Avoiding the Agony of Achan, Part 4a

It was a number of years ago where Martin Lloyd Jones suggested that the doctrine of sin was fast disappearing from evangelical teaching and preaching. He said these words: When we are dealing with the unconverted, we tend to say, Oh, you don't need to worry about sin now, that will come later. All you need to do is come to Christ, to give yourself to Christ. Do not worry your head about sin. Of course, you can understand that now.

Do not worry either whether or not you have a or excuse me, have got a good sense of sin or deep conviction or whether you know these things. All you need to do is come to Christ. To give yourself to Christ, and then you'll be happy. Then, when we are dealing with those who have so come, our tendency again is to say to them, Of course, you must not look at yourself, you must look to Christ.

You must not be forever analyzing yourself. That is wrong. That is what you did before you were converted. You were thinking in terms of yourself and of what you had got. To do. The only thing you must do is to keep looking to Christ and away from yourself. We imagine, therefore, that all that is needed by Christians is a certain amount of comfort and encouragement of preaching about the love of God and about His general providence, and perhaps a certain amount of moral and ethical exhortation. And so you see the doctrine of sin is, as it were, crowded out.

We fail to emphasize it both before and after conversion. And the result is that we hear very little about it. End quote. Well, if we hear very little about it, then we don't know how to handle the sin we face day in and day out. And our job. Here at Christ's community is to help you understand how to handle and deal with the sin you face week in and week out. And so, we are in the process of giving you seven principles that will help you avoid the agony of Aiken's. Sin. And we begin by helping you understand principle number one.

When cognizant of sin. The first thing you need to do is to be watchful and consider your Savior. Be on the alert. Watch out. And consider your Savior. Look to him. We've spent a couple of weeks looking at that. But let me remind you of the words of Charles Wesley when he wrote these words about the conscience.

He said, I want a principle within of watchful, godly fear, a sensibility of sin, a pain to feel it near. Help me the first approach to feel of pride or wrong desire to catch the wandering of my will and quench the kind fire.

From thee that I no more may stray, No more thy goodness grieve, Grant me the fil all I pray, The tender conscience give. Quick as the apple of an eye, O God, my conscience make Awake my soul when sin is nigh, And keep it still awake. We need to be watchful. We need to be on the alert. And when we do, we consider the Savior. But if we move beyond that, And we begin to contemplate sin, that's point number two, we need to be mindful of the consequences of sin.

Sometimes we go beyond just seeing the sin before us. To begin contemplating whether or not we want to commit that sin. And when we get to that point, we must be mindful of the consequences. Sin. Now, last week I began our time by looking at a man named Saul and how he fell into sin and how he partially obeyed the Lord and it came back to haunt him at the end. Literally, it came back to kill him at the end. And we told you that what you don't conquer will ultimately conquer you. But let me give you the example of a man you know very well, a man who was able to overcome temptation.

That's Genesis chapter 39, the man Joseph. So if you have your Bible, turn there with me if you would. Please, because he was a man who was mindful of the consequences of sin, he was a man who was watchful and he would consider his savior, he would consider his God. And the Bible tells us Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, verse number 1 of chapter 39. And Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him. From the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there, and the Lord was with Joseph.

Need to circle that phrase in your Bible: the Lord was with Joseph. So he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. Now his master saw that the Lord was with him. And now the LORD caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant, and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge. And it came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptians' house on account of Joseph.

Thus the Lord's blessing was upon all that he owned in the house and in the field. So he left everything he owned in Joseph's charge, and with him there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. It came about after these events that his master's wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, Lie with me! But he refused and said to his master's wife, Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house.

And he has put all that he owns in my charge. There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin again God? And it came about as she spoke to Joseph day after day that he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her. Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside. And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me.

And he left his garment in her hand and fled and went outside. When she saw her That he had left his garment in her hand and had left outside, excuse me, fled outside. She called to the men of her household and said to them, See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make sport of us. He came in to lie with me, and I screamed. And it came about when he heard that I raised my voice and screamed that he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside. So she left his garment beside her until his master came home.

that she spoke to him with these words the Hebrew slave whom you bought to us came into me to make sport of me and it happened as I raised my voice and screamed that he left his garment beside me and fled outside Now it came about, when his master heard the words of his wife, which he spoke to him, saying, This is what your slave did to me, that his anger burned. So Joseph's master took him and put him into the jail. the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in the jail.

But the Lord was with Joseph, and extended kindness to him. and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jail. And the chief jail committed to Joseph's charge all the prisoners who were in the jail so whatever was done there, he was responsible for it. The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made to prosper. This is one of the great stories of the Old Testament of a man who under that sin's pleasure is undeniable.

