The Antidote to Dangerous Desires
Galatians “The Heart of the Gospel” Series
A Sermon By Jim Hammond from Galatians 5:16-26
Let me tell you about a
flawed movie with a good idea premise. It is a shame that this PG-13
rated movie had the typical vulgarity and profanity because it had a
really good premise. In the movie, a seventh grade teacher challenged his
class to “Think of an idea to change the world—and put it into action.”
While most of the kids were disinterested, the key character was
mesmerized by the possibility of changing the world. He had a wonderful
idea. An idea in fact that is godly in concept. What was the idea? “Pay
it Forward.” His world changing idea was to do a good deed to someone for
no apparent reason, then ask them to pay it forward instead of paying it
back. It had to be something big, something they cannot do for
themselves, with the only thing asked in exchange is that they will
sometime “pay it forward” to someone else.
Never underestimate the
power of a single idea. A single idea can have a rippling domino effect,
and so can a single action cause other actions. This is the good premise
of the movie. I believe it has effects even if it isn’t the great big
actions. Simply letting someone in line in front of you when you have a
full grocery cart and they only have an item or two, or letting a car come
out of a driveway that is stuck there because a line of traffic is in the
way, has a good will rippling affect. A good done to another helps in
ways beyond that good all by itself. Never underestimate the power of a
good idea, or a good deed.
Having said this
however, even the good premise of this movie hides a flawed implication.
The flaw is a form of idealism with an overestimation of the power of an
idea, or an action alone. I said don’t underestimate the power of an idea
or a deed, but don’t overestimate it either. No amount of good will, and
no ideas alone no matter how good they are, are powerful enough to bring
about a radical life transformation. It takes something more.
Maybe you are thinking,
“why can’t an idea or action bring about transformation? Didn’t God
change the world with a good idea and a good deed done? Didn’t Jesus do
something for us that we could not do for ourselves. Didn’t he then
expect that the good done should initiate the domino effect of a good
response in us so that we love others. That sounds just like the ‘Pay it
forward’ idea to me.” Yes, there is a similarity, but there is also a
big difference. God did more than just “pay it forward.” God knew it
takes more than an idea to change a person. It takes more than
inspiration. It takes more than motivation. It takes more than a good
deed done for us. Here’s the flaw. We cannot even seem to implement our
own good ideas. We can’t even seem to apply our own good intentions.
Something within us is flawed. We are so flawed that ideas, or pep talks,
or single events are inadequate to bring lasting transformation.
One mother wrote:
My
five-year-old daughter, Barbara, had disobeyed me and had been sent to her
room. After a few minutes, I went in to talk with her about what she had
done. Teary-eyed, she asked, "Why do we do wrong things, Mommy?"
"Sometimes the devil tells us to do something wrong," I replied, "and we
listen to him. We need to listen to God instead."
To
which she sobbed, "But God doesn't talk loud enough!"[1]
Focus: There are
dangerous desires that are either lurking beneath the surface of our lives
or have already sprung up with stranglehold behaviors, but God has given
us a comprehensive antidote.
Step 1: Recognize that Some Desires
are Dangerous
The corollary step is this: we must
learn to trust that God’s Desires for us are the very best
[16] So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will
not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
This is a practical teaching on how to live in such a
way that we turn from our own evil desires. Since the fall, when sin came
into the world, everyone has desires that are not pleasing to God. But
God has done something about it.
Oskar Schindler Falls to Temptation
Recent
anniversary celebrations of the World War II liberation of
Europe
have again put before our eyes the victims and the heroes of the
Holocaust. I was shaken to read a postwar account of Oskar Schindler, the
daring German hustler and hero who daily risked his life employing his
wealth and wiles to save the lives of twelve hundred Polish Jews. After
the war this noble heart abandoned his wife, became a womanizer and a
drunkard, and fell into destitution and dependence on others. For some
schnapps he even pawned the commemorative gold ring that had been
fashioned for him from the false teeth of those he had rescued. How could
one so noble fall so far? Because there is no temptation out there in the
world that does not find common chords of resonance in every human heart.[2]
It is not enough to say some desires are dangerous.
