Killing Sin

Published Jan 27, 2025, 9:05 PM

What sin has hold of your life? What one recurring negative pattern would you like to change? Pastor, author, and radio host Karl Clauson says whatever your "one thing" is, God has the power to help you kill that sin. What is your part in that process? Learn how to conquer and kill the one thing so you can be fully alive in Christ. Don't miss Chris Fabry Live.

For more information about the work of Care Net, click here.

Chris Fabry Live is listener-supported. To support the program, click here.

There is freedom available, abundant life can be yours. But if our guest today is correct in his assessment, there is something in your life that you need conquered in order to be fully alive in Christ. It is something that is holding you back, a recurring pattern that sets you up for failure. What is that one thing in your life that needs to be killed? That's pretty strong language, but it's there for a reason. We're going to talk about that today on Chris Fabry live program, from the heart to the heart for the heart. Our team has assembled. Let me thank Ryan McConaughey doing all things technical. Trish is our producer. Tiara is going to be answering your calls today. And thank you, friends and partners. You're part of that team as well. This is our last week to send you what I think is a fantastic thank you for your support. Don't miss it. Pilgrim prayers have been talking about it all But these poems and devotional thoughts from Tim Challies will connect you with believers from 100 years ago or more. And the 50 poems express some aspect of the Christian life. Some are about praise and worship of God, his sovereignty. Some are about repentance, which we will talk about today. Some are designed just to be an encouragement to help you persevere through some trial in your life. Give a gift of any size to Chris Fabry. Live today or before the end of the month, which is the end of this week. Chris Fabry live and we will send you these poems in Pilgrim prayers. You can also call 86695433. Only four days left after today. (866) 953-2279 or Chris Fabry live.org. I love talking with radio people and Carl Claussen is one. He's host of Moody Radio's Carl and Crew which is now a nationally syndicated program heard around the around the country. He is also lead pastor of 180 Chicago Church. He and his wife, Janine have been married for 37 years. They have two adult children. He wrote the seven resolutions we talked about that recently were self-help ends and God's power begins. And this book is kind of an offshoot of that. It's called Killing sin. Conquer that one thing that is defeating you. Carl. Welcome back. How are you doing today? Well, I bet he's. I bet he's a lot better than I am now that I didn't hear him hear his voice. Uh, okay. You work on getting Carl here. This is one of those books that, uh. I don't get asked this very often, but, uh, Carl asked me. Carl sent me a copy and said, hey, would you read this and tell me what you think about it? And and then maybe I'd use this in the program. And I said, which do you want? Behavior modification or transformation? Formation, self-help, spiritual, whack a mole or empowerment from God. And that's what Carl writes in his book Killing Sin. All right. So, Carl, are you doing okay today?

I heard you loud and clear. You know what? Technology sometimes gets the better part of me. And. And I had the wrong button pushed down here, but I got my hands off of everything. We should be good to go.

As long as you have the same problem. Just don't hand that, you know. Let me see the phone. Don't hand it to me.

Okay, Carl, just don't touch anything and we'll be fine.

Here's what I read in today. In the word. The question to you was, why did you decide to write this? And you said one morning I asked listeners of our moody radio show if you could change one thing about the Chicago Bears that would turn them into a winning team, what would that be? They responded to that question, didn't they?

They deluged us. Everything from get rid of the ownership to change the offensive scheme to even concessions. We need new.

And everybody.

Has an opinion about somebody else's, you know, the other team and what. And it's so easy for us to see.

Right. Yeah it is. And you know that's not a problem. We can make judgment calls. We make them all the time. That's not exercising. You exercise judgment and you look at any kind of a team, even workplace teams, and you go, boy, if we could change this one thing, we could get a lot more victories around here. We could get this thing headed the right direction. And that's I think that's fair and in play. What was fun was turning this around and we knew where we were going with this question. I quickly turned it around and said, well, what's the one thing that if you got victory over this, you know, would open the doors to much more spiritual victory in your life? And Chris, we were deluged with responses.

See, that's what surprises me. It makes I. Because I would think people would hold back from that and say, you know, I can have a comment about the team or even somebody else's sin. If you could change one thing about your spouse or your kids. You know, like that'll get the lines going. Yeah, but when you said this, what's one thing you can change about yourself? They got it.

Yeah, they got it. And they got it in a big way. We were crushed. We had hundreds of text messages pouring in, not just that morning, but three weeks later, I was getting texts saying, you know, I had contemplated this. I knew what it was. I didn't have the courage to text you, but I'm doing it now. And here's I want to applaud Moody Radio listeners, if you're here listening to us right now, it's because you want to grow and go with God. That's why you're here. That's why you're here. Our brand promise is helping you take your next step with Jesus. And that's I love our listeners because they these people are courageous. They want God's best. And God bless you today. And I mean that.

