When You Believe in God but Don't Think You Can Change

And we're going to look together, I know that you're doing a series through this book, The Christian Atheist, by someone whose surname no one seems better to pronounce.

I'm going to go with Craig Groeschel, and we're going to be looking at a chapter there, but I also particularly want to look at that passage from Romans chapter 6.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

I don't know whether we can get the words up, but I particularly, if you can get them up, those last three or four verses of it would be great.

But over my 14 years of preaching in my previous parishes down in Taunton, I discovered that there was one subject that time and again would create a great deal of discomfort.

And always, and I say always, guarantee that at least a couple of emails from men would come to me in the week asking if they might meet up with me for a coffee and a chat.

I wonder if you can imagine what the subject matter was.

Clive's worked it out, I think.

Pornography.

In 2015, Premier Christianity magazine did a survey in which 50% of Christians, not just men, admitted viewing adult content online at least once a month.

And 42% saying that they had an addiction.

Christians.

It's exactly the same figure as it is for non-Christians in all the surveys.

Of course, it's not the only issue that Christians struggle with.

For some, it's overworking, verging on workaholism, if that's the right words.

For others, it will be anger, a temper that they can't control.

For others, it will be greed, not just food greed, but materialism.

Just that constant desire to have more, to have bigger, to have better, to have newer.

For others, it's simple lust, just that inability to keep looking and to entertain those unhelpful conversations in the office.

That just lead you down paths that you know are not right.

Or just the words we say, the gossip that we get into, that negativity that we get into, the way we speak about people when they're not in the room.

Patterns of behaviour in our lives that we know that are not of God.

And yet many of us feel powerless to change.

And the point that Grosjeal is making in the chapter that we're looking at of his book is,

it is a dangerous thing that can happen in a Christian.

That they stop believing that change can happen.

It is easy to surrender, in a sense to raise the white flag.

And say, yes, God is changing me in all sorts of areas.

But there are one or two things that persist.

That I seem to get nowhere.

They seem to have a grip.

And no matter what I do, nothing changes.

Therefore, I stop believing that God can change me.

Yes, you can do it in lots of areas, but just not in this area.

But I think there's an even bigger danger than even Grosjeal picks out, which I think our passage picks out.

Because it becomes easy then to swallow the lie that is based on a wonderful truth.

It is easy to swallow a lie that is based on a wonderful truth.

Because in Romans 6, the wonderful truth of Romans so far is that we are saved by grace.

I hope you know that.

I hope you understand the gospel.

That we are saved, we are put right by grace.

Not by what we do.

Not by perfect obedience to the rules.

Christianity is not about being better.

Being good.

Even though most people think that's what it's about.

It is not.

It is that by faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are made right with God.

We are forgiven.

We are cleansed.

We are washed clean.

In chapter 5, verse 1.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

through whom we have gained access by faith into his grace, in which we now stand.

It is all of grace.

Unmerited.

Undeserved.

Unconditional love and forgiveness.

But then there's a question at the start of chapter 6.

Which is this.

Shall we sin then, so that grace may increase?

Or in an old version I love.

Shall we sin that grace may abound?

See, what it's saying is, if forgiveness and peace with God, if grace is always available,

what does it matter then if we keep on sinning?

In fact, logic tells us, and was beginning to tell some of Paul's readers,

well, surely then, the more I sin, the more I get of God's grace.

Therefore, hey, why don't we sin more and get more grace?

That was the implication.

And you know, it's not long before we find ourselves then perhaps saying,

in the situations we face,

well, this area of my life, this addiction that's got hold of me,

this behaviour that's got a grip of me,

this sin that's taken a hold,

I start to convince myself,

well, does it really matter that much?

I mean, after all,

God is gracious.

Grace means I'll still be forgiven.

So actually, maybe I don't really need to worry about it.

Maybe I don't really need to deal with it.

Because I'm going to be forgiven anyway.

And then we don't take it seriously.

We convince ourselves it's okay.

And I love Paul's response.

And if you saw it there,

if you go to the next verse,

I love his response.

By no means, exclamation mark.

He's going, no!

No way!

You've got it wrong.

If that's the kind of thinking you've got,

no!

Disaster lies down that way of thinking.

And he goes on to say,

as Christians,

he says in verse 2,

we are those who have died to sin.

How can we live in it anymore?

Sin is no longer to have control of our lives.

Sin is part of the old life,

the banished life.

Verse 3,

he uses the symbol of baptism.

