-
Ok, well, last week I had hoped
-
that we would deal with
the unpardonable sin,
-
and then with sexual sin.
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And we didn't get to the
second part last week.
-
And so, that's what I want
to deal with tonight.
-
And I think I want to
call it something like:
-
The Holy Spirit is your best Friend
-
in fighting against sexual temptation.
-
Something like that.
-
The Holy Spirit is your best Friend
-
when it comes to fighting
sexual immorality.
-
So, I thought the first
thing that I wanted to do
-
is develop what I want
to call a theology
-
of sexual sin.
-
Call it the doctrine of sexual sin.
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Here's a starting point.
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Nobody in this room;
nobody in this world
-
is stronger than sin.
-
None of us are.
-
And by the title,
-
the Holy Spirit is our best Friend
-
when it comes to sexual sin.
-
Nobody is strong enough
-
to overcome sexual temptation
-
on their own.
-
Nobody is strong enough
-
to overcome sexual immorality
-
on their own.
-
Period.
-
It's an impossibility.
-
It is stronger than us.
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Lay it down.
-
It is stronger.
-
When you think about the lost man,
-
total inability -
-
absolutely total inability to do this.
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And I'm including here "lost Christians."
-
You say what's that?
-
That's a paradox.
-
I'm talking about there's a reason why
-
certain people in the
church never get victory.
-
That's what I'm talking about.
-
And lost people cannot get victory.
-
Now, listen. Think with me here.
-
Oftentimes in Scripture,
-
Scripture doesn't deal necessarily
-
with sins particularly;
-
sins specifically,
-
like certain types of sexual sin.
-
There's places it does,
-
but oftentimes what we get in Scripture
-
is we get sin personified.
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Where am I going with all this?
-
I'm going here with it.
-
Paul talks about sin - singular
-
as a force, as a power.
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Remember how God spoke to Cain
-
way back in Genesis 4?
-
What did He say?
-
Anybody remember what He said
-
to Cain before Cain killed his brother?
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Sin is crouching at the door.
-
What is that?
-
See what He did? He personified sin.
-
He made into something living.
-
It's crouching at the door.
-
Almost as though it's separate.
-
It's like over there at the door.
-
It's crouching.
-
That's like an animal ready to pounce.
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Who else speaks that way about sin?
-
Personifies it like that?
-
How about Paul?
-
How about Paul in Romans?
-
Think about what Paul says in Romans.
-
He says sin - concerning Christians -
-
he says sin singular
-
is not going to have dominion over you
-
as a Christian.
-
He talks about sin singular
-
seeking to reign in our mortal bodies.
-
You are not to let sin reign.
-
Not sins, as in these particular things.
-
You are not to let sin as a force,
-
as a dominating power in your life
-
rule over you.
-
Here's the thing with lost people.
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Lost people are dominated by sin.
-
Sin dominates them.
-
Who is not dominated by sin?
-
Those who are under grace, not under law.
-
Who are people who are under law?
-
What is that another expression for?
-
What people in the world
are under the law?
-
Lost people.
-
If you're under grace,
-
sin will not have dominion over you.
-
If you're under law, sin will what?
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Have dominion over you.
-
Exactly.
-
Sin will reign in your mortal body.
-
Sin does dominate.
-
How about where we've
been looking in Ephesians 2?
-
A lost man is dead in trespasses and sins.
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Now, there it is in the plural.
-
But my point is this:
-
The lost man is dominated
by sin personified.
-
This dark lord, this dark power
-
of sin reigns - that's
the position of a king.
-
Sin takes up the seat in the lost man
-
and it sits on the throne.
-
A lot of people have this idea,
-
you know, they talk about
"we" sitting on the throne,
-
or Christ sitting on the throne.
-
Don't ever believe that.
-
Sin is what sits on the
throne of the lost man.
-
Sin does.
-
And man is a slave.
-
And that's exactly how
Scripture makes him out.
-
Dead in sin.
-
He is a slave to sin.
-
He is dominated by sin.
-
Sin does reign in his mortal body.
-
Now, here's the thing.
-
You know as well as I do
-
that not every person in the world
-
is dominated by sexual immorality evenly
-
or the same as everybody else.
-
You know that's true.
-
Not every husband who's lost
-
has committed adultery on his wife.
-
Not everybody in the
world is a homosexual.
-
Not everybody has committed
fornication in their life -
-
the actual act of it.
-
Sin as a dominating force,
-
it manifests itself different ways
-
in different people.
-
Rules them.
-
Dominates them.
-
Reigns over them.
-
But it shows up differently
-
in different people.
-
But here's the thing,
-
when you look at Scripture,
-
sexual immorality is oftentimes
-
at the front of the list.
-
Not just once, and not just twice,
-
and not just three times -
-
in fact, it's the rarity,
it's the exception
-
when you have a list of sins
-
and it's not at the beginning.
-
You ever notice that?
-
In fact, isn't it interesting
-
that when God gives a people over,
-
what does He give them over to?
-
What's the progress of
God giving a people up?
-
It's that they begin to
do dishonorable things.
-
It's in Romans 1.
-
They consider themselves wise.
-
They're really fools.
-
They begin to fall down and
worship other things besides God.
-
They're seeking to suppress the
knowledge of God all the time.
-
And God gives them over.
-
And when He begins to give a people over,
-
you'll notice the progression there.
-
It's not immediately into homosexuality.
-
The first step is people begin to do that
-
which they shouldn't do.
-
The first step in that
being given over by God,
-
sexual perversion.
-
And what I mean by that
-
is everything outside of marriage.
