It's always a pleasure to be able to open the word of God. I want to thank Brother Alphius for reading the passage for me. It's a blessing to just have a little bit more time. But with that in mind, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we come to you just asking for your mercy, for your grace. And we can incline our hearts to your testimonies. that we can listen and see what it is that you would say to us. We all need you. We all need you to help us, to carry us through. We are all faced with sin and temptation. We all know that we fall short. So that's why we're here. To see what your scriptures, to see what you have to say. We thank you for this. This mercy, this everlasting compassion, this slow to anger. We pray that we are able to receive the offer, receive the grace that you are giving to. Thank you. In your name, we pray. Amen. The title of the sermon is called The Fight Against Remaining Sin. The Fight Against Remaining Sin. I have six points for you. So if you are taking notes, I worked hard. I kind of alliterated, but I'm hoping that it's a little better than before. So point number one is a promising start. A promising start. Brother Alfie has read to us the story And Judges 1, that's after the death of Joshua, after the death of Moses, and before Samuel and Saul. There's this period that we know is the time of the judges. And it's this time of transition where the people of God no longer have Joshua. Now they're kind of wondering, what are we going to do? And we see for at least this first half of the chapter, we see that they're off to a great start. In verse one, they're asking the Lord for guidance. They come to the Lord and, Lord, what do we do? What do you want us to do? We see that there's unity among the people of God. We see Judah says to his Simeon, his brother, come up with me. Then the house of Joseph with his Ephraim and Manasseh, they go up together and they're fulfilling the word of God. It is just, this could have been another sermon, but every time they're working together, the Lord is with them. And we see this marvelous unity happening amongst the people of God. They're obeying the mandates of the Lord. If you want to turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 7. And when you're reading the book of Judges, you really have to keep Deuteronomy in mind, because it lays the rules that the people of God are breaking. So Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 1. When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, Jump to verse 2. And when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them. Verse 4. for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other God. So the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. Verse six, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. This is the mission. This is a mission that was given to them back even the time of Moses. And now they went through some of it with Joshua, with Moses, but now neither Joshua nor Moses are there. But we see in this first half of the chapter, they seem to be doing a great job. We read in verse 4 that they go to war. We read in verse 5 that they fight. Verse 6, they pursue the enemy. Verse 8, they set cities on fire. Verse 17, they're utterly destroying cities. It is truly a promising start. We see great examples of success and of victory. We read the story of Othniel and Axel, which is as close as to a knight fairytale princess that we got going on in the book of Judges. And we have Caleb. Caleb at this point, he's over 80 years old, and he's out there and he's fighting relentlessly. A promising start. Do we not relate to this? that after conversion, baptism, a conference that we attended, just this wonderful experience that we had with God, or even perhaps a tragedy, that there was something bad that somehow ignited a promising start for us, that we were always in prayer, We always wanted to be at church and serve the brothers. We were obeying the Lord. We were having times of victory. Do you remember such a time? When you were just on fire for the Lord? Point number two, a partial obedience. A partial obedience. When we get to Judges chapter 1 verse 27, there's this big however. However. We begin to read that they did not drive out the inhabitants of the land. There are seven tribes that are reported as to their campaign. Not all the tribes are being mentioned, but it's enough for us to understand the general picture of all the tribes. Two tribes have a positive campaign, Judah, Simeon. It seems that they more or less did what they had to do. But then six tribes failed. Benjamin Joseph, which is Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, Dan. They didn't do their part. And we begin to look at this, we begin to realize what is going on when you begin to see this perhaps in a more spiritual lens. See, every victory is what's one step closer to holiness. And this is why I really like that hymn. Maybe just because I'm new to the hymn, but it's a children's hymn. I'm like, man, that's for me. You know, that hymn is speaking to my soul. That each victory, when we win against one temptation, it helps us for the next one. And we see this even amongst the tribes, that eventually Judah's kind of going along and everyone's kind of going, but the Judah kind of trips a bit and everyone begins to kind of stumble right behind them. And we begin to see that each victory is a step towards holiness, that the people of God were ridding themselves of everything that would pull them away from the Lord. They were just taking steps closer and closer to God to be more faithful and more faithful to Him. And the opposite is true. If every victory is a step towards holiness, every failure, every lost battle, there remains idolatry, temptation, snares, and chains. Those things that draw us away from the Lord, they're still there. They didn't get rid of them. So just as when we are in obedience and we're trusting in the Lord, we're moving closer to him, the opposite is true. Every lost battle means that there are more things in our lives that can ensnare us, that can lead us away from God. There are territories that are unconquered. That means that if they're not unconquered, somebody else is in charge of that area. The enemy is still there. The enemy still has some control. And battles that are not fought are battles that are just lost. Thomas