Avoiding the Agony of Achan, Part 2a

I love what James says because he says it well over in James chapter 1, verse number 14. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished, it brings for death. It brings forth death. Sin always brings forth death. There's nothing good that comes about because of sin. And therefore, we must learn to understand what the Bible says about how we can learn to avoid the agony of Ach.

What do we need to do so we don't go down that path that leads us? To death that leads us to being separated from that sweet and beautiful communion with our God. And so, therefore, we want to give to you seven principles. Seven principles that I believe will help you understand what it is God says we need to be doing.

And I don't know where you're at in your life, and each principle will pick up some spot in your life where you're at and help you learn to deal with wherever you are tonight in your life. But I want you to understand something. You know, you know, we don't want to deal with our sin. For the most part, we want to repress our sin. We want to kind of hope it goes away. We kind of want to do it and then forget about it. Until we do it again, then forget about it. Hope everybody else forgets about it.

And try to somehow. Hope that there are no consequences and that I don't never have to bring it up and deal with it. And yet, so many times we turn to external things to drown out the voice. with us. Sometimes you turn to alcohol. True, we can drown out the voice, the conscience that awakens our heart to the truth. Sometimes we turn to all kinds of entertainment. We drown ourselves in front of our television or by putting music on so we can forget about what has taken place in our lives. Any way we can do to repress it so we never have to really think about it.

Martin Lloyd-Jones, that great author and great preacher, said these words: If you merely repress a temptation or this first motion of sin within you, It will probably come up again, still more strongly.

Repression, he says, is always bad. Well, what do you do, asks someone? I answer. When you feel that first motion of sin, just pull yourself up and say, Of course, I am not having any.

Dealings with this at all. Expose the thing and say, This is evil, this is vileness, this is the thing that drove the first man out of paradise.

pull it out, look at it, denounce it, hate it for what it is, then you have really dealt with it. You must not merely push it back in a spirit of fear and in a tamorous manner. Bring it out, expose it, analyze it, and then denounce it for what it is until you hate it. Folks, we must learn to deal with sin courageously. We must strike at its roots. We must cut it off. We must deal with it as drastically, as quickly. As pos. Tonight and next week, hopefully, I can give you some principles that will guide you through that process that will help you understand what it is you should.

Be doing on a regular basis. And we began the first one last week, and that is principle number one: this: when sin.

or when cognizant of sin, be watchful and consider your Savior. When cognizant of sin, be watchful and consider your Savior. That is, when you are First, aware that sin is on the horizon, the first thing you got to do is be watchful, be on the alert, and cons your Savior.

This is where it all begins. If you don't begin here, you'll go to the next step and into the next step. But as soon as it raises its ugly head, you need to be watchful. You need to be on the alert. You need to be ready. How do you do that? By considering your Savior. Remember what it says over in Hebrews chapter 12? Hebrews 12, verse number 1. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin. which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.

Who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against him. So that you may not grow weary and lose heart. The writer of Hebrews tells us that we need to consider him. You need to consider the person of Christ, consider the passion of Christ, and consider the position of Christ. Consider his person because of who he is. He is the author and finisher of our faith.

Fix your eyes on Jesus. Consider him. Think about him. What did he do? Consider Jesus. What does he think about my sin? What does he say? about my sin. The very first thing you need to do is be watchful and consider.

Your Savior. He is a high priest, Hebrews 4 tells us, who can sympathize with our weaknesses. So when we go to Him and we talk to Him and we ask Him. To give us strength and grace and wisdom to handle every situation, there's nothing that He has not faced that He can't help us with. That's why the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10, 13, that there is no temptation taken you such as is common to man.

Don't think for one moment you have a temptation that comes your way that's stronger than anybody else has ever faced. Every temptation you face is as common to you as it is to every other man. It's a common temptation. It's not an uncommon temptation. And God is faithful, who will always provide a route of escape. He'll always provide that route. It's always there. Whenever temptation comes, there's always an escape route. Don't think that you find yourself in a temptation and there's no way out.

No, there's always an escape route because God is faithful and God promises a way out And what you got to do is when you become cognizant of it, you need to be watchful, looking for that place as you consider your Savior. Remember Genesis:? Joseph? Now Joseph didn't have time to sit and pray about whether or not he was going to give in to Potiphar wife or not. She hunted him down. She pursued him. She went after him. She removed his cloak. And what did he do? He ran. He was out of there. It wasn't like he could sit down and say, you know, Mrs.

Potiphar, could you hold on a second? I to bring this before the throne of grace. I've got to talk to the Lord about this temptation because I'm not sure I can handle it. No. He ran. He knew he needed to run. He knew he needed to go. There was a way out. And that way out is to run away. They see our problem is that we don't want to run away. We want to stay right where we're at. And that doesn't work. But Joseph knew he had to run, he had to get out of there. Because he said, I can't do this s against my God.

How can I do this against my God? He knew that if he was to be involved in any kind of illicit relationship with Potiphar's wife, that he would be sinning against his God. And he knew he considered his God above him. Above himself, above his own needs, his own wants, his own desires. The word consider in Hebrews 12 is a mathematical term which means to add up all the facts. And come to a proper conclusion. Let me tell you something.

