How to Overcome Sin

I'm sure remember and nice to be back here just after the last day of Unleavened Bread.

Although the days of Unleavened Bread for 2012 have now passed, the need to put spiritual leaven out and our need to become unleavened spiritually has certainly not passed. We can now begin eating physical leaven. In fact, if any of you had any leaven yet, has anyone here? Oh, a few of you got right out there, didn't you? See, I must be more righteous. Just kidding, of course. But I haven't had any leaven yet, but I'm kind of looking forward to it, but not in a spiritual way, just in a physical way. We can now begin eating physical leaven, but it is not okay to start sinning again.

Hopefully we stop sinning, and hopefully we'll never start again.

Seriously, we must carry on and practice the lessons that we are to learn from the Passover and the days of Unleavened Bread throughout the remainder of this year. In fact, for the remainder of our lives, you know, we have 43 days leading up to God's next annual Holy Day. 43 days. That's seven Sabbaths counting today, between now and Pentecost. Of course, Pentecost falling on a Sunday. So we have 43 days in which to practice these lessons in a special way. It's still fresh in our minds, so we need to establish some good habits. So I'm going to help you do that today.

I would like to help you in focusing your life spiritually, not only for the next 43 days, but for the rest of your lives. So this is going to be a how-to sermon. Now, I find that a lot of people like how-to sermons. Sometimes they think ministers just go on and on and on, pontificating and so forth, but never really tell us how to do anything. So today I'm going to attempt...

No, I'm not going to attempt. I'm going to actually accomplish it. I'm going to show you how to overcome sin. Now, the rest is up to you, but I'm going to show you how to overcome sin today. Now, in Revelation 2 and 3, the instruction and, frankly, the warning regarding overcoming is very clear. We're expected to overcome. And overcoming sin in our lives is certainly one of the major focuses we need to have as we see the day of Christ's return approaching. You don't need to go to the book of Revelation, but I'll just rehearse briefly what it says in chapter 2 and 3 about overcoming. It's written to the churches, to the various church eras.

It says that, "'To he who overcomes will eat from the tree of life.'" We all want to eat from the tree of life, don't we? "'To he who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.'" None of us want to die the second death. "'To he who overcomes will eat Christ's hidden manna and will be given a new name.'" That's pretty exciting, too, to eat hidden manna that Christ has for us and be given a new name.

"'Those who overcome will be given power over the nations.'" They will rule and reign with Christ.

"'Those who overcome will be clothed in white raiment, showing the purity of the saints.' And their names will not be blotted out from the Book of Life. Those who overcome." It also says that they will be pillars in God's temple, those who overcome. And it says they will sit with Christ on His throne. So, some very wonderful and exciting things and beautiful rewards for those who overcome. We know the Scripture says, "'He who endures to the end, the same shall be saved.'" Overcoming certainly does include enduring to the end. It's not always going to be easy, but we do need to endure to the end. And we also need to be overcoming sin. So, are you great at overcoming sin in your life? Would you say that you're great at doing that? I think none of us would say that we're great. At it, we would all like to be great at overcoming sin. I hope to help you get a little bit better at overcoming sin in your life. I'm sure we would all agree that we could do better, right? We're all, you're all with me on that. Okay, so today I'd like to give you seven steps to overcoming sin with a final, vitally important eighth step to conclude the process of overcoming sin.

Now, you'll find that these steps are fairly basic for the most part. Probably nothing you haven't heard before. But I really believe if you will practice these seven, yes, eight steps, then you will certainly improve in overcoming sin. The first one is pray daily for spiritual strength to overcome. Make it a point to pray daily for strength to overcome sin. Have you been doing that every day? If you haven't, you can do better. Pray daily for spiritual strength to overcome. Let's go to Matthew 6. Matthew 6. Now, you're quite familiar with these verses that we're going to read now. It's the model prayer. It's the prayer that Christ gave to his disciples and told them to pray in this manner. In verse 9, he says, pray in this manner, Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and do not lead us into temptation. So that's what I want you to be praying daily. Father, help me overcome sin. Deliver me from temptation. Get God actively involved in helping deliver you from temptation. We all need to be delivered from temptation. Now, I find myself, and I'm sure this is true with all people, that there are times when we don't really pray like we should before we sin, but we're compelled to pray after we've sinned.

Now, wouldn't it make a lot more sense to pray fervently before you sin so that you don't have to pray about that anyway after you sin? You don't have to ask for forgiveness if you haven't sinned. But you know, the human flesh, the carnal mind wants what it wants. And so there are times when we will find ourselves obviously sinning and needing to ask for forgiveness, and we'll get to that later. But now, let's be sure to pray every day, God, please deliver me from temptation.

Deliver me from temptation. Satan is out there. He's a roaring lion. He is seeking whom he can devour. He will try to devour you spiritually, believe me. And right after the Days of Eleven Bread, trust me, he is intent on getting our focus off of these days, off of overcoming sin, and on to doing his bidding. We are servants to whom we obey. And when we sin, we are Satan's servants. We are not being God's servants when we sin. We are Satan's servants. We are doing his bidding. So, brethren, pray daily for spiritual strength to overcome.

Get serious about praying every day for God's help. We need God's help. We shouldn't try to take Satan on all by ourselves, should we? God, deliver me from temptation. A second step is to read and study God's Word daily for spiritual strength to overcome. Think about that when you're reading the Bible. Think about the spiritual strength that you can gain from reading and studying God's Word. There is spiritual strength in this book. This book that I have in my hands is a very powerful book. It's unlike any other book that's ever been written.

