In December of 2011, at the very end of the year, I read this passage in Hebrews 3:12-13;
“Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
And I thought … well, I can do that! My brothers who were attending 180 at Vineyard Columbus need to be encouraged everyday … as long as it is still called “Today” which I think means throughout the day. So, I concluded that every believer needs to be encouraged all day every day.
Why is that? It is because every believer is facing challenges every day. Because we have an enemy called sin and sin is wanting to harden our hearts by using deceit and lies. When we allow sin to harden our hearts it is hardening our hearts against God the very One who can give us the power to live a life pleasing to Him. How does it do that?
There are a multitude of ways sin uses deceitfulness to harden our hearts. Here are a few that come to my mind and have been part of my experience with sin. I will refer to them as lies we begin to believe about sin, ourselves, and God.
Lie # 1 – It does not really matter if I sin. After all … all my sins have been eternally forgiven and paid for by Jesus on the cross. Every good lie has on its surface some truth which is why we do not reject it from the start. Jesus has paid for all our sins. We read in Hebrews 10:12-14;
“… but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
This is true … the one sacrifice of Jesus has paid for all our sins but that does not mean if we sin there will be no consequences. The death of Jesus is not a blank check for us to do whatever sin we want. Sin, in and of itself has consequences. The wages of sin are still death in our lives even if the eternal punishment of God has been removed. Sin, especially one as powerful and addictive as sexual sin will destroy us because we are allowing sin to be our master instead of giving our bodies to the Lord as a living sacrifice.
Lie # 2 – Go ahead – after all, you are not really hurting anyone. What a load of crap that lie is. First of all, you are hurting yourself. Whenever we do something that we are ashamed of and feel the need to keep a secret we are damaging ourselves. Our secrets become something we have to hide. Shame and guilt waft into our being like the smell of a freshly killed skunk that has been hit by a car and is dead on the side of the road.
It means we cannot be open and honest with others because we know that if they knew our sinful actions, they would certainly reject us. God has designed us to live in community with one another. We are called to love one another and bear one another’s burdens but most Christians are in church to impress each other on how well they are doing because we desire the praise and admiration of others.
This sinful and addictive behavior is eating you alive on the inside and causing you to live behind a wall of hypocrisy as if everything is fine with you.
Lie # 3 – You will never be able to escape this sin that so easily entangles you. Wow, what a huge lie that one is, and I can prove it to you. At the end of my life, I will no longer have a sinful nature in my body. I will no longer live in this fallen and sin-filled world. And, I will no longer be harassed by demonic powers.
We will escape the power and presence of sexual sin forever in heaven. We can escape the power of sexual sin in the here and now. It will be a life-long battle, but God has given us all that we need to live a life of godliness. His Spirit dwells inside of our bodies and He is certainly powerful enough to help us walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the desires of the flesh.
Becoming unentangled from sexual sin demands that we do two things. Hebrews 12:1-2;
“…let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith…”
We do not have to wait until we reach heaven to be experiencing freedom from sexual sin. He wants us to have it here and now. However, it is going to take being part of a community of other Christian men striving to do the same thing … but doing it as a team with the help of one another.
A Lone Sheep is a Dead Sheep. However, a sheep inside the flock and close to the Shephard is safe and remains safe while in the community God has given us with other brothers helping one another.
This is why we have 12 Online Support Teams where you can get the community of other brothers fighting the same fight together with no condemnation when we have a fall. But others men there daily for support and weekly for accountability as they are all learning from the 180 Recovery Videos.
Contact me if you would like to sit in one of our Online Support Teams as my guest just to see how they are helping men grow in freedom from sexual sin. Or, at least purchase the 25 videos I have created in the 180 Recovery Program so you can learn the biblical and Christ-centered truths for finding help against this battle we face every day.