Crash Course: Why Do Christians Still Sin?

Hey, what's up guys?

Welcome to another episode of Crash Course.

The last two episodes that Scott and I have recorded were on the long side in that 20 to 25 minute range, and we really don't want to do that normally.

We want to stay in sort of the 15 to 20 minute range.

So we're going to try to do this one short.

Quick.

Quick.

Scott, you just said what do you want to talk about?

You're the one that had the idea for this episode.

So what I wanted to talk about, I think a question that a lot of Christians ask is okay, you've talked about how we have a new nature when we're born again.

Right.

We are not sinners saved by grace.

We were sinners, we got saved by grace, and now we have this new nature.

Then why do I still sin?

Why do I still struggle with sin?

Do you?

I do.

I've got to be honest with you, Justin.

That's against blow your image of it.

Well, I don't.

So I guess that's where I'm just not relating to this conversation.

Because I'm like, oh, I haven't got saved when I was 10 and I haven't sinned.

Let me just take the rest of this one then.

Yeah, go for it.

I got nothing to add.

All right.

You're gonna go grab a sandwich.

So, but you know, I I I have asked myself on many occasions that question why do I still struggle with things that the Bible clearly says that I have authority over and that I have been redeemed from?

And here's a concept that people really need to understand, and that is it all revolves around the way that we think.

And I'm going to give you a couple of scriptures here.

Um, Jesus made the statement, he said, Um, if you continue in my word, you are my disciples, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

And Jesus is saying something to me that is absolutely amazing there.

And what he's saying is this if you are under bondage in any area of your life, it is because you have accepted a lie as the truth.

And he said, But when you learn the truth, the truth will set you free.

And let me give you an example.

Maybe somebody grows up and they just think they're dumb.

And the Bible says that as you think in your heart, so are you.

You act according to the way that you think.

And so you say, Well, why do I think that I'm dumb?

Maybe all along your life, as you were growing up, your parents told you you were dumb.

Your parents told you you couldn't do this, couldn't do that.

I remember I'm actually a quasi-athletic guy.

But I remember you're quasi-athletes?

Quasi-athletic.

That's a term I've never heard.

Quasi-athletic.

I just coined that term.

Um, but when I was in the seventh grade, I had a PE coach, and I was a pretty good athlete, honestly, up to that point in time.

And I had a PE coach who made a very derogatory comment about me because I was younger, I had skipped the second grade, and so I was the youngest kid in the class.

And when he made that comment about me, it flipped the switch in the way that I thought, and it changed me.

And I could never after that, it was such a struggle to really put forth my best because in my heart I thought I can't do this.

I'm a sports person or whatever, so you're like, I yeah.

Again, I know this is hard for you to relate to, but because you're not come on.

I mean, just look at me.

You're the basketball guy, just look at me.

I mean, like, there's nothing quasi about this athletic.

Right, no.

You're you're in like you're in like much better shape than me, which is why no one can see that, which is why I'm laughing.

Um, I'm a great before picture.

And if you want like, you know, you're the after picture, I'm the before picture.

So but it changed the way that I thought.

What happened is I bought a lie that changed the way that I thought, and it put me in bondage.

And so many times I think that people, uh Christians, they give their lives to Jesus, they give their heart to Jesus, they know that they're in bondage, they know they're suffering, and they don't understand why.

And it's because probably the words of other people have caused them to think wrongly.

And what Jesus is saying is, but if you will take my truth, if you will abide in my word, you will replace that lie with the truth, and you will be set free.

Our minds are like computers.

And so why do we still sin after we're born again?

I'll tell you why.

Let's say you I got born again when I was 15 years old.

For 15 years, my computer was trained how to respond, how to act.

It was trained for years.

If something went bad, I would get angry, I would cuss.

I used to be a great cusser.

Yeah, you've mentioned that in a previous episode that you're a prolific.

I was a prolific cuss.

Does that mean you invented cuss words?

Like people like, I've never even heard this.

Oh yeah.

You just made up a new cuss.

That's cool.

It's so cool.

I would put cuss words within other words and just sneak them in.

I mean, you wouldn't uh might not even recognize them all the time.

But where am I going with this?

No, no, yeah, I know where you're going.