It's written by a number of authors, but it's inspired by one God. And it is extremely powerful. In fact, it tells us it is in Hebrews chapter 4. And I certainly believe this, and we need to go in faith. When we study the Word of God, we need to believe that God will give us spiritual strength by the things that we read and the things that we study.

It will help us become stronger and more faithful people. So in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12, For the Word of God is living and powerful. It is sharper than any two-edged sword. You know, a two-edged sword is sharp on both sides. And why is that? So it can do the most damage.

You know, when somebody's swinging a two-edged sword, anything that gets in its way is going to get a sharp edge. They're not going to get a blunt edge. They're going to get a sharp edge. They're going to get a sharp edge, and it's going to be destructive. It's going to be powerful. Now, certainly God's Word is powerful and strong.

It's stronger than any two-edged sword that could do great damage. Of course, the Bible does just the opposite of damage. It gives us great strength. It does great goodness in our lives. So it is sharper than any two-edged sword. It's piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow. So it's contrasting the physical and the flesh. It will give us strength in both ways, to be stronger physically, to be stronger spiritually.

And it is a discerner. There are things in the Bible that will help you be stronger physically, help you be healthier. If you practice what is written in the Bible, you'll even be stronger physically. You'll take care of your body in better ways. You'll eat more healthy. You'll do certain things that will help you in physical as well as spiritual ways. And it is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Now we are told to examine ourselves before Passover, and we did examine ourselves. We looked at ourselves. We saw that we certainly fall short of God's glory.

We do need God's forgiveness. We do need the sacrifice of Christ. We need that Passover lamb. Sacrifice for us. It is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. So when we read the Bible, we should be looking for correction. We should be looking for things that we need to change in our lives. We should, again, look for spiritual strength to overcome. When we read an example in the Bible, we should apply it to ourselves. Am I like Joshua? Do I have the courage that Joshua has?

Is that how I live my life? Am I like Samuel? Do I have the faith that Samuel showed at times in the Bible? Or am I a little too much like somebody else that isn't behaving properly? Because we have good and bad examples in the Bible. They're all given for our admonition that we might learn. So the Word of God is living and it's powerful. It is living. So we need to be sure that we're studying it daily.

If we miss a day, for whatever reason, I don't know that you can ever make it back up. But you can study a little bit more the next day. But try not to miss a single day in studying God's Word. Even if you only have five or ten minutes that day because of something really pressing, most of us can find some time and we should try to find some adequate time, some good quality time to study our Bibles. In Hebrews chapter 5, the writer of Hebrews, most likely the Apostle Paul, he says, we ought to be teachers. That's what he's saying to you and me. He says this to the people who read the book of Hebrews, the ones that he wrote to close to 2,000 years ago. But he's also writing to us. Notice verse 12, Hebrews chapter 5 verse 12, For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. God says we should become skilled. That means we need to know what the Bible says. We need to write God's laws in our hearts and in our minds. And we need to be able to use the Bible. We need to be able to wield it like a sword, a two-edged sword, but in a right way, to help others understand God's truth, to give us strength, to empower us.

Notice verse 14, But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, those who are mature spiritually, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. We need to study the Bible so we know the difference between good and evil. God is the one that reveals that to us. We're not to lean to our own understanding, but we are to find the truth in God's Word. So we should be mature spiritually by studying the Word of God, by using the Word of God properly. In fact, in 2 Timothy 2, it says we should be diligent. 2 Timothy 2, Paul is telling Timothy that we need to be diligent in studying the Word of God. Timothy was a young minister. This was instruction to him as well as to us. 2 Timothy 2, verse 15, Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, one who rightly divides the Word of truth. Rightly dividing the Word of truth, it means understanding the Word of God and using it properly. Again, not leaning to our own understanding, but seeing that the Bible interprets itself and knowing exactly what that interpretation is because God reveals it to us. He helps us rightly divide the Word of Truth, but Shon profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. He's saying, put your nose in the Bible, not be so concerned with what people say.

People babble on about this or that or the other thing and constantly going on and on. We should be more interested in what the Bible says than what other people say, and not be as concerned about profane and idle babblings. He says their message will spread like cancer. He mentions a few that were like that. We need to be careful that we are studying the Word of God and looking to the Word of God for our direction and our guidance in our lives. We are expected to be diligent in our study of God's Word, rightly dividing God's truth and using it properly for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Isn't that what Paul also says in the book of Timothy? We're to use the Scriptures in that way. It was obviously talking about the Old Testament Scriptures. The New Testament builds on the Old Testament. We're to live by every Word of God, so we should study both the Old and the New Testament. Focus also on Scriptures in the Bible. In fact, do specific studies that will address your specific spiritual weaknesses. You know that you have certain weaknesses in areas that others may not have. You know where your weaknesses are better than I do. You know yourself well. God knows you better than you know. So if you're not sure, then ask God to reveal to you these things. But I know some things that I have to be on guard for. Ways that Satan will try to tempt me. Ways where I'm weaker than in other areas of my life. So it's wise to do a study on those areas. So if you have a tendency to gossip, for example, just throw in one thing out here. If you have a tendency... and by the way, I would like to see you after services. And you as well. Alright, so if you have a problem with gossip, then there are scriptures in the Bible that talk about gossip. You know, there are a number of scriptures that talk about not gossiping. Those scriptures you should study and even put those to memory. So that they will pop up quickly, lest you be tempted. Lest you get together with a group of people and they start gossiping. And then, you know, your ears start itching. And you begin to want to put... throw something out. Rather than putting a stop to the gossip, you encourage it. So if that's a problem that you have, then do a study on that. Or if it's a problem with lust, there are scriptures about lust or covetousness. And study those scriptures and then make some scripture cards of your own in those areas and read them over. By the way, the scripture cards have not yet come in, but when they do, I'm sure we'll get those to you. I've been looking for them each day, hoping they would come this week so I could get them passed out, but they haven't arrived yet. So do some Bible studies on your specific spiritual weaknesses. Analyze and examine yourself. Again, identify your major temptations and then strive to do something about it. And again, asking for God's help. Praying about it. Pray about your spiritual weaknesses that God will help you overcome those specific spiritual weaknesses. Okay, let's go on to a third step. So we've talked about prayer, we've talked about Bible study. The third step is to practice meditation on a daily basis for spiritual strength to overcome. You know, don't let your mind just wander aimlessly, but meditate on ways that you can overcome. Think about it. You know, dwell upon it. When you study the scriptures, then think on what you've just read. Meditate on the things that you've just read. In Philippians 4, it gives us instruction regarding meditation. Meditation is something a Christian should be practicing. Much more could be said about meditation than the time I have in this sermon today.

