First Step - Relationship with God
The first step in living a lifestyle that overcomes temptation is a relationship with God. You were created by God to have a loving, intimate relationship with God. Out of that relationship we find our purpose in life and the power to live a fulfilled life. Many get this principle backwards. They try to find their purpose so that God will be pleased and accept them. However, God clearly says it is impossible to please God by our own efforts. Only by faith - trusting in God, can we please God. No man can please God by doing good deeds are living a religious lifestyle. Our goal is not to get to heaven and our goal is not to escape the flames of hell. Our goal is to have intimacy with God. After all, that is what heaven is. In heaven, we will have a face-to-face relationship with God. If loving God is not what we desire, then we really don’t desire heaven anyway. If submitting to God makes us unhappy, heaven would be a miserable place. My goal and hope is to paint a clearer image of God so that we understand that our real desire is to know and love Him, and to give a better understanding of what it means to follow Him. If the joy of heaven is to know God, then we should understand that knowing Him is our source of joy here on earth.
The Bible tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength. Knowing God is the source of our joy and the joy produced from our relationship with Him is our strength. Many people who begin in the faith will fade along the way. Many who listen to or read these messages will get excited about the hope of change, but will turn back when their desires become their most important treasure. This is not new to the time in which we live. Those around him abandoned Paul when the ministry became a sacrifice. In one of his letters to Timothy, Paul said, "Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world". 1 John 2:19 addresses the same problem, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us."
When someone’s focus is not on God and a relationship with Him, they will turn back when their fleshly desires are not fulfilled. Right up front I think is vitally important to realize that God does not promise instant gratification. God calls us to die to ourselves and trust Him for the promises He has given. Look at Psalm 36:
7 How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.
8 They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.
9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.
10 Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, And Your righteousness to the upright in heart.
Notice two things about this passage: trusting and knowing God is the key. All pleasure was created by God and is good as long as it is within His design. Those who know God are made upright in heart and they will trust and submit first and believe in the promise that God will be their fulfillment. After submission and trust the promises are fulfilled. God often tests our faith before He fulfills any promise. Therefore, if we can’t trust, we will never inherit what He has for us. God first calls for faith. Look now at Luke 9:23-24
23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
24 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
From the human perspective, dying to self is foolishness. That is because it is an act of faith. Like all acts of faith, I am trusting in God as my only hope of benefit. I am dying to myself because I am no use to God as long as I am walking in my own flesh and by my own strength. When I die, then God raises me up in His strength. I die; I deny myself - He gives me life; He gives me fulfillment in abundance. Those who can’t die to themselves and trust God will never fully experience God. They may become like Demas and countless others who began with a religious experience, but turned back when personal cost was at stake.
Is God Angry?
Perhaps the greatest hindrance to a man or woman coming to repentance is the view of God as angry or tyrannical. It is true that God is angry over sin. The Bible says that God is angry at the wicked everyday. Who are the wicked? We are all sinners and are on equal ground. However, the Bible says that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. God is not angry at those who struggle to overcome. His anger is against the proud - those who reject God’s hand of grace. We think God has turned away from us in anger, but in reality, God hasn’t moved. It is we who have turned away from God, not God that turns away from us. Sin does not affect God. I have been taught all of my life that God could not look upon sin because sin can’t abide in God’s presence. This is half true. It is true that sin can’t stand in God’s presence, but it is sin that falls, not God who flees. Sin can’t harm God, but the holiness of God has a dramatic effect on sin. That is why our relationship with Him is so vital. The closer I am to God, the more sin is driven out of my life. I have to turn from God to pursue sin. Sin is anything that stands in disobedience to God or His commandments. As I grow closer to God, sin is exposed. I choose to deal with my sin by surrendering it to Him, or I allow it to become a barrier between me and my Lord.
