We Are Never Getting Back Together | Pastor Levi Lusko | 1 John 2:1-11 | Fresh Life Church

So the goal isn't try harder white knuckle not sinning more because nature abores a vacuum and simply not sinning leaves your life empty and the enemy will seek to fill it with you guessed it sin and it could just be the sin of pride over not having sinned just that moment before and now you're full of sin right so the goal isn't sin less the goal is walk in the spirit >> so we fill the vacuum with Jesus. 1 John chapter 2 is where we're going to be.

We're in a verse by verse, chapter by chapter study of the New Testament book of First John, which has been compared to a song. When we think about song lyrics, we cycle through them. We spiral through them. You sing the verse, and then you're singing the chorus, and then you're back to the second verse, and then you're maybe to the chorus again.

Maybe you jump to the bridge for a while. Then you're you maybe you sing one of the first verses as an outro. We're we're spinning through it, spiraling through it. And John has been compared in how he writes to song lyrics or to a painting, less of like an argument where you can easily outline the content in what he's written.

And today he's going to talk to us about a breakup. So it's a song about a breakup. In other words, it's like all the songs, right? All the all the songs. I mean, they say literally 70% or higher of songs are about love. And of those, one out of three songs you'll hear was inspired or is in some way connected to a breakup.

You wonder sometimes if artists aren't like sabotaging relationships to get out of creative funks at their end. It's like, I need some more material because the more anguish the better, right? They need to be in the tortured poet society, right? All all the songs come from the hardest places and and so you you have in in these music uh in this music that we listen to that we hear so much that's just like hard and sad and it went bad and and the relationship is now uh like a dumpster fire, right?

And part of the reason I think we are drawn to songs like that is because we love feeling like we're not the only one and that we have, you know, sort of like something to to comfort us in our miserable moments. Uh, I think sometimes just the reality is breaking up can be painful.

If you've been there, that's hard. It's hard to go through. It's hard to face a relationship flaming out. Um, other times when a relationship ends, everybody else but you is excited even though you're sad. All your friends, they have to pretend like they're sad when you tell them, "We broke up."

And they're all like, "Oh, that's terrible." trying to keep a a straight face because what they want to do is say, "Praise God, right?" Because she was no good for you. He was poison. Their impact on you was toxic. Everybody had their teeth gritted the entire time cuz they felt like they were watching a traffic accident in slow motion and they were powerless to do anything about it.

Right? We've all had friends who when they finally got the revelation, I just I don't think it's going to work. were like you you think right like you think obviously they were toxic and no good for you well if you can bring that emotion with you that anguish with you that tortured soul with you to first John chapter 2 for a message that I'm calling we are never getting back together ever we are never getting back together we're going to talk today in our study of first John about the Christian's relationship with sin What is your relationship with sin supposed to look like?

Because like it or not, you are going to continue to have to have some relationship with sin until heaven. There will come a day when he will wipe every tear from our eyes and there will be no more sin. So, praise God for that day cuz that's coming.

That's in the future. coming soon to a world with near you, a life with no sin. But until that day, we are going to have to reconcile with sin on some level. So what is our relationship with sin going to be like? And John, spoiler, spoiler alert, is going to tell us, having come to Christ and married Christ, we've broken up with sin.

That old flame, that old love. We are not to be stalking them on Instagram. So we're not supposed to be looking them up to see their latest. We are to really have that heart posture. We are never getting back together. Now, if you weren't with us last week, we said that the church at Ephesus, a church that John pastored at some point, but he's not currently leading the church.

He uh has, according to some of the church history we read, recently come back from Patmos where he was banished. And during that period of time, the events, the revelation took place that he will write about in the book called Revelation at the end of the Bible. and he's sort of getting brought back up to speed on what has happened in and around the church at Ephesus and the larger area Asia Minor while he's been away, right?

Like Paul had said, I know when I get taken away, savage wolves are going to come in and try and destroy the flock. And similarly, as John's been away, this sort of false teaching has popped up and he's hearing about it. And this book along with second and third John as well are all his response to clarify a confused church who's hearing things different than what they had been taught.

They had been taught sound doctrine by an eyewitness apostle, not only Paul, but also John himself. And so now you have Christians confused like, "Is my salvation real? Am I really a Christian?" because what I'm hearing is I must not really be a Christian because what they're telling me is you got to do this and you got to do this and this is what following Jesus is going to look like.

So they're all confused. And so the big theme of first John is how we can have assurance because this church was confused. They were like, "Dude, I need to know when I die, heaven or hell. This is a big deal. There's not a bigger deal. Think about it.

There's not a bigger deal. Am I really saved? Do I really? How can I know?" And that is the big idea in this book. And as he continues to spiral around the same themes that he unloaded on us in chapter 1, he revisits now this topic of sin.

And he's going to give us a clue that we can actually figure out what our relationship to God is by understanding and dissecting our relationship with sin. >> So good. So by looking at our relationship with sin, it can tell us something about our relationship with God. Just like, right, I was thinking, Jenny, how in looking at our relationship with our ex-boyfriend and ex-girlfriend individually, it can tell us something about our relationship we have with each other, right?