-
It begins to rot away at that level.
-
Now think about the lists
-
where sexual sin is first.
-
Somebody look up 1 Corinthians 6.
-
1 Corinthians 6:9
-
And here you have a list -
-
don't be deceived.
-
People who practice unrighteousness
-
don't inherit the kingdom of God.
-
And what's right at the
beginning of the list?
-
The sexually immoral.
-
Tim: What's next?
-
Idolaters.
-
Tim: What's next?
-
Adulterers.
-
Tim: What's next?
-
Men who practice homosexuality.
-
Tim: I mean, isn't that interesting?
The very first one is sexual immorality.
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Three out of the first four:
-
sexual immorality.
-
Where else can you think of?
-
I think of the works of the flesh.
-
Galatians 5. Somebody go over there.
-
What is it? V. 22? 23?
-
Those are the fruits of the Spirit.
-
Wait, say it again?
-
Sexual immorality - first,
-
impurity - second,
-
sensuality - third,
-
and then idolatry.
-
See, three out of the
first four right there.
-
Or how about in Ephesians 5,
-
you get because of these things,
-
the wrath of God is coming.
-
What's the "these things?"
-
What is it? V. 7 maybe?
-
"Everyone who is sexually
immoral or impure
-
or who is covetous, that is, an idolater."
-
Notice what the first two are.
-
Think about Paul speaking
to the Thessalonians,
-
and he's talking about God
-
desiring their sanctification.
-
And what's the very
first thing he goes into?
-
Chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians.
-
"This is the will of God,
-
your sanctification: that you abstain
-
from sexual immorality..."
-
Isn't it interesting.
-
The first thing he brings up
there is sanctification.
-
Where's the first place he goes?
-
Sexual purity.
-
And this is often at
the front of the list.
-
And here's the thing,
-
I think if we're honest,
-
we recognize different people -
-
lost people fall prey to sin
-
in all sorts of ways.
-
Sin rules and sin reigns them.
-
But one of the stark, first in line
-
manner in which they fall
-
and in which they give themselves over to
-
is this sensuality and sexual immorality.
-
And it's a big one.
-
You know, all you have
to do is look around
-
in our society to see
-
we're in a pornographic society.
-
You look historically at the sins
-
that have been struggled
with through history.
-
This was big 2,000 years ago.
-
It was right at the forefront.
-
It was a problem,
-
and it made it to the head of the class
-
in these lists of sins that were given.
-
And the thing is,
-
men who are dominated by sin -
-
sin may manifest itself differently
-
in different people.
-
And it may manifest itself differently
-
at different times in the
life of the same people.
-
You say, well, that guy was committing
adultery and then he quit.
-
Well, you know what?
-
People will change and they will migrate
-
in the way they're dominated by sin.
-
They will do that.
-
And idolatry can made a man do that.
-
Have a man fall into adultery,
-
and he's going to lose his wife.
-
He idolizes her and he
will give up that sin -
-
perhaps even for good.
-
He can do that.
-
Men can give up alcohol
-
because they idolize their own life
-
and the alcohol about killed them
-
and they'll give it up.
-
They'll exchange it for something else.
-
That's how lost man is,
-
but nevertheless, completely dominated.
-
And my point is this:
-
As long as sexual urge,
-
as long as that body is throwing urges,
-
that mind is throwing urges,
-
Satan is throwing urges,
-
as long as sin which seeks to rule in them
-
is throwing that kind of lust their way,
-
they're helpless.
-
They cannot dominate that.
-
They cannot have victory over that.
-
Now, like I say, they may get old
-
and the sexual urge and
the sexual temptation
-
kind of goes out of them
-
because they're getting old.
-
Or, they may idolize a wife
-
and they may change one thing for another
-
for a season perhaps.
-
I mean, that kind of thing happens.
-
But we're talking men who are
-
dominated and ruled by this.
-
But now, you come over into the category
-
of Christian.
-
And I'm going to say this,
-
the Christian is just as dead in the water
-
and just as helpless by himself
-
and in his own power.
-
Jesus said - Jesus was
coming at the positive end,
-
and He was speaking of good works,
-
but did He not say in John 15,
-
"without Me..." what?
-
"You can do nothing."
-
And obviously, Jesus works in His people
-
by way of the Spirit of God.
-
I mean, we don't want to make -
-
the Spirit of Christ -
-
it's interesting even in Romans 8
-
how you kind of move from the Spirit,
-
the Spirit of Christ, Christ...
-
There's this transition kind of happens.
-
It's one and the same.
-
You don't want to
separate these two things.
-
But what's the classic text
in our New Testament
-
that shows that the
Christian puts to death sin
-
only by the Spirit of God?
-
Romans 8:13
-
Somebody read that.
-
"For if you live according
to the flesh you will die,
-
but if by the Spirit you put to
death the deeds of the body,
-
you will live."
-
See, one path is death?
-
That's the lost man.
-
One path is life. That's the saved man.
-
The path of life is a person
-
putting to death deeds of the body,
-
not by themselves and
not in their own power.
-
They're doing that in
the power of the Spirit.
-
You see that.
-
And so this is where
I'm going in all of this.
-
The Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
-
If we want to have a good -
-
I mean you want to get to the root;
-
you want to go deep in this issue
-
of doing battle, of having victory,
-
of overcoming, of being successful
-
battling urges and
temptations with pornography,
-
battling urges and temptations
-
in the direction of sexual immorality.
-
And you know, having a
ministry like I'll Be Honest,
-
and for one, being able to watch,
-
like I was telling you last week,
-
which videos get the most traffic
-
on YouTube and on I'll Be Honest,
-
being able to see that -
-
there's no question about it.
