How Do I Know That Sin Won't Win in My Daily Life?

Introduction

First time home alone story

I am so glad that my fears weren’t true about that night.

And even in searching for the truth that night, I was afraid and alone, yet the truth, was such a welcome friend, even if it was a silly and somewhat embarrassing truth.

And when I say we take it for granted, its not that our eternities are not secure in Christ, but that we forget all that that truly means.

Of course the answer is Jesus. Whether we belong to Him or not, He will always have the last word over every life for eternity.

If my fears when I was home alone that night had had the last word, I may not be standing here today. But thankfully, truth has the last word.

But what about from day to day?

While that is a simple anecdotal example of how the search for truth can lead to peace even when our circumstances dont change (i.e. I was still home alone, my nose was still whistling, etc), when we are caught in a whirlwind of sin and we try to search for truth, its more difficult, isn’t it?

For Jesus to have the last word over our eternities also means that He can have the last word over our daily lives, and this is something that we forget just about everyday, if we even understand what that means for our lives.

The Apostle Paul writes in the book of Romans that our primary battle through life is not against flesh and blood but it is in the spiritual realm. It is a battle quite literally of good versus evil, and where we are concerned, to which influence we will surrender ourselves.

Do you submit to Jesus daily so that He can have the last word over your life in the daily sense?

And particularly, its hard to remember the assurance of the cleansing, healing, restoring, and forgiving power of Jesus Christ when we are enveloped by sin.

Or maybe you are stuck in habit of sin and you feel too ashamed or embarrassed to allow Jesus to truly help you, and so you give sin the last word over most of your days.

Whether it is a sin that we are committing ourselves as individuals that has us trapped or addicted, or whether it is sin among us that is happening to us, maybe because a friend or family member is caught in a sin cycle.

Are your fears about who you think you are keeping you from the healing and cleansing truth of Christ?

And it is awfully true that when we are caught in patterns of sin ourselves, or when sin has regular residence in our homes and families, it is easy to resign ourselves to the lie that sin will have the last word in our lives here on earth.

I say “who you think you are” because it is sin that confuses our identities as something other than a creation and child of God.

It seems so easy to forget that Jesus really can rescue us in our day to day lives and daily battles with sin, as well as eternally.

Sin reduces our identities to nothing more than a sinful habit we have, or some other damaging aspect about us.

And then sin convinces us that we cannot reach out for deliverance and restoration through Christ because we are just too far gone.

I know what its like to be surrounded by sin, watching sin have the last word day after day, and slowly losing hope for rescue or redemption.

But, I also know what its like when Jesus does break through, when we finally surrender to Him, and what its like finally experience His rescue and restoration.

Some of us in this room are in that very place right now.

Some of us in this room are in pain because a friend or family member is caught in sin and its getting harder to see how the hope of Christ for forgiveness, healing, and freedom can ever be a reality in your life.

Today, as we continue our Seeking Truth series, we are going to talk about the assurance that is found in Jesus that tells that sin doesn’t have win in our daily lives.

And this is how we can give sin the last word in our daily lives.

And while sin can have the last word in our daily lives, it doesn’t have to.

That we are never beyond His forgiving and redemptive reach, and that Jesus really does see the mess of our days and He wants to clean us.

The ugliness and damage of sin can be overcome in this life, in your life, today, through Christ Jesus.

The choice is whether or not you are willing to come before Christ and allow Him to cleanse you, or if you’ll continue to stay hidden from Him because your sin has convinced you that you should be afraid of Jesus, afraid of your family, afraid of your friends, afraid of fellow believers at church, knowing and seeing the truth of where you are right now.

The truth of where you are right now does not define you, Jesus does. It is only when we allow sin to have the last word over our daily lives that we believe sin’s testimony about who we are instead of Christ’s.

Jesus Christ really can have the last word in your life both in eternity and on earth, and we’re going to look at how He does that this morning.

We are going to see this through a passage of Scripture that is most often used to describe servanthood, but as we will see, the truth that Jesus wants to cleanse us of our daily battles with sin is on full and demonstrative display.

If you’ve got your Bibles, please turn with me to John chapter 13, and as we are opening our Bibles and coming to God’s Word, let’s pray.

As we come to God’s Word today, let’s pray together for clarity and understanding.

If you’ve got your Bibles or your smartphones, please turn to John chapter 13.

As you do so, let me set up the scene:

The setting has shifted and the Apostle John takes us from Jesus’ Triumphant Entry on Palm Sunday to the Upper Room, which was the setting for the Last Supper, with Jesus and the 12 disciples. This is just before they all would go into the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus would be arrested.

