©1998 Larry Huntsperger Peninsula Bible Fellowship

8/23/98 Breaking The Bondage of Sin Pt. 3 ...

8/23/98 Breaking The Bondage of Sin Pt. 3

This morning we will continue
      what we started two weeks ago.

We began with a statement:
"There are times in every Christian's life, usually on a daily basis,
      when faithfulness to our King
            requires choosing contrary
                  to whatever we happen to be "feeling" at the moment."

From there we went on
      to talk about God's plan for healing
            at those places in our lives
                  where we feel as though
                        we no longer have the ability to choose.

Every one of us are packing around
            some broken places in our lives,
areas where the effects of sin,
      either our own sin or the sins of others,
            has left us deeply damaged
                  and in need of healing.
I mentioned two weeks ago
      that those damaged places
            are one of the Lord's most effective allies
      in His efforts to draw us to Himself.

Pain and emotional need
      are powerful motivators
            in helping us to recognize
                  that we are not the independent
                        and self-sufficient little kings of the world
      that we want to pretend we are.

We are created beings
      in revolt against our Creator,
            in desperate need of His healing in our lives.

In our study so far
      we have looked at two statements
            and then the first 3
                  of five essential elements
                        necessary for finding freedom
in those areas where we feel as though
      we have lost our ability to choose.

The two statements we began with were these:

#1.There can be no true, enduring change in the human personality apart from the direct personal intervention of God Himself.

And last week spent we most of our time
      talking about the difference between
            the kind of change human techniques can bring into our lives
      and the kind of change
            God brings into the lives
                  of those who are open to Him.

We saw that God does not simply seek
      to modify our behavior
            through external pressures and influences,
      but He begins from the core of our being,
            placing a new heart within us,
                  a heart that loves Him
                        and longs to please Him.

He gives us a whole new identity
      a new birth,
            a new creation
in which we become His Holy Ones,
      His Saints,
            His sons and daughters,
possessing value,
      and dignity,
            and significance beyond anything
                  we could ever have dreamed.

Then, having first recreated us in spirit,
      He then begins a practical program of change
            through re-educating our minds and emotions
                  so that we begin to think
                        and feel consistent with our true identity.

We begin our walk with God
      by looking at our areas of sin bondage
            and telling ourselves,
"I shouldn't do that because it's wrong,
      and it is not pleasing to my Lord..."
            both of which are true.

But that is entry-level perspective on sin.
If we listen to our Lord,
      and eat His food,
            and drink His drink,
if we allow Him to reshape our minds,
      He will grow us to the place
            where we will increasingly be able to
                  look at our areas of sin bondage
                        and say to ourselves,
"That kind of behavior,
      that kind of attitude,
            those kinds of actions
are completely inconsistent
      with who I am as God's child.

In a sentence,
      He seeks to transform our behavior
            by first transforming our identity
                  in a way that enables us to see
                        that the behavior is totally inconsistent with our true identity in Christ.

"I am a Holy One of God Himself,
      recreated in the image of His Son.
            Is this something God's Holy One would do?"

That re-education process
      is not a point,
            it is a lifetime reeducation process.

Do you remember that passage
      we spent so much time on
            a few years back
                  in II Peter chapter 1?

Peter presented to us
      the 8 progressive steps of growth for the Christian.

Then, after sharing those 8 progressive qualities,
      he makes a promise:
2 Pet. 1:8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Then he follows the promise
      by explaining why some believers
            do not possess these qualities:
2 Pet. 1:9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

That, folks, is a remarkable statement.

He tells us that those who lack
      those characteristics of Christ
            do so because they are either blind to
                  or have forgotten who they really are.

It isn't because they haven't been changed in heart and spirit,
      but because they don't believe they have been.

God never asks us
      to try to become
            what we think we should be.
He asks us
      to act in a manner
            that is consistent with who we really are.

Then Peter emphasizes this by going on to say:
2 Pet. 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;
2 Pet. 1:11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

He calls us to grow into
      an unshakable certainty
            about our true identity in Christ.

And I almost,
      but not quite got pulled into
            another full day's side-track
                  on that first statement:

#1. There can be no true, enduring change in the human personality apart from the direct personal intervention of God Himself.

Then the second statement I offered you two weeks ago was this:

#2. If we are a Christian,
      and if God has chosen at present to leave some area of sin bondage in our life,
      He has done so for specific reasons.

And then, to help us better understand those reasons,
      we began to look at the 5 elements I believe are essential
      for equipping us to be able to choose contrary to our feelings.

#1. The first step in any permanent change in our lives is God's creation within us of a heart desire for righteousness.

The creation of that new heart
      is a work that only He can do,
            and a work that He does perfectly
                  in the life of every person who comes to Him.

Then,
#2. The second element necessary for true change to take place is to call our sin SIN.

As long as we are still saying:
It's not really wrong,
      or it's not really bad,
            or it's not really my fault,
                  it doesn't really matter because it doesn't hurt anyone else,
      change will not take place.

And then,
#3. The third element necessary for true life transformation
      is the ability to see our sin honestly.

All sin is stupid.
      All sin destroys.
            All sin complicates our lives,
                  and creates far more turmoil than and stress in our lives than we would have had without it.

