Romans 12:14-15, 17, 19-20
The Emotional Death Grip
\\See "Romans 8:1"\\
\\See "Hebrews 12:14-15"\\
This is another of the messages in which I am speaking primarily to
Christians. If you are here and are not a Christian, we—and even
more important—God wants you to become one; but most of what I will
discuss today pertains to the powers that belong to the Christian.
Note that these verses contain commands. That means they are telling
us to do some things that God expects us to actually do.
In \\#Romans 12:14\\ God command us to bless (pronounce good on) those
who do us evil (persecute us.) Just in case we did not get, God
quickly tells us again. "Bless them; do not curse them."
\\#Romans 12:15\\ God tells us to rejoice with those who have received
God. Rejoice whether we feel like it or not. God does not want us to
tear down someone else’s good just because it did not happen to us or
we do not feel like rejoicing.
In that same verse, God tells us to weep with those who have cause to
weep. Again, the command is do it whether we feel like it or not.
Let me share some other commands with you.
Romans 12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil….
Even if you want do, do not do it! He goes on to explain.
Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not
yourselves, but rather give place unto
wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I
will repay, saith the Lord.
Do not seek revenge — even if you really, really want to do so, but
put wrath in it’s place.
Romans 12:20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger,
feed him; if he thirst, give him drink…
Feed and help your enemy even if you do not want to do so. Notice,
there is a theme. The theme is that there are right things to do and
we are to do them, whether we want to or not, whether we feel like it
or not. Other passages teach this as well.
Proverbs 24:17 Rejoice not when thine enemy
falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he
stumbleth:
Proverbs 24:19 Fret not thyself because of evil
men (don’t worry), neither be thou envious at the
wicked (don’t be envious).
Proverbs 24:29 Say not, I will do so to him as he
hath done to me: I will render to the man
according to his work.
Don’t retaliate.
All of these verses and there are many others are telling us not to do
what we think is right or what we feel is right but what God tells us
is right. I want to address just one half of that this morning.
The title of the message is Emotional Death Grip or you might call it,
Emotional Self Control. A few thoughts this morning.
I. Christians, we must control our emotions.
A. If you have been exposed to the news at all in the last year,
you know there is emotional turmoil across this country, so
much do that instead of our nation welcoming the new
President, there have been concerts, marches, protests, and
even riots against him.
1. There have been calls for the government to be overthrown
and for the President to be assassinated. Those people
have no idea for what they are asking.
2. That is not what this message is about; however, it is an
example of what can happen when our emotions control us
instead of us controlling our emotions.
3. Three motions, anger, hatred, fear and losing a spirit of
rebellion and violence.
4. People can become dramatic, unreasonable, even foolish.
B. Not only have out-of-control emotions caused politically
turmoil, but they cause road rage, suicide, a good many
homicides and other acts of violence.
C. There is also…
1. Pre-martial and adultery sex are often caused by people’s
emotions controlling them.
2. Arguments and a good bit of people’s filthy language.
Three causes: anger, pride, and ignorance.
3. guilt
4. Panic - not just a healthy fear but a debilitating fear
5. These emotions are losing a spirit of depression.
D. These and so many more emotional death grips are caused because
people are not and sometimes cannot control their emotions.
E. Let me repeat again, Christians, we must control our emotions.
1. If we do not, they will control us and that will lead to
an emotional death grip being placed on our lives.
2. What is an emotional death grip? That is when your
emotions begin to choke the life out of you.
a. They may choke out our joy, happiness, fun, zest.
b. They may choke out our friends, even our family.
c. They may choke out our sanity and ability to think
logically or to love or to enjoy.
d. They may choke out the very will to live and it is
possible that they will choke life right out of our
body.
3. Christians, we must control our emotions.
a. Some are having hard a time doing so. I do not want to
hurt you. I want to help you.
b. There are several emotions that have a stranglehold on
our people including fear, bitterness, guilt, worry,
and despair.
c. The longer you allow emotions to control you, the
harder it will be for you to gain control of them!
(1) There is a cumulative toil taking place.
(2) The longer you live, the more problems you will
have.
(3) The more problems you have, the more emotions
about them you will experience.
(4) If those emotions are controlling you, the more
havoc and confusion they are going to bring.
d. I cannot cure your problems but the Bible tells us that
we don’t have to be in an emotional death grip.
II. Turn to the book of Philippians.
A. Paul is the writer of this Book.
1. Paul had a problemed life.
2. Paul had a sinful past, he had persecuted the church and
had the blood Steven and others on his hands.
3. Paul also had a frustrating present, being persecuted, beaten, lied
about, arrested, and ultimately beheaded for Christ.
