Unselfish Love

Donny Weimar, Ph.D.

Sermon • Submitted 4 months ago • Presented 4 months ago

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Love does not insist on its own way. (1 Corinthians 13:5 ESV).

This lesson presents the opposite poles of selfish passions and biblical self-sacrifice.

Part I: Satan is the author of selfishness.

Part II. Father God is the author of grace.

1 Peter 5:8–11 (NKJV) 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Satan is your adversary.

He walks about like a roaring lion, with an empty stomach.

Seek whom he may devour.

John 10:10 NKJV

10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.

Satan is the most infamous of thieves.

Satan is the most notorious murderers.

Satan is the ultimate destroyer.

Jesus comes for the opposite purpose.

John 10:10 (NKJV) I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Apostle Peter Tells to Resist Selfish Satan

1 Peter 5:8–11 NKJV

9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

However, we need something to help us resist the temptations.’

Temptation is emotional.

James 1:12–18 NKJV

12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

When the dopamine in your brain becomes emotionally attached to a sinful habit, that part of you comes to believe it Needs that sin to survive. That’s a self deprecating lie.

However, if we bury those emotions and try to ignore them, the habit fights back even stronger.

What’s more, we have this drill sergeant in there shouting shame at our emotions for the ugliness of our sins.

That may be one thing behind what Paul was feeling when we read what he writes in Romans chapter 7.

Romans 7:13–15 NKJV

13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.

There is only one way to defeat sin and satan.

Romans 7:24–25 NKJV

24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

How to resist satan (1 Peter 5:9)

Be steadfast in the faith

Recognize the same emotional crises are experienced by your brothers and sisters all around the world.

Trust in the God of all grace.

Know that your calling according to the gospel is not in vain.

We are called to His eternal glory, not our own.

1 Peter 5:9–11 NKJV

9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.