Sin Lives In You Do Not Give In To The Desires Of The Flesh

Hello and welcome to Social Media Ministries, my name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We’ve got a great message in store, so make sure you hit that subscribe button, the like button, the bell icon.

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Today we are talking about sin. How it lives inside of you. It boils up out of your body and every single day it’s a constant battle, it’s a fight that you need to win each and every day. People who you know are in this world and who haven’t been renewed or transformed or who don’t have Jesus ruling and leading their lives, some of them are addicted or have been addicted to things.

Anyone who has crossed over from darkness into light, really been born again, or become a Christian, who used to struggle with addiction can tell you that each and every day it’s a fight to stay sober.

That each and every day they want that drug. Whether it was alcohol or some form of narcotic or pain med or injectable or something, they want it each and every day. It’s a fight, it’s a battle to stay sober.

People who were pornography addicts, they have the same struggle. It was an addiction. Now it wasn’t a drug or a chemical addiction, but you could argue that it was chemical. When they go through that, their body produces chemicals that give them a high, sexual release or something and they have that same struggle each and every day. They have to fight to be victorious over that past addiction.

Now if you’re watching this and you’re struggling with some form of addiction, guess what? I got news for you, you can be released from that addiction in Jesus’ name right now. Say, “Jesus come into my life, be my new addiction.”

God can fill your life. He can take the place of whatever it is you’re addicted to. He can break that bondage. He has power and is more powerful than Satan. He’s more powerful.

That addiction that you have, it’s tied and it’s rooted into this Earth, put your roots in Heaven, be transformed, and be tied to Heaven. Become a new citizen, a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven rather than this Earth that is fallen and broken and wasted away. Be released from your addiction right now, in Jesus’ name. Call on Him.

Now if you’ve been released from an addiction, what I’m talking about, you can go through and each and every day, it’s a fight, it’s a battle. Now for those of you who haven’t been addicted to anything to that level let’s say, because in our lives we all can become addicted to something for a while.

When I was younger, I was addicted to playing games, not video games — we never were allowed to have video games growing up. When I would go over to a friend’s house that had video games, guess what, I wanted to play them.

Then on Facebook in like 2008 they started releasing all these little games on Facebook. I don’t even think they have games anymore, but you could play these games with other people and challenge them. Man, I used to do that for like a couple hours a day.

Then finally I’m like “Jeepers, this is getting out of control.” We can be addicted to anything for a while. Every single night I would watch a couple of episodes of a TV show, then you realize, like wait a minute, all of a sudden two hours are gone every single night. That can be an addiction.

Every Sunday, what are you doing? I’m watching football all day. Wait a minute, that can be an addiction. Food, junk food, eating out — that can be an addiction. Spending money, shopping on Amazon, buying things.

If you do shop with Amazon Smiles, support Social Media Ministries while you do, it’s at no cost to you. That would be really great. But it can be an addiction. All of these things, if not kept at a healthy level, can become an addiction.

Of course, there are varying degrees. Some things have more of a power and a hold than others. Smoking, drinking, drugs, all of those kinds of things that produce that chemical imbalance in your body, when you’re adding it, it’s more powerful because it takes more control over our body on a chemical level as well as that physical or emotional level.

The point is sin lives in us. Sin is an addiction. We could be addicted to sinning even though we don’t want to, even though we have crossed over from darkness into light, we’ve been born again, we follow Jesus. Sometimes the sin living in us has a slight victory, a little battle, it comes out and it wins maybe for a minute or a day, whatever it is.

Sometimes it wins. We’re not perfect. That’s why we need Jesus, who is perfect, to be inside of us. So when God looks at us, He sees us, He doesn’t see our sin. If He looked at us without Jesus, He can’t – He can’t look at us. We’re too sinful. We’re too unclean. We’re too impure. Sin lives in us.

Paul knew this better than anyone. The Apostle Paul was a great sinner, so guess what? If you’re feeling bad about yourself someday because you messed up, take heart, Paul says, “Sinners of which I am the worst.”

