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have the first slide out. Now, thou shalt not coveret thy neighbor's banana.
The word coveret, the Greek goes beyond wanting a banana. It means wanting a banana so much is almost like you can't live without it. It has an element of idolatry in it. And you'd be surprised how that video actually speaks a lot about what we're going to talk today. That sin can come in many shapes. Little little things like a banana or certain things you desire, things that take you captive can lead you into sin. And it's just that it's so prevalent uh so common among all of us. We take it very lightly. And this is art imitating life. Sin is a serious topic. uh and even in Hollywood little things like this uh this is from Despicable Me too reflects the extent of our sinful nature. So on one hand we have sin which is very common that almost everyone here struggles from. Then there's the kind of sin that we don't talk about. When was the last time we spoke about homosexuality in this church? It's almost like a a taboo topic. You know, it doesn't exist. How sure are you that you don't have people in our midst that don't struggle with this? This is Exodus Ministry. It's a ministry that's been around since 1976. It's run by Alan Chambers. That's his face up there. Uh an ex-homosexual who got married. I've seen his interview. I followed his ministry. Is endorsed by Focus on the Family. The website tells you that change is possible. He pioneered a form of therapy called reparative therapy. And I know this because in Australia I brought a friend to uh one of the ministries in Sydney and he's been championing the fact that you know what whatever even you struggle with this you can completely eliminate your desire for same sex. Now on 19th of June, Exodus closed and he issued an apology to the gay community. And I I I I'm familiar with this ministry. This is a man who is a committed evangelical, totally committed. And I read the transcript of the entire apology. And I saw the program on CNN uh where he he spoke of why he did it and there were few reasons given. One the success rate for reparative therapy were extremely low. But the thing that pushed him into the apology was that it made Christians who struggled with this go into such a guilt conscience. They went into depression. some gave up the faith and that and the thing that broke the the camel's back was some committed suicide and he couldn't take it. So here the extent of struggling with sin. Why do I bring this up? Two reasons. One uh the person uh my first Bible was given to me when I was probably the same age as the CCP team. Uh he was a son of an elder of a brethren church in Mala. He was gay. Never told anyone in it. never told anyone in church. Um I ask him why. He said, you know, I'm a son of a of an elder. You expect me to tell them I'm supposed to act a certain way? The other thing is, of course, Peter knows this. When we were combined with Pontai Baptist Church, we used to have a big evangelistic play and the person who wrote the play for us is the president of the Loi Gaspen Lelay LGBT community in Malaysia. is the president and I met him last year. I said what happened? He said I found my true calling. I used to sit down and pray with him. He wrote scripts for us but internally he sat in the church setting here and he struggled and he spoke to no one about it. This morning we're going to talk about a very difficult topic and if is anything is probably my most difficult sermon and I I I've been approaching this with a lot of of of of uh uh prayer and thought. You see you can approach this in two ways. One is you can you can dilute it so much that you know what everyone's a sinner you walk away and you don't change or you can frighten everyone so much that people get so guilty you may you may not commit suicide but you you get depressed. So we we really want to uh take this with some uh some honesty. So there are two things I want to ask us before we go into the topic for the next 35 minutes. Two things I asked. One, we be totally honest with ourselves. No stone unturned, no deep dark secret repressed. Today is the day. Today the day you bring it out. Secondly, just as important is that no judgmentalism. Do not look at your neighbor. Do not say, "Hey, he's a sinner. You mean you mean he's he he has that problem? We are all sinners here." So, let's approach today before God with a spirit of honesty and let's not be judgmental because we all sinners before God. So, shall we go before God in prayer? Lord, u above all topics, Lord, sin is probably the topic that you deal with in scripture the most. And it's because of sin that your son came and died for us on the cross. This morning, we approach this with utter humility, with total honesty, comforted by your love on the cross. Give us the next 35 minutes an open heart. Teach us not to be self-righteous to judge others that we are better than them. And above all, Lord, let us put on love that covers a multitude of sins. We say this in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to take chapter 6 uh in Romans, if you have Bible to me, let me just give you some a little bit of background. Chapter 6, 7, and 8 are a block. uh uh Paul speaks from Romans 3 onwards to five about justification by faith. Now he takes you through what we call sanctification meaning how you grow as a Christian. Now let me just give you a little bit these three chapters to most to to a lot of influential Christian leaders are the most significant chapters in the Bible. Anyone from Nikki Gumble, Tim Keller, John Sto, Jonathan Edwards, John Owens, Martin Lloyd Jones have picked this as the critical chapter. So we we're going to do chapter six and seven today is part one. Dr. Tan will do chapter eight next week. I'm going to really encourage you to read this chapter. They will change your life. These chapters are lifechanging. If you don't understand these chapters, you don't understand Christianity. And because we're taking two chapters, we're going to do a helicopter view. We're going to take verses here and there. Let's take on verse one, chapter six. 