Manson had this wonderful illustration. He said that a bird that is tied by a string seems to have more liberty than a bird in a cage. It flutters up and down, and yet it is held fast. It looks from the outside, well, they're not in the cage. It looks like they're fine, but they're still chained down by something. There's still something there. We started off strong, but can we not confess that there are battles we have lost? That there are areas in our lives that we had, when we really look at it, when we measure it by God's word, we really have not submitted it to the Lord. We won the battle against lust, but lost the battle against pride. We won the battle against anxiety, but we don't care that we lost against the battle of gossip. Or we're content to come to church, but we're not really moved to seek Him daily. And there are areas, when we take collectively the work of all the people there, there are some things they've won, but a lot more they lost. There is no such thing as partial obedience. In the eyes of God, we obey or we disobey. Spurgeon would say, commenting on Thomas Manson's quote, he who has his shackles knocked off, all but one chain is a prisoner still. We cannot be content to have victory in some areas and have bondage in another. This is a sentiment even Paul will express this in Romans 6, 12. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lust. Partial obedience. Point number three. A pragmatic decision. A pragmatic decision. In chapter 1, verse 27, it says, However, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants, for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites under tribute, but did not completely drive them out. And then when you jump down to verse 35, Yet, when the strength of the house of Joseph became greater, they, that means the inhabitants of the land, were put under tribute. This is a fascinating way to analyze how the people of God begin to decline. I call this point a pragmatic decision. Pragmatism, it means that we assess the truth based on how we can practically carry it out. It means that I might believe this, but if it doesn't work out, then this needs to change. I might believe that this is what is true, but when I put it into practice and it doesn't work, then the idea, the belief, needs to change. They couldn't win, so they settled. Pragmatism pushes us to compromise. This is working, so it must be right. And this is the interesting part. Even when they could win, it says when the house of Joseph became strong, they were content. all of us who have been fighting sin we know that that to live in that state of of zealous zealousness and and really watching your sin and really confessing it it's pretty exhausting it is not always the most pleasant of experience to constantly be trying to sacrifice and to mortify and to conform ourselves to the word. We know that this flesh is really hardheaded and it needs a lot of beat down and it's exhausting. So why live in such a tension? Why be too zealous? It's exhausting. Why try if I know that I will fail? So I'll do what I can. What tends to happen then, we begin to lower the standard. And it's just very interesting that they were called to destroy, but this, you know, if we put them on the tribute, I think it'll be better. It'll be easier. We might reap even better benefits. They're happy-ish. We're happy-ish. We're all making it work. We begin to lower the standard. I don't gossip as I used to before. I don't slander as much as before. You know what? I don't watch pornography as before. I just watch shows with some nudity. We begin to lower the standard. We stop sinning just enough to where our conscience is clear, where I do not feel guilty, where I can feel confident to take the Lord's Supper, just enough. But we know, we know, if we were to stop and look at our lives, that there is much land left to conquer. Spurgeon would also say that I believe a holier a man becomes the more he mourns over the unholiness which remains. But it takes work, it takes sacrifice, it's a holy war against the flesh, and we have decided that things are just fine the way they are. So, we rename sin. It's not, I know the Lord called us to destroy, but we're just gonna subjugate them. It's about the same. And they didn't destroy them. We start kinda changing things. We might have a critical spirit, but we wanna call it discernment. We might say we're zealous when we're really proud. We might say that we love the truth when we're just being contentious. Or we want to look at our lack of discipline and say that studying and reading the Bible just really interrupts the way that I pursue the Lord. We settle with our pet sins. Where have we stopped the pursuit of holiness and have settled? Which sins do we now tolerate? One pampered sin, one pet sin, one tolerated sin. It's enough, brother. It is enough that it's like a poison that can kill the body. One sin, like one match, can kindle the fires of hell within our soul. And we must look at sin in this light. It is not that there are great sins and there are lesser sins. It's all sin. Point number four, a piercing question, a piercing question. In chapter two, verse one. Then the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Boshim and said, I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers. And I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed my voice. And here's the question. Why? Why have you done this? If Israel answered, they might've said, if they answered honestly, that they distrusted the word of the one who had done so much, who had proved his love time and time again, they just distrusted him, maybe they would've said that it's easier to settle, we no longer have to fight, maybe we're tired of fighting, Maybe we're tired of getting defeated. Maybe we're tired of feeling hypocritical. Maybe we're tired of feeling guilty. Maybe we start to rely a lot, we've been relying on our own strength, and if you notice, no longer do they consult the Lord. Maybe they like what the world has. They see what they've been getting with God, and they see what the neighbors have, and well, they look like they're having more stuff, a better time, more happiness. How would you answer that question? How would I? You have not obeyed my voice. Why have you done this? Why haven't we obeyed? How will we respond when the Lord asks us this question? What