The Overcoming Church - Putting Sin to Death

So I was coming here earlier this morning to get set up for church. I had walked outside as the sun was up, starting to get nice and warm. And I happened to run into some friends outside on the street. And I was talking about preaching and preaching this morning. This friend asked me what I was preaching on. I told them I was preaching on killing sin. And the look on their face was a mixture of shock and a slight appallment that happens. I'm not sure if appallment is a word, but... Tommy, is that a word? Appallment? No. Okay, so it's... they were very appalled.

And then I quoted this passage, Colossians 3, "Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you? Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked when you were living in them." In 1 John, as we've been preaching through the book of 1 John on Wednesday nights, I talked about overcoming. A believer who overcomes. And we spoke Wednesday about overcoming the world. And everything in the world, as we've been learning, is the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.

And I started to think about what it would mean as a group of people overcoming sin. I mean, if we had a group of people who took Colossians 3 seriously, what would it look like? I think the look of bewilderment on my friend this morning might speak to something of this. Because that's a violent imagery putting to death sin. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness. We could think of these as five colossal kings in Colossians. Five evil kings in Colossians. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires. If you've taken notes, you can go ahead and write that down. Five colossal kings.

In fact, I think if you have a church of people who take this passage seriously and kill sin in their lives, it might be something of a different type of violence. You know, Jesus used something of violent imagery in Matthew 5.29. He said, "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out. Throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members, that your whole body be thrown into hell." We challenge young people with Matthew 5.29. Young people, you may have to cut out some relationships. Friends at school are talking about things you don't need to hear. You might have to cut those out.

Grown-ups, you might have to cut out your Netflix account. You may not need to have one in the first place. But as believers, the beauty of this is that we have complete and total victory over sin. In fact, Scripture tells us that we are free from the power of sin over us. If you look at the five colossal kings that we spoke of in Colossians, sexual immorality, impurity, passion or anger, right? Anger fits a rage, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. A lost person has no choice but to serve these kings. You in your fallen condition have no choice but to be a slave to the evil desires within you.

I prayed about the unholy triumvirate, the world, the flesh and the devil. See, the devil is pulling the strings of the world. The world is the anti-Christ system. And as a person born in the image of Adam, we have in our flesh the tendency, the desire, to gravitate towards that which is in the world, which is anti-Christ. But when we are born again, we are regenerated by the Spirit of God. Our heart is quickened that we might believe and repent. We begin to trust the finished work of Jesus on the cross. And then we begin to overcome. So the message title, the overcoming church, putting sin to death.

Now I think of a passage that is an object lesson for Colossians 3. We see five evil kings. So if you would turn with me into the book of Joshua. I can't read the entire book of Joshua or the entire 10th chapter. Joshua chapter 10 is a very compelling object lesson of what it looks like when a group of God's people takes in seriously. Now I will read, think of skipping rocks along the surface of a lake. I'm going to read selected passages verses in chapter 10 of Joshua to give you some background, to give you some idea of what's happening here. So let's begin in Joshua chapter 10 verse 1.

As soon as Adonai Zadech, king of Jerusalem, I'll stop right there, Jerusalem was not always the city of David. In fact, it was a very pagan city. And Adonai Zadech was the king and he's kind of the ringleader of these Amorite nations who do not love God. They do not serve God. They do very, very wicked things. So as soon as Adonai Zadech, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had captured A.I. and had devoted it to destruction, doing to A.I. and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel. Now they did so deceptively. That's another story for a different day.

He feared greatly because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than A.I. and all its men were warriors. So Adonai Zadech, king of Jerusalem, sent to Ho-ham, king of Hebron, to Pyram, king of Jarmouth, to Japhai, king of Laxchis, and to Beer, king of Eglon, saying, "Come up to me and help me, and let us strike Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and the people of Israel." Then the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmouth, the king of Laxchis, and the king of Eglon, gathered their forces and went up with all their armies and encamped against Gibeon and made war against it.

Let's skip to Joshua 10.7. So we see five evil kings in Joshua, five evil kings in Colossians. Now Joshua 10.7. So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of Valor. So five evil kings are rebelling, really, against the purposes of God. And they get together thinking that if we muster our army and our forces, our gods, primarily Baal, Astaroth, and, excuse me, it will come to me in a minute, but the three gods of the Canaanite people. And they believe that their gods could match pound for pound the god of Israel. We'll see they're sadly mistaken. Let's read Joshua 10.10.

