How Do I Change As A Christian?

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Yeah, as a born -again Christian, how do we, like, stop sinning, even though we're born again?

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And how do we help pitch a perfect game? Like, sometimes something you really like to do, like maybe playing poker,

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I know that's like gambling or speculating, but you really like that, and it's hard for you to stop even though you're a

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Christian. Well, first and foremost, let me address the first issue. How do you stop sinning?

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Well, I would say, you're not gonna. Does that sound very theological?

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This is my theological answer. You're not gonna. So the truth is, is that we are going to sin on this side of eternity with God.

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We're going to sin. There's only one righteous one, and it was Jesus. However, will we sin less and less and less?

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Absolutely. And so if someone says to me, well, Jeff, how do I do that? I'm gonna say, I don't want to give you my advice.

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I don't want to give you some solid tips from Jeff. I want to point you to the

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Scriptures. So two things, one, Romans chapter 6 is what

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Paul, is where Paul actually defines the relationship between a believer in Jesus Christ that puts him into a new status and relationship with God so that there is a change in our essential person and nature, and that changes us in such a way that we sin less and less and less.

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And how does he define it? He doesn't give you a list of codes and rules and saying, here are seven tips to success.

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Here are 10 steps to a better life as a Christian. He says, try this, try these tips.

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I was a pastor at this hospital, and I heard the craziest things in therapy with people, the craziest, when the unbelievers had courses on how to not be angry.

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I would sit, just to listen, what are they saying to these people? These are unbelieving therapists. What are they saying?

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How do you stop being angry? They, I mean, they wrote on the board, okay, when you feel angry and then you want to use, here are some tips.

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Instead of punching a family member, punch a pillow. Get a punching bag and punch it.

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Go take a cold shower. Go outside and go for a walk. Try to take 10 deep breaths in and out, in and out.

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That's moralism. How do you make yourself better? Here's some tips, right? What does it never address?

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It never addresses the heart. It's symptoms. I'm angry, so don't punch your, don't punch your friend.

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Punch the pillow. That's the only symptom. That's how the world deals with it, tips. Do you know what the Bible doesn't do?

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That. It deals with the heart. And so what Paul says is the problem of sin corrupts you.

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You need to be justified before God through faith, and here's what takes place. He says, you, Romans 6, consider yourselves dead to sin as Christ died to sin once for all.

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And he says, consider yourselves alive to God in Christ. So he says, watch this, watch. How do

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Christians change? They change because they're united to Jesus. Now watch.

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He says, because if you've come to Jesus by faith, you've died and raised from the dead.

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He says, don't you know that when you came to Christ, His death was your death, your death in Him?

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He says, so there's an old self that's crucified with Christ. Now watch. Please hear this.

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If you hear that language and you say, I don't get that at all, I would say, please examine your heart as to whether you've ever truly turned from your sin.

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Because all those who've trusted in Jesus Christ understand there's been a point where you saw your sin and you knew you wanted to flee from it to Christ.

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So Paul says, union with Christ is how you change. Last point, second part,

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Colossians 3. Read it later. He says, I'm going to summarize here.

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He says, the world says this, don't touch, don't taste, don't smell, don't go there.

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He says, these things have the appearance, all these bondly practices of making yourself, you know, beating yourself up.

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He says, they have the appearance of doing what they say they'll do. He says, but they have no ability to curb self -indulgence.

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They never deal with the issue. He says, however, he says, if you've been raised up with Christ, keep seeking what is above, not what is below.

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He says, you have been united with Christ, your life is hidden with Christ and God.

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And he says this, you've died, you've been raised, you're seated with Christ. He says, therefore, ready, put to death what is earthly within you.

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He says, naming some sins, and you know what he names? Sexual immorality. And you know what he calls it?

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Idolatry. He says this, watch. He says, how do you win this war with sin? Here's the question, are you raised up with Christ or not?

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If you are, keep seeking what is above and put to death what is earthly within you.

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And now watch this, watch this. Christians, let's be real with ourselves, seriously.

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How do we generally deal with our sins? It's the enemy in front of us, it seeks to destroy us.

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It's seeking to destroy us and take over our whole lives and destroy everything around us. And God says, put it to death.

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There's the enemy breaking into our house at 3 a .m., the glass crashes, you hear boots on the floor running into your room.

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You got one chance to rescue your life and your family's life. Here's the enemy coming in. God says, put it down, put it to death.

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The enemy bursts through your door. Here's your opportunity to destroy the enemy. And Christians leap off the bed and start grabbing the ankles and biting it.

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That's how we deal with our sin. Jesus says, pluck your eye, cast it from you, cut off your hand and throw it from you if it causes you to sin.

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You know what Jesus didn't say? He didn't say, if your eye causes you to sin, plug it out and put it in your pocket.

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Right? Why? Because that's what we do. We find the source of our sin, we pluck it and we go, later.

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Right? We cut it off and we go, later. Why does Jesus say, pluck and throw?

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Because if you're going to find the source of your sin and be done with it as a Christian, you have to do what hurts.

