Good News for Strugglers - full teaching script

Good News for Strugglers
A seminar talk by Trent McEntyre

Many young people struggle with sexual integrity. From I kissed dating goodbye to I kissed my computer hard drive goodbye, many young people religious or irreligious, Christian or not, struggle with sexual issues. For some it is uncontrolled use of pornography, lack of self-control and respect in physical relationships. I am not going to give an apologetic for Christian morality – just speak on the issue of what help is there when our life is clearly not in control in the sexual area. I want to talk briefly about when we struggle with sexual integrity.

God has good news for you if you are a struggling sin!

Pray

Read Romans 8:1-14

1.     You are no longer condemned for the penalty of sexual sin, because of Christ.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” Romans 8:1-2

"God may let me into heaven, but if I do ____or don't do______ God will grow weary with me and punish me, at least he will withhold blessing from my life."

But if you have repented of trusting in your own ability to do this or not do that and have come to believe in Jesus Christ – who did this and did not do that and then gave his life as an offering for our sin to satisfy the condemnation we deserve – then you are no longer condemned.

This continues to be a key for believers as they struggle with sin.

Illustration – Think of a High Court in Heaven - no appeal - No matter how many times your opponents bring a charge against you! This is good news for sinners, like you and me!

Application:

   The first application of this good news is to make sure we have received it for our salvation,

   the second is to make sure we believe it when the voices of condemnation threaten us because of our sin. And learn to preach it to ourselves…

   I believe God who cannot lie, there is no condemnation for me because I am in Christ Jesus and He has already been condemned for me!"

Example – a friend Jason a Sigma Chi- paranoid about cops - then he became a Christian - preach gospel to yourself and one another

       Another application is that we need to apply the gospel at this point to our past and its lingering guilt or pain, this will take some thought, discussion with other believers, maybe even Christian counseling

You are no longer condemned…

For group discussion: Why do you think it is so easy to forget the importance of this when it comes to dealing with our more serious struggles?

Jesus went through hell so that we don’t have to drag our selves through hell as a result of our sin.

You are no longer condemned for the penalty of your sin!

Well that’s not all; there is more good news if you are in Christ and still struggle with sin.

2.     You no longer have to deal with sexual sin by the power of your Flesh. 

Romans 8:3-4

“For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh,

God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin,

He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:3-4

What does he mean by flesh? The flesh in this context refers to the fallen condition of man; it is also called the sinful nature. Before we are Christians it is the only nature that we have. The flesh is the body, mind, and soul of a person separated from God because of sin and operating completely for and through itself. Paul's teaching on the flesh shows us that this condition is universal and it operates under the law of sin and death.

Another way to understand flesh is that it was the natural way of living in the old age – in contrast to the new age that Jesus initiated.

But when you come to know Christ the flesh is no longer your life- You have the spirit, a new nature that you received when you were spiritually reborn.

Look-

In verse 2: the flesh operates under the law of sin and death (Sin is not just the "bad"

In verse 5: the flesh has its own mindset…works righteousness…immediate gratification

In verse 6: the flesh is hostile to towards God

But the good news here is in verse 9 "we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit." You are not in the flesh but rather you are in the Spirit! The flesh is still active and kicking but it is not the real you, it is not the power that you need to live by.

The reality is that we fall into living in the ways of the past. And I don't mean primarily the "shameful" sins like drug and alcohol abuse or sexual immorality, but continuing in the flesh's way of dealing with these things and our many other short comings. Because we lived for so long, actually we were born into the flesh way of life, we will naturally revert to many flesh ways of thinking.

Illustration - Still living by the communist work ethic – We live under a new regime

Application: Are you living seeing the law fulfilled in your life by the spirit or do you think you currently struggle with sin by the flesh?

Here are some contrasting characteristics of the flesh mindset of dealing with sin and the Spirit:

Flesh	Spirit
The mind is actually acting set on trying to justify itself by good works.	The mind is set on the sure fact that he is justified by grace through faith in Christ.
Focuses on improving self by avoiding failure. The goal is fixing itself so that it can feel safe.	Focuses on glorifying Christ and loving others. The goal is knowing and loving Christ now that you are saved.
Lives in pride or despair depending on how "well" they are doing in their life, especially in regards to sexual sin.	Lives in humility and boldness resulting from the free love and sure promises of Christ.
Actually unable to please God or really obey His commands. (Romans 8:7,8)	Now that Christ has fulfilled the law for them, they can trust the Spirit to live a life of obedience towards God who is already forever pleased with them because of Christ.
Does not belong to Christ. (Romans 8:9) Is spiritually dead.	Recognizes the indwelling presence of the God’s Holy Spirit. Is alive because of the righteousness of Christ. (Romans 8:10)
Is actually obligated to live according the flesh. The flesh will ultimately die.	Has a new obligation to live by the Spirit. The believer can putt to death the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit. He also is assured of life, eternal now and forever!