When you add up all the facts about Jesus, you'll always make the right choice. You will. And we need to consider him the author and finisher of our faith. He is the one who won every victory. He is the one who never lost. And we need to understand him more than we need to understand ourselves. Remember what Christ said in Matthew 26? In the Garden of Gethsemane, verse 36. Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to his disciples, Sit here while I go over there and pray. He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be grieved and distressed.

They said to them, My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch with me. And he went a little beyond them and fell on his face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And said to Peter, So you men could not keep watch with me for one hour? Keep watching, keep praying, that you may not enter into temptation. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, thy will be done.

And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.

Then he came to the disciples and said to them, Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Arise, let us go. Behold, the one who betrays me is at hand. They could not keep watch. You know why they couldn't be watchful? It's because they would not consider their Lord. They could only consider themselves. They were tired. They were weary. They were worn out. And Christ says, Watch with me for one hour.

Watch with me for one hour. And when he comes back, he says, Are you sleeping? You could not watch just one hour with me. You could not think of me just for one moment in your life? Is it always about you, Peter? Is it always about you, James? Is it always about you, John? Can't you think of anybody else other than yourself? They went back and prayed some more. He came back, and sure enough, they couldn't think of anybody else but themselves. I mean, that's the whole commentary on the disciples. They always thought about themselves.

They were always jockeying for a greater position in the kingdom. They were jockeying for the greatest position among themselves about who was the leader. All they could think of, all they could consider was themselves. They never one time considered Jesus. Even when Peter said, Lord, though all men deny you, not me. You can count on me. I will be there through thick and thin. I will be right there by your side all the way to the end. But the Lord said, Peter, Satan has already asked to sift you as wheat.

But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. So that when you return back to the disciples, you'll be able to strengthen them. You see, even though Peter would. Would sing the song of strength and be there, as in his own words, for his Savior. He wasn't. Because he wasn't watchful and he would not consider his Savior above himself. Folks, let me tell you something.

When you fix your eyes on Jesus and when you set your affections on things above, you make right decisions below. But when your affections are not above, but they're below, you'll always make wrong decisions. I love what the Bible says over in the book of Psalm, Psalms 135.

Listen to this. Psalm 135, verse number 15. This is speaking about idols. It says, The idols of the nations are but silver and gold, the work of man's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak. They have eyes, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not hear. Nor is there any breath at all in their mouths. Listen to verse number 18. Those who make them will be like them. Yes, everyone who trusts in them. God says, For those who make idols that cannot see, that cannot hear, that cannot speak, those who worship them, those who gaze upon them, those who consider them and set their affections on them will be just like them let me tell you something if a pagan man can become like the pagan idol he worships and adores how much more can the Christ child, children of Christ, become more like Him as they gaze upon Him and fix their eyes on Him.

Right? We become like that we worship. We become like that that att our attention. So where are our eyes fixed? Where are we focused? Are they on God above? That's why it says over in 1 John chapter 3, those very familiar verses. 1 John 3, verses 2 and 3. John says it this way: Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when he appears, we shall be like him. Because we shall see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies him even as he is pure.

So when your eyes are fixed upon him because of the hope of his return, then what the effect of that is a pure and holy life. Why? Because you've considered Jesus. You've considered your Savior. You've weighed him in the balance and realized that his way is always the best way and there's a route of escape that he has provided for you. And that's the way you go. So you've got to ask yourself: let's say tonight you're sitting here and you're considering a vengeful act. Okay? You're cognizant of a sin.

You're cognizant of how I'm going to enact my revenge upon someone in my family, someone at work. I'm going to get back at them. I'm going to do this thing. And yet, when you consider Jesus, And what he did, did he ever act in any kind of vengeful way toward anybody? No. He does say, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. So whoever you are wanting to to get back at you got to remember that God's going to deal with them You don't have to and and the way that God chooses to deal with them will be far greater than the way you deal with them and a far better way of dealing with them than you'll deal with them You need to understand that.

And yet we sit back and we plot ways that we can get back. Maybe it's in your marriage. God forbid, but sometimes in our marriage we plot ways to get back at our spouse because there's that vengeful attitude. There's that bitter spirit that rises up inside and say, you know, I'm going make sure that he or she pays for the comment they made to me in public. Because I'm not going to let them do that again. So we plot the right way and the right time to get back at them because we believe that vengeance is ours and not God's.

When you are cognizant of that sin, when it rises in your mind, be watchful and consider your Savior. What did he do? Maybe you're here today and you had this unforgiving spirit that you don't want to forgive someone else because of the sin that they've committed against you. And you know it's right there, and you know that they've come to you, they've asked you for forgiveness, or maybe they haven't asked for forgiveness, but you're contemplating not forgiving them anyway. Or maybe they have asked for forgiveness and you decided you're not going to forgive them.