It is marvelously fascinating how the four Gospels combine and spend just about half of their narratives dealing with events specifically from Palm Sunday on.

John, in his Gospel, does not include information about the days of the week leading up Maundy Thursday (when they had the Last Supper), nor does John include narrative information about the Communion Supper, except to show Jesus predicting Judas’ betrayal. Instead, John focuses on the words of Jesus throughout this Thursday evening into early Friday morning, and we get such a picture of Jesus’ love for the disciples, and for us. In fact, as we are about to read, this is Jesus demonstrating the fullest extent of His love.

John 13:1–20 ESV

1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.” 12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 18 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ 19 I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

Now, I know that when this passage is taught or read in a church setting, that often the emphasis is on serving others. After all, this is one of the most obvious examples of the servant’s heart of Jesus.

However, servanthood is not the only thing that Jesus is demonstrating in this event. Jesus is also showing the disciples, and us, how He wants to deal with the daily sin with which we constantly battle.

It is indeed a tragedy that so many Christians, who will enter eternity with Christ, will succumb to such a resignation.

Before we unpack this, let’s look really quickly at a couple of key verses in this text that tell us that Jesus is not only demonstrating humble servanthood, but also, how He wants to cleanse us of sin and help us overcome our daily battles with our flesh.

John 13:8 ESV

8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

In establishing the direction for this message series, each teacher who is speaking was asked to title the message in a way that might summarize the questions received on that particular topic. So, in looking at the questions submitted that were specifically on the topic of sin, this was the best summary that God showed me:

John13:8

Jesus is making a bold statement here that is one of exclusivity, which is seen is response to Peter’s protestation.

How Do I Know That Sin Doesn’t Have the Last Word in My Daily Life?

Effectively, Peter’s high regard for Jesus led him to an impetuous response, as he initially refused to let Jesus wash his feet because he did not think that Jesus should degrade himself in that way.

And right now, at the beginning of this message I am going to tell you the answer, and its answer in two parts:

Because Jesus is The Ultimate Truth for now and for eternity. Truth has the final word, Jesus is The Truth, therefore Jesus has the final word in the ultimate and eternal contexts.

In our daily lives, whatever you surrender to will have the last word.

You see, in these days, it was a custom when you hosted a dinner party to have the lowest servant wash the feet of those who attended the dinner party. Jesus was assuming this lowest position, and this was, at first, abhorrent to Peter.

To be clear, Jesus’ truth is still true everyday in our earthly, daily lives. But Jesus wants us to choose to obey Him because we love Him, not out of compulsion, and therefore we have freewill, which God honors, and if we want to choose sin on this day, we can, even though choosing sin over our Savior is always the wrong and damaging choice.

So, we have Jesus Christ who is The Truth in all ways and at all times for now through eternity, and we also have our daily earthly lives wherein Jesus wants us to mature in Him so that we will choose to surrender to Him daily, and not sin. Nonetheless, we often surrender to our sinful impulses, don’t we?

And the more we do that, the darker our world seems to get, and the less hope we seem to see. And when we are stuck in a habitual pattern of sin, or a circumstance of sin, its hard not to think that sin wins in this life, even though we are preserved in Christ for the next life.

But sin doesn’t have to have the final word in your daily life, or in your family, or wherever sin’s darkness may be attacking you.

The best way that I can think of to demonstrate that to you is to show you from God’s Word itself. This is an area where we really need to hear the God’s full Word, so that we can hear the message of hope and assurance from God’s own heart and mind, and not the summaries of man. So, we are going to read a significant portion of Scripture together and hear how sin does not have to have the last word in our lives. We will look at some obstacles and deceptions that we face when battling sin, and we will pull out some of God’s powerful and assuring truth that we can apply in our lives right now, and begin to experience God’s final word, not just for our eternities, but for our everydays. Let’s pray as head into the Word of God.

Will you turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 4 and we will pick up in verse 13.

While you’re turning there, in full disclosure, we are going to read all the way through chapter 5.

The Apostle Paul, in writing the book of Romans, composes at the direction of the Lord, an amazing treatise of theology, doctrine, and application. Throughout the entire book, the connective tissues of theological context make it very difficult to just look at a small section. We read words like, “therefore”, “since”, and “because”. And if we are going to learn to surrender to God daily, we need a full context of truth. And even this section we are about to read would benefit from greater context, it is hopefully enough for you to hear and read God’s truth concerning His victory over sin, and the battle that Christians wage with it.

