The Memory That Shuns Sin, Part 1

Since sin is the evil of all evils, yes indeed the only evil, and since we hate it and long to be free from it, how can we avoid it? What is required of us if we are to stay away from sin? It is the major effort of the life of every believer to avoid sinning. Welcome to Grace To You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. You may recall some of the great battle cries from history, like remember the Alamo and remember Pearl Harbor. But where your battles with sin are concerned, there's another motto to keep in mind.

Remember the consequences. John MacArthur explains why that's crucial, as he helps you take hold of the tools Scripture makes available for breaking sin's grip. That's the title of the study he begins today on Grace To You. John, from the title of this series, Breaking Sin's Grip, you almost seem to be implying that sin is an active force, that it has a powerful hold on our lives, and we need to fight against it somehow. Is that accurate?

Absolutely accurate. Yeah, the Apostle Paul, who would be the model Christian of the New Testament, said, I don't do what I want to do, I do what I don't want to do, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death? He was saying it's like having a corpse attached to you. Sin clings to you. And John, the writer, in his epistle said, if we say we have no sin, we make God a liar. We are not delivered from our sins in this life. We are waiting for the redemption of our bodies, and then we're free from sin. So we all struggle with sin.

To deny that is folly. And I don't care whether you're a monk in a monastery thinking that somehow you can isolate yourself from the world and therefore you can defeat sin. Sin will find you wherever you are because it's not around you, it's in you.

You know, Jesus said it so simply, he said it's not what goes into the man that defiles the man, it's what comes out of the man. For out of the heart come all the evil things. So you take your evil heart wherever you are, there is no location, there's no lifestyle that's going to free you from the residual sin in your heart, even as a believer.

And that means if you're honest, you're fighting the battle. And breaking sin's grip should be your number one priority as a believer. Now this is going to be a great series based on 1 Peter 4, 1-6, kind of like basic training for your mind, training yourself how to avoid and conquer temptation. We'll look at five reasons to hate your sin, three perspectives to help you avoid sinning. This study is for believers who want to minimize the effects of sin and enjoy victory, and it's vital for every believer. In that victory comes our joy and even our usefulness to the Lord. So we're going to end the week by looking at an area of widespread failure for so many people, sins of the mind, and that's where sin begins.

Putting off sins of the mind means clearing out your head of those things that defile. The next five broadcasts are going to help you find victory over sin, experience joy and blessing from the Lord. Stay with us all week. Yes, do. In this study, John will show you how to use the resources God has given you in the battle against sin.

You don't want to miss a day. With that, here again is John MacArthur to launch his series, Breaking Sin's Grip. Let's open our Bibles to 1 Peter, chapter 4. But to begin with, let me read you the first six verses of 1 Peter, chapter 4. Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For the time already passed is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousals, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.

And, in all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excess of dissipation, and they malign you. But they shall give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the Spirit according to the will of God. In his rich book called The Plague of Plagues, written in 1669, a godly man by the name of Ralph Venning wrote this paragraph about sin.

Listen to it. In general, sin is the worst of evils, the evil of evil, and indeed the only evil. Nothing is so evil as sin, nothing is evil but sin. As the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us, so neither the sufferings of this life nor of that to come are worthy to be compared as evil with the evil of sin. No evil is displeasing to God or destructive to man but the evil of sin. Sin is worse than affliction, than death, than the devil, than hell. Affliction is not so afflictive, death is not so deadly, the devil is not so devilish, hell is not so hellish as sin is. This will help to fill up the charge against its sinfulness, especially as it is contrary to and against the good of man.

He says, The four evils I have just named are truly terrible, and from all of them everyone is ready to say, Good Lord, deliver us. Yet none of these, nor all of them together, are as bad as sin. Therefore our prayers should be more to be delivered from sin, and if God hear no prayer else, yet as to this we should say, We beseech thee to hear us, Good Lord. In a unique way, with a strange but interesting choice of words, does Ralph Vening help us to understand the evil of sin.