could we answer to the Almighty, the Holy One, as to the reason for why we sin? And I think this is what Paul in Romans 6, 21, where he says, what fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. What will we say? If the Lord, when we stand before the Lord and we render judgment and he's, you know, taking account of all of our lives and he asked us that question, why didn't you obey? It's a piercing question. And we must meditate on this, my brother. I believe that if we were to just take the time and search our hearts and just really try to answer this question, why have we not obeyed the Lord? I really believe it would do wonders for our sanctification. to begin to see what is ensnaring us, to begin to see what battles have we lost that we said, well, I lost this battle. I kind of put it to the side and just kind of moved on with my life. I was dealing with all this anxiety at one point, and I'm not dealing with it so much anymore, so I'm good. But there was more to be had. And it's a question that I wish that I personally would just maybe write down and ask myself, why have I not obeyed you? Why, knowing what I'm preaching and reading what I'm reading, why haven't I? And it's a piercing question. that really is meant to just cut through our souls, that after everything that the Lord has done for His people, and we're here with the sin in our hands, and He's asking us, why? I don't know what I would respond. We must meditate on this. Why are we obeying? Why have we stopped fighting? Why have we allowed these sins to go unchallenged? Point number five, a perfect punishment, a perfect punishment. In chapter two, verse three, it says, therefore, I also said, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall be thorns in your side, and their God shall be a snare to you. That which we choose over God shall be the snare of our destruction. That which we choose over God shall be the snare of our destruction. The Canaanites were spared by Israel and they disobeyed the Lord. And guess who was the snare of Israel? The Canaanites. Those who love the world shall be given up to the world. They will be destroyed by the world, and they will be condemned by the world, with the world. 1 Timothy 6.10 says, For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves, and I appreciate brother when he was praying, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. They pierced themselves. The sins, the things they chose are the same things that are piercing them, provoking them sorrow. Even believers in disobedience, and this is one of the difficult doctrines that we must understand so we can have a healthy fear of sin, that even believers in disobedience will suffer the consequences of disobedience. Believers in disobedience will suffer the consequences of disobedience. We will incur God's displeasure. We will incur God's judgment. We will incur his chastisement and his rebuke. Those who refuse to kill their sin, they will be ensnared by that sin. And if they don't repent, that sin will lead them to their utter destruction. 2 Thessalonians 2, Verse 10, and for this reason, God will send them a strong delusion that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. We cannot be okay with sin and have assurance of salvation. This is not about being perfect. This is about being okay with it. This is about seeing that there is sin in our lives, and we say, you know, I want to do something about it, but I just, you know, it really doesn't bother me as much. To be a Christian is to love that which God loves, and to hate, and to hate that which God hates. The Christian's natural response to sin is to hate it, to fight against it, to give it no room. As John Owen famously said, we are killing sin or sin will kill us. We love our God too much. We don't want to offend our God. Not again, this is not that we are perfect, but a sign, a fruit, an evidence of regeneration is the inclination away from sin and towards God. To continue in sin, unrepentant, uncaring, is a sign of apostasy. It's a sign of a false conversion. And I appreciated so much how the Lord orchestrated this sermon with our Sunday school, and the Lord just knew. We must treat sin and backsliding with the weight that it has. My brothers, my sisters, sin is death. Even after we're saved, The Lord's attitude towards sin hasn't changed. Backsliding is the beginning of apostasy. This is the message of John Owen's apostasy from the gospel. He calls it partial apostasy, that when we stop, when we don't wanna pray, when we don't wanna read, when we don't enjoy God, we don't wanna come to church, these are signs that we're on the road to apostasy. And you're like, well, brother, that's just intense. I think you're just exaggerating, but that's actually the message of the book of Judges. that all of these un-mortified sins, all of these things that they did not kill eventually ensnared them and killed them. And when we go to the book of Judges, you begin to see that they're no different than the world. And if it's true for them, it's true for us. And the last point. A penitent sinner. A penitent sinner. So chapter two, verse four. So it was when the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel that the people lifted up their voices and wept. And wept. So I ask this other question. Do we mourn our condition? This is actually another sign of regeneration. to look at the state of our souls and see its imperfection, see its blemishes, see that we're so far from holiness, this holy mourning, this holy hatred of sin that like Paul, we're like, oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? This sentiment to feel this hatred towards sin is evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in us. How long will it take us to realize that we need to repent from sin and turn away from it? What needs to happen? What circumstances do we need to suffer so we can mourn the reality that we are squandering all the time, all that gift of Christ in our salvation, that we're not taking advantage of it? Are we belittling the sacrifice of Christ with un-mortified sin and constant disobedience? This is not an easy sermon. And I could have titled this sermon, Baptist Fight Against Remaining Sin. But here is the beauty of the God that we serve. There is forgiveness available to the truly repentant. I have expressed this once and I will express