We must also admit, every one of us has within us lurking somewhere
beneath the surface the capacity to entertain these very dangerous desires
to the degree that we can shock ourselves with great capacity for evil.
The good news is that God has given more than a good idea, more than
motivation, he has give us a comprehensive antidote.
Step 2: Use the Secret Weapon! (God’s
Spirit)
A. Self is not the Answer to
Selfishness
Here is a profound truth: Self is not the answer
to selfishness. Humanism says, the answer lies within you. The Bible
disagrees. The Bible says the problem lies within you. It takes
something outside of our selves to conquer selfishness. God has provided
the comprehensive antidote. The antidote isn’t just a good idea. 1) He
has given his Son to take our sins away, removing our guilt, but he has
done more than that also. 2) He gave us his Spirit to empower us with
new clean desires. His empowerment is the essential for turning away from
the power of sin in our own lives. God gave us more than a good idea.
The way you receive God’s Spirit is by
becoming a Christian.
I can tell you all about it in CLASS 101 today, if
you’d like.
B. Depending on the Spirit is a
choice
[17] For the sinful nature desires what is
contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful
nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what
you want.
Just because God provides his Spirit does not mean he
overrules our will. Some people are given the wrong impression, that when
they become a Christian the whole conflict is solved, as if all the
internal conflicts then go away. Well the Bible is more realistic than
that. The Bible speaks about the process. We have to decide, we have to
choose, in the midst of a conflict. The conflict continues between two
opposing forces. These are not equally powerful forces. The power of the
Spirit is infinitely greater than the power of sin and flesh, but our
experience between these two forces will not always perceive it that way.
The more you empower your sinful patterning--Paul call this “the
flesh”--the more dominating this patterning becomes in your life. You
have burned into your psyche and into your bodily responses, a response
pattern over time. Everyone, whether he or she knows it or not, has
trained himself or herself in sinful patterns. We all have some response
patterns like Pavlov’s dog where the bell goes off and we salivate in
anticipation. Each of us have trained ourselves to different
bells—different desires and appetites. Not all patterns are bad, but the
problem is that we all have established many response patterns that are
contrary to God’s design.
The passage gives us a representative list of common
flesh patterns. The danger is that the response pattern can become so
powerful that we become powerless to change it even though we don’t like
the consequences. In Galatians 6 it is called reaping what we sew.
Repeating the pattern long enough, people become convinced there is no
other way to respond. We tell ourselves “it’s the way we are”. But this
isn’t really true. We have unknowingly redesigned ourselves by our
thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors.
[19] The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:
sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
Paul gives some examples of the patterning behaviors
that will change your life and put you in bondage to sinful patterns.
These are bad fruit. It does little long term good to put human effort
into “cutting off” this fruit if you don’t change the root. Why? Because
the fruit comes from whatever root the branch is connected to. We are not
in the fruit snipping business, we are in the root changing business.
[20] idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord,
jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions
[21] and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.
I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not
inherit the kingdom of God.
Here is a solemn warning from Paul. We are in a
battle folks. A battle between good and evil, and it is a battle for the
control of our lives.
Step 3: Let God’s Will Train
Your Desires
This means re-patterning, or
re-habituating your life
A.
Let God’s Spirit Empower Your New Desires
[18] But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not
under law.
Paul is telling us that rules don’t empower us to
break free from these patterns. We need internal empowerment more than
rules. Paul tells us that when we are led by the Spirit, the intent of
God’s Law is fulfilled. That is why we no longer need to be “under law”
because when we are truly led by God’s Spirit, this empowerment works
better than “TRYING” on our own to obey God’s law.
B.
Believe that the power of Dangerous Desires is already Defeated
[24] Those who belong to Christ Jesus have
crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
For those who belong to Christ, this is past tense—we
have crucified the sinful nature, the flesh patterns, with it’s sinful
passions and desires. If this is true why does it not seem true? We need
to live what we believe. We need to correct our thinking. We need to
identify our misbeliefs.