It is worse than affliction, it is worse than death, it is worse than the devil, it is worse than hell. Now it is true that a believer hates sin. It is true that a believer desires to flee from sin. It is true that a believer longs to be freed from sin. All of us at some point or another in our lives, in one way or another, in some words or another, have cried out, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

We have all cried against our own wretchedness. We have all longed at some point in time to be delivered from the bondage of sin. Now the question comes, since sin is the evil of all evils, yes indeed the only evil, and since we hate it and long to be free from it, how can we avoid it? What is required of us if we are to stay away from sin? Well obviously it is the major effort of our life.

Would you not agree to that? It is the major effort of the life of every believer to avoid sinning. Now in order to avoid sinning we must have three perspectives. In a sense we have to live in three tenses, future, present, and past. Some would say to us, in order to avoid sin you have to have a future look.

What do we mean by that? You've got to be watching for that temptation which hasn't arrived yet. But you've got to be ready so you're not caught unawares. You have to look into the future.

You need to do what the disciples failed to do, and Jesus said to them, Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. We have to be on the alert. We have to be watchful, careful, always looking ahead, anticipating what might come, walking circumspectly, walking wisely in light of the danger ahead.

We also have to have a present look. Not only are we looking ahead anticipating what might come, but we are looking at the present tense at what is surrounding us so that we are not duped unwittingly into sin. Paul reminds us in Romans 12, 9, he says, Hate what is evil, cling to what is good.

That's present tense. Whatever you see that is evil, hate it. Whatever you see is good, cling to it. Paul said, Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Paul said in Romans 13, 14, Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. So we are constantly looking to the future, anticipating what might come of sin. We are also very carefully assessing the present so that we may shun sin. But there is the need as well to look to the past. One of the most important faculties for dealing with the evil of all evils, indeed the only evil, is a good memory.

A good memory. And that is really what's in Peter's words here. He is calling on us to remember some things that will enable us to shun sin. The key to the passage is in verse 2, where Peter says that we are to live the rest of the time that we're in this flesh, no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. We are to live the rest of our lives shunning sin and living out the will of God. Now, in order to do that, yes, we must look ahead and anticipate watchfully that which might come, and yes, we must apprise ourselves of the present tense, but Peter's main point is we must look back.

We must have a good memory. Now, remember where we are before we dig into this particular text. This whole epistle is written to people who were suffering, and it has reached a certain climax, actually, at the end of chapter 3, and the climax there was that Peter was saying, in all of your suffering, remember this, suffering can be triumphant. You can be a victor even in suffering, and the model for that is whom?

Christ. And he shows us in chapter 3, verses 18 through 22, how Christ, in the midst of unjust suffering, triumphed. In fact, he gained his greatest victory at the time of his greatest suffering. When Jesus was being unjustly killed on the cross, when he was being unfairly treated, when he was being punished, the result of hatred, the result of rejection, at the very time when he was suffering unjust treatment, dying the just for the unjust, he was triumphing over sin, he was triumphing over the demon forces of hell, he was triumphing over the judgment of God, and he was gaining for himself the ultimate supremacy, as it says in verse 22, of being seated at the right hand of God. So in the moment of his death, he triumphed over sin, he triumphed not only over sin, but he triumphed over the demon forces of hell, he triumphed over the judgment of God, which he endured and came out victorious, and he triumphed over all created beings. And it was all in his greatest suffering that he gained his greatest triumph. Peter's point is that when you view your suffering, remember it may be the moment of your greatest triumph.

So it was with the suffering of Christ, and so it may be with you as well. Now, with that in mind, let's look at verse 1. Therefore, which obviously ties us into what he has just said in chapter 3, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose. That's really the summation of what he has just said.

That's why the therefore is there. You have seen Christ suffer in the flesh, and his suffering was triumphant. So, arm yourselves with that same purpose.

What purpose? To be willing to suffer in the flesh, knowing it produces potentially the greatest triumph. That is a marvelous statement, and that is the application of all that has gone before. It is better to suffer for Christ than to suffer with the world. It is better because in our suffering for righteousness' sake, when we suffer for doing what is right, when we suffer unjustly, when we are persecuted and treated unfairly and unkindly, it is that very suffering which can produce our greatest spiritual triumph.