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? Or don't you know that all of us were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We will therefore bury with him through baptism to death. In order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For you know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Because anyone who has died has been free from sin. Now we died with Christ, we believe we also live with him. But we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again. Death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourself dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey his 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're not on the law, but under grace. What then shall we sin because we're not under the law, but under grace? by no means. Verse 16, don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey? Whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness. But thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you entrusted, you have been set free from sin and become slaves to righteousness. This is God's word. You'll find a few phrases repeated again and again. I want you to pick this up. The word life and death. The second word very picked up slaves. Master these are key words. Now earlier on what Paul has been teaching is this uh we come to God not through what we do. Essentially salvation is not achieved. Salvation is received. And this is a a a chant which theologians use which is quite useful for us. We are justified by faith. Chapter 3 21-5. We are looking now at sanctification. Meaning how you grow as a Christian which is chapter 6 to 8:27. And then glorification. What does that mean? It means that when you get to heaven. Now why is this important chart? It simply means in this process on earth when we are growing you never quite get there until you get to heaven. You'll never quite get there. You are growing and growing until the day you drop at your last breath, so to say. Now, here's the point. Since justification is received and not achieved, hey, so I can do what I want, isn't it? And he picks it up in two verses. The first verse, shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? Verse 15. Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? In simple modern English is like this. Hey, I'm a Christian. Jesus died for me at the cross is okay. My passport is secured. Once saved, always saved. Some people say quoting from Kelvin and and and the context is is has been abused such that it doesn't matter. So here's the danger with a lot of church that we teach so much on God's grace, God's love. God is such a kind, loving God. It doesn't matter if we sin. And what is Paul's answers? Paul's answers twice. He repeats the same word by no means in normal English is are you crazy? Absolutely not. Impossible. Don't even think about it. It's a strong response. You cannot sin wantly, repeatedly without remorse. So here the first thing we're going to look at is a misunderstanding of sin. God's grace and love is so great. You can sin as much as you like. He will still forgive you. Here's a story. Anyone knows this man? Henry Winkler. What is Henry Winkler famous for? The fawns. The young people at CCP don't know this. But during my time, we knew who was he. You look at him now, he's an old man, but in his in his young days, he was cool. During my time, we all wanted to be the fawns. You know, the f had to walk, you know, he used to walk, you know, you know, and then when he stops and then he'll take off his comb and he used to do that and then you know then people say what something wrong you are you know, but he was cool. He had all the hot cheeks. He was he had all the babes. He had all the girls and the best thing is he had a big bike. He was the fawns. Now I remember this episode because I was a kid, you know, it's a very old show. And at one point he has an accident with his bike. You can even get it up on on on the internet. It's surprising. It's such a famous episode. And he begins to question life. I was a kid. I wasn't a Christian, but I watched it and he and he said, "You know, I nearly died. Maybe I should change my life. Maybe this thing. And I was a kid. I watch. Hey, you know, no, that's that makes sense. Okay, let's see where here's the fonts. Here's the coolest man. Here's Mr. Popular. He just had a close shave with death. He's looking at his life. He's making a reality check. And the episode says, what does he do? He gets baptized. And he goes to God. He say, you know, he thanks God. And I was a kid. I was watching it. going, "What? It's the stupidest thing I ever saw." Let me ask you