How do the flesh mindset characteristics describe you?

Anytime you realize that you are living by the mindset of the flesh,

• Repent of living by the flesh mindset and set your mind on the presence and power of the Spirit and His ability to produce life and peace through you.
• Remember that while the flesh appears to work very hard to obey, it is still in hostility towards God because it strives by its own power to please itself and its false conception of God.
• Remember that the flesh was never able to please God for your salvation and it will surely never be able to please God or accomplish anything good. This is what Jesus was talking about when he said, "apart from me you can do nothing." This is recognition of the flesh's inability and the supernatural ability of the Spirit is a great help to believers as we struggle with sin.

So the good news is you are not only free from the penalty of sin, but also its power and…

3.   You can now deal with sexual struggle  by the Spirit.

Romans 8:9-11 “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.”

Explanation: We see this in Verse 9-11"the Spirit of God dwells in you…the spirit of Him who raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in you…"

If you know Christ, you are now in the Holy Spirit:

the third person of the Trinity

God's presence in every believer

the power of the resurrection,

and His promise to finish to the job of sanctifying us and bring us to glory.

The Spirit is the litmus test for true Christianity. Remember Jesus' words to Nicodemus "unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God." (John 3:5) Eph. 1:13)

Before you had the Spirit you had no hope because you were fighting, not a losing battle, but an impossible one, alone. But now if you know Christ, you are no longer fighting alone.

Great help is with you. God Himself, the all-powerful God of the universe now actually indwells you. He is there to comfort, guide, and strengthen you.

You are not fighting alone, but by the Spirit.

But you need to keep in mind His purpose in your life so that you can in a sense "work together."

He is God so you can't use Him or change Him. But He can obviously use you and change you.

John 16:14 that the purpose of the Holy Spirit's work in our life would be to glorify Jesus Christ.

Some more application in dealing with sin struggles:

Top five six ways to be crushed by your struggle

1.       Make vows to never struggle again

2.       Keep your struggle to your self

3.       Put off dealing with it until you are ready to settle down

4.       Blame your struggle on your current circumstances

5.       Compensate for your struggle with heroic acts of virtue

6.       Limit the means of grace in your life (the Lord’s Supper and Baptism especially, the preaching of the Word, corporate worship, Christian fellowship, Prayer, personal Bible reading and study, mentoring or discipleship…)

Twelve Essentials (adapted from Breaking Free by Willingham)

1. Embracing Christ and His word
2. Supportive relationships and accountability
3. Explore the dynamics of your upbringing
4. Understand how we deal with pain
5. Explore the origins and content of our perceptions  of God
6. Uncover and deal with false beliefs about ourselves
7. Grasp our fundamental brokenness and stop pretending we are somebody else
8. Understand and embrace the grace of God, freedom to fail.
9. Come to terms with our personal malevolence and stop assuming our purity and infallibility
10. Differentiate between real emotional needs and the sin patterns that obscure them
11.  We must understand our sin struggle and the underlying need it symbolizes, learning to meet God and others in the very place
12.  We must seek lifelong vision of honesty and growth with a desire for helping others

An example of dealing with a struggle with the flesh vs. the spirit

Time-mgt

Flesh

1. Out of sense of guilt or condemnation you vow to try harder
2. You get a new strategy and new planner and start using it
3. You are largely on your own because no one else care as much about your personal time mgt system

Spirit

1.      Real embracing of “no condemnation”

2.      You go beyond flesh and identify the root of your time mgt issues

3.      You start consciously trusting the Spirit of God, aligning with his purposes, in Christian community

Other considerations

1.       Christian counseling

2.       Recovery support groups

3.       Continue to study how to walk by the Spirit (Crusade’s Satisfied booklet to start)

“Addiction cannot be broken by the human will acting on its own…

Addiction cannot be broken by the human will opting out and turning everything over to the divine will. Instead, the power of grace flows most fully when human will chooses to act in harmony with divine will.” Gerald Mays, Addiction and Grace

We need both authentic spiritual surrender and responsible human freedom. We need to trust God as we act responsibly.