So he pictures that when we're baptised,

do you have a Baptist Paul baptistry in here?

So you kind of do the down and the up.

Great!

Well, you know the symbolism

of when people go down into the water,

it is being as if we are dying with Christ,

the old self,

the old me,

with all its behaviours

going down into the water,

and then I rise again,

like Jesus rising from the dead.

But with a new life,

with new priorities,

with a new master of my life.

Baptism symbolises that moment of coming to faith,

which is decisive.

The old ways have gone,

the old ways to have no more part of my life.

So instead of thinking,

I can't change,

or worse,

it's okay if I don't change,

Paul says,

by no means.

Verse 11,

count yourselves dead to sin

and alive to God in Jesus Christ.

You see,

Paul is really clear with us.

But also Paul is honest.

Because I think Paul was a bloke.

I know he was a bloke.

And therefore he was a bloke

who struggled with the stuff

blokes struggle with.

And if Paul had been Pauline writing,

then Pauline would have known

the stuff that women struggle with.

That is,

Paul is also realistic.

And if you go into chapter 7 of Romans,

you discover him talking about

the stuff I want to do,

that's the stuff I can't do.

The stuff I don't want to do,

I keep on doing.

I'm a complete mess,

is my kind of translation

of what he's saying in verse 7.

And so Paul then gives us

what I think is like a spiritual CT scan.

He kind of shows us

what is really going on inside of us.

And unless you understand

what's going on inside of you,

you won't be equipped

to deal with what's going on.

You will always end up

a victim to all of this stuff.

And it comes in verses 12 to 13

of Romans 6.

And he basically says this.

You've got to picture your body,

what he describes,

your mortal body,

as being like a castle

or a fortified city.

Can you imagine that?

That's the kind of imagery he's using.

Imagine that your body

is like a castle

or a fortified city.

And you need to wise up

to what's going on

right here,

right now,

on a Sunday morning

in Clevedon

inside your body.

And he tells us

three or four key things.

The first thing he says

in verse 12 is this.

There is a throne

at the heart of your life.

There is a throne

at the heart of your life.

In verse 12 he says,

don't let sin reign.

The word reign

is just a verb

that goes with king.

And the throne

is that on which

a king sits.

The question is,

who sits on the throne

in your life?

In your mortal body,

who is sitting on the throne?

Who is master?

Who or what

is actually

in control of your life?

You see,

is it Jesus Christ,

the rightful king?

Or is it actually

something else?

Groeschel, in his book,

poses some questions

that might help you

to work out

if something other

than Jesus Christ

is actually sitting

on the throne

in your mortal body?

And he asks

some of these questions.

Firstly,

do those closest to you,

your family and friends,

see that there are

some real issues

that you are struggling

with in your life?

You may not see it,

but do they spot something?

Habits?

Things that are going on?

Secondly,

do the behaviours

that you're struggling

with continue

even though

you know

they're hurting you

and maybe sometimes

hurting others?

You know the consequences,

but still

you keep

doing the same things.

Thirdly,

do you actually

find yourself

arranging your daily schedule,

your weekly schedule

around those things?

Do they start to

take control

of your diary?

Fourthly,

can you go weak

without it?

Are these patterns,

these behaviours,

things that you see

coming up week

after week

after week?

And then lastly,

are you denying

or trying to keep it secret?

Are these things

hidden away

that you don't let

anyone else

around you see?

Good questions

that you have to ask

yourself

to know

who is actually

sitting on the throne?

Because Paul then says,

secondly,

there is a challenger

to the throne.

Verse 12,

don't let sin reign.

There is a rebel

who wants to lead a coup

and gain the throne

and take control

of your life.

And that rebel is sin.

Sin wants control

of your life

and we are called

on to resist it.

But third,

there are loyal servants

who if not careful

will defect

to the other side.

See,

instead of being servants

of you

as you seek

to live under

the kingship of Jesus,

they will jump over

the wall,

team up with the enemy

and they will cause havoc.

Verse 12,

don't let sin reign

in your mortal body

so that you obey

its evil desires.

It's that word

desires.

See,

our desires

are normally

loyal servants

of ours,

aren't they?

We have lives

full of desires.

These are the things

that lead us

to do what we do.

We have lots

of good desires.

We have desires

for food,

desires for drink,

desires for love

and companionship,

desire for sex,

desire for justice,

desire for rest

and sleep,

a desire for coffee.