"And the Lord threw them into a panic before Israel, who struck them with a great blow, and Gibeon chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-Hiran, and struck them as far as Azakai and Makita. And as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the ascent of Beth-Hiran, the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them, as far as Azakai. And they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword." And if you look in Joshua 10.13, "And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.

They were running out of daylight, so the Lord literally moved upon Joshua's heart to pray, and he stops the sun. So Israel could have the ability to wipe out this nation." And let's read verse 15. "So Joshua returned, and all Israel with him to camp at Gilgal. These five kings fled and hid themselves in the cave at Makita. And it was told to Joshua that the five kings had been found, hidden in the cave of Makita. And Joshua said, 'Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave, and set men by it to guard them. They then pursue the enemy.'" And let's fast forward to verse 25. So he actually brings these five evil kings out.

He lays them on the ground. This is after they have chased the enemy. They have completely wiped out the enemy army. They take these five kings. Joshua takes all the hosts of Israel, all the leaders, and he actually tells the leaders of Israel to put their foot on the necks of these evil kings. Let's read verse 24. "And when they brought out those kings out of Joshua, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with them, 'Come near, put your feet on the neck of these kings.' Then they came near and put their feet on their necks. And Joshua said to them, 'Do not be afraid or dismayed.

Be strong and courageous, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.'" Verse 26. And afterward, Joshua struck them and put them to death and hanged them on five trees. And they hung on the trees until evening. Verse 27. "But at the time of the going down of the sun, Joshua commanded that they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves. And they set large stones against the mouth of the cave, which remained to this very day." So thanks for your patience. Lots of text and lots of scripture this morning.

But I want us to see five truths the overcoming church must remember. Now we're in a different age. We're in a different church age, a different disposition, a different era. So God is not calling us as a church to execute in military fashion those pagan countries. And although this violent imagery is kind of jarring and shocking to us, I think that there are some truths that we need to see. So let's start by looking at the first truth the overcoming church must remember. We must remember God's will. Colossians 3 5 through 7. We must remember God's will. Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you?

Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. So during 1 John and in our Bible study in Colossians several years ago, we learned about positional sanctification or imputed holiness. And what this means is when Jesus died on the cross, God's anger towards sin was poured out in undiluted fashion on Jesus. Jesus felt the eternity of all of God's wrath upon him. And because he was God in the flesh, he was the perfect sacrifice. So when you repented of your sin and you were born again, your righteousness, the righteousness of Christ was imputed to you.

What that means is that sin was utterly and totally defeated positionally. So when we see positional holiness, that means when God looks at you, if you're born again, he sees Christ. And it is evident that we have victory positionally when we start to see victory practically. So we just don't have positional sanctification, but we have progressive sanctification, not just imputed holiness, but imparted holiness. I know these are some big words, but I want you to think about this. What is imparted holiness? That means you as a believer ought to be more like Jesus now than you were when you first say, when you were first born again.

See, when we're born again, the hard work really begins. See, sin is perfectly defeated in heaven, but it must be destroyed in the working out of our life. You take the five colossal kings in Colossians, you see things like pride and passion. That word passion speaks to our temper and our anger. Pride, this idea of being loved by people. We've been going through in first John that everything in the world, the stuff the world wants, the pleasure the world seeks, and the praise the world kills for. That is a colossal king. And for us to put this to death in our lives, we must have a sensitivity to the spirit. It is an arduous work.

It's an all-consuming work. It's actually a collective work. We need the church for us to help us kill sin. So progressive sanctification or the killing of sin in our life. We as a church, as we get serious about putting sin to death in our life, we will need to remember not just that this is God's will, but we will need to remember God's word. We need God's word, secondly, to destroy sin. Now let me clarify. When I say we need the word of God, we need the eternal word of God, which is Jesus. Now this is going to sound like a gross oversimplification, but you can't kill sin without Jesus. Not just the belief that Jesus died on the cross.

