“Sin and the Christian” Conclusion

Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 901 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- Brother Phil Enlow: You know, I believe if someone's really been born again, there won't be a desire to go on like you are. There'll be a desire to change. Learning how to do that is where we get into all of these other issues.

But then, he says this, "In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble." (NIV). You know, it's just that way in a house. You got some things you would eat out of and some things you wouldn't, just to put it plainly.

But it says this, "If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work." Now what's at issue here? You mess up, you go to hell? No. You mess up, I just can't use you. You're in a position where there's something else got a hold of your life, and because you're so captive to that, I just can't use you. I'd like to be able to use you to help other people, but you're captive.

And so Paul is warning Timothy. Timothy, you've got a call of God in your life. You need to realize what's at stake and live for God because he wants to be able to use you, but he can't use you if you just give yourself to the things that people of the world give themselves to.

Paul, himself, said that of himself, in 1st Corinthians, chapter 9, I believe it is. He spoke about his own attitude in his Christian service, verse 24. It says, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?" That's the way it is in a natural race. "Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training."

You know the guy who wins the race is not the guy who's been sitting on the couch, watching TV, dreaming about winning the race. He's the guy who's been out there disciplining his body and training. "They do it to get a crown that will not last...." And particularly that was the case then because they would fashion leaves into little crowns and that would be their prize. Try to put that on your mantle for a while.

( laughter ).

It doesn't last very long. "...But we do it to get a crown that will last forever." So here's another thing that's at stake in how we serve God. It has to do with reward. I'll tell you I don't understand how in the world God could deem me worthy of anything. It doesn't matter what I do. What right do I have to claim any kind of crown?

And yet he says--Paul said, "...The time of my departure is at hand...." (KJV). There's henceforth laid up for me a crown of life which the Lord'll give me on that day. And yet in Revelation we see the picture of saints before the throne. What are they doing? They're casting their crowns before him. Why? Because they know they don't deserve such favor from God.

Oh Lord Jesus, it's all the power, all the virtue is of You, Lord. I give You all this reward that You've given me, Lord. It all belongs to You. I couldn't have done anything without You. This isn't my effort. I'll tell you, we've got a God of grace.

( congregational amens ).

Praise God! But his reward is at stake in how we serve God. I'll tell you I believe there's a lot of Christians are gonna slink into heaven, gonna have a little bit of overcoming to do when they get there, thinking back. I don't want to--I don't want to get there and just be so full of regret I'm afraid to lift my head and show my face.

You know I believe God'll wipe all that away, but I still believe there'll be some room for regret in a lot of people. They come to the end of their life here, they arrive at that shore. Oh, my God, how I've wasted my life. I played with this sin. I played with that, I wasn't diligent in anything and here I am, Lord. You've done everything for me. And here, look at this incredible place that I have come to. Oh God, if I could only do it again. Oh Lord, if I could only go back and do it again, I'd do it so differently.

Oh, praise God! I don't want to get there and have that happen, do you? God help us. So Paul goes on to say, "Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave...." (NIV).

Now I don't think he necessarily meant he got rods and did like that. But there was a sense in which he knew that his body and his fleshly appetites were actually his enemy in serving God and he had to really keep them under control if he was gonna serve God. Well that's not just for servants of God, like Paul, that's for every Christian. If we let our bodies rule, we're in trouble. We're gonna get in all kinds of trouble.

It says, "No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." There again you've got somebody who says, boy, if I just am too careless, if I give in to my flesh and just go it's way, pretty soon God's not even gonna be able to use me--doesn't matter if I preach to somebody else. I'm gonna be unqualified for God to use me in His service.

These are some of the things that are at stake when it comes to serving God. We need to realize--we need to realize that we need Him. We need to be living for Him. I thought of a scripture in 1st Peter, chapter 2, I think it is. I'll back up a couple of verses from where I'm wanting to get, and read verse 9.

It says, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God...." Now that sets the context as to who it is that he's talking about, and I believe that applies to every person who has been called by the Gospel to serve God. We are a--together we comprise a holy nation of people that God has set apart from the world. We're not to live like the world.

Now, what's the reason that He's done this? It says, "...That you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world..."--to do what?--"...to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul."

That's one of the consequences. The more we yield ourselves to things like that, the more we are going to find that our way is hard. You're gonna try to do something for God, and you're gonna find this other thing has got a hold in your life, and it's not gonna let you. There's gonna be bondage there. God wants us to be free to serve Him.

And so that's one of the consequences of not being diligent in this area of sin. Hell is not the question! But freedom to serve God in this world and to live to please Him is very much at issue. All of these things are actually at war against our soul.

Some of the battles that we fight are a lot hotter than they need to be. If we could just look to God and get through some of these things and ask God for deliverance, a help, and a spirit to take a hard stand in our spirit of conviction against things, God would give us much greater freedom in our lives. That's what he wants for every one of us. So that's one consequence: there's war.

The other consequence is this. "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." See, we're not just alone in the world. This is not all happening in a closet. We are living epistles before all men.

( congregational amens ).

