First, we need to understand the definition of sin. Then let’s break down what we see in scripture. Why did Jesus actually come and what does this mean for our sin? Are you ready to step into the freedom and grace Christ offers? Let’s go!
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Show Notes:
For reactions in Scripture. Judas and self hatred and self harm. Pharaoh has a hardening of the heart and going back to resisting God. The woman caught in adultery. Jesus says that he does not condemner and also to go and sin no more. This is a new start. Then David Peter Zacchaeus, Paul for restoration and lead others out of sin.
Jesus came to break the power of sin, the penalty of sin in the presence of sin he sets us free.
Repentance is shifting from sin to the Savior. It’s 180° in a U-turn. It happens on three levels. Level one is behavior, change and distance from temptation. Level two is belief and what we have as our perspective of wet sand really is and what is good third is Behold and it’s our view of God, realizing that he wants to provide and protect us and trusting him. This combination of three levels produces lasting change, not just intentions, or a feeling, or a short term, breaking free.
Freedom is not doing whatever you wanna do. Freedom is knowing the difference between right and wrong and then choosing what is right. The power to do the next right thing.
God delivers us out of sin, and then leads us into great purpose. It is both out of and into.
Spurgeon said that our new affection for Jesus dries out and this place is the singer lives. Don’t put your focus on sin, make it on Jesus.
They were toothiest next to Jesus. They were clearly caught in sin and punished. One of them receives God’s grace. God’s grace is essential for healing and restoration. God’s grace fills our hearts and minds and souls. Let go of sin and bitterness and self-hatred today. Receive God’s grace in abundance. It’s greater than our sin
Special thanks to World Concern for sponsoring The Bonfire Podcast.
Transcription:
Welcome to The Bonfire. Great to be together again today, and in the second season, we’re walking through specific situations that we encounter, that we experience daily, and how do we respond because we can’t always control what’s happening to us, but God will use it for us and do great things. We can learn so much even in the hardest situations, and we’re talking about situations that a lot of people avoid having a conversation about. We want to go there together. The Bonfire is all about God’s presence, opening up our lives, saying yes to God, and when his presence takes over, then you have his peace, his power, his perspective. Nothing greater than God’s presence. Around the bonfire, we tell stories. We like to get into scripture, the stories of the Bible, and the way God works then, the way God works now. We learn about who God is, what he does, who we are, and how we can live.
And in this situation today, let’s talk about being caught in sin. What do you do when you’re caught in sin? Stuck in sin? How do you respond in those moments? Let’s begin with defining sin. Sin is missing the mark. It was an archery term, when you don’t hit the target, you’ve missed the mark. Sin involves transgressions, inequities, it’s rebellion, it’s going against God. It’s personal, it’s relational, and it’s also principles. Going against scripture, God’s word, breaking God’s long commandment. Pride is involved. We want to call the shots. We want to be at the center. We want to push God off the throne and of our lives and then step in and be on the throne ourselves. Sin has many different expressions, but at the core, we’re not trusting God. We’re not honoring God, respecting God. We’re not doing what God’s designed in his playbook, that sin, and all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
We sin every day. There’s depths and levels of sin in terms of patterns, footholds, strongholds, and every day we’re tempted to be tempted is not a sin. God does not tempt us. He gives a way out, so we don’t have to choose sin. Sin doesn’t have control over us. The devil can’t make us do something, and yet sin wants to master us. And the more sin you have, it never satisfies. The more sin you have, the more destruction. Sin always has a price tag. Sin affects our relationship with God. Sin affects our relationships with other people. God doesn’t want us to sin because he wants to protect us, and he also wants to provide for us. The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus comes to give abundant life. So often during the day, we’re either choosing between sin or the Savior. There’s two roads, and in this crossroad, when we hit that point, we’re going to make an intentional choice.
No one can make that decision for you. You get to decide, am I going to choose sin or the Savior? But what do you do when you’re caught in sin or stuck in sin? What do you do when there’s a pattern of sin? Hidden sin, secret sin. How do you walk in the light? Step out of the darkness, choose purity, choose integrity, choose closeness with God, choose Jesus. How do you actually do that? Why is it so difficult? Why are so many people who choose sin going back to sin over and over again, and then, in terms of sorting through it, it affects your view of yourself. It affects your view of other people. It affects your view of God. It can do so much damage. How do you experience restoration from God? I want to think about a few different people in the Bible and that I have different reactions to sin.