Wait, for 15, because it's like an operating system, right?

Yeah, exactly.

It runs on a certain thing.

And and that computer analogy, uh I think we actually used this in another episode we did it in early on, but it was a pastor I heard, and it was great talking about how like look, when you become a new Christian, it's like you get a new iPhone, right?

You have new hardware, and he actually called it heartware, was really clever.

Yeah, you know, very cool.

Heartware, you get new heartware.

He said, but but when you get a new phone, it's a perfectly like top-of-the-line piece of technology, but you're gonna see it needs updates all the time, right?

Right, and you have the ability to ignore those updates.

If someone will come up and be like, hey, you need an update, you know, and it's like, no, later, remind me tomorrow.

And you can do that for like months.

We we actually had a device here at his hands that runs our air conditioning system, it's a computer thing, and the we were having lots of issues with it.

Dude comes out uh last week and he's like, Well, you guys haven't updated this in eight years.

We're like, Oh, oh, sorry.

He's like, Yeah, it's super buggy, you know.

But that the the computer itself was not the problem.

It just the updates exactly the same.

Well, update and and that's the renewing of your mind.

And I I tell you, I'll give you an example of what you're saying, and I'm really convicted right now because I'm thinking of all the things in my life.

I'm like, oh man, what lies do I believe?

I need to go home and pray and deal with some stuff.

Um, because as a Christian, I struggle with sin, right?

I became a Christian at 10.

So if I'm actually gonna be honest, like the sin that I struggle with today as a Christian of 20 plus years seems more intense than what I dealt with as a nine-year-old.

Right, right?

What lies have I been believed?

Number one, we live before we're Christians in a world that programs us a certain way and our our flesh and all that.

Number two, we don't get no one stops lying to us.

And and I'll just be honest, not being legalistic, but if if you're someone who gets home every night and you just put in hours and hours of television, you listen to music and all this kind of stuff, like you are being lied to constantly, and you're gonna fool yourself if you don't think those lies are gonna penetrate.

Great example.

I had a conversation with a guy the other day, um, and it was a man, and we were talking about issues, and he was talking about sex.

And his thing is like, I just, you know, I know I'm a Christian, he used to be married, divorced, and now he's in a new relationship, and he's just kind of, and this is something I I literally have so many conversations like this.

This is probably one of the most, you know, because some weird thing about being a pastor is people feel a need to confess to you.

I'm like, I'm not a Catholic priest.

You don't actually have to tell me all your issues, but people like while we have a normal conversation, you know, we're just talking about sports, and they'll be like, and you know, and look, sometimes I da-da-da.

And I'm like, why did you even have okay?

I didn't need to know that, but whatever.

Um, just like compelled to do it.

But he just lets me know, like, and you know, look, I know, I know the Bible says, you know, like wait till I'm married and and all that, but I just, you know, I mean, we're we're both adults, it's consensual, you know, basically on all this stuff.

Right.

And he just kind of almost said, like, how in the world can I not?

And I said, Well, I'll tell you how.

Like, although the reason because you you you view sex as a need.

Like you think you need sex.

And so in your mind, sex is a need and you have to.

Like you just can't.

You can't deny yourself.

You can't, because you, I mean, it's like sex.

I'm like, what would happen if you went a month without having sex?

Nothing.

Like, what would happen if you went years without having sex?

You'd be fine.

You'd literally be fine.

You know, but our society tells us it's a need.

You need to have sex.

You have to.

If you're not having fulfilling great sex, our society would even tell us if you're not sexually compatible with your spouse, you need to find a new spouse.

Like, what does that even mean?

What are you like sexual compatibility?

Like biologically, you're compatible.

Right.

Right?

Like that's every male is compatible with like every female, uh, except in maybe extreme situations.

My my point is like Let's face it, bad sex is an oxymoron.

Yeah, yeah.

It is.

Um But but the idea, like, the the simple truth is our society tells us that elevates sex to a status that the Bible does not, and tells us that sex is a need, that it's like oxygen and food and water, and if you don't have enough good sex, exciting sex, then you're gonna like, I mean, you'll just you can't even live.

Right.

And that's a lie.

And if you believe that lie, then you will operate as someone who who is trying to meet a need, not a desire.

