Gtcotr/ss071507
Key Scripture: Psalms 18 New Living Translation
17 God delivered me from my powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too strong for me.
18 They attacked me at a moment when I was weakest, but the LORD upheld me.
The Enemies of Our Past Life
The Enemies of Our Present Life
The Enemies of Our Future Life
Two Powers of Sin
1. The Damning Power of Sin. Sin has the power to damn a person’s soul to hell for eternity.
2. The Governing Power of Sin. Sin has the power and desire to govern and control a person in this life, born again or not.
We saw how God provided two things to free mankind from slavery and bondage to sin and the enemies of their past life.
1. The Blood of Jesus
2. The Waters of Baptism
The blood of the Lamb cancels the damning power of sin and saves the soul for eternity. Water baptism is a grave to our old nature and the enemies of our past life.
On Wednesday evening we continued in this series by taking a fresh look at the difference between ‘Breaking the Hold and Destroying the Handle’ which sin, satan and selfish appetites can have on the Believer’s life.
If I could recommend one message for any person who is struggling with sin, that would be it. Not only did God tell us through the prophet Isaiah that He would take the yoke of bondage off of our necks but He also said that He would destroy that yoke.
For more information on those subjects or to listen to the sermons in full you can log onto churchonline.tv or go to cotr.com on the web and access the archived sermons for last week by following the links.
On Wednesday evening I told you that today we would find out how to:
* Close the door to temptation
* Reestablish our boundaries in life
* Take back the keys to our right standing with God
* Break sin’s dominion
* Destroy the yoke once it has been removed, and
* Regain the ground that has been lost
To help answer these questions lets look at a bible character whose life can reveals the trap which sin, satan and our selfish appetites of life try to catch us in.
The bible character I am referring to is named Balaam. Balaam was a prophet during the time Moses was leading the children of
Even though the Children of Israel were free from their old lives and free from the enemies of their old lives they were not without some new enemies. These new enemies brought new challenges and offered new temptations.
In the book of Numbers, Chapter 22, we see a King named Balak, King of the Moabites, who hated the children of God. Balak represents the enemies of our present life. King Balak hired the prophet Balaam to curse the Children of God. You can read the story in Chapters 22, 23 and 24 of Numbers.
God ordered Balaam not to curse His Children. So, when Balaam would not obey King Balak’s orders, Balak told him that he was a fool. “Don’t you know how rich I could have made you? I was really going to promote you,” King Balak said to the prophet Balaam.
Balaam, however, had a problem with greed. He liked money but was afraid to directly disobey God. Perhaps there was a way around this dilemma. Maybe there was a way to help King Balak and get paid without directly disobeying God.
In the end the scriptures say that even though Balaam did not actually curse the Israelites, he did show King Balak and the Moabites how to get the Children of God to curse themselves.
Look in Numbers 31
Numbers 31:16 Behold, these caused the children of
When it comes to the New Testament, Balaam is the one character, more than anyone else, who epitomizes the progression of sin.
You see, Sin will:
Take you farther than you wanted to go
Keep you longer than you expected to stay
Cost you more than you were willing to pay
Let’s look at the New Testament picture of Balaam and the truth about the enemies of our present life: Sin, satan and selfish appetites.
1. The Error of Balaam
2. The Way of Balaam
3. The Doctrine of Balaam
Temptation is not sin. Jesus was tempted in all manner like as we are but without sin.
However when a Believer either falls into sin it is at first an error. Left un-dealt with the error becomes a way of life. If not checked, challenged and changed ultimately the way of life will become a doctrine and Believers will begin to justify their own sin and finally cause others to sin as well.
You see: If the devil cannot defeat you he will attempt to defeat someone whose defeat will defeat you.
Basically:
When it comes to temptation what delivers and protects us?
The Word of God, the Armor of God and the Fruit of the Spirit helps us to defeat temptations in our present life.
However, when it comes to sin we must take more positive and forceful actions to redraw the boundaries, reestablish our righteousness and regain our ground.
There are Three Ways To Defeat The Enemy That’s Defeating You
The love, mercy, grace and forgiveness of God has already made a way for us to regain control of our lives and defeat both the temptations before we fall and sin’s governing power should we fall.
Today, if you are being tempted to sin, don’t! Take the Word of God, the Armor of God and the Fruit of the Spirit and defeat that temptation.
If you have sinned … Confess it to God and forsake that pathway, flee every opportunity to sin and make no provision for sin to recapture you, control you and ruin your life and witness.