Because I'm saying for both of us, we're never getting back together. That tells you something about our relationship with each other. Do you see what I'm saying? So, by looking at what your relationship with the old flame looks like, it will tell you something about you think you really have love for Jesus.

Well, here's how you can know. >> It's a breakup song. First John chapter 2, let's look at verse one. My little children, literally, that means my dear ones. And John, not only being almost 90, gets to call whoever he wants to little children, but it also shows his affection that as a pastor, he cares for these Christians.

He He wants them to win. He wants them to walk in God's blessings. He goes, "Guys, I love you. I'm not scolding you. I'm not chastising you. You've gotten tripped up in some bad news, and I just want you to know I love you. I want you to walk with Jesus."

Do you see his heart there? He'll use that phrase or versions of it all throughout this book. It's beautiful. It's tender. It's pastoral. These things I write to you. That's the second time he's used that phrase. The first time he wrote that phrase, he said, "So that your joy would be full."

So this is a continuation of that. How are we going to learn to have full joy? Here we go. I write these words to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he himself is the propitiation for our sins.

And not for our sins only, but also for the whole world. Now, by this we know, because they like, how do we know? He's like, "By this we know, here we go, that we know him if we keep his commandments." He who says, "I know him," and doesn't keep his commandments, news flash, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

But whoever keeps his word truly, the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. He who says, "I abide in him," ought himself also to walk just as he walked, stands to reason. Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning.

The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write to you. Now, you're like, John, you got to make up your mind. Which is it? We we'll unpack that. Again, he's a poet. So nothing nothing new but there's a new understanding of it.

Which thing is true in him and in you now too. Why? Because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is actually in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. Now there were two primary views about sin that were popping up under the banner ofnosticism. We saidnosticism is sort of the the the the lead kind of way of understanding the false teaching that was popping up in in that in that day at that time.

Um but thenosticism was kind of more of a generic term and there would be specific strains of it. Okay. So two sort of versions or variants of nasticism had different competing ideas about sin that were popular. And you see John dealing with both of them. Okay? He's like whack-a-ole.

He hits one, the other one pops up. Right? Basically, the first one was aseticism. A s c e t i c i sm. Like if we talk about someone being beautiful, that that movie star was beautiful. That tree beautiful, that painting beautiful, we're saying it was aesthetically pleasing.

The sense of graphic design or architecture, the aesthetics, I mean just objectively beautiful. Okay. So, aseticism is connected to that idea. Those who viewed the Gnostic teaching through the lens of aseticism would basically say if we keep walking with Jesus, eventually we can be aesthetically perfect. And if you want to, you need to know the secret knowledge.

Because normal people are like not finding that to be their lived experience. I've been walking with Jesus. I'm not perfect. Oh, well, you need secret knowledge. And literally, Gnostic comes from the Greek word ganosco, which just means knowledge. And that's because these false teachers love to talk about secret knowledge, which of course you can have for five easy payments of $49.99.

Take my course. It's on master class. Right? These these false teachers were moving the church away from the simplicity of just walking with Jesus. And they were saying,"Well, if you really want to kick sin and be aesthetically perfect, morally perfect, you can get flawless victory in your walk with Jesus, you can attain sinless perfection."

And that's what they were teaching people that a true Christian has attained such a place of enlightenment that they never sin again. Okay? And if if you're a person walking with Jesus who falls into sins and makes mistakes and and messes up, that would be frustrating because then you think, "Oh my gosh, John, am I not really a Christian because these people told me that if I really walk with God and and take it seriously that I could attain such a place of enlightenment that I would never sin again?"

And John is like, "No, just let's clear this one up real quickly. No. Is it possible to come to a place where you never sin? You go, "Well, I have." Well, guess what? You just sinned because lying is a sin and you just lied. So, the moment you think you've come to a place of not sinning, you've proven to us that you you did.

You blew it. You sinned more than the rest. Right? So, the other version of narcissism that sort of is the opposite, the the yang to the yin is dualism. Okay? Dualism. And this is the bifurcation of body from spirit. Hang with me. We were uh talking last week about how the Gnostics believe Jesus didn't actually come in the incarnation into a physical body because physical is bad.

Only spirit is good. And so the goal is to be freed from the physical. And there are still false teachings out there purporting this idea. Eastern mysticism. This is a big idea of Buddhism that Nirvana or alignment is being finally freed from attachment and desire and and so spirit good, flesh bad.

Jesus couldn't have taken a body on because that body would have been bad. And we've called this series touched grass. And one of the reasons playfully is because a gnostic fallacy taught that when Jesus walked on the ground, there were no foot footprints because he was only a phantom.

He was only a spirit. And John in chapter one debunks that when he says, "Uhuh, he left footprints in the ground. I touched him. I saw him. We ate with him. We handled him. He had a body." Okay? And because he took on a body, we can have hope and forgiveness for what we do in our bodies.

It matters. We have a high priest like us in every way except that he never sinned. Well, the perversion of teachings that are in the Bible like God cares about the heart, man looks at the outward appearance caused that combined with the idea of dualism to lead to this perverted distorted version of that basically said this.

