Are You Ready to Reign?

Well, if you don't know it yet, you should. God's fall feasts and holy days are very soon upon us, are they not? And just over three weeks we'll be gathered together to worship God and observing the Feast of Trumpets. And shortly after that comes the Day of Atonement. Shortly after that comes the Feast of Tapernacles. And immediately after that comes the Eighth Day. Very exciting times ahead for us all. God's holy days inspire us and excite us with the promise of salvation for all people and of our roles as kings and priests in the kingdom of God and on into eternity.

Let's be turning to Micah chapter 4 verse 1 through 5. Some rather familiar scriptures here I could have chosen Isaiah 2, but I'm pretty confident we'll be reading those a number of times in the weeks ahead, so let's go to Micah. And if you don't know where Micah is, it's right after Jonah. So yeah, I know. But look, I found it. I happen to leave my bookmark there.

So Micah 4 chapter 4 verse 1 through 5. And Micah, inspired of God, is assuring us that God's reign of righteousness on earth is most surely coming. Micah 4 verse 1, now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on top of the mountains. We recall that mountains, hills, are often symbolic of governments. It shall be established on the top of the mountains. It shall be exalted above the hills, and peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths. For out of Zion, the law shall go forth in the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off. They shall beat their swords into plow shears, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid. For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken, for all people walk each in the name of his God. But we walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. And that last verse, verse 5, very powerfully underscores that God's faithful walk in his name. They willingly submit to him, and will do so forever.

Now let's turn back a few pages to Daniel chapter 7 verse 27. Daniel 7 verse 27. Daniel also foretold that God's faithful ones, his saints, will receive his kingdom.

Daniel 7, 27. Then the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms, under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. And then, all the way back now, all the way back, Revelation 20 verse 6. Revelation 20 verse 6. And here it is verified that God's faithful will reign with Christ in the kingdom of God. Revelation 20 verse 6. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. Those of the first resurrection, of course, we understand, has been revealed through Scripture, are but the first fruits of God's greater harvest of humanity to come later during the period of the Great White Throne judgment.

Now, these prophecies do inspire and excite us. It makes me tongue-tied talking about it sometimes. I get excited when I read these. It is so uplifting compared to what we see going on in our world today, and compared to some peoples in ancient times and other people even now, we are still living in relative peace here in this area. These prophecies do inspire and excite us, and frankly, I believe they're just what we need to remember in difficult times. They should also motivate us, though. They should also motivate us to prepare ourselves to reign in God's kingdom. These prophecies should motivate us to be preparing ourselves to reign in God's kingdom. But how? How? How might we best prepare to reign with Christ? It's a very important question. Now, I do not recommend you go to the junior college. They very might find classes on leadership, but that's not quite what I'm talking about. There's something we can all be doing. In fact, among the many things we might consider doing, the most fundamental is to be reigning over our own actions, learning to reign over ourselves.

You see, we really have but two choices as to who or what we ultimately allow to reign over us, either our carnal self or Jesus Christ, God. But to reign under Christ the kingdom, what we're going to be looking at today, to reign under Christ in the kingdom, we must reign over sin in us. We must be reigning over sin in us. And so today's message, in today's message, we'll be reminded of why and how we must reign over sin so that we might reign with God forever. We're going to investigate how we might reign over sin so we might reign with God forever. The title of the sermon is, Are You Ready to Reign? Are you ready to reign?

Now to begin, we must know and understand that we cannot reign over sin in us by our own strength of will or by our own force of mind alone. We're simply too weak. Our human nature is too weak. Paul understood sin's hold in every human being. He understood it because he studied God's Word. He believed God's Scripture. For him, God's Scripture is what we now call the Old Testament. So let's go back and look at a few verses there from the Old Testament. These are things Paul understood. He understood how prone we are to sin because he knew and believed what God's Word says about sin. Let's look at Psalm 130 to begin. Psalm 130.

Psalm 130 in verse 3.

Here we read, if you Lord should mark iniquities, meaning sins, if you Lord should mark iniquities, oh Lord, who could stand? Who could stand without shame or guilt, sin? No one. Let's look at Proverbs 20 verse 9. We're going to move forward here a little bit. Proverbs 20 verse 9.