First, a response. It’s Judas in itself hate. Judas betrays Jesus, 30 silver coins. He’s someone who is a treasurer. He’s someone who’s been with Jesus. No one spends more time with Jesus. He’s a treasurer. He’s trusted. He’s close with God, and yet what does he do? He betrays Jesus, and Jesus is killed. Of course, Jesus, ultimately, he is laying down his life even though he’s murdered. Judas plays a part in that, but ultimately, Jesus makes a sacrifice because he loves us so much. Judas knows he’s done wrong as he throws the 30 coins as he takes his own life, and this is an example of what not to do, to choose rebellion against Jesus and then have remorse, and it leads to self-hate. Some people that go through trauma make bad decisions. They still carry self-hate. They want to exclude themselves from serving God. They see themselves as second-rate. They see themselves as unredeemable.
They don’t actually go to God and receive his grace. They just sit in this darkness, guilt, and shame, and they have this view of themselves that there’s no hope, there’s no way out, and they’re just going to have to harm themselves because of the sin they’ve done, and that has a lot of expressions. Don’t choose that today. Don’t choose that. If you have sinned, it’s time to come back to Jesus. He can restore. Here’s the second option, and this one, when you think about a hard heart, you might think about Pharaoh in the Bible. Now, Pharaoh, he runs the slavery. The Israelites are trapped. God is going to set them free. God uses Moses. There are 10 plagues. Why Pharaoh’s heart is hard and to be set free to worship God. Pharaoh doesn’t want this. Pharaoh is selfish. He’s controlling. He has anger issues. He doesn’t follow through. He is not faithful. He’s mean. And Pharaoh, even though he hears from Moses clearly, some people hear the word of God clearly, and they don’t want to change their heart.
Even though he sees what God does, Pharaoh will acknowledge, “Okay, God’s done something here,” and then hardened his heart and as soon as the plague is finished, he’ll go back to his old mode. Have you ever had that experience where you say, “God, all right, show me,” and then God reveals himself, God does something, and you’re like, “Well, okay, I saw that, but I’m going back.” You might have an awesome Bible study. You might have a conversation with someone, and the power of God is so evident and yet what do you do? You go back to the same old sin, and he hardens his heart. And Pharaoh does this repeatedly, and ultimately, God’s still going to be glorified because no one can take away his glory, and you’re going to see God’s wrath, his power, his justice.
You’re going to see God set people free, overcome Pharaoh. Pharaoh’s the most powerful man in the world, and yet God is so much greater. It’s a reminder. God is sovereign. He’s in control. He’s greater than the biggest military country, nation, most powerful leader today. He has the final say. We see that with Pharaoh, but for Pharaoh’s own heart, he keeps hardening his heart towards God. Don’t harden your heart. Some people hold onto bitterness, resentment. They have a hard heart. They have walls over their heart. They’re not really teachable with God, and they keep going back, going back, going back, going back. That’s Pharaoh. It’s a classic example of how to harden your heart when you sin. Don’t let sin harden your heart. Don’t choose that path. Here’s a third person in the Bible, and when you think about different responses caught in sin, the woman caught in adultery comes to mind.
Jesus is there. The religious leaders are there. The religious leaders want to stone this woman kind of makes you wonder, “Where’s the man?” We only see that the woman is caught, and they want to pick up stones to kill her. Yet Jesus starts to write, and as he starts to write, we don’t know the exact words. It’d be fascinating to see what he’s writing. All that to say, the religious leaders are convicted on some level. They set down their stones, and then Jesus has the conversation with a woman. He tells her two things. One, I don’t condemn you, and second, go and sin no more. In other words, Jesus gives her a restart. Jesus is not going to throw stones at her, kill her, take her down. He wants to rebuild. God’s heart is to restore when we’re caught in sin, and he says, “Go and sin no more. Don’t go back to the same pattern of life. Don’t go back to the same choices. Don’t go back to the same behavior. This is a new start.”