So, we are to arm ourselves with that same purpose. Now, let me look more specifically at this statement so that you'll understand it, because the verse itself can appear at the outset to be somewhat difficult. Please note that first statement, since Christ has suffered in the flesh. That simply means Christ has died.

That's what it's talking about. It's talking about his death. Back in verse 18, it says Christ died at the beginning of the verse. At the end of the verse, it says that he was put to death in the flesh. Being put to death in the flesh, in verse 18, suffering in the flesh, here in verse 1, both refer to the same thing. They refer to his death.

That's what Peter's been talking about. Since Christ died, implied, and had such great triumph in his death, then arm yourselves also with the same purpose. Now, what do we mean here by this arm yourselves? It is a military term, properly translated. It refers to a soldier putting on weapons to fight.

And in Ephesians 6, 11, a form of this word is translated armor, or the whole armor of God. Put on your armor. Arm yourselves. Take up your weapons.

Why? For a battle. Your life is going to be a battle, and you need to be armed with this ultimate weapon.

What is it? Arm yourselves also with the same enoia, in the Greek. What does that mean? Same mind, same idea, same principle, same thought. Well, what do you mean by that? Listen very carefully. Arm yourself with the same realization, the same idea, and the same principle that was manifest in the suffering of Christ.

What is that? The principle that even in death, I can what? Triumph. That's the idea. Arm yourself with that great thought. In other words, be willing, listen carefully, be willing to die. Arm yourself with that great thought. That's exactly what I believe Peter is saying here.

It's a very simple statement. Christ died, and you need to arm yourself with that same idea, that you too are willing to die because you understand that in dying there is triumph. Now, you have an alternative. If you're persecuted and they threaten your life, you can just recant. You can just deny Christ. You can just bail out.

But that's not an option, is it? So what he is saying here is that, look, just what Jesus said in John 16 is going to come to pass in many of your lives. Some of you are going to be persecuted. Some of you are going to be killed. Some of you are going to be martyrs. Arm yourself with that idea, that as Christ was willing to die because he knew in it there was triumph, you have the same thought. Be willing to die for righteousness' sake because you know it can be triumphant. Now, let me say it simply. Voluntarily accept the potential of death as a part of the Christian life. Now, is that a new thought to you?

It shouldn't be. In Matthew chapter 10 verse 38 and 39, Jesus said this, take up your what? Cross and follow me. And he said, if any man is not willing to take up his cross, having denied himself, he's not worthy to be my disciple. What does he mean by that? What does he mean take up your cross? What does that mean? That means be willing to die. There's nothing mystical about it. It isn't some spiritual dedication he's talking about.

No. When he said to them, be willing to deny yourself and take up your cross, they knew exactly what he meant because a cross is where people got executed. He was saying, be willing to die for me.

Be willing to give your life. And for many, many Christians, that has been a reality. Paul said, frankly, 1 Corinthians 15, 31, I die every day. What do you mean by that?

I'm living on the edge. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, as he talked about the character of his own ministry, he said, we're persecuted. We're struck down. We're always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus. We are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake.

Death works in us. In other words, he was always on the edge of death and one day he died for Christ, didn't he? But he was ready for that. Remember when he wrote his last letter? He said, I'm ready to be offered. You see, he had armed himself with the same idea. He had looked at the death of Christ and seen Christ triumph in it and so he armed himself with the same idea that I am willing to die for Christ.

And Peter here, like Paul, has the same thing in mind. You will find, dear friends, that that is the ultimate weapon. That is the ultimate weapon. You say, what do you mean that's the ultimate weapon? Look, if the worst they can do to you is kill you, and from your viewpoint the best that can happen to you is to die, then you have ultimately thwarted them.

