The Holy Spirit and How to Deal With Sin Introduction: We ... - Clover

*Respectable Sins Series Lesson 5

The Holy Spirit and How to Deal With Sin

12/11/13 Chapters 5-6

Introduction: We can begin to deal with our sin when we allow the truth of the gospel because we know our sins are forgiven. God’s forgiveness and cleansing of sin in our lives consists of two stages.

The Two Stages of Cleansing – Paul in Romans 6 helps to identify these stages. 1. Deliverance from the dominion or reigning power of sin that is decisive and complete for all believers. 2. Freedom from the remaining presence and activity of sin that is progressive and continues throughout our lives on earth. Our question regarding the two stages of cleansing: “It’s fine to be told sin no longer has dominion over me, but what about my daily experience of the remaining presence and activity of sin? Does the gospel cleanse me from that? Can I hope to see progress in putting to death the subtle sins of my life?”

Paul answers these questions for us! Take your Bible and turn to Galatians 5:13-24. Let’s read it. Now let’s look at some truths Paul gives to us regarding our questions. 1. We can experience victory when we walk in the Spirit. a. To walk in the Spirit simply means to live under the controlling influence of the Spirit and in total dependence on Him. b. We live controlled by the Holy Spirit by completely and continually exposing our minds to and seek to obey the Spirit’s moral law for our lives as revealed in scripture. c. We live in dependence on Him through prayer as we continually cry out to Him for His power to enable us to obey His will. d. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE: i. “We are responsible before God to obey His Word, to put to death the sins in our lives, both the so-called acceptable and the obviously not acceptable ones. At the same time, we do not have the ability within ourselves to carry out this responsibility. We are in fact totally dependent upon the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.” ii. We are both responsible and dependent!

** These points are taken directly from Jerry Bridges book Respectable Sins.

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12/11/13 Chapters 5-6

e. We will never reach perfection but over time as we are responsible and dependent, the Holy Spirit’s work in our life will bring about growth and victory spiritually over sin. It is a progressive change, a day by day change, (Philippians 1:6). f. All three members of the Trinity are involved in our spiritual transformation, (1 Cor 6:19, Eph 3:16). g. What are we transformed into? We are transformed more into the likeness of Christ, (2 Cor 3:18). 2. We can understand how the Holy Spirit works in us. a. Conviction of Sin b. Enable and empower us to deal with sin. c. Works monergistically that is He works alone without our conscious involvement. i. Hebrews 13:20-21 ii. Ephesians 4:30 d. Brings into our lives circumstances that are designed to cause us to grow spiritually. i. God does not tempt us to sin, James 1:13-14. ii. Examples: If you struggle with anger or impatience, certain circumstances may arise where you must choose how you will respond. iii. All of this assumes God’s complete sovereign control over everything. He uses each circumstance and event of life to draw us closer to him and change us to be more Christlike. Key Point: Our part is vital. We are responsible to put to death the acceptable and unacceptable sins in our life. We cannot simply sit back and leave to God and watch Him work. Yet, with this we are dependent. We cannot not make one inch of spiritual progress apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. WE ARE PERSONALLY REPSONSIBLE AND SPIRITAULLY DEPENDENT!!! Transition: So what? Sure I know that I am responsible and dependent. What now? I see the truth and the principle but how do I actually live it? How do I actually deal with sin, with acceptable sin in my life?


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12/11/13 Chapters 5-6

We are going to talk about 7 general directions in dealing with acceptable sins and sin in general. 1. We should always address our sin in the context of the gospel. a. We cannot forget the gospel. Forgetting the gospel is forgetting what God has done. He has forgiven our sin because of the death of Christ. b. Colossians 2:13-14 c. He credited to us the perfect righteousness of God. Every area where we were disobedient, Christ was perfectly obedient. His perfect obedience culminated with His death on the cross. d. Summary Two Truths: 1) We are forgiven; 2) we are accepted as righteous by God because of the sinless life of Christ and sin-bearing death of Lord Jesus Christ. 2. We must learn to rely on the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. a. It is by the Holy Spirit’s power we put to death the sin in our life, (Romans 8:13). b. We tend to forget this and resort to our own willpower. c. “Default Settings” d. Example: The motor of an electric appliance – the motor does the work but it is dependent on the outside source—electricity. e. We need to cultivate an attitude of continual dependence on the Holy Spirit. 3. While depending on the Holy Spirit, we must at the same time recognize our responsibility to diligently pursue all practical steps for dealing with our sins. a. Our level of work should be at the level as if it all did depend on us yet at the same time our trust and dependence should be as if we could not work at all. b. We must keep these two truths—dependence and responsibility. 4. We must identify specific areas of acceptable sins. a. Ask the Holy Spirit to identify sin patterns in your life. b. Requires a humble attitude and willing spirit to face the sin. c. As you identify sin, give thought as to what triggers that particular sin in your life. d. Anticipation of the circumstances and events that trigger any specific sin can help in putting that sin to death. (1 Peter 5:8) 5. We should bring to light specific applicable scriptures to each of our subtle sins. a. Memorize b. Reflect Psalm 119:11 c. Pray for impact d. Example: “Y2K” e. As we look into God’s Word with the above three tactics, when the time comes where we enter certain situations, God’s Word through the power of the Holy Spirit will remind us of his will, warn us, and guide us in our response to the temptation before us. As we look in the next chapters as specific sins I will give to you scripture you can have to do what this direction says.


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6. We should cultivate the practice of prayer over the sins we tolerate. a. Prayer is the action by which we admit our need for the Holy Spirit. b. By prayer, we acknowledge the pestering, habitual, and subtle sins that plague our lives. The pattern of sins in a person’s life is enough to drive them crazy. c. Two Ways of Praying for Subtle Sins: i. Planned, Consistent Manner; most easily done during daily private time with God. ii. Short, spontaneous prayers for the Holy Spirit’s help each time we encounter a situation that may trigger one of the sins in our life. 7. We should involve one or more other believers with us in our struggles against our subtle sins. a. Mutual relationship where prayer, exhortation, and encouragement is done for each other. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10) b. Accountability and vulnerability is key to making progress in dealing with sin.

Conclusion/ Summary: Your heart is the battleground of the Spirit and the flesh (Gal 5:17). It is like guerilla warfare going on in your heart. When the flesh does win a battle, zero in and with the power of the all-powerful Holy Spirit kill and destroy the sin before it becomes an even bigger problem!


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