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Jan 13, 2013

Living on the Edge

Passage: 1 John 1:8-9

Preacher: Jess Achenbach

Category: Christian Walk

Keywords: sin, repentance, backsliding, fire, help, purifies, come thou fount

Summary:

It seems that the common belief that people have is that if they live a good life, and they die, when they get to heaven God weighs their good deeds against their bad deeds and if the good outweighs the bad, then they are safe and God accepts them into heaven. But this passage is very clear. In Him there is no darkness at all. God by his very nature will not allow ANY sin into heaven. And since we are all sinners, where is the hope?

Detail:

Backsliding

1. Fire illustration

2. Read I John

3. We are lost without Christ, our Sin keeps us from Heaven -His Sacrifice gives us the opportunity to enter heaven (I JN 1:8-9)

4. Read Anchorage Daily News Story Ø Temptation is all around us and we need to be vigilant. But when we do fall, there is a way to get back up. Ø God has given us tools. i. His word ii. His Spirit iii. His body of believers 1. Our job to ask for help 2. Also our job to ask if others need help Ø Our job is to get to Know Jesus better, have a relationship with him. This will result in a life better lived (I Jn 2:3)

1. Fire Illustration

I clearly remember my 21st birthday June 1st 1996. I was working for the Department of Natural Resources in the Copper River Valley, just north of Valdez, AK. We were called in the early afternoon and notified that we had to be at the office to head to a wild land fire in Big Lake, Alaska, an area not too far outside of Anchorage.

Our crew arrived at the scene of a fire which was around 5 acres and we were told to finish securing a 50 foot perimeter around the fire. The blaze was mostly out and fully contained. While we were taking a dinner break the wind began to blow and a spot outside of the perimeter sparked. The wind had increased and the fire was immediately out of our control.

That night we set up camp near to where the fire had originated and woke up early the next morning with instructions to follow the edge of the fire and create that perimeter in 25 feet. In the late afternoon, the wind changed directions and the area we were working blew up. Because we were working right on the edge of what was burned and what was green, we began to run back away from the fire. It had widened out and was a wall of fire coming towards us. Our crew went north into the black, while the other crew we were working with stayed in the green. They eventually had to deploy their shelters, but again the wind changed directions and they were saved.

We are taught in fire fighting that if you are caught in a blaze, run to the black, because there isn't any fuel there to burn and you are much safer. However, since the day before when the fire went through, it went so fast that there was still a lot of material available to burn. We ran for the creek, but the fire was spotting ahead of us in the green across the river. Amazingly, some local fishermen brought their jet boats down the tiny creek and rescued us, we had to turn the boats around by hand in order to get them pointed back up the river. Our camp and everything in

it was burned to a crisp.

I didn't tell this story just because it is the most exciting birthday I ever had, but because it is a great analogy of how dangerous sin is, and how it can destroy our lives. The passage I am going to read was written by the apostle John later in his life and was directed to Believers. There was a group of Gnostics that were spreading a false teaching and many Christians were becoming confused and led astray.

2. Read I John 1-2. 3. We are lost without Christ- but there is Salvation

So in this passage, John clearly lays out the way of Salvation: I Jn 1:5-7 5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin.

It seems that the common belief that people have is that if they live a good life, and they die, when they get to heaven God weighs their good deeds against their bad deeds and if the good outweighs the bad, then they are safe and God accepts them into heaven. But this passage is very clear. In Him there is no darkness at all. God by his very nature will not allow ANY sin into heaven. And since we are all sinners, where is the hope? It is laid out in the next section.

I Jn 1:8-9 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

Jesus makes us completely pure when we ask forgiveness for our sins, and only that is what will allow us entry into heaven.

Now as believers, we are called to live a righteous life. But that is very easy to say, and not so easy to carry out.

4. Follow up News Story

Here is the Anchorage Daily News remembering the big lake fire 10 years later:

(By S.J. KOMARNITSKY and ANDREW WELLNER Anchorage Daily News (Alaska)

It was the start of the state's most destructive wildfire ever. During the next several days, the blaze raged over 37,000 acres, crisscrossing its way through neighborhoods from the north end of Big Lake to near Point MacKenzie. In all, more than 300 homes, businesses and other structures worth an estimated $15 million were destroyed, and hundreds were left homeless.

Firefighters fought a pitched but chaotic battle against the fire. They tried frantically to hold a line while the blaze ripped across thousands of acres in a few hours and grew so large it created its own winds.