When I feel like I have let God down and sinned, the devil is right there to discourage me and tell me that I have used up all my chances. Satan tells me that God has rejected me, abhors me and has turned His back on me. This is NEVER the case. I can become so calloused that I no longer see or care about the grace of God, but the barrier is my heart, not God’s rejection of me. When I was living a life in sin up to my eyes, I felt like God was angry and despised me. However, the reality, even during the most sinful time of my life, God was working behind the scenes to bring me to repentance. He did not wait until I cleaned up my act, He went into the mire that engulfed me and rescued me. I did not seek Him, but He did come for me.
Keep in mind that God sees the end from the beginning - they are both the same to God. God doesn’t measure you based on where you are, but what He will make out of you. God views you as the treasure that you will be when He presents you in heaven. So even if you blunder, keep the end in sight. That is what God sees. Where you are at any given moment doesn’t mean much unless you are reaching for the end result. God is merciful and forgiving and is never shocked when we fail. He knew before we will know. He deals with us always with the end treasure in sight. Look at Psalm 17:
5 Uphold my steps in Your paths, That my footsteps may not slip.
6 I have called upon You, for You will hear me, O God; Incline Your ear to me, and hear my speech.
7 Show Your marvelous lovingkindness by Your right hand, O You who save those who trust in You From those who rise up against them.
8 Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings,
I love the term ’apple of Your eye’. A lot is lost in the translation of this phrase. Literally translated, it means the deepest blackness of the pupil of the eye. It tells us that we are the center of God’s focus. This is not a picture of God watching from far off, but the comparison is that of gazing deeply into the eyes someone you love. The apple of the eye is to look so deeply into someone’s eye that you see your own reflection. This is the picture scripture is trying to paint of how God view us. He is not a detached God, but a Father who is intimately involved in your life. Look at Deuteronomy 1:
31 ’and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’
32 "Yet, for all that, you did not believe the LORD your God
I have small children and I can relate to this passage. Many times I have carried my kids because they were tired, afraid or just wanted to be carried. Though we can’t see God’s hand with our earthly eyes, we can see how he carries us. It is a love relationship that we have with our Lord. Just like a son who says, "I want to be like my dad", if we really love God, we want to be just like Him. Even though we have so far to go, He is patient and reaches out to us even when we fail. The key is that we never quit reaching for Him.
God is Merciful, God is Just
It is true that God is a God of love and mercy. It is equally true that God is a God of justice and judgment. God’s mercy does not nullify God’s justice. Instead, because God is merciful, He paid the penalty demanded by His justice in His own body. We were under the penalty of sin, but God suffered that penalty on our behalf. God will never sacrifice His character and He cannot change. Even in our human perspective we see the need for consistent justice. When a judge shows leniency in the courtroom, we feel like justice has been violated. We call that corruption. Yet with God, somehow people think that justice should be violated. It would be a confusing world if we did not know if and when God was going to uphold His standard. God does not change and He declared that heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will never pass away. All will be fulfilled just as He declared. God’s law is based on His own character. We know that God said that He will avenge and punish every sin committed. The Bible also says that God is the God who forgives, but He takes vengeance on our sins. That sounds contradictory until you see it in light of the cross. For those who have laid their sins at the cross of Christ, God has avenged our sins. Through Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven and avenged. Only in Him are mercy and justice united. The cross is necessary because without the cross, the penalty of sin would fall on our shoulders. Forgiveness is not possible without justice. Because of the cross, God is able to be just and the justifier of those who place their faith in Jesus (Romans 3:26). The cross is necessary because God was able to be just - or judge our sin and issue a just penalty for the violation against righteousness, and still have mercy and forgive us by becoming the justifier - or the one found guilty and judged for our sin. On the cross, your sins were laid to Jesus’ account and God poured out the wrath and the penalty against your sins. Jesus became your sin so that you could become the righteousness of God through Him. Once we believe in God’s completed redemption, repent, and surrender to Jesus Christ, we are completely forgiven.