You cannot be the worst sinner, Paul was already the worst. Why? Well guess what, people were following Jesus and preaching, Paul was going around killing them — persecuting them, hunting them down. Like seriously he wasn’t just outspoken about not liking them.

He wasn’t just like Nero who lit them on fire as candles or something like that for his garden party. If he found one, he would do that. No, Paul formed a posse, he formed a patrol and he went out and hunted them down like the Pinkerton Men and just slaughtered these Christians. He went after them.

The disciples and Christians all around were very afraid of Paul. Well, they were afraid of Saul, then he got crossed over from darkness into light and he became Paul. He says of which he is the worst.

Were you killing Christians? Were you hunting them down? Were you slaughtering? Were you persecuting Jesus? Were you after Jesus? Were you trying to stop what Jesus was doing on this Earth? No, Paul was the worst.

Now of course sin is sin, so whether you told a lie and Paul murdered Christians, if neither of you repented, you’re both going to Hell. Sin is sin. We have a sermon on that. Sins are equal. God doesn’t rank them and say you were the worst, you were this, you were this. Oh well, you are only at 30, you’re at 70, you don’t make the cut. No, black and white for God.

It’s you’re here or here, there’s no gray. It’s us humans, we put gray in there, we muddle the water. God says it’s either white as snow or it’s crimson red. There’s no “Well you’re kind of pink, so maybe you’re good enough.” No, it’s this or this. That’s it. It’s very very simple. Keep it simple.

Paul, even when he crossed over from darkness into light, he went around then and was an apostle, he had to work very very hard to regain trust or to gain trust of the communities. He writes about that.

So if you haven’t read Paul’s works, man you’re in for a treat. Start reading them. All the letters to the Corinthians and the Ephesians and Galatians and all these places. Read Paul’s writing. We’ve got one right here to the Romans.

“I don’t understand what I do, for what I want to do, I don’t do. But what I hate, I do. If I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good and as it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is the sin living in me.”

Now you might be like, “Oh my goodness, I have a mind cramp after that.” That is Romans 7:15-17. I love how he explains it. We’re gonna unpack this. We’re gonna break this down. We’re going to read that verse again. Paul’s saying this and you say this too anytime you mess up or have a bad time or a bad day or slip into sin.

You say “I don’t understand what I do.” You don’t understand why you did that. Why did you take a drink? Why did you curse that person? Why did you lie, steal, cheat, whatever? Why did you slip back? I don’t understand. For what I want to do, I do not do. You don’t want to be sinning. You don’t want to slip back. You want to be good.

But what you want to do, you don’t do at that moment. But what I hate, I do. You hate that addiction, you hate that sin, but you did it. If I do what I do not want to do, if you fall into that sin, you agree the law is good. Now the law he’s referring to is God’s law. You agree it’s good. You want to follow it.

So if you agree that the law is good and you don’t want to sin, then you don’t want to sin. You aren’t a sinner. You’ve been redeemed, but you still slipped. What you hate you do. You do it. It’s not you who’s doing it, it’s the sin living in you.

Now does this mean, “Hey guess what, we don’t have to take any responsibility for our actions here on Earth?” Nope. “Don’t worry. It wasn’t me, it was the sin living in me, it was my evil twin, I didn’t do it, I got a free pass.” It’s not what this is saying. Don’t take it out of context.

This is saying that when you slip up and something happens, you need to recognize this wasn’t who you were made to be. This was not your intention. You don’t want to go through life committing these crimes or being a sinner or doing things that don’t make God happy. That’s not what you’re doing. You don’t want to be doing that, you want to be following God. You want to be going this way and sometimes you slip.

You want your road to be like this, but sometimes it’s like this. You get a little off-path. It’s like that game, if you have ever seen that game, there’s a straight line and then there’s a zigzag line and one player puts a marble on the zigzag line and the other player drops a marble and the goal is to knock that one off the zigzag line and you get a point if you knock it off. There are little trays that have these points. Anyway, that’s the game.