You need a relationship with Christ. Meaning, as you pray and read the Bible, the spirit speaks to your life. Sometimes the Lord will convict you of the slightest sins of thought and emotion. And we need to be sensitive to these. Let's look at Hebrews 12 too. Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. So we need the eternal word of God. We need Jesus to kill sin. But we also need the spirit of Jesus to destroy sin. Romans 8 13, if you live according to the flesh, you will die.

What that means is if you don't put to death the sin in you, you will die. Romans 8 13, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. We need the eternal word and we need the written word. You need the New Testament where we see books like Colossians, where you see the five colossal kings, immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness. But we also see the Old Testament. See, in the Old Testament we see types and shadows of Christ. I remember in high school I was known throughout my high school as a Christian. I started a Christian Bible study, although I was not born again.

I had an outward form of righteousness, but I did not know the Lord. And I can remember being on student council when we were painting a sign for homecoming. And I remember having a discussion about the Bible and one of my classmates talked about Jesus dying on the cross, very loving. But the God of the Old Testament was wrathful and he calls Joshua to go through these cities and to totally wipe out entire populations. Seemed to be a very unloving God. But we need to see that Joshua is as Christ in the Old Testament. See, Joshua is a picture of Christ because he's a type and shadow of Jesus.

And when you see Joshua, you see Joshua doing in part what Jesus does completely. See, Joshua was about God's justice. God was wiping out those nations. He was using his chosen people. So if we are going to kill sin in our life, we have to remember it's God's will. We need God's word and we have to remember God's wrath. If God is a loving God, he must love truth. If he is a good God, he must punish wrongdoing. And although these five Amorite kings are held up in a cave, they're enclosed with stones, we must see that this is actually the grace of God. Because if you go back in Genesis 1513, this is actually 500 years before this event.

We have the Abrahamic covenant. Jesus, excuse me, God, the father is talking to Abraham, Genesis 1513. Listen to what he says. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. Now, did you see that 450 years before the passage that we read this morning, God prophesied. He predicted to Abram and he said, your descendants are going to be more numerous than the stars. There's an estimate of two to four million people in Israel at this point. They have crossed over the Jordan.

They've already spent 40 years in the wilderness and the desert. They've crossed over the Jordan. They defeated Jericho. They defeated A.I. They are now making their way into the promised land and these five Amorite kings get together and attack. And God has actually waited until their sin was grotesque enough that he could justify wiping them out. So when my friend in high school and student council saw this passage and passage like it, they think God is so big and bad and mean for wiping out entire nations. No, God was gracious. He gave them time. He gave them space.

And he removed his people from the area, sent them to Egypt where they were afflicted, where they were imprisoned, where they were enslaved. And all the while, the sin of the Amorites and the Canaanites was growing. It was growing. It was growing. They became more deserving and more deserving. And when the judgment was at their door, they fought back. Look at Joshua 24 eight. We fast forward to the end of Joshua. This is the Lord talking to Joshua. And I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived on the other side of the Jordan. They fought with you. I gave them into your hand and you took possession of their land. I destroyed them.

Later on in the book of first Kings after David, David's descendants, the kings of Israel became very wicked. The nation split the northern kingdom. King Ahab was extremely wicked. First Kings 21 26 says of Ahab, he acted very abominably and going after idols as the Amorites had gone, whom the Lord cast out before the people of Israel. Christian, if we come back to this day, Romans six, 14 says, sin will not have dominion over you. The Lord left the Amorites alone in their sin. He let their sin grow. They served Molech. Just a third God. I couldn't remember earlier. Molech worship involved burning of their own children.

They would sacrifice their children. Astoroth involved very grotesque sexual practices. Bail worship was scattered through all throughout the land. And the Lord let them alone in this idolatry for 450 years. Had he punished them earlier, their sin had not reached its full measure. And we have to remember that God is angry at the wicked every day and God will not allow sin to have dominion over you. If you are born again, he will not allow the five kings of Colossians to run rough shot in your life. If you're born again and saved, he won't let pride ruin you. You'll be convicted and you will be. You will put it to death.

Do you realize that this is a miraculous wrath? The Lord has. The Lord does things that are not possible in nature in order to defeat their sin. Look at this in Joshua 10 11. And as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the ascent of Beth Haran, the Lord threw down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Azika. And they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword. The Lord sent Joshua on a path of complete obedience. The Amorites were to be completely destroyed. And God was so intent on judging them that he stopped the sun in the sky.

