welcome to this episode of real Christianity my name is Dale Partridge if you're new here you can always get the show notes for these episodes how to relearn. Org our ministry relearn. Or is fighting for biblical literacy in the church are tagline that we often say here is it back to the Bible we're trying to get the church back to scripture today is going to be a short episode or shorter for those who don't know the past several years I have been fighting a disease it's called Sir cirsi which is a chronic inflammatory response syndrome which is basically just a result of mold toxicity and some Lyme disease that I have been fighting on and off for about 4 years
 this week I begin treatment and testing with a specialist and have required some prep that left me not feeling great and also limited time this week so I had to cut this episode a little bit short. Said this episode will be on an important topic were talking about confession and repentance of sin and for that reason I just want to briefly mention our program at standard victory.org which is for breaking the bondage of pornography and ensure that this this program is it's just a great powerful program you can finish in one week it's affordable we had nearly a thousand men and women enroll in the program and finally allow the gospel to break the chains of this sin
 in many people's lives I can you can just do you can just go and learn more about it at stand in victory.org again that stand in victory.org so I have a question for you do you have secrets in do you look at porn or do you drink until you get drunk or do you feel in bondage to some medication that maybe you're taking are you a habitual liar or have you had an affair having an affair
 are you texting someone inappropriately in a relationship do you sit at your office on your phone instead of working hard for your employer do you entertain dark thoughts or sinful ideas do you watch things that you shouldn't watch listen to things you shouldn't listen to are you cheating are you stealing are you gossiping about others all of us sin but today I'm I want to talk about ongoing habitual sin that has a grip on our spirit send that finds itself clinging to our lives I'm talking about the sins that the Holy Spirit brings conviction of but you proceeded anyways
 and how do you beat that sin and we know that men and women who have no conviction of sin and can send without that conviction on going but call themselves Christians might not be Christians in an episode about that the standing Victory program will talk about that but I'm talking about all of us who have some of these areas of Our Lives to the Lord of sanctifying that we find ourselves unable to conquer certain areas of sin in our life
 I want to talk about what the Bible says of course
 what are we supposed to do what is scripture lead us to do when attempting to confront these heavier sins in our lives
 first and foremost I want to say that our relationship with sin is a direct reflection with our Clarity of the Gospel I want you to pay attention here
 obedience is a result of gratitude
 that is it love and not law the drives a Christian to obedience we obey because of the great thankfulness
 of what Christ has done for us in other words you have to send
 continue sitting in light of what Christ has done for you is unimaginable yet we do it and we sent all the time and this is why we need Christ all the time
 and while we're no longer condemned by our sin for those who believe in Christ because we've repented of our own way we've trusted in Christ alone to be our righteousness but again we still send we still need to be Sanctified or cleaned is that what that word means by the spirit when he made more like God Son but he asked a question what does the Bible command or instruct Christians to do in conquering these habitual difficult sins
 if I was to summarize come the biblical concept or principles that we're about to discuss again in short today I would say it would be something like this repent quickly confess often and ask for prayer if I could just break it down and it just three three steps I'm going to say that again it's repent quickly confess often and ask for prayer
 the great Puritan Rider Thomas Watson he's a fantastic author he actually is one of my favorite writers because he's able to put complex the theological ideas into simple witty sentences he would have been the master of Twitter in his day but he wants said by delay of repentance sin strengthens and the Heart hardens the longer ice freezes the harder it is to be broken
 we talked about a few verses James 5:16 might come to some of your minds when talking about confession of sin
 it says therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another and that you may be healed
 the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working
 now there's I could break down this
 passage of scripture in delivering entire sermon on it but my short commentary is that confession is not the act that will heal you from your propensity to send but it generates the first step to what can
 and that is when we confess our sins to another believer a brother or sister in Christ that deliver can take your need to prayer and prayer is the place which can provide healing and sanctification and power to conquer the desires of your flesh so for those sins in your life that have crippled you or that you found yourself in an ongoing battle bring them to the light and bring them to another brother or sister and allow the power of intercessory prayer to fight for you it's it's a vital decision to do that I'll talk more about that willingness to bring it to the light here in just a second
 Proverbs 28:13 says whoever conceals his transgressions will not Prosper but he who confesses and 46 them will obtain Mercy
 so I want to point out what it said they're again we know that the Proverbs are just God's wisdom on life
 and it said whoever conceals his transgressions will not Prosper a sin leads to death it always does when you look at someone who's lost their lives will continue to get darker and darker and darker until death which gets darker and darker
 and they will not prosper
 they might prosper in money and wealth and power
 but in God's definition of the word Prosper they will not Prosper it says but so that's a contract clause so it's always given you in the Proverbs are type of Hebrew poetry that really shows antithetical ideas means that it shows one way is this way but this way is better it's contrasting two ways the songs do this often but whoever conceals his transgressions will not Prosper but he who confesses and forsakes so just wanted to mention there was a two-part there he confesses and forsakes