Here we read, who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?

Well, no one, not by ourselves. We understand today, now we must be purified from our sin through faith in Jesus Christ's sacrifice. But none of us can make ourselves our hearts clean or pure from sin. And one more scripture here. Let's look at Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 20.

Ecclesiastes 7 verse 20. Here it's written, for there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.

We may know a lot of just people, good people through the years, and there have been many better than the ones I know, I'm sure, from ancient times as we read in scripture. But none of them is totally good and does not sin. And only Jesus Christ fulfilled that metric, that measure. Now Paul himself, let's turn to Romans chapter 3 verse 23. Romans 3, 23. Paul himself expressed the same fact about humankind and sin in Romans 3, 23. Again, he is inspired of God, yes, but he also knew and believed what God's word said, what scripture said. He sets us a model of going to God's word for our reference, for our information.

Romans 3 verse 23, here Paul wrote, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And it's still true today. All have sinned and still do sin, including you and including me. But if we somehow think that we on our own can rid ourselves of sin, we are deceiving ourselves. We're lying to ourselves, frankly, because we can't. On the other hand, we can reign over sin.

We can exert control over sin, so it does not dominate us. But we can only do that, again, through faith in Christ Jesus and with the help of God's Holy Spirit. We must never forget that Jesus Christ's sacrifice delivers us from the reign of sin and death. That is, if we choose to allow it to be so. God gives us a choice. Even now, in his God's Holy Days, teach us annually God and Christ are fulfilling their plan to save all humanity.

All humanity, all that will accept it. That will accept salvation. He's saving them from sin and death due to Adam's sin of disobedience. And that's how Paul begins to explain God's mercy towards humanity. Let's be turning to Romans 5. Now, we are going to be coming back and forth to Romans chapter, the book of Romans, often in this sermon. So if you have a bookmark, you might place it there. So Paul explains God's mercy towards humanity, and we're going to read a section here starting Romans 5. In Romans 5 verse 6 through 8, Paul explains how Jesus Christ, the Word and Son of God, willingly laid down his sinless life for humanity, all humanity.

Romans 5 verse 6, for when we were still without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. He died for every human being that ever has lived, will live, or did live. He died for every human being ever. Verse 7, continuing, Paul says, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone who'd even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So yeah, while we were still filthy, covered in our sins, Jesus Christ died for you, me, and every human being. He took upon himself every human being's penalty for sin, which is death. He died, Christ died, so that humanity would no longer need to be separated from God due to their sin, but rather justified and made right with God, so that they might then be reconciled to God and receive his gift of salvation, eternal life.

Truly, our most personal profound gratitude towards God, knowing what God has done for us and is going to do for us and for all humanity and time, it should really motivate us, spur us on, to want to be ready to reign with God and Christ in the kingdom.

It should really spur us on to be striving to rule over our sin. Now, let's continue on, chapter 5, verse 15 through 16. Paul continues, but the free gift is not like the offense, he explains, for if by one man's offense, referring to Adam's offense, many men died, many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.

And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned, for the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. Speaking about the difference between Adam's sin and in Christ's gift of his life in our place. Verse 19, for as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous.

And so, yes, Adam's disobedience brought death upon all humanity. We are like our ancient ancestor Adam. We have continued in sin as a race of humanity, but Jesus Christ's obedience is made available righteousness and salvation, eternal life to all. Every human being will receive a full and fair opportunity to know God and to receive God's gift of salvation. That's part of what we learn through the Holy Days, especially the eighth day. But each will receive that opportunity according to God's will in his time and way. In this age we are living in now prior to Christ's return, the Father, as we understand, has called some to be firstfruits of salvation.

Yes, they are his saints. God works with them, and they serve God while he prepares them for his service in this age, and more service in the age to come in his kingdom. God is also evaluating and judging them now with mercy and justice in accordance to his law and way. And as we've heard many times, God is judging us now. We are saints. We are called to be among the firstfruits.

God, you see, needs to know whether those who is called to be firstfruits will remain faithful to him. It's very important. It's very important. So when the Father calls us to salvation, he reveals to us the great importance of Christ's sacrifice for us and for everybody. He has to open our minds to understand what sin is.