Yeah, But but the problem is, a lot of people are held back by sin. And you use the one thing. You're not saying that there's only one sin in a person's life, but there's there's probably one thing, a pattern of sin that if you could get rid of that, you think, I could move forward? I could feel forgiven, that type of thing.

Yeah. I'll be vulnerable here. So seven years into our marriage, my bride, I was walking through our bedroom and my bride reached up and grabbed my wrist. And to this point in time in our marriage, things were going along pretty well. And I think from the outside everything looked dynamite. We were knee deep in ministry and watching God do amazing things. I knew in my gut something's not clicking here. But Janine gave me a dose of what it was that morning on a Saturday. She grabbed my wrist. I looked down at her and her chin's quivering and I'm instantly in a nanosecond I thought someone died. Someone's hurt. I said, what's going on? She said, I don't love you anymore, and I'm scared to death. Now that is a critical moment for a man. And even saying that, it hurts a little bit, Chris, because it's a blow to my manhood. You know the man card. It hurts. It's why I'm grateful for people like Dave Wilson and Wilson, who share that vulnerably about their own marriage relationship coming to that crossroads. But it was, and ultimately it was a huge blessing that my bride gave me everything inside me as I walked around the corner, looking in the mirror of our bathroom vanity. Everything inside me wanted to say, well, she's got this, she's got that. And she would have owned every one of those things. And so here's Carl. Mr. can fix it can mush across the state with a team of dogs in front of me. Guy. And I was dumbfounded and I said, Lord, search me. And the the answer that came back was, you have a diminished relationship, not just with your bride, but this has a spillover effect into all areas of your life, your glorified roommates. And it's because you have not learned, young man, how to love your wife as Christ loves the church. That was a big deal for me to look in the mirror and face that. It was awesome. Chris, as I'm sitting here right now, it was awesome. Did I get it overnight? No, it's been an ongoing deal, but 37 years of marriage, I can tell you. She's my best buddy. She's my comrade. And you know, sometimes now I sense the Spirit of God prompting me. I'll be driving home. Generally, every time I'm driving back home, the Spirit of God will tell me, okay, how are you going to love your bride? And sometimes it's propping her feet up on my lap and giving her a foot massage. She loves those things, man. We're just hearing her heart about something and that that was a big deal for me. There's been other issues. I'm a time redeeming guy in so many ways, and I've got so much going on in my life. But time. Redemption.

Yeah. You're busy. Right?

Yeah, but I've got a lot going on. But redeeming time, you know, 24 hours in a day. That's a lot of hours. That's a lot of hours. So you sleep eight maybe of those, and then you got to eat a couple hours. You got to get some work done. But that gives a lot of hours. And the Lord really began to work in my heart a number of years ago saying, what are you doing with this unredeemed time? And the warning to people to redeem time is profound. It's Psalm 90. It's in the book of Ephesians. The apostle Paul and and the Lord began to convict me and Alter me in the area of time, redemption and everybody. When I when I asked the question, what's that one thing in your life? If you're honest to God and let the Spirit of God search you like David did, search me, know me, try me, see if there'd be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. What a prayer, huh? Chris? What a prayer by David. But if we can get there, or somebody has the grace enough to help us see what that is. It can be incredibly liberating because God wants you to conquer that one thing that is defeating you and that. And as I say that right now, there are so many things that come to mind. It can be time, redemption. It could be. Some people feel like a lazy streak has gotten a hold of my life, and I know it could be an addiction of any kind. Some people start sipping wine and then they find out wine sipping them, and it can be gossiping in a lobby. It can be, uh, relational, uh, inability to love people. Well, maybe love your bride as Christ loved the church. But you know that. You know. And not because I'm saying it or Chris is saying it. The Spirit of God convicts us of sin, righteousness, and judgment. And my heart in this work is to give people a strategy to finally put it to death. It's biblical. It sounds crazy. Killing sin. What do you mean? Well, Paul said it.

Let me let me have you talk about that when you come back. And what you mean. Yes. When we come back. What you mean when you say the presenting problem is not the real problem? Somebody else said that to you. Yes, but it's. You think it's one thing, but it's a bigger umbrella and we'll talk about that. Carl Claussen is with us. Killing sin is our featured resource today at Chris relive.org. Conquer the one thing that is defeating you. What is your one thing? Eight. Seven. Seven. Five. Four. Eight. Three. Six. Seven.

Five is our number.