-
Two of the top most watched videos
-
have to do with the unpardonable sin
-
and have to do with sexual immorality.
-
That tells me that among
professing Christians,
-
it's huge, it's big, it's something
-
that people are struggling with.
-
They're looking for answers.
-
They're looking for help.
-
People are getting on the Internet
-
and at times instead of falling prey
-
to pornography,
-
they're actually searching in such ways
-
that they end up finding I'll Be Honest.
-
They end up finding,
-
even one of the first videos
-
after James came and we kind of
-
connected the two ministries together,
-
maybe even made it before that,
-
but that James made on this subject,
-
I mean, look at the
amount of traffic on it.
-
You look at the amount of traffic
-
on stuff that James has put up there
-
or that John Piper has done
-
or that Paul Washer has done
-
or any of the pastors that are popular
-
out there today,
-
these things are getting so much traffic.
-
Some of them hundreds and hundreds
-
of thousands of hits.
-
Why? What that tells me is
-
you have people who
are professing Christians -
-
whether they're true or not,
-
you know they're in both categories;
-
undoubtedly in both categories.
-
But they're searching
-
and they're looking for answers.
-
And I can give this answer right here.
-
You cannot have victory
-
unless it is victory that is had by way
-
of the Spirit of God.
-
It is by the Spirit you put to death
-
the deeds of the body.
-
In other words, this is what
-
we really have to key in on.
-
You and I don't have the power -
-
lost or saved - by ourselves.
-
We don't have the power.
-
You need the power of Another
-
to overcome in this area of your life.
-
You need the power of the Holy Spirit.
-
And what I want to do in this Bible study
-
is simply talk about that.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
Where is the Spirit?
-
And where is His power?
-
You say, well, as a Christian -
-
if you're a Christian;
-
if you're a genuine Christian,
-
doesn't Romans 8 say
that you have the Spirit?
-
Yep. And if you don't
have the Spirit, what?
-
You're none of His.
You don't belong to Him.
-
So, every single child of God
-
has the Spirit.
-
What is that? Case closed?
-
Does every true Christian have victory
-
all the time?
-
Is it enough to be a Christian
-
to win the battle?
-
Now, somebody might say,
-
well, I read in Scripture
-
that if you're a Christian,
-
you will win the battle.
-
If you're a Christian,
-
you will cut off that hand
and pluck out that eye,
-
or else you're going to go to hell.
-
And look, those are the indicatives,
-
I recognize, but we've got imperatives
-
in our New Testament too.
-
In other words, we've got commandments
-
to not let sin reign in our mortal bodies.
-
There is a place that by the Spirit
-
we are killing sin;
-
we are seeking to put that sin to death.
-
There is a place.
-
Anybody think about Colossians 3 -
-
what it says there
-
concerning sexual immorality?
-
Which by the way is at the
front of the list again.
-
"Put to death what is earthly in you."
-
What's the first in line?
-
I just said: sexual immorality.
-
First in line again.
-
But put it to death.
-
But here's the thing,
-
you by yourself -
-
just like Jesus said to His disciples:
-
"Without Me you can do nothing."
-
Without that Spirit,
-
you cannot do this.
-
Now, why does Scripture tell us
-
to put this to death?
-
Because you have to.
-
Why does Jesus call us
-
to cut off the hand and pluck out the eye?
-
Because you have to.
-
You have to strive.
-
There is an effort.
-
You have to work out your own salvation.
-
But brethren, the way we do this
-
is in the power of Another.
-
And that is so key.
-
You will do this only as you do this
-
by divine power.
-
And so I think the thing that
we have to talk about;
-
the thing that we have to wrestle with
-
is it's not just a given
-
that because you're a Christian
-
and you possess the Spirit,
-
therefore sit back, recline,
-
kick your feet up,
-
it's all going to happen.
-
The Spirit of God is going
to make it happen.
-
There's some keys.
-
There are things said in Scripture
-
about the Spirit and His
interaction with us
-
that I think we need to think about.
-
Like, as a Christian,
-
how do I live in the power of the Spirit?
-
As a Christian, how do I not live
-
in the power of the Spirit?
-
What's the difference?
-
I mean, here's the thing.
-
Some Christians are more mature
-
than other Christians.
-
Some Christians are more holy
-
than other Christians.
-
Look, there's automatic assumptions
-
in Scripture that when you
come to look at elders,
-
not everybody in the church is an elder.
-
When you come to look at teachers,
-
James is very specific
-
that not many of you should be teachers.
-
He is automatically
assuming right up front
-
that most people in the church
-
are not at a certain level.
-
You get people all over the place.
-
Why does Paul have to tell the Corinthians
-
not to sleep with prostitutes?
-
Because they were.
-
There are others who weren't.
-
They are many in our
church who don't do that.
-
Paul wasn't doing that.
-
Let me ask you this.
-
Here's the reality.
-
Some are having victory -
-
some true Christians are having victory
-
in the area of sexual immorality
-
while others are not having
-
the same amount of success.
-
And here's the thing,
-
the guy that's having the success -
-
"without Me you can do nothing."
-
Same truth applies there.
-
It's not like he's got a
power innate to himself.
-
That man is doing what he does
-
in reaching a higher plane
-
and excelling to a greater degree
-
by the power of the Spirit.
-
The one who isn't,
-
isn't tapping the power of the Spirit.
-
Or let's say it this way,
-
that's almost impersonal
to say it like that.
-
It's like tapping a maple tree for
maple syrup or something.