But it gives us some basics here in Philippians 4. Meditate on these things. Finally, brethren, Paul says, and whenever he says finally, that means I'm going to kind of summarize things and give you some really important points, so pay attention. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, then meditate on these things.

So what is he telling you not to do, then? He's telling you not to meditate on just the opposite of those things. If there's something that's false, if there's something that's less than noble, something that's shabby, tawdry, don't meditate on those things. Meditate not on those things that are unjust in the world, but meditate on the things that are positive and right and good. It doesn't mean we ignore negative things, but the majority of our time should be spent meditating on positive things, things that are lovely, not ugly and lousy things.

You know, otherwise we start thinking that way. We also get depressed. It bothers us. So think on things that are good and that are pure and lovely that are right, things that are of good report. Don't meditate on how bad someone is. You know, is that healthy for your mind? It'll make you more angry, won't it, Mr. Jackson? Don't meditate on those things. Don't think about those things, but meditate on things that are praise-worthy, things that are worthy of praise. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do.

So Paul was setting himself up as an example. Here he knew he wasn't perfect, but he really was striving to follow God and to set an example for the people in Philippi. And he did say, follow me as I follow Christ. And that's what any minister should tell you. Follow me as I follow Christ. If I'm not following Christ, then certainly don't follow me. Oppose me if I'm not following Christ. You know, maybe do it gently so I can hopefully change and not get stubborn and all of that. But these are things that we need to be practicing. Meditation is something we should practice.

You can meditate on decisions that you need to make. You know, if I make a certain decision, how is that going to help a situation? Or if I make the other a different decision, how is that going to help? Or how is it going to hurt? Now, I remember back in college, one of our professors told us that students were poor at consequential reasoning.

That many students were very poor at consequential reasoning. In other words, think about the consequences of something before you do it, not afterward. That's good advice. You know, think about what is going to happen to you if you do this thing or what could happen to you. And don't play Russian roulette. You know, be careful about these things. So, think about consequences. What will be the consequences of the action that I'm about to take or what I'm considering doing? If you're being tempted to do something that's wrong, think about the consequences. You know, stop for a moment and think about, well, what are the consequences if I do this? First of all, I've sinned against God and I've broken His holy law.

But besides that, what kind of repercussions could it have on me or could it have on my family? How is it going to affect my life? Think about those things. Meditate on those things. So, the third step is to practice meditation. Practice meditation on a regular basis, daily. I mean, we think, you know, we're practicing meditation every single day, throughout the day, but we don't even think about it, do we? But we're meditating as we go through the day. As we're driving the car, we're meditating on something. So now you have a little better instruction on what to meditate on, what to think about. So try to bring your thoughts into captivity. We'll talk about that pretty soon. Let's go on to the step number four.

Okay, so we've talked about praying daily, studying the Bible daily, meditating daily. Now let's talk about fasting daily. Oh, we're not going to fast daily, are we?

If we fasted daily, we may not live too long. So we can't, you know, we obviously can't fast daily, but we could fast regularly. And you have to be the judge of what regularly means. But fast regularly for spiritual strength to overcome. And I guarantee that fasting is one of the greatest spiritual tools. I've given sermons on fasting. I don't know if I've given them here or not. Does anyone recall if I've given a sermon on fasting here? Okay, well, I'll have to give one of those I've given on fasting. Fast regularly for spiritual strength to overcome is the most, perhaps, one of the, it may be the most powerful tool of all. When we fast, because we're also going to be praying, we're going to be studying, we're going to be meditating, because we're going to dedicate a 24-hour period to not eating and to being more spiritually minded and spiritually oriented. So fasting is a very spiritual, spiritually powerful tool. Now, we're all familiar with Matthew 4 when Satan came to Christ to tempt him. Now, what did Christ do in preparation? Fasted 40 days and 40 nights. He knew that God was leading him to do this to fast 40 days, 40 nights. He was preparing himself spiritually. Satan came to tempt Christ.

Christ was strong. He was spiritually strong. He was always strong spiritually. In fact, in Luke, it says that Satan left him after the temptation looking for an opportune time. Okay, that was his, that was what Satan was planning on doing. He was going to come back at an opportune time like he does with you and me. You know, Satan will try to tempt you, and if he's not successful, he will come back at an opportune time. And that's when you're spiritually weak. And that's when you haven't been praying, and you haven't been studying, and you haven't been fasting, and you haven't been applying yourself like you probably should. Then Satan will come back, and he will find an opportune time. Of course, with Jesus Christ, he never found an opportune time. There never was an opportune time with Jesus Christ, because Christ was always spiritually strong. Christ set the perfect example for us. He never sinned. He was tempted in every point as we are, yet without sin. So Christ set the example for us.