And they're all

good desires.

They serve us well.

They are our loyal servants.

They lead us to do

the stuff we do

day in,

day out.

But Paul is saying

if you're not careful,

your desires,

those loyal servants,

can be taken captive

by the enemy,

by sin.

And what were once

good desires

easily become

evil desires.

So the desire for food,

which has served us well,

easily becomes

a desire for greed,

for more.

Whether it's physical greed

or materialism,

wanting more,

wanting what others

have got,

covetousness.

A desire for drink

serves us well

until it takes us captive.

And we want to drink

too much.

A desire for sex

serves well

until that desire

for sex

with someone

who's not our spouse

starts to take over.

A desire for love

and companionship

is a great desire

until that desire

becomes a desire

that comes out of lust

and an addiction

to pornography.

A desire for rest

and sleep

actually becomes

slothfulness

and laziness.

A desire for justice

and fairness

easily becomes

a desire to get even

that leads to anger

and gossip

and bitterness.

Do you see,

good desires,

which were meant

to be loyal servants,

suddenly,

when taken hold of,

when they defect

to the enemy,

the devil,

when they defect

to sin,

or suddenly

they become dangerous.

And the reason

why they're so dangerous

is this,

is that they offer

a false promise.

They offer you

the false promise

that if you pursue

your longings,

life will be so much better.

If I get even,

I'll be so much better.

If I pursue

that relationship,

which is not the one

with my husband or wife,

actually that's where

I'll find fulfillment.

It is a false promise.

We need to take seriously

our desires

and our longings.

We need to monitor them

and watch them

and take account

of what's really going on.

Which then leads

to the fourth thing

that I think Paul says.

That there are also

battles in this,

sorry,

there are also weapons

in this battle.

Verse 13.

Do not offer

any part of yourself

as an instrument

of wickedness.

That word instrument

is the same word

that's used for weapon

in other parts

of the New Testament.

Same word.

And what he's saying

is this,

that the parts of your body,

your tongue,

your mouth,

your stomach,

your eyes,

your sexual organs,

when desires

are captured by sin,

they start to turn

your body parts

into weapons of sin.

If you want to know

a great example of that,

go to the book of James.

In the book of James,

it talks about this thing

in your mouth.

Turn to your neighbour

and stick your tongue out.

You're allowed to do that.

Turn to your neighbour

and stick your tongue out.

Show them your tongue.

If you know the book of James,

the book of James

will tell you

that this tiny little bit

of floppiness

in our mouth

has extraordinary power.

It has power

to build up

and to encourage

and to make

someone's day,

doesn't it?

This little thing here.

But if we have a desire

suddenly to hurt

and not heal,

our tongue

becomes the most

destructive weapon

known to mankind.

We can destroy people

with this floppy thing

in our mouth,

can't we?

Do you see

how when your desires

are taken captive

by sin,

suddenly bits of your body

become dangerous weapons?

Do you see,

suddenly it all

looks a bit different,

doesn't it?

Paul says,

wake up.

Wake up to the reality.

You are in a fierce battle.

A battle for who

will be king

of your mortal body.

Be clear, he says.

God is the true king.

He has the rightful place

on the throne.

My desires,

my body parts

are meant to be used

for his glory.

It is simply not right

for us to say,

okay,

as long as some

of my desires,

some of my body parts

are being used for God,

well, it doesn't matter

too much

if one or two

are being used for sin.

It'll be okay.

Paul says,

by no means,

exclamation mark.

No, it won't

because the key is this.

Sin wants control.

You see,

sin is not just an act.

It's a power.

It is not the thing I do.

It is a power

that takes over.

Sin wants to reign.

And sin is not satisfied

to just have control

of one bit of your life.

You see,

when you've got a castle,

the danger is,

if you leave one window open

or one ladder out at night,

it'll come in

and it won't just take over

one room.

It won't be long

before it's knocking down

and knocking down

the rooms

in the rest of the palace

because its aim

is not to have control

of one room.

It wants control

of a city.

So it's not good

to say,

well, it doesn't matter

as long as there's only

one area of my life

where sin seems

to have a grip

because it won't be long

before it's taken over others

and I've seen it time

and time again

in parish ministry.

Where people struggle

in one area

become less and less frequent

on a Sunday,

I've seen it

time and time

and time again.

So how then

do we fight the battle?

How do we begin

to see change

in these areas?

These areas

that become

very difficult for us.

