THE BATTLE WITH SIN, THE BARRIER TO HOLINESS

Romans 8:1-11

 

Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon?  This week when we were in Phoenix for the SBC, Dave and Julie Owen had the opportunity to drive up one day for a quick tour of this example of God’s extravagance with beauty in the world He created.  In Dave’s words, flying over the canyon in a helicopter was nothing short of a worship experience.

 

     But put yourself in the shoes of early pioneers heading west, traveling along in covered wagons, making their way toward California only to find that in their path was this massive barrier to their plan of action.  Initially, I am sure they must have realized that they would encounter obstacles along the way—some mountains, valleys, even some canyons…but nothing like this! (The canyon is 9 miles wide and just over 275 miles long!)  Talk about discouraging.  If they underestimated the size of this challenge, they could waste weeks going in the wrong direction.

 

     As great as the call to holiness is, and as massive as that calling appears, how much more difficult if we underestimate the primary barrier to reaching our goal?  Yet such is the case with sin…an obstacle too easily minimized by too many believers with the result that they often give up instead of pressing on in their pursuit of holiness.

 

     Getting over the canyon now is no major problem—if you happen to have a helicopter or plane.  But you need something substantially greater than human energy and personal ability to make much progress very quickly.

 

     So it is with sin—this insurmountable barrier to holiness cannot be overcome apart from Jesus Christ.  But in Him, we can overcome and press on without delay toward the goal of holiness.  Why then do so many stall out at the rim of the canyon of sin?  They fail to take the barrier seriously, trivialize the dangers, and get lost in the depths of sin’s valleys never to find their way back to the path of holiness.

 

THESIS:  In order to grow in holiness at the highest possible level, we must realize more fully than we ever have how utterly sinful sin really is.

 

     We have to take sin seriously to become holy and see it as it is!

 

I.  THE BATTLE WITH SIN

 

--Before we can adequately address the goal of holiness, we need to make sure that we grasp the magnitude of the opposition to holiness—our own sinful nature.

 

--Throughout the Bible we are reminded that the problem of sin has so permeated human nature that we are totally depraved, every capacity within us polluted and corrupted by the influence of sin.

 

--To become holy as God desires for us to be, we have to defeat this enemy to holiness and recognize that it poses a formidable barrier which we must overcome.

 

Warning:  Never underestimate the might of the enemy if you expect to defeat him.  The problem preventing our growth in holiness often stems from the fact that we do not believe that sin is as dangerous as it is.  As the culture has distanced itself from its confidence in the trustworthiness of Scripture, so it has lost its sense of the vile and evil nature of sin.

 

Romans 7:13 Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

 

--Paul makes it clear that when we approach God’s Word with spiritual understanding, we find ourselves face to face with the shocking truth about the “utter sinfulness” of sin.

 

--There is an underlying assumption about sin that we no longer find in the minds of most modern Christians, an assumption which should shape our thinking about sin, and should foster an attitude of guarded respect for its dangers.

 

Until the last few generations, most people understood the word ‘sin’ and recognized its presence in their lives.  But when September 11, 2001, showed the devastating destructiveness of sin, western culture was at a loss to explain what had happened because we had sanitized our vocabulary and our worldview to remove all traces of evil and sinfulness sin the human heart.  Unfortunately, the sentiment of the culture is summed up by the title of a book by American psychiatrist, Dr. Karl Menninger—Whatever Happened to Sin? 
     His premise is that we have dismissed sin, not out of any lack of evidence for its existence, but out of arrogance born of prideful sophistication and an overly developed sense of our own highly evolved goodness.

     “In our sophistication we scoffed at sin as a cause, so we were left with symptoms without a cure.” --Rev Dr Gordon Moyes, Superintendent of the Wesley Mission, Sydney, Australia

     The bad news is that sin never ceased to hold us captive, never relaxed its grip, never reduced its power.  If we deny that it exists, how will we ever recognize the need to overcome it and move toward true holiness in Christ?