Many times I'm sure God calls people, and I'm sure I had my own ideas about what sin was. Maybe you did too. Many of us, if we grew up not knowing God's truth, just thought sin was, well, that's something bad. It's a feeling. You know when you sin, when you feel bad about something. That's kind of the ambiguous definition of sin. But we have to use God's scripture to define what sin is. We can't rely upon ourselves. And so God asks over our minds to understand what sin is. He has to help us understand how Christ's death has freed us from the penalty of death. And then, as we become convicted of our sin, we repent, we're baptized. The Father forgives our sins, and we receive the gift of His Holy Spirit with the laying on of hands. And God's Spirit in us is the begettle of a new life. It's also our guarantee of eternal life to come. Therefore, we continue to live in submission to God. That's what we're striving to do every day, according to His law and the way of life, and always with the help of His Holy Spirit. We cannot do it alone. We have to follow the instruction of a scripture that goes together. And we practice repentance for our sins every day, multiple times a day. We should. And we continue to strive to live faithfully in obedience to God. Now, as we continue into Romans 6, we do find that Paul next addresses a terribly wrong assumption people even in his day and still today have about sin.

Some, based on what Paul is saying here in Romans 6, some believe that since Christ paid humanity's penalty for sin, that they might continue to practice sin without fear of punishment, without need for continued repentance. You know, God died for us. He, just as I am, I don't know if you've heard that phrase. There's a concept out there that just as I am, God loves us. Well, God loves us. His son died for us when we were sinners, yes.

But when God calls us, he doesn't want to stay, just as we are. We understand we need to change. That's what repentance is all about. Paul makes clear that to continue practicing sin deliberately and intentionally, though, would place one back under the reign of sin and death. Let's look at Romans 6, verse 1 through 2. It's important to understand these things. Romans 6, verse 1, What shall we say then, Paul, ask? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? The idea is, well, the more we sin, the more God gives of his grace, and that just makes God more more glorious, and so we can continue doing what we're doing. Of course, it's foolishness. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound, Paul asks? And he says, certainly not. Absolutely not. How shall we who die to sin live any longer in it? That's a great question. In other words, why would we want to go back? Why would anybody want to go back? How could someone want to return to practicing sin as a lifestyle, as your way you live? I'm not talking about the sins we slip up and do. We're struggling against day in and day out. But to go back and practice a sinful lifestyle that we died to through baptism, how could someone want to return to practicing sin and place himself back under the death penalty? In my mind, it'd be like jumping back into the grave. God's, we came up with that watery grave of baptism. We left our old, sinful, dead lifestyle behind us. And now we want to go back? It'd be like jumping back into a grave full of moldering bones. Who would want to do that? Just trying to paint a vivid picture into our minds about a terrible idea this is. Especially with a terrible idea, after taking a hold of a new life, eternal life, the Jesus Christ, a new life in Christ. Continuing verse 3 through 7, Paul then describes baptism, baptism in terms of Christ's death and resurrection. He says, verse 3, "...or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Not supposed to walk the way we did, but the way Christ does and did.

For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, put to death, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin, Paul says. And so surely, surely one would want to remain united with Jesus Christ in life rather than turning back to enslavement to sin and death. And so Paul warns us, he warns that we must hold true to our commitment we made at baptism. We must hold true to our commitment to God and never again knowingly, willingly, intentionally place ourselves under the dominion of sin. Verse 8 to 13 are especially relevant to our need to reign over ourselves in order to reign in God's kingdom. Verse 8, now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him, for the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, for all people. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lust. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. Think about that.

And so we must always be rejecting the dead works of sin, and doing good works of righteousness to the glory of God. Therefore, Paul urges us to understand that we are now slaves of righteousness. We are slaves of righteousness, our master being God and Jesus Christ. Verses 14 through 18, continuing chapter 6. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, meaning we're not under the penalty of the law for sin, which is death, but under grace, under God's great mercy and kindness. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? Again, that question, shall we continue in practicing sin? Certainly not. He keeps answering that question. Teachers do that. You noticed? They keep repeating the same point to make sure we're getting it. Paul wants to make sure whoever reads this epistle is getting it. Are we getting it? Do you not know, verse 16, do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? That obedience, of course, would be according to God's, God's law, his way of life. But God be thanked, verse 17, but God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form a doctrine to which you were delivered, and having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

If we've been baptized, we remain true and committed to God, we are slaves of righteousness.