a question. Was the phones any different before and after he got baptized? Absolutely not. So, as a kid, I watch it and I said that you think just because you sprinkle some water on you, your life has completely been acceptable by God. It's utter stupidity. And here Paul says this, "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father, we too may live a new life." He takes baptism and and pushes it to tell you, look, what he does is that you are buried with Christ for what? So that you may have a new life. Here's another guy who was like the fawns in the Roman times. His name is Augustine of Hippo. He, you know, old people all look the same, but younger days, he was really good-looking. He was also a ladies man. And in his book, Confession, Augustine uh confesses he was a real, you know, let's call it what? He was a horny guy. He was a real horny guy. Let's call it today is about sin. Yeah, we're going to really be honest, but he was a horny fellow. He had a lot of lot of you one night stands. He became a Christian and the story goes in confessions that one day one of his old lovers met him and said Austinine it is I and he has now become a Christian. He smiles at her, shakes her hand, and then Alstein goes on. The the the the girl then says, "Hey, you know, hey, you know what? What? You know, don't remember me." So, he tries to seduce him again and says, "Augustine, it is I." And Augustine turns around and says, "It is I, but not I." He is a new creation. He is different. What makes a marriage a marriage just because you make some vows and and and and and and uh sign a piece of paper? No. A marriage is a marriage when a wife or a husband behaves that way. What makes you a father just because you put a roof over the head and give money to your kids? No, it's when you behave like a father. What makes you a Christian? Just because you get baptized, come to church and say a few words. You're Christian by the way you behave. And what what's very interesting here, there are two points. I want to pick up the first section. Number one, sin matters. It matters a lot to good God. Number two, what's very fascinating is this. Paul says sin matters. Now, in a lot of churches when they tell you, you know, sin matters, the next thing they tell you is that if you sin, you're going to go to hell. You sin, God is really going to punish you. But you know what Paul does? What is the the the the motive he gives? the motivation for you to not sin. He gives it as the gospel is really really life transforming. And here's the point we're going to pick up today. The the motivation, the key to fight sin is that you have to be infused with the gospel. We're going to really break this down today. And Paul goes so much in detail. He just doesn't tell you the gospel. He tells you you have to be in the gospel. You have to be you have to die like the way Christ died. You have to be crucified like the way Christ was crucified. You have to consider yourself dead and you have to be resurrected like that Christ did. And if it doesn't bother you at all when you sin, you have not been infused with the gospel. So here's the answer. When people says once saved, always save, the answer is this. Yes, that's right. If you behave like a Christian, but just because you believe you're a Christian, just because you come to church, just because you got baptized, but Mondays to Saturdays, you live a totally different life. There's two parts of you. There's one anolim on Sunday and another anolim Monday to Saturdays. Paul is telling you, you're not a Christian. Painful, huh? today very painful. Okay, here's let's look at the second thing. The second misunderstanding is moralism. Because some people sit there and they say, you know what, I don't have that problem. You see, when you think Christian, you think this or really, oh, he's a really serious Christian. He probably doesn't smoke. He doesn't drink, doesn't sleep around, doesn't swear. Probably quite active in church. Oh, that's a bornag again Christian. He's right. You know that that that's a good man. Now that's again the opposite misunderstanding of sin because it means sin is moralism. You might say join pass. People in past are very moral extremely more moral than a lot of Christians. You know sin to this people is mainly about list of dos and don'ts. And Paul describes this at chapter 7 as the law because the Jews had a problem with this. Now why is and here's what a lot of us misunderstand. We think that you know what sin is following a series of dos and don'ts. So long so long I follow these dos I'm good. God I don't sleep around. I don't smoke. I don't swear. I give my money to the church. I I I even preach. Hey God I'm good. Maybe I sin a little bit but I'm good to go man. I'm good. But here is how Paul defines it. Don't you know when you offer yourself to someone to obey offer him as slaves, you are slave to the one you obey? Whether you're slaves to sin which leads to death or to righteousness. And here is the key definition of sin. Sin isn't defined as a series of dos and don'ts or law. Is defined in terms of slavery. Now when the first century Romans looked at the word or the first century readers understand slavery, they don't understand it the way we do. We think of like what happened in apatite or is is racebased slavery. But during that time it's not uncommon if you were in depth you offer