 

A.  IDENTIFY THE ENEMY

 

1.  Sinful Flesh

 

--All through Romans 6-8, Paul refers to “the flesh” as the bearer of the sin nature so that we might understand that right within our own nature there is war going on between God’s call to holiness and our own flesh’s call to sinfulness.

 

Romans 8:5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,

 

--The battle against holiness beings with a war within our own hearts as our sinful flesh seeks to prevail in any way possible so that it will not be made holy.

 

2.  Spiritual Forces --

 

--Another barrier to contend with is a battle with a spiritual foe, an unseen enemy, a deceptive seducer, who wants nothing better than to convince us that putting up with sin in our lives is fine.

 

Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

 

B.  UNDERSTAND THE BATTLE

 

--In Romans 8, Paul outlines some of the issues that have helped previous generations of Christians wrestle wisely with sin because they were able to understand some things about it.

 

Even if I understand the enemy, if I do not appreciate the nature of the battle, I will fail in my pursuit of holiness.  When British troops lined up in ranks to fight, the American colonists followed suit for a while, until they realized that they would be outnumbered and lose the traditional way.  So guerilla warfare was born and the nature of the battle no longer depended upon the most troops but how strategically they were deployed.

     The greatest challenge facing the military forces of the west is to understand the way the battle is to be fought.  Terrorist acts, snipers, attacks on civilians populations—all are part of the new battle plan for at least one set of enemies we face.  If we do not understand that kind of battle and prepare for another, we will never succeed.

 

1.  Power of Sin

 

--Sin will exercise its power to keep us from holiness, to prevent us from pursuing a holy life.

 

a.  Law of Sin Holds Us Captive—Spirit of Life Sets Us Free

 

Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

 

b.  Sin Causes Death—God Condemns Sin

 

Romans 8:3, 10 3For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh… 10And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

 

2.  Impact of Sin

 

--Before you dismiss sin as insignificant and deal with it superficially, consider what Paul says about its impact on your life before God.

 

a.  You Will Be Deceived about God

 

Romans 7:11 11for sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.

 

b.  Your Mind Will Be Dead to God

 

Romans 8:6  6For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace 

 

c.  You Will Be Hostile toward God

 

Romans 8:7  7because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so;

 

d.  You Cannot Please God

 

Romans 8:8  8and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

 

e.  You Will Not Belong to God

 

Romans 8:9  9However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

 

--If you care nothing about God, then these things may not matter to you, but if you have seen the glory of God, you know how greatly you need and want Him!

 

--Holiness may not matter to you, but you can be sure that if it does not, it never will as long as you allow sin to have this kind of impact on your spiritual well-being!

 

II.  THE BARRIER TO HOLINESS

 

--Once we have seen the glory of God in Christ, His call to holiness can no longer be trivialized in our lives.

 

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said,  “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

 

--We will want to pursue holiness as a passionate, persistent pursuit that will run through walls if necessary, climb mountains is necessary, swim oceans if necessary—all because of the inexpressible joy of knowing Him in all His holiness.

 

--Our barriers are not mountains, or wall, or oceans—but the sin which controls our sinful natures, our flesh, and contends for our souls.

 

--Therefore, we cannot afford to underestimate our enemy and reach conclusions about sin that are inadequate and underdeveloped.

 

--If we do, we can count on having to deal with four painful results:

 

A.  WE WILL TAKE JESUS FOR GRANTED

 

--The result will be a lack of appreciation for the sacrifice of Christ and lack of gratitude for the grace of Christ.

 

--How thankful are you for your salvation from sin?  Do you ever take the time to reflect on what would have happened if Jesus had not saved you?

 

--Friends, we sometimes forget that our sin was so awful that the death penalty was a just verdict against us by the Righteous Judge!

 

--If we are not regularly reminded to give thanks for our salvation, in all likelihood we will soon take Jesus for granted and think that our sin was not so bad after all.

