Recently, Pastor J.D. got to be a part of a special “Live AMA” with college students from Hardin Baptist Church in Hardin, KY. Listen in as Pastor J.D. answers questions submitted by the audience, including, “How much should you dwell on your sin?”
Show Notes:
How much should you dwell on your sin?
- From a pastoral perspective, most of us don’t hate sins enough.
- One of the main things to do is to pray for God to give us a hatred for sin.
- Having said that, the Puritans used to say, “For every one look at yourself, you should take 10 looks at Jesus Christ.” In fact, where you learn to hate sin is by looking at the purity of Christ.
- The Bible says that the righteous man falls seven times and gets back up — can you imagine walking behind somebody who fell seven times? The point is, even the righteous man falls all the time. But he shows his righteousness not by never falling, but by looking to Christ when he falls.
- Growth in grace is not growing in how much you actually need grace, growth in grace is growing in your awareness of how much you actually need it.
How do you go about addressing friends who are clearly in sin?
- Practically speaking, you have to say something.
- Some of us struggle with not wanting to confront anyone. Some of us struggle with wanting to say too much.
- Ultimately, you have to say that you can’t see the fruits of the gospel in their lives. And I’ve seen God use conversations like that in people’s lives before.
- But some of you will want to say that too many times. And the key is to find balance in speaking the truth into someone’s life while not trying to force them to change. You have to let the Holy Spirit do that.
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