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Are You Killing Sin — or Is It Killing You? · In the Stillness Podcast

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  Hey y'all, it's friendly. Happy Wednesday, hump day.
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  We are midway through the week, and I'm really glad that you're
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  joining me on today's podcast episode on In the Stillness.
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  Today's passage is one that does not sugarcoat anything.
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  It is very straightforward, it's convicting, and it calls out
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  what needs to be called out, but in the best way because it
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  points us to real freedom. So with that, let's go ahead and
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  read today's scripture. In first John chapter 3, verses
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  4 through 6, anyone who indulges in sin lives in moral anarchy.
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  For the definition of sin is breaking God's law.
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  And you know without a doubt that Jesus was revealed to
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  eradicate sins and there is no sin in Him.
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  Anyone who continues to live in union with him will not sin.
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  But the one who continues sinning hasn't seen him with
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  discernment or known him by intimate experience.
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  OK, these are super weighty and John is direct.
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  There is no Gray area in what he is saying.
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  But something super important to understand is this, that there
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  is a difference between committing a sin and continuing
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  in sin. Committing sin is when you fall,
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  but ultimately it leads you to conviction, confession, and
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  repentance. You turn from it.
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  There is a real fight in you. But continuing in sin is
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  choosing it persistently, habitually, with no real
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  intention or desire to turn away from it.
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  And this is where it gets super, super convicting.
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  You're either killing sin or sin is killing you.
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  There is no neutral ground. Sin is not something that you
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  just manage and control long term.
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  That is the lie and trap. I want us to think about the
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  enemy Satan. He was originally an Angel of
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  light. He had access to God's presence,
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  but he wanted more. He was greedy.
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  He wanted God's glory for himself and pride was his
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  downfall. Proverbs 16 verse 18 says pride
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  comes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
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  So now Satan as the ultimate deceiver.
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  Today He sells us the same lie that you can have both, that you
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  can have your sin and God's blessings at the same time, your
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  flesh and His presence, your way and His grace.
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  But y'all, that is not truth. Sin is like a cancer.
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  It starts on the internal and it spreads.
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  It erodes and hardens your heart.
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  It consumes you. The more that you feed it,
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  because your craving for it actually grows, the more that
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  you give in to that simple desire.
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  So what do we have to do then? We must starve our sin.
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  Just like you wouldn't feed your body something that fuels an
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  illness or disease like a cancer, you wouldn't give it
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  more sugar. You should not feed your life
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  with what fuels sin. And that implies being honest
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  about your environments, your habits, even people that may
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  tempt you to fall. This is not about restriction,
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  guys. It's so much more about
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  protection and about our freedom.
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  Now, here's where that last line of the passage really takes
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  weight. John says that the one who
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  continues sinning has not seen him with discernment or known
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  him by intimate experience. Those words are clearly
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  intentional because it's not just about knowing about Jesus.
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  You can know the truth. You can know right from wrong,
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  good versus evil. Honestly, even people who aren't
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  Christians can have this general sense.
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  But that is different from discernment.
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  Discernment is spiritually seeing Jesus clearly for who He
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  is, and it's also different from intimate experience actually
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  knowing him in a real and personal relationship.
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  That's where everything changes. We see in second Peter one verse
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  3, it says that God has already given us everything we need for
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  life and godliness through the knowledge of him.
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  So it's through truly knowing the person of Jesus, not just
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  receiving information but investing in a relationship,
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  that we are truly given the ability to live differently.
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  Meaning Christian living is not just a higher standard that
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  we're trying to reach in our own strength.
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  It is a transformed life that flows from truly seeing him and
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  truly knowing him. So if someone is just continuing
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  in sin without authentic conviction, without repentance,
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  John is saying that the issue is not just behavior, it's a heart
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  issue. Because when you fully see Jesus
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  and know Him, when you really encounter Him, you don't want to
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  stay the same. And that ties into everything
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  else. It translates because God's law
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  and His commands, they were never meant to save us.