If we want to be assured that Christ can have the last word over us every day, and not sin, we need to understand:

Christ has defeated sin eternally

Let’s read starting in Romans 4:13:

Romans 4:13–Romans 5 NIV

13 It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, 15 because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. 18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. 1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned— 13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. 15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! 18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. 20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Quite honestly, these passages really say all that we need to say here this morning.

Paul is saying that yes, sin came into the world through Adam, but that the Second Adam, that is Christ, brought a death and sin conquering eternal life that is made available exclusively through Him.

Christ has defeated sin eternally

says that “while we were STILL sinners, Christ died for us.”

First, let’s look at what sin is so we have a basic definition for us all this morning.

We hadn’t asked for what Jesus did for us, He offered His salvation to us.

The salvation of Christ was first mentioned in the Bible in when God said that the serpent will bite the heel of Eve’s offspring, but that He would crush the serpent’s head.

And there it is. Before anyone asked for forgiveness, God offers it through Christ, and not only that, God defeats sin and death by His mighty Word, which we then see play in real life through Jesus Himself.

Nonetheless, sin is still a cancer on earth, and we are still in the flesh, and so we must wage battle against it.

Regarding sin, author Cornelius Plantinga Jr notes:

“The Bible presents sin by way of major concepts, principally lawlessness and faithlessness, expressed in an array of images; sin is the missing of a target, a wandering from the path, a straying from the fold. Sin is a hard heart and a stiff neck. Sin is blindness and deafness. It is both the overstepping of a line AND the failure to reach it - both transgression and shortcoming. Sin is a beast crouching at the door. In sin, people attack or evade or neglect their divine calling. These and other images suggest a deviance: even when it is familiar, sin is never normal. Sin is disruption of created harmony and then resistance to divine restoration of that harmony. Above all, sin disrupts and resists the vital human relation to God.”

Sin disrupts and resists the vital human relation to God

Every other disruption that results from sin follows that one.

When we are disconnected from the Vine as Jesus refers to Himself in , we disconnect from everything else that could be good in our lives, including from other people.

But Jesus response gives us the first indicator that He is demonstrating much more than servanthood:

We see this in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned by eating the fruit, they became afraid of God, and they were ashamed before each other.

You see, in order to be effective in tempting us, sin must separate us from truth and light. Sin causes us to suppress the truth as we run into the darkness of falsehood. And there, hiding from God, deaf to the truth, lost in falsehood, and clinging to darkness as our security, it is not a long journey from there to believing the lie that sin has had the final word in our lives.

Jesus’ response, “If I do not wash you, you have no share (or no part) with me,” shows the necessity, not only for the washing of Peter’s feet to make him socially acceptable for the dinner, but also for the cleansing of his personalty to make him fit for the kingdom of God.

The external washing was intended to be a picture of spiritual cleansing from evil.

Furthermore, Jesus said, “unless I wash you.” “I.” Jesus was also indicating that only He could perform this kind of washing.

Well, if a regular human being can wash another person’s feet, but only Jesus can do it in this case, He must be demonstrating something other than regular dirt, i.e., sin.

You see, in order to be effective in tempting us, sin must separate us from truth and light. Sin causes us to suppress the truth as we run into the darkness of falsehood. And there, hiding from God, deaf to the truth, lost in falsehood, and clinging to darkness as our security, it is not a long journey from there to believing the lie that sin has had the final word in our lives.

Only Jesus can cleanse a person of their sin, whether eternally, or daily. Because only Jesus can defeat sin.

Ok, so now we know that Jesus isn’t just serving for serving’s sake, but He is teaching something about how He wants to deal with our sin.

Of particular note to understand is how those of us who are in a heated battle with sin right now, how tempting it is to cling to darkness for your security. Why? Because another lie we believe is that if we are honest and bring our sin to the light, that we will expose how unlovable, un-saveable, and how downright ugly we truly are. And that thought terrifies us.

Now, how do we know that this isn’t a picture of salvation, as opposed to the daily sin that we deal with?

Of particular note to understand is how those of us who are in a heated battle with sin right now, how tempting it is to cling to darkness for your security. Why? Because another lie we believe is that if we are honest and bring our sin to the light, that we will expose how unlovable, un-saveable, and how downright ugly we truly are. And that thought terrifies us.

In other words, how do we know that Jesus is demonstrating sanctification, that is, the freeing from sin’s power over time, which we call spiritual maturity, and not justification, which is the freeing from the penalty of sin, which we call salvation, or, being saved?