yourself up as a slave. That means you you had no money. You tell a guy look I owe you money. I offer myself to you for five years. And so so when first century people read this they understand this word the word master and servant or the word lord. Now how do we understand this? Let me give you example. You know what the best part of this scene is when the minion goes to the other one and says uh banana and banana. No no no no no no no. It's just a banana. Who is this? The the key actor here is the banana. Who's in charge? Is the banana? Who's in charge? The coffee or you? Is the coffee. Now, now you you you go along this thinking. A lot of things are your master. You know, now we look at this and we we make fun of we all know some people are hooked on to addicted to cake, Korean drama, coffee, chocolate, shopping, Facebook. People make jokes that your handphone is an extension of your hand, gaming, blah blah blah blah blah blah. But here the words of Paul, you know, don't you know when you offer yourself to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey. And we say, "Yeah, coffee, shopping, haha, haha." Then he picks it in. You are slaves to sin or you're slave to God. Now we we make fun of this, but in the reality, this is what sin really is. Everyone in this room, everyone without exception has an issue either with your pride, with lust, low self-esteem, vanity, arrogance, you're a control freak, jealousy, envy, hated. In the end, we are all self-centered. It's just the extent of it. Let me give you few very brutal examples. And this morning we're going to be we're going to be bare and honest. Let's just say you're a guy and you struggle with pornography. Not going to tell anyone, right? You come to church, you can't talk about it. So you stash it away. You got DVDs hidden. No one knows about your pornographic addiction. But what does it do to you? It hooks your mind. Every time you see a girl, you address that girl mentally. Not going to tell anyone. It hooks you in. And afterward it becomes your master. Then you get older, you keep fantasizing and all the fantasies get more and more and because you want to gratify it more, it gets more and then one day you get a posting to go to Bangkok and the bank the Bangkok posting is regular and it's near Pong.
We don't need to finish the story, isn't it?
You you are a girl and you see other girls prettier than you and you you feel rotten then you get jealous then you get envious and then someone gives you attention and you you need to show hey I got a boyfriend doesn't work out it's not fair you get envious you get more self-esteem you find it more in Friends, friends let you down. As you get older, is everybody's fault except yours. God, why? Why wasn't I prettier? Why didn't I get this? Why is life unfair? Who's your master? Self-esteem.
You are ambitious. You get a job. You want to do well. You spend long hours. You say, "You know what? Just for this year, next year, third year takes your health. takes your family. Who's your master? Your ambition. You're a church leader. You preach. People love you. They respect you. They say thank you. Pray for me. One day you do something with the church money. And people say, "Hey, that's wrong." Something kicks in. You know what? I'm popular in this church. I'm a church leader. You tell you you telling me fight breaks out. You convince yourself he's trying to run me down. Who's your master? It's not God. It's your pride.
Don't you know when you offer yourself to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey. And brother and sister this morning, this is what God is asking. Who is your Lord and Master? And the best example Jesus gave was the Pharisee. He came to church to offer to God. Hey God, look at me. I t I do this. I do that. And the tax collector was at the back. He was repentant. And the story basically says he was not offering to God. He had another master. The master was his self-righteousness and pride. Here's the danger. When we reduce sin to a series of dos and don'ts, we become blind to our sin. And this morning, I want to challenge you to take a deep look at yourself, honest look, and ask who really is your Lord and Master. Either God is your Lord or sin will be your master. Now some other people say that they say you know what I I I I I don't have a problem with this. I'm in control. You know you you religious people all these all these things I can do whatever I want. I don't need religion. I can do whatever I want. Okay. Let's take that thinking. You are free to do what I want. Yeah. I can drink. I can eat. I can wash whatever I want. You don't tell me what to do. I am king in my life. Really? Yes. Okay. Stop lying. Cannot. Cannot um stop having dirty thoughts. Cannot stop hating people. Cannot you see in reality you can't even break your own bad habits. You are not in control. Something else has gripped you. Now and here's where it goes further and and why the danger of the law. Okay. So what some churches do? They break it down into a lot of thou shalt not do a lot of laws. I was in a brethren church and and in younger days they say this you cannot listen to music no TV no women must look at women cannot wear bands cannot have long hair don't even talk about ponytail so so this is why call being legalistic it's true it's true I was in a brethren church thou shalt not and you do it you will burn in hell burn in hell like you're going to hell Irish pastor and let's just we add one more we say thou shalt not drink coffee