But that’s like your path. Your path is this straight line and every once in a while you are going on this straight line and you get knocked off and something’s coming down that and knocking you off. What’s knocking you off? It’s something on this Earth, it’s some type of force. You’re heavenly. You’re trying to go straight to the finish line, straight to the end.

Inside of you, you have Jesus and you’re going, that’s your calling, straight. There are these earthly things that are coming down this path and every once in a while they collide with you and pull you off into darkness, for a split second, a season, a time, and you stumble and you fall. But guess what, you can get back on that path and keep going.

Paul says when that happens, it’s the sin inside you, it’s something pulling you off, so keep going. The sin is living inside you. Before you became a Christian, a follower of God, that sin ran your life, you were a slave to sin, you didn’t know any better.

If there are people in your life that aren’t saved, number one, you better get over there, time is running out, you better help them get on track. Finish the race. You don’t have much time, get them to Jesus. It’s very important, save their eternity, save their soul. But if you have people in your life that aren’t saved, guess what, they’re doing things that they don’t really know any better.

Do they have a conscience? They have an earthly conscience. They’ve been taught right from wrong, but it doesn’t matter to them on a deeper level, it doesn’t matter. They don’t know any better. They’re a slave to that sin. They’re so much of a slave that they don’t even know what freedom looks like. They know only this. They only have one way of life. They don’t know any better.

It’s like if you’re born allergic to some type of food and people go, oh man you have never had ice cream? I was like 12 or 13 years old before I had pizza, ice cream, these things because I was allergic to everything.

That’s a whole nother story. A powerful testimony of how I was cured. But people would be like, wow you have never had a chocolate bar? You’ve never been to such and such restaurant? You’ve never had McDonald’s chicken? White Castle? All these places?

Never had it. I didn’t know any better. I didn’t miss it. These people are slaves to that sin and they don’t know any better. So if they’re sinning and they don’t know Jesus, they don’t know any better. You can’t really hold that against them. You can’t be mad at them for that. You can be mad at yourself for not bringing Jesus to them. You have to correct them. You got to bring them, Jesus. You got to give them that heavenly conscience.

Now they know better. Then they’re no longer a slave to sin. They’ve broken free. They have become a new creation and guess what? They know better now. When they slip up and they sin, it’s the sin living in them that’s doing it and they know better and they feel bad and they go to God and they say, “I need forgiveness” and He says you are forgiven.

Even though you may say, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe that I keep slipping up, I’m so sorry God I messed up again.” He says, “Son or daughter, I don’t remember the last time” and He forgives you. Even though you say He forgives me again and again, He says, “I forgive you.” Hey, this is the tenth time you’ve screwed up on this, I don’t know how many more times I’m gonna be able to let it go.

He says it’s gone, I forgive you, I forgive you. Take hope in that. It’s the sin in you that overpowers you for a brief moment. Squash it down and ask for forgiveness and repentance and God will continue to build you up and make you stronger.

Before you were a Christian, that sin ran your life. You lived to satisfy the desires, the sinful desires of your body. You were out to, as Freud said, “Seek pleasure and avoid pain.” You were living wild and free, wild and free.

Free from what? You don’t know, you were a slave to sin. You were seeking that pleasure, anything that was good, you wanted anything that felt good, you wanted it. It wasn’t good by God, but you wanted it.

Pain, you wanted to avoid it. Anything bad? Nope, I don’t want that. Work? No, I don’t want that. Call in sick, it’s much easier. Got fired? Who cares, get a new job, no big deal. Oh, party? Yes, let’s go party, drink booze, I feel good. You were crazy.

Maybe you were not like that, but even so, whatever you are doing, you were a slave to that sin. You were out to seek that pleasure and avoid that pain. Then you came to Christ. You realize what you were doing was wrong. You were given a new mind. You crossed over from death to life, from darkness to light.

