5 SUBTLE SIGNS YOU'RE LIVING IN SIN AND NOT JUST STRUGGLING WITH SIN

how can you tell whether you are living in willful habitual sin or you're just a regular Christian that sins every so often you're gonna want to pay close attention to this video because the answer to that question could very well determine whether you are a Christian or not that's coming up today hey my friend welcome back to the beat my name is Alan Parr thank you so much for tuning in if this is your first time here it's a pleasure if you want a free ebook click the link in the description box below if you enjoy this video consider subscribing hit that little Bell notification so you won't miss a beat so if you have read through the New Testament you have more than likely come across certain scriptures that talk about and warn against the danger of living in sin first John chapter 3 verse 6 says anyone who continues to live in him will not sin but anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is then you have the typical scriptures where Paul will list a whole bunch of sins like idolatry immorality theft and all sorts of other sins but then he'll come back and say something like this let me tell you again as I have before that anyone here it is living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God and so because there is a significant danger associated with living in sin and the New Testament writers consistently warn us not to live in sin Paul says this he says examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine test your selves so in this video I just want to give you five questions that I want to encourage you to ask yourself to see whether or not you're just struggling with sin you send every so often or you are living in willful habitual sin alright here we go question number one are you experiencing conviction followed by remorse the Apostle Paul scribes this experience in Galatians chapter 5 verse 17 where he says the sinful nature wants to do evil which is just the opposite of what the spirit wants and the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires these two forces are constantly fighting each other so you are not free to carry out your good intentions so the first question that I want to ask you is whenever you sin or you're tempted to sin are you consistently experiencing this war this struggle this fight between your sinful nature and what it wants to do and your newfound spiritual nature in terms of what God wants you to do if you are not on a consistent basis experiencing this type of conviction and then followed by remorse after you sin where your heart is grieved over the things that break God's heart then my friend that could be an indication that you have now migrated over from just us Christian who sins every so often to a Christian that is living in willful habitual sin question number two are you justifying or making excuses for your sin one of my favorite scriptures is proverbs 28:13 which says he who covers his sin will not prosper but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy you see the opposite of confessing our sins to God is concealing and covering up our sins and one of the ways we do this is we make excuses for our sin we justify our sin and typically the reason why we do this is because facing the realities of our sin is too painful we don't want to walk around feeling guilty feeling convicted and feeling ashamed all the time so what we do is we play mind games with ourselves we try to find some sort of loophole in the Bible or some sort of excuse that we could come up with that will make us feel better about our sin so that we don't have to go around feeling bad about it anymore we do this because inwardly we know what we're doing is wrong but we don't want to give up our sin and fear of not knowing what our life might look like if God forbid we have to forsake this type of sin so it's easier for us to just go along and try to find some sort of way to convince ourselves that what we're doing is not sin you know I come across a lot of people that are either homosexual or they're struggling with same-sex desire and they are normally guilty of doing this well they'll say hey this is just who I am this is how God has created me and so therefore if God has created me as a homosexual then I have the right or the license to practice this lifestyle in their heart of hearts they know it's wrong but they need to tell themselves something so that they don't have to go through life feeling guilty or bad about what they're doing but they're not the only ones that do this we do it all the time so if you find yourself consistently making excuses and justifying what you're doing and you're no longer confessing your sins to God you are covering and concealing your sins my friend that might be a sign that you are moving away from just a Christian who struggles with sin to a Christian who is willfully living in habitual sin question number three are you actively making plans to sin in the future proverbs chapter 6 says there are six things the Lord hates no seven things he detests haughty eyes a lying tongue hands that kill the innocent and here it is a heart that plots evil feet that race to do wrong it's one thing to sin it's another thing to actively make plans to sin again and again in the future if you find yourself thinking about ways that you can engage and indulge in sin in the future that might be a sign that you're moving towards willful habitual sin things like okay I'm going to decide to live together with my significant other before we get married I'm making plans to do that or I'm a single person and I'm going to make plans to have a sexual relationship with this person or I'm a single person and I know that I do not have the gift of singleness because I want to have sex but I don't want to get married so what