by Ricky Chelette, Executive Director
Are you tired of sinning?
Have you ever wondered why you can’t seem to overcome that one particular sin in your life?
We pray, fast, plead with God, form accountability groups, confess, feel remorse, and even cry occasionally, but the sin remains. If God is good and doesn’t want us to sin, why doesn’t He answer our prayers and remove the desire to sin?
The answer, as in many things, is both simple and complex. The root of our problem is that we are sinners (Rom. 3:23; 5:12). Ever since the Garden, mankind has believed we could somehow be as smart and as competent as God. Our desire for autonomy – the longing to do our own thing our own way – has not worked out well for us. We forfeited Eden (a perfect environment where God provided every need) and an intimate, personal, in-person community with God for the ability to know good and evil. We believed we could handle things on our own, solve problems we couldn’t even anticipate or imagine, and make the best life for ourselves. We were wrong.
God’s Authority For Human Autonomy
Trading dependence on an all-sufficient, all-powerful, all-knowing, and loving God for personal autonomy was a very bad trade. When that decision was made, our ancestors and the entire world changed (Rom. 5:12-14). God’s promise, “you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17), became a reality. Granted, Adam and Eve didn’t die in that moment as they may have anticipated, but death in all its forms and aspects (spiritual, emotional, relational, physical) came upon mankind. The first couple lost their privilege to remain in the garden, not as an act of God’s punishment but as an act of grace. God prevented them from eating the Tree of Life, for if they had done so, they would have lived in their sin forever. God had a redemptive plan in mind.
You would think that after the exile from the garden, with the change in their perspective toward themselves (they now knew they were naked) and toward each other (they blamed each other for the sin), they would detest sin. But much like us, that was not the case.
The Problem
Like us, we like our sin, and that is the complicated part of our problem. Because of our Adamic inheritance, we too believe that our personal autonomy is more dependable than our Savior’s sovereignty. We still believe we have a better way, a more immediate solution, to the problems we face than the Creator of the universe. We take the pains we experience and seek to medicate them with the tools we create rather than the Father who created all that is. We substitute pleasure for surrender and quick fixes for restorative transformation.
The Solution
But Jesus had a different message for us sinners. When he began his earthly ministry, the first words Mark records from Jesus are the solution we rarely embrace and even more rarely hear from the church: “Repent, and believe the gospel [good news]” (Mrk. 1:15). Jesus presents two critical things: 1) Repent. 2) Believe the gospel – the good news!
We don’t talk enough about repentance in the church today. Maybe it’s because we don’t talk enough about sin. You can’t repent of sin if you can’t identify it. But Jesus knows we are sinners. He universally calls humanity to repent. But what is repentance? The greatest theological minds may disagree on many things, but there is an amazing consensus on repentance: recognizing sin for what it is (rebellion against God), turning away from it and toward the covenantal relationship with Jesus Christ. Repentance sounds so easy, but it is not. It takes faith and the Holy Spirit’s work within us, which brings us to the good news.
The Provision
Jesus didn’t call us to something He couldn’t accomplish. The gospel (good news) is what Jesus brought into the world. Jesus says in Jn. 3:17, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Paul summarizes the good news in 1 Cor. 15:3-4: “That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” That is good news! Jesus has already provided the resurrection power we need to overcome every sin. But people don’t stop doing things because they are bad; they stop when they find something better. We have to believe that the work of Jesus is “GOOD NEWS!” We have to believe that the gospel is the best news and the only news that can free us from our bondage. Jesus didn’t give his life on a cruel cross so we could merely manage our sin. He died to set us free from the bondage of sin (Rom. 8:1-2; 6:18; Jn. 8:36; Gal. 5:1).
So you want to stop sinning? Recognize that your personal autonomy is not the solution to your problems; surrender is. Realize that the greatest gift ever given to mankind is the sacrifice Jesus made to reconcile us with God. Receive the work of Christ already accomplished for you. REPENT and BELIEVE THE GOSPEL!
Bibliography
Carson, D. A. The Gospel According to John. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1991.
Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013.
Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2020.
Packer, J. I. Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1993.
Schreiner, Thomas R. New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008.