You know, the passage in Joshua 10 11 was actually used by the state church in contention with Galileo. Galileo said that the earth was a sphere and the state church at the time said it was flat. And they took this verse and they said, you know, if if the world was indeed a sphere and rounds, the Lord could never stop the sun. So in a sense, Galileo was right and the church was wrong. Yes, we revolve around the sun. We are a sphere and somehow God stopped it. We don't have to understand the science. And there's all kinds of theologians and scholars who do theological backbends to try to explain this miracle away.

Because, you know, the sun, the speed of light, this actually would have had to happen light years ago to time the sun standing still to give them greater daylight. You know, we do all sorts of things to try to explain away the parts of the Bible that we don't like. The truth of the matter is the Lord is angry with sin. Be warned today that if you're not on God's side, you're fighting with him. If you're putting up a fight warring with God against the sin in your life, it will not be a pleasant end. As a church together, if we are going to kill sin, we must remember this is God's will. We must remember God's word.

We must remember God's wrath. But also we must remember God's waiting. Joshua 10 19 through 20. You know, the process of killing sin in our life is just that it's a process. You may have an issue with pride that won't be driven out in a day. You may have a sin that seems so colossal. It's in you. You may need you may sense a need of validation. And if you don't feel as though you're validated by people the way you need to, that you find yourself lashing out in anger, that must be put to death. But it may not be put to death right away. Let's look at God's waiting. Josh Joshua 10 19 through 20. But do not stay yourselves.

Put pursue your enemies. Attack their rear guard. Do not let them enter their cities. For the Lord your God has given them into your hand. When Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished striking them with a great blow until they were wiped out, the remnant that remained had entered into fortified cities. So here, Joshua seals the enemy kings into their stone tomb. He gives his soldiers instructions. This is an active waiting. You know, we have to do some work in our sanctification. We can't just think I'm saved. I'm forgiven. I'm just going to let this temper. I'm just going to, you know, this is the way God may be.

I remember going to the World War II Museum. And I remember going into the part of the museum dedicated to the Pacific theater. And there there was a video of propaganda film. There's a footage of Japanese women who were instructed to take gardening shovels, hoes. And they were actually trained to fight U.S. soldiers. They were, the entire population was instructed to fight to their death. If the U.S. forces got into the cities of Japan, the entire population was instructed through propaganda film to fight back with anything they could. Because U.S. was convinced they would not surrender, that led to the atomic bombs.

And that got me to think that sin does not go easily. When we start to take issue with the sin in our life, when we start to kill sin, it always puts up a fight. But we must see that just as the kings were held up in the cave, our sin is marked for the day of destruction. Sin is condemned in your life. The scripture tells us that these death row kings waited for judgment. Sin waits to be judged in your life. 1 Corinthians 15, 25. "For he must reign until he has put his enemies under his feet." Psalms 1, 10, 1.

The Lord says to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool." What this means is that Jesus will reign in victory over all rebels, even in the born-again saints who find themselves struggling with the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Matthew Henry speaks of this. He says, "The cave that was to be their hiding place had become their prison. It would soon become their grave." Do you ever get discouraged when you're fighting sin and you don't seem to be very victorious? It seems like the kings that dominate over your life, they haven't been dispatched yet. They're still alive.

Maybe they're hiding off. Maybe you hide away resentment when you go to church. Maybe you hide behind lustful thoughts. You push them away in a cave somewhere and you come to church and you put on a really happy face. We must notice the symbolism here. When Joshua takes the company of Israel and takes these sinful kings, put them on the ground, their armies have been wiped out. They literally have no power at all. The kings hid away perhaps in the hailstorm and let their soldiers be chased down and killed, running for the fortified cities. They were kings without an army.

Once you realize that anything you might struggle with in terms of a sin, if you're born again, it's got no power in your life. If you are born again Christian, it has no power in your life. We have loved ones who are in rehab for alcohol and drugs. We have loved ones who are rehab for sexual addictions and pornography. We have people that we know that are hiding these sins away. All the while we must realize that they are defeated foes.