-
The Person of the Spirit -
-
you need to get this -
-
the weak person who's fumbling
-
and tumbling and tripping and falling -
-
the Spirit of God in his life -
-
that Spirit; that third
Person of the Godhead,
-
is the same Person in the life
-
of the guy who's walking a very holy life.
-
The Spirit in the weak man's life
-
is just as powerful over sexual sin
-
as the Spirit in the holy man's life.
-
Look, what's true about the weak man
-
is that the Spirit is not subduing
-
that sexual temptation in the same way
-
as it's happening in the strong man.
-
Why? That's the question on the table.
-
Why?
-
The weak Christian is indwelt
-
by the almighty Spirit of God.
-
Listen, the Spirit of God
is stronger than sin
-
every time, every day,
-
always, in every instance,
-
no exceptions.
-
The Spirit is more powerful than sin
-
all the time.
-
There is no sexual sin
-
that is stronger than the Spirit of God.
-
So why the difference?
-
The weak Christian,
-
if he ever puts to death
deeds of the flesh,
-
does it by the Spirit.
-
If the strong man puts to death
-
the deeds of the flesh more,
-
it's by the Spirit.
-
Same Spirit. Same power.
-
The Spirit is a Person.
-
The Spirit chooses what He will do,
-
how He will do it,
-
when He will do it.
-
What's happening in the weak man's life?
-
You see, this is what we need to get at.
-
The Spirit is your best Friend
-
in putting to death sexual sin.
-
That's the title.
-
That's the title of this.
-
The Spirit of God is your best Friend
-
in putting to death sexual sin.
-
So what's the difference?
-
I mean, from your knowledge of Scripture,
-
does anything jump out at you
-
as to why that difference might exist?
-
What was that?
-
Quenching the Spirit.
-
Tim: Oh, brethren...
-
Yeah. Let's go there.
-
We are told by the same author
-
in two different places
-
not to grieve the Spirit,
-
not to quench the Spirit.
-
You know what's interesting
-
about both of those passages?
-
Paul doesn't explain what he means.
-
What do you think is true
-
when an author of Scripture
-
doesn't explain himself?
-
What do you think is a typical assumption
-
in the mind of the author
-
when he says something like that?
-
That the hearers already
knew what he meant.
-
Tim: Yeah. Exactly.
-
That it would be simply understood.
-
He doesn't have to get into
-
developing this.
-
Look, we all know,
-
Paul was one to develop an idea
-
when it needed to be developed.
-
He didn't do that in
either of those cases.
-
He's really making the assumption:
-
we know what does it.
-
Let me offer a suggestion here.
-
When we are given instruction;
-
when we're told to do something,
-
you know that Jesus did all that He did
-
as a man -
-
He did it in the power
of the Spirit of God.
-
The Spirit of God enabled Him
-
to cast out demons.
-
The Spirit of God moved Him,
-
empowered Him,
-
drove Him out into the wilderness
-
to be tempted.
-
The Spirit of God filled Christ
-
without measure.
-
When Jesus came along and He healed,
-
you think about this.
-
Go over there, find that pool, and wash.
-
Or He would just say rise up.
-
The Spirit was working
through Jesus Christ
-
to powerfully heal these people.
-
But you know what's interesting?
-
These people by faith did what was
-
absolutely impossible for them
to do in their own power.
-
Get that.
-
It's just as impossible for you
-
to overcome sexual temptation
-
as it is for a man to go wash in a pool
-
and get his sight,
-
or to simply get up just because
-
Jesus told him to get up.
-
How does a man who's got palsy
-
and is lame get up?
-
How does a man who's been
-
for almost 40 years beside this pool -
-
how does he just get up?
-
Jesus told him to get up and he did.
-
Here's the thing.
Here's the thing.
-
One of the ways you grieve the Spirit;
-
one of the ways that you forsake
-
the power of the Spirit
-
is when you don't strive to do
-
what He tells you to do.
-
That is so key to living
the Christian life.
-
It doesn't mean that you
have the power to do it,
-
any more than that man on the ground
-
had power to get up in his own strength.
-
But you see, what happened when Jesus
-
told him to do it,
-
and looking up at Jesus
-
and believing, he got up.
-
He did it.
-
He did the impossible.
-
Not in his own strength.
-
You see, that is the secret
-
to living the Christian life.
-
Not so much a secret,
-
but it's amazing how often we miss it.
-
Brethren, when Scripture
says to do things,
-
if your first attitude is one of defeat,
-
if your first attitude is
"I can't do that,"
-
no, no, no.
-
Of course, you can't do that.
-
The first step is
-
Jesus tells me to pluck out my eye.
-
He tells me to do that.
-
His representative -
-
he talks about putting to death sin
-
in the mortal body.
-
He talks about not letting sin reign.
-
He talks about putting to
death what's earthly in me.
-
I am being told in Scripture to kill it.
-
Now here's what you'll find.
-
When you say "I can't."
-
It rules me.
-
It dominates me.
-
I can't.
-
You see what's happening right there?
-
What you have to lay hold on is this:
-
The Spirit of God empowers us
-
in our obedience.
-
When you are disobedient,
-
He doesn't.
-
If you think I'm going to lay down
-
and not obey Christ,
-
and the Spirit of God is going to come in
-
and wonderfully saturate with His power
-
and I'm going to rise up
-
and I'm going to be so strong
-
and I'm going to be able to
resist every temptation.
-
That's not how it happens.
-
That isn't obedience.
-
Or how about this,
-
as far as the commands go with this,
-
you are told to flee youthful lusts.
