What resources does the truth of the Gospel provide us with to kill sin?

1. What are the ways in which people try and change and overcome sin and our failures/mistakes?

Read: Colossians 2: 16-23 (see also Galatians 3:1-3)

Ponder: What do these passages have to say about any attempt at change that depends upon outward practices or disciplines?

There are many things we can do to control our sin and behaviour externally. We spoke about the example of pornography: There is accountability software that can record the web pages we visit and send a log of it to others to keep us accountable. This may change our outward behaviour. However, perhaps we simply stop visiting the web pages in order to “protect” our good reputation. In this case although our outward behaviour has changed, the “lusts” of our hearts are still the same. Perhaps our behaviour change is not a sign that we have grown in love and obedience of God, but only that we fear ruining our reputation in the sight of others.

Even though we might find ourselves making progress in our Godliness, we none-the-less find it impossible not to sin. Is it even worth trying not to sin when we feel like we are slaves to it?

2. Read Romans 6:1-14.

Somehow, Paul’s letter to the Romans seems to suggest that we are NOT slaves to sin. That we somehow share in Jesus’ power over sin; that sin does not RULE us. What does this mean?

i. We are no longer condemned by sin. In Jesus’ death, our guilt was paid for in full. That Jesus has paid our debt of guilt to God FULLY, is proved by Jesus’ resurrection... His escape from the grip of Sin which is death. Since Jesus took responsibility for our sin, but still broke the shackles of death, we no longer need to fear the death that results from sin (Rom 6:4-7.

ii. But, I think Paul is saying more than just that we are free from the condemnation of sin. Romans 6:14 says that Sin no longer rules over us. How can that be true? If sin does not rule over us, why don’t we seem to be able to stop?

3. John 8:30-47

In this passage, What makes us slaves to sin? What sets us free from sin?

In vs32 and 36 John says that freedom from sin comes from knowing the truth about Jesus. In vs44 Jesus says that sin comes from believing Satan’s lies.

Tim Chester puts it this way: “Behind every sin is a lie. The root of all our behaviour and emotions is the heart: what it trusts and what it treasures. People are given over to sinful desires because they “exchanged the truth of God for a lie” (Rom 1:24-25). Eve’s sin also originated from her decision to believe the lies of Satan rather than the truth of God. Satan was able to convince Eve to disbelieve the truth about God.

Ken summed up the key to applying this passage - “To attack our idols/sin we were encouraged to ask ourselves what lies we were believing and to look to the truth about the situations.”

What is different now, from before we knew Christ, is our access to the truth. When we believe the truth from the heart, Godly actions result. When we feed alternate lies about Jesus in our hearts, sin results.

Qualification: Now Faith is God’s gift, and until God perfects our faith we will still believe lies and therefore sin. We will not ever be perfect until the last day on which God completes this work in us. HOWEVER, there is no sin that we are currently powerless to avoid, as the Spirit testifies to us the TRUTH about God as seen in Jesus.

This little exercise is borrowed with minor modifications from Tim Chester’s book, “You can Change: God’s transforming power for our sinful behaviour and negative emotions” Chapter 5.

# specifically ask how we see these truths about God in Jesus.

What truth about God needs to be

believed?

God is Powerful God is Good God is Gracious God is Faithful

The application of this truth?

I donʼt have to be in control

I donʼt have to look elsewhere

I donʼt have to prove myself

I donʼt have to fear others

What bad fruit/thorns might

be produced when I donʼt believe this

particular truth about God?

What good fruit might be

produced when this truth about

God is believed?