Pastor, radio host Carl Claussen is joining us today at the back fence. Killing sin is his latest. It just came out a few weeks ago at the beginning of the month. Conquer the one thing that is defeating you. And what is that in your life? And as you you know, I have to call and tell me that. But I want you to be thinking about that as we have this conversation today. Is there one thing that you keep coming back to? It's almost like you've gotten you you confess this thing to God and you confess it again, and now you feel guilty. You're not confessing it anymore because it's it's just like it's become a part of your life. And you, you don't you hold back from bringing it to God. So Carl wants to help you come alongside you here today. But you you mentioned that you know how how stark that phrase is killing sin. But that is a biblical concept, isn't it? Yeah.

To repeat it over and over in Scripture, the Apostle Paul said in Romans 813, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit that's important here, by the spirit, not by your strength, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Jesus said, if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Now that was hyperbole to say. You've got to put to death what is killing you. Killing sin is a very real thing. And what's interesting is not only do people feel this, I call it a madness cycle of sin, shame, repent, repeat. Oftentimes, we not only do that alone, we do it with groups in a small group, and we muster the courage to confess. I'm struggling with Fill in this blank. This thing's killing me. Now, are we going to eradicate sin from our life? No. But do we have to be slaves to a besetting sin in our life? No. That is very clear. Romans seven. Paul wrestled. Foolish man that I am. Why do I do what I don't want to do? And why do I not do what I want to do and what is happening here? And he said, who will rescue me from this body of sin and death? And then he said, praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is all God's work. I want us to remember this. This is not about you bootstrapping this thing so that you can get victory over what I would call a besetting sin. It's putting it to death by the power of the spirit.

So in that sense, and I told you I was going to bring this up because Chip Ingram wrote about this and I couldn't find the quote. But the thing that I remember is, if you focus just on your sin and the thing that trips you up every time and you focus, you make an idol out of it and you can get so enwrapped in trying to conquer the sin that it becomes even more, you know, you think of the pink elephant, you know, you don't don't think about pink and you will so and I. Do you agree with Chip on that?

Yes I do. And and so the question is well what do you do. Do you stop thinking about it? Well, you can't stop thinking about it because it's in the shadows and it's screaming and mocking you every day. The way Satan works is he baits us to sin, and then he beats us up when we take the bait. So the question is, what are we going to do about it? Well, we've got a biblical strategy and it starts with the power of God. It starts and ends there. A lot of us, uh, it's it's a Western notion, and I don't know how it crept in. It's almost a it's a knockoff. It's kind of a variation of the American dream. The American dream is bootstrap it, man. Let's go. Let's go.

For it. Yeah.

It's kind of John Wayne Christianity. And the problem is that's not biblical. Biblical Christianity is God's grace saves us, and God's grace trains us to renounce ungodliness and all these things that are holding us back. It's his grace that saves us, and we think it's our fancy footwork that's going to get us sanctified. No, it's his work that even gets us sanctified.

His grace that even brings this to mind. It's his grace that lets you when when we ask the question, what is your one thing? If there's something that's coming to your mind, that's the spirit pressing that nerve inside that, hey, there's something here. You're being held back here, and you don't have to live this way, right?

Yeah. The Spirit of God is bringing to mind something for you right now. For you listening that one thing that's holding you back from so many things that you find in Scripture. Blessings galore. And you know it. You know it. And you're like, well, here's the problem. The Spirit of God is convicting us, but the Spirit of God also wants to carry us through this. This issue of how does this get killed? All is resolved in the word. When we understand that it's humility. That's where power really begins its proximity to Jesus, vine and the branches. John 15. I'm the vine, you're the branch. You abide in me. You will bear much fruit. Oh, by the way, one of those pieces of fruit is one called self-control. So proving right here, that's God's work. And if you're utterly exhausted trying to alter something in your life, and many listening right now have thought, well, you know, I guess this is what I'm going to go all the way to the end with. And you know. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And there are.

People who are thinking, okay, Carl wants me to get this book so that I can self-flagellate more.

No.

And so that I can I can whack the mole. And so that, you know, I get a day under my belt or an hour under my belt of not having this sin or a week and not saying, you know, bad words or smoking or whatever it is that, you know, fill in the blank then. So it's all about you and your you gritting your teeth, and that's not it.

No, it never has been. You know, I was talking to my son about this. He's a tech startup CEO in Miami, and he made a phenomenal observation. A lot of tech CEOs. Here's some insider scoop here. Tech CEOs, those that don't know Jesus personally, and maybe some who do. They usually get up and get going with Adderall, which is prescription speed. And then they wind down at night with marijuana, which is far afield from what God would have. Now he's talked to some of these tech CEO buddies of his that have gotten free from some of these things. And here's what he's learned. I said, here's my suspicion. People that bootstrap it to get off one thing are usually just trading off one addiction for something else. He said, dad, that's right. It's exactly what's happening. And I said, see, the God's way is not that we play whack a mole like I got that one. Oh, here's another one popping up over here. Now God wants to give us victory. I'm not talking sinless perfection, but I'm talking about those things that get a stranglehold on our life. They can become from family of origin. They're little idols or substitute God or behaviors that we pick up along the way. Being disciples of Christ, we can even find ourselves discouraged in a season. Pick something up and pretty quick it becomes part of us. God wants to give us freedom from those besetting sins and everyone listening. If they're really honest with God and they have any level of emotional intelligence. They know exactly what the Spirit of God is saying to them right now. And here's the hope. It's the Spirit of God that is going to free you as well. That's what Paul said. He said it because he means it and it's hopeful.