Now we don’t know the woman’s story, but just in reading that powerful encounter, you’re hopeful that she’s going to go a new direction. We can learn from our sin caught in sin. Maybe you’ve been caught not having integrity in terms of the hours you’ve worked or something to do with finances and you’ve manipulated some numbers, or you haven’t been honest, or it could be with purity. You’ve gone to your phone, and you’re looking at stuff you know you shouldn’t be looking at. You know the sin that is tempting for you and that you’ve chosen, and what that looks like. There’s a lot of ways in our lives that we enter into these ruts and patterns spiritually, and in those times, Jesus gives a restart.
Don’t take that lightly. With some urgency, make the changes, go the new direction, and this is the fourth reaction. We see it in many instances. Nathan was a prophet who came to David after he slept with another man’s wife, had the husband killed, tried to do a coverup, and Nathan said, “You are the man.” David is caught in sin. There’s no denying it. I mean, it’s clear what’s happened, and Bathsheba is pregnant, and this is because of David, and it’s not his wife. Adultery, murder, this is on David’s record, and yet in that moment when Nathan says, “You’re the man,” have you ever had someone confront you? I caught you cheating on a test. I caught you cheating on your wife. I caught you cheating in the business, and here they bring the facts, and there’s no place to run. They’ve got the video evidence.
They open up your phone and show you what’s going on. You just know all our lives where everything’s laid bare before God. We’re caught in sin, we choose sin. In that moment right there, it’s when Nathan says, “You’re the man.” David’s caught, and yet we see a response from David that has contrition, remorse, repentance. He’s going to turn from the sin, turn to the Savior. He’s going to cry out to God, have mercy. God’s going to cleanse him. God is going to restore his life. David’s going to become a man after God’s own heart. It tells us that even in the worst sin, David’s list, it’s egregious, yet God raises him up to be the greatest king in Israel. It doesn’t make sense in our minds. In the Bible, which you see in these turnarounds, Peter denies Jesus three times and yet God raises him up to be the leader.
Paul is killing Christians, yet God raises him up to write the Bible, and over and over again in scripture, you’ll see that someone caught in sin has an opportunity to turn to God, and there is hope, there is healing, and this comes from closeness with God. There’s no greater path forward than to receive God’s grace. In fact, if you don’t receive God’s grace, you won’t have the healing. You won’t have the transformation. But over and over again in the Bible, Zacchaeus, when you think about a tax collector that stole everyone’s money, change of heart, now he gives back the money. Now he helps the poor. He’s generous, and instead of stingy, all of this is how the Savior transforms us. We choose sin. Jesus comes to set us free. He comes to set captives free.
As you study the Bible, notice the different responses of people who are caught in sin. I’ve highlighted a few. The first response, self-hate. The second response, go back to sin with a hard heart. The third response, this is a new start. God is giving you a new opportunity. And the fourth response, repentance, restoration, people coming alive in their faith. It’s exciting when you read those stories because those stories, that’s our story, and the grace of God makes all the difference. I know a lot of people who have hit low points, and they’ve just wondered, “How am I ever going to start to walk in an ascension? How is God going to work in my life? I want to walk again on the heights. I want to be close to God. I want to live for God. I want his purposes, his passion. How is that going to happen?” And the answer is the grace of God. You need to let the grace of God take over in your mind, heart, and soul, not just as a concept, but you need to receive the grace of God.
Here’s what Jesus does when it comes to sin. This is amazing, but Jesus does three things. First, he overcomes, and he is greater than the power of sin. As you abide with Jesus, it’s going to be evident. God’s power is greater than the power of sin. That means that God always gives you a way out when you’re tempted, God can break any stronghold today, God can break any addiction today, nothing that has mastered you needs to master you going forward. Jesus is greater, and when you turn to Jesus, he’s going to break those strongholds. He’s going to set you free. He came to set captives free, and his power is greater than the power of sin in your life.