They're watching our lives. How is it that God would reach other men? Does he send angels down to preach the gospel? No! The greatest preaching that is done, is done by God's people, and if we don't live before the world what we say, what's gonna happen? I'll tell you what, there's a tremendous hindrance--sometimes the biggest hindrance between somebody coming to Christ--and coming to Christ is us--not coming to Christ or coming is us in the way we're living before people. There's a great responsibility that we have. Oh Praise God! Praise God!

And so that's a consequence: war in our soul and our testimony before the world. I can think of another one in Romans chapter 6, that we referred to before, and I touched on it just a moment ago. 'Cause this would be Paul's answer to those who say, well, Jesus has taken care of it, and I can't be perfect anyway, so there's no point in putting forth much effort.

Paul says this. "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" Now I know that's a real question in a lot of people's minds: we died to sins. What do you mean, we died to sin? I still feel like it. There's still a part of me that wants to do the wrong thing. What do you mean, I died to it?

What he means is this, that before Christ came into the picture, sin was our master. We did not have the power to overcome it. Now I know that there are some people, for example, who could be alcoholics, and maybe through some program or some other they get free from having to go to the bottle every day.

But I'll tell you, if it's not one thing, it's another. There's no way, in the general sense, that we can free ourselves from sin and its power. If it does not exercise it in one way, it will in another. Sometimes you can exchange an alcohol devil for a religious self-righteous devil. "I did it!" you know. But it's still the same principle of sin that's ruling over us. You were enslaved, but when Christ came in that relationship of you to that slave master was broken.

( congregational amens ).

So Paul is saying that relationship was broken. You died to that relationship. It doesn't have the right to rule over you anymore. You gonna go on and live that way? No! That's not right. That's not what it's about.

And so then he gives the principle down in verse 11--in the same way that Jesus died to sin--"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin...." Reckon it! Understand what God has done for you. Understand that you don't have to obey it anymore. "...But alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body...."

Now whose responsibility is that? That's ours, isn't it? That means there's a possibility we can yield to the wrong thing. All right? Do not let it reign in your mortal body "...so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!"

Now what's at stake? "Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?" What he's saying is a Christian, even though that relationship has been broken, can still yield themselves to the wrong thing. What happens? They become a de facto slave.

Now that doesn't mean that sin has a right to rule over 'em, it just means that we've given in to our own desires and we've fallen under bondage there and there's a battle on your hands to get free from that sometimes. But God'll set people free if they'll call upon Him and determine in their hearts they're gonna go God's way.

( congregational amens ).

We're not left to fight such battles on our own, but I'll tell you they're real battles. They're not something where you can (snapping fingers) snap your fingers and look in a theology book and get the answer. These are real spiritual battles, and Christians get themselves in very deep holes sometimes. And we need to call on God, and pray one for another that God would set us free from all these holds that have no right to have a hold in our lives.

( congregational amens ).

Those are the things that are at issue when we deal with sin in the Christian life. Is it important? Yes, it's important. It's very important. It just that every Christian needs, all the time, to understand the difference between the foundation and the house. God built the foundation; it's sure. The question of hell and heaven is forever settled by the foundation we're standing on.

But, oh, the house, and the issues relating to our effectiveness as Christians in this life have to do with what we do and how we respond, and cooperate with God, and believe his Word. Praise God! Those are the issues.

But the Lord is so good and so faithful to us to give us all things, as he said in 2nd Peter, "...all things that pertain unto life and godliness." (KJV). He's made it all available. Is there anything that he has not anticipated? Has he left any part of becoming a Christian and going to heaven to our own resources?

-- Congregation: No.

-- Brother Phil Enlow: No. He hasn't. He's made it all available to every one of us. But that's what the Christian life is about. It may be available but we need to avail ourselves of it. And we need to learn, and we need to grow, and we need to actively cooperate, understand what His purpose is for our lives.

I'll tell you there are so many people, I believe, that just get themselves in all kinds of difficulty and all kinds of trouble. I know one scripture that I was going to use, and I'm going to refer back to one that we used in a different context last week, in 1st Corinthians, chapter 11, because this is a pretty serious consequence.

This was the passage about the Lord's Supper. And verse 27, "Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord." (NIV). I'll tell you what, there's such--what he's describing here is a person who is so blind, so self-centered in their attitude that they don't have a clue. I mean they just don't really get it as to what God is after, what it cost our Lord Jesus to give us what we have, what it means to our character, to our relationship to others.

You had people here coming to what they called the Lord's Supper, turning it into a drunken picnic, and ignoring people who are poor and had nothing. I mean that was just a symptom of a condition in their lives. They hadn't really grasped what God had done for them and it was just--they were living in a blinded condition of bondage.

And so he says, "A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup." Now who does that? That's something we're supposed to do. "For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself..."--is the word--and I think it says, damnation, but judgment. There are consequences to things where we're just going the wrong way. "...Eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep." And of course, that means they've died. So these are consequences that can happen.

And I'd like to liken it this way. It's not like God has got a rule book, and you break the rule and he raps your knuckles, necessarily. Sin is the greatest destructive power in the universe. And in one scripture in Galatians chapter 6, he likens it to a crop where you sow the wrong thing, you reap. That's not punishment, that's consequence.