Are we doing acts of righteousness? God defines what righteousness is, just as he defines what sin is.

And so God's grace through Christ's sacrifice, yes, did free us, has freed us from being hopelessly dominated by sin. We've been freed from death. As slaves of righteousness and slaves of God, we are now at liberty, we are now at liberty and free to produce good fruits of righteousness, good fruits unto eternal life. Verse 22 through 23 now, verse 22, But now having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness in the end everlasting life. We are going to receive God's gift of eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus as Lord, in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so it's very important, it's vital, that we live according to God's righteousness unto salvation. We need, we need, we want to be in the kingdom. We want to be there. And so as Christ's followers, we must be aware of these arguments saying, oh, you could just keep sinning. Now we might say, oh, I don't believe that, I never believe that. Good. What do our actions say? That's what I have to ask myself. I believe these things, but what do my actions show? Am I living what I believe? So as Christ's followers, we must not be swayed by the false notion that Christ's death for sin somehow gives us free license to continue practicing sin. Because that, you see, that's what the world will say. That's what a lot of, that's where a lot of what we might call traditional Christianity. They've loosened themselves to the mooring, the anchor, to God's word more and more, and they are really practicing more of these foolish things Paul was arguing down. No matter our own opinion, no matter anybody else's opinion, and that includes the moral, ethical, and legal standards of our society.

Only God's law and scripture define sin, and practicing sin will earn death.

There's no way around it. No matter what may be said, God's word is the truth. The good news is, when we sin, we stop practicing it, but we still fight sin. When we do sin, we all do, God is faithful to forgive us if we repent and seek forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ through shed blood. Then we must move on forward, striving harder not to sin. This continuing process, repentance seeking God's forgiveness, how many times can we do this in one day? Is there a limit to how many times we can go to God? No. Don't let there be a limit in our heads and hearts. Oh, I've already asked about this twice today. I can't go to him now. That's human thinking. We don't want to do that. As often as it takes, we must be repenting and seeking God's forgiveness. You see, the process of repentance and forgiveness is a key, perhaps the most important key, to preventing sin's dominion and reign over our lives. Now, we understand that we cannot earn salvation. It's a gift, as Paul says. It's a gift from God, but we can lose salvation. I know that's not what's often heard elsewhere, either. There's the idea that perhaps you've heard it, once saved, always saved.

That's not what Scripture says. It's not. Who are we going to believe? We have to go to Scripture. We can lose salvation if we deliberately, intentionally reject God and His law and have absolutely no regret, no thought of repentance, but only of practicing sin in order to please our carnal selves, our pride, our lust, whatever it might be. And you see, that ties in with what Paul reminds us of in Philippians 2, verse 12. I'll read the section to you, but please jot it down. And so it is that Paul reminds us in Philippians 2, verse 12, to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. If we don't keep struggling against sin, fighting it, practicing repentance, and seeking God's forgiveness, and then continuing on forward, enduring, fighting sin in our lives, we'll give in to sin, and sin will reign over us.

And so, again, as I said earlier, we only have but two choices as to who or what we allow to reign in our lives. Our carnal self, which yearns for the ways of sin, which equal death, or Jesus Christ, the way to eternal life. God will help us to reign over sin. That is certain. That is His promise. But we must also be actively engaged. We have to be involved in the process. As Paul said, we have to work out our own salvation. You ever done a workout?

I hate workouts. You have to sweat. You have to put some energy into it. You have to move. You have to do something. You just can't think about it. You have to be active. We have to be active in working out our own salvation. We have our part. And Paul said, with fear and trembling.

So how to reign over sin?

