Sins of Commission
A Return to Holiness • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 3 viewsFor there to be revival in one's personal life or in the corporate body of Christ, there must be a sobering address of sin in the camp.
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Introduction
David wrote:
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
He wrote this as a plea to God in seeking revival and change of heart within his life. Many within the church today, need to be praying this same prayer. We do not want to pray this prayer because it is revealing. We don’t want that heart that deceives us (Jer 17:9) to truly be exposed. However, if we want revival, if we want a genuine move of Christ within our lives, it is going to take us to fall on our knees before the Lord in transparent fashion and genuinely ask God to search us. I believe this why God is moving so strong at Asbury College right now. If you have not been watching that, you are missing a great move of God. It has come by God’s people following God’s command of 2 Chr 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
For us to genuinely have personal and corporate revival, we must address the transgressions within our life, those blatant acts of rebellion against God and His Law. Sins that we call, “sins of commission.” (Dr. Gregory R. Frizzell, Return to Holiness: A Personal and Churchwide Journey to Revival, (Nashville: The Master Design, 2000), 49.
Opening Passage
5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
Outline
For us to truly be revived, we must address sin in the camp. Whether that camp is a camp of one or a camp of 101, the sin within the camp must be addressed. Revival only comes when God’s people seek Him in repentant faith with a broken heart. As James wrote, But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God and He will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you (Jam. 4:6-10 NASB).
As we through the Scriptures we find several areas of transgression that many may not even realize as sin, but they must be addressed and repented of.
Areas of Transgression that Must Be Addressed in Every Believer’s Life
As a believer, one must clean out the closet rather than come out of the closet, repenting of those sins they are hiding (Eph 5:5, 12)
5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
Far too often we find ourselves living lives as if our lives do not matter. We have done that which Paul reminds us that we should not do. We’ve taken God’s grace for granted.
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
We’ve truly used our freedom in the Lord to sin and this ought not be.
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
As we find within our text that no sexually immoral or impure or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints. Paul would continue, for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. What shame is when Christians would hide secrets in the closet or come out of the closer rather than clean the closet. We must address our lives and discipline ourselves to be holy in the Lord. We must realize that when the light of the Holy Spirit is shined on your life, God reveals the sin of man, But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead. And Christ will shine on you (Eph 5:13-14). When will we realize the truth of the Scriptures, be sure that your sin will find you out (Num 32:23b).
Is there sin in your life that you need to clean out (i.e repent of) rather than brag about (i.e. come out) or try to hide?
Not only do we have sin that we try to hide, but we also find ourselves sinning against the Holy Spirit by abusing the temple of the Holy Spirit, our body.
As a believer, one must address how they are treating the temple of God and repent of those sins against the body (1 Co 3:16-17)
16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
Contextually, we see that these verses are dealing with the whole of the church, Know ye. As I stated in the past, when ye is used in the KJV it is meaning a plural for of you. It means you all, as speaking to the entirety of the body of the church. However, there is a personal application of this passage as well. We must realize that the Holy Spirit of God indwells every believer. He is at His fullest when we, as the body come together, but He lives in and operates within every believer. We truly are individually as well corporately the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.
With this truth in mind, we learn not to defile (shrivel, wither, or spoil) the temple of God. What does this mean? To give more clarity, let us look at another epistle from Paul.
19 Quench not the Spirit.
How do we do this? We do this through our willful sin. Our willful disobedience to the commands of God. Our evil tongue (gossip, profanities, lies, etc.). We do this through our physical actions of drugs, smoking, alcohol, and yes, gluttony, and slothfulness.
Not only do we find that we have sins that we are hiding that cause us to falter in our walk with God, and find ourselves destroying the temple of God (corporately and individually), but we also find that often our worship is hindered idolatry.
As a believer, one must address who and what they worship and repent of the sin of idolatry (Ex 20:2-3; Mt 7:24)
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
What is your god? What is separating you from God this morning? The One that brought us freedom from the world was God, but often we become posers within our Sunday morning worship. We may draw close the Lord with our lips, but our heart is far from him. As the prophet Isaiah wrote of the Israelites:
13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
If we are truly worshiping the God we claim to worship, we must understand that calls for obedience to the word of God.
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
We must stop being merely hearers of the word and become doers. As James writes, But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was (Jm 1:22-24 NASB).
As stated previously within this series on a return to holiness, there must be repentance in the area of stewardship.
As a believer, one must address stewardship and repent of a lifestyle of withholding the tithe and offering (Mal 3:8-10)
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Stewardship is just one area of needed repentance. We must also stop being lace in service to the Lord.
As a believer, one must address their faithfulness in service and repent of slothfulness (Pr 13:11)
11 Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.
As a believer, one must address their worship of evil and repent of celebrating mediums and sorcery (Lev 19:31)
31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
We must stop celebrating evil, witch craft, sorcery, etc., within life.
As a believer, one must address their commitment to God and repent of compromise (Rev 2:14-15)
14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. 15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
As Jesus instructed the angel to tell John to write letters to the seven churches of Asia minor discussed within the book of Revelation, we find a letter written to the church at Pergamum. While this church had some good mentioned about it, the part that was telling what was wrong with it, the comprise within it. Too often we find churches that have compromised on the Word of God. Why do we find churches that have compromised? Because, at some point the body of that church began to compromise in their walk, service, and relationship with Christ. Let this not be our testimony.
As a believer, one must own up to the fact that their sin is quenching the Holy Spirit in their life and the life of the church (Rom 14:23; Rom 7:18)
Who among is guilty of quenching the Spirit of God within our lives through willful disobedience in thought, tongue, and/or action. As Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica, we are not to quench the Spirit of God. How is this done. It is done within two major ways:
(1) We find the Spirit quenched when we do not have faith.
23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
We find that Jesus was unable to perform miracles in his own home town because of their lack of faith.
58 And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
(2) We quench the Spirit of God through willful disobedience to the Word of God
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Conclusion
Do you have a closet that needs to be cleaned? Do you needs of change within your life? Do you even have a relationship with Jesus Christ today? If not, that’s where it begins; accepting Christ as Lord and Savior. It is only through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit that one comes to cleaning out their closet and setting things in order according to the will of God. However, we must also understand that we can quench that Spirit. In that process, we no longer working with God, but rather we are working against God. As I have told my kids often, help me help you. It is the same way with the Spirit of God. The more we work with the Spirit of God through obedience, we find that the Spirit of God grows within us and provides more victory and power to clean the closet. We must stop hiding sin and repent of sin.