He fasted, certainly when he knew there was a great temptation coming, but he fasted at other times throughout his life. He also said that his disciples would fast. Remember the Pharisees came and said, Why aren't your disciples fasting? He said, Well, I'm here with them. The bridegroom's with them now, but when I'm gone, in other words, after I've been crucified and go onto the third heaven with the Father at his right hand, then my disciples will fast. So we are his disciples, and we are supposed to fast. Now, he couldn't have possibly meant just on atonement, could he? Because they were already fasting on atonement. I mean, that was something his disciples were doing every year. They were fasting on atonement, and the Pharisees knew that. So they were talking about at other times. So it shouldn't just be the day of atonement when we fast. There should be other times throughout the year that we fast. And I know it's not the easiest thing to do for us. And if we're older and our health is fragile, then we have to obviously be more careful, and we may not be able to fast. Perhaps not even all day long. You know, that's a choice that a person has to make between them and God, and whether or not they can successfully fast without putting themselves in the hospital. So, and those are things that you can go to God with personally, and God understands the frailty of human life. And God's very merciful in understanding. We shouldn't make excuses, but if it's a valid point, a valid reason, then we have to be careful about fasting when we're not physically capable and able to do that. But those of us who are strong and healthy should fast more often. You know, we should start getting in a better habit of fasting. Planning our fasts. And I know that's one of the last things we want to do is sit down and plan to fast. Like every two weeks, or once a month, or once every two months, or whatever it is you want to do. You know, that's not what human beings just relish doing. But you know, if you put it on the calendar and you did it, it would probably help you do it. It probably, you know, gets you started, gets you moving. Now in Matthew 17, and let's go there. You're familiar with this account in the book of Matthew, as well as other gospel accounts similar to it. Matthew chapter 17.

Matthew chapter 17. Let's notice verse 14, and when they had come to the multitude, a man came to him, kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic, and suffers severely, for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to me. And Jesus rebuked the demon. It was a demon that this person had. It wasn't just a chemical imbalance. In this case, it was a demon. And Christ rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour. Now, whether it had epilepsy, I don't know. I mean, it says moonstruck in the margin of my Bible, so I don't know exactly what that means. All I know is that he had a demon. That's what I know from the scriptures. Now, there may be a medical term that's epilepsy that is a chemical balance and things that, you know, can be dealt with chemically. But in this particular case, this was a demon. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, Why could we not cast it out? Why couldn't we cast out that demon when that father came to us? So Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief. That's why you don't have the faith. Your faith wasn't strong enough.

For assuredly I say to you, If you have faith as a mustard seed, you'll say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. So it's talking about prayer and fasting ahead of time. Being spiritually strong, being able to call out to God, and He'll answer. You know, it does make a difference to God whether we're praying and fasting. I mean, this is proof. There are certain things that God just isn't going to get involved in unless He sees we're doing our part through prayer and fasting. Now, we don't always know God's will, and sometimes God may not intervene even when we are praying and fasting. Remember, David fasted, and he prayed, and God said the answer was no, and the child died. You know, remember that account. But David did his part, and then he accepted God's answer. And that's the example we should follow. We should do our part through prayer and fasting, and then take the answer that God gives us. So there are certain things that we will be able to do through prayer and fasting that we are not able to do otherwise.

We will become stronger spiritually if we apply ourselves more faithfully to this principle.

So fast regularly for spiritual strength to overcome and make it a good fast. You know, the Bible talks about fast that we're not effective because they weren't done for the right reasons, and the Pharisees fasted twice a week, but those were not effective fasts. Those were not the kind of fast that God's talking about. We should fast to draw closer to God and to humble ourselves and to pray for forgiveness for our sins and to help us see ourselves more fully, help us to become more service-minded and service-oriented. And there are many wonderful things that we can do when we fast and develop a closer relationship with God through fasting.

The fifth step to overcoming sin is to make no provision for the flesh.

Make no provision for the flesh, and you will automatically overcome. If you don't make any provision for the flesh, then you're not going to walk in the flesh. See, we make provision for the flesh too many times, don't we? We often make provision for the flesh. In fact, we're looking to fill up our senses. If it feels good, do it. You know, instead of making no provision for the flesh, we provide for the flesh. We provide a way. You know, if we're honest with ourselves, we go out of our way sometimes to provide for the flesh. And we almost make it our goal, you know? And when we get in a certain frame of mind, that's exactly what we're doing. And we should not be that way. We should make no provision. We should not provide for the flesh. Romans 13. Romans chapter 13. Verse 11. And do this, knowing the time that now it is high time. Remember, Paul said this 2,000 years ago, nearly 2,000 years ago. Paul said it is high time because Paul knew human nature. Paul knew the frailty of a human being. He knew that none of us live forever. We're all subject to death. We could die tomorrow. We could die tonight.

So it's always high time for individuals. I mean, and of course, Paul thought Christ was probably going to return sooner, much sooner than he did at this point when he wrote this. But regardless, it is true. It is high time to awake out of sleep. It's talking about spiritual slumber and spiritual sleep. It's time to awake out of that sleep. For now, our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

