Overcoming Sin Takes Time

We just kept the Passover, reminding our sins to be washed away in the blood of Jesus Christ. I hope in our minds we feel clean. It makes me think there's something about the foot washing when you do that, especially if the water is cold enough temperature. Don't you come over that tingly feeling and you feel really good. As the Passover ceremony comes to an end each year, we stand and sing a song together following the example of Jesus and his disciples. Now, I'm curious, what song did you sing?

Bless Who All Forgiven. That's one of my favorites to do. I was going to say, a lot of times people sing, In Thy Love and Kindness, Lord. To be honest, we did. We sang at acapella, the four of us together. That was David's expression of deep, profound repentance, as is found in Psalm 51. As I said, I think, actually, I led They Are Blessed Who Are Forgiven once at a Passover, and I got the funniest looks from people in the crowd. I think sometimes people think, well, you have to sing Psalm 51. And I'm not saying that we should, and I think it's very good. I've studied a lot of scholars think that that's probably not what Jesus and his disciples sang, because it was the custom in Jewish families to sing certain of the songs of ascent at their Passover ceremony. And even though the Gospels don't tell us that, it's likely that Jesus and the disciples sang that. But either way, David's Psalm of Repentance is certainly appropriate for the occasion. And it contains a line that I want to refer to that refers to my main point in this message. And that is, if the days of O love and bread are about putting sin out of our lives, and I believe that is what the days are about, it is important for us to realize that that doesn't happen all at once. If you will, I'd like to turn to that passage that I had in mind in Psalm 51. I'm not going to read the whole Psalm, but we'll start with verse 10. And while you're turning there, and while supposedly I'm turning there, I should have marked it ahead of time, I'll remind us of the story involved. It was written after David allowed his lust to get control of him, and he sinned committing adultery with Bathsheba. And when it turned out that she was pregnant, he called in her husband Uriah from the army, trying to cover up what he had done. But Uriah didn't cooperate by doing what David expected. And so David assigned had Jorab assign him to the hottest part of the battle, and then have men withdraw so that Uriah would be killed. As it, I think Nathan the prophet said later, David had Uriah killed with the sword of Ammon.

He married Bathsheba, you know, and her being pregnant seemed just fine. He thought, David thought it was all done and cleared, but it was not. It wasn't all done, it wasn't okay. And God sent the prophet to confront David, telling him a story to help make it extremely clear to David what he had done and the result. And David confessed his sin and repented deeply, and asked for forgiveness. And as I said, Psalm 51 expresses what David felt, I believe. And I want to start in verse 10, because we don't, I'm not going to read all of it. But verse 10 says, It's intriguing David was asking God to not take away his Holy Spirit.

This and some other scriptures do give us the idea that it is possible for us to stop having God's Spirit. The Apostle Paul used the term, quench the Holy Spirit. But I'd like to make the case that that does not happen very easily. It seems that it had not happened to David. We don't sin, and immediately we lose God's Spirit. Now, I'd like to think we kind of know that, and our personal experience we understand. But if we ever have doubt, I think David's story here provides us some pretty good evidence. Now, I already summarized much of the story, and if you want it in your notes, 2 Samuel 11 describes David and Bathsheba and then Uriah. And at the end of 2 Samuel 11, it'll tell us that Bathsheba gave birth to the child that was a result of that adultery. And soon after that child would die. And it's in chapter 12 of that book that Nathan comes and confronts David. That's where I'm surprised. Maybe probably most of you are way ahead of me, but I remember the first time it hit me that that child was born probably about nine months after the initial sin. That's the way it normally works. And all during that time, David was in this state where he had not confessed and repented. I suspect that he had pangs of guilt. Maybe he felt like he wanted to get this off his chest, wanted to go back to God, but felt separate. And then, of course, it finally happened. But months went by. Months, maybe perhaps a year before Psalm 51 was written. And that tells us that David still did have God's Holy Spirit.

It makes sense to me that it was probably only by the power of that spirit that David could repent. He could, and he did. Repent means to turn around. It means to change. Change your thinking. Change your actions. And the change we need to make is to turn from sin. In other words, stop sinning. I thought I should give a sermon that just says that. Stop sinning. It'd be a little short. We all know that. You know, putting out sin out of our lives is what this Holy Day, about what this week-long festival is all about. It's a big deal. And I wonder, is that why it's a full week long? You know, we have two separate one-week festivals in the Holy Day calendar. One, of course, is the Feast of Tabernacles, representing Jesus Christ's millennial rule. A thousand years. And something that takes a thousand years, I could see a full week to represent.