It doesn't matter what you do with your body because God only cares about your heart. Okay? So he'll forgive you and cleanse your spirit. And what your body does is what your body does. So your body can go to Vegas as long as your soul goes to church on Sunday and says it's sorry.

You see what I'm saying? And people are like, I like this teaching. This is great. I can just pray all the sin away and I can just go wild. I can be a Marty Gro. It doesn't matter what I do online. Doesn't matter how I treat people. And you go, don't judge me.

You don't know my heart. Right? And I'm like, "Oh, actually I do know your heart because I follow you online." And the Bible says, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth tweets." Okay, that's in the Bible. So, I do know what's in your heart. It's what it's the garbage that comes out of your mouth.

It's not just the the praise you you lift up to God on Sunday. It's how you live on Friday. It's how you treat your co-workers on Tuesday. It's whether or not you live with integrity on Thursday. And so this idea of separating body from spirit led to basically religious services that made you feel good about a life in the gutter all week long.

And to give God an hour on Sunday does nothing to offset the reality of your life the rest of the week. And so this dualism, my spirit is God. So what does it matter if my body still belongs to the devil? Because God doesn't care about my body anyway.

It led to what's called anti-nomianism. That's a big fancy way of saying living like there's no rules. Living like there's no law. Living like no one gets to tell you what to do. You can do whatever you want and just say you're sorry and God doesn't really even care.

So John, you can see as you look through his letter, knows that both of these things need to be corrected. And you go, which one is more dangerous? Right? Martin Luther said, 'The devil doesn't care which side of the horse you fall off of as long as you don't sit in the saddle and ride.

And God wants you to mount up and ride. He wants you to ride with Jesus. He wants you to stay in the cell. So both of these mistakes would be errors and will be do grievous harm to your soul and will do grievous harm to a church community when they're believed in and taught and lived out.

So, what I want to do is from these verses, this passage, I want to give you seven things the devil does not want you to know about sin. >> And then you can use them to decide what your relationship with sin is going to be like. First thing, jot it down.

Devil doesn't want you to know this. It's like getting to look in his playbook. All right? Sin hides itself. Sin hides itself. You ever see video of a mountain lion or any really animal that's like an apex predator sneaking up on something it's going to eat? What does it do?

It hides itself. It tries to make itself seem small. It tries to make itself blend in. So even if you do notice it approaching, it's like, "Oh, it's just a little cutie. Little cutie cat. Look how little that thing is." Right? I mean, the king cobra, while hunting makes itself as small and aerodynamic and as little of a threat as possible.

It doesn't rear itself up to his full height up on itself with its hood open, its fangs exposed, its black nasty tongue dripping venom. Once you see its full size, oh wow. But that's that's not what sin does. Sin doesn't ever show you its full stature. It always hides itself.

Tries to make it seem like, oh, nothing nothing to see here. I'm just a little friend. I'm just here to Hey, I won't take up much room. A little white lie, right? Oh, it's just this. Oh, just that. Well, you know, everyone does that. No one's perfect. Everyone, Right.

We sort of it that's just what sin wants you to think about it. Sin wants you to think. It's not going to take up too much room. It's just this little thing, you know, that gives you a little comfort, gets you a little bump when you're low. It's just little little vice, right?

It's not that big of a deal. You could stop anytime you want. Everybody struggles with that's what sin does. In Genesis 4, God said this to Cain who's about to murder his brother, right? But he he says it to him before it's murder. He says it when it's just baby murder, aka jealousy and hate. >> That's what murder is.

It's it's it's is in the acorn form. It's not a big tree yet. So every giant sin that none of us would ever want to do always starts as an acorn. An acorn is just an oak tree in disguise. So when it's still an acorn, God says to Cain, "If you do well, will you not be accepted too?

And if you don't do well, notice this, sin lies at the door." In the Hebrew, it's it's crouch down pretending to be small at your door. But if you let it in, it it will then come in and show you how big it really is. It'll show you its fangs.

It'll show you its claws. It'll show you its teeth. And look at this. Its desire is for you. Literally, that means it's got a taste for your blood. And it will not be satisfied until it has cleaned your flesh from your bones. What does James say? Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God.

For God cannot be tempted by evil, but nor does he himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin when it is fullgrown gives birth to >> death.

So it starts as a little baby thing, little acorn, little cutesy sin. But it all along is going to grow. The devil knows this. He doesn't want you to know that. So you'll keep justifying and making excuses and ash shucks and you know no one no one's perfect and and meanwhile it gives the the the sin baby a chance to justestate a chance to grow a chance to one day you look around and that that cute little polywog is now some some stranger thing indeed right this this this massive the it's out of the sheath now CS Lewis talked much uh in Mere Christianity about how sin uh es escalates at a compound interest, right?

So, the first couple times the snowball goes down the hill, not that bad, but eventually it could it could take your whole house out because it just gets out of control. So, where we think the devil's playing checkers, news flash, he's playing chess. You think, "Oh, it's just a pawn."

