What you believe about yourself determines your spiritual, physical and emotional health. If you believe right, your body, soul, spirit and mind will respond with vibrancy, health and joy. But if you believe wrong you will live in sadness, sin and failure. “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.” Today we will show you the path to life and the reality of death to self. You can live a life of victory. If you think you can, you’re right.
Heb 11:6 “without faith it is impossible to please God.”
Mar 9:23 “If you believe. All things are possible.”
Matthew 17:20-21 “if you have faith… nothing will be impossible for you.”
James 1:6-8 “you must ask in faith, without doubting.”
Phil 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Put to Death Degenerate Behavior 5-6
Five deadly sexual sins:
#1 Fornication – a catch all word meaning any sexual sin.
#2 Uncleanness – impure sexual thoughts and illicit behaviors.
#3 passion – sexual fantasies and romances of the mind.
#4 evil desire – craving for things God has forbidden.
#5 covetousness. – desire to have something that is not yours.
Idolatry is when you place anything ahead of God.
Because of these things the wrath of God is coming.
These deviant behaviors trap those who fall prey to them.
Faith is the powerful remedy for sin.
MEMBERS–a limb: or a body part. “flesh,” flesh and blood.
OLD MAN – the old nature or sin nature.
NEW MAN – The new nature. Granted when you become a Christian.
Your nature is your operations center, controlling your body.
Your new nature enables you to live an abundant life.
Our old man was crucified with Christ. Rom 6:6
Reckon yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God. Rom 6:11
“Recon” means to believe that something is true, to take God at His word.”
You are to believe you are dead to sin.
Put Away Corrupt Communication 7-10
Six deadly communication sins:
#1. Anger – this is a typical bad temper.
#2. Wrath – wrath, fierce anger, overflowing heat, boiling over anger.
#3 Malice – ill-will, desire to injure.
#4 Blasphemy–injurious speech aimed both at God and man.
#6 A lie – deliberate falsehood.
To put off is a decision to stop saying bad stuff.
The words we speak profoundly affect our health and our world.
Change your words and you will change your world.
Do you believe God? Whether you do or not, FAITH is one of the most powerful forces that God has made available to us humans. What you believe, and how sincerely, passionately and powerfully you believe is the measure that will determine the quality of your life. And the most important thing you can believe is that is that Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, died for your sins.
What you believe about yourself determines your spiritual, physical and emotional health. If you believe right, your body, soul, spirit and mind will respond with vibrancy, health and joy. But if you believe wrong you will live in sadness, sin and failure.
Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.”
Do you struggle to overcome persistent sin? Do you find yourself defeated time and time again?
This is truly the problem of the average Christian. We have been told in God’s Word that we can have victory over sin, but too many of us have not experienced it. Today we are going to give you a powerful truth that will transform your attitudes and behavior, if you will believe it and practice it.
It is the truth of what Jesus has genuinely done for us on the cross which has defeated sin and given us the victory. Today we will show you the path to life and the reality of death to self. You can live a life of victory. If you think you can, you’re right.
As it turns out, FAITH is the most powerful force that God has made available to us humans, as long as it is faith in the truth. What you believe, and how sincerely, passionately and powerfully you believe is the measure that will determine the quality of your life.
Heb 11:6 “without faith it is impossible to please God.”
Mar 9:23 “If you believe. All things are possible.”
Matthew 17:20-21 “if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”
James 1:6-8 “you must ask in faith, without doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. Let not that man think that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
Phil 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Believe it.
So today, we are going to give you a one – two punch to knock out sin. 1 – put to death bad behavior 2 – Put off Corrupt Communication.
Put to Death Degenerate Behavior
5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
It is quite likely that you have struggled with one or more of these five deadly sins. They are mostly sexual. #1 Fornication – πορνεία porneia – any sexual sin – adultery, homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality, pornography. #2 Uncleanness ἀκαθαρσία akatharsia These are impure sexual thoughts and illicit behaviors like cross dressing, and gender confusion. #3 passion – πάθος pathos – sexual fantasies and romances of the mind that are prevalent in romance novels and risqué movies. #4 evil desire – ἐπιθυμία epithumia –craving for things God has forbidden, like stalking, pedophilia, child trafficking or kidnapping. #5 covetousness. πλεονεξία pleonexia – desire to have something that is not yours, like your neighbors wife or possessions.
And that of course is idolatry. When you place anything ahead of God, it is a form of idolatry.
Sexual confusion and sexual gratification are widely practiced in our society. These are highly destructive behaviors that rot the soul, destroy the family, and devastate society.
6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
These deviant behaviors trap those who fall prey to them. The illustration of the escalator of love helps explain the problem. People like to experiment. But once you set foot on the escalator of love, it’s difficult to get off. The escalator keeps going up, and you keep getting deeper into sin; even if you want to stop, if you have turned around are trying to go back down against the flow it is extremely difficult.
That’s where faith comes in to play for the Christian. This powerful remedy is waiting to in your soul and burst into flames, enabling you to rise above your sins, and get off the escalator of love. Here’s how it works, here is how you do it:
Put to death your members 5
Now, what does that mean? Let me share a few vocabulary words to help you understand what we are talking about: MEMBERS – μέλος melos – A Members is a limb: or a body part. You body is also known as “flesh” or flesh and blood.