That's where you sow to your flesh. What do you reap? Corruption. You get a bad crop if you go in that direction. You begin to yield. You might do it privately. You might think it doesn't matter, nobody sees. I'm not--living before the world. Nobody sees it but me and God and, you know, He's covered it all anyway, so it doesn't matter.

It matters! There are consequences that absolutely will happen. And I likened it in that other service, where I preached on the consequences of sin, to jumping off a building when it's against the law to jump off the building. Now, you've got two problems. One, it's against the law. The other is, you're gonna hurt yourself.

Now one is a legal consequence of doing it. The other is a natural consequence of doing it. Jesus, when he went to the cross, He took care of the legal consequence. If you repent halfway down, there's forgiveness.

( laughter ).

But you're still gonna break your leg, and be sore for a while. There's consequences to sin. I don't know any better way to illustrate it that everybody who knows anything about heroin, for example, will understand. I remember in college I was around some heroin addicts in New York City, trying to work with them. I don't know if we did any good or not. But that's a terrible thing. My God.

And it feels good, that's why they do it. Oh, I can play with this. I just want to feel good. Let my try it. The next thing you know, it just gets a deeper and a deeper and a deeper hold. The next thing, they just can't stop it. They can't say no. Their will has been just yielded to that thing. They've become slaves.

And what's the consequence of that? Does that heroin do 'em good? No. It totally consumes their life. It turns them into liars and thieves and useless in normal society. They can't hold a job, they can't do anything. They're total slaves to that thing. Sin is the same way. It will take over your life, and your heart, and your mind if you yield to it. And God wants us to be free to serve Him in the world.

( congregational amens ).

Praise God! And so that's why I was trying to make the point, it's not just a legal consequence, there are real consequences to sin. God just doesn't make up rules for no reason at all. There are real reasons not to live for self, and to live to gratify these lusts. Because if you do, you'll be a slave to them and it'll lead right straight downhill. Praise God!

And He loves us too much to let us just go ahead and do that. That's what He's come to deliver us from. So he said, "That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep." Some of you have died. So sickness, and weakness, and all these natural things, they 'can be' a consequence of sin.

And I want to say it very carefully, because there's a lot of other reasons we can get sick. I mean we can't make that simplistic an equation. I got sick, God's judging me. I must've done something. Well, there's all kinds of reasons for such things. There's all kinds of reasons that Christians die young. But I'll tell you I can think of cases where I believe Christians died young, unnecessarily, and they died as a consequence of the way they lived.

That's pretty serious consequence, when we reach the point where God says, the best thing that I could do for 'em is just to take 'em out. We'll finish the job on the other side. Boy, I'll tell you, I don't want that to happen to me. I don't want to have to go to heaven and hang my head and say, Lord, I'm sorry, I messed up. I could've--you made every provision for me, but I was hard-headed, I wouldn't listen.

I was more important. It was more important to me to gratify my natural lusts, and my desires, and to just kind of ignore a lot of things that You told me. You warned me, just like Peter, You warned me and I didn't listen. So, I mean that's a consequence of sin that a person could die young and die early, die before their time, because of the condition they get in spiritually and still be a Christian.

Let's go on and read what it says here. After he says that, "many sleep," "...But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment." See, we have an opportunity to avoid a lot of things, don't we? But, "When we are judged by the Lord...." And when it says judged by the Lord, I believe he allows the consequences to happen to us. He allows it.

It's not like he says, boom! I'm gonna to send a thunderbolt your way. I'm gonna curse you with this sickness. I believe many times He just stands back and lets things take their natural course, because it's the way we chose to go. "When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined..."--Why?--"...So that we will be not be condemned with the world." Do you see the balance there?

( congregational amens ).

See the difference between the building and the foundation? That's so important because a lot of Christians live their lives--some live 'em carelessly, some live them fearfully. Oh my God, everything hangs in the balance every time I get up in the morning. Oh, oh, oh, oh. And God doesn't want us to live either way. Praise God! That's a pretty serious consequence.

But even there, I see the mercy of God and the certainty of the foundation that He has laid under our feet. You know, what a question to come up with, though. If I commit a sin and I don't have time to confess it and be cleansed, am I--what's my state? It's like, am I gonna go to hell? Do you understand the foundation? Do you understand that we stand before God by what Jesus did?

( congregational amens ).

Are you on that foundation? Have you put your trust in Him? Then, you have Him on the inside, to walk with you, to live in you, to help you to grow, to help you and me to overcome the things that we need to overcome in this life. There's a responsibility on us and there's a strength that God would extend.

But there are many consequences of how we live our lives. Do you get it today? Do you understand? Do you have enough of the knowledge of the balance of Truth to be able to set these issues in their proper place and not let the devil just bend and twist you every which way, getting your carnal mind to working.

I believe God wants us to have a spirit of rest and a spirit of faith and a spirit of diligence, "...Looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith." I'll tell you I'm glad He's gonna finish what He started. Praise God! I want to cooperate with Him, don't you?

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