Guess what happens if I do that to you? When I do that to you, this is what Paul says. For I would not have known what covering really was if the law had not said, do not covert. But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. So if I tell you coffee is a sin, you're going to burn in hell. Burn. If you take coffee and you say, "All right, go back. Pastor say cannot drink coffee." Oh, cannot. Cannot cannot. Okay. God, I mustn't drink coffee. He mustn't drink coffee. He mustn't drink you. You one week about one week with both of you last one week. Two days no coffee. Three days no. The fourth day you walk past Starbucks,
you'll be drinking out the whole shop. Correct or not? take a good look at ourselves. The law aggravates sin and the law brings up our nature. What's the best example? Singapore drivers. Correct or not? You ask Ian Banto told us this in Singapore is a fine society. When they come over here, not very fine. I I I was in lick. I was in Botanic Garden there and I saw a a a white man. Sorry to our white folk here, you know, supposed to be very civilized. He he had blonde hair. Old man, he was jogging. There wasn't a haze. And he went to the lake there. He did this and he did that. He went [Laughter] there's an animal inside. All of us try to get out. The more you repress that animal, it comes out full swing. Augustine said this when he was told not to steal pets, he purposely stole it. And what he did? He fed it to pigs. He wrote it in confession. Mark Twain says, "A man is like a mule who will do exactly the opposite what is told to do. We can be mean for meanness sake." Now, why am I telling you this? Because we want to talk today about how to struggle with sin. Here's how most people, what happens to a lot of Christians, they come to church, they listen, afterward, they feel guilty. You know what? I got these bad things in my life. I I better do something about it. Then they stop one week, two weeks, 3 weeks and then like the hoken say beta then they revert and when they revert they revert worse. So how does Paul teach you to go past this? First let's let's have a look at ourselves. What most people like to do then after they go past that they decide to compartmentalize their life. They become at peace with sin. They tell myself, you know what? In church, I'm going to behave a certain way. Outside of church, I'm not going to tell anyone else and I'm going to live that way. That's the best. So, in church, hello, brother Anna. How are you at home? You
It's true. Okay. Here's, you know, when I was young, I always wanted to be a a radio host, you know, and I love the way they speak. Can you imagine if I'm a radio host, it's halfway say my wife calls me. The conversation be like this. Good morning. This is Anolim on radio FBC. It's a hazy morning. But here, right here, there is sunshine and here's the latest song from Adrian Mal. Check it out. And and the phone ring. Hello radioc
[Music] what my daughter your daughter right you do and that was Adrian Mallay two faced now before you say that only appears to certain people we are much more two-faced than we give oursel credit for everyone here believes in honor Y they want an honest government bay. But in business they tell you no choice. I must scout him. Must give some bribe. Here's a serious stone. They want their wife and daughter to be pure but no problem indulging in pornography or finding a a prostitute. We say in this country is not fair. We should have equality in in in in in getting jobs and business out there. They will say
sorry today very brutal but you you really stop and think the thing is Paul picks up we have a duality and no other frightening book picks this up. This is Robert Lewis Stevenson. He wrote a novella. is a very short book. He wrote in a spade of one week and it's a frightening book. And this book and and and and people say he wrote it because he came from a pisterian background and he had was a very repressed religious background. His nanny was very religious and at when he went to university he broke out of it and the wife said that this book is an allegory of society. Here's two statements in the book. He say this with every day from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and intellectual. I I thus drew daily nearer to the truth. But whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck that man is not truly one but truly two. I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man. I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my conscience, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both. Let me give you background to the story in case you're not familiar. Dr. Jackekal is a respectable man in society. He discovers for all his veneer respectabilities, he has deep, deep, dark desires. Can't tell anyone. In this particular story, he has a mean streak. He likes to whack people. But he can't. He's a doctor. He can't be doing that. He's a respectable doctor. So he represses it and he can't fantasizes about it. And he does what a lot of Christians do. He splits himself up. So that Dr. Jackal can be this good guy. And this hide can go about being as mean as he's like because he struggles with it. And look at what Paul says in Romans 7:19. For what I do is not the good I want to