Why do Christians still sin?

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Prayer

Body

This sermon is not one of my typical sermons. Typically we have a main text that we break down and interpret by other texts. But today I am going to answer a question about a topic that has been raised in Sunday School. And the question is this, why do Christians still sin?

Now, I do not think I have to prove that Christians still sin. I just need each of you to think back to the last time you were angry with your wife or child. Or maybe that time you were less than honest. Or maybe even that pride you carry around with you every now and then.

So it is no surprise that believers still sin and often struggle with sin. But how is that possible with everything that happens in and to a person upon salvation? The Scriptures are clear that there is a plethora of things that happen when someone is saved. Let me just read for you what Paul says beginning in Romans 5:12- through 7:6. And I want you all to listen for the language Paul uses in describing what happens to a person in salvation.

Romans 5

[Death in Adam, Life in Christ]

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

[Slaves to Righteousness]

15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 7

Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

If you didn't catch it let me hit a few high points.

Believers received the free gift of the grace of God (5:15)

Were under judgement and condemnation but now have justification (5:16)

Have received abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness (5:17)

Moved from sinners to righteous (5:19)

Were under death, but now have eternal life (5:21)

Died to sin (6:2)

Baptized into the death of Christ (6:2)

Newness of life (6:4)

No longer slaves to sin but freed from sin (6:6-7)

Will live with Christ (6:8)

(again) Dead to sin and alive to God (6:11)

Brought from death to life (6:13)

No longer under law but under grace (6:14)

No longer slaves of sin but obedient from the heart (6:17)

Set free from sin / now slaves of righteousness (6:18)

Slaves of God (6:22)

Died to the law (7:4)

Released from the law / died to the law / to serve in the new way of the Spirit (7:6)

Those are only things that are expressed in those few verses of Romans. That does not include what is described in the Gospels and the other Epistles or the rest of Scripture. And I want you to notice the language here. Paul is not being flippant here. Each of these descriptions carry eternal weight that can each be a sermon in themselves.

Meditate on it. “Dead to sin”, there is no greater way to break a relationship than by the death of one party. Death is the most permanent and complete type of divorce.

“No longer slaves to sin, but slaves of righteousness”. The task master of an unregenerate is sin. They are bound to do exactly what their master has told them to do. But life in Christ makes righteousness our master.

“Were under condemnation and judgement but now have justification”. The sinner is under the just judgement and wrath of God for their rebellion. But for the believer the wrath of God has been satisfied. And not only that but God looks at the believer no longer as guilty, but as righteous.

Outstanding. Amazing. Wonderful. A truly remarkable thing takes place upon faith in Jesus Christ. But if all these things are true, then why is sin still very much present? Why do Christians still commit sin?

Christians live in a strange condition. Though a multitude of beautiful and transformative things happen in the moment of salvation, some things still remain. Specifically what Paul calls the “sarx” or what is commonly translated as “flesh”. But Paul uses the word “sarx” in four different ways. Let us take a moment to understand how Paul is using this word.

In its most literal sense, “flesh” means literal, physical matter that makes up humans and animals. The bones, blood, and organs. We see Paul use this sense in 1 Cor 15:39 when speaking about the distinction between animals and humans.

37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

The second meaning is similar but more narrow. Paul uses this second sense in 1 Cor 6:15-16. “15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her?” He is specifically referring to the human body.

The third meaning is far broader. “Flesh” means human race or person. We see this in 1 Cor. 1:29. The phrase which is often rendered, “human being”, is the Greek word “sarx”, or ``flesh''. It reads this...

27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Lastly, Paul uses the word in a more inner and spiritual sense, as a way to describe the rebellious human nature. That is how Paul uses it in the section of Romans we read earlier.

CONCLUSION

So coming back to the question, why do Christian still sin?

The world we live in remains.

I do not think I need to explain that this world is still very much depraved. Rampant praise of abominations such as homosexuality, transexuality, abortion, etc. Despite what God has done in His elect, the world still dwells in its depravity. And Christians must navigate this life and its temptations till he or she dies, or Christ returns.

The physical body we live in remains.

I do not think anyone here has had a miracle of healing or renewal of their physical body upon belief. Cancer still grows. Pains still hurt. Limbs are still missing. Addictions are still crippling. Nothing has changed physically to a believer. Sin and its effects remain in our fallen bodies.

The rebellious nature remains.

We are declared righteous. We have been freed from sin. We are slaves of righteousness. But the rebellious nature remains. Let me explain what I mean by that. Believers no longer walk in the flesh, or the rebellious nature, but that nature has yet to be removed. Paul makes this clear in Romans 8.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

All of this to say, that we as believers sin because our sanctification has yet to be completed and the promise of our glorification has yet to be fulfilled. We are in a world that is unredeemed. We exist in a body that is unredeemed. We have an inner flesh that has yet to be completely purged. And that is why we still sin.

I can hear you all already, saying, “Okay, but why does it matter? Why is it important to know why Christians still sin?” And that is a great question.

APPLICATION

You may not be in Christ.

If you are a slave to your sin.

If you are not convicted because of your sin.

If you have no comfort from the Holy Spirit.

If you have no fear of the Lord

You are not in Christ.

God will redeem the physical world.

Even though this world dives deeper into depravity and boasts louder and louder everyday, it will one day be redeemed. All the evil will be burned up and the world will be made new. He has promised it, and He will do it. We may disagree on the details and the timeline, but there is no doubt He will free His creation from sin.

God will redeem our physical bodies.

These diseased, old, weak, and ugly bodys will also one day be made into glorious and perfect bodies. Not just healthy, but free from all addiction and weakness. They will be perfect enough to stand before a perfect God and worship Him forever! We eagerly await that day.

God will redeem our natures.

We suffer with natures that are not completely sanctified. But our sanctification will be complete one day. Either when we die in Christ or He returns to collect His people, our sanctification will be finished. There will be no more war inside our souls between the old flesh and the new life in the Spirit. No more enticement to sin. We will be made perfect internally as well externally.

CHRISTOLOGY

Jesus did not simply save us and redeem us and justify us, and give us newness of life to simply leave us to our own devices.

We are not simply redeemed and made righteous. We are not simply declared just and divorced from sin. We are not simply left to make the “right” decisions with our own power. Rather, the Lord has done so much more for us. He has given His Holy Spirit, God Himself, to dwell in us. And He not only is the guarantee of our salvation, but also is our helper.

He convicts us when we sin or are thinking about sin.

He comforts us when doing the right thing is detrimental to us in the temporal world.

He divinely sanctifies us.

Even though we are responsible to obey, the Holy Spirit sovereignly cleanses us from this wicked flesh and divinely directs us to holiness. We are responsible, but He does the work. We receive the blessings of obedience, but He is the power of our obedience. We study, pray, and fast, but He gives us the desire. How wonderful.

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