My Sin Won't Hurt Anyone

 Do you feel trapped by a sin? Does it seem like you can’t quit? Today I share three proven ways you can overcome the addiction that is destroying your life. 

For years I wondered… “Will I ever be free from this sin?

Today we are going to discuss how to be victorious over a secret sin that you’ve told yourself won’t affect anyone else. 

 You are aware of a sin that is overtaking you. You are not able to control yourself. (Or you feel that way.) God is the only one who can give you victory through the finished work of Jesus’ death on the cross.

1.    Confess to God we need help. We have direct access to Jesus Christ, our High Priest, who is always ready to hear us admit our wrongdoing. “We have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God” (Hebrews 4:14). 

2.    Repent of our sin to God. Jesus died to forgive all our sins—past, present, and future. “He has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. … So, Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:26–28).  

3.Remind Yourself of God’s Grace By Praying Scripture – I John 1:9 reminds us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

It really helps to pray scripture, so here’s a short prayer I wrote for you from Psalm 19:13:

“Lord, keep me from deliberate (willful, planned and intentional) sins and from unintentional sins. I confess I thought I could sin, and it wouldn't matter or affect anyone else. I see clearly how these sins have controlled me. I understand how the lie "my sin won't hurt anyone else" has deceived me and penetrated my mind to influence my actions. Thank you, for the sacrifice, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that has paid my penalty. Because of Jesus' finished work, I can be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. Thank you, Father, for the blood of Jesus that "covers a multitude of sin," (I Peter 4:8) Today, I pray for my friends, Lord, keep each of your servants from deliberate sins." In Jesus' name, Amen”

We’ve talked about three proven ways to overcome the addiction that is destroying your life: 

Promise number 1. We must confess to God we need help.  We have direct access to Jesus Christ, our High Priest. 

Promise number 2. We must repent of our sin to God. We can pray for God’s mercy and ask forgiveness.

Promise number 3. We must remind ourselves of God’s grace by Praying Scripture. I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins.” 

Thank you for joining me, I am excited to be part of your journey. Please share this episode and hit subscribe so you don't miss any new episodes. I can't wait for you to experience God's peace, comfort, and wholeness.

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Transcript

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Do you feel trapped by a secret sin? Does it seem like you can't quit? Today I share three proven ways you can overcome the addiction that's destroying your life. Restore your heart starts right now. Each week I bring tips and tools from God's Word to help you identify and overcome triggers, trauma, or tragedy. When your heart is hurting or broken, God's heart breaks right along with yours. If you're anything like me, you've asked questions like, why am I going through this? Or how long will my suffering last? Or will this pain ever stop? You've felt abandoned and alone. Be encouraged. You've found a friend here who knows. God understands each hurt, God cares about each loss. Everything that has happened to you has broken God's heart. Let's get started. For years I wondered, will I ever be free from the sin? Every day I felt ashamed, weak, and like a failure. I tried to quit, and my success only lasted a few hours. I was a victim of what was sucking me dry spiritually. The sin also kept me distracted, stole my joy, and drained my peace. I didn't know my willful wrongdoing kept me locked in a prison of my own making. The key that turned the lock were the devil's lies. I was tricked into believing something other than God's truth. The torture in my mind was non-stop. I was tormented, confused, and exhausted. Maybe you can relate. Today we're going to talk about how to have victory over a secret sin that you've told yourself won't affect anyone else. You're convinced it's okay for you to continue in this sin because it's private and harmless. But you and I know better than that, don't we? Anything that we try to keep a secret will always come out. There's a well-known phrase, you're only as sick as the secrets you keep. Let's get started. So you're aware of a sin that is overtaking you. You're not able to control yourself, or maybe that's how you feel. God's the only one who can give you victory through the finished work of Jesus' death on the cross. Because of Jesus' resurrection on the third day, his victory over death, you're offered that same resurrection power over your sin. This brings us to our first point. Number one, confess to God we need help. We have direct access to Jesus Christ, our high priest, who's always ready to hear us admit our wrongdoing. Hebrews 4:14 says, We have a high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus, the Son of God. God doesn't tally up the number of people who ask him for forgiveness each day. He never says, okay, you've used up your forgiveness coupons today, so come back tomorrow. The common Greek word used for sin in the New Testament is harmachia, derived from a technical word used in archery. It means to miss the mark. It expresses willful rebellion against God, as well as making a mistake and falling short. Wouldn't it be great if each time we chose our own way, gave in to our fleshly desires, and committed a wrong, we made an immediate decision to come clean and confess it? We know we need help. We can't purify ourselves. So how does this work out in our daily lives? Point number one, we've asked for God's help. Point number two is we need to repent of our sin to God. Jesus died to forgive all of our sins, past, present, and future. Hebrews 9, 26 through 28 says, He has appeared once for all, the culmination of the ages, to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many. When we sin, we can go immediately to Jesus and ask forgiveness. He's always waiting to hear our confessions, and he's the only one who can forgive us. When we agree with him about our sin, we hit the target every time. King David repented of his adultery and murder, his hardness of heart and covering up his sin. He repented of every single one of those sins, and God forgave him. Inviting God to do something only he can do shows a heart posture of restoration, wanting restoration. David began his prayer with, Have mercy on me, O God, and that's Psalm 51.1. This is the prayer of a man who knows he has sinned and is choosing not to make excuses for himself. That brings us to our last point. Remind yourself of God's grace by praying scripture. You've confessed your sin, you've repented of your sin. God has forgiven you. First John 1 9 reminds us if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. You don't have to add anything else to it, but you must believe it. Resting in the finished work of Christ on the cross, resurrection from the grave, and now in heaven interceding for you. Hebrews 7.25 says, Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. A tangible example of this is in Psalm 51:10, when King David prayed, created me a pure heart of God and renew a steadfast spirit within me. He agreed with God and confessed his sins of adultery with Bathsheba and then having her husband Uriah murdered. There's one more scripture I'd like to share with you too. 1 John 5 18. We know that whoever is born of God does not sin, but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. So we're going to take a minute to pray some scripture. Here's a short prayer I wrote for you from Psalm 19, verse 13. Lord, keep me from deliberate, that's willful, planned, and intentional sins, and from unintentional sins. I confess I thought I could sin and it wouldn't matter or affect anybody else. I see clearly how these sins have controlled me. I understand how the lie, my sin won't hurt anyone else, has deceived me and penetrated my mind to influence my actions. Thank you for the sacrifice, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that has paid my penalty. Because of Jesus' finished work, I can be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. Thank you, Father, for the blood of Jesus that covers a multitude of sin. Today, I pray for my friends, Lord, keep each of us, your servants, from deliberate sins. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. We talked about three proven ways to overcome the addiction that's destroying your life. Promise number one, we must confess to God we need help. We have direct access to Jesus Christ, our high priest. Promise number two, we must repent of our sin to God. We can pray for God's mercy and ask forgiveness. Promise number three, we must remind ourselves of God's grace by praying Scripture. 1 John 1 9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins. I encourage you this week, rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Jesus' blood has covered a multitude of sins. God has forgiven you. Believe in Christ, you are forgiven. God wants your freedom and victory even more than you do. Thanks for joining me for Restore Your Heart. Remember, healing takes time. Every small step matters. I hope you join us next time when we talk about how to draw near to God when we feel far away. Stop by my website, S-H-E-R-Y-L, G as in go, T as in Tom.com to follow up. If you enjoyed this episode, please share and subscribe. This is Cheryl Giesbreck Turner. I look forward to next time as In Christ, you and I experience freedom and peace. See you then.