Well, Grosje will just

give some very quick advice

that I'm going to give you

as I finish.

The first is this,

you need to admit it.

You see,

when in sermons

I mention the word

pornography,

I've discovered

I never have to preach

on pornography,

I just have to say

the word.

I always say

you need to bring it

out of the darkness

into the light.

It's true of all sin.

You have to bring it

out of the darkness

into the light.

That means you have to

admit it to yourself,

to God.

But the danger is

all of those things

you can fool yourself in,

I think.

Even with God.

And I always say

you need to admit it

to another person.

You need to speak out loud

to somebody

I have a problem with.

Dot, dot, dot.

I have an

accountability group,

two other vicars

that I meet with,

three times a year

for two days.

They have permission

to ask me every question

that I don't want

them to ask.

And in fact,

we have a thing

at the end

which is where

someone will ask me,

Adrian,

what question

do you not want

me to ask you today?

So I have to tell

them everything.

Sex life,

what I'm looking at

online,

about how

I'm being

a parent,

a husband,

all of those things.

And we've been

doing this for 20 years.

They know when I'm lying.

Admit it.

Secondly,

seek the power of God.

The context of this passage

is not that we are

ever on the throne.

It is not that

we're on the throne

and therefore

we have to have

the power to deal

with what's going on.

The power doesn't

lie with us.

No, God is on the throne.

Power comes from him.

Which is why

when you get to

chapter 8 of Romans,

we're told about

the Holy Spirit.

In chapter 8,

verse 13,

if you live according

to the flesh,

you'll die.

But if by the Spirit

you put to death

the misdeeds of the body,

you will live.

So the message

I want to make sure

you hear today

is not just try harder.

Because if you just

try harder,

you won't get anywhere.

So that is not my message.

If that's what you're hearing,

that is not the message

I'm bringing.

You need the Spirit of God.

Indeed,

in chapter 8,

verse 11,

we're told

that the power available

to us in the Spirit

is the same power

that raised Jesus

from the dead.

That is the kind of power

you need.

You will not overcome

these things

unless you have the power

that raised Jesus

from the dead.

But the joy is that

power is available

to each and every one of us.

Thirdly,

ditch the excuses.

I think these are the words

actually that come from Groschel.

Before you begin

your journey towards change,

brace yourself.

The excuse monster

is waiting in the shadows.

And if you've ever had to

tackle anything like this,

you will know

how easily that comes

because it is so tough.

So what you start to do

is you start to justify

or play down

how important

this area of your life is.

It doesn't really matter.

It's not such a big deal.

Or we justify it.

Sin,

I think the devil,

because the devil

is the master of lies,

is the one who whispers

to try and talk you

out of the change.

And I think you have to

capture those lies

and confront them

and say,

no, that's not true.

It does matter.

And then finally,

cut the ties.

That's what Groschel

talks about.

Paul once wrote,

do not be misled.

Bad company

cuts good ties.

Are you putting yourself

in places

and situations

and company

that feed the wrong desires

and lead you

into the things

that you're doing,

that you know

a lot of God?

If you are,

take drastic action.

Jesus said,

if your eye causes you

to sin,

pluck it out.

And we go,

oh, he didn't really mean that.

No, what he meant was

take drastic action.

So one guy

who after a sermon

like this

came and saw me

to talk about

the problem he had

with pornography,

he did two things

as a result.

The first thing was

he loaded on his computer

software that meant

a list of all the sites

he looked at

were emailed

to a friend of his

every single week.

And secondly,

he moved his computer

into the living room

so it was always

in a public place

where the rest

of the family were.

That was his

equipment of plucking

out his eye.

He made drastic change

to try and cut the ties.

So as I finish,

I want to be honest

and tell you,

my hope this week

is that Clive

is going to become

very busy indeed.

Because my hope is

that he will receive

some emails

asking for people

to come and see him

and say,

Clive,

I've got a problem

with whatever it is.

And I know

I can't go on like this.

And I need to admit it.

And I need someone

to pray with me

and then help me

to do the practical things

that you're going to need

to start to break

the chain

and start to break

the cycle.

And if you're serious

about dealing

with whatever

that issue is,

if that is you,

I want to leave you

with the words

of Groschel

that come right

at the end

of his chapter.

You can't change

in your own power.

If you feel overwhelmed

by something

bigger than you,

let the one

who is bigger

than all things

be the power

you need

in weakness.

from the other

that happens.

The way

to the other

is

in your own power