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Pluck it. Throw it. Somebody says, oh, but it's going to be so hard. Why do you think Jesus used such graphic language?

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Pluck and throw your eyeball? Someone says, that would hurt. By the way, please don't take

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Jesus literally there. He wasn't teaching you to maim yourself. I know somebody who did that.

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That's not what he was saying. He teaches us to deal with our sin in very direct, harsh ways.

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Pornography. Put it to death. Pluck and throw.

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Christians are in the habit of scratching our eyeballs. We're in the habit of saying, oh,

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I feel so bad. And we rub a butter knife against our wrist, right? If we're truly going to put it to death, we have to kill it.

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How do you kill your sin? I'll give you an example. I was addicted to drugs and alcohol.

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I had a profession of faith early on. I don't know if it was genuine. I know it was after my addiction.

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And I can tell you at one time, I knew the truth of what was going on in me.

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I knew that it was sin. And one night, I was addicted to ecstasy and alcohol primarily.

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And one night, I got some bad ecstasy. And it was not pretty.

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And the next day, I felt grieved, but not really because I had sinned against God, kind of.

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I felt grieved because I felt bad. I felt like garbage.

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So you know what I did? This is what I did. I had this bag of ecstasy, and this is how

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I repented. This stuff I know is sin. I'm going to stop. I'm going to stop doing this,

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God. I'm going to stop doing it because this is sin. I know it's sin against you, and I'm going to stop, God. I'm going to stop.

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I'm never doing this again. I got a bag of ecstasy, and I'm done, God. And I took my ecstasy, and I walked into my bedroom, and I opened my closet, and I stuck it in his shoe.

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I was like, I'm done. Done. That was my repentance.

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Plucked my eye, put it in my pocket. I didn't put it to death. What is true repentance?

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It's what happened to me when I finally came out of my drug addiction. I was so grieved over my sin against God, I questioned whether I truly knew

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Jesus, and I turned from my sin, and I truly trusted in Jesus Christ. And I said, take over my life.

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You're the boss. You tell me what to do. You rule my life. And I know that that was a moment of true faith in my life.

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And my life began to change. I cut myself off from every person I knew that was still using.

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I drove different routes through town to never pass by the same places. I changed my phone number.

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I never went around those people. I surrounded myself with Christians. Every night I had accountability.

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My wife could ask me where I was if I went to get milk. And I was gone for 15 minutes.

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As soon as I walked in the door, she'd say, why did it take you so long? That was the accountability that I needed.

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That's how I put it to death, is I had brothers and sisters, my wife is God's greatest tool in this, keeping me accountable.

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And I truly put it to death. Paul says, union with Jesus Christ. Keep seeking what is above. Put it to death.

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Kill it. Pornography, if you're addicted to pornography, it's idolatry.

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You are worshiping at an altar of a false god. You have to confess it, you have to repent of it, and you have to kill it.

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One way to kill it is, first and foremost, confess it to God, rejoice in your salvation, and then get some brothers around you that will keep you accountable and will ask you direct questions.

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Also, we have such a gift today with technology. Do you know how you put it to death? We have software now you can put on your computers that monitors everything that you look at on your phone, your iPad, your computer, that guess what?

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Your accountability partner sees what you see. Now, watch. All the leadership at Apologia Church, on every single device we have, we have our accountability software.

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So I see what my pastor is looking at, he sees what I look at, my wife sees what I look at on every device, all of our leadership.

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Why? Because guess what I don't struggle with when my wife is next to me? Pornography. Think about it for a moment now, watch.

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If you struggle with pornography, that's a sin you're struggling with, right? You hate it, you're grieved over it, you want free from it, but you keep getting yourself in situations where you're alone in front of the computer with no accountability, right?

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Let me ask you a question. If you're with Pastor Spencer, this is your church, and you struggle with pornography.

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You didn't know we were going to talk about this tonight, did you? Okay. And you struggle with pornography. If you're with Pastor Spencer in front of your computer, are you struggling with pornography?

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In that moment, you're like, Pastor Spencer, turn your head for a second, I'm busy. Or is the presence of another believer there for accountability keeping you, ready, free?

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You're free. People think accountability is slavery. Accountability brings freedom.

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The slavery is the sin. So, you know what's great? If you had accountability software where your pastor is right next to you at all times when you're on your device, do you know how freeing that is to not be addicted to pornography?

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Do you know how freeing that is? To every time you go on your device, you're like, I'm good.

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No temptation. Why? Accountability. Drug addiction, how do you put it to death?

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Find out the root cause in every aspect, put it to death. And then what's

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Paul saying in Colossians 3? Put it to death and watch, put on Christ. How?

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The graces of Christ. Compassion. All the graces of Jesus Christ.

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Let me give you a great sermon I want you to look up. Google Sinclair Ferguson.

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Sinclair Ferguson, Colossians 3, MP3. Sinclair Ferguson, Colossians 3,

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MP3. He did a series on Colossians 3 that is out of this world.