God will help us reign over sin. We must be actively engaged. So what must we be doing? Romans. Back in Romans 6. We read this earlier. I'd like to read it again. In Romans 6, verse 12-13, Paul offers an answer. And that's what we're going to be looking at more closely in the remainder of the sermon. Paul's admonition in verse 12-13 of Romans 6 provides us helpful instruction on what you, what I, what we must be doing. Again, verse 12, Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lust. And do not present your members. Members refers to our bodies, our hands, our feet, our eyes, our ears, our tongues. Don't give them in to sin. Don't follow temptation. Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. In other words, we can, we must practice self-control. We can control our decisions. We can control much of what we do. It takes effort. God helps us, and we can do it.

We know not to allow sin to reign in us, to dominate, to enslave us again to sin and death, but how? How do we keep that from happening? I'd like to give us some keys, several keys.

The first key that can help us prevent sin from reigning in our lives, it's fundamental, it's foundational. Key number one, study God's word and believe and do what God instructs.

Study God's word and believe and do what God instructs.

Don't take that key and say, oh, I know that. Great! I know it, too. The point is, do we do it? That's the workout part. So, yes, we must study God's Scripture continually to know what God says. How do we know how to live our lives? How do we know what sin is, what righteousness is, if we only have a vague understanding of God, if we don't really understand what He's talking about, if we don't really dig in, if we don't do more than listen to a message or two on the Sabbath, if that's all we're getting from God's Bible once a week, it's not enough.

If we're talking about spiritual food, you're going to starve. We don't want to starve. We need to be studying God's word, digging into it, learning what God wants us to know how to live. Only God's Scripture gives us true life-saving instruction, true guidance, true wisdom. Are you going to find those things anywhere else? Nope. You may think it. You won't. We must believe and do what God says to receive His gift of salvation. Yes, we must know and keep God's Ten Commandments. We must be teaching our children. We must be living them as examples to our children. They have to see God's commandments, God's way of life, in action, especially from parents and especially from everyone they associate with, especially, we would say, in a congregation. Keep God's commandments. They are His law of love. They are words unto true life, eternal life, and we need to be striving to keep them to their full spiritual intent. And only God's word defines what sin is. Only God's word defines that breaking them is sin. 1 John chapter 3 verse 4. Many of you are familiar? Maybe not all of you. Let's assume nothing. We must not take lightly the words of 1 John 3-4. This is God's definition from Scripture of sin. 1 John 3-4, whoever commits whoever does this, whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. You break God's law. You don't do what He says. And so, you see, we don't have to guess what sin is, but believe and do what God says.

Many years ago, I shouldn't probably tell myself, many years ago, we had a... what was it called?

A campus Christian group come through. This is before... this is when God was calling me, I guess. I'm sure He was. But this Campus Crusaders for Christ or something like that came through. And I had a little bit of wisdom, and I was being smart aleck, and so I asked him, what is sin? Can you define what sin is? As if I really knew. I'd read the Scripture, and I shouldn't have treated God's Word like that, thunking people on the head with it.

They didn't know. They said, well, it's just a bad feeling. It's when you feel bad about something you've sinned, and you need to turn away from that. Well, I didn't get an argument or anything. I didn't push it, but, you know, I felt, well, I know what it is. But as we often know, is it enough to know? No. You have to do. And that's where I've been trying to catch up for many, many years now. I mean, I still am learning how to keep God's law like all of us are.

We don't have to guess what sin is, but believe and do what God says. We also must not take lightly the words of 1 John 3.4. You might see it in the next column in your Bible. 1 John, 2 John 2, there I go, 1 John 2, 1 John 2, 1 John 2, verse 15 through 17.

My eyes skipped. 1 John 2, 15 through 17. Here's something else. We cannot fall in love with the world. We can love God, but we're not supposed to love the world.

We must put to heart 1 John 2, 15 through 17. Another powerful set of scriptures we really need to memorize. You really need to not just memorize, but really know and know what it means.

Here John writes, do not love the world or the things in the world. And there are more things in this world than ever, it seems, that wants our attention, that wants our love. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away. It's going by. It's going by. And the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever. Notice again, he who does, who's working out his salvation, who is doing God's will, he abides forever.

And so again, we certainly cannot rely on the world's morality. We can't define on the laws of the world to define for us what is sin. I don't even think they use the word sin.