Now, in addition to breaking the power of sin, Jesus also does a work where he cancels the penalty of sin. The wages of sin is death, separation from God. All of humanity, every single person, every man, woman, and child is in the same situation. We have all sinned. The wages of sin is death, that separation from God, and we face an eternity away from the savior. Our sin is on us. He’s a holy, imperfect God. We are not. And because of that, there’s a gap. There’s a distance. How are we going to be accepted into heaven? We can’t on our own. We can’t save ourselves.
Jesus comes to bring apart, and he died in the cross for our sins, and he’s risen. That pardon is complete. Your past, present, and future sins. All your sins, small and great, Jesus is greater than the penalty of sin. There’s forgiveness, no condemnation in Christ. And then, the third part, Jesus removes the presence of sin. It’s his plan, his glorious plan. It’s our destiny to live eternally without any sin, no presence of sin in heaven, no temptation in heaven. That’s God’s design. He’s going to take us there. One day, we’re finally, finally going to be done with the wrestling and the battles. In Romans chapter 7, Paul says, “The things I know I should do, I don’t do the things I want to do. I do the exact opposite,” and we all relate. I’ve got these intentions. I’ve got these desires to walk in the light, to be pure, to be holy, walking with God and close to God, and yet we go back like a dog returning to its vomit. We go back to the same stuff. Why do we do that?
And one day, it’s all going to be over. The battles is going to be over, the spiritual battle that rages every day between light and darkness, good and evil, God and the devil, it’s all going to be over. The devil’s a defeated foe. Sin is defeated. It’s all thrown into the lake of fire, death and the lake of fire, discouragement, despair. It’s all in the lake of fire. We finally live with God imperfection, with resurrected bodies. Glorious. No more sin. I long for that day. Can you imagine perfect relationships with other people you love? Perfect conversations. It almost feels too much for our minds to really take in. How do you wrap your brain around that? But it’s a reality. It’s a fact. It’s already concluded. God guarantees it. That’s what’s coming. Look forward to it eagerly, and until we’re there, let’s live for God today.
Celebrate today that Jesus breaks the power of sin, the penalty of sin, and ultimately, the presence of sin. He overcomes all of that, and that makes us appreciate Jesus. Think Jesus, worship Jesus. He’s a good savior. He’s a good shepherd, and he wants to do great things in our lives today.
For generations, children and families in the poorest places in the world have struggled to find clean water, food, and a chance for a brighter future. But all that can change in this generation. You can be part of the solution. Go to worldconcern.org. As you participate, this is what will happen, villages will be transformed far beyond where the road ends, and children and families will receive the love of Christ. You can make a difference. Go to worldconcern.org. Let’s be part of the solution together.
Now, when you think about repentance, there’s a few levels. Repentance is making a complete turn in a shift from sin to the savior, 180 degrees. And here’s three levels. Let’s take a specific sin. Let’s take pornography. It’s common today. Even people who love God are stumbling in this sin. It’s affecting marriages, it’s affecting closeness with God. It’s affecting your view of yourself.
How do we break free from pornography? Here’s three levels. The first level is behavior, and on that level, you change some things you do. You put some blockers on your phone. You might not pick up your phone at night. You might set it in the other side of the room. You bring accountability. Other people can look at your phone. There’s some changes in behavior that you can make that are wise that are good. That’s one way to approach it. That’s important. That’s part of it. Get distance from the temptation. That’s very helpful. That’s the first level, behavior. Second level is belief, and this is where you need to change the way you view some things gain God’s perspective. Sometimes we view sin as a win, a pleasure, a short-term good, a release, a way out, something we want to do, something that’s fun. Now, there might be components of pleasure and sin. There are, but they’re not good.
And we need to change our beliefs so that we see sin as dishonoring God, destructive for ourselves, not helpful in our relationships. And not only that, but it sets us back. It closes doors of opportunity. It’s destructive to our mind, our spirit, our soul, our memories. When we start to see sin for what it is, it’s that chocolate-covered poison. Yeah, you can lick a little bit on the outside, and it might taste like chocolate, but it’s poison, and if you eat it, it’s going to do terrible things inside of your stomach. It’s a chocolate-covered poison. It’s deceptive. Satan’s approach is to masquerade as the light, he wants good to appear bad and bad to appear good. And he will trick and deceive, and he will try to convince you with lies that the word of God is not true, that God cannot be trusted.