do. No, the evil I do not want to do. This I keep on doing. Notice it's present tense. You know, it's not past tense. He struggles with it. So, he splits his personality up and he's at peace. Now, here's what I want to say about us and sin. This is what a lot of us going to church do. We come to church, we present a certain face. there's another side of us we keep way away from everyone else or the things that we don't recognize but there's another darker side of us. So what does Jackal do? He splits this. He say he's okay and then halfway he decides that you know what Jackal is really bad because let's go and hit people. So he tells himself that you know I'm going to stop being Jacko. I'm not I'm going to stop being hide. Then one night he transforms to hide unknowingly and he goes and kills someone. This is exactly what Paul is saying. You repress it. You repress it. You put a law on it and what happened? It just breaks out. In the end, what does it do? He finds a terrifying truth. Do you know what the moral of the story is? The moral of the story is this for all of us. The moment you split yourself up, you are saying you have two masters. This is what Paul is saying in in in chapter six. You know, you're accepting that there are two masters. You're saying, "God, I'm I I I you're my God on Sundays and maybe some days of the week, but I have another I have another master. It's called sin." But you know what the story is telling you? You can't because one is going to overpower the other. And in this case, Hyde overpowers Jacko. And what does Jackal do in the end? He kills Hyde. He puts to death hide and in so kills himself. And you can almost hear Paul saying this in chapter 6 verse 6 says don't you know when you offer yourself to someone to obey him slaves you are slaves to the one whom you obey. I had friends who have mistresses in China I will tell you or in Dubai they keep it away from their family no problem. And they tell me here I have one family I got another family there and I tai the two never works never works after few years it unravels and what happens you think good wins or bad wins the family breaks any sin you have here's one very major lesson we want to pick up today never keep it secret never detach yourself into a jackal and a hide and think you can go on being a Christian the hide will come out and overpower you. Very important lesson. But you see, uh, Robert Lewis Stevenson only had half the story. I want you to pick up a verse. You pick up, turn to me to chapter 7, verse 21. And we're going to wrap up shortly in this very critical understanding. Chapter 7 21, he says this, "So I find this law at work. When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being, I delight in God's law. But I see another law at work in the members of my body. Waging war, important word, against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now the story of Jacob height is only half the story. is a story which is very depressing. But Paul ends it this way. He says, "Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord." This is what Paul writes in Titus. He says, "It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age." So Paul is telling you this is how you fight sin. So you say, "Okay, right. Great. What is it? Reparative therapy. Uh four noble truths. What technique? Tell me, what is the way to fight sin? Do you know how to fight sin? Here's a key verse. This is the way to fight sin. The gospel. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. If you're infused with the gospel, he will teach you to say no to ungodliness. So, we're going to spend a few minutes now talking about how to fight sin. And here's how not to fight it. Not by having a series of rules and pushing yourself onto it. You will just bring the animal out more. Number two, never leave a split personality. That not only is shameful to God, that other side you keep away from everyone else is going to absorb you and take you down a path. So, how do we fight sin? Number one, learn daily to hate sin. What does Paul says? He says verse 24, "What a wretched man I am." Every time you sin, you feel good. But after you sin, ask yourself, "How do you feel?" If you feel rotten after that, that's a good sign. But if you don't, you should be getting worried. Because as a Christian, as more you go on, even though part of you enjoy sinning, the other part of you must learn to hate it. You see, the more godly a person is, is not that he is very active in church. He's very sensitive to his sin. What happened to Peter when he saw Jesus again? He said, "Be gone for me, Lord. I'm a sinful man." What happened to Isaiah when he came before the presence of Lord? He went on his knees. He was a sinful man. The more you are as a Christian, if you grow, you are very sensitive to your sins. Now, here's how we test how how how sinful we are. Because human nature likes to deny their sin. If there's a haze, whose problem is it? According to the Indonesian government, your country, you know, not my problem. Malaysians and Singaporeans in my country. That's a ridiculous argument with your country. Now let let's take that back to another thing. Ask yourself when was the last time you you admitted you were wrong in any conflict because sin affects people. Last Saturday I did a major sin major. I lost my wedding ring. Major is back here. So there's a good edigger.