A few survived close calls, including a Big Lake fire crew that deployed their last-ditch emergency shelters when a wall of flame suddenly shifted their way near Miller's Reach Road. Another shift in the winds kept the flames from passing over them.

Some firefighters lost their own homes, then faced criticism from other homeowners who claimed they didn't do enough to fight the blaze.

The fire's fickle nature, its tendency to switch directions and to hop past some properties but drop burning embers on others — even one on an island — made it difficult for crews to choose where to make their stand.

Since the fire, Big Lake has rebuilt and then some. New homes and businesses have sprung up, and nearly 800 new residents have moved to the area, boosting the population to a bit more than 2,800, according to state Labor Department figures.

Life has come back to the forest as well. Once-blackened areas are now filled with a green understory of birch and alder.

Vivid reminders of the blaze remain. Along Kenlar Road near Houston High School, the fire cremated phone poles. All along the road today, scorched spruce stand like blackened toothpicks.

Just how quickly small fires can rage out of control given the right conditions was made clear at Point MacKenzie this past week when a wildfire, apparently sparked by a power line, ripped though 700 acres, destroyed two homes and sent smoke wafting through Anchorage.

Big Lake is still at risk, fire officials said.

Ø Temptation is all around us –

Our Christian life is like walking through a tinder dry forest. We always have to be on guard against the temptations that are all around us. Each one of us has a tendency towards sin that was born in us. Sin is like a forest fire, quick to get going if you are not careful.

Sin once it takes a hold of you, leads you where you don't want to go, and has horrible results. The drug addict typically doesn’t start doing drugs with the hardest ones. It is a process, starting a bit at a time, however, when a relapse occurs it tends to take the person right back to the hardest drugs they were using at the time. Even in the town of Big Lake, AK with the loss they had initially, there was still a fire that got loose at the time of this anniversary article.

Yet we continue to sin. Paul says in Romans 1:15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. There is a pull towards the things of the world.

I love the Hymn – Come thou Fount because it speaks so clearly about our desire for sin.

O to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be Let Thy grace Lord like a fetter (fetter is a restrain or a shackle that restrains a prisoner) Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee Prone to wander Lord I feel it Prone to leave the God I love Here's my heart Lord take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above

The Way back out of sin

Confess your sin to the Lord and ask his help, this simple step is all it takes to get back right with the Lord, but remember the word repent means “to turn away from”. When you confess ask for help to turn away from, because our heart is always “Prone to wander”.

After you repent and escape your sin and come back to the Lord, even though you will have scars from the sin (like the old burned trees left over from the fire), there is still beauty that comes from ashes and God can often use your sin to His glory. But the first step is to get back right with the Lord.

Ø God has given us tools to help us:

• His Word:

Ephesians 6:10-17 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

So what can we do when we feel the pull of sin. When tempted we have a way out. I Corinthians 10:12-13 tells us:

So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Get in the word, if you are feeling tempted, spend some time reading Gods word. This is something that I have to MAKE time to do, and it is very hard.

• His Holy Spirit/Prayer

His Holy Spirit living in us convicts us to repent and get right. Our main goal here is to be in relationship with Christ, to get to know him better. On our own, we do not have the strength. Our pride gets in the way. When I stumble and am not walking with Him, my first inclination is to keep sinning. That is why we need supernatural help.

In Romans 15:13 it says: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ask God for help, spend time on your knees and allow God to work in your heart. Ask him to give you that ability to give these problem areas to him. Without supernatural help it is next to impossible to achieve.

•

His Body of believers

The third avenue that has been provided for us is other Christians. We all need help, and when you are feeling weak and tempted you should ask for help. Admitting to someone else the issues

that you are struggling with can be one of the hardest things to do. The fear of rejection or condemnation from other believers is a one of the very largest roadblocks for us.

We care about what other people think, and that is often the thing that keeps us from being open and honest. Our pride is the problem. How can you receive help from someone if they don’t know what you need help with?

I am not saying that you go and blab all your darkest secrets to the world, but to find a trusted friend who can hold you accountable and ask the hard questions. Giving someone that permission can be the tool o This is a two way street however.

We are called to look out for our brothers and sisters. When someone asks you for help, give it to them. Pray for them, and also that the Lord would make you the person that He needs you to be for them.

Iron sharpens iron.