You said, “Wow, I messed up. What I was doing wasn’t right.” Now whether you were saying, “I did a lot of bad bad things or I only did some bad things,” it doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter. Forget it.

It’s gone. God has forgotten it. Your sins are as far from the east as the west, gone. The depths of the ocean. Deepest depths of the ocean, they’re gone. We don’t even know what’s down there. Gone, He says.

I’m going this way. I have thrown my sins behind me and I’m going this way. I’m not looking back. No, your sins are gone. Your past is past, it’s gone, it’s done, forget it. Now don’t forget it, like I’m going to forget it and repeat it. Learn from it. You have a new mind. You have crossed over from that darkness to light. Follow Jesus.

Before though, you were out for these sinful natures, these sinful desires. You probably wanted to stop sinning, but the desire was too powerful. You allowed sin to overpower you time and time again, you gave in to those desires. But now if you have Jesus in you, you have the power to overcome that sin. Because Jesus is more powerful than that sin.

You must now take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. That’s in 2 Corinthians. Let’s go there for some encouragement. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.” Everything that sets itself up against God, all the sin, all the stuff in this world. “And we take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.”

You’ll be victorious because God’s more powerful. Jesus is more powerful than any of those sinful desires that you have. So even now you still may do things that you don’t want to do, but that’s the sin taking control of your body and acting out.

When you came to Christ you now recognize what you were doing was wrong, you saw the light. Let’s go to 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone, and the new has come.”

You’re new. You’re made new in Christ. Those old things, they do not have power over you anymore. You’re no longer a slave to sin. You’re free in Jesus. Jesus has set you free, sets you free.

Now anytime that anything is tempting you, is coming at you, take that thought captive, make it obedient to Christ. Jesus has more power than that, boom, you’re victorious. Let God fight for you. We have got a sermon on that too, check it out. You need to kill that sin and be alive in Christ. Be alive in Christ.

We can go to Romans again for that one, Romans 6:11. Let’s turn there, Romans 6:11 says, “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so you obey its evil desires.”

Do not let sin reign in your mortal body, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive in Christ. That’s the only way you will be able to defeat those inner desires. You have to renew your mind. What does that mean, renew your mind?

Let’s go to Romans 12:2 quickly before we wrap up. Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world.” Do not conform any longer to the sin, do not conform to that, “but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” — guess what, then there is a promise — “Then you will be able to test and approve God’s good pleasing and perfect will.”

Then you’ll be able to test and approve that. Be transformed, don’t conform any longer to the pattern of this world. You’re no longer a slave to that sin. You’re dead to sin. All the past sins that you have, if you’ve been forgiven, they’re gone, east to west, they’re behind you, they’re in the depths of the ocean. Boom, gone, slate clean.

Anytime you mess up, you slip back into that sin, you go to Jesus. He forgives you. You’re no longer a slave to that sin, you’re free, you’re a new creation, you’ve been born again, you’re made new, you’re renewed.

How many times can we say it? Jesus is more powerful than that sin. So when you do what you don’t want to do, remember it’s that sin living in you that’s trying to break free. Don’t let it. Take those thoughts captive, make them obedient to Christ. Call on Jesus, He’ll renew your strength, He’ll provide you a way out, He will overpower that temptation and you’ll be victorious in Jesus’ name.

If there are people around you that don’t know Jesus, that are slaves to sin, help them get free. Start this new movement and free these people from this invisible slave master that has them sin. Free them as you have been freed.

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus thank you so much for this powerful message and I pray that it really changes the hearts and minds of people watching and listening. That they would really recognize, “Wow I’ve been forgiven, I’m free, I can live for Jesus. When sin bumps me off the track, I can get back on with the strength from Jesus.”

Lord, I ask that they would truly understand and know that you’ve forgiven them, and as long as they ask, their sins are clean, they’re gone. They’re gone, there’s no more. Lord help them call on you in times of trouble, help them take every thought captive and make it obedient to you in Jesus’ name.