Yeah, he sacrificed the pawn because he's coming for your king. He's coming for checkmate. Number two, sin keeps you from being like God. The goal of life, God's will for your life is that you and I would become like Jesus. >> That would be human flourishing or regaining what was lost in the Garden of Eden.

We created in the image of God have that image marred by sin. There's a brokenness to this world. We still bear his image, but it's imperfect. Even walking with Jesus, it's through a glass dimly. We will eventually bear the image of the son of man. even as we now bear the image of the son of dust.

But but currently the goal walking with Christ is day by day to grow in grace day by day to become more like Jesus. That's your best. The best for you, the best for me is dying to ourselves and becoming more like Christ. Romans 8:29, God planned that those he had chosen would become like his son.

God wants you to be like Jesus. And sin, any sin, every sin, all sin, gets in the way of God's master plan for your life. And that's why the devil loves it. He wants to get you to sin because he wants to derail you from God's plan. Ironically, the way he does it is oftent times by trying to offer us what we already have in Christ that can't be taken away.

You see that when he shows up to Eve and he's like, "Hey, girl. Hey." And she's like, "What's going on, snake?" And that's my Eve. That's all I got. And he says, "You want that fruit?" And she's like, "We're not supposed to eat it. We'll die." He goes, "You won't die.

God's trying to keep you from being like him. If you eat it, you'll be like him. I want to shake Eve by the shoulders and say, "Honey, you can't be more like God than you are right now. You're made in his image and likeness. It's not martyed, restored at all by sin and death.

You're immortal like him, walking with him in the garden, in the cool of the day, doing what he's called you to do. It's perfect." And so she takes trying to get what she already has. >> So it and so it is with me. So it is with you.

I want to grab myself by the shoulders and say, "Li, you can't have more of Christ. And you have in Christ is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. You're filled with the spirit of God. He is light. He's in you. You have light." The enemy is like, "You want that to be really lighty?"

You know, it's like, "I don't know." Right? we find ourselves drawn towards we have a pull in the wrong direction because the enemy wants to keep us from being like God. And when we walk with God and are like God, we then have assurance that we are his.

You see a baby and you go, "Oh, I know your mom cuz I see I see her in you." Right? You see the baby, oh, it's like oh, it's like just like the baby picture of your dad. And when that baby uh is is told you look like your mom, the baby doesn't think, well, I got to do more of that.

Maybe they'll keep me. You know what I'm saying? No. No. It doesn't make them stress. It makes them confident that they are their parents because they're just like their parent. And so it is with you and with me. By this we know him. That's what John said. By this we know that we know him.

Do we come like do we are we becoming more like him? That should give you the assurance or the confidence. I'm really his. He's my father. the family resemblance is flowing in me. Now, I'm not trying to be like him so I could become his child, but because I'm his child by by default, I'm becoming like him. >> Because the more you do life with someone, the more you become like them, you you you you absorb or you you you move to to make it work.

You you you have a child with allergies, you just get used to without even thinking, hey, what's in this? What's in this? Why? Because you know your child can't have that. So it's natural for you to absorb what they can't have and to cater your life to their desire and to their need.

So it is when you bend your need to Jesus. Everything in life, what is Jesus going to think about this? What's Jesus allergic to? What in my life am I doing right now that he would go, "Oo, I don't like that. >> Don't like that. Why? I'm light.

I'm love. That's dark. That's selfish. That's prideful." So we absorb his aloo and we start we learn to react like he reacts because we by this we know him >> that we love him. Jesus said the whole world's going to know that you love me when you do whatever I tell you to do.

They're going to go you must love him. You're just like that Jesus guy. And by the way that's how we got our name Christian. It was an insult. Bunch of people who followed Jesus. They didn't it was so new they didn't even have a name for it yet.

And they're they're just walking with Jesus and these people are like, "Oh, you guys are the worst. You're just a bunch of little Jesuses." And the church was like, "Do you mean it? Do you mean it? It's the nicest thing anyone's ever said." And the name Christian just means little Christ. >> It was an insult.

But the church was like, "We must really be his because we're doing we're doing it. We're doing what he told us to do." They put the insult on their crown. and called it humbug, right? I mean, it's just the greatest showman. This just is exactly what we find in the Bible.

So, by this we know him. We keep his commands. And you'll resemble him the more you walk with him. Taylor knew nothing about football before Travis. She didn't know a first down from a tight end, right? And now she's drafting people in the fantasy football league, right? Why? because she's she's with someone who's passionate about football.

Travis didn't know how to make a friendship bracelet. Didn't know any when he thought about getting the masters. He thought it was a golf thing. Right now he know now he knows the music industry. Why? He's doing life with someone passionate about those things. So you be so so so we who walk with Jesus will learn from him. >> Will become like him. we will gradually slowly but surely resemble him.

And the notion of a true child of God willfully sinning and thinking to themselves, he forgave me. He'll forgive me. That's what he does. And then continually persisting in sin that Jesus has adamantly told us he's allergic to. And let's double down on that. he was crucified for. >> You should have no assurance that you're a child of God.