Just like Adam and Eve, we become afraid of God, and we try to hide from Him.

For this answer, look at the next two verses:

Just like Adam and Eve, we become afraid of God, and we try to hide from Him.

John 13:9–10 ESV

9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”

This is why it is so critical to understand Christ’s primacy and efficacious victory over sin completely and eternally. If Christ was not victorious over sin eternally, how could He possibly help us overcome sin daily?

Next, Peter, in another impulsive outburst wants Jesus to go ahead and give him a full body sponge bath. And why not? Separation from Jesus was unthinkable to Peter. Yet Jesus’ response shows that he (Peter) did not need a full bath, because he was already clean (that is, he was already saved, he already belonged to God), but not everyone in the group belonged to God. This is reference to Judas who had consistently refused Jesus’ spiritual reach for him.

This is why it is so critical to understand Christ’s primacy and efficacious victory over sin completely and eternally. If Christ was not victorious over sin eternally, how could He possibly help us overcome sin daily?

If you are feeling hopeless today, have you forgotten Jesus’ power to defeat sin? Have you tried to access it?

Since Peter did not need a whole bath, and since we know that Jesus’ footwashing was a teaching about being cleansed from evil, we can know that Jesus is not talking about eternal salvation, but about daily cleansing from the effects of daily sin.

I know that might sound like a strange question, but when we are attacked by sin, and should we get caught up into sin, we may want Jesus’ power to defeat it, but we go about it through our strength and wisdom, not His.

That’s why we “go to church”, or get the feeling like we have to “pray more” or “have better faith”, or any number of holy sounding phrases, that, at their base, suggest that we are the ones who defeat sin in our lives because it’s the power of my church attendance that sets me free, or its how hard I pray that God will honor.

But if we really look at the truth of that kind of approach, it is revealed that our faith is not in Christ in those times, but in our ability to do a work of some kind. Inevitably, we will be discouraged when the darkness of sin does not lift from our lives after all that dedicated work and effort on our part.

Now this is where I want to camp out for the rest of our time today.

So many Christians are trapped by patterns of sin, whether they themselves are in a habit or stuck in an addiction, or if they are in the midst of sin’s attack.

And the ferocity of sin’s presence at the moment can make us doubt the faithfulness of Christ’s presence in our lives.

If you can identify with that today, then I really want you to see how Jesus wants to reach you, and those in your life.

I want you to see what Jesus’ reaction to your situation truly is from this example, so that you can resist the temptation to give into fear and hide from Jesus, thereby prolonging your imprisonment and sorrow.

Because I want you to leave here today knowing that sin does not have to win in your life everyday until the end of time.

I want you to know without a doubt that not only does sin not have to win, in Christ sin is not allowed to win. Sin is not allowed to have the last word in your life.

There is victory, there is hope, there is cleansing available, and its right in front of you.

That doesn’t mean that cleaning is always easy, but its available to you, everyday, through Christ.

Ok, so, how can I be assured that sin won’t win in my daily life?

To see most clearly what Jesus is demonstrating let’s first identify some of the things that keep us from coming to Jesus in the first place when we are battling sin from day to day.

We’ll call these “De-Assurances”

The Bible calls them lies.

Here we go.

De-Assurances

Fear

Fear is one of our biggest motivators in life isn’t it? And most of the things we are afraid of, occur in our imaginations.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t real things to fear, or that fear is always a bad thing.

I fear bears. Therefore, I steer clear of bears. That’s a good fear.

But you know, the first time we see fear in Scripture, its a bad fear, that is, its a fear that is based on a complete lie.

, 21

Genesis 3:6–13 ESV

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Genesis 3:6-

Genesis 3:21 ESV

21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

Genesis 3:

In , after Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the first emotion they show is shame toward each other, a fear of what they would think of one another now that they both saw their own nakedness.

And what did they do?

They hid from one another, and made clothes to cover up themselves in front of each other.

Then, Adam and Eve hear God and they hide from Him among the trees.

And what reason did they have to fear each other? Until now, there was no sin so they had not mistreated each other up to this point.

And what reason did they have to fear God in this way? Again, God had dealt with them harshly or intimidated them in any way.

Yet, this sinful fear drove all parties apart. Why?

A healthy fear comes from a place of reverence, while sinful fear comes from our own rebellion.

In other words, I fear bears, not because I don’t want to be in their presence, but because I respect their power, and in light of my lack of power comparatively, I will yield to their right of way, so to speak.