You know, we forget that. The Bible talks about in Hebrews chapter 11 that it was Moses. Who chose to suffer ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin? For a season, you know as well as I know that sin's pleasure is und. Sin is pleasurable, or it wouldn't be wrong. And S entices us to go the other way. And we also know that sin's pressure is un. And here was a man, Joseph, who felt that pressure. He felt that because of the appeal that Potiphar's wife kept making.

to him constantly day after day after day can you imagine going to work every day and facing the same temptation from the same woman day after day after day And it was that continual appeal that continued to pressure Joseph. And not only was it the appeal, but it was the attack where she literally attacked him because there was no one in the house. There was no one there. It would be like you going to work at night, no one would be there. And the woman who constantly came after you was there, and no one else was.

And she grabbed you by the coat and said, Lie with me. And here was Joseph. There was nobody around. Who would know? God would know. And that's why Joseph That's why Joseph was a man who was watchful and alert and would always consider his Savior. He would consider his God. And not only that, but he was mindful of the consequences of sin. He knew that he couldn't do this thing against his God. And she would accuse him falsely. But Joseph remained true to his God. He would not bow to pressure. And here was the man, when tempted, would flee, would run away.

He never stopped to pray about the temptation. He never stopped to consider what he might do. He just ran away. Because he knew that he couldn't do this evil thing in the sight of God. And while it looks like things turned out bad for Joseph, if you know the whole story, if you were with us in our study of the book of Genesis, you know that this man Always prospered because God was with him. Listen, sin's pressure might be unbelievable. And sin's pleasure might be undeniable, but God's presence is always reliable.

And with that comes his power, which is always available. And with the presence and power of God, your prosperity is always attainable. And Joseph was able to attain the level of prosperity because God was always with him. He made the right choice. Why? Because when he became cognizant of sin that was before him. He was watchful. He was on the alert. And always considered his Savior. And when even contemplating sin, he was always mindful of the consequences of sin. Well, see, this is the point number three.

And that is when comb sin, when combating sin, we talked about this last week. You need to be dutiful and clasp your s. You got to go to war. And the only way you can go to war successfully is with the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit, as Ephesians 6 says, which is the Word of God. You need to be able to understand how important God's word is to defeating sin in your life. And we spent a lot of time talking about that. So if you weren here last week, you need to get that C D and understand that.

You need to clasp your sword. That's what it means to be dutiful. But there's a second part to that. It's kind of like a 3A, 3B. And that is, when combating sin, you've got to be dutiful and clasp your sword as well as. As well as cultivate self-control. You must cultivate self-. Folks, this is so important. You need to understand that you need to get control of your life. It's called self-. And it is attainable. You can do that. In fact, if you go back with me, if you would, to 2 Peter chapter 1.

Verse number 3, it says this, Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence in your faith, supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence knowledge, and in your knowledge self-control. Self-control flows out of the knowledge of God. So the way you become dutiful in your combat is to clasp your sword because the Word of God gives you the knowledge you need to overcome The temptations you face, and that knowledge enables you to develop self-control. Very important. Listen, Satan's objective is to get you to think different than what the Bible says.

You ought to do. And that's why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10: we've got to bring every thought captive to the knowledge of Christ. Every thought captive. Why? Because as Is 4:6 says, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. You want to be destroyed? Lack knowledge. That is, the knowledge of God. And that's why Daniel 11:3 says, the people who know their God will stand strong and do great. Exploits accomplish great things for God. Those who do not know God cannot stand strong. Those who do know Him can stand.

And not only can they stand, they can accomplish great things for God. And so you become dutiful when you clasp your sword because that is the offensive weapon in the armor of God. And you cultivate self-control. You learn to control your urges. You learn to control your passions and your appetites. Listen, self-control basically is the ability to get a grip on one's life. It's the ability to get a grip on one's life. It's important because self control says that nothing in life will ever master you but the master him.

That's self-control. That is, nothing masters you except the master him, not work. Not your lusts, not your passions. Nothing masters you but the Master Himself. We need to be in control of our lives. Remember the verse we shared last week, Romans chapter 13, verse number. 13. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carous and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. In reg to its lusts.

In other words, Paul says you need to be in control of your life. By doing that, you put on the Lord Jesus Christ. You understand who He is, you consider Him, you're mindful of the consequences. Consequ, you understand what the Word of God says, and you follow God instead of your passions.

Very important. Now, listen. Why is this so important? Remember 2 Timothy chapter 3? 2 Timothy chapter 3 says this about the end times. Realize this, Paul says, verse 1, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips. Here he goes. Ready? Without self-control. What's the mark of the end times? People who are out of control. People who lack self-control.

And people say to me all the time, you know, I just can't control my urges. Yes, you can. No, they're just too great. I can't. Yes, you can. Why? Because God has not given you a spirit of timidity, but of love and of power. And of self-discipline. God's Spirit enables you to develop self-control. Why? Because self-control is a fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5: and 23. Right? It is the fruit of the Spirit's work in your life to enable you to control those urges so that you can live the righteous, holy life that God has designed for you to live.