If that's what's in your life today, you say that, Leah, that's strong language. Well, let's get stronger. Romans chapter 6, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. Theologians say the forcefulness of certainly not to come through in our culture would have to be rendered hell no.

Would we stand at the foot of the cross and say, "Hey, I know you're struggling to breathe paying for my sins, but before you end this, can could we just throw a few more things up there?" Is that the heart, the broken heart of a child of God who knows that the son of God went through that, that the father went through that, the spirit went through that to save you?

And you're like, the thing that killed my savior I I want to cling to and say it's precious to me. Jenny wakes up in the night. I'm texting some girl I used to. You see what I'm saying? This is infidelity. It's gross treachery. And if this is what you're persisting in and delighting in, there should be no assurance that you're walking with Jesus.

The invitation on the table is to walk with him. Learn from him. Become like him. >> Number three, jot this down. The devil does not want you to know this about sin. It can and should be avoided. News flash, we don't have to sin. So, I don't know if anyone's ever told you that.

Like, that's an option. I'm going to write that down. I can and should avoid sin. It's very good news. Had never thought about it quite like that. But literally, that's what John says. Do you do you see it in the text? Verse one, my little children, my dear children, I've written this entire book to you, so that you may not sin.

What a what a refreshingly wonderful idea. I had the choice to not sin just as I have the choice to sin. I know this flies in the face of what we love to think and that is the devil help me made me do it. >> No, he didn't.

You chose to do it. He can give you a bad idea, but homie, you got to jump. You got to do it. You have to choose to do what he says to do. If he could force you, he would. But God has built the universe in such a way where the devil who seems like he does whatever he wants is on a leash.

And God has chosen and appointed that every time the devil tempts us, we always have an option to say no. You can't be forced to do anything. You cannot blame one sin in your entire life on the devil. It was your choice. He just told you the bad thing to do and you did it.

Verse 13, 1 Corinthians 10. No temptation has ever overtaken you except that which is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

Do you do you hear what God's saying? >> The devil would love for you to think every time you're tempted, you just have to give in anyway. It's inevitable. But it's not. You can overcome. And I want to show you how. >> Galatians 5:16, "Walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."

Amen. >> The mistake a lot of us make is we hear that like I'm okay he wrote this so I may not sin this week new goal hadn't thought of it before but now I'm going to not going to sin anymore and then you're going to come back next week and you're going to be very frustrated and I tried all week to not sin and that's all I did or someone else is going to say I successfully didn't sin and then I got proud over my not sinning and then I read in the Bible that too is a sin so help me pastor right and and that's why I said the goal isn't to white knuckle knock on Not going to sin, not going to sin.

Not going to s because even if you succeed in divesting your life of sin, all you've created is a vacuum and nature abores a vacuum. And so sin will rush in. So instead, the goal isn't to empty your life of sin and and attain moral perfection. It's to fill yourself with the Holy Spirit. to fill your life up with Jesus to fill your life up to let the word of God abound in you richly, singing with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, letting God's word keep the young man's heart from the the the the path of sin.

You see what I'm saying? The goal isn't to empty your life. The goal is to fill your life up with Jesus so there's no room left for sin. That's what we should do. We walk with the spirit. And while we're walking in the spirit, we're just going to realize one day as I walk with Jesus, I'm sinning less.

Why? Because I'm walking with him. And he's not steering us towards sin. This is going to inform what I'm listening to. This is going to inform what I'm memorizing. This is going to inform what I'm watching. I don't care what the hot show is. If it's if it's if it's giving your imagination sinful material to work with, if it's if it's moving you towards sinful action, if you need a new crew to hang out with, you're going to walk with Jesus.

And you're going to find that you're becoming your best self along the way. >> Walk with Christ. Ian Bound said, "Prayer is a disinfectant and preventative. It purifies the air, destroying the contagion of evil." And here's the the beautiful thing you're going to discover. God would much rather bless you and use you than spend all his time forgiving you from sins he didn't want you to commit in the first place.

So, as we walk with him, we're going to start to realize there's a whole lot more to this walk with God than just sin, ask for forgiveness, sin, ask for forgiveness, sin. Which which at a certain point you're like, can we can we grow through that and begin to actually get to the good stuff of his blessing on your life, of his abundance on your life, of his using you when it's not just a struggle every single day to decide whether you're going to walk with him or not.

All right. Theologically, let's unpack this because it's helpful to remember that sin is present but not all powerful anymore. >> That's what it means positionally to be in Christ. You are no longer under the fatherhood of the devil. Before coming to know Jesus, you are of your father, the enemy, the dark one.

But once you're in Christ Jesus, you're still living in this broken world in this body. So yes, you do still have a fleshly nature. So you have what's known as indwelling sin. Okay? There's a sinful nature within me. It's still going to pull me towards wrong. The enemy has that willing ally inside of me like the Trojan horse willing to get out and open the gates if I give it the chance.

So indwelling sin is what causes there to be remaining sin. Okay? I'm going to give you three big ideas. Indwelling sin, remaining sin, and habitual sin. Because in Christ, I still have inddwelling sin. There are going to be lapses no matter how good you are. All the way as we limp towards the finish line where there's remaining sin where even though we walk with Jesus and we said, "I'm never getting back together."