4. These two, the past and the present, are what causes many
people to allow their emotions to get a death grip on
them.
5. But Paul learned some truths that helped keep that from
happening to him.
B. What did Paul learn?
1. Paul learned of the greatest Power.
Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me.
a. It is the power of Jesus Christ.
b. Paul was not the only one to attest to the power of
Jesus.
Mt 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto
them, With men this is impossible; but with God
all things are possible.
1John 4:4 …greater is he that is in you, than
he that is in the world.
c. Jesus is greater than our problems, our past, our
weaknesses, our present, our sins, or our temptations.
d. Someone is probably saying, "I don’t care what the
Bible says. I’ve tried and I can’t."
a. Christians, before we will be able to control our
emotions, we are going to have acknowledge that we
can control them with God’s help.
Mr 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst
believe, all things are possible to him that
believeth.
Mt 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them,
Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and
doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is
done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say
unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou
cast into the sea; it shall be done.
22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in
prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
b. Christians have fallen into unsaved lifestyles with
the unsaved’s excuses.
(a) Everyone believes they are too weak to help
themselves.
(b) Their call sign is "I can’t."
i. Homosexual - "I can’t help who I love."
ii. Angry - "I can’t control my temper."
iii. Worrier - "I can’t help but to worry."
iv. Bitter - "I can’t forgive them."
(c) Maybe they can’t, but Christians can!
(d) We have the power of Jesus Christ!
2. Paul learned of his greatest need.
Php 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have
apprehended (thought is "to have arrived at
perfection): but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, and reaching
forth unto those things which are before,
a. Paul’s most important need was to forget the past.
b. The reason most people are in emotional death grips is
because they will not forget.
c. To forget does not mean to erase a thing from our
memories. There is no pencil eraser or delete button
in the human brain.
d. It means to refuse to think about it, to refuse to
remember it.
(1) I understand that this can be done because I must
do it too. Remember, we are all fighting the
same battles.
1Co 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but
such as is common to man….
Jas 5:17 Elias was a man subject to like
passions as we are….
Heb 4:15 (Jesus) …but was in all points
tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
(2) I understand what can happen when we do not do it.
(a) The unforgiving spirit, the angry spirit,
the untrusting spirit
(b) This is not just something I know, this is
something I have experienced.
(c) We must quit remembering our hurts, our
sorrows, our failures, our betrayals, the
wrong committed against us and the wrongs we
have committed against others.
e. I cannot dwell on this for long but let me show you how
emotional death grips work.
(1) If we do not forget the hurts committed by others,
bitterness arises.
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and
holiness, without which no man shall see the
Lord:
15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of
the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness
springing up trouble you, and thereby many be
defiled;
(a) \\#14\\ The command is "seek peace with
others." That implies do what is necessary
to be at peace with others.
(b) Then Paul adds a second thought, seek
holiness.
(c) \\#15\\ Seek these things will diligence.
(d) What happens if you do not? "lest any root of
bitterness springing up trouble you." It
causes YOU trouble.
(e) How? It creates in YOU a bitter, angry spirit
that will defile you and others.
(2) If we do not forgive our failures, guilt arises.
(3) Either of these, along with others, can cause
depression.
(a) This is where the Bible turns from being just
sinful to spiritual sinful.
(b) Depression is a state of our spirit being
cast down, depressed.
(c) The only way our spirit (Christians) can be
depressed is if God’s Holy Spirit is also
cast down or somehow limited.
(d) (I know God is God and we don’t and can’t
limit God, except He tells us in His Word
that we can. Like a fire ,Christians snuff
God out!)
1Th 5:19 Quench not the Spirit.
(e) If our spirit and God’s Spirit are both put
down, whose spirit is going to rise up and
start to take control of us?
(1) Satan’s!
Eph 4:27 Neither give place to the devil.
(2) In that state, we (Christians) are
giving the devil the open door to
influence and oppress us.
(3) This is the state that many Christians
are living in today, emotional death
grip!
f. Friend, our greatest need is to quit remembering.
3. Paul learned the greatest goal.
Php 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but
dung, that I may win Christ,
a. Paul learned that the greatest goal was not…
(1) to dwell on the past.
(2) to live in the past.
(3) to vindicate the past.
(4) to bring justice to what was done in the past.
(5) to set right the past.
b. The greatest goal was to count the past as dung and to
learn as much as possible about Jesus Christ.
I must stop. If you are saved, it is time to break the emotional
death grip that has been squeezing the life out of you. How?
1. Stop remembering
2. Accept Christ’s power and acknowledge that it can set you free.
3. Seek more of Jesus.
If you are unsaved, you will need to trust Jesus. I pray that you
will.
<OutlineIndex>
<Close Window>