Paul came to understand things a lot differently when he came to know Christ. It's closer than what we first believed. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness. He's saying, put sin out of your life. Learn the lessons of the days of Unleavened Bread. Cast off the works of darkness, the works of the flesh, envy and strife. These are things that we should cast off. The Bible tells us to put those things off. Malice and anger is one of the things that we're supposed to put off. And lust and covetousness and every type of evil, all the works of the flesh, cast those things off and let us put on the armor of light. Christ is the light of the world and Christ can be our armor. Christ can protect us from this world. Let us walk properly, as in the day when you can see well. You know, when it's daytime, you can see well. You don't need a flashlight because the sun is there to show you the way. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, which typically happens more at night than during the day, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. These are the works of the flesh, jealousy and strife and envy and anger and so forth. But, notice verse 14, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. Make no provision for the flesh. That's a difficult thing, frankly, for us to do because we want to make provision for the flesh. There are times when we want to make provision for the flesh. We want to provide for our flesh so that, again, we can fill up our senses and we can relish in the pleasures of sin. Scripture says there are certain pleasures of sin. There are certain things that bring a certain carnal, physical pleasure, but remember those are temporary. And Moses was wise enough not to go there. All the riches of Egypt were not worth what God had for him. It wasn't worth risking all of that. And the same thing is true for us. It's not worth risking. We shouldn't go there. We shouldn't provide for the flesh. We should pray for strength. I mean, that's when you really need strength. It's when the flesh wants to do something that's evil, that's wrong. It pulls. Remember there's a war. It wars in our members, Paul says. It wars away. There's lust that war away against us, you know, bringing us into subjection, bringing us into captivity to our lusts and to our evil desires. Isn't that what Paul says? Romans chapter 7, I believe. He says the law is holy and just and good. The problem isn't with the law. It's with the people. It's with the people who aren't keeping the law. And he says there's a law of sin in my members. It is powerful. There's no denying it. It's extremely powerful. And only with God's help, and only through applying the steps that we're talking about today and overcoming, then you can have the strength to say no to the flesh. Because Christ is more powerful. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. We make excuses for ourselves.

So make no provision for the flesh. 2 Corinthians 10. And I told you we would talk a bit more about bringing every thought into captivity. I just mentioned how we are brought into captivity through our lusts and our evil desires, our covetousness. We are brought into captivity. We are slaves to whom we obey. Remember Satan? We can become his slave when we obey him.

We should be bringing every thought into captivity. Then we will not have so much problem if we're bringing our thoughts into captivity because our sins start with a thought.

And then we start making plans when we allow that thought to grow within us. When we don't take the thought captive, it means take that thought and imprison it.

Put it away somewhere where it can't hurt you. Go to God. Draw near to God and God will draw near to you. Resist Satan. He will flee from you. And we'll talk more about that in a moment. But bring every thought into captivity. 2 Corinthians 10. 2 Corinthians 10.

2 Corinthians 10.3. For though we walk in the flesh, and this is Paul again writing, he knows a lot about the struggle that we all face, Paul really added to our understanding through the things that he wrote about the flesh. When you think about it, Paul's the one that gives us more understanding in many ways than most other writers when it comes to the flesh. The carnal mind is enmity against God. That's what Paul said.

Paul said a lot of things about the flesh and fighting against the flesh. Verse 3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, are not fleshly, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. So what he's saying is that God has the power. And if we go to God and we access the power of God, then we can pull down strongholds. But what's a stronghold? That's when Satan's got a hold of you. Satan's got a hold of you and you are doing his bidding. He's got you where he wants you. He knows your weaknesses. He's exploiting your weaknesses. It has become a stronghold for him in your life. So he has the stronghold on you. And Paul is saying that when we look to God, then we can have the strength to pull down these strongholds, these addictions that Satan has in us.

Casting down arguments. Okay, now he's talking about our thought processes. You know, we, these are things, let's read it again, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments. Okay, that's, we can also not only pull down these strongholds, but we can cast down arguments and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. So literally anything can be overcome when, when we are using the weapons of our warfare, when we are going to the Spirit. It's the Spirit of God that will allow us to pull down these strongholds. It is the power of God, it's His Spirit that will help us cast down all arguments and every high thing that exalts itself. Satan was filled with pride. He was puffed up with pride. He was leavened with pride. And he wants us to, to have the same tendency. He wants us to be filled with leaven and filled with pride. So he's, what he's saying is this will allow us, when we, when we use the Spirit of God, it will allow us to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, because that's exactly what Christ did. Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit. He was flesh, but He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and His, the Spirit was strong in Him. The Spirit was powerful in Christ. So the Spirit was being stirred up continually by Christ. He was not giving in to sin. He was not giving in to Satan. He was praying. He was fasting. He was studying the Scriptures. He was doing all these things that we're talking about, and He was doing them perfectly. And, and it was, and that is why He was obedient, because He was doing these things. And of course, He was the Son of God, and God was strengthening Him and giving Him power. And then it says, once we do these things, and we bring all of our thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ. So any wrong thought that anything that Christ wouldn't do is something that we need to imprison and not dwell on it. We need to meditate on the good things, right? Not the evil things. You know, if you start meditating on how much you want to do something that's wrong, it won't be long before you're doing it.

And that's a fact. So you've got to grab it and imprison it and hold it captive.

And then if you do that, then you'll be ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Again, it gets down to your attitude and your approach to life. You know, are you humble?

Or do you think you're better than other people? Do you think, you know, you have the right to teach others because you're so spiritual? Do you have that kind of an approach or attitude? What he's saying is, get the plank out of your own eye, then you can see to get the speck out of someone else's eye. So we are to judge righteous judgment. And, you know, when we see sin, we should recognize sin. But we should also see sin in ourselves. So we should be very quick to condemn someone. Should we not? We should, in fact, we should never condemn anyone. That's not our job. We are not there to condemn people. We're actually there to help people, and we'll get to that point as we go on. So the fifth point is make no provision for the flesh, and you will automatically overcome. If you don't make provision for the flesh, you have overcome. That's a great step. I think some of us try to get close to these things, hoping we'll have the strength.