We look and we go, "Oops, I did it again." Right? That's remaining sin. And we're going to hate it and we're going to be brokenhearted about it. Okay? But that's different from habitual sin. Yeah, >> habitual sin is that, well, hey, didn't he pay it all? Because he paid it all.

Let's just sin all we want and grace is going to cover it up, right? We'll just say sorry later. Can't we just come back on Easter and be like, "All right, the whole year of crap, please, God, right? Just cancel all that out for me." No, no, no, no.

That's the the certainly not thing Paul was talking about. That habitual sin where you're practicing sin where you're getting better at sin, where you're not phased by sin. Right? So sin remember for the believer is indwelling in our sinful nature currently. Thus there's going to be remaining sin but shouldn't be habitual sin.

Why? Because the sin the presence of sin in our lives has no power over us any longer if we yield ourselves to Christ moment by moment. Paul really spells this out very clearly in Romans 6. You would do well to read the whole chapter this week, but let me just give you some cliff notes.

Knowing this, that our old man, the Adamic nature, was crucified with him, Jesus, that the body of sin might be done away with, so we should no longer be slaves of sin, just having to do whatever the devil says. Verse 7, for he who has died has been freed from sin.

So you're no longer under sin's mastery. Then in verse 11, so likewise reckon yourselves dead also to sin, dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Important delineation. He's not saying that once you're saved, you're not able to sin. He's saying once you're saved, you're able not to sin. >> That's the new way open.

Do you see the distinction? He's not saying, "Well, now I'm a saved, so I'm not able to sin anymore." He's saying, "Now that I'm saved, I'm able not to sin. I can choose to say instead, I'm going to follow Christ in this moment. I'm going to resist the devil."

And according to the book of James, he will flee from me just like he did when Jesus resisted him based on the approval of the father, the power of the spirit, and the authority of the word of God. So that's how Jesus with temptation. And which of those three do you not have?

You have everything you need to not sin. >> You are able with the approval of the father, the power of the spirit, and the authority of the word of God to not sin. Sin's still present, but it's not all powerful. >> Spurgeon said, "The Christian no longer loves sin.

It is the object of his sternest horror. He no longer regards it as a mere trifle, plays with it, or talks of it with unconcern. He looks upon sin as a deadly serpent from whose very shadow is to be avoided. Sin is dejected in the Christian heart, though it is not ejected.

Present still, but not all powerful. Dejected, but not ejected. Sin may enter the heart and fight for dominion, but it cannot sit upon the throne. >> I like to think about because I grew up in New Mexico. We would have these rattlesnakes that would be on our property, five acres.

Sometimes they would even come into the kitchen through the screen door, little crack in the side. There's nothing like coming out for your lucky charms and there's a rattlesnake in the kitchen, right? And uh I get PTSD just thinking about it. And what you know we would do, we chop its head off. >> And do you know what the snake would do with its head chopped off?

And the body You know what I would do? Pee mostly. Just a little more or less. It was dead but dangerous. >> As a child of God, sin is dead to you. But you have to reckon yourself alive to God. And if you make a stupid decision, you can still stand on the fangs and they can still get you get you good. >> Even though sin has been decapitated, it can still defile you.

So we have to have a holy awe and a sense of trepidation. >> I like how Eugene Peterson put verse 12 in the message. He said, "That means now you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day."

Come on, say it with me. We are never getting back together. You were the boss of me. You're still bossy, but you're not Mr. Bossy Pants anymore. I'm under new management. Come on. Jesus Christ is my Lord, not my impulses, not the pull in the wrong direction. I don't have to do what I want to do.

I can surrender myself to Christ >> and choose worship moment by moment. >> Yes. >> And you will get better at it. >> You can. It's not going to be as hard. The the the the longer you walk with Jesus, the better you get at walking with Jesus.

But even as you walk with Jesus, there's going to be remaining sin. So what are we to do when we blow it? What are we to do when we have a bad day? What do we need to do when we relapse? Here's what we do. Number five, sin committed needs to be sin confessed. >> Do not pass go.

Do not collect $200. Do not excuse it. Do not justify it. Do not rationalize it. Immediately bring it to the feet of your savior and be honest with him and be honest with yourself and drag that sin into the light so it can't grow. Bring that sin right before the feet of Jesus so it can't take its full height and take sin committed.

Sin confessed. I've committed a sin. What are you confess that sin? We confess it to Jesus to be forgiven. Not judicially. That happened at salvation. I'm talking about repairing the breach relationally. >> Because you love me. I want to tell you I hate that I brought walnuts cuz you told me you're allergic to walnuts.

Right. you you've told me you hate this and I did it again and I'm sorry about it. I hate it. And and and watch him with his nail scarred hands grab you by the face and say, "I love you, boy. I love you, daughter. Thanks for telling me.

I knew you did it. I was with you when you blew it. But I just love that you told me you did it. I love that you came clean. I love that you confess." And now watch as he as he just holds you. He says, "Look me in the eyes.