Perhaps the Days of Unleavened Bread is also representing something that takes some time, a longer event. Now, I don't think a thousand years, but how long does it take to get sin out of our lives? I think it takes all of our lives. It's a lifetime endeavor. And with that, for that matter, it's something that even with all the time in the world, we can't do. We can't do it on our own. We have to have God's help. We can only even come close by the power of God working in us. And that brings me to a second story I want to relate this morning. It's another story that I love to talk about because it's a fun story, but it also illustrates this point. And the story I'm speaking of is the conquest of Jericho. We can find that early on in the book of Joshua. When God brought the children of Israel into the Promised Land, Jericho was a major obstacle. Israel crossed the Jordan River and right there was the walled city of Jericho. It had strong high walls. And Israel could not advance into the Promised Land without conquering Jericho. They could not conquer Jericho by their own power. And we live in a parallel to that. We could say we cannot advance into the kingdom of God without first conquering sin.

And we cannot conquer sin by our own power. Boy, that lines up well with the Spring Holy Days, doesn't it? And I don't think that's accidental or coincidental. If you turn to Joshua, we'll look at some scriptures and remind us that this story God placed right in the Spring Holy Day season. I'll read just the first verse of Joshua chapter 4. It says, It came to pass when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan. The Lord spoke to Joshua, and he's going to have them set up some memorials with large stones that I won't address in this message for sake of time. But if we drop down to verse 19, Joshua 4.19 says, Now the people came up from the Jordan. They crossed over. They went down. They come up on the other banks. And it was the 10th day of the first month. They camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. 10th day, first month. Yes, a lot of you are nodding. That was the day Israel was commanded to set aside the land they would sacrifice for Passover. The first event that happens in the Spring Holy Day season. Exodus 12 describes these things. I won't turn there. But these Israelites started the Holy Day season with something pretty exciting. A major miracle where the waters piled up and they crossed over the river with dry feet. I want to move ahead now to Joshua 5.10.

To see now the children of Israel camped at Gilgal and kept the Passover. Just as we recently kept the Passover. They kept it on the 14th day of the month at Twilight. That's trying to remember the Hebrew ha'ab arba'im. It's between the evenings as we do.

On the 14th day of the month, at Twilight on the plains of Jericho. They ate the produce of the land on the day after the Passover. We cite this when we talk about the proper calculation for Pentecost. The manna would cease and they would harvest. Of course, you could only harvest and eat the grain after the wave sheaf is presented. Which we know represents Jesus Christ.

Verse 12, the manna ceased the day after they'd eaten the produce. The children of Israel no longer had manna after eating it regularly for 40 years. But they ate the fruit of the land of kingdom that year. So this seems that it's the next day. They kept the Passover at the beginning of the 14th as we do. It's either the next day or they're harvesting to the wave sheaf. And then, perhaps on the first day of unleavened bread, the next thing happens. Verse 13, it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho. He lifted his eyes and looked. Behold, a man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went up to him. Joshua was no coward. He said, are you for us or for our adversaries? And he said, no. I've always loved that. But as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come. Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped him. What does the Lord say to a servant? The commander of the Lord's army said, did Joshua take your sandal off your foot for the place where he stand is holy? And Joshua did so. Now, some scholars will claim that this is an angel sent by God. But I think it's the one that John 1-1 calls the Word, who was with God and who was God. An angel would not allow a man to fall down and worship him. And only God's presence would make the ground holy. And the same way when God talked to Moses at the burning bush, he took off his shoes. And so God gave Joshua instructions. The end result of those we can see in chapter 16. I'm going to skip ahead to chapter 16 and verse 16.

It says, the seventh time it happened, seventh time that day, the priest blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the people, shout, for the Lord has given you the city. Jericho, verse 17, now the city shall be doing by the Lord to destruction all who are in it. Only only have the harlot shall live with all who are in her house. Let's drop down to verse 20. And verse 20, it says, so the people shouted when the priest blew the trumpets. It happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout, the wall fell down flat. The people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old ox sheep donkey with the edge of the sword. The obvious lesson that matches the days of Unleavened Bread is that we have a task before us that is simply beyond our abilities. We have to overcome sin. We have to change our way of life and our way of thinking. We have to stop sinning. And instead, we have to live the way of love, the way of give. We have to do it, and we simply cannot do it, not by our own power.