-
You are told to run from them.
-
You're told to run
-
and you're told to attack.
-
Cut. Amputate.
-
You're called to do some surgery here.
-
You're called to eradicate things.
-
You're called to flee from things.
-
You're called to do battle.
-
You're called to put to death.
-
You're called to kill.
-
And look, when we look at our Lord
-
and we say, "Lord, I trust You.
-
That if You've told us
in Your Word to do this.
-
I'm going to trust that there's
power in this to do it."
-
And even if you fall on your
face, you know what?
-
You get up again.
"Lord, I just fell on my face."
-
Maybe it was because you were too proud.
-
Maybe it was because
He wants to teach you
-
all the more how badly you need Him.
-
But brethren, I'm telling you this,
-
the Holy Spirit is your best Friend
-
in putting to death sexual sin.
-
You've got to have the Spirit.
-
You've got to have Him.
-
Let's talk about grieving the Spirit.
-
Just not striving to do
-
what you're commanded to do
-
is one of the ways,
-
but how else?
-
Brethren, the man who lives
-
the most holy life -
-
what is a holy life?
-
Closely associated with those
-
sanctified word group.
-
We're sanctified -
-
is it 2 Thessalonians 2:13?
-
Sanctified by the Spirit.
-
You're sanctified by the Spirit.
-
The holy man is holy
-
by the power of the Spirit.
-
That man by that Spirit -
-
that Spirit is operating in his life.
-
He's putting to death.
-
That man is doing the things -
-
he's seeking to obey;
-
he's seeking to walk in the
way (incomplete thought).
-
He's mindful.
-
He's mindful to make a
covenant with his eyes like Job
-
and not look where he shouldn't look.
-
He's mindful to flee, to run away
-
from places that would
cause him to stumble.
-
He's mindful of that.
-
He does that.
-
Running. Gouging out. Amputating.
-
Look, every one of us,
-
that means you have to make
-
some radical steps.
-
If you're not willing
to make radical steps,
-
and then you go around all the time
-
dismally defeated -
-
Oh, woe is me...
-
I just can't overcome.
-
I'm just not like other people.
-
Woe is me.
-
Like what's that donkey
on Winnie the Pooh?
-
Eeyore.
-
Brethren, we have to take radical steps.
-
But what are other ways that we grieve -
-
and you have to put those two:
-
quench, quench - you just quench.
-
He's this burning, He's this fire.
-
There's this heat.
-
There's this passion that He encourages
-
in our love for God,
-
our love for Christ,
-
in living a holy life,
-
hungering and thirsting
after righteousness.
-
And you just throw a big
bucket of cold water
-
on His influences in your life.
-
How?
-
He doesn't explain it.
-
He expects that you full well know.
-
What? Look.
-
Be honest with me.
-
What are the things that at times
-
you've allowed into your life
-
and you know you shouldn't have?
-
Or things you haven't
allowed into your life
-
that you know you should have?
-
What are the things that you've done?
-
When are the times
your conscience told you
-
you've grieved the Spirit?
-
What are the things?
-
James: One thing I was thinking of
-
is when you don't
approve what is excellent,
-
what's amazing is in Philippians 1
-
when Paul says approve what is excellent,
-
so you may be pure.
-
Meaning, if I don't
approve what is excellent,
-
that deals with purity and blamelessness,
-
and so I know there's times
-
I grieve the Holy Spirit not by even
-
doing overt sin, but by not approving
-
what is most excellent;
-
just doing what is good,
-
and right there I grieve the Holy Spirit.
-
And I start myself on a path
-
where I can end up in sin or greater sin.
-
Tim: And here's the thing to think about.
-
It's like James is saying right there.
-
What can happen is
-
like I speak in a rough tone to my wife.
-
Two things just happened.
-
I made provision for the flesh.
-
Anybody think of a text
that says not to do that?
-
Romans 13:14
-
I just made provsion for the flesh.
-
And I just grieved the Spirit,
-
to whatever degree.
-
Not everything we do grieves the Spirit
-
to the same degree undoubtedly.
-
And undoubtedly, if we
deal with sin quickly,
-
things get healed very well.
-
But think about what happens.
-
Something in my relationship with my wife
-
and then all of a sudden,
-
bombarded by a temptation
-
in the sexual realm.
-
Can there be connections like that?
-
The Spirit of God spoke to me.
-
I should not have had a
second helping of that food.
-
I knew it not only was going to
-
appear to others to be gluttony around me;
-
I just knew I didn't need it.
I knew I shouldn't have done that.
-
You see, you make a
provision for the flesh.
-
You grieve the Spirit.
-
And then what happens?
-
Sin will now get the upper hand.
-
Sin as a singular, as a force.
-
And so what happens is
-
you can suddenly find yourself
-
very vulnerable with regards to sexual sin
-
when the thing that you did
-
wasn't even about that.
-
You didn't grieve the
Spirit through pornography.
-
You didn't grieve the Spirit
-
through anything that
you were doing like that.
-
But it's because you grieved Him
-
and now His power in your life
-
has subsided.
-
It's waned.
-
And suddenly, a wave comes over you
-
and you are under such temptation,
-
or, what's happened is,
-
you've tempted the devil.
-
And when the Spirit steps back,
-
He gives place to the devil
-
to do something or to tempt you.
-
Listen, the Spirit is not only
-
more powerful than sin;
-
He's more powerful than the devil.
-
Infinitely more!
-
He can stop all these things.
-
But there's connections.
-
You see, there's connections
-
with you feeding the flesh.
-
There's connections with
-
defiling your conscience.