Not to do it, but we like to dabble in it. We like to get up as close to it as we can, hoping we'll have the strength not to do it. But that's foolish. The wise thing is to imprison it and get it away from you and dwell on other things, and not think about that and stay as far away from it as you can. And that leads us to the sixth point. The sixth step is to flee temptation. Flee temptation, and again you will automatically overcome. If you flee it, you're getting away from it. Again, you're not cozying up to it.

James 4, verse 7, and 8. We already read this. We didn't read it, but I quoted it. James 4, verse 7 and 8. Therefore, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. So if you flee from temptation, then Satan will flee from you because you're resisting him. Resist the devil. When we flee temptation, we are resisting the devil because he's the great tempter. Is he not? Satan is the great tempter. So when we flee from temptation, we're fleeing from Satan. We're resisting him, and then he has to flee from us.

That's what the scripture says. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Doesn't mean he won't come back looking for an opportune time. But when we're strong, there's nothing he can do against us. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. I mean, that's the key. If we're close to God, we'll have the strength. And if we're not close to God, then we have to seek God right then and there. You know, we have to go and pray for strength and pray for help. So draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Cleanse those dirty, filthy hands, and purify your hearts, your wicked and deceitful hearts. The heart is deceitful above all things. It's desperately wicked. He's telling us to purify your hearts and stop being double-minded. See, that's what we're doing. We're being double-minded. You know, a part of us wants to do what Satan wants us to do. A part of us wants to sin.

But God doesn't want you to sin. God wants you to be strong. God wants you to be faithful. So we're double-minded. You know, we're allowing ourselves to dwell on things we shouldn't. We're allowing ourselves to go places we shouldn't go. And so we're tempting ourselves, and we're not being as strong as we need to be. So we need to be single-minded in our approach. And obviously, that single mind needs to be focused on God and doing His will.

Not our will, not our own carnal will, and not Satan's will, but God's will.

So again, resist God or resist Satan. He will flee. Draw near to God. He will draw near to you. Become single-minded. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. In other words, He will strengthen you. You will be an overcomer if you will do that. Now, we're not going to take the time to go there, but in Jeremiah 51 verse 6, if you want to check it out later, you can. But it says, flee from the midst of Babylon, and everyone save his life! That's what Jeremiah was telling the people back then, the children of Judah. He was saying, flee from the midst of Babylon and save your life. Because they were going into captivity, weren't they?

They did go into captivity to Babylon. His warning was to flee from the midst of Babylon. Now, what does the book of Revelation tell us about Babylon? Still around. In fact, it's a system that's been around since the very beginning. The Babylonian mystery religion, it's a system that's still around. It's filled with paganism and worldly concepts.

So, what I take from that is we're supposed to flee from all that.

If you have a tendency to kind of like Christmas, don't leave the Christmas carol on. Don't listen to it.

Turn the radio off. Stay away from that kind of stuff. Flea from the midst of Babylon and save your life.

Save your life. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 6.

1 Corinthians 6, verse 18.

1 Corinthians 6, verse 18.

Flea sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit that is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Now we know that the price that bought us was Christ shed blood, our Passover lamb. You were bought at a price. We should be willing to glorify God because of all that he's done for us.

Glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

Flea sexual immorality. That's what he tells us to do. Flea that sort of thing. You know, that's a very pervasive sin. And there's lots of different types of sexual immorality. You know, there's pornography. Now that's something that we should flee. You know, we shouldn't dabble in that. You know, shouldn't go there. Flea that sort of thing. Stay away from it. Flea any type of sexual immorality. You know, whatever it might be. Obviously, if you're married, entertain no thoughts of any other person.

You know, don't allow yourself to think about or dwell on another person. You know, Christ said, if you look at a woman and you lust for her, you've committed adultery with her in your heart.

So flee that sort of thing and don't go there. But pornography is a billion, billion, billion, I don't know how many billions of dollars worth of business. So there's an awful lot of people who aren't fleeing. It would dry up in a second. If everyone would do that, if everyone would flee sexual immorality, the porn business would be over. You know, it would dry up overnight. It would be gone. But because people are not doing that and they're fulfilling their lust, you know, that's why it happens. And that is such a horrendous business, that whole thing. I mean, you know, I'm not going to go into it, but I mean, I could sit here and sicken all of us a great deal by talking about what goes on and what all that means. Sexual immorality, it's pervasive, it's everywhere.

Many different forms of sexual immorality. We're told to flee all of it.

We're also told to flee idolatry, 1 Corinthians 10. Now, Corinth was an idolatrous city. My wife and I have been to Corinth, and we went to a museum there. And trust me, it was about as pagan and sexually oriented. And it wasn't just Corinth, but it was brought in from... They had statues and things that were obscene in the worst way, just unbelievable images.

He said, flee from idolatry, all forms of idolatry. Anything that gets between you and your worship of God is an idol to you.

Anything that pulls you away. If it's a TV set, then it's become an idol.

If it's anything you name, anything that's more important to you. If you haven't done your prayer and your Bible study, and you're watching three hours of TV, has it not become an idol?

It's more important to you. So, flee idolatry is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10.14. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. Now, he talked about the Old Testament examples prior to this, and how people were steeped in idolatry back then. Even remember the golden calf, right after they came out of Egypt. They were going back into their idolatry. They wanted to go back into Egypt. Egypt, symbolic of sin. Flee idolatry. Flee all sorts of sin. Flee all of it.

1 Timothy 6.11 also tells us to flee. There are a number of scriptures that tell us to flee. Temptation and so forth. 1 Timothy 6.11.