If the Holy Spirit has regenerated you and given you faith to believe in Christ and you are born again, then it is as if Jesus has taken you and he has told you to look at the enemy king and to put your foot on the neck of this sin in your life. Believer, is there any evil king that is being allowed to live in your life? Do you know that this cave that the kings held in, it was their hiding place. It became a prison and eventually became a tomb. After they were executed, they were hung and placed there. The stones at the cave served as a monument.

Do you know that as you get victory over the sin in your life, you can go back to the cave, you can go back to the places where those sins are buried. You see, you don't struggle with that attitude anymore. You don't struggle with lust anymore. You don't struggle with pride anymore because it's buried, it's been in the grave, the stone is at the mouth of the cave and you've got victory over it. Isn't God big enough to defeat the sin in your life? Look at Psalms 76-12. "He who cuts off the spirit of princes, who is to be feared by the kings of the earth." Psalm 76-12. We're taking the New Testament, Romans 16-20.

"The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." You see that imagery? Because Jesus was so victorious on the cross, today Jesus is calling you to look at the five colossal kings of Colossians and to put your foot on their neck and realize that they are defeated. You have power and victory over them in the name of Christ. What about Psalms 18-40? "You made my enemies turn their backs to me, and all those who hated me I destroyed." Christian, the battle belongs to the Lord. We need to remember this is God's will. We must see that God's word is sufficient and remember as a church.

We together need to submit to the God's word through preaching. We need to submit to God's word when a loved one, a Christian, brings a passage to us and says, "I'm concerned about something in your life." We need to welcome those conversations. We must remember God's wrath. If we do not kill sin, if we do not put to death the sin that is within us, then God is angry at this. I remember the first time I heard a pastor say this, that God cannot forgive sin. It's kind of jarring. What he meant was this. All sin has got to be punished. And either the sin is punished by Christ or the sin will be punished in your life. We must see God's wrath.

There's God's waiting. This is a process. But finally, I want us to see God's winning. God is winning. We must remember that God is winning. Let's look at verse 22, Joshua 10. "Then Joshua said, 'Open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out to me from the cave.' And they did so. And they brought those five kings out to him from the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmouth, the king of Laxchis, the king of Eglon.

And when they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war, 'Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings.' Then they came near, put their feet on the necks. And Joshua said to them, 'Do not be afraid or dismayed. Be strong and courageous. For thus the Lord will do to your enemies against whom you fight.' And afterwards Joshua struck them and put them to death and hanged them on five trees. And they hung on the trees till evening. But at the time of going down the sun, Joshua commanded.

They took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves. And they set large stones against the mouth of the cave, which remained to this day." Do you know sin has a judge. For these kings, this was the appointed day. It was 500 years in the making. Sin has a judge, but we have a victor. I would be remiss if I did not point out the symbolism here. This is the ultimate victory. Christian, Jesus became a cursed for you.

Scripture says in Galatians 3, 13, "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." Do you realize that just as these evil kings were representative of sin, Jesus was hung on a tree and he became sin for you. Galatians tells us that Jesus became cursed for you. And just like these evil kings who deserved the punishment they received, Jesus had no sin. But yet he became a cursed. He took your sin and your shame and he made a spectacle of sin. And just like these kings, Jesus was sealed in a tomb. A stone was rolled and it sealed him in. But unlike these kings, our king rose again. The stone rolled away.

And just as he carried your sin into that cave, he left it there. Our victorious king will not allow sin to have dominion over you. Sinner, if you're fighting against the Lord today, against the will of Christ, if you bow your neck and continue on in sin, then your fate will be of these kings. You will bear your own punishment. But if you repent and if you lay your sins upon Christ by his grace, you will receive a new king and your king Jesus will be victorious over sin. Let's conclude where we began in Colossians. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness. These five kings have been totally defeated.

You can say with confidence that they do not rule you anymore. Look at verse six. On account of these wrath, the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked when you were living in them. See, you could say before I was saved. These five kings that are buried in that tomb right there ruled me. Praise the Lord. Jesus is a victorious king. We're going to pray over this message. We're going to worship the Lord. I want to ask you to do business with the Lord. If you see patterns of sin in your life that have been unbroken. I want to ask you to examine yourself to see that you're in the faith. See that you are not fighting against Jesus.

See that you are not fighting against him in actually resisting his kingship in your life. But Jared, would you pray for us?