-
That Spirit of God knows when you
-
defile the conscience.
-
You should never do it.
-
And it will grieve Him.
-
Anybody think of other things
-
that tend to grieve the Spirit?
-
(from the room)
-
Well, I know the verse that says
-
to not grieve the Spirit
-
Ephesians 4:30,
-
the next verse says let all bitterness
-
and wrath and anger and clamor
-
be put away from you.
-
I definitely think bitterness,
-
or having harsh affections
-
towards another brother
-
will grieve the Spirit really quick.
-
Tim: Brethren, we need to remember this,
-
the Spirit is always stronger
-
than sexual sin.
-
Always.
-
And if you're feeling
like you're just being
-
thrown around,
-
you have to be honest.
-
If you're lost, you can grit your teeth,
-
and you can try in your own strength
-
to do things, but you're
going to be defeated
-
every time.
-
You're just going to be defeated.
-
You're going to be defeated.
-
But if you're a Christian
-
and you've got the Spirit,
-
you're going to put that to death.
-
And you will do it.
-
You will do it.
-
It's a given.
-
Jesus says that you must do it,
-
or you will go to hell.
-
That's as much as saying you will do it.
-
Listen, everybody who belongs to Christ,
-
there is a reality.
-
They have crucified the passions,
-
the lusts. They have.
-
Scripture says that.
-
Scripture says sin will not have
-
dominion over you.
-
Scripture says the path to life -
-
putting to death the deeds of the body.
-
These are at the front of the line.
-
You will do this if you're
on the path to life.
-
You will.
-
Because you do have the Spirit.
-
And because the Spirit will make you holy.
-
And because if you spend your time
-
grieving the Spirit, you're
going to spend time
-
back in the woodshed too.
-
And He's going to see to it.
-
I mean, we have this.
-
We have this reality.
-
He disciplines His children;
-
if you're His child.
-
But brethren, there are those
-
who don't make near as much progress
-
in the Christian life.
-
There are those who flounder.
-
There are those who are
-
more Corinthian-like too many times
-
in their life.
-
There are those who don't get the victory.
-
There are those undoubtedly
-
in the Christian realm
-
who grieve the Spirit, quench the Spirit
-
more than other people.
-
We don't want to quench the Spirit.
-
We want to live in the
power of the Spirit.
-
Look, the Spirit is a Person.
-
He's infinitely strong.
-
He's with the child of God.
-
Every child of God in this room
-
has the Spirit of God indwelling.
-
The Spirit of God is with you.
-
He is with you and He will be with you
-
apparently forever.
-
You have this reality.
-
And He is a Holy Spirit.
-
And He sanctifies His people.
-
Well, if you're not having victory,
-
it's because He's not
giving you the victory.
-
So let's search for the reasons.
-
Why is the Spirit not giving me victory?
-
One thing we've looked at:
-
because you're not seeking to do
-
what He's telling you to do;
-
trusting in His power to do it.
-
Or you've got the Spirit grieved.
-
What are some other ways
we can grieve the Spirit?
-
Look. Sin is what grieves the Spirit.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
James talked about choosing things
-
that are excellent.
-
Does that mean that if I choose that
-
which isn't most excellent,
-
that it may grieve the Spirit?
-
It may.
-
I mean, it may.
-
If you're willingly making wrong choices,
-
even though that which you're choosing
-
it's just way down the line
-
in usefulness and profitableness
-
in your life...
-
Brethren, here's the thing.
-
There's undoubtedly some people
-
who it's like hearing
about Spurgeon's take
-
on Robert Chapman.
-
How does a man come to be
-
the holiest man?
-
The most Christ-like man
-
that somebody has ever met?
-
People who met Lloyd-Jones
-
were blown away.
-
How does a man get to be like that?
-
Same way. Without Christ, he's nothing.
-
It's by the Spirit.
-
If you want to live in the greatest
-
demonstrations of the Spirit of God,
-
the people who are going to live most
-
in that power, most in that joy,
-
most in that realm,
-
they're the people who are
-
most diligent to walk so carefully
-
before Him.
-
They don't want to grieve Him.
-
They don't want to make a misstep.
-
They don't want to
settle for the status quo.
-
They're trying to reach the excellence.
-
They don't want to offend Him.
-
They don't want to do that which
-
would bring a cloud.
-
Now think with me about the Spirit.
-
2 Thessalonians 2:13 talks about
-
being sanctified by the Spirit.
-
I can think of a place there in John 17:17
-
that says that we're sanctified
-
by the Word.
-
Now let me ask you this.
-
Are we sanctified by both?
-
On the one hand over here,
-
when you read Scripture,
-
you're sanctified by the Word;
-
and then, over here, you're sanctified
-
by the Spirit when you do something else?
-
Something different?
-
Or do you think that perhaps
-
the Spirit of God is the one who
-
puts to death sin?
-
Makes us pure;
-
makes us sanctified
-
by way of the Scriptures.
-
At least one of the ways.
-
Yeah. "Sanctify them by Thy truth.
-
Thy Word is truth."
-
Sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
-
It's the Holy Spirit who takes that Word.
-
So here's a reality.
-
You are not going to live in the power
-
of the Spirit - the sanctifying power
-
of the Spirit unless you're in the Word.
-
Jesus said the Word sanctifies.
-
"Sanctify them by Thy Word."
-
He's praying to His Father.
-
Let me ask you this.
-
Do you think that prayer
-
is still powerful till this very hour?
-
But I can tell you this,
-
it's kind of like the man who won't
-
try to get up when he's told to get up.