does that mean that means I am deciding that I am going to have a life of promiscuity and live as a fornicator because I have the desire for sex but I don't want to get married and so therefore I've just decided I'm just gonna sin for the rest of my life and just have sex or you make plans ahead of time to cheat on your taxes or you decide in your heart that you are gonna be angry and bitter and unforgiving towards somebody for the unforeseen future these are examples of how we can make plans to sin in the future whenever you are doing this as opposed to hey you're really really trying to fight against this and you're coming up with boundaries and strategies to fight against your sin and you yield to it every so often versus hey I'm just gonna give give into this because this is what I want to do when you're making plans to send my friend that is a sign that you could be migrating away from just a Christian that struggles occasionally was said to a Christian s living in wilful habitual sin okay question number four are you presuming on the grace of God whenever you sin you know in Romans chapter five Paul talked a lot about the grace of God and this gift of grace that God has given to every believer as a result of the finished work of Christ on the cross and he knew that his readers would hear that and they would say wow okay well if God has given us all this grace then that means we can do whatever we want to do because hey I mean if we sin God's gonna forgive us anyway and Paul immediately came against that type of mentality in Romans chapter 6 verse 1 where he said well then should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace of course not since we have died to sin how can we continue to here it is live in it so the question I want you to ask yourself and really challenge yourself is is my mentality one of well you know I'll sin because God will forgive me or hey this is no big deal because I'm going to heaven anyway I can do whatever I want to do because after all God is going to forgive me he's promised to forgive me if that is your mentality where you're just presuming and you're just assuming that God's grace is gonna catch you whenever you fall my friend that indicates a heart condition that may not be consistent with somebody who has been regenerated or who has been born again so if you are presuming on the grace of God that might be once again another sign that you are slowly migrating over to somebody who is living in willful habitual sin and question number five are you encouraging others to join you in your sin in Romans chapter 1 Paul speaking of the sin of homosexuality that was going on in that Roman culture says this they know God's justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die here it is yet they do them anyway worse yet they encourage others to do them to essentially Paulo saying hey it's bad enough that you are engaged in this type of lifestyle but what is worse is that you are openly publicly encouraging other people to join you in your sin in other words there's no shame anymore you are out see whenever you are struggling with sin you are ashamed of it you don't want people to know about it you're turning away from it at least you're making attempts to try to turn away from it but you're struggling to do so because there's a stronghold or a weakness within you that causes it to be difficult for you to turn away from that particular sin but whenever you are living in sin you are out you are proud you are unashamed and by being public and open with your sin you are causing and encouraging other people to join you with your sin my friend whenever you don't have any shame anymore and you are out with your sim that is a clear indication that you are no longer just a regular Christian that is struggling with sin every so often on an occasional basis my friend sadly you have migrated over to the place where you are living in this sin and you need to pay attention to the warnings that God has against this so I'm gonna go out on a bold limb right here and say that your answers to these questions in this video could very well indicate whether or not you are a genuine believer so let's review so if you are no longer experiencing conviction followed by remorse number two you are making excuses or justifying your sin number three you are making plans to do it again on a consistent basis number four you are presuming or assuming the grace of God will cover you every time you sin and therefore wilfully giving in to it on a consistent basis and then number five you are out open and public with your sin therefore encouraging others to join in your sin if this describes you I want to encourage you to take this video very seriously because your eternal future and destiny could very well be determined by how you answer these questions and what type of changes you make in your life so that you can spend eternity with Christ if you found this video helpful in any way feel free to share it with a friend also if you haven't done so already I would love it if you would subscribe check out some of the other videos on this channel thank you so much for watching I'll see you next time on the beat

Channel: THE BEAT by Allen Parr

Views: 132,133

Rating: 4.9739718 out of 5

Keywords: allen parr, struggling with sin, struggling with sin after salvation, struggling with sin as a christian, struggling with sin sermon, bill wiese struggling with sin, i'm struggling with sin, john macarthur struggling with sin, paul washer struggling with sin, sermon on struggling with sin, td jakes struggling with sin, struggling with habitual sin, struggling with repetitive sin, struggling with same sin, struggling with the same sin over and over, living in sin

Id: mwdUWMRRZHs

Length: 12min 41sec (761 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 30 2020