And you will then get angry and resentful if other people aren't, you know, helping or denying you of your need.

You know, you hear people in marriage just talk all the time, you're not meeting my needs.

What needs?

What needs is my spouse supposed to meet?

Right.

Because I feel like God meets my needs, not like you know what I mean?

Right.

And the and if you believe those lies, you know, marriage is a great example.

We get lied to so much by movies and like romantic comedies that always end at the wedding for a reason.

Because those marriage, like almost every romantic comedy, the marriage, will fail.

If it was in the real world, like you've you seen Pretty Woman?

I never saw that.

Okay, well, you're not missing much.

Like it's like early 90s.

My I remember watching it growing up because I watched a lot of movies, and uh, it's like a classic romantic comedy about Richard.

Richard Gere is a rich man who picks up Julia Roberts as a prostitute, you know, and they sleep together because he's paying for her as a prostitute, but then he also takes her to fancy dinners at his company and like buys her really nice clothes.

And that's supposed to somehow make up for the fact that he's hired her as a prostitute and sleeps with her, but it's okay because he buys her nice things, right?

And then they just fall in love, you know, as you do, um, and then they get married, and it's just such a crazy story of like, how what what are the odds?

He picks her up as a prostitute, they get married not that long.

Well, in the real world, what are the odds that marriage lasts?

Right.

Like, none.

Zero.

Zilch.

But we view that as romantic.

That's a romantic movie.

A lot of people would actually say of a certain generation that they think pretty woman's one of those like most romantic movies.

It's not romantic at all.

That hires a woman on the street who's vulnerable, and instead of rescuing her from her, like if he didn't sleep with her, if he hired her, paid her to just like get her out of that world, right?

It'd be different, but he doesn't, right?

But our world sees that as romantic.

It's a lie.

And we get programmed with these lies, we believe them.

Unfortunately, a lot of us as Christians spend a lot more time ingesting the lies of the world than we do the truth of scripture.

And then we we wonder why we're we're making the wrong because we're we're living off of our assumptions.

And so while I very much believe in a spiritual world, and we've done another podcast on the influence of demons in people's lives, yeah, a lot of things that people attribute to the devil are just because of the way they think.

That's a good point.

And so, how do we overcome this and how do we change the way that we think?

And Paul said this.

Paul said, don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

And what Paul is saying is if you want to start being more like Jesus, change the way you think.

Start thinking like Jesus.

And where do we get the thoughts of Jesus?

And the answer is in the Bible.

Sure.

And so it's just simply learning the Bible, learning, spending time in the Word.

Yep.

David said, I will hide your words in my heart, yes, that I might not sin against God.

Yes.

You know, that might that I might sound like against you.

When you know the truth and you are living your life based on the truth.

And the truth will set you free.

Yeah.

If I came to you, you know, if you're driving a car and I lied to you, like say you you don't know anything about cars, and I give you a car and like, hey, this thing.

That would not be a stretch to say I don't know anything about it.

You'd know this.

But you know, if you took someone that had no knowledge of cars and you said, Hey, this car, it's a beautiful new car, it runs on orange juice.

So every morning I wish to fill it up with orange juice.

You know what I mean?

Right.

Like, it would not go very far.

Right.

Okay.

Because you you're you're filling it with something that isn't like it is not true.

It's not the true fuel for that.

And man, when you think about the way people make decisions, especially major decisions, and you look at how Satan has influenced our culture so much to be so upside down.

So much so that we as Christians look like the weird ones.

But I heard a pastor say once or a writer talking about like if you're in an you know, if everyone is upside down but a few people, the mo everyone's gonna see the people who are upside down as the ones upside down.

Because you know what I'm saying?

Like, if you're upside down, the people who are right side up look upside down to you.

Well, the truth of God is like the Bible says is foolishness to this world.

You know, in 1 Corinthians, like like God's wisdom is foolishness to the world.

But man, if you actually take it and apply it and look at it and go, does this actually it would change your life?

It stands up, it holds up.

You know, I mean we're even looking in a in a world right now, um, and I'm looking at the clock, we're gonna be done by 15 minutes.