-
If you have this book on your shelf
-
and it's collecting dust,
-
and you're over there struggling
-
with sexual immorality,
-
if you want to know what the problem is
-
go look at yourself in the mirror.
-
Look, if you know that Jesus Himself -
-
what you have to understand is this:
-
Jesus didn't just say
-
that we're sanctified by the Word;
-
Jesus is actually praying to His Father
-
that we would be sanctified by the Word.
-
There's a difference.
-
The second is better because it expresses
-
the truth of the first,
-
but it also says that
God has been prayed to
-
by our Messiah who intercedes all the time
-
on our behalf.
-
And He's actually prayed that prayer
-
that this Word would sanctify us.
-
If there's no other reason for you never
-
to skip a day to be in this book,
-
then it's that.
-
You say, are you trying to tell me
-
that there's a connection between
-
me falling into doing
something with that mouse
-
with my computer that
I shouldn't have done
-
and the fact that I didn't read
the Scriptures that morning?
-
Well, I hope you have
the logical abilities
-
to recognize the answer to that is yes.
-
I hope you can put the pieces together
-
and recognize, oh... yeah.
-
He prayed that we would
be sanctified through it.
-
I'm not going to the Word of God.
-
Not that you go to it
like a magic formula.
-
That's not it.
-
It's that you go to it
-
and you feast on the truth
-
and you feast on the Christ.
-
Remember - beholding the Lord,
-
the Spirit transforms us.
-
You see, you go there and you find Him.
-
You find the Lord.
-
You behold His glory.
-
You look at Him and His sexual purity.
-
Go there. Hear what He said.
-
Trust that if He told you
-
to gouge out eyes,
-
you can do it.
-
You can do it.
-
He'll help you do it.
-
He sent the Spirit here to help us
-
to live that way.
-
Anybody think of anything else?
-
Any other connections?
-
Any other connections you can think of
-
in Scripture about the Spirit of God?
-
Yeah, John Piper preached a message
-
on Romans 8:13 - "By the Spirit,
-
we put to death the deeds of the body."
-
And he was talking about
-
he was looking for Scripture -
-
where in Scripture does it say
-
that we receive the Holy Spirit?
-
And he brought up Galatians 3:2
-
which says, "Let me ask only this:
-
did you receive the Spirit
-
by works of the law?
-
Or by hearing with faith?"
-
And he brought out it's by hearing
-
with faith that we receive the Spirit.
-
Tim: Why don't you read
the first five verses all together?
-
(from the room) Of Galatians 3?
-
Tim: Yeah.
-
(from the room)
-
"Oh foolish Galatians!
-
Who has bewitched you?
-
It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ
-
was publicly portrayed..."
-
Tim: Now, see you
want to stop right there.
-
You see, if you just dive in -
-
which isn't wrong -
-
I mean, you went to the text
-
that Piper dealt with.
-
But see, if you dive in where you dove in,
-
you know what you get?
-
You get the word "faith."
-
It's a good word.
-
But you know what?
-
Sometimes it's a very abstract term.
-
You hear "faith" and you miss
-
the heart and soul.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
You don't want to ever miss verse 1.
-
Verse 1 is the heart and soul
-
of where this faith focuses.
-
It is Christ who has been publically
-
crucified before you.
-
There is power.
-
There is power in looking to the cross
-
in faith.
-
Because brethren, look,
-
what that cross does -
-
"Blessed are the poor in spirit..."
-
When you're in a place
-
where you come before the Lord:
-
Lord, I can't beat sexual immorality.
-
I'm not strong enough.
-
But Jesus died on the cross.
-
In that death on the cross,
-
He unleashed magnificent power.
-
Can you think of any other verse?
-
I'm thinking of one from Peter.
-
Can you think of any other verse
-
that talks about the cross
-
and righteousness?
-
Or the cross and power?
-
The cross and producing righteousness?
-
Anybody think of any other verses?
-
Titus 2:14 - "Who gave Himself for us
-
to redeem us from all lawlessness
-
and to purify for Himself a people..."
-
To purify for Himself a people
-
of His own possession.
-
I mean, yeah.
-
You want to look at the cross.
-
Now, keep going. That was just v. 1.
-
(Galatians) "Let me ask you this.
-
Did you receive the Spirit
-
by words of the law or
by hearing with faith?
-
Tim: Ok. That's in the beginning.
-
Did you receive?
-
This is when you first received.
-
Did that happen by faith or by works?
-
Hearing of faith or the works of the law?
-
Now, keep going.
-
"Are you so foolish?
-
Having begun by the Spirit,
-
are you now being perfected by the flesh?"
-
Tim: Oh, you better stop right there.
-
Perfected.
-
That's the word we want.
-
Do you want to be perfected
-
when it comes to sexual immorality?
-
You see what he's saying?
-
You started the right way.
-
Perfected is another way to say
-
He's transforming us,
-
from glory to glory.
-
That's being perfected.
-
It's being made like Christ.
-
He says you talk about
grieving the Spirit?
-
You see, he's been
talking about the Spirit
-
and now in the next verse,
-
he's going to come back
to the Spirit again.
-
Keep going.
-
"Did you suffer so many things in vain
-
if indeed it was in vain?
-
Does He who supplies the Spirit to you
-
and works miracles among you
-
do so by works of the law
-
or by hearing with faith?"
-
Now there it is.
-
Now it's not received;
-
now it's supplied.
-
And it's the ongoing working
-
of the supernatural in your life.
-
You see, he jumped from one to the other.
-
And right in the middle, he brought up,
-
what are you thinking?
-
See, I would say this to all of us.