And I tend to think that's what Joshua and the Israelites might have thought when they first saw the walls of Jericho. I can imagine looking at the walls and the gates closed and they thought, hmm, maybe we could lay siege and we could dig trenches. Can we make scaling ladders? If we only had some dynamite, but nobody had invented dynamite yet and they wouldn't have recognized the word, they might have thought it's too big of a job. We're a bunch of former slaves. We don't have what it takes to conquer Jericho. And they didn't have what it took. And God knew it. He showed them, though, that his power was far greater than theirs. He could make it possible for them to do the impossible. And we look at us. I'll reference some scriptures. Romans 3 and verse 23 reminds us that all of us have sinned. Every human being is sinned. And in Romans 6, 23, three chapters later, it says that earns the death penalty. The wages of sin is death. We can never pay that penalty and have a hope of life. But God did fall for us. But God did for us what we couldn't do. I would like to read a couple of scriptures in Romans. If you'll turn to Romans chapter 5 and verse 6.

I want to tread lightly. I told Mr. Ledbetter I'd stay in the Old Testament. He could have the new. But I'm going to dabble briefly in the new to make this case. Romans 5 and verse 6 says, When we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. We were without the strength to overcome our sin or to pay for it. Let's read verse 10 also. For if we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, will be saved by his life. What this is saying is that the penalty for my sins is paid for Christ's sacrifice. But that alone would leave me as the same person. That the same person would go out and sin again. But Christ's life in me is what saves me. It changes me into a person who does not want to go back and sin again and eventually will stop. That's expressed where I'm going. This is a memory scripture for me that I only memorize part of it, and I misquote. It's way too often, so I'm going to turn there. Galatians 2.20. The part that I memorize well is Christ lives in me. But I'll read the whole verse. I have been crucified with Christ. And we can say that's what happens to us at baptism. We symbolically put to death our old man. We come up a new man. It says, It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And that is through the Holy Spirit that he gives us. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. God dwells in us by His Holy Spirit, giving us the power to do things that we can't do on our own. To do things that we can't do on our own. Matter of fact, I'll quote Philippians 4 verse 13 without turning there. Philippians 4 verse 13 says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I would like to turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, though. 2 Corinthians 10 beginning in verse 3.

Here, speaking of ancient Israel, it says, They all ate the same spiritual food, all drank of the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them. Oh, I'm reading 1 Corinthians. It seems to fit, but it's not what I wanted. Sorry, 2 Corinthians. Although I like, I wanted to say that rock was Christ, but we can keep that in mind for another time. 2 Corinthians 10 in verse 3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. So we're not facing a fortified walled city like Jericho that we have to conquer. No, we don't war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They're not physical, but they are mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds.

Again, let's note that these are spiritual strongholds, not physical cities, not strongholds that we could fight against with weapons. That's why we need spiritual weapons. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into the captivity to obedience to Christ. Those are the kind of strongholds we have. The toughest battles that we have to fight are in here with our own selves. There are battles in our minds between obeying God and selfishness and sinning. If we think about it, it probably doesn't take long to think of some strongholds that we struggle against. Some examples, it could be a temper that too often gets out of control. A person might have difficulty with some elements of the Sabbath and giving that time to God, or of tithing. There are numerous addictive behaviors. There are chemical ones that we've known for years and years, like alcohol and drugs, and there are other addictions, like pornography and video games and social media and gambling and so on and so forth. And that's not even to mention trials we might have with sexual temptations, with lying or stealing.

How hard is it for us to measure up to the standard of the stature and fullness of Christ in all these ways? Physically, it's impossible. That's how hard it is, at least without God's Holy Spirit. But with God, all things are possible. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Whenever we're struggling with a problem with any kind of sin or temptation, sometimes it might be worth thinking about those walls at Jericho. And remember, the Israelites couldn't destroy them.

But God could. And God did. And whatever sin it is that you or I can't conquer, God can. And God will. I want to be careful about this. It's easy to sit back and say, well, okay, God, go take care of that for me. There's some other lessons from Jericho.

One is, going into it right from the start, God well knew that He was going to knock down those walls. But He didn't tell the Israelites to stay back at the camp. He didn't say, you guys wait here and I'll give you a call when it's done. He made them participate. They had to get up and march around the city. And when the walls fell flat, they had work to do. Now, we don't like to think much about them having to go in and kill all those people. Matter of fact, I glanced at some notes I had for a sermon that I dabbled on this topic years ago. And that one I was reminded I brought one of Connor's books. He was much younger than the story book about Jericho. And they showed the people charging into the city with these big smiles and swords drawn, but it didn't say what they were going to do with those swords afterwards, which is good. We don't like to think about those parts. And I don't want to imply that the Canaanites and the Amorites and the otherites there were more deserving of death for their sin than any of us are for our sins.

But they had part of God's mercy was to let their lives come to an end then, and they'll be resurrected into a much better world. But that what will look like a paradise. They'll be resurrected. We believe in what we call the Great White Throne Judgment with an opportunity to repent, to have God's Spirit in them, and to join God's family the same as all people who've lived.