 

--Holy people are grateful people who never lose sight of that fact that the wickedness of their own sin made it necessary for Jesus to die!

 

B.  WE WILL TAKE SIN LIGHTLY

 

--If we fail to grasp the dangerous and ruinous nature of sin, if we lose sight of its power to destroy and devastate all that it touches, we will take it lightly.

 

--What grieves the heart of God and invites His holy wrath cannot be trivialized or considered inconsequential.

 

--We have a lack of understanding of its destructive power and a lack of fear of its devastating dangers.

 

1.  We Will Toy with Temptation

 

--Those who do not realize the seriousness and danger of sin will fail to comprehend the dangers involved in playing around with sin.

 

If the young husband had known that by toying with the temptation to explore pornographic sites on his computer he would risk losing his wife, his kids and even his job, do you think he would say that he had counted the cost and concluded that the few moments of lust were worth it?  Many of us know someone who played with the fire of that sin and lost everything.  They did not flee from temptation (as 1Tim 6:11; 2 Tim 2:22 command) but toyed with it as if it were an exciting, challenging game—but one with stakes no one can afford!

     He did not think about the consequences because he did not take sin that seriously—only to find out that not only God takes it seriously but other people do too.

 

2.  We Will Tend to Ignore Conscience and Neglect Self-control

 

--The sinful nature, or the flesh, often speaks in such a way that its voice drowns out our conscience and appeals to our desire for pleasure, for personal gain, for boastful pride.

 

--Even though we know better, we silence our conscience and ignore our self-control and do what we want instead of what pleases the Lord, or even instead of what is good for us.

 

Yielding to the temptation to take just one more helping of dessert even though we know better has led many folks into gluttony.  Looking for someone to tell a juicy bit of information about another when we know it will hurt them or separate close friends leads some to gossip.  Even when we are aware that taking music off the internet without paying for it violates copyright laws, some justify their actions in some way and continue to steal what belongs to another.
     Somehow we find that we can rationalize our behavior better if we ignore our conscience and suppress our self-control.  Where is the harm, we ask?  Perhaps becoming better acquainted with the reality of sin would lead us more toward holiness than toward hedonistic self-pleasing lifestyles.

 

3.  We Will Treat Confession with Contempt

 

--The most frequent excuse I hear from those who will not take sin seriously and who could care less about personal holiness is that no matter what the do, God will forgive them…so they do what they please.

 

A pastor was recently discovered having a relationship with a woman who was not his wife.  He was removed from his position as pastor, but instead of repenting, seeking forgiveness and submitting himself to the discipline of a group of spiritual leaders, he defiantly went a mile away and started another church…with his girlfriend!!!
        When challenged, he responded, “This is what makes me happy and God wants me happy.  He will forgive me so I can do what I want!”

     Do you think this man understands the destructive power of sin, that miserable cancer of the soul that is consuming his spiritual life and hardening his heart?

     He is treating confession with contempt by making it his own personal “get out of jail free” card instead of seeing that each time he sins he drives another nail into the hands and feet of Jesus, thrusts another spear into his side!

 

--Confession was never intended to offer us a free ticket to sin with impunity, to treat the mercy and grace of Christ as shameless means to authorize lives of impurity and unholiness!

 

Hebrews 10:29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

 

4.  We Will Tread Carelessly and Too Closely to Danger

 

--If we fail to appreciate the seriousness of sin, we will become careless and allow ourselves to go too near the edge of the precipice to see how close we can get without falling over.

 

I heard a story one time about a rich estate owner in the 19th century who needed to hire a driver to take his young daughter back and forth to town to school each day.  The road to the town passed along a narrow stretch with a rocky cliff rising above on one side and steep bank descending to the sea on the other.