OLD MAN – παλαιός palaios – old ἄνθρωπος anthropos – man. This is what we call the old nature or sin nature. Your nature is your operations center. Your very nature controls you body.
NEW MAN – νέος neos – new recently born, young, youthful anthropos – man. This is what is known as the new nature or new man. You get a new nature when you become a Christian, enabling you to live an abundant life.
Romans 6:6 says, “knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Christ, that sin in our body might be destroyed, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Here is the truth of what happened when Jesus died for our sins. “I have been crucified with Christ!” When we trust Jesus as Savior, our Old Nature is crucified with Christ. When Jesus died, our old nature died with it. We now have a New Nature.
Now we are dead to sin. That’s what Romans 6:11 says
11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now here is where the believing part comes in. The word “recon” λογίζομαι logizomai means to “consider, to think that something is true, to take God at His word.” God says you are to take His word for it that now that you now have a new nature, and you are to take His word for it that you are dead to sin. You are to believe it. This is how you, “put your members to death!” You believe it!
Now let me tell you how powerful this is. Have you ever heard of the “placebo effect?” A study from Stanford University found that just thinking you’re prone to a given outcome trumps both nature and nurture. In fact, simply believing a physical reality about yourself actually nudges the body in that direction.
The researchers told a random set of participants that they carried a gene that that kept them from tiring easily. They also told another set of participants the exact opposite. Those who were told they had poor endurance genes couldn’t run as long as they had previously. They pooped out. Those who were told they had better endurance ran longer, regardless of what genes they actually carried. [i]
In other tests, up to 70% of patients given a placebo – or fake pill – who were told that it was a cure for what they had, got better, often at a much higher rate than those who are given the actual drug! What happens with the placebo effect is that the brain anticipates an outcome. The mind then communicates to the body the anticipated outcome and prepares the body for healing. This process can miraculously create natural chemical reactions, curing depression and other ailments without the harmful side effects.[ii]
But what happens when it’s not a placebo, but it’s the truth. Simple changes in mindset can provide massive benefits. God says that you have been crucified with Christ. God says that you must believe it in order to put to death the sins of the flesh. The only question that remains is this: Are you going to believe it. For those who take God at His Word, they do the impossible! They overcome their sin.
Put Away Corrupt Communication
8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,
So, verses 5-7 dealt with the deeds of the flesh, most of them sexual in nature. We are supposed to believe ourselves dead to sin. No verses 8-9 deal with sins of communication. These are six attitudes and words which will defeat us.
#1. anger ὀργή orge – anger, this is a typical bad temper. #2. Wrath θυμός thumos – wrath, fierce anger, overflowing heat, boiling over anger. #3 Malice κακία kakia – ill-will, desire to injure. #4 Blasphemy βλασφημία blasphemia – This is injurious speech that can be aimed both at God and man. Toward man it is slander to another’s good name. To God it is sacrilegious speech about God. #5 filthy language αἰσχρολογία aischrologia – any dirty or immoral speech #6 A Lie ψεύδομαι pseudomai – deliberate falsehood.
Why shouldn’t we talk like this? Because we are created in the image of God, and any low life conversation that degrades another human being degrades God. Instead we are to only say things that encourage one another and build one another up.
How do you quit using filthy language? How do you stop lying, gossiping; how do you get rid of wrath and anger? The Bible has the answer.
8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these:
Now, what does that mean? ἀποτίθημι apotithemi – to put off is to set something aside and put it away from you. It is a simple process. It is like changing your dirty clothes. As a believer who is dead to sin, I choose to stop saying bad stuff, and I have decided instead to start saying good stuff. I take off the old dirty language, throw it in the washing machine, and put on the fresh clean language that I have hanging in my Christian closet. I dress myself in clean Christian language.
The words we speak are profoundly powerful dramatically affecting our health, happiness and the world around us. Change your words and you will change your world. People respond to our good words. Kindness impacts them. Sympathy changes their hearts. Generosity brings them joy. Forgiveness turns enemies into friends. Encouragement helps them overcome depression. And being straight up with them in all cases fosters trust.
Do you believe these things? Whether you do or not, FAITH is one of the most powerful forces that God has made available to us humans. What you believe, and how sincerely, passionately and powerfully you believe is the measure that will determine the quality of your life.
And the most important thing you can believe is that is that Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, died for your sins. He paid the price for your eternal salvation, and he offers heaven as a free gift, if you will receive it. You must repent of believing that your way is the right way, and instead believe on Jesus to save you. If you will do that, Jesus will powerfully change your life in ways you never dreamed possible!
[i] https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2018/12/12/mind-over-matter-may-actually-work-when-it-comes-to-health-study-finds/?sh=3758a5ab7bd7
[ii] https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicolesilver/2022/02/17/accessing-the-power-of-your-mind-placebo-effect-and-law-of-attraction/?sh=569790e05bf7
Leave a Reply