The Lord speaks about that very clearly, doesn't he? Over in Matthew chapter 18. Turn there with me, if you would, for a moment. Matthew chapter 18 Peter came and said to him, Lord, verse 21, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Seven times? Jesus said to him, I'm going to say to you up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven. Now Peter asks seven times because, I mean, seven is the number of completion, right? So you should have a complete. forgiving attitude up to at least seven times and Christ says 70 times seven.

If you take a norm 2 hour day, that's every 1.9 minutes someone sins against you. They come back and ask you to forgive them. You say yes, I forgive you. Now, it doesn't mean that that's the exact number. It means that you're always to forgive your brother every time he asks you. There's never a time you don't forgive your brother for a sin. And they tell a parable. For this reason, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a certain king who wished to settle accounts of his slaves. When he had begun to settle them, there was brought to him one who owed him 10,000 talents.

But since he did not have the means to repay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children, and all that he had, and repayment to be made. Slay therefore, falling down, prostrated himself before him, saying, Have patience with me. and I will repay you everything. And the lord of that slave felt compassion, and released him, and forgave him the debt. But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred den, and seized him and began to choke him, saying, Pay back what you owe So his fellow slave fell down and began to entreat him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will repay you.

He was unwilling, however, but went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved, and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. Then summoning him, his Lord said to him, You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you entreated me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you? And his Lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers, until he should rep all that was owed him.

Verse 35, So shall my heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart. Christ gives a parable. Verse 35 is not part of the parable. Verse 35 is the application of the principle of the parable. So shall my heavenly Father do to you. When it says to turn you over to the torturers, it's a word of deep grief and deep agony. How do you avoid the agony of Achan? You have a forgiving spirit. That's how you do it. Because if you don't forgive your brother's sin, there is turmoil, there is trouble, there is agony, there is distress.

There is all kinds of heartache in your life and in your family just because you harbor an unforgiving spirit. Christ says, listen, there is no sin that you can afford not to forgive.

Because I have forgiven you all your sin. I have forgiven you everything you've done against me. And because I have, the least you can do is to forgive your brother the little thing he's done to you, because it's little in comparison to what God God has done for us. But somehow we think that we can hold forgiveness with somebody else and we can enact vengeance on them because somehow we're better than God. But we're not. We're in debt to God for all He's done to us. And we have to understand what that means for us on a daily basis.

That's why you've got to consider your Savior. You've got to consider the grace that He's bestowed upon you, the mercy He's given you, the forgiveness He's extended to you, the love that He's lavished upon you. You've got to fix your eyes on him. That's why the Bible says, you know, thy word I have treasured in my heart that I might not sin against thee.

You need to be in the Word of God so you know the God you serve. I got to tell you, folks, I feel really bad for people who go to churches where the Word of God is not preached. I really do. Because those people, they're not being equipped with the tools to handle temptation, to handle the situations that come in their life, because they don't know how Jesus handled them. They don know what the Bible says about those kinds of things.

I talk to people who've been in churches for years, years, and they don't know half of what you know. Because you've been in Christ's community church for a few years. It's because they go to a church where the Word of God's not open, the Word of God's not preached and proclaimed. They don't know how to deal with sin. Because they don't know how to consider the Savior. They don't know how He handled everything. The privilege that we have to be in the Word of God week in and week out and to study exactly what He does.

Is amazing. The Bible says over in Psalm 119, Psalm 119, verse number 36. Incline my heart to thy testimonies. In other words, Lord, turn me toward the things of the Word of God and not to dishonest game. I want my eyes to be focused on the testimonies of God, not toward dishonest gain. Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity and revive me in thy ways. Establish thy word to thy servant as that which produces reverence for thee. The psalm is crying out, Lord, I want to revere you. I want to obey you.

I want to worship you, Lord. So establish my footsteps in your way. Help me to know your testimonies. Help me to understand your precepts so that I can turn my eyes away from vanity, so I can turn away from dishonest gain. And then he says, Turn away my reproach, which I dread, for thine ordinances are good. Behold, I long for thy precepts revive me through thy right. He wanted to know his God. He wanted to know the ways of God so he didn't commit sin. That's what we need to be, right? So when you become cognizant of sin, when you become aware that sin is on the horizon, when you begin to see the temptation rolling down the path, you need to be watchful, be on the alert, be awake.

And consider your Savior. That's principle number one. Principle number two. Let's say you're past that stage. Let's say you've already considered it, okay? Or you haven't considered the Savior, but you become very aware of your sin. And now you've gone past the cognizant stage to the cont stage. You're thinking about doing it. You're beyond seeing it on the horizon. Now it's facing you face to face. And now you're contemplating sin. Now you're about to do it. When you're contemplating sin, you need to be mindful of the consequences of sin.

You need to be mindful of the consequences of sin. When cognizant of sin, you need to be watchful and consider your Savior. When contemplating sin, you need to be mindful of the consequences of sin. I'm convinced that we don't spend time talking about the consequences of sin. God does. That's what Joshua 7 is about. That's what Acts 5 is about, Ananias and Sapphir. But we don't contemplate enough. The consequences of sin.