Living for the Glory of God, Part 5: Fighting Sin

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“…God does not let himself be surpassed in generosity, but surpasses our generosity in endless ways.”

~Martin Luther (1483-1546) in Annotations on Ecclesiastes

“Unbelief doesn’t see God as the ultimate good. So it can’t see sin as the ultimate evil.”

~Jackie Hill Perry, writer and hip-hop artist

“Sin is a deep interior dislocation of the soul.”

~Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957), English writer and poet

“Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”

“…longing, breathing, and panting after deliverance is a grace in itself, that hath a mighty power to conform the soul into the likeness of the thing longed after.”

~John Owen (1616-1683), English academic and theologian

“The Christian’s motto should not be ‘Let go and let God’ but ‘Trust God and get going.’”

~J.I. Packer (1926-2020), English-born Canadian theologian

God declares us righteous “…upon the justice of Christ given and imputed to us, and not upon the holiness and grace that is inherent in us.”

 ~Gasparo Contarini (1483-1542), Italian Diplomat and Cardinal

“Because faith alone justifies… publicans and prostitutes will be first in the kingdom of heaven.”

~Hilary of Poitiers, key 4th century Christian leader

“If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ you’ll be at rest.”

~Corrie Ten Boom (1892-1983), Dutch watchmaker and Holocaust survivor

SERMON PASSAGE

selected passages

John 17 (ESV)

22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them…. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.

Colossians 3 (NASB95)

1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him…

John 8 (NASB95)

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

1 John 2 (NASB95)

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 3 (NASB95)

1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.