It is so easy for people to revisit the grave of forgiven sins and mourn over them. Our sins do not reside at the memorial markers we create. God has already dealt with our sin. That debt was paid on the cross of Jesus Christ, as He became our sin so that we might become His righteousness. We struggle to fully accept this by faith. We keep tabs and each time we sin, we are afraid to come before God because we might have used up our chances. There are two things we should always keep in mind when we ask for forgiveness. One, there must be genuine repentance. Two, when God forgives sin, it is intentionally forgotten. The Bible shows us that if we walk willfully in sin and then claim God’s forgiveness and continue to walk in the darkness, we are living a lie (1 John chapters 1 and 3). But if we are walking with Christ and we sin, we ask for forgiveness and we are forgiven by the blood of His sacrifice for us. The one who looks at the cross as a holy washrag and rejects the relationship with Christ is deceived and unforgiven.
However, we do struggle to overcome our flesh and we fall, get up, fall and get up. Even when we struggle with our weaknesses, we continue to press ahead. Repentance, however, has been lost once I begin justifying my sins. The great news of God’s mercy is that when I am living a lifestyle of repentance and walking in a relationship with Christ, every time I sin it is the first time. The list of the times I have failed is my list, but God does not acknowledge it. God chooses to forget my sins. God doesn’t promise to protect us from the consequences of sin, but God does promise that we will not be called into account for what He has forgiven. Here are two passages that illustrate God’s mercy.
Micah 7:
18 Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy.
19 He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Psalm 103
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him.
Welcomed at the Throne of Grace, or Depart I Never Knew You?
The first step in overcoming sin in our lives is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Without a relationship with God, you are struggling by your own strength. When your strength fails, you will fall. But God’s desire is to transform you from the inside out. That means submitting our complete lives to Him. When we surrender our lives to Christ, the Bible tells us that God literally puts His Spirit inside us and we are born as a new creation. Our home and destination is no longer this world and this life, but our citizenship resides in heaven. I am frequently told, "Christianity/God is a crutch for weak people". This is absolutely true. God calls me to go where I don’t have the strength to go; do what I cannot do; and be what I cannot be. I am called to become like my heavenly Father. His character, holiness and righteousness are so far from my abilities that I can’t make it on my own strength.
Any dead fish can float downstream, but it takes life to swim against the strong current of the world we live in. Everyone is a good swimmer if they are going with the current. Who needs a crutch if they are going down? Even a crutch is not enough to climb up the straight and difficult path. Only the hand of God upholding me will make it possible to fulfill my purpose in this life. However, my purpose is not about what I can do, but how close I grow to God. He works through me for His will and good pleasure. My purpose is not to succeed, but to know and love God. At the end of this life we can hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over few things, I will make you ruler over much". However, that good work is only acknowledged when our relationship with God is the purpose behind it. Jesus made it clear that many will say, "Look at all the great works and wonders we have done in Your name", but He will say, "I never knew you. Depart from Me, you are a worker of lawlessness" (Matthew 7:23). We can do good works and still be lawless if we don’t know Him. It all centers around knowing Christ, not doing good deeds.
Jesus said, "I am the door, if anyone enters by Me, he will be saved" and anyone trying to get into heaven any other way will be counted as a thief or robber. He also said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
If you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, this is the time God has extended His mercy to you. Your sins have been already judged on the cross, but you do have the right to bear your own penalty. The Bible says that there is no greater sin than to count the blood of the cross a worthless thing. The blood shed on the cross is so your sins can be removed and you will be free to come confidently before God’s throne of grace. Your sins prevent you from having a relationship with God. God calls for you to lay down your sinful life at the cross and taking up the new life He has created for you. He has a plan for your life and it begins at the cross. If you want a relationship with Jesus Christ, just surrender, repent, confess Him as Lord and invite Him into your heart. Repentance simply means to turn from your ways and to God’s ways. If you would like to invite Jesus in, say this simple prayer. It isn’t the words that mean anything, but your faith - putting your trust in God.
Lord Jesus, I have lived my life in disobedience to you. I ask you to forgive my sins. By faith, I give you my sins and my lifestyle. By faith I receive your righteousness into my life. I accept the life and plan you have for me. I open the door of my heart and invite you in. Thank you for forgiving me of my sins, Amen.
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This sermon can be downloaded as a Word document by following the link at http://www.exchangedlife.com/recovery/3step_recovery.htm
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