We can't let the world define for us what is good or evil.

And at the same time, we cannot depend upon our own selves, either. We can't trust our own hearts and minds to define what sin is.

We can say that and know that because of what we're told in Jeremiah 17.9, right? Jeremiah 17.9, please jot that down. We're told because we don't know.

But God tells us through Jeremiah, the heart is deceitful above all things. All things!

And desperately wicked.

We don't want to trust our own judgment. We need to be going to the Scripture. Only God's Word tells us the way to salvation. Only God's Word tells us how to live the way that pleases Him. Only God's Word tells us what sin is. So we must study and know God's Holy Scripture. We must believe and do what God instructs. That's key one. Number two, strengthen ourselves in the ways of God. Yes, we need to remain in constant contact with God through prayer, reflecting upon His Word, thinking of how we can do a better job of keeping it. Through Scripture and the gift of His Holy Spirit, God will help us live His law and ways, and provide us the means of self-control to help us control ourselves better, help us fight sin better, or temptations better. For that, we must stay close to God and truly and humbly, sincerely seek Him, seek His help, because our strength is not enough. We are weak. He is strong. Let's turn back again as a reminder, because I keep a bookmark there in Romans 8. We'll be coming back in Romans 8, eventually, the Book of Romans. Let's look at Psalm 119. Before I get too far ahead of myself. Psalm 119, please. There's a reference here.

Psalm 119, and we're turning to verses 132 to 135. A few more digits in the work we're used to writing, aren't we? Psalm 119 verses 132 through 135.

Like the psalmist, we must always seek God's merciful help, so sin will not dominate us. Here, look what the psalmist says. Of course, we think of it as a song, but it's really prayer. It's also prayer. Verse 132, Look upon me and be merciful to me, speaking to God, as your custom is toward those who love you. You see that? This is God's way. It's called a custom, but this is just the way God is. It's His way of life. As your custom is toward those who love you, direct my steps by your word, and let no iniquity, no sin, have dominion over me. Redeem me from the oppression of man, that I may keep your precepts. Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.

If you go back to verse 134, notice that phrase, the oppression of man. Oftentimes, you might think the oppression of man is some enemy. Somebody's just making life miserable for us.

That phrase, oppression of man, could also refer to sin. Sin and its oppressive dominion of our human lives. Sin oppresses us. Sin oppresses humanity. Only through God and Christ can we be delivered from sin's domination. Romans 13, verse 11 through 14. Paul tells us here to wake up, refuse the works of darkness, and armor ourselves with the light of Christ. Look what he says here. Romans 13, verse 11. This is part of the idea of putting on the strength of God. Romans 13, 11. And do this, knowing the time that now it is high time to wake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. And isn't that true? Verse 12. The night is far spent, the day is at hand, the time of Christ's return is approaching. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. I love that. The armor of light. Paul's reference to the armor of light takes us to the armor of God, which he also talks about. Ephesians 6, verse 14. Let's turn there real quick. Ephesians 6, verse 14 through 18. There Paul writes, Stand therefore, having girded your waste with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shodged your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. All of them. Even those temptations that may come. Verse 17, Take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. Yeah, just not for ourselves, we're praying, but for everybody, for all whom God is working with and calling. To reject sin's domination, we must be armed with these very aspects of Christ. We must be armed with truth, righteousness, the gospel, the gospel of the kingdom of God, faith, salvation, the word of God, and prayer. Through Christ, we have the means of reigning over sin, but only if we put his way of life, God's way of life, into practice. We must be choosing God's way, not the carnal, worldly ways. Number three, key number three, resist temptation. Resist temptation. Let's go to James chapter 1, verse 13 through 15. James 1, verse 13 through 15 tells us how our sinful desires arouse temptation in us, which entices us to acts of sin, of lawlessness against God.

James 1, verse 13, let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God.

For God cannot be tempted by evil, and nor does he himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. In other words, when we give into temptation, it gives birth to sin. What a monstrous birth that is. And sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. If we keep practicing that sin, we don't try to control it. It will bring us death. It'll put us back into slavery to sin and death. Notice temptation itself is not sin. Temptation is not sin. The sin occurs when we give into temptation and act upon it. We take action, whatever it might be, and that action means we're breaking God's law. So what this information that God has provided us here provides us a practical way to rule over sin. That way is to resist temptation. If we don't give into temptation, we cut off the action of sin.

