to become more like God so we can walk with God.. ARE YOU? S#31. Communion slide
Sermon : sic L22 Christian living #9 Page 6 Lesson Text : Psalms #51: 1-17 1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. 4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. 6 Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. 7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice. 9 Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise. 16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. I John 1: 5-10 5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.