When God Calls It Sin – Part 1 – #5 The Power of the Holy Spirit

About this Series: “When God Calls It Sin” was originally a 5-week study I had lead in 2019 for an adult Sunday School class at my old church.

The outlines and lessons were based on Jerry Bridges’ book “Respectable Sins,” which I highly recommended for anyone serious about confronting the sins in their own hearts that are often overlooked.

For the blog, I am adapting my own notes and slides from the class and posting them almost verbatim. Since each class was an hour long, however, I will be dividing segments of each lesson into separate posts for easier reading.

Jump To:

• Part 1 (Introduction)
• Part 2 (Ungodliness || Unthankfulness || Anxiety || Frustration || Discontentment)
• Part 3 (Pride || Selfishness || Judgmentalism)
• Part 4 (Anger || Impatience & Irritability || Envy, Jealousy, & Related Sins)
• Part 5 (Sins of the Tongue || Wordliness)

Part 1 Segments:

1. Ordinary Saints
2. The Disappearance of Sin
3. The Malignancy of Sin
4. The Remedy of Sin
5. > The Power of the Holy Spirit / Conclusion

The Power of the Holy Spirit

It is the same Holy Spirit that empowered Christ that is given to all who believe. If you have been born against, that same Spirit now dwells within you! And we do not have any less of the Holy Spirit than Jesus had.

Remember:

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians 10:13 LSB

That “way of escape” is the Holy Spirit’s indwelling power! With the Spirit guiding, rebuking, and correcting us, we truly do have the power to resist temptation and flee from our sin. We can grow more and more holy, more and more like Christ.

So, the first weapon we have in our battle against our sin, “respectable” or otherwise, is the Holy Spirit.

But we have another tool in our arsenal. When Jesus was tempted in the passage above, what was His response? When Satan challenged Him, Jesus immediately turned to the Scriptures, quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, in this case: “man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh.” (LSB)

Did you catch that? When Jesus was tempted, He appealed to the Word of God to defend against it; and we can too!

In 2 Timothy 3:16, we learn that “all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” And according to Hebrews 4:12, the Bible itself is “piercing” and can discern the “thoughts and intentions of the heart.“

So, to combat our sin, we now know of two weapons at our disposal. We have the Holy Spirit and we have the Word of God.

And yet, our generous God has provided yet another instrument that is essential for our sanctification. Any guesses?

The Church. We have other believers on whom we can depend for support, accountability, and encouragement!

Simply put: the Lord has not left us defenseless against the wickedness that still festers in our unredeemed flesh.

Conclusion

Over the next four weeks, we are going to examine ourselves together in light of Scripture. More specifically, we will be taking a deeper look at several individual behaviors and thoughts that the Bible calls sin.

Upcoming Topics:

Before we go, please watch the following video as R.C. Sproul explains the difference between our sanctification and glorification.

Is that not beautiful? That is the ultimate desire of all Christians who have been given new life by Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection!

But we have work to do. I know that looking closely at our own sinfulness may not be pleasant, and it is not the most entertaining subject, but if you desire to grow in holiness, it will be worth it. And if you truly are born again, you will desire that!

While we will never live sinlessly until we are glorified in heaven, we can indeed learn to live sin-less-ly until then.

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