Successfully Fighting Sin Through Submission Part 1

Successfully Fighting Sin Through Submission (James 4:7) I. Sin is a reality in all men except Jesus Christ Who had to be legally made to be sin to save us. ROM 3:23; 2CO 5:21. A. Sin is imputed to all of Adam’s posterity. ROM 5:12. B. Sin is a genetic spiritual law working in us. ROM 7:23. C. All sin, no matter how good they are. ECC 7:20. D. To deny this is to commit the sin of lying against the truth. JAM 3:14; 1JO 1:10. E. Sin is of the devil. 1JO 3:8. II. Sin must be renounced. A. When we fail in our walk with God and transgress His law (which is sin, 1JO 3:4), we are to confess and forsake that sin. PSA 32:5; 1JO 1:9; PRO 28:13. 1. confess: To declare or disclose (something which one has kept or allowed to remain secret as being prejudicial or inconvenient to oneself); to acknowledge, own, or admit (a crime, charge, fault, weakness, or the like). 2. forsake: To deny, renounce, or repudiate allegiance to; To give up, renounce. To break off from, renounce (an employment, design, esp. an evil practice or sin; also, a belief, doctrine). 3. renounce: trans. To give up, to resign (†to another), to surrender; esp. to give up in a complete and formal manner. B. The only acceptable response to the knowledge of sin in our lives is a verbal disclosure of that specific sin and a forsaking of it by renunciation (the surrender of that area of our life in which we failed and the steps which led to that failure). III. Successful resistance of sin and the devil requires first a submission to God. JAM 4:7. A. submit: To place oneself under the control of a person in authority or power; to become subject, surrender oneself, or yield to a person or his rule, etc. B. This is the fundamental renouncing that must occur: renouncing of self. MAT 16:24. 1. There is an initial renouncing of self in conversion wherein the sinner surrenders his foolish self-government under the lordship of Satan to dependent government under the lordship and authority of Jesus Christ. ACT 2:36-38. 2. This principle of renouncing and submitting must continually be applied in whatever area of our thoughts, words or actions is restricting us from being conformed to “...the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (EPH 4:13). a. This is provoked by self-examination measured against the Scripture and by the scrutiny of others who bring Scripture to bear upon the relics of the old man which we have not yet renounced (2CO 13:5; HEB 3:13) and should be considered an answer to Biblical prayer like PSA 139:23-24. b. As areas of unsubmission are brought to our attention, we must acknowledge their reality and mortify them. COL 3:5-10. c. Mind that the outward areas of unsubmission are the easier ones to renounce; it is the inward ones which are known only to God, Satan and ourselves that are most difficult. d. ANY area of our life where we are not submitting to God is a weakness in our defenses where we give Satan a toehold to build a stronghold. 3. The genuineness of one's love for God is measured by submission or the lack thereof. JOH 14:21 c/w PSA 81:15. Successfully Fighting Sin Through Submission 9-3-23 Page 1 C. This submission to God can only happen if we truly believe that there is a God Who can be pleased by our submission. HEB 11:6. D. It is not just a matter of believing God's existence but also His concern and approachability. E. If we are to submit to God, we must acknowledge God for Who He is, renouncing all distorted perceptions of God that Satan uses to hold us in bondage. 1. Scripture declares that God is eternal, holy, just, intolerant of sin, separate from sinners, etc. 2. Scripture also declares that God is loving, caring, merciful, present, available, approachable, gracious, a Giver of good gifts, nurturing, affirming, accepting, comforting, forgiving, and considerate of our plight. He proved this in Christ. 3. To only see His holiness and enmity against sin to the exclusion of His lovingkindness and mercy paints a distorted picture of God. 4. The truth about God is sometimes filtered through a negative grid of ignorance, false teachers, blasphemous thoughts, unhealthy interpersonal relationships during early developmental years, poor role models of authority figures, etc. 5. As a result, a person's concept of God may be that He is hateful and unconcerned, mean and unforgiving, absent when needed, a “killjoy” who only takes away pleasure, critical and unpleasable, unapproachable, unjust, unfair, arbitrary, unpredictable and untrustworthy. 6. Perhaps the most dangerous distorted perception of God is the delusion that He is like us (PSA 50:21), which conveniently justifies our unwillingness to change. F. Submission to God obviously depends upon submission to the truth; therefore we had better be completely convinced that we have a totally reliable source of truth. 1TH 2:13. 1. Satan must be resisted “...stedfast in the faith...” (1PE 5:8-9). c/w 2TH 2:13. 2. Scripture reveals not only the truth about God, but about Satan and ourselves. This is why the world, the flesh and Satan disparage or hate Scripture: not because of errors but because of its accuracy. G. In submitting to God, we must renounce any blaming of God for our own mistakes. PRO 19:3; JAM 1:13-14. 1. Adam tried to cover his error of commission wrongly by shifting blame to Eve and ultimately to God. GEN 3:12. 2. The wicked, slothful, one-talent servant tried to cover his error of omission by the same means. MAT 25:24. 3. When we blame any other creature than ourselves for our sins, we are ultimately blaming God Who made that creature. This includes Satan who can only entice but not force you to sin! 4. We must stop justifying ourselves and rather justify God, Whose truth has through one means or another exposed our sin. JOB 32:2; LUK 7:35. H. The concept of submission to God begs a critical question: how much do you sincerely desire and intend to submit? Will you stop at being a King Agrippa (ACT 26:27-28) or lay it all on the line like Paul? ACT 26:29; PHIL 3:7-8. I. Remember that submission precedes resistance. 1. If you are failing to resist temptation in something, could it be because that is an area of your life which you are reluctant to submit to God? 2. Resistance is not futile for the Scripture-submitted soul. LUK 8:13. Successfully Fighting Sin Through Submission 9-3-23 Page 2