Holiness, Godliness, Usefulness
08/24/2013, by John Kincaid
Lesson 15: Sin Under Our Skin
Because the law of sin is inside us, it has advantages over any external enemy. Sin is irritating, like an itch that won’t stop. Scratching only makes it worse. The law of sin never leaves, never rests, and never needs any help.
1) Indwelling sin wears out its welcome – it has settled in and made itself at home. Wherever you go, whatever you are doing, the law of sin is always there.
Rom.7:20 if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
2) Indwelling sin never takes a day of rest – it’s bad enough that sin never leaves, but it never even rests. It is always whispering in your ear, even in the middle of the night, distracting us and preventing us from accomplishing the good we intended.
3) Sin easily does its dirty work without assistance – it’s bad enough that sin entangles us. But sin easily entangles us. The unsaved world and Satan are eager to lend a hand, but our indwelling sin needs no help.
We know that God is good and in control and all-powerful. But the moment something bad happens (illness or death of a loved one, job loss, car won’t start, etc.) we tend to question or doubt or mistrust God. Those seeds came from our indwelling sin; no one had to come tempt us with those ideas.
But there’s good news: the more you learn about indwelling sin, the less you will suffer from it. The longer you wrestle this rhino, the more you will hate it, and the more you will seek grace.
About This Series
The goal of this series is to become more useful in serving the Lord Jesus Christ, as an instrument in the Redeemer's hand. The theme verses for the series are Ephesians 4:22-24, Philemon 11, 2 Timothy 2:21
- to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
- and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
- Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.
- Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