But the fact that the Israelites had to go in and fight after God knocked down the walls of Jericho does say something to us today. Even though God will do for us what we cannot do, He does expect us to do what we can do. We have to struggle. We have to overcome sin. I've got one more scripture in the New Testament before I'm going to retreat to where I should be. Romans 5 again. Romans 5 and verse 3. Romans 5 and verse 3 says, Not only that, we also glory in tribulations. It's hard to glory in tribulations, but He tells us that tribulation produces perseverance. Perseverance produces character. Character, hope. And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which was given to us.

The struggle itself against sin makes us better. And we've all faced the sins that we have changed and stopped. And it's really satisfying when something like that happens. Like a big obstacle in your life, like those walls come tumbling down. You conquer it. You beat it. You can imagine that's how the Israelites felt when the walls of Jericho fell down. But I want to draw our attention back to earlier in the process to one more lesson in this. And that's the time that would be required. I want to go back to Joshua chapter 6. Because I read where Joshua encountered the commander of the Lord's army who gave him instructions. And then I skipped over what happened after that just to the final instructions of when I say shout, shout, and the walls would fall down. But that was a week later. Let's read Joshua 6 beginning in verse 6 at some of the instructions of what they had to do. Well, the instructions had been given to Joshua, and then he called the priests and said to them, take up the Ark of the Covenant. Let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Ark of the Lord. He said to the people, proceed and march around the city. Let him who was armed advance before the Ark of the Lord. So they did. And, Sonny, I used to always think, oh, he got these instructions, and then they probably sat around and thought about it, had some committee meetings. But it indicates that Joshua told him, this is what we got to do, and they jumped up on their feet, and they went to do it, perhaps right that moment. Verse 8, so it was when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Lord advanced, and they blew the trumpets, and the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord followed them with people carrying it. It didn't go on its own. The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets. The rear guard came after the Ark, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. Joshua had commanded the people, saying, you shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day that I say to you, shout, and then you will shout. So we had the Ark of the Lord circle the city, going around at once, then they came back to the camp and lodged in the camp.

Now that seems fine to us, as we know the end of the story. We've read the end of the story. But can you imagine how the Israelites felt? I don't know if Joshua told them the end of the story. You know, they made all this effort. They marched around. They blew the trumpets, and they're looking at the walls, and Jericho stood. It's still there. It's not a bit weaker than it was before. The walls didn't fall down. So the next day they went out, and they marched around, and they blew the trumpets, and came back, and there it is. It happened the next day, and the next day, and the next, and it probably seemed to them that they weren't one bit closer to conquering that terrible obstacle. What if we apply that metaphor to some big sin or obstacle, some thought that we're having trouble with? Imagine you work really hard before Passover, and the start of Unleavened Bread. Working to overcome sin, we're working to put leaven out of our homes, and that's a metaphor that helps us think about it. But then there's a sin that's still right there, and you can't seem to beat it. It's not that you aren't trying. You're marching around the city like the Israelites. They march around every day, blowing trumpets, and you see that sin, and you keep focusing your energies, and you try, and you call out to God saying, please, I can't beat this.

That's why I mentioned earlier that I kind of think the reason the Days of Unleavened Bread are seven days instead of one, is that overcoming sin takes time. It takes all of our lives.

And I want to be cautious in how I say this, because it'd be easy then to make excuses and put up with sin, and say, yeah, I'm just waiting until God gets around to fixing that for me. He doesn't want us to do that. We don't want to allow sinful habits to continue.

But I do think we should refuse to let ourselves become discouraged when the struggle goes on. You know, maybe if our own personal Jericho persists beyond day one, or two, or three, you know, we might want to keep in mind, day seven is going to get there, and it might not be a literal seven days, but we should see it for what it is. It's an ongoing challenge that we have to face. And we have to determine that we will get up. I'll get up, and I'll march around that that obstacle, that sin again today, and I'll blow those trumpets, and I will not give up. I won't accept that being there, because God doesn't give up on us. He doesn't give up on us, but he might allow all seven days of unloving bread before he knocks down that Jericho in our lives. And that's where it's very important to remember that lesson that I was drawing from Psalm 51, that if we're struggling, like with a sin, that God doesn't yank the Holy Spirit away from us. We still have it in our lives, just as David did when he was struggling with what he'd done, and perhaps what he still wanted to do. Eventually, that wall came down. David was a changed man. And if we keep marching around our city, if we keep striving to use the power of God to overcome sin, I believe God will continue sending us that power. When the time comes, God's power, by God's power, the walls will come down, and we will conquer sin.