Now resisting temptation, from my own experiences, it can be very difficult. It can be very difficult, again, because our nature is weak. No matter how much we know to do right, and we want to do right, even as Paul says in Romans, our nature is weak. And sometimes we create it. We give into sin. But God gives us the strength we lack. God gives us the desire to please Him. And what God gives us is strength so that we can resist temptation more than we might think possible. But we really have to try hard. We have to try harder, most often, to fight temptation. Again, Romans 13, verses 13 through 14. Romans 13, verses 13 through 14. Aren't you glad I told you to keep a bookmark there? Romans 13, now 13-14. We must make up our minds to walk with God, and then do our best to do it. Romans 13-13, let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness. Those are temptations. Not in lewdness and lust. Those are temptations. And not in strife and envy. Those are temptations. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust, to fulfill those temptations, those wrong desires.

Galatians 5, verse 16 through 17. Paul says something very similar, a little bit differently. In Galatians 5, verse 16 through 17, Paul again urges us to resist temptation. Here, he says, by walking according to God's Holy Spirit. Galatians 5, 16, I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. Do you remember those old cartoons? Little guy over here, dressed in white, a little guy over here, pointy hat and tail. It's a cartoon, but it represented that tug of war between doing what's right and wrong, between giving it to temptation and resisting it. A little word picture. So what we learn is that when we're tempted to sin, we can resist temptation. We can exert some self-control over ourselves. When we do that, that is pleasing God.

So we can, instead of giving into sin, here's some examples, instead of giving into temptation to resist it, when we're tempted to do something we know is wrong and sinful, do a good work, such as praying to God. When tempted, pray to God for strength. We don't have enough at that point. We need His help. Something I learned from God's ministers many years ago have been so helpful to me, and I keep passing this on. When severely tempted, start thanking God for everything you can think of. Our carnal nature, Satan, hates gratitude towards God. My experience is when I start thanking God for everything, even for the trials and tough times, it lifts my spirits. It gives me strength against what's ever weighing on me, tempting me.

Another thing we can do to resist temptation at this point is do something fruitful, do something good and righteous. Something as simple as helping maybe a neighbor across the street carrying packages. You see they're struggling, go help them. That's a good work.

Give someone a call to brighten their day. We all need to be cheered up.

Or perhaps finally sit down to write that note of encouragement we've been meaning to do. Do the good thing. That will help us resist temptation. 1 Peter 2, verse 11, gives us something else.

At times the best way to resist temptation is to abstain from whatever tempts us. 1 Peter 2, verse 11, we get this principle here. 1 Peter 2, verse 11, Peter writes, Be loved, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims, we're heading to an eternal home, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, temptations, which war against the soul, which war against our lives. 2 Peter 2, verse 11, So if alcohol is our weakness, avoid it. Don't keep it in our house.

Avoid restaurants where there's a bar.

Avoid it. That's abstaining. Now I'm going to step on to this.

If social media is our obsession, then limit our time online. If you know you have a problem, you're kind of addicted to, oh, someone just texted me. Someone just texted me. I'm talking to myself sometimes. If social media is our obsession, then limit our time online. Put away the iPhone or whatever you carry. Can you put it away for a while? Can you turn it off? Abstain from it if that's your challenge.

If the news media if the news media gets us all riled up, gets us angry for what it reports, or if it gets us all depressed, it depresses me sometimes, then we need to abstain from it.

Don't watch so much. I've had to tell some very close friends I know, family I know, don't watch it so much. Don't, yes, I know we need to be aware of what's going on, but don't watch so much. Cut back. Abstain.

See, we don't want to be tempted into anger, into hate. Those are sins as well.

Sometimes we might actually need to run away from temptation. We find that principle in 1 Corinthians 6, 18.

