Why Do I Still Struggle with My Pre-Conversion Sins?
00:00:00.000 | [Music]
00:00:04.000 | Why do my pre-conversion sins still haunt me?
00:00:08.000 | That's the question today. Here's the email.
00:00:11.000 | "Hello Pastor John, my name is Rico and I have a question about past sins resurfacing.
00:00:16.000 | Before I was saved a little over a year and a half ago, I was pretty badly addicted to drugs.
00:00:20.000 | I met the Lord Jesus and literally all the desires to pursue drugs went away
00:00:25.000 | until about April of this year.
00:00:28.000 | I've fallen a few times, but God has been very gracious and merciful to me
00:00:33.000 | in carrying me through these rough times.
00:00:35.000 | So I guess what I'm asking is, how does this come about?
00:00:38.000 | I thought I was done with that part of my life for good.
00:00:41.000 | Why are my pre-conversion sin patterns coming back now?"
00:00:46.000 | Rico, let me give a short description of what the Bible teaches about what has already happened to you
00:00:57.000 | as a born-again believer in Jesus and what has not yet happened to you.
00:01:05.000 | And this will give you some biblical ways of thinking about what you are actually experiencing.
00:01:13.000 | Let's put this description of the already of your life and the not yet of your life
00:01:20.000 | into the larger biblical description of what Christ has already done in the world
00:01:27.000 | and what he has not yet done in the world.
00:01:30.000 | When Christ came into the world, you know this, he preached the kingdom of God.
00:01:36.000 | And in that preaching, he said two things.
00:01:40.000 | Number one, the kingdom is here. It's here right now.
00:01:45.000 | "Behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst," Luke 17:21.
00:01:50.000 | "I am the king. My rule has arrived.
00:01:54.000 | I am showing in my miracles, in my teaching, in my perfections, in my love, in my death for sinners, in my resurrection.
00:02:02.000 | I am showing my kingdom, my rule, my saving reign is here.
00:02:08.000 | The long-hoped-for, waited-for kingdom has come."
00:02:13.000 | That's the first thing, crucial thing, essential thing for Christianity to say.
00:02:18.000 | Here's the second thing he said. "My kingdom is coming and is not yet here."
00:02:24.000 | Luke 22, 18, "I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."
00:02:35.000 | What? I thought you said it had come. Why are you saying it's coming?
00:02:39.000 | It's coming, but not yet.
00:02:43.000 | So in the big picture of history, the kingdom of God has already come in the person and work of Jesus,
00:02:52.000 | and yet, how should we say it, not yet fully come, completely come, not yet come with the fullest consummation.
00:03:02.000 | I remember reading one time in George Ladd, one of my New Testament professors years ago,
00:03:08.000 | he said, "The mystery of the kingdom is fulfillment without consummation."
00:03:14.000 | Fulfillment without consummation. That captures the tension.
00:03:18.000 | Yes, yes, the kingdom has come. Time is fulfilled. It is here. Repent. The king has come.
00:03:24.000 | But the consummation, so many things left that are not yet done that the kingdom promised to do.
00:03:33.000 | And that tension, Rico, affects virtually every part of the Christian life, including your struggle with past sins, including drugs.
00:03:44.000 | So how does this work itself out in the life of individual Christians?
00:03:50.000 | Here are just a few biblical descriptions of this already not yet reality in the Christian life.
00:04:00.000 | First, Colossians, Colossians 1, 3 and 4, God has delivered us from the domain of darkness
00:04:10.000 | and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
00:04:18.000 | Wow. Already done, already transferred out of darkness into the kingdom of the Son.
00:04:24.000 | Glorious. That's awesome.
00:04:26.000 | And then verse 3 says, "You have died. Your life is hidden with Christ in God."
00:04:33.000 | It's over. I mean, you've already passed beyond death. You are secure and hidden with Christ in God.
00:04:40.000 | But now comes verse 5 of Colossians 3 with this imperative that suggests something is very not complete.
00:04:51.000 | It says, "Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you—sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry."
00:05:02.000 | And we could add drugs. That needs to be done, Rico. It needs to be done.