 As prospective drivers came to apply for the job, one by one he took the man on a test drive to prove their skills.  One after another would go as quickly as possible, showing off their skills especially in the narrow stretch of danger road.
     Finally when one of the applicants took the test drive, he slowed the horses down and steered the wagon as close as he could to the rocky wall until the road opened back up.  The other drivers were watching, laughing and making fun of his fear of the cliff’s edge.  When the job was offered to this one, the owner was asked why.  He explained that the others were very skillful at negotiating the risks, but since their cargo was to be his precious daughter, he was more interested in someone who was skillful at avoiding the risks and taking great care.

 

--Are you getting more skilled at getting as close to the edge of sin as you can, or are you growing more careful as you see how seriously God addresses the perils of sin?

 

I have watched with much sadness as Christians become more skillful at figuring out what they can get away with as a follower of Christ than they are at what they can do without to become a more faithful follower of Christ.
     Instead of asking what new areas of holiness need to be cultivated, they ask how far they can go without seriously damaging their reputation and good standing.  Among many younger Christians, the questions are not so much about what would bring the most glory to Christ, but about how much freedom they have to drive their wagons as close to the edge as they can without plunging themselves into oblivion!

 

C.  WE WILL TREAT CORRECTION BEGRUDGINGLY

 

--We have a lack of interest in its specific warnings and a lack of concern about its personal applications.

 

If I am serious about becoming a better golfer, I will not mind at all when someone offers a word of correction about my swing…but if I only want to do what I want, I will not accept their advice without begrudging the fact that they told me what to do.
     After all, no one likes to be told what to do, what to believe, and how to live.

 

Rom. 3:19-20  Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God;  20because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

 

--Some people choose to treat all words of correction —even those from the Lord Himself through the Bible—as if someone were trying to keep them from doing what they want.

 

--In fact, if what we want displeases God and damages our well-being, whether we like it or not, we need to listen carefully to the godly counsel of wise words of correction.

 

--Otherwise, we declare by our attitudes, if not with our words, that we are SATISFIED with our BLINDSPOTS to the sin in our lives and the things which drive us away from holiness.

 

--We are not interested in nor can we see the “big deal” about what others see as inappropriate behavior which tends more toward ungodliness than it does toward holiness.

 

--We are not concerned if what we take pleasure in is inconsistent, Spirit-grieving, and Christ-dishonoring as long as we convince ourselves that we can like and do as we wish.

 

--If you long to grow in holiness, you will welcome such words and love those who give them.

 

D.  WE WILL TREAT HOLINESS INDIFFERENTLY

 

----Ultimately, if we do not take sin seriously, we can never expect anything more than to treat holiness with indifference.

 

--When God speaks of that holiness without which no one will see the Lord, we have to convince ourselves that He is bluffing…or else we have to be convicted that our sin has no place as master of our souls!

 

--We may talk about holiness and study about holiness, but we will never do anything about holiness as long as we allow “sin to reign in our mortal bodies to obey its lusts.” (Romans 6:12)

 

--God has called us to holiness…and He has cleared the way by providing a remedy for the greatest enemy of holiness—our sin.

 

Sin is like a Grand Canyon separating us from God’s path of holiness.  The massive sized of this barrier cannot be underestimated without great peril to our souls.  It is like a cancer to our souls, eating away at us, destroying our spiritual health.

 

     How are you dealing with the sin in your path?  If we are to grow in holiness, to follow the calling of Jesus Christ, we cannot deal lightly with that which cost Him His life as He died on the cross to take the consequences of our sin upon Himself.

 

     Keep short accounts with sin.  Make no provision in your life to accommodate it, to rationalize it, to leave it unchecked—it will eat away like a cancer destroying all that is holy in you and building a major barrier to your growth in the holiness without which you cannot see the Lord.

 

     Through the power of the Holy Spirit living in everyone whose trust is in Jesus Christ, no barrier can hold us back, no canyon or cancer can keep us from pressing on to fulfill our calling in Him:  YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY!

 

June 22, 2003

Providence Baptist Church

© David Horner 2003

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