That is the greatest weapon you possess. You see, that is why so many martyrs throughout the history of the church have been willing to die, because they armed themselves with that same idea that there is great triumph in death. Jesus died and triumphed over sin. And if I die, look at it in verse 1. Because he who has suffered in the flesh, what does that phrase mean? To die has ceased from sin.

Did you get that? Is death so bad? You know what happens when you die?

You know what happens? You don't sin anymore. That's good, because you hate sin. And you would like to be delivered from sin. And you would like to be godly and virtuous and pure and holy and spotless. And you see, if I am armed with the goal of being delivered from sin, and that goal is only achieved through my death, the ultimate that anything anyone can do to me is kill me, they can only bring about that which is most precious to me.

So I thwart them. So he's telling these persecuted Christians to look for the triumph in death. The worst that the hostile, persecuting world can do is kill the believer. And if the believer is willing to die, then that's no threat. You read through Fox's Book of Martyrs, or you read the story of John and Betty Stamm, or you read the story of the missionaries in Ecuador, or even more contemporary missionaries who were really killed for the cause of Christ, or people in communist lands or pagan lands whose lives were taken because of their faith in Christ.

And you ask yourself, how is it that they could endure that? And the answer is, because they view death as triumph, they have armed themselves with that idea because they know that in death they cease from sin, then death has about it a certain sweetness, does it not? The one who dies has ceased from sin.

It's a perfect tense verb, and it emphasizes a state or condition. You enter into a condition, a permanent, eternal state free from sin. Is that bad? Not if that's the goal of my life. What am I trying to do through my whole Christian life?

What am I trying to eliminate in my life? Sin. In one fell swoop, it's gone. So if I have that idea in my mind, hey, kill me, and I'm going to be where I'm trying to get, free from sin, then all the fear is gone. All the threatening is gone out of persecution. When a believer dies, he enters a permanent condition free from sin. Christ is the model of that. This was true of Christ, by the way. You say, now, wait a minute, he wasn't a sinner. That's right, he never sinned. He was without sin, but he came, listen carefully, into a world, and it says in Romans 8, 3, in the likeness of sinful flesh. And he came not only in the likeness of sinful flesh, but for sin.

And then he subjected himself to evil men doing wicked things to him. So he felt the brunt of sin, didn't he? Lord, when we see what sin did to him, when we see what it does to Christians, to us, may we hate it enough to arm ourselves with the same idea that we're willing to die, because to die is to be delivered from sin forever. Oh, unimaginable bliss and joy. Father, we thank you for the grace that would even grant such a gift to us, as to be forever free from sin. To think of the alternative is to think of an eternal hell, which is the eternal presence of sin and only sin.

Oh, what an unthinkable, horrible thought. Thank you for the grace that has granted us the promise of an eternity where sin has forever ceased. What grace. We thank you in the name of our Lord.

Amen. Though it's painful to think that we caused our Lord's agony, remembering what Christ went through is a primary way you can overcome sin. As John MacArthur explained in his message today on Grace to You, the title of his study, Breaking Sin's Grip.

Now, John has more practical strategies for defeating sin in his series, Breaking Sin's Grip. So let me encourage you to pick up the two CD album or download the whole series at our website. It's free to download, and it comes with a lot of material we won't have time to air.

So get in touch today. You can call us toll free at 800-55-GRACE or visit our website, gty.org. The CD album for Breaking Sin's Grip is affordably priced and shipping is free. And again, you can also download both messages along with more than 3,500 of John's sermons for free at gty.org. And friend, thanks for remembering that the support of listeners like you helps keep John's verse-by-verse teaching available, free of charge, to people around the world. That includes this broadcast, heard on more than a thousand stations every day, as well as online resources and the many books and CDs we give away through our mailing list. To support this ministry, mail your tax-deductible donation to Grace to You, Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. You can also donate online at gty.org or when you call, 800-55-GRACE. And a special thanks for your prayers. That's really the greatest way you can minister to us. Now for John MacArthur and the entire Grace to You staff, I'm Phil Johnson, inviting you back tomorrow when John shows you the power that's yours for breaking sin's grip whenever you're tempted to sin. It's another half hour of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Grace to You.