But a sinful fear leads us to reject that of which we are fearful. This kind of fear leads to division and hatred. Why do you think Adam stood there before God and blamed Eve? Why would Adam blame his own wife, why would he throw her under the bus?

Fear. Sinful fear.

And notice what Adam and Eve did in order to face each other: They tried to cover up their sin before each other. Their motivation for making clothes was much different than God’s motivation for clothing them, which we saw in verse 21.

Adam and Eve were motivated to alleviate their own feelings of shame, guilt and fear. While God’s motivation was to offer some comfort to His children even though they had disobeyed.

Even the quality of the clothes demonstrates this in that Adam and Eve grabbed some leaves and put them on, yet the Lord God made clothes for them Himself that were far superior to anything Adam and Eve could have come up with on their own.

Think about your own life and your own family right now, and whatever you might be battling in terms of daily sin.

What part is fear playing in your battle?

Is fear causing you to hide from each other, and to make clothes out of leaves to try to hide your sins from one another?

Have your fears convinced you that God is out to get you and that He’s going to destroy you if you allow Him to deal with you as you truly are, and so you’re trying to hide from Him too?

De-Assurances

Pride

Buying water for a nun who didn’t have enough money at Stop N Shop.

Isn’t it amazing how we can trust in God for eternal salvation, how we want God’s help to get to heaven, yet we won’t accept $2.60 from someone who wants to bless us because we are too prideful to admit that we are in need of help in the here and now?

And isn’t it even more astounding that we can trust Jesus all day and night to save us from our most wretched sins for eternity, yet we don’t trust Him to free us from sin’s power right now?

I think that one of the reasons we think we can handle everything is because we think that the Bible teaches that, but it doesn’t.

1 Corinthians 10:13

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV

13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

We have confused and re-written to mean that whatever happens we can handle it, when the actual verse is saying that God has given the ability to handle temptation, and He will provide a way out so that we don’t have to fall into whatever sin we may be tempted with.

When it comes to daily sin, this is important to understand:

The Bible says that we can handle being tempted if we lean on God.

But the Bible does not say that we can handle our sin.

In fact, just the opposite.

In , where we are reading today, Jesus clearly says that only He can cleanse Peter.

Peter can’t handle sin. Neither can you. Neither can I.

It is not a sin to be tempted, Jesus was tempted and yet He did not sin.

Being tempted and sinning are two different things, and may not make the mistake of thinking that we can handle our own sin on our own. We really can’t.

Sometimes, even the most religious among us can’t even afford a bottle of water, what makes us think that we can handle sin?

But there is hope:

Here’s how we know that sin doesn’t have to win everyday.

Here are the Assurances as seen in the person of Jesus Christ.

Assurances

1. God initiates your restoration (; )

If Jesus wanted to destroy you because of your sin, would He not have initiated your demise as opposed to your restoration? In both examples of Scripture that we saw today, Jesus didn’t come barging in yelling, “who did this!,” instead, in Genesis, God asks, “Where are you?” and in John, Jesus takes it upon Himself to prepare to wash His disciples’ feet. In both cases, interestingly, and perhaps tragically to a degree, no one asked Jesus for help. Adam and Eve didn’t see their sin and call on the Lord, they hid. The disciples weren’t looking for Jesus to clean them. Yet again, in both places, Jesus initiated their restoration.

Friends, every day, Jesus wants to initiate your daily restoration. He wants to wash your feet clean of the sin of the day. But far too many of us, either act like Adam and Eve, or like Peter did at first, a resist Jesus, and hide from Him.

2. Jesus Uses His Power Over Sin for Your Benefit and His Glory (; ; , )

In , we have the first mention of Jesus Christ when God said that Satan’s offspring will bite Jesus’ heel, but that Eve’s offspring (i.e. Jesus) will crush Satan’s head.

It is not insignificant that in the Garden of Eden, God asked Adam a question and He asked Eve a question, but He didn’t let Satan speak at all. Satan was already condemned and the first thing that God dealt with after the Fall was sin. And God made the plan of salvation right then and there so that sin would not have the last word over God’s created humanity.

Furthermore, God clothed Adam and Eve, demonstrating that their shame was not a paradigm in which He wanted them to live, and He protected them by removing them from Eden so that they would not eat from the Tree of Life and then live forever (along with their offspring) in a sin separated state. In God removing them from the Garden, He preserved you and me as well.

Some object to God’s action there as mean, but think of it this way: If your child is getting into the knife drawer, would you not move the knives out of their reach to protect them? The same principle applies here.

