HABITUAL SIN

 

It is the nature of man, even the nature of a believer, to be easily entangled in sin. It happens so easily. And frankly, there are certain sins which more easily entangle each of us than other ones. Each of us in our own lives have certain propensities for specific kinds of sins. It can be because we have in the past life cultivated habits of sin which now plague us even after our salvation. It could be because in our spiritual weakness even after becoming Christians, we continued to develop habits of certain types of sin, certain specific sins that now we find more easily than others do entangle us.

 

How Does Sin Entangle in our lives

 

 

First of all,  Sin has great power over our flesh. The reason it so easily entangles us is because of its power, its strength, its force. It exerts strong influence on our will. It exerts strong influence on our motions. It exerts strong influence on our affections. It rarely suggests things to us. It almost always commands them. It rarely leads. It most always pushes from the rear, drives, forces. Galatians 5:17 says, “The flesh sets its desire against the spirit.” They are in opposition to one another so that you may not do the things you please. The beachhead that sin has with its power is our flesh. And sin exerts tremendous power, tremendous strength against our flesh. 

 

Secondly, sin easily entangles us because it is so close – it is so close. More than just forcing its way from the outside powerfully on our flesh, it forces its way on our flesh, as it were, from within us, from within the very flesh. It is very close. In fact, it is in our being. You can become a monk and sit in a cave and you will still deal with sin. Jeremiah 13:23 says, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good who are accustomed to doing evil.” The point being, you can no more change the internal sinfulness that is a part of your life then the leopard can change his spots or the Ethiopian can change the color of his skin. It is a part of what you are. Sin is very powerful and finds a willing ally in your flesh because your flesh is fallen and your flesh itself has propensities toward sin. Sin is very close. Your heart, says Jeremiah 17:9, is deceitful. It is more deceitful than everything else and is desperately sick.

 

There’s a third component that makes sin easily entangled into our lives and that is that sin does not remain separate but it mingles in all our motives and all our actions. Sin is powerful, sin is near in that it is in us, and it isn’t categorically separated. You can’t draw a line and say, well this is where my righteousness ends and this is where my sinfulness begins. It has a way of weaving itself into the fabric of all our duties and all our motives and all our thoughts and all our actions. It entangles itself with our purposes and our plans. In fact, even your best deed, even your best deed is not unmixed with sin. It is tangled up in our lives. In Romans 7 Paul cries out, “O wretched man that I am.” Why? Because no matter how I try I cannot disentangle myself from sin. And so, sin is powerful and sin is near even within us and sin does not separate itself but is mingled into everything. It is interwoven with everything in our lives. The best that we do is somehow corrupted in some way, large or small, by a taint of self-will or self-pleasure or self-aggrandizement or self- righteousness or self-gain or whatever. And so we become easily entangled. And as I said, there are certain sins that more easily entangle us, each of us, than others do.

 

Some Principles That Will Assist You In Laying Aside Sin

 

 

1.      Don’t underestimate the seriousness of your sin. I think the major reason we don’t deal with sin strongly and firmly is because we underestimate its seriousness to God – to God, to us, to those with whom we fellowship, to the church, to the unbelievers. Our sin steals joy. Our sin ruins fellowship with God. Our sin diminishes fruitfulness. Our sin robs us of peace. Our sin renders our service useless. Our sin mitigates against our effectiveness in evangelism. Our sin hinders our prayers. Our sin brings the discipline of God. We need to understand the seriousness of our sin. It violates first and foremost our relationship with the Lord.

2.      strongly purpose and promise God not to sin – strongly purpose and promise God not to sin. Take a solemn vow and say, “God, I do not want to sin. I don’t want to break Your law. I don’t want to grieve Your Spirit. I don’t want to dishonor the name of Your Son which I bear.” The psalmist did that in Psalm 119:106, “I have sworn and I will confirm it that I will keep Thy righteous ordinances.” Unless you have that kind of resolution in your life, you’ll find it more easy to be entangled by sin. In fact, I believe it is that kind of heart purpose, it is that kind of bold affirmation that is at the root of all holy living. And until you make that kind of conscious commitment to the Lord, you’re going to battle the same things over and over and be defeated. There’s a great verse, verse 32 in the same Psalm, Psalm 119, “I shall run the way of Thy commandments for Thou wilt enlarge my heart.” It’s a very beautiful picture. I shall run the way of Thy commandments for Thou wilt enlarge my heart. What it means is, I’m going to run in the way of obedience because I have a heart to do that. It starts in the heart.

3.      be suspicious of your own spirituality – be suspicious of your own spirituality. Paul said it this way, “Let the one who stands take heed lest he fall.” Job 31:1, Job said, “I made a covenant with my eyes. How then can I gaze on a virgin?” He said I’ve got to be careful where I look, because I don’t trust myself. I’ve got to start with what I see, because I don’t trust myself. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Watch over your heart with all diligence for our of it are the issues of life.” There’s a certain watchfulness. You have to be watching for sin’s subtle movements within your own supposed spirituality. Your heart is, as I noted, desperately wicked, very deceitful. And Satan is desperately wicked and very deceitful. And the seducing motions of your own heart can sometimes rise out of the moments of your most supposed spirituality. Be suspicious of your own spirituality. Don’t trust it. Understand that except for the grace of God you would fall into any and every sin, and you can be deceived so easily.

 

RESPONSE: 'Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. ' Colossians 4:2-6