Gospel Bible Baptist Church

James 1:21

Introduction

Can a cold-blooded murderer and a persecutor really change? Can a liar or a deceiver change his ways and become a Mister Nice Guy? Sometimes it’s hard to believe such amazing testimonies, yet we cannot deny that indeed such conversion is true. What really happened? We live in a world of sin. Lies and deception is rampant in all aspect of life, politics, business, news, music industry, and worst of all in religion. How can we make things right? What does the Word of God tell us?

I. Lay apart all filthiness –The words lay apart means “to put off or strip away.” The idea is of stripping away or taking off dirty clothes. Literally it means putting away all things that make us morally dirty or unclean. We are all sinners in the eyes of God (Rom. 3:23). Sin makes us filthy. We must put away the sins mentioned in the Bible.
A. Ex. 20:3-17 The Ten Commandments mentions nine sins which includes, idolatry, cursing, Sabbath breaking (for Jews only), disrespect to parents, murder, adultery, stealing, lying, and covetousness. Sound familiar? Take a look at the news, the Uvalde mass murderer (2 teachers and 19 children killed), suicide bombers, and life of Hollywood superstars. (their immorality). Lawmakers and advocates of abortion. NZ has one of the worst abortion law in the world.
B. Rom. 1:29-31 – Romans 1:29-31 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:. With the conspiracy theories, Illuminatis, 9/11 Twin Tower incident, etc., people are asking who is really telling the truth.
C. Some can lists over fifty sins with many combination of each of the above mentioned sins. The thing is it would become worse in the last days and I honestly think we are living in the last days. (2 Tim. 3:1-5). Just like dirty clothes we must remove them.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

II. Superfluity of naughtiness – Superfluity is a strong phrase that carries the idea of “overflow, abundance or excess.” The word naughtiness means “wickedness, moral defilement or impurity.” To sum it up it means abundance of wickedness. Wickedness refers to evil practices. Since filthiness and over wickedness are both loathsome and disgusting to God, I would rather list what would happen to the wicked as it is written in the Scriptures.
A. Condemnation. Prov. 12:2 A good man obtaineth favour of the LORD: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn.
B. Punishment. Isa. 13:11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
C. Death. Ps. 37:35-36 I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.
D. Hell. Ps. 9:17, Ps. 55:15 (Hitler and Stalin are there and all the wicked men).
Ps. 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
Ps. 55:15 Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.
Rev. 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev. 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
E. Having these facts about the need of putting away or removing sin because of its sure and scary punishments, we now turn our attention to the very important advice from the Word of God.

III. How to deal with sins
A. The principle of laying aside is the first half of conquering sin; the other half is applying the principles of the Word to our experience.
B. Rom. 13:12 says that we are to cast off sin as a definite act. Rom. 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
C. Paul presents the tandem of both putting off sin and putting on the “new man” in Eph. 4 and Col. 3.
Eph. 4:22-24 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Col. 3:8-10 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
D. Any sin can break our fellowship with God.
E. Anything that separates our soul from the Saviour will disrupt our walk with God. Walking with the world and walking with God are incompatible. They cannot coexist. That is why a Christian must deal with all his sin if he wants to walk with God.

Illustration 1/Application: Why Would Christians Choose to Sin?
Why would Christians choose to sin rather than choose what they know God wants them to do? Four answers are commonly given today.

1. Some would point to Romans 8:16 and explain that Christians who wilfully sin have forgotten their true identity as “children of God.” While it is true that Christians can forget who they are and sin as a result, Christians can also be well aware of who they are and sin anyway.
2. Some say Christians choose to sin because they have lost sight of what God has done for them. 2 Peter 1:9 indicates that Christians can be “blind or short-sighted, having forgotten [their] purged from [their] former sins.”
3. Some wisely state that Christians consciously choose to sin because they have forgotten that God will severely discipline disobedient believers. (For a moment of pleasure, a lifetime of regret)
4. Some have said that Christians who consciously sin have lost their focus on the future. These Christians have forgotten that God will reward in heaven only those who have lived faithfully for Him here on earth (1 Cor 9:24). Christians who fail to keep eternity in mind often sin in the here and now. Why Christians Sin, J. Kirk Johnston, Discovery House, 1992, p. 31
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IV. Receive with meekness the engrafted word – the Word of God must be received with humbleness. Your attitude here is of utmost importance.
A. Receptivity involves readiness and attentiveness. Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
B. Receive God’s Word with gladness. Acts 2:41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
C. Engrafted (Implanted) word here means the Word of God that has been preached to you, sown in your hearts by Preachers and Bible Teachers. Maybe you heard it from the radio, watched it on TV, have seen it in the internet, read it from Our Daily Bread or Bible tracts given to you.

V. Which is able to save your soul – How can the Word of God save our soul?
A. By pointing us that the way of salvation is only through Jesus Christ.

1. Jesus is the Lamb of God. Jn. 1:29
2. He is the way the truth and the life. Jn. 14:6
3. Believing and Receiving Christ. Acts 16:31, 1 Jn. 5:13, Jn. 1:12
4. He is the author (cause) of eternal salvation. Heb. 5:9
5. No salvation in any other. Acts 4:12
   B. Jesus Christ is the central theme of the Bible. Bible history is His story. He died on the cross for you and me.
   C. The final test of salvation is fruit. This means a changed life, Christian character and conduct, and ministry to others in the glory of God. This fruit might be winning souls to Christ (Rom. 1:16), growing in holy living (Rom. 6:22), sharing our material possessions (Rom. 15:28), spiritual character (Gal. 5:22-23), good works (Col. 1:10), and even praising the Lord (Heb. 13:15). Religious works may be manufactured, but they do not have life in them, nor do they bring glory to God. Real fruit has in it the seed for more fruit, so that the harvest continues to grow fruit, more fruit, much fruit (John 15:1-5).

VI. Conclusion:
When Saul of Tarsus met Christ on his way to Damascus to persecute and imprison Christians, he changed his mind and became the apostle to the Gentiles. When Zacchaeus the tax collector met Christ, he was never the same again. There are countless people who had turned their back from sin, came to Christ and became a new man. (2 Cor. 5:17). Will you put away your sins now and come to Christ? If you haven’t received Him as your Lord and Saviour, now is the time (2 Cor. 6:2). Open your heart and invite Him to come. Eternal life full of peace and joy beyond what you can imagine awaits you if you receive Him as your personal saviour.