Living by a lie creates a reality. In other words,
if you believed a lie, you will live like that lie is true. This creates
a reality. Here’s a common Christian misbelief. It’s just the way I am.
We are new creations in Christ. It is true God loves us just the way we
are, be he loves us too much to let us remain there.
What is the reality? Those who belong to Christ
Jesus HAVE crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. We
need to live out this new reality.
C. Keep in Step with the Spirit
[25] Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in
step with the Spirit.
The birthright we have as a Christian is that God's
Spirit is operative in our lives. We now have the power to please God. The
question is, will we choose to depend on God's Spirit. Here are three key
words for keeping in step with the Spirit.
1.
Confession
We need to begin with confession before God, but here
is where many American Protestants stop. We need to go a step further for
victory in this battle. We need close Christian relationships. Everybody
needs a Christian friend that understands this battle, and understands
their own sinfulness, and understands grace. When you have a friend like
this, you have someone to whom you can confess your failings. Confession
is a powerful thing, breaking the back of pride which holds you to your
old pattern. When you confess only to the God who sees in secret, you may
be tempted to keep your little secret. When you confess to a brother or
sister you will notice that your dark little secret is exposed to light
and the darkness goes away.
2.
Repentance
Real
Repentance is not just being remorseful, or sad because you were caught.
Repentance is doing whatever it takes to stop the sin, and walk with God.
3. Dependence
How does this work. Let me give you an example and
suggest one practical way this works.
Author
and pastor John Piper says:
We
must not give a sexual image or impulse more than five seconds before we
mount a violent counterattack with the mind. I mean that! Five seconds. In
the first two seconds we shout, "No! Get out of my head!" In the next two
seconds we cry out: "O God, in the name of Jesus, help me. Save me now. I
am yours."
Good
beginning. But then the real battle begins. This is a mind war. The
absolute necessity is to get the image and the impulse out of our mind.
How?
Get a
counter-image into the mind. Fight. Push. Strike. Don't ease up. It must
be an image that is so powerful that the other image cannot survive.
There
are lust-destroying images and thoughts.
For
example, have you ever in the first five seconds of temptation, demanded
of your mind that it look steadfastly at the crucified form of Jesus
Christ?
Picture this. You have just seen a peek-a-boo blouse inviting further
fantasy. You have five seconds. "No! Get out of my mind! God help me!"
Now,
immediately, demand of your mind—you can do this by the Spirit (Romans
8:13).
Demand of your mind to fix its gaze on Christ on the cross. Use all your
fantasizing power to see his lacerated back. Thirty-nine lashes left
little flesh intact. He heaves with his breath up and down against the
rough vertical beam of the cross. Each breath puts splinters into the
lacerations.
The
Lord gasps. From time to time he screams out with intolerable pain. He
tries to pull away from the wood and the massive spikes through his wrist
rip into the nerve endings and he screams again with agony and pushes up
with his feet to give some relief to his wrists. But the bones and nerves
in his pierced feet crush against each other with anguish and he screams
again.
There
is no relief. His throat is raw from screaming and thirst. He loses his
breath and thinks he is suffocating, and suddenly his body involuntarily
gasps for air and all the injuries unite in pain. In torment, he forgets
about the crown of two-inch thorns and throws his head back in
desperation, only to hit one of the thorns perpendicular against the cross
beam and drive it half an inch into his skull. His voice reaches a soprano
pitch of pain and sobs break over his pain-wracked body as every cry
brings more and more pain.
Now, I
am not thinking about the blouse any more. I am at
Calvary.
[3]
[1]
Jo M. Guerrero, Christian Reader
(Sep/Oct 1996)
[2]
Bryan Chapell, Holiness By Grace (Crossway, 2001), pp. 95-96. Used by
permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers,
Wheaton, Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org.
[3]
John Piper, from the sermon "A Passion for Purity versus Passive
Prayers," www.desiringGod.org (11-10-99)
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