To the Christian wrestling with sin and shame…

…I’d like to offer you some encouragement.

…you are not alone.

The Apostle John writes, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8) What is the surest way to deceive yourself? In your self-righteousness, to deny your sin, to claim that you have no sin. Two verses later, he concludes, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10)

Sin is that terrible unifier. All men are born into sin and even after salvation, wrestle with the flesh until that glorious day, when we will be freed from the very presence of sin in death. Even the Apostle Paul, lamenting his own struggle writes, “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.” (Romans 7:15) Though he doesn’t specify his struggle, he is so disgusted by his sin he writes, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24)

Regrettably, many churches and denominations teach the possibility of sinlessness, the possibility of attaining such a status by the things that you do, along with a possibility of losing salvation, or even giving it away because of sin. I heard a pastor once claim that he couldn’t remember the last time he had “willfully” sinned. I cannot imagine the burden statements such as this and the accompanying theology must place upon his congregants. For me, I don’t have to look back much further than this morning, yesterday at the most.

You are not alone.

…your struggle is not unique.

Your struggle is uniquely yours, but it is not unique that you struggle, nor is the nature of your struggle. Paul writes to the church in Corinth, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) Whether it be substance abuse, violence, sexual sin, pride, laziness, gluttony or an amalgam of many, which is most likely, understand that someone somewhere struggles with the same things as you, probably right there in your own circle.

The church is horrible in this regard, putting up pretenses of having it all together. I still remember my shock, as a new convert, at discovering that folks in the church still struggled with sin. The married couple that always seems to have it all together doesn’t. That man who is always so joyful wrestles with depression. The confident fellow is wracked with doubt. The nice lady who sits two pews over battles pornography. Even your pastor, yes, even your pastor, wrestles with something, many somethings. He just may not have anyone he can talk to about it.

Your struggle is not unique.

…there is no condemnation.

Not coincidentally, after spelling out his own personal struggle, Paul pens some of my favorite words in all of Scripture. “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) Hear Paul. Believe Paul. There is no condemnation, not now, not ever, for those who are in Christ Jesus. Say it out loud if you need to. No condemnation. Repeat it. Preach this to your burdened soul.

Do you really think that God is going to tear up your adoption papers?

Do you really believe that God is going to revoke your citizenship?

Is God going to disown you, his beloved child?

What beautiful truth is this assurance! I remember once, wallowing in the pit of despair and self-loathing at my sin, when the Spirit came upon me as a flood, reminding me of this great truth. There is no condemnation. Period. My soul exalted at this liberation. My spirit soared. My burden lifted. God does not condemn me! He will not. As such, I’ll not condemn myself. What freedom we find in this knowledge.

…ignore the lies of the devil.

He is the accuser of the brethren. (Revelation 12:10)

The Devil tempts us to sin though we cannot be tempted with that which we do not already desire in our flesh. (James 1:14) He cannot manufacture sinful desires, but he can inflame them, offer the opportunity to succumb to them, tempt us to fall. And when he is successful, what does he do, but launch the fiery darts of accusation.

How can you do this?

You must not really be a Christian.

No Christian would ever do the things you’ve done.

If anyone knew what you did, they would reject you outright.

Lies! Blasphemous lies, though I myself have wrestled with many of these accusations, particularly the one about the rejection of others. Hear the words of the Lord, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” (Zechariah 3:2) What a glorious notion. As you stand before the Lord with the accuser launching his attacks, God turns to Satan and condemns him, not you! Hallelujah!

…our sin ought to grieve us.

Let us not gloss over the wretchedness of our sin.

In sin, you break fellowship with God. I am never not a son, but as John writes, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” (1 John 1:6) Our sin grieves the Holy Spirit of God and breaks fellowship with him.

Allow me to explain. A man was watching from his office window upstairs as his son and a friend played ball in the front yard. At some point, the ball wound up across the street. The son and his friend ran to the edge of the road and the father could see that they were talking about crossing the road to get the ball, something strictly forbidden without permission. The father could see the friend seeming to try and coax the son into going to get the ball. The father could almost hear him saying, “C’mon. No one will see. It’s safe.” Silently, the father prayed for his son and in a moment, the son said something to his friend and turned and ran toward the house, leaving the ball across the street. The father hastily sat back down at his desk when his son ran in, “Dad, will you come and play ball with me?” The father thanked God and joyfully got up and went out to play with his son. They had a sweet time of intimate fellowship. Now, had the son broken the rule and gone after the ball, he would’ve still been his son. There is nothing that would change that, but  he would have broken fellowship with his father until a restoration.

It's the same for you and me. Our sin breaks fellowship with God.

…God won’t let you go too far.

We must look always to the precious and very great promises of God. (2 Peter 1:4)

Struggling believer, let me remind you of yet another great truth, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6) Here we find a precious and very great promise of God. He will not let you languish too long. He will not abandon you in your sin. He started a work in you, on the day of your salvation, and He will finish that work. He will bring it to completion. He will perfect it and you.

How can we be so sure? Paul goes on to write, “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13) It is the power of God at work in you, the power of the Spirit, conforming you into the image of Christ. He may free you suddenly from the power and presence of a sin or, He may free you slowly over time, degree by degree until you awake one day and realize, “You know, I haven’t ____’d in awhile!”

Now, this is not to say we ought not to strive for holiness. As Paul also says, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12b) The believer ought to cultivate the work of the Holy Spirit through the ordinary means of grace, that is, the ministry of the Word, the fellowship of the body, and the administration of the sacraments. In these, the believer finds the spiritual nourishment and ultimately, beholds Christ. And as the believer beholds Jesus, he becomes like Jesus, and holiness necessarily follows. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

…God doesn’t delight in you any less.

O’ struggling believer, when the Father looks upon you, forevermore He sees one thing and one thing only, the very righteousness of Christ! It has been imputed to you, bestowed upon you. (2 Corinthians 5:21) He loved you from eternity past (Romans 8:29), set His affections on you, and even now, Zephaniah 3:17 is still true when he writes, “He will exult over you with joy,” and, “He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.”

The next time you are tempted to despair, remember how God sees you, not in spite of your sin, but because of who He is, His great love and His great mercy, O’ precious son, faithful daughter. Because His very being is the foundation of His relationship with you, it will never and can never change. What good news this is!

God is perfecting you, but as He is outside time, He sees the finished product. He describes you and sees you as “perfected”, as in, work complete. Throughout John’s first Epistle, he describes you as “beloved.” Bask in this revelation.

…rejoice as you struggle.

He has given us the means of restoration. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) How many times will the Father receive our prayers, issue us forgiveness? Always, is the only answer.

Let the mortification of the flesh be a daily work, a daily battle. Yet, let us not fight, as we fail, from a defeatist position. No, rather let us glory and revel in the amazing fountain of grace that is the love of the Father. Let us struggle out of joy in the knowledge of assurance. Heaven and hell no longer hang in the balance. Let assurance be our vigor, His mercy and grace be our resolve. Amen!