1 Corinthians 6, 18. These principles can be practiced on however old you are or young you are to understand we can all be practicing these things. 1 Corinthians 6, 18. Here's the principle. Here Paul writes, flee sexual immorality. It means to run away from it. I tail it out of there. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. The point I'm looking at here is this idea of a fleeing from a terribly strong and deadly temptation. Certain temptations are certainly deadly, as Paul says here. Sexual immorality, pornography. Sometimes it seems like so much of television now is really soft porn. Medium porn? It's hardly soft anymore. Some of it. It's hard to watch anything anymore. Temptations like this are best treated as something immediately deadly to us, and so they are spiritually. Running from temptation, quickly distancing ourselves from the temptation literally and figuratively can be most successful in keeping us from sin. The fourth key, this final key, practice repentance and living faith in Christ's sacrifice.

We've talked about this one already. Practice repentance and living faith in Christ's sacrifice. As I stated earlier, the most effective means to reign over sin is to practice repentance and faith in Christ's sacrifice. When temptation gets the best of us, we have to practice repentance and act upon it. In sin, then we must sincerely repent before God. Confess to Him our sins. Be brutally honest. Confess our sins to God and seek His forgiveness through faith in Christ's sacrifice. Because we are now slaves of righteousness and of God, God will forgive us. Romans 8, verse 12 through 18. Romans 8, verse 12 through 14. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh, 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. It's a promise. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. Children of God. When we submit to God, we can put to death the deeds of this flesh and rule over sin. The sooner we practice repentance, the better, because our sins will not be removed any other way. Our sins will not go away with the passage of time. It may seem like it because you don't worry about it as much. You may feel a little better because, it's been a few days and weeks since I did that. But our sins do not go away with the passage of time. We're deceiving ourselves. Our sins will not go away just because we don't think about them.

Our sins will not go away no matter how many other good doing deeds we do.

That does not remove sin. Doing those things allows sin to reign in our lives, but we mustn't allow that. We have to repent because we need to be in God's kingdom. It's our need now. We need to be in God's kingdom. We need to be forever with God and Christ in the New Jerusalem, the city of God.

Where we don't want to be is on the outside of God's city because of our sins. Let's look quickly at Romans 22. We don't want to be outside the New Jerusalem.

Revelation 22, 14, 15. Blessed are those who do His commandments. They are not sinning. They are not practicing sin. Blessed are those who do His commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs. Dogs was a slang term back then. Apparently, it referred to people of impure minds, sinful people that were wicked. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters. And whoever loves and practices a lie. We know who the Father of lies is.

Those who willfully refuse, you see, to repent of their sinful ways will not be in the kingdom of God. They will not live forever. It is most urgent that we reign over sin in our lives by practicing repentance and living faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ so that we might reign forever with God.

These are then our four keys in how to reign over sin in our lives.

Now we know. Now we know. We understand why and how we must rule over sin.

To reign with Christ in the kingdom, we must reign over sin in us now, as long as we draw breath. We must rule over the self. Now listen carefully what I'm going to say here. We must rule over self, that realm, that little realm that I land, called me.

If we can rule over ourselves, control sin, we can reign with Christ in the kingdom. Can't do it alone. We have to go to God and Christ for help. We can do it. They're helping us. And as I conclude, let me paint a word picture for you.

So we need to reign over the I land, called me.

So if our feet would run riot into the lawlessness of sin, we must command them halt and quick-step them straight back toward God. If our hands itch—you ever get itchy hands? If our hands itch to work mischief and cause harm, we must direct them to good and selfless works to do.

If our eyes gaze with longing desire towards wickedness, we must set them back toward God in His righteousness.

If our tongue—that powerful little member—if our tongue would brag, speak lies, or lash out in hate, we must subdue it behind the double-barred gates of our teeth and lips. Keep our mouth shut.

And if our heart and mind would linger amidst dark and festering places, those dark and festering places where bitter regrets and old hurts dwell, we must reign them back to God's lightsome realm of faith and forgiveness, gratitude, and love.

We can resist temptation. We can rule over sin in our lives. And we do when we exercise faith in our Savior and soon-coming King Jesus Christ and seek the forgiveness of our Heavenly Father, the Most High God. And so, brethren, let's reign over sin. Let's reign over sin in us, and let's be ready to reign in the kingdom of God.