 them that is the sins will obtain Mercy
 Augustine said quote the confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works
 now why is this so difficult
 and why should we be so adamant as Christians to confess these more difficult sins
 that we struggle with
 I'm going to read a passage from John 3 and 19 through 21
 but before I do I want to just bring one preface
 just because I feel like there needs to be some clarity here
 we are to confessed to Believers we're not to confess to work to confess as a sister James to one another in which is a destroyer of the Catholic ideology and false theology to confess to a priest to confess to one another but that one another needs to be someone who is safe who is known who has fruit in your life who is a validated Believer by the life they have lived so this is the importance of being in fellowship with other believers is it you have a place or person to bring those confessions to who can respond biblically and counsel you in the way of scripture on how to move forward
 but again let's talk briefly about why this is so important Jesus talks about light and darkness and confession is something that comes into the light and the withholding or hiding sin is really a reflection of a love for Darkness
 and Jesus says
 to those that he's talking to in the Gospel of John he says which I believe is the Pharisees I don't have all of it in front of me he says this is the Judgment that the light has come into the world as Jesus and Men loved Darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil at word for is the reason it's the the reason why they love the darkness why do they love it because their deeds were evil for everyone who loves or everyone who does evil hates the light
 and does not come to the light for why for fear that his deeds will be exposed but he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested meaning you can see them and having been wrought in God and having been brought about and God
 I want to talk about
 maybe a metaphorical illustration here
 nightclubs are a breeding ground for sin
 for those of you who were saved maybe later in life and participated in that nightlife you understand what I'm saying why do people enjoy nightclubs well because their evil Deeds are not as easily seen
 in a nightclub as they are somewhere else
 and what would happen if you walked into a bar or a dance club at 1 in the morning and you turned on all the lights
 with the people there be upset or would they be happy that you turn the lights on when we know the answer to that question Jesus gives it its is for everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to life or fear that his deeds will be exposed
 and the principal this is a metaphorical illustration with the principle is true of the Lost Love sin and darkness and the Christian loves the light
 and we love the light because we know while it might be painful or embarrassing or even convicting
 to bring something to the light we know that the light is good for us
 how we know that the light will make us spiritually well we know that we are safest we know that we are most secure we know that we are stable and protected when we are in the light
 are flash however can often be like those people in the nightclub who prefer the darkness
 I can prefer
 concealing
 the things that are eating away at our spirit and our soul
 it can enjoy getting away with things
 that people might not see but the Lord sees
 don't let it any longer we each of us me to all of us
 when we have those matters in our lives
 it could be small things in terms of the way that humans use in they could be big things in the way that humans use in they could be things they can put you to jail they can be things that someone would laugh at
 the drag that sensitive to light
 repent repent of it to the Lord confess it to another brother or sister in Christ and then make sure that you ask for them to pray that the Lord might Supply you with the strength to conquer that's in that's where the real power is its the confession and repentance tried to repentance is first and primary confession brings it out and there are a host of just sociological matters that come along with just the embarrassment of it the commitment of being obedient the accountability and transparency that comes with that
 but the real value spiritually speaking is to have another brother or sister pray for you regularly that you might overcome and Conquer that sin through Christ in you
 it's a brother or sister if you have something that's in the dark
 bring it to light your Christian and we love the light we know that we're safe in the light and we need to often be reminded of that come come back to the light
 hopefully that was an edifying episode I know it was a short episode today thank you for taking the time to listen I hope this ministry is podcast Ministry has been edifying to your journey for those again who would like to show through these episodes are available at relearn. Org your regular listen to this podcast thank you so much for those of you who support us we learn. Org forward slash donate some of you guys support at five bucks a month or 20 bucks a month it really does help our ministry thank you for your faithfulness there if you haven't left to review on our podcast we would love for you to do that you don't even need a ride anything you can just have two stars you can also write something and I will read it we just passed 6,000 reviews
 and over three million downloads for the podcast so thank you guys so much for that on that note thank you for listening to this episode of real Christianity my name is Dale Partridge and we'll see you next week
thank you for listening to this episode of real Christianity if your regular listener to the show would you personally consider making a donation to support our ministry efforts simply visit relearn. Org forward slash donate again that's relearn. Work for donate and for those looking to explore the idea of joining or planting a church in your home you can download our free pdf ebook titled the basics of biblical House Church by visiting relearn. Org forward slash house last week do you have a theological question you would like answered on the show submit your question at relearn. Org forward slash question thanks for joining us on this episode of real Christianity we will see you next Wednesday