Now the first thing that happened and and men men let me tell you hell had no fury. Hell has no fury. Like a woman whose husband lost loses a wedding ring. Never lose it. Okay. My wife was really upset at me. Fell. Okay. Wedding ring. 17 years of marriage. My first reaction was not my problem. Your problem. You you you always you know you supposed to keep the ring. You see, first thing is this. You really ask yourself if the last time you you honestly admitted you were wrong on something a very long time ago, chances are you have been desensitized to sin. I ask yourself, if you fight with your husband, your wife, your daughter, your friend, your first reaction is the other guy's wrong, not me. That's the indicator that sin is controlling you. either that you say this no okay I'm sorry if I offended you if I made you wrong you see that kind of apology don't bother saying because that apology puts you in a righteous stone you say yeah you fellow very sensitive okay sorry I'm so sorry offend you are sorry
rubbish it doesn't matter whether the guy will go offend if he's wrong it's wrong now I'll tell you this is a big issue in church why and do we have evidence to support it yes because when Christian leaders fight what do they do they split then they they join they form their own churches and they rewrite their own history across the board Methodist Baptist charismatics when were the last time you heard of two groups in church fighting coming together repenting ing and moving on very seldom. So I want to in humility tell you that repenting of sin is an issue. So here's the first thing I want to ask and we're going to go into some prayer after this. Some serious prayer this morning. This is the first thing I want to ask all of you. Stop and pause. Take a deep breath. Are there sins in your life? You need to repent. Do you feel like Paul? You're a wretched man. First point. Second point. The gospel renews our thinking. Paul says this, "Dad to sin, alive to God." Sin begins in the mind. Determination to fight sin also begins in the mind. Paul says in the same way, count yourself dead to sin. Now, if you're in a habitual sin, and I want to be very loving to anyone here, whatever habit it is, whether jealousy, whether it's pornography, whether it's anger, whether it's insecurity, whether it's ambition, you know what's the what the devil tells you? The devil tells you this, you know, you can't help yourself. You cannot change. God says no. It starts with the mind. It starts with the mind. Okay. How do we do this? Alan from CCP told me this. Give me a text. 2 Corinthians 3. Their minds were made dull. Talking about the Jews. Don't let the devil make dull your mind. Because with that there is no freedom. And in chapter 8, Paul tells you the mind of the spirit. Now, here is one way of indicating it. What do you think of all the time? Say, for example, all the time you're thinking of girls, hot chicks, that tells you what your mind is. You got a problem with that. If all the time you're just feeling insecure, worried, you got a problem with that. If all the time you worry about your office, you got a problem with that. And and and and here's why the Bible is very powerful. God doesn't tell you repress it. No, no, it doesn't do it. God says input out, input in. You remove that and you put something else in. You remove it with godly desires. Take out all these things and put in new desires. We become what we think about all day long. And what should we think about when you're struggling with sin? We sang it in the song last week by Don Moan. Think about his love. Think about his goodness. Think about his grace that brought us through. For as high as the heavens above, so great is the measure of our father's love. Great is the measure of father's love. So great is the measure of our father's love. How could I forget his love? How can I forget his mercy? Say here's the last line. He satisfies. He satisfies. He satisfies my desire. Francis Chan says, "Until you're so in love with God, the world will make you their slave." So, here's the thing about fighting sin. You have to be in love with God. How are we in love with God? Is a process. It starts off with you desiring it, thinking about God. Lastly, I want to end with this. The gospel brings new life and power through the Holy Spirit. And Dr. Tan is going to pick this up next week. You see, Chinese especially want instant results. You know, we think we can take a pill and then all suddenly tomorrow happy really. But it's not. Fighting sin is really a process and and the really the power of the Holy Spirit is demonstrated when when as a church we come to our knees and there we need one another. Then we see we are free from slavery of sin. Let me just end with this. You see most of us think fighting sin is like this. I want to invite the worship team to come up as get ready. If you think fighting sin is like that you you think that when you become a Christian you start there and one straight line you go up. You know doesn't happen. You know how fighting sin is? It's probably like that.
You go up you go down you go sideways you get depressed. Everyone in this room is somewhere there. You're either down or up. It's a long and hard journey. It's a very hard journey. But in the end, the road to sanctification is a long journey. We are all under construction. The question is, are you prepared to go on that journey?