When you repent and you turn, it’s a change of behavior. It’s also a change of belief. And when you see sin for what it is, you call that out for what it is, and your beliefs change. Belief is conviction. Deep conviction and conviction changes behaviors. If you don’t have the conviction, you might not follow through with the behavior. And here’s the third level, I call it behold, it’s your view of God when you see God, that he’s not a cosmic killjoy. When you see a view of God that he is wise and good, trustworthy, that God wants to provide and protect, that you can trust him in terms of the sources of pleasure. You can trust him that he’s going to bring the right sources, the right amounts, you can trust him that life’s more about just feeling good right now and pleasure right now.
You can trust him with delayed gratification. You can trust him when you go counter-cultural. You can trust him when you say no to temptation. God is good. Walking the light, God’s goodness and his mercy, and his kindness, that all leads us to repentance. So those three levels, behavior modification, yes, distance from sin, change in beliefs, the way you view sin, the way you view the temptation, truth, and love. And then the third level, the way you view God, behold the goodness of God, and that he provides, he protects, do it God’s way. When you say yes to God, that’s a full repentance. That’s a lasting repentance that sets you free from just, “Oh, I feel sorry, but I’m not really going to change.” That takes you so much deeper than, “Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have.” That takes you deeper than, “Oh, who’s watching? Who caught me?” That takes you deeper than, “Well, I don’t like the consequences.”
No, that’s not going to produce the fruit that you want in your life, but when you have a full repentance, it’s a lasting change. I talk to people addicted to drugs, and how do they break free? There’s a full repentance, and it’s Jesus. Jesus is the difference. Hold on to God’s word. God’s word will strengthen you and protect you, and when God sets you free, freedom, by the way, is not just doing whatever you want to do. Freedom is knowing the difference between right and wrong and then the power to do what’s right. Doing the next right thing. That’s real freedom. That’s the freedom God wants to give you. And when God sets you free, he pulls you out of a sin and he pulls you into purpose. Out of and into, out of the drunkenness, into your right mind, into good decisions, into purpose, and making this world a better place, blessing other people, sharing your faith.
He takes you out of a sin to open the doors to walk into what God has for you. It takes you out of impurity, so you can walk into a pure relationship. He takes you out of self-hate, so you can view yourself, love others as you love yourself, and know that God loves you. He takes you out of the darkness so you can walk in the light. It’s not just to take you out of the darkness so you can just kind of sit there in the dim light, but you can run into the light, live in the light, and that’s the work God wants to do. Spurgeon has a great way of summarizing this. He says, “When we experience Jesus, there’s a powerful affection that’s greater that replaces, that drives out the darkness, this powerful affection.” It’s like if you have a container with water and then you set a rock in the container, the water goes fleeing, the water is running out of the container because the container can’t hold both.
The rock is greater than the water. The rock displaces the water, it drives it out. Jesus’s love and presence drives out the sin in our lives. Don’t make your primary focus on sin, either your past sin or present sin. Our focus should never be on sin because sin wants to consume us. Make your primary focus on Jesus, getting close to Jesus, and as you pursue Jesus, he’s going to drive out the sin in your life. More of the Lord. God may increase, I may decrease. Jesus may increase, sin may decrease. Jesus increases despair, anxiety decreases. Worship of Jesus increases, worry decreases. That’s the victory we have in the Lord. This affection and devotion that grows in this relationship with him, that’s so much greater than the sin. God wants to set you free today, set you free from strongholds and footholds.
Do you know how many people live a life? That’s a double-life hypocrisy. They appear one way, but there’s a different story. They know how to answer all the religious, spiritual questions. They know the Bible answers, but then you get their real story, and they’re hiding. Some people are like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It’s shocking sometimes what leaders are doing, what people are doing, pastors are doing behind the scenes. Take heed, lest you fall. You’re not better. I’m not better than anyone who’s fallen, but learn, take heed from this. Sin wants to master all of us. We don’t want a double life. The answer is to go to Jesus, receive his grace, walk in his truth. There were two thieves next to the Savior, and on the cross, they mocked him. They had a low view of Jesus, and then they started to realize, and one of them turned to Jesus and repented, and Jesus said, “Today, you’re with me in paradise.”