00:05:07.000 | You are in heaven with Christ. Now fight the sins of earth.
00:05:12.000 | You have died. Therefore put to death old habits.
00:05:17.000 | And notice the "therefore." The battle with sins that are not yet destroyed is because of the already being dead with Christ and being seated at his right hand.
00:05:31.000 | That's number one. Here's another picture of it in Romans 6. Here's verse 6.
00:05:36.000 | "We know that our old self was crucified with Christ." So death. We're done. It's over. We've died.
00:05:42.000 | Verse 11, "So you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God."
00:05:50.000 | Because something is not yet complete. You've got something to do with this.
00:05:55.000 | So again, the command to complete this, finish this, bring your life into accord with your deadness, is based on the fact that you're already dead.
00:06:08.000 | Here's the third picture of it later on in Romans 6. Verse 11 says, "Let not sin reign in your mortal body."
00:06:17.000 | That's the "not yet." And now the "already" of verse 14.
00:06:22.000 | "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you're not under law, but under grace."
00:06:30.000 | Don't let sin reign because it won't reign.
00:06:34.000 | There's the Christian way of life. Here's a fourth picture of it.
00:06:38.000 | 1 Corinthians 5, 7, talking about getting sexual sin out of the Church and out of our lives.
00:06:44.000 | It says, "Cleanse out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump."
00:06:50.000 | So it's picturing the Church and the Christian life as a lump of dough and leaven as sin penetrating the lump.
00:06:57.000 | It says, "Cleanse out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened."
00:07:06.000 | So again, the command about getting out the leaven is based on the fact that there's not any leaven.
00:07:12.000 | There's the glorious "already, not yet" mystery as it applies to the Christian life.
00:07:18.000 | We are becoming what we are.
00:07:20.000 | Here's one more, Ephesians 4, 24, "Put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."
00:07:32.000 | So put on what already has been created.
00:07:36.000 | So your new self has been created. It's the work of God.
00:07:41.000 | You're not forging a new self in Christ. You're not. You're not forging a new self in Christ.
00:07:47.000 | God made that. He created that.
00:07:49.000 | It's already created, but you must put it on, own it, wear it, become in practice what you are in Christ.
00:07:58.000 | So, Rico, your ongoing struggle with sin is nothing new.
00:08:05.000 | You already are new in Christ, and you are not yet perfected.
00:08:14.000 | You are dead and must put sin to death.
00:08:19.000 | You are raised with Christ, and you must seek the things that are above.
00:08:24.000 | You are a new self, and you must put on the new self.
00:08:29.000 | You are unleavened, and you must cleanse out the old leaven.
00:08:34.000 | Sin will not be king in your life, and you must not let sin have dominion.
00:08:40.000 | And so here's the key. Every imperative, every command, every exhortation, every admonition given to a Christian
00:08:50.000 | should be passionately pursued, obeyed on the basis of what's already true about us in Christ.
00:08:59.000 | We are commanded to become what we are, become in life what we are in Christ.
00:09:07.000 | So what you are experiencing is the reality of what Paul calls in Romans 7:20, "Indwelling sin,"
00:09:16.000 | remaining in dwelling sin, the not yet of sanctification.
00:09:21.000 | And you are now to put that sin to death because you have already died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
00:09:36.000 | So, Rico, may God take this biblical picture of salvation deep into your life and give you a great freedom.
00:09:48.000 | Amen. That's a great episode for us all to take with us into our battles with personal sin.
00:09:54.000 | Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for the great question, Rico. I really appreciate that.
00:09:59.000 | If you have a question for Pastor John, send it to us at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:10:05.000 | And thank you for listening along. Be sure to subscribe to Ask Pastor John in your favorite podcast app or in YouTube.
00:10:11.000 | So how do I recharge my spiritual battery? Where can I find the renewal of my spiritual energies to face another week of temptations and trials?
00:10:22.000 | That's the question coming up next time, and it has a very practical bent to it.
00:10:26.000 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke. We'll see you next time on Wednesday.
00:10:29.000 | [END]
00:10:31.000 | © The Bess Markels Podcast 2016
00:10:33.000 | © The Bess Markels Podcast 2016
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