But uh we live in a world right now where we just had a major school shooting happen this last week in Parkland, Florida, as we're recording this episode, and and the sad truth is that unless some major things change in our country, you know, if someone's listening to this two years ago, there will be a more recent school shooting that's taken place.

Um and everyone thinks right now that the way to solve it is, you know, with laws and and all this other stuff.

And I'm not against I'm not an expert on that.

But the but the problem is not ultimately, oh, the laws that we have allow this to happen.

It's the way that we we think as a culture and it's what we celebrate.

I watched an actor get interviewed not that long ago who's a famous actor in a lot of really violent movies, and he was basically asked, like, hey, do you ever feel guilty for the movies that you're in where like all these people are killed?

It's always funny when you have Hollywood that's like both A, fighting for gun control laws, and B, here's our next movie, in which hundreds of people are murdered with guns.

Right.

You know, it's like, hey guys, I feel like there's a disconnect.

Little dichotomy there.

Right.

And the person was asking him about that, like, hey, like maybe you guys shouldn't make movies.

He goes, Look, that's fantasy land.

The movies, that's just fantasy.

But it's like what we fantasize about tends to affect us.

Yeah.

Right.

That's what you fill your mind with.

That's the way you start to think.

And that's what you said earlier, the way a man thinks in his heart, so he is.

So what we fantasize about, what we think about, that affects the way we live out our lives.

Yes.

And as Christians, we just need to think about the truth.

And and I what I would say is like, look, not again, not to be legalistic, like stop going to R-rated movies.

I'm not saying I'm like, but fill yourself with the truth, not with lies.

If you go watch, you know, if you're a if if if you go watch a bunch of pornography, you you shouldn't be surprised when you find yourself lusting after, you know, members of the opposite sex.

Why am I why am I thinking these thoughts?

You know, well, it's because you've filled your mind with with this, with this garbage, you know, with these lies.

Um if you spend your time, you know, uh with materialistic people, and just it's like you oh you gotta have this and this, and then all of a sudden you feel dissatisfied with what you your house and with your car and with your clothing and all that stuff.

Well, yeah, because you've believed a lie that it's not that that you need nicer things, or you know what I mean?

Right.

I I don't know other examples.

You'll I'll I'll shut up.

But my point is you're right, it's it's the lies that we believe, and Jesus' truth trumps lies every time.

What do you want to say to wrap it up?

You know, I'll just say this again to especially newer Christians who are saying, Well, what do I need to do to live the Christian life, to walk out God's blessings in my life?

This is it.

Start to work on the way that you think, start to change the way you think.

Renew your mind to God's word, spend time in God's word, let it change how you think, and it will change how you act, it will change what you experience.

Meditate on it.

You know, I'd say that just read it.

And when you read something and it's like, don't just don't try to read it so fast that you don't stop and think about it.

Think about it.

If you're struggling in your marriage right now, go read what the Bible says about marriage.

Yeah.

If you're struggling in some other area, your finances, go read what the Bible says about finances, and then and then really sit and go, Man, am I doing it that way?

Am I do I think about it?

Do I think about my money as my own, or do I think about my money as God's that He's given to me?

Right.

You know, because that, like the difference between a generous person and a non-generous person is not how much money they have, it's how they think about their money.

Yeah.

Right?

And so anyway, yeah.

Yeah, there you go.

Why do Christians still sin?

Because we believe lies and we're lied to all the time by Satan, who is the father of lies, and his lies are all throughout our culture, permeating our culture.

And frankly, most Christians eat the lies up in much higher qual you know quantity.

Almost like we drink, we we get God's word on Sunday mornings for 30 minutes or 45 minutes, if you know, or 50 sometimes when I talk.

Hour.

No, I don't there's not many messages.

There's not many messages that have ever gone more than an hour.

You can look at a podcast, it's rarely ever been an hour.

All right.

But but then we'll we'll spend five hours a day just from a drinking lies from a fire hose.

You know, flip that over and see what happens.

You're absolutely right.

All right.

That's it for this episode of Crash Course.

I was thinking like maybe a cool like That was cool.

Cool.

All right.

I think that'll that that's probably the game changer.

Yeah.

That was cool.

Yeah.

All right.

Thanks guys for listening.

We love y'all.