“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James 4:17) [ESV]
What’s The Problem With Sin?
→ You were born with a propensity to sin.
“… I feel I am a slave to my sinful desires. Sin masters me. I don’t even understand the things I do. I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it! Instead I do the wrong things that I don’t want to do! … I can’t help myself because of my sinful nature inside me … It’s a law at work in me that is at war with my mind!” (Romans 7:14-15, 17, 23) [NCV]
→ Sin breaks your fellowship with God.
“Your sins are the roadblock between you and your God. That’s why he doesn’t answer your prayers or let you see his face.” (Isaiah 59:2) [CEV]
→ Every time you sin, something dies inside of you.
“Our evil desires make us sin, and when sin is finished with us, it leaves us dead.” (James 1:15) [CEV]
→ Your sin may be a secret, but it’s never private!
“… behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.” (Numbers 32:23) [ESV]
→ Sin does long-term damage!
“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:7-8) [ESV]
→ Disobeying God is neither fun nor funny!
“Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding.” (Proverbs 10:23) [ESV]
How Do You Break Free From Sin?
□ Understand what Jesus did for you.
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24) [ESV]
□ Let God give you a new nature.
“No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.” (1 John 3:9) [ESV]
“If you have the Spirit of God living in you, you are controlled by your new nature!” (Romans 8:9) [LB]
□ Change the way you think about sin.
“For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:10-11) [ESV]
□ Challenge the lie behind every temptation.
“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44) [ESV]