Don't you dare give into shame. I love you. I love you. I forgive you. I'm now cleansing you from all unrighteousness. I love what Robert Marie McShane said. He said that we should never think of any sin as too small to need immediate application of the blood of Christ.

Like those tide pens, you like the second you see a thing like you outdamn spot. You're going to take it out right away. Right. Immediately we're going to immed like a little thing. I hate that. just just keep your your accounts your accounts short. If you wait to balance your checkbook like months, then it's this big thing.

If you just do a little bit all the time, it's it's easier to walk with Jesus day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. Sometimes >> you're going to get discouraged though cuz you're going to do this this week and you're going to go, I it turns out the longer I walk with God, the more spots I'm seeing on myself. >> That's something that should encourage you, not discourage you. >> The more darkness you have in your life, the more you think you're walking in the light.

The more you actually walk in the light, the more you're going to realize darkness is clinging to you. In fact, that's what Martin Lloyd Jones put it. He was a great preacher from England. He said, "The nearer a man gets to God, the greater he sees his sin."

Because in the presence of that kind of beauty, you look down and see yourself as you really are. We were once as a family in an elevator in uh a hotel. We got in the elevator and then it opened, the doors opened on the next floor and a bride got in.

Fullon wedding dress, train of her robe coming down the hallway. her bridesmaids all shove in and we were going to the pool. Okay, bathing suit, tank top, sunscreen already on, you know, I have never felt more ashamed. We were trying to stand up straight, you know, cuz just in the presence of such beauty.

She was glowing because looking at her, I saw myself for what I really actually looked like. And I think that's what happens the more we walk with Jesus. >> We thought we were doing pretty good. Then you start walking with him. You look and you're like, "Oh, there's a lot of work still needing to be done here."

And it's not because there's any more sin. It's just we're actually seeing our our eyes are actually open to see what we really are like. >> And when you struggle, when you feel like, "Oh man, I've got so because the people I know who are really walking with Jesus know how much more they need to be walking with Jesus.

No one feel who actually is in the light like I got this thing licked. I've been walking with him so long. Right. Pop collar popped. Come on. Get out of here. The the mark of someone really walking with Jesus is someone who just realizes how long they got to go and how good they have it. >> How good they have it and how how much more they want to know him.

And so when you feel like I'm struggling with sin, that should give you confidence, not terror. That's what John's saying. The fact that you hate that you fall into sin is proof that you belong to him because the person who's outside of Christ isn't worried about sin in their life.

They don't hate it. They're not afflicted by it. They're not falling in sackcloth and ashes when they fall back into it. All right, number six. We're we're nearing the end here. I want you to know sin has an accuser and an advocate. I had to preach the whole message just to get to this.

Sin has an accuser and has an advocate. Now, sin is lawlessness. To break any law causes you to need to stand before a judge. I remember the first time I got a speeding ticket and I said, "I want to go to the court." Because my friend said, "Just say you want to go to court."

And the cop doesn't show up and if the cop doesn't show up, they have to throw the thing out. And I mean, it scared me straight when I stood there and heard them say, "The state of New Mexico versus Levi Lusco." And I was like, "Oh gosh, who am I to go up against a whole state?"

And the cop didn't show up and they tossed it out. It was great. And I've been speeding ever since. No, I'm just kidding. I'm I'm joking. I'm joking. But to stand before a judge, to know that the power of the law was being wielded against me. Think about when you die and stand before God.

We will have to give an account for the deeds done in the body. And in that day, scripture says there will be a prosecuting attorney. His name is the accuser according to Revelation 12:10, which says he accuses God's people before the throne day and night. And what what kind of lies is the devil going to make up against you?

He won't have to. He will tell the truth and be very dangerous and effective because he will simply give the father an accounting of every wrong thing you've ever done. You have an accuser. But you also have an advocate. An advocate is someone who represents you legally and has the power to do so officially and formally.

You're crazy if you think you want to represent yourself. When Jesus says, "I'm willing to represent you and to stand before the father on your behalf." And on that day when that happens, the Bible says that if we do, even as Christians sin, this is verse one. Look at it.

If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. >> What are his credentials to represent us? Verse two, he himself is the propitiation for our sins. That means atoning sacrifice. Same word for mercy seat from the Old Testament. When the people sinned and the priest would kill an animal and put the blood on the mercy seat, that was the propitiation.

That was the covering sacrifice that would atone for the sins. The Bible says you should let Jesus represent you before God when you stand before him because he is the covering sacrifice, atoning sacrifice, the propitiation or payment in full for every sin. So that on that day when the the devil's saying, "But they did this.

They did this. They did this." Your lawyer can say, "Your honor, Dad, we both know everything that was just said about my client is true, but permission to approach the bench." He will move the little gate and step out and put his elbow and he will say, "But dad, you and I both know that I paid in full for every single one of those things."

And death was required. And you know that death is what I paid. And the Bible says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just. None of us want the justice of God because the justice of God means we get what we deserve. I'm going to be on record saying I don't want that except when I stand before him because positionally in Christ when God the Father sees me all he sees is Jesus Christ the righteous because God made him who knew no sin to be sin for me.