And in , Jesus demonstrates His attitude toward us when He does cleanse us of our daily sin, and His attitude is one of a servant who wants to present their families as clean. This is a much different picture of Jesus than our sinful fears sometimes put before us, isn’t it?

3. Jesus Cleanses Us in Safety, but Not in Secret (; )

Throughout all of John’s writings in Scripture, he uses the term light to describe Christ and the things of Christ, and darkness to describe sin. One thing that we know is that God created light to eliminate the darkness, this is seen in the account of creation in Genesis. So when John uses this imagery, the same thing is at work here. Now, to bring sin into the light is necessary if it is to be defeated. But confronting Adam and Eve together, and by washing the disciples’ feet in front of one another, we also see that, while Jesus will deal with our sin in a safe environment, He will not deal with our sin in secret.

Why?

Because a secret requires darkness, and darkness breeds more secrets, etc. Furthermore darkness does not kill other darkness, only light does.

And this is one of the most difficult and scary things if you are caught in sin right now. Because it does mean that some people are going to have to know about your battle. Because the way God brings light into our darkness concerning sin in today’s age, is by bringing other believers into the battle to help you.

After all, is not a part of serving each other, washing each other’s feet, helping each other battle with the sin that we might be caught in, or the sin that might be attacking us?

Yes, there will be embarrassment and vulnerability. And there will be pain. Because at the end of the day, what sin does is it breaks relationships. And when sin is revealed, relationships are always hurt. And we want to avoid this, especially if we are caught in a pattern of sin and we can’t break free because we know the pain it will cause our loved ones. Oh if God would just take it away without anyone knowing, we could just go on like it never happened. But truly, it doesn’t work like that. God doesn’t work like that. And even if you could make it through life without anyone ever knowing your sin, then the fact that you have been dishonest with others throughout your life will bring you even more grief and despair.

But there is hope:

4. Jesus Does Not Give Up on You ()

This comes from the section right after our main text for today, but it is a section that we do not have time to read in full, yet it illustrates what happened right up to the point where Judas Iscariot, who was the disciple who sold Jesus out to be arrested and killed, would ultimately pass the point of no return and carry out his evil plan.

One thing that we see in the totality of all of these verses is that Jesus kept referring to Judas. Judas was the one who wasn’t clean, Judas was the one who would share the bread with Christ. Until Satan entered Judas in verse 27, Judas could have renounced his evil. Jesus would not have turned him away.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary notes:

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 9: John and Acts 2. The Prediction of the Betrayal (13:21–30)

27a “Satan entered into him.” This moment was Judas’s last opportunity to renounce his treachery. If the other disciples were ignorant of Judas’s intentions, he could change the course of his action without explanation, and none but Jesus would be the wiser. Once Judas left the room to seal his bargain with the priests, he would pass the point of no return. His yielding to selfish impulse opened the way to satanic control.

If Jesus kept telegraphing to Judas, who He knew would betray Him, why don’t you believe that Jesus is relentlessly pursuing you? Even when you give up on Him?

If you are caught in a battle with sin, and if you’re not sure if sin can be defeated in your life, you need to remember not just that Jesus saves you, but that Jesus cleanses you, and that He wants to cleanse you everyday.

Jesus does not respond to you the way that your fear might say He will.

Let Jesus speak and demonstrate for Himself through His Word how He wants to approach you and cleanse you.

Practical App

Present your feet to Jesus everyday

And you know, if we would present our feet to Christ every day, we wouldn’t get as entrenched in sin as we do.

If you wash your dishes every day, they stay clean. But if you let the dishes pile up day after day, the stains and dirt set in and they are much more difficult to clean.

Have you ever had your house as an absolute mess and then you get a last minute note that your friend, or maybe a relative was 5 minutes away and that they would be stopping by to say hi?

Thanks for that.

What do we do?

Usually, we act like Adam. We run and hide, we cover up our filth, and we lie and say we were just hanging around. We explain away any dirt that might be seen with a euphemism or funny, yet awkward slogan, and we pray that they don’t notice the real state of our home.

Isn’t that true in your own life sometimes? Maybe right now?

Are you running and hiding?

Are you covering up your mess to save face or to avoid embarrassment?

The bottom line is this:

You get to choose who gets the last word every day, whether its your sin, or your Savior.

You can pick the winning team.

And I know how hard it is and I know how much it hurts, because I’ve had to go through this myself. But because of that, I also know that there is hope and healing and cleansing and renewal and restoration in Jesus Christ.

I know its hard, but I pray that every day, you will choose your Savior, who is Jesus Christ.

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