Sanctification and Overcoming Temptation Collection

On Putting Off and Putting On

Hope for Holiness Our besetting, indwelling sins can sometimes seem like the most powerful presence in our lives — and if we feel that way, we will probably not fight as if God could ever give us the victory.

This sermon is all about the hope, promises, and steps God actually gives us for tackling every fortress that Satan has erected in our lives. Every one of those fortresses can fall to the grace of King Jesus. Though total sinlessness is not possible, it IS possible to overcome all former evil habits and to get to the place where we do our new righteous habits as easily as we used to do the old ones. As we'll see in Ephesians 4:17-28, God gives us not only the power, but also step-by-step instructions to victory, and three examples of how to put off our old habits of the flesh and develop new habits of righteousness.

Attitudes of Grace This follow-up sermon to "Hope for Holiness" goes into detail about the put-offs (bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, malice) and the put-ons (kindness, tenderheartedness, forgiveness) of Ephesians 4:31, 32. While the passage in the previous sermon dwelt with actions and habits, this passage addresses the attitudes of the old man versus the attitudes of the new.

Crucifying the Flesh When God calls us to crucify, or mortify, the flesh, what exactly is He calling us to do? What is the flesh, and how is it different from the physical body? And what would crucifying it actually look like? This sermon covers a vital part of sanctification - identifying "the flesh, with its affections and lusts" and putting it to death (the what, the why, and the how.)

Essential Links in the Chain of Sanctification If you're feeling stuck in your sanctification, you may be able to find the spot where you got stuck in the links in the chain of sanctification that God gives us in 2 Peter 1:5-7. When God says to "add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love," He wasn't throwing out good qualities at random. He was explaining the actual sequence through which God makes us more like Himself.

The Resurrection and Our New Life The resurrection reverses everything that once had dominion over man - sin, death, even the dust. Christ has now given us the power and the status and the resources of kings reigning with Christ. God even promises that "where sin abounded, grace abounded much more." Why, then, do we often live on a scale far below our spiritual resources, struggling like spiritual paupers, sometimes even like we were still dead men? This sermon walks us through how to put on the truths about who we now are, and the resources and principles God has given us to learn to rule over sin, enemies, fear, the body, and anything that overcomes our reign through Christ.

On Overcoming Temptation

Overcoming Temptation Series

Overcoming Temptation Part 1 Overcoming Temptation Part 2 Overcoming Temptation Part 3

Roots of Lying in 8 Areas of Life - Chart Overcoming any sin involves walking in the light. If we have been in the habit of hiding our sin, it may take a more concentrated effort to be able to walk in truth. This graphic can help you examine any area of life where deceit may have crept in. A useful graphic to go alongside Dr. Kayser's message Hope for Holiness.

Developing Sales Resistance Chart

Developing Sales Resistance Series

Dr. Kayser's Top Resources on Overcoming Pornography and Sexual Sin Resources on overcoming sexual sin in particular.

Marks of An Overcomer This sermon walks through seven marks of an overcomer, and then six indicators that you may be heading into a relapse into sin. Dr. Kayser compares the church of Ephesus described in Acts 11 with Revelation 2's description of the problems that crept into this church ten years later, after they had let their guard down in key areas of their lives, and Satan was taking advantage of them — something that can happen to an individual as well as a church.

Sin Facilitators and Impediments Worksheet

As you work at overcoming a sin, you can use this list to help identify facilitators to that sin that need to be put off, and impediments to that sin that need to be put on — facilitators to righteous thinking and behavior that need to be put on, and impediments to righteous thinking and behavior that need to be put off.

Sin Facilitators and Impediments Worksheet Example: Lying-Specific Facilitators and Impediments Example: Porn-Specific Facilitators and Impediments

Dr. Kayser's Favorite Counseling Verses Whether counseling others or counseling yourself through besetting sin, the only way forward is setting faith on Christ's promises and being transformed by the Sword of the Word. Here are Dr. Kayser's top counseling passages.