And we're going to stop with one song. Ask Jonathan to play. Now I want to do something very important this morning. You you can walk away as just uh uh uh this after Jonathan as a sermon or you can walk away this morning saying yes I want to fight sin. Now I I'm standing up here not as a morally superior person. I need to fight sin my life. So first thing we ask is are you prepared to repent?
I I want us to really as we sing this song to really ask God, do you need to repent?
It starts with that and do you hate sin? Here's the next thing. If we do an outer call and ask you come in front, would you come and share privately today? No judgmentalism and no dishonesty. I I did it once. I I shared with somebody publicly about some my struggles. Very difficult for me. But it was very liberating. We give you a word. Whoever we share to is utterly in confidence. But you need to share. We need to be accountable as a church. We're going to sing this song. I want to ask the leaders of the church to come in front as to prepare to get people to receive prayer. This is a song that calls about the power of God's love. Only through the gospel can we be changed. Before we start this song, let us come before God in prayer. Lord, today this is a very difficult message. It's a long message. But all of us here are sinners. Some of us here are habitual sinners. We feel we have bondages we cannot break out. Some of us are blind to our sins. We are like the Pharisee who stood before God. But we do not realize other things are our master. Some of us Lord lead double lives. Make us realize sin will eventually overpower us. But thanks be to God who will save me. We have salvation on the cross. We are justified by faith. And today, this morning, Lord, we take the first step of fighting sin. Some of you here, brothers, you are not brothers and sisters yet. Today is the day of salvation. And God is calling some of you who do not know him as your Lord, as your master to come before him. We say this in Jesus name. Amen. Shall we rise and sing this? I'd like to ask church leaders to come in front. Can we ask a few leaders if you feel at any time you want to come in front to receive prayer let us know if nobody comes I I got no ego in this but let me tell you I'll be surprised if there so many people here no one here has any struggles with sin it's an act of bravery to come in front to be prayed over but I'm going to challenge you to do that and leaders leaders all in front here absolute absolute confidentiality no one looks down on you you're struggling struggling with homosexuality, you're struggling with lust, you're struggling with with covetousness, you're struggling with jealousy, insecurity, any sin, would you come in front and let us pray for you? I am no better than you. I'm a sinner. Would you do that? Let us sing and may God's power flow through you. Shall we sing?
You need in prayer. the music sings place. Lord, there's a lot of resistance here in this hall. Lord, I ask you break down that fear of of humility, the fear of being seen to be a sinner. Lord, I do this not because of my ego, but there are people out there who need to be prayed over for their sins. And Lord, we ask that you give them courage to come in front to be prayed over. Lord, I need to be prayed over for my own sins. And I will ask pastor Rama to pray for me later. But Lord, right now in this hall, there's so much resistance. We can just sense it. There are people there who who are just scared to come in front. Lord, I ask you break the stronghold of the devil that they feel no shame, but they're willing to confess their sins. They will come in front. Lord, do a mighty work here. Hallelujah. Lord, we just ask right now as a music plays your spirit will move beating hearts there, fearful hearts to come in front to be prayed over. That's all we ask to be prayed in confidence by the power of your love. Unveil our eyes, oh Lord. Unveil our eyes.
Hold me close at your love.
leads me in the power of your love. Lord, as we continue here now, we ask for your spirit to minister. We ask right now for a moment of silence. And we want to encourage you to come in front to be prayed over. There is no shame in doing it. There are many of you out there who I I I I really believe who need to come in front. Don't let your pride stay in your way, but but the spirit is a gentle spirit. We ask that you receive prayer before we leave this hall. Lord, we ask that you just comfort us here. We we thank you for those who have come in front. We ask that you break the stronghold of sin in our lives. Teach us to face our sins, oh Lord. teach us to be honest with ourselves that we can walk lives pleasing to you. And we say this in Jesus name. Amen. I want to ask something from all of you. I want you all to leave quietly to the back as God ministers here. The service is over. I'm going to encourage some of you to stay back. If talk to us, share with us. Let us pray over you. Whatever sin it is, do not be ashamed. We all in the same boat. Be ministered. God's peace go with you.
Baby,
[Music] hold me close.
Hold me close. Let your love surround
me.
Bring me draw me to your side. [Music] And as I wait, I black and
girl and I was so with you. Your spirit leads me on in the power of your love. Open my eyes.
[Music]
