God died for you to walk with you.

Introduction

Next week we are going to begin a four week series to end out the school year.

I’ve said before, but growing up I was the walking definition of a “church kid”. Any church kids in the house? Like, every Sunday, every youth service, every camp, every DNow, every VBS; you name it, I was there.

But I struggled with this idea that if I sinned, God was going to think less of me. I struggled with this all through my youth years and into early college.

No one told me that God thought less of me when I sinned. It’s just something that I picked up being around bad religion [religion < relationship].

Tonight we are going to explore a common misconception within Christianity that I still struggle with today.

Romans 7:15–19 NIV

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

Coming off of Easter, who was here on Easter?

Easter is the Super Bowl of Christianity. Without the resurrection, all of this is pointless, right?

I’ve found that the most important thing we can possess in life is a relationship with Jesus. It’s more important than popularity, what college you’re going to, how much money you have, where you grew up…

It’s the most important thing that we can gain from life.

In Romans, Paul is talking about the spiritual battle that takes place after you’re saved. There’s a battle between your fleshly desires and you living a spirit filled life.

Romans 7:17 NIV

As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

Is Paul denying his responsibility as a sinner? No.

Paul recognizes that as he sins, he acts against his nature as a new creation in Jesus Christ. PSA: you will sin, you will fail after you follow Jesus.

My best sins came after I got saved…

At first, when you read verse 17 you might think that Paul is making an excuse.

[SIBLING EXCUSE (V.17)]

What Paul is really saying is that as Christ followers, we own up to our sin, but we realize that the impulse to sin does not come from who we really are through Jesus. We must own it and disown it.

We own it by acknowledging that we did sin and that’s fact. That’s where many people stop though.

They forget to disown sin. Disown means to refuse to maintain any connection with. You reject, cast off, abandon that sin.

I wish I had known this when I was coming up in my youth years, because it would have saved me years of heartache.

Own it and disown it. I remember that I, like many, are good at owning our sin but not at disowning our sin.

If we only own our sin, our sin becomes who we are. We identify by it, we relate to it, we become consumed by it.

Teflon vs. Velcro…

Romans 7:20–23 NIV

Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.

Anybody ever struggled to be good?

It’s like that teacher tells you to act right, but then she puts you at the table with all your homies…

C.S. Lewis wrote, “No man knows how bad he is until he has tried to be good.” Often times, it is hard to do good.

Paul tells us that he delights in the God, but sometimes his flesh wins the war.

I used to think, to be honest still struggle with this idea, that when I fall short or sin God will love me less. Like God’s got this ranking system that when we sin, we fall toward the bottom each time.

I’m not saying that God likes or is okay when we sin. The Bible is clear in that sin breaks God’s heart and that God opposes sin because sin is against His holy nature.

But what I am saying is that when you sin, when you fail don’t let the enemy trick you into thinking that you are your sin or that you are defined by it. You are a royal priesthood, set apart, a son or daughter of God. Nothing will change that, once you’ve been filled with the Spirit.

Conclusion

Paul wraps this idea up with saying that without Jesus we are powerless when we try to battle sin in our own strength.

I’ve said it before, but without the daily filling of the Holy Spirit in our lives we will fail every time. Pastor Eddies says it best, the Spirit is the secret sauce to the Christian life.

Tonight be encouraged. Don’t buy into the misconception that God has a tally chart of all of the times you’ve sinned. He already died for all of them.

Prayer