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  They actually reveal how incapable we are and how
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  desperately we need a Savior. That is why Jesus came.
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  John says He was revealed to eradicate sins.
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  So not just some of your sin, all of your sin.
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  He is the perfect sacrificial lamb who fulfilled everything
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  that the Old Covenant in the Old Testament pointed to.
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  Because of Jesus, we are brought near to the Father by His blood.
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  So you are not stuck in your sin.
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  There is available freedom and healing for absolutely anything,
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  whether that is addiction, mental and emotional struggles,
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  emotional wounds, whatever it is.
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  The lie is that this is just how I am.
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  But that is not what Jesus died for.
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  You are either free or you're not.
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  I felt this so strongly because as I was thinking about that,
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  think about a person who has been set free.
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  They do not go back to the prison that they were rescued
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  from just to hang out there for fun.
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  Why would they? They know what it actually felt
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  like. They know the darkness.
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  They know the hopelessness. So why do we sometimes try to go
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  back to the very pit that Jesus pulled us out of?
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  Psalm 40 talks about how the Lord lifts us out of the miry
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  pit and sets our feet on solid ground.
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  So why do we return? John connects us back to abiding
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  remaining in Christ, and we've been talking a lot about that in
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  previous episodes. He says if in him there is no
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  sin, so abiding in him means that we are not continuing in
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  sin. And let me just say this
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  clearly. You cannot continue in sin and
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  continue in Christ simultaneously.
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  Now, that doesn't mean we'll never mess up.
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  Grace is real and forgiveness is real.
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  But there is a distinction between falling and living in
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  it. When you stay in sin, you stay
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  in a cycle of conviction that eventually turns into
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  condemnation, and condemnation distorts how you see God.
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  It affects your prayer life because you stop approaching him
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  with that same confidence. It affects your time reading the
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  Bible because the Bible is living and active and it
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  corrects you and rebukes you so you're not going to want to face
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  it. And it affects how you love
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  others because you're so preoccupied in your own cycle of
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  sin, you start justifying it instead of walking in freedom.
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  But Romans 81 says there is therefore no condemnation for
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  those who are in Christ Jesus. And when you truly see Jesus for
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  who he is and you understand, you come to a revelation of what
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  he has done. You begin to know him
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  personally. That is what leads to
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  repentance. Not just saying sorry, but
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  actually turning wanting to live in a way that authentically
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  honors Him. So let's just pause and ask
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  ourselves honestly, do I truly see Jesus?
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  Do I actually know Jesus? And if you want to stay in sin,
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  it's worth asking why. Let's get to the bottom of it.
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  Don't just avoid it. Do you want life or do you want
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  death? Do you want reconciliation with
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  God or do you want to live in opposition to Him?
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  Have you truly received a revelation of His grace and does
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  your life actually reflect it? The bottom line is, what matters
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  more to you? Living for God and for freedom,
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  or living for yourself and really in bondage?
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  These are real questions, but they are ones that are necessary
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  in order to reach real freedom. So let's go ahead and close out
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  in prayer. Dear God, thank you for your
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  truth, even when it hits hard and it is direct.
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  Thank you that you don't just leave us where we are, but you
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  call us into a real relationship with you.
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  I pray that we would not just know about you, but that we
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  would truly see you with discernment and know you through
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  intimate experience. God, reveal anything in our
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  hearts that is not from you and would you supply us with
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  strength to turn from sin? Remind us that we up everything
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  we need through knowing you to live a godly life.
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  As it says in Second Peter 13. Would you help us to walk in the
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  freedom that you have freely given us?
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  We are yours and we are here. We exist to honor you God.
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  We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
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  OK y'all, that's today's episode.
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  I know it was a lot. There's a lot to sit with, but I
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  pray that the Lord would just continue teaching you things,
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  revealing things to your heart, and that you would grow in
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  deeper intimacy with the Father. I will see y'all on the next
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  episode.