Very important. Remember what Paul told Felix way back in Acts 24? Listen to this. Acts 24. But some days later, verse 24, Felix arrived with J, his wife, who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul. And heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. So Phoenix is hearing Paul speak about what it means to have faith in Christ Jesus. And then he defines what that faith in Christ Jesus is. Are you ready? Here it goes. He says, and as he was discussing righteousness, Self-control and the judgment to come. Folks, that is the gospel.

God has a standard. What's the standard? The standard is righteousness. Perfect standard. That's the standard. And. Number two, self-control.

You can't meet the standard. You can't control your urges. You can't control your passions. You can't meet the standard because you You're out of control. So then he talks about the judgment of God. That should cause a man to say, Listen, if I have a standard to meet and I can't meet it because I'm out of control and God's going to judge me and I'm going to burn in hell, what do I do? Listen to this. Felix became frightened and said. Go away for the pres, and when I find time, I will summon you. At the same time, too, he was hoping that money would be given him.

By Paul. Here was a man who heard the gospel. Paul preached the gospel to him. He said, God is a perfect God. He's got a perfect standard. You've got to meet the standard. You can't meet the standard. Therefore, you will be judged. That's the gospel. And Felix was frightened because he knew he couldn't meet the standard. But although he was shaken. He was not shattered. He still had that self-love. He was materialistic. He wanted Paul to give him money. And it kept him from being broken over his life and over his sin.

And therefore, he remained an unbeliever. But Paul preached the whole gospel of Christ and it deals with the ability to control your urges. And the only way that can happen is if the Spirit of God resides in you. You see, the unbeliever has no control over his life. He thinks he does, but he doesn't. The believer has the ability to control the passions and desires that come his way. Why? Because the Spirit of God resides within him. And we need to understand that. We need to realize that when combating sin, if I don't cultivate self-control, Through clasping the sword of God, the word of God, I will fall into sin.

And therefore, we must understand. That I must develop a life of self-control. Listen, Paul said, 2 Corinthians 5. 14 to 15. The love of Christ controls me. It compels me. It constrains me. It's got me locked in. And folks, that's the way we need to be, right? It's the love of Christ that locks us in. It's the love of Christ that constrains us. We can't. Maneuver out of that love because we are wrapped up in that love because the Spirit of God indwells our lives. And so self-control is available to us because it's the fruit of the Spirit.

Self-control is available to us because God has designed it that way for you and me. If we're out of control, it's not because we can't be in control, it's because we don't want to control those urges. Don't let anybody sell you a bill of goods. Folks, let me tell you something.

If you want to control the urges, you have all the power available in your life to accomplish that because the Spirit of God res within you. And that's why Paul said, you got to discipline yourself unto godliness. You got to discipline yourself. That's not a very friendly word, discipline. It's kind of a smelly, sweaty kind of word. But folks, that's what's got to happen. That's why Paul said over in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, he talked about buffeting his body. He said, Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize?

Run in such a way that you may win. And everyone who competes in the games exercises. Self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we and imperishable. Therefore, I run in such a way. as not without aim, I box in such a way as not beating the air, but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly after I have preached to others I myself should be disqualified. Paul says, I beat my body into subjection. I discipline myself to say the right things, to do the right things, to go the right places.

Why? Simply this. 1 Corinthians 6 says, You're no longer your own. You've been bought with a price. You can no longer do what you want to do. You've been bought with the price. Now God owns you. He's the master of your life. And therefore, the ability to control those urges reigns supreme in your life. Folks, listen.

If we ever are going to overcome sin and temptation in our lives, when we find ourselves in the midst of a battle, you've got to take up the word of God, which is your sword. You've got to get a hold of it. You've got to hide it in your heart. You've got to treasure it in your heart. You got to make sure you know the word of God. Remember, we told you last week in the temptation of Christ, when he used the word of God, at the end of the temptations, it says that Satan left. You left him al. Why? Because you couldn 't defeat him because of the word of God.

And you got to cultivate self-control. That happens through the Spirit of God, through dependence upon the Spirit of God, through saying no to life satisfactions. Folks, listen, say no three times a day, whether you have to or not. Say no three times a day, whether you have to or not. It's so easy to say yes. It's hard to say no. Next time you go to Starbucks with your friends, say no. Say no. Next time, next time. You want to order dessert? Say no. Just say no. But we don't want to say no. It's so easy to say yes.

The more you say no, The easier it is. I told you before, I just love saying no to my kids. I say no all the time. Custom money? No. No. Can I bought a car keys? No. No. God just loves saying no. It benefits me when I say no to those things. But you see, the bottom line is that we are so used to saying yes that when it comes time to saying no, we can't. And if you say no in the little things, You're going to be able to say no in the bigger things. And you've got to learn to say no. Joseph said no.

No, no, no, no, no. How can I do this and sin against my God? He was a man of great self-control who understood how to control his urges and his passions and his desires. And they were all captive to God him because he knew that he served a greater purpose because he served the great God of the universe.