-
If you move away from the cross,
-
he would say this to you:
-
what are you thinking?
-
You know what?
-
I don't doubt you can find lots of plans -
-
quick ten step plans, you know,
-
probably adulterers anonymous
-
or something is out there.
-
But brethren, there may be a lot
-
of quick fix programs
-
on the fast path to sexual purity.
-
Undoubtedly, there's all
sorts of books written
-
and there's programs out there.
-
People get tempted by these things.
-
Come spend $2,000
-
and come to this program
-
and we'll fix you;
-
we'll set you right.
-
You know, if somebody simply
-
took their Bibles and sat down
-
with the first five verses of Galatians 3,
-
and they just took time to study those,
-
meditate on them before the Lord
-
and get on their face,
-
and really seek to understand
the implications
-
of those passages,
-
you know where the power is?
-
In the Spirit.
-
You know how the Spirit is supplied?
-
By faith.
-
By faith in Him who was
held up before them
-
as publicly crucified.
-
Can I tell you something?
-
There is a reason why the Lord's Supper
-
is an ongoing ordinance
-
in the life of the church.
-
It's because God wants us to come back
-
to the death of His Son
-
over and over and over
-
and remember Him. Why?
-
Because it is there
-
that your very spiritual life exists.
-
That is where the price was paid.
-
That is where the sin was paid.
-
That is where He died on the cross
-
to make a people that would be
-
pure and righteous and holy
-
and people of His own possession.
-
That is where the power flows.
-
The Spirit supplied as we look.
-
What you have to recognize is this:
-
Was the Spirit not just as real
-
in the lives of these Galatians
-
as in Paul himself?
-
Yes.
-
Why was the Spirit not doing
-
what the Spirit could have done
-
to perfect the people?
-
Because they went about it wrong.
-
Undoubtedly, we come back to
-
grieving the Spirit.
-
But the thing is,
-
when we take our eyes off of Christ
-
and we seek other gimmicks
-
in our seeking to be prefected -
-
don't get hung up on that.
-
That's Paul's terminology.
-
We should be pursuing perfection.
-
I'm not saying that Paul is teaching
-
we'll find it.
-
But I'm saying we should
be shooting for it.
-
If you should be shooting
-
towards Christ-likeness,
-
how could it not be perfection?
-
That's what He is.
-
Should we be seeking to be perfected?
-
Yes.
-
We should.
-
How?
-
Well, you see, when you do
-
what the Galatians did,
-
you know what he has to tell them
-
not to do in chapter 5?
-
Bite and devour each other.
-
Why?
-
You see what happens when you try
-
to live the Christian life
-
and you're not tapping into
-
the power of the Spirit?
-
Suddenly, carnality,
fleshy-ness breaks out
-
in their life.
-
You say, could it be that I'm struggling
-
with sexual sin because I've purposely
-
missed the Lord's Supper
the last two times?
-
Yeah.
-
Could it be because I haven't been
-
reading in one of the Gospel's
-
and actually taking the time
-
to behold the Christ there?
-
And to see Him?
-
And to think on His death?
-
Yeah.
-
I mean, you see,
-
the Spirit is your best Friend.
-
But what you want is the Spirit
-
in such a condition as He is
-
eager to help you be holy.
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And He is moving to make you holy.
-
And He is pouring grace upon you.
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And He is infusing power into you.
-
That's what you want.
-
And that's how you'll be victorious.
-
But just because you have the Spirit,
-
doesn't mean He's all-out moving
-
for you to overcome.
-
There's all sorts of ways we can grieve,
-
we can quench, we can not use
-
the very means,
-
we can not seek to appropriate
-
the things that the Spirit
(incomplete thought).
-
It's like, you know,
-
the Spirit can say to us,
-
you know, there's no ink in that pen.
-
But you get down there and right with it.
-
I'll cause the ink to flow
-
once you're writing with it.
-
So much of the Christian
life is like that,
-
where we are being told,
-
do the impossible.
-
And we're not supposed to look and say
-
it's impossible; I'm not going to do it.
-
No. This is a life that we walk
-
in faith, trusting that God's power
-
will flow through us.
-
Without Christ, I can't do anything.
-
But with Christ strengthening me,
-
we can do all things through Christ
-
who strengthens me.
-
But you see, I can do all things
-
through Christ who strengthens me.
-
It's not that He's going
to do them for me.
-
I have to actually set forth.
-
I need to step.
-
Peter didn't just float on the water.
-
Jesus didn't just waft him out
-
and he just floated out and sat down
-
on the water and stood on it.
-
Jesus said, "Come."
-
He needed to get up.
-
He needed to step out of the boat.
-
And then he found, it supported him.
-
And then when he took his eyes off Christ?
-
You see, Jesus is telling
us the same thing
-
with regards to sexual sin.
-
Here He is out walking the perfect life
-
when it comes to purity.
-
And He says, "Follow Me."
-
"Come on out of that boat."
-
And you set your eyes on Him
-
and you put your foot out,
-
and you still start walking in purity.
-
And guess what happens when you
-
take your eyes off of Him?
-
You sink.
-
And then what happens?
-
You put your eyes back on Him.
-
And He reaches out and
He grabs hold of you
-
and He takes you back up.
-
It's the same.
-
It's the same over and over
-
throughout the Christian life.
-
The Spirit of God.
-
Your best friend when it comes to
-
putting to death the deeds of the body.
-
Any other comments or thoughts on that?
-
Father, help us to live
-
in the light of these truths
-
and the power of these truths.
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We pray in Christ's name,
-
Amen.