On Apathy Toward Sanctification, and Motivations for Holiness

Can Lost Love Be Regained? This sermon shows how even an outstanding church like that in Ephesus can drift in its love away from the Lord. How is first love lost and how can it be regained?

When Contentment is Not a Virtue Discontentment is a deep desire for something you don't have. Contentment is a total satisfaction with what you have. The church of Sardis was content with having a reputation for righteousness without the reality, a satisfaction with a form of godliness even when the power was gone, and Christ rebuked them for that contentment. Sardis was content with what had already been received, and Jesus rebuked them for not receiving more of what Christ has purchased for them. This sermon looks at both Christ's rebukes to the church of Sardis for their spiritual complacency, and His commands for change.

Hungering and Thirsting for Righteousness The fourth beatitude in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount gets to the motivating, driving passion behind these beatitudes — the hungering and thirsting after righteousness. This is the "want-to" of the beatitudes. But how do you get people to want to do the right thing?

The Essence of True Revival What do you do when you know you need to be more holy, but you just don't care enough? When your heart feels dry and dusty and God feels far away? This sermon, on the point at which the Israelites' hearts were desperate enough for God that He blessed them with true revival, shows the preconditions to revival, the state of a heart primed for revival, how to cry out for God to revive your heart, and God's response.

On Repentance

The Life of True Repentance What is repentance? How is repentance different from faith? This sermon highlights the descriptions James gives of true repentance — yielding to God, resisting the devil, drawing near to God, cleansing, sorrow, and humility, as well as James's instructions on repentance in James 4:7-10. It walks through the steps of examining ourselves and our hearts — do we evidence true repentance or a counterfeit? — and clears away some misconceptions and bad theology regarding repentance

Peter and Judas What are we to make of ministers like Judas and Charles Templeton who abandon the faith after having been used so powerfully by God? And what is the difference between Peter and Judas? Both denied the Lord. Both wept bitter tears. This sermon evaluates the difference between evangelical repentance and counterfeit repentance, and makes practical application to our lives.

Sorry is Not Enough The fundamental difference between David and Saul can even be seen on so-called 'spiritual' issues such as worship, prayer, and the topic of this sermon: repentance. 1 Samuel 24:16-22 goes to the heart of what constitutes genuine repentance and what is counterfeit repentance. It is designed to help us press into God's grace more deeply when we repent and when we grant forgiveness to others who repent.

Covering Sin When we expose our sin through Biblical confession, God brings incredible relief, joy, liberty, and peace. But when we cover our sin with the "fig leaves" of humanistic substitutes, we bring ourselves misery. When God guarantees that the consequences of hiding our sins are always greater than the consequences of confessing our sins, why is it that so frequently we desperately use every means at our disposal to hide? This sermon explores this strange phenomenon and applies it in various areas of life, including apologetics, child rearing, finances, discipline, and politics.

Grace vs. Legalism and Antinomianism

This remarkable text, on God's response to David's sin with Bathsheba, cuts to the heart of the the controversies raging around legalism and antinomianism. It shows a picture of real grace contrasted with the gracelessness of both of those ditches. It shows many facets of God's love as a Father. And it answers critical questions — Does God get mad at His children? When God looks at us, does He only see Jesus? Should we "be OK with not being OK"? How proactive are we supposed to be in striving after righteousness? When does that become man-made or works-based righteousness? What about letting go and letting God?

On Taking Correction From Others

Graciously Responding to Rebuke One of the challenges of the Christian life is learning how to graciously respond to rebuke. This passage gives ten practical guidelines to responding to rebuke in a God honoring way.

On Retraining Your Conscience

Best Sermons on Developing a Healthy Conscience

This collection covers everything from how to retrain a dull, oversensitive, or social conscience, to how to soften a seared conscience, to why a weak or legalistic conscience always leads to more sin and less holiness. It details how to deal with legalism in your friends, how to recognize it in yourself, how to recover from legalism without becoming a libertine, and how to grow in your appreciation for the freedom God has given you in Christ.