But you, O man of God, also woman of God, I will put that in there as well. Flee these things and pursue righteousness. Now, prior to this, it was talking about how wealth can be, riches can be a snare. How other things can be a snare. Notice verse 4, it talks about evil suspicions. Now, didn't we have a lot of evil suspicions here? A little over a year and a half ago. There's a lot of evil suspicion going on. You know, unethical people here, unethical people there. People having lots of evil suspicions. Not much proof, but a lot of evil suspicions. Okay, that's in verse 4 of this. Verse 4 there, talking about people who are proud, people who are obsessed with disputes and arguments over words. Now, did that not happen on the internet?

A lot of that happened.

From which come envy and strife and reviling and evil suspicions. You know, the Bible is really a living word, isn't it? I mean, when you stop and think about what describes the internet and some of the things that go on in the church on the internet. Any better than this.

Disputes and arguments over words from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicion, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth.

He says, from such, withdraw yourself. Don't get involved in the internet craziness yourself.

If you can truly help, then by all means. If it's not really helping and it's perhaps hurting you, then you have to use wisdom on how to handle that.

It says, flee, O man of God, flee these things, riches and other things that would get in the way that would become a snare. Verse 9, harmful lusts. It talks about love of money. In verse 10, flee these things and pursue righteousness, pursue godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. Paul says, I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things and before Jesus Christ, who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ appearing. Okay, that's what we need to do. We need to continue to keep doing the right thing, fleeing that which is evil and pursuing righteousness.

So flee temptation and you will automatically overcome. One last scripture in 2 Timothy 2, verse 22. 2 Timothy 2, verse 22. Flee also youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Flee youthful lusts.

In other words, I think what he's saying is, there's a time to grow up.

But I find it true that a lot of us men don't grow up very well.

Now we continue to flee, or we continue our youthful lusts.

It's powerful. It's strong.

We continue in our youthful lusts. I mean, to me, this is saying there's a time to grow up.

So no longer flee youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

And avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. I mean, the Bible is a living word. It tells us what to do. It helps us through any crisis.

I mean, we should have been helped through that crisis we had a year and a half ago. If everyone would have done what the Bible says, we wouldn't have had this problem. And I'm not saying it was all fallen apart. It was all fought on the other side. You know, there may have been some fought on our side, where we didn't behave as best well as we could have. I mean, we should all repent of the sins that we commit and not focus on the sins of others.

It says in verse 24 that, A servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach and patient. In humility, correcting those who are in opposition. Now, I found that there were times when that was hard for me. When people were opposing me a year and a half ago, when I was being opposed, I didn't always perfectly respond in the best way. Not as patiently as I would have liked to. There were a few instances where my temper flared. I was a little short, temper-wise, and my patience at times.

That's what I'm saying, though. We read the Bible for correction so that we can overcome. I hope that if this ever happens again, that I won't make the same mistakes that I made this time.

Alright. Point number six was to flee.

Point number seven is to confess your faults one to another, according to the Scriptures, and gain strength to overcome through the help of others. Confess your faults one to another and gain strength to overcome through the help of others. Now, I'm not saying to indiscriminately just go out and first time you meet someone, you start telling them about all your sins and all your weaknesses and all your lusts and desires.

That's not what I'm saying at all. In fact, you have to be very careful who we confide in. A person needs to be trustworthy before you do this. They need to be trustworthy people. They need to be friends, people that will help you. Perhaps your pastor.

He's your friend. Hopefully you could confide in him and he's not going to use it against you, but he's going to help you.

Find someone that you can trust to be confidential, to keep things confidential, and to help you and not hinder or hurt you. James 5 does tell us to confess our faults and trespasses one to another. I'm not coming up with something that's of my own thinking. This is from the Bible.

There are certain programs. For example, the 12-step programs, one of the steps is to get someone to help you. In fact, they draw strength from each other and they actually work. In many cases, I've known alcoholics. In fact, my father was an alcoholic that was greatly helped by Alcoholics Anonymous. You know, it helped him. He stopped drinking. It was a part of the reason why he stopped.

It's helped a lot of people. The reason it helps is because all 12 steps are based on sound biblical principles. In fact, Melvin Rhodes gave a sermon some months ago about the 12-step programs and showed how they were biblically sound. But this concept will work. But again, you need to find someone that will be trustworthy.

Verse 16, Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Prayer is powerful. It's strong.

We should confess our trespasses to one another. Pray for one another that you may be healed.

In a sense, I just confessed one of my trespasses to you. I admitted that there were times, there were a few cases where I can look back and I was hasty in a comment I made. I was a little short-tempered or I just didn't do exactly perfectly.

So I was confessing a sin, really, to you.

Hold that in confidence.

But we should be able to do certain things like that and not worry that someone's going to think you're such a rotten, dirty guy.

If we're looking at our own selves, then we realize that we're not that far from the person who just confessed that he wasn't perfect.

So confess your faults or trespasses one to another. Pray for one another. Certainly your mates. You should hopefully be able to confess some things too.

Work with.

That's one thing that marriage is for, to strengthen one another, to help each other.

So trustworthy friends of like mind are good partners in helping each other overcome sin. 1 John 1.9, a last scripture under this point, 1 John 1. And John writes a lot about keeping God's commandments and about sin.

He says in 1 John 1.9, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, no doubt, this means primarily to God. God is the one that we confess our sins to.

We don't go before the priest and confess our sins like certain large churches do. We don't follow that practice. But by the same token, there may come a time when a minister, you might want to go to your minister and ask for help and confess a sin if you need help. I mean, primarily, we go to God and we confess our sins and we get help from God. We get strength from God. We don't have to tell all of our sins. In fact, frankly, I don't think all of us want to hear everybody else's sin.