The other one, we don’t have any account, any response of any life change. Now, both these criminals were known as sinners. They were being killed because they were convicted of crimes, and yet there’s the grace of God that’s available. One of them sees that and receives it, has peace in his soul, in his final breaths. You don’t have to wait till the end of your life. You can make those decisions today. It’s about receiving the grace of God. If there’s been trauma in your life and you’ve chosen because you’ve been wounded and hurt, you’ve chosen sin because of the trauma, the disappointment, the pain, you’ve chosen sin and developed some sin patterns, the way you view yourself, some habits that you have, some things that maybe nobody knows about, some negative thought patterns, rewinding old tapes, and you’ve got a very low view of yourself. Receive the grace of God today, the grace of God is going to make the difference.
There’s no five-step formula. It’s not like here’s the mental, spiritual gymnastics that you need to do. Here’s how you need to prove that you’re back. Here’s how you need to earn God’s love back. This is about receiving the grace of God. If you don’t receive God’s grace, forgive yourself, forgive other people. The healing won’t come. The revealings will start. This is what happened to me. This is how I responded. This is what I’ve been doing. Here’s my sin. That’s the revealing. And then you receive God’s grace, his mercy, and the healing begins, the relationship, the closeness restored. Don’t wait another day to get close with God. Return to me the joy of my salvation. The Holy Spirit wants to do a work in your life today. Jesus is setting people free, pornography, drugs, addiction, negative thinking, pride, hatred. When you think about the works of the flesh, and then there’s the work of the spirit in your life. Today, repent, the works of the flesh don’t fit your identity. You are in Christ. You’re a child of God. You’re secure. Your destiny is secure. You’re going to have sinless perfection.
Start to live in a way that’s consistent, that matches. There’s alignment with God, with the scripture, and with who you truly are. You are a true speaker. You are the light of the world. This is what God says about you. You are his ambassador. You’re his son. You’re his daughter. Receive that today. Let that sink in. Receive your identity. Receive purity today. Receive God’s direction. Say yes to God. I want to pray right now as God moves and life change happens. Father God, we’ve looked at your word today. We’ve seen the different responses. Self-hate, hardening of hearts, going back to sin. We don’t want that today. God, we thank you for your grace, and I pray for everyone who’s watching and listening.
My brothers and sisters would receive your grace afresh today. There would be a new start. God, you make us white as snow in terms of purity. God, thank you for what you can do. God, I pray for that restoration. We’re stepping out of sin today. We’re repenting. Jesus, we’re walking with you today. We want to step into your purpose. We pray that you would stoke the fire today. God, ignite that fire in our souls today, that as we are set free from sin and experience this freedom, we would tell others about it. We would tell others our story. We would tell others how to be set free. And God, we pray for our brothers and sisters that we know who are trapped in sin, struggling in sin right now. We pray for breakthrough today. Thank you, God, that your hope is real. It’s personal. It’s stronger than sin.
Jesus, thank you that you have power over the penalty of sin, the presence of sin. And right now, the power of sin in our life is broken in your name, Jesus. And we trust you today. Thank you for your grace. We receive it fully. Thank you for the healing that you’re bringing. We give you praise in Jesus’ name. Amen.
And I just want to add, if you don’t know Jesus, put your trust in him. That’s where salvation comes. That’s the forgiveness of sins. As you trust him, he died for your sins, and he is risen. He’s a good savior. Don’t wait any longer. Make the decision and let me know. Check out the video, How to Know You’re Going to Heaven, The Assurance of Salvation, and Anchor for the Soul. I have that on my YouTube channel. Again, thanks for joining us on The Bonfire today. I’m so grateful for the whole team that produces this. We’d love to hear if you want any specific topics for us to cover. We’re excited about the next season that’s coming up. If you can rate and review the podcast, that’s helpful. Share it with friends. Let’s keep growing in our faith together, and let’s say yes to God’s presence. There’s nothing greater than God’s presence. He’s a love. He is light. He is a consuming fire. This is The Bonfire. Let’s keep walking with God.
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