But only God can give us the ability
      to see our sin honestly.
And without that work of God
      breaking the power of emotional addictions will not happen.

Now, let's move on to the forth of these five elements.

And this one may take a little explaining.

#4. For freedom from emotional addictions
      to become a reality in our lives
            we must want God
                  more than we want the healing.

I don't know how else to explain this
      other than to say that
            we must be willing to submit
                  to God's program of transformation and healing for us.

I don't know if you'll relate to this question or not,
      but I find it to be a helpful tool
            in evaluating my true heart attitude.

Q. Is God a tool I need in order to pursue my healing, or is my healing a tool through which I pursue God?

Is God a tool I need in order to pursue my healing, or is my healing a tool through which I pursue God?

When we hurt,
or when we struggle in any area of our lives,
      our flesh has one driving compulsion:
            MAKE THIS STOP!!!

Make the pain stop.
      Make the confusion stop.
            Make the turmoil stop.
                  
If we allow our flesh
      to establish the highest priorities in our life
            we will find some way
                  to hide from the problem.

We will buy something,
      or drink something,
            or eat something,
                  or move somewhere,
                        our swallow something,
                              or do SOMETHING
to mask the turmoil in our lives.

But somehow I want to try to prepare you
      for what I believe is
            a nonnegotiable aspect
                  of God's healing program
                        for breaking the bondage
                              of deeply entrenched sin addictions in our lives.

I believe there will come a point
      in that healing process
            where we must decide whether we want God
                  or healing more.

Let me state it differently
      and maybe it will help.

I believe there will come a point
      where we will have to ask ourselves
            whether or not our God is adequate for our needs
      even if we are never cured,
            or never freed from our bondage.

If the only God we will accept
      is the one who brings the freedom we want
            on the schedule we have predetermined,
then God becomes simply a tool,
      a means to our own ends.

Only when God can bring us to the point
      where we understand
            that what we need most of all
                  is not healing but God Himself
                        are we able to receive the healing with a heart of humility and gratitude,
      if and when God chooses to bring it.

Do you recall that second statement we began with?

If we are Christians,
      and if God has chosen at present to leave some area of sin bondage in our lives,
      He has done so for specific reasons.

The top two reasons on that list
      are discovering 1) that God is adequate for us and for our needs
            even in our bondage,
and 2) discovering that having Him
      is of greater value
            than having the health we seek.

This is what Paul was telling us
      when he shared his own turmoil
            in II Cor. 12:7-10:

2 Cor. 12:7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me to keep me from exalting myself!
2 Cor. 12:8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
2 Cor. 12:9 And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
2 Cor. 12:10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

You see where Paul ends up there, don't you?

When faced with an area in which
      at that point in his life
            God had chosen not to bring the healing he sought,
      he reaches the point where he says,
            "Lord, if you choose not to bring the healing,
      then I will rest in knowing
            that you are adequate for me in the sickness."

That is an attitude
      of submissive dependance upon God.

OK,
      we've looked at 4 of the 5 elements
            in the process of finding freedom
                  from the bondage of sin addictions.

#1.God creates within us a heart desire for righteousness.

#2. Be willing to call our sin SIN!

#3. We need to be able to see our sin honestly,
      not through the eyes of our
            rationalizations
                  and justifications,
but to see it as the destructive bondage it is.

#4. We must want God more than we want the healing.

And then #5 is best stated in the words
      of Peter in the 5th chapter of his 1st letter.
1 Pet. 5:10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

Having given us a heart for righteousness,
      and an honest attitude toward our sin,
            and a desire for Him
                  that exceeds our desire for health,
He then allows us to suffer for a little while.

Huh?

The God of eternal love,
      the God who freely gives us all good things to enjoy through Christ,
            the God of all compassion,
                  and all kindness,
                        and all hope
allows us to "suffer for a little while"?

Yes,
      because there are times when
            suffering has the ability
                  to teach us about the true nature of our God
                        more powerfully than anything else.

He does not create the suffering,
      He does not cause it - we did that ourselves.

But He uses it
      to motivate us
            to reach out to Him
                  and discover what He is really like.

I would like to think
      that, if I had a perfect life,
            with every need met as I want it met,
                  on my time schedule,
my overwhelming gratitude
      would cause me to run
            to the heart,
                  and arms,
                        and depths of my God.

I would like to think that,
      but it's a lie.

It is not my gratitude
      that causes me to reach out to my God,
it is my need.

And when I reach out in need
      I begin to discover
that He is there,
      and that He cares deeply,
            and that He forgives totally,
                  and that He will never leave me and never forsake me,
and that a life lived in daily, desperate dependance upon Him
      is the only place of true peace
            and security available to man.

Then Peter says... "for a little while".
"After you have suffered for a little while..."

And how long is that?
Well, it's an hour,
      or a day,
            or a week,
                  or a year,
                        or 5 years,
                              or 30 years,
                                    or more.
It is as long as it needs to be.

But Peter does not end there.
      He concludes with the promise
            we need to hear.
When the struggle has served its purpose
      God Himself will remove it.

1 Pet. 5:10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

Amen.