I don't really think that's what the scripture is telling us either. So there comes a time and a place and we have to have wisdom and discernment on when that time and place is proper and good. But certainly, we need to go to God when we sin. And we need to confess our sins to Him. And He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And that leads us to the final point. Point number eight. Remember, I told you I'd give you seven steps.

And these seven steps, if you follow them, you will sin a whole lot less than you have in the past. If you follow them better than you ever followed them in the past, they will help you. You will be able to overcome sin to a large degree if you practice them.

The eighth point is, it just kind of puts it all together because the eighth point is forgive others and rely on the goodness of God to lead you to repent. So the eighth point was to forgive others because the Scripture clearly says, if you don't forgive others, God isn't going to forgive you. That's Matthew 6, 14 and 15. It's very clear. It's at the end of the model prayer.

If you forgive others, their sins and their trespasses, then God will likewise forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, God is not going to forgive you. That's just plain and simple. It's basic. It is an important point overcoming sin. You can't overcome sin if you don't have a forgiving heart because to be unforgiving is sinful. That is sinful. To be unforgiving is a sin.

So forgive others and rely on the goodness of God to lead you to repentance. In other words, know that God will grant you repentance when you've done those seven steps. Listen, if you have tried your best to follow these seven steps and you still fall short, and we will at times, all you can do is the very best you can get yourself to do. Give it your best shot. Try to follow those seven steps as best you possibly can. But when you sin, then you need to have faith that God will help you. You know that scripture that says, Come boldly before the throne of grace in time of need.

The first time you need help is when you're being tempted. That's when you go to God first. When you're being tempted, you pray about it. Fast about it. Get help.

But if you've done the best you can do and you have still sinned, then you also go boldly before the throne of grace. But boldly does not mean without humility. You go boldly and humbly before the throne of grace, and you claim that promise that God gives you. That God says He will forgive you. If you will confess your sin, if you will admit your sin, if you'll cry out for help and forgiveness, and if you're right with your fellow man and you're forgiving others, God is going to forgive you. It's just a fact. It's a promise.

It's a promise. It's a vital, important eighth step. Because we don't always perfectly follow the first step, the first seven steps. It would be wonderful to say that from now on, we're all going to follow these first seven steps, and we won't have to repent because we won't sin from now on.

I think none of us are naive enough to think that's going to happen. Is this sermon going to make that big of a difference in your life? How many sermons have you heard about sin and you're still sinning?

It's not to minimize the power of a sermon. It can help you, and it should help you. But I think none of us are naive enough to think that all of our problems will be over because we'll perfectly follow these seven steps, and we'll never have to repent. No, God will grant you repentance. In Romans 2, verse 4, it does say the goodness of God is what leads you to repentance. We rely on God. You know, God is the one that's good, not us.

We don't earn our salvation through lawkeeping. I mean, we can talk about overcoming sin, but none of us are going to overcome it so perfectly that we're going to be just like Christ in the flesh. It's not going to happen. But we can rely on the goodness of God to lead us to repentance. Repentance is being truly sorry for our sins, and it is also repentant-changing, growing, and overcoming. It doesn't say to He who is perfect will I grant to sit on my throne. That's not what it says. It says to He who overcomes.

Overcoming is continuing to fight the good fight. Overcoming is not giving in. Overcoming is striving against sin, and putting sin out of your life, and probably falling down at times, and getting back up again, and enduring to the end. That's what this is all about. It's continuing to fight the good fight to fight the battle. Romans 2, verse 4, it does clearly say that it is God's goodness that leads us to repentance. So again, we rely on God. We rely on His strength when we've fallen short.

Paul says, or do you despise the riches of His goodness, God's goodness, forbearance, and long suffering. God is very patient, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance.

But in accordance with your hardness, see, that's one thing. We must not have a hard heart. You know, in this process of overcoming sin, our hearts must be soft.

Not having a hard and an impenitent heart, because if we do, then we are treasuring up for ourselves wrath in the day of wrath.

And it says that God is going to render to each one according to His deeds. So, you know, we do need to stir up the Spirit in us, and we need to purify our hearts and not be so double-minded, but become single-minded.

And again, realize that God is patient, God is merciful, and God is the one that leads us to repentance. God grants repentance, it says, in 2 Timothy 2. Let's go there. This will be a final scripture. 2 Timothy 2, verse 25. 2 Timothy 2, verse 25.

In humility, correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance. See, we want God to grant other people repentance. Anybody who opposes us? See, I don't hold a grudge against anyone that opposed me as the pastor and ended up leaving. I mean, I don't hold a grudge against any of those people. I wish them well. I want the best for them. And I pray that God will grant them repentance, if they were sinning, if they were hard-hearted, and if they did something they shouldn't have done. God is their judge. I mean, I know I had to repent of not behaving perfectly toward them. If there's anything they need to repent of, then may God grant them repentance, because it is God who grants repentance.

Brother, we need to show God our hearts by our actions. We need to show God that we do have a soft and malleable heart, and that we are writing His laws in our hearts and in our minds. The first seven steps are our actions. You know, those seven steps we talked about overcoming, these are things that we can do. These are concrete how-to things that you can do. They really are. You can do these things. You can pray, and you can study the Bible, and you can fast, and you can meditate, and you can make no provision for the flesh. I mean, these are things that you can do. You can say no to certain things. You can flee certain things. I mean, these are things you can do. This is good how-to stuff. Okay, now the hard part is doing it. Yes, the Days of Unleavened Bread 2012 are indeed over. We'll never have Days of Unleavened Bread 2012 again. They're history, but the need to overcome sin and put it out of our lives is certainly not over, and it never will be over. So let us all put into practice these vital eight steps to overcoming sin in our lives.