So in him, you and I could become the righteousness of God, our attorney. The the the judge doesn't even see the client. They just see the the attorney. The client just sits there without a word. It's the attorney that represents him. And so because Jesus Christ, the righteous, is all the father sees by his justice, he must let us go free.

Tim Keller said, I I just think this is so important to sink your teeth into. He said, "Lawyers only plead and beg and judge the jury if they don't have a case." Jesus isn't pleading with the father, begging of the father. Please show mercy to my client. He didn't mean it.

He's so sorry. That's kind of what we think it is, you know, that we're like, "Oh man, I made a mess." And Jesus like, "Hey, you really did make a mess, but I'm going to talk to my dad for you." And so he goes up and says, "Dad, please, please, please."

He says he won't do it again. Dad, he says, "Just give him lease him to my care. I promise I'll make him feel sorry." And then we go out with Jesus and the father's saying, "Son, you need to get better friends." It's not how it is. Because your sins were entirely paid for on the cross, Jesus actually says, "Father, it would be unjust for you to make them suffer for any of these sins. >> Double jeopardy. >> One crime being paid for twice."

I was at pizza the other day. Someone ordered it. I went to pick it up and I thought it was all paid for. And so I I said, "I need to go." She said, "You need to pay for I said, "No, it was already paid for." And that that made her give pause and have to check because she knew I can't charge him twice for it.

And only when she knew it hadn't been paid for did I actually have to pay. God the Father, when Jesus says, "Check the records. Yes, these sins are all true. And there's even more he didn't mention. He actually did last Tuesday. But you and I both know I paid for it in full."

So it would be unjust for you to make them pay for any of these because it was all on my bill. So based not on the mercy of God, not based on the goodness of God, not based on the kindness of God, but based on the justice of God, we go free because Jesus, we got an advocate with the father, his son Jesus Christ, is our defense attorney.

And so based on the justice of God, who is both the just and the justifier of those who believe, our bill is paid. We're not on probation. We're not out on parole. We don't have one last chance, but if we get three strikes, we're going away for good.

We are seen by the father as the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. And when you get that, when when that clicks into place like a lens for you, it doesn't make you want to sin more. It gives you a whole new ability to sin less. >> That's why he said this is an old truth, but it's a new truth.

The old truth. And and he goes, "What's the old truth?" Love from the beginning. Jesus said, "What what's the great commandment?" Love. It's always been love. But but when John says, "But it's also a new truth." Why? He's saying, "Because there's a whole new ability to keep it when we have Jesus."

The old was the understanding of it. The new is actually a power to keep it. And what's that power? The new covenant. What's that power? The new spirit. What's that power? It's the new light that's dawning all around us. And how can we walk in darkness when the light of the world lives inside of our soul and is always telling us you're forgiven and you're loved and you're cleansed and you go free and you can't lose through bad behavior what you didn't earn through good behavior.

I'll never stop loving you. And when you realize that something new happens inside of you, it's a whole new understanding of what is an old thing. Love. love. Lastly, we close here. The cure for sin needs to be shared. >> Devil doesn't want you to know that. He wants you to end with the last point and walk out here going, "I'm so glad I'm loved."

Because if he can't keep you from hell, he doesn't want you to bring anyone else with you to heaven. But what did the text say? Let's not just read our part. Let's read the whole part. And he himself is the propitiation for our sins. Say it with me.

And not for ours only, but also for the whole world. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. >> The sins of the world have been paid for. The tickets to heaven are at will call.

We are simply the freed, forgiven loved ones sent out into the world to tell everybody about what's waiting for them if they would only go to him to ask him for it. Let's not hog salvation. Let's not be greedy with grace. Let's not be stingy with the spirit.

Come on, let's go. We got a message to tell. We got a world to touch. We got a gospel to preach. We got love to show. So, Father, we thank you for the breakup song from our relationship with sin. >> Thank you for the new and better way opened up to us by the cross.

And with sober hearts, we realize that anyone can be saved, but not everyone will be because not everyone will choose to be. But I pray if anyone here today is in danger of destruction because they're walking right now in that broad road that leads to death. Maybe even some today have come in here kind of with a cavalier nonchalance about sin that today they can actually say as they look at their lives, there's no proof or evidence.

There's no reason for me to think I'm I actually know him. today they can get their hearts right with God, walk with him, and begin to watch that work its way into real true assurance of salvation through fruit in their lives. And I pray, Lord, you would draw people to yourself who need to hear that.

If that's you I'm describing and in this moment, you would say, "I'm ready to give my heart to God. I'm ready to be saved. I want to be set free. I want to be forgiven." With heads bowed and eyes closed, I'm going to pray a prayer and I ask you to pray it out loud after me.

Say this to God. Say this in your hearts and mean it. Dear God, Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner. >> I can't fix myself, >> but I thank you that you can >> because of Jesus, his death and resurrection. >> So by your justice, >> would you forgive me? >> Because of what Jesus did, help me to follow him. >> In Jesus name I pray.

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