it again. It's not that I'm amazed, I'm not amazed at the salvation of the Lord, but maybe because I was a little too young to not fully understand everything. What really grips my heart is when I think of what we heard this morning of the perseverance of the saints, that I'm like, Lord, after you saved me and I knew all these things and I sinned the way I sinned, why do you still love me? And I'm just captured and I'm amazed by this continual love of God that I've disappointed time and time again. And yet every time he says that forgiveness is available to those who would repent. And this is what I love about Paul when he, after he says, Oh, wretched man that I am. Verse 25, he's like, I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And thanks to the brother who took time to read the scriptures, will allow me, please grab your Trinity hymno and open to page 679. As we read, I want to read a chapter from what we read this morning in the Perseverance of the Saints. So the London Baptist Confession, and it's page 679. 17.3. And though they may, through the temptation of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, isn't that us? Prevalency of corruption remaining in them, the neglect of means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins, and for a time continue therein, whereby they incur God's displeasure and grieve His Holy Spirit, come to have their graces and comforts impaired, have their hearts hardened and their consciences wounded, hurt and scandalize others, bring temporal judgments upon themselves. And yet. And yet. shall they renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end. I thank God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Chapter two, verse four, and one of the things that we're gonna try to look through in the book of Judges is, were they really repentant? Question mark. Did they really repent of their sins? Do you want to know? Another evidence of salvation, my brothers, my sisters, is that when we are confronted by the word of God and our sins are exposed to the light of the scriptures, does our repentance renew? Do we hear these things and then suddenly it's almost like someone threw water at our face and we realize, I need repentance, I need Jesus. That ability to renew the repentance, to renew, to come again, to recognize, I need Jesus, that is a sign of the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Or do you not care? Because that's the opposite. The goal of a sermon like this is not to make us feel condemned, but it is to make us feel that I need to come to Jesus. I need him. And if you feel the weight of your sin and disobedience, then come to Jesus. Find forgiveness, find joy, find peace. The answer to the dilemma that we're reading about, it is not that we must walk in perfection, because as we heard this morning, only Jesus did that. The answer is to come constantly to Jesus. to walk in submission, to walk in faith in Him. Then we go out and fight as the Lord, when He forgives us, He renews our repentance. We go back out in courage and we keep fighting. There's something amazing that happens in the life of the believer. There will come a time that even when we are being chastised by the Lord, and we know that what we're experiencing is the consequence of our sin, our perspective begins to change. It's not like, Lord, why this? We're like, Lord, thank you, because I know through this, I will repent. And this is what the psalmist, in Psalm 119.71, it is good for me that I have been afflicted that I may learn your statute. It is good. It is good. Thank you, Lord. I have learned to kiss the rod of the shepherd, to see that I know that I'm a sinful person, but the Lord does not let me go. And with his kindness, And sometime with his chastisement, does he renew and repent. I thank God for Jesus Christ. But maybe you're thinking, but I have been sinning the same sin over and over again. How can I be sure that God will forgive me? I think it's been a theme verse for this morning. But Christ said, whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. Our confession will say that the Lord has made an oath. Chapter two, verse one, even even in the midst of the judgment against the people of God, the words of the angel of the Lord, I will never break my covenant with you. So if you can hear this sermon. and you can repent, then Christ's forgiveness is yours. But what if I sin again and sin in the same way? Why doesn't God just get tired of me and cast me aside? Because God is not like us. And I don't understand his love, but it is ours if we accept it. There is this wonderful quote, and this is the last quote I'll read. The wisdom must be in him that has the power to command, not in him that has the power to obey. I'll read it again. The wisdom must be in him that has the power to command, not in him, not in me, that has the power to obey. It is the wisdom of God that we will never understand. In his wisdom, God is commanding even the worst of sinners, come. In his wisdom, he commands his wayward children to come to him. The backsliding servant, come. He commands the one who has not been faithful in duty, he commands him, come. He commands the one who has began. He's going down that path of apostasy. He commands them, come. The wisdom is not in the sinner. It's not for us to understand why God, why you still offer me this forgiveness. He is only commanded to obey. He is commanded to come. It is a grace offered freely to the penitent sinner, and it is ours. We repent and believe. It is ours if we listen to the voice of Jesus and come. Let's pray. Lord, we do not understand your mercy and your love, your patience. But we do see our sin. We see how we do not, we have not been faithful to what you have commanded. Why, Lord? Why do we continue in disobedience? Oh, there's so many reasons. but the beauty of your mercy, of your gospel, of the work of Christ, that your grace far supersedes all my mistakes. And I pray that this evening, for all of us, who have fallen short, who have not met, who have not met, who have not done what you have asked that you renew our repentance. We, that we feel it, that we just need Jesus. How we need him to come and forgive us. It would come to you. Give us the strength for the fight still continue. And we will win because you have. I thank the Lord, Jesus Christ. In his name I pray. Amen.