On page 47, you were told by someone the presenting problem is not the real problem. And that kind of threw me, because if I know what the one thing is, then you're saying, well, maybe it's not the one thing there is a there's something bigger going on usually than whatever the sin is. Is that right? Yeah.

Yeah. I was a, I was a, I had a real people winning problem and I had a great wise counselor sit down with me. And he said, you know. The, the problem here is that you find it very difficult to tell the truth because you love people and you want them to win and you want to get them fired up and on track and let's get going. And I've been a leader. for all the years I've been following Jesus. It's my primary spiritual gift. And yet I wasn't using that leadership gift rightly. And I said, well, what's the bigger issue? And he he said, the bigger issue is you've got to understand that you've got to live for the eyes of God and pleasing him. And let me just let me just go through a few because someone struggling with pride, the underlying issue is your highest authority is not God. Somebody struggling with gluttony, that satisfaction apart from God. He wants to fill that void. Greed is discontent with the generosity of God. He supplies every good and perfect gift comes down from above. Hoarding. Hoarding is heartbreaking, but it's security not found in God. Lust is gratification apart from God. Envy is contentment, not found in God. Cowardice. Fear of man more than God. And laziness, which is was a big response when I put out that question. What's your one thing? I was blown away. I'd say 50% of our respondents said laziness. I'm not redeeming time. And that's lacking the wisdom of God, you might say on that one. I want to explain that one, because in Psalm 90, Moses wrote one song, Psalm 90, and he said, he said this. He said, teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. And that's an amazing thing. Numbering days, taking account of the days and hours and minutes that we have actually brings wisdom into our life. It's just an absence of wisdom. And God wants to give you wisdom. And as you gain that wisdom, time will be redeemed in this. I'm getting excited just talking about this because every issue that is screaming at you, from mocking you, from the shadows of your life that maybe no one knows, or maybe a small group knows, but you've never had a strategy to overcome it. God wants to give you the strength and strategy to put this thing to death. He does.

The first step, then, is not killing it. The first step is finding it, realizing it, allowing, having the humility to say, search me, O God, and let him show that to you. Right?

Yeah, you've got to. There's there's got to be that the humble contrition I have come to the conclusion in my life that the spiritual disciplines of Bible reading, prayer, giving, serving at church and all that they need to come after the spiritual disciplines of quiet introspection with God. Because when we have time alone with God and we can cry out a prayer like David prayed, search me, God, know me, try me. See if there'd be any hurtful way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting. Now when you pray, boom! You've got focus. Prayer because God's revealed it to you. Now when you read the word boom, you've got clarity. Because now, more than just good information, you've got transformational truth that can address that thing that has been defeating you. That's freedom. Chris. Yeah.

I think the the thing that I keep coming back to for me is this the little things will happen that, you know, something go wrong with a car or we'll have a we got we got a rodent problem in our, you know, where the, the pack rats come and they will eat the eat the wires inside your car.

Oh, yeah.

And that leads to a lot of money having to pay for the, you know, for the repair. Yeah. And so the net that I have or the thing that rises up is, oh, here's another thing, here's another. Another provision deal. And I got to get to do that. And so I got to work harder in order to pay for that. You know, all these things. Right. And I and I get into that mindset of getting on the treadmill so I can do all this and pull myself up by my bootstraps so I can fix all those things and do, do all that kind of stuff without ever realizing that, where's my where's my provision come from? I mean, we had a we had a real huge loss a few years ago. And all all of that, you know, didn't work out exactly like I wanted it to, but it worked out. Why did that happen? Was that because I, you know, got busy and did a lot of work or was God walking alongside? So the underlying problem for me is, do I really trust him to be good enough for both the, the, the mortgage and the packrats? Yes. And we had a raccoon that came the other day too, that I had to. It's like we don't have raccoons in Arizona.

Yeah, you got a critter problem.

But, see, it's it's in the. In my own heart. Do I really trust that God is here or am I doing this myself? All right, let me take a time out. I'm going to open the phone lines (877) 548-3675. Carl Claussen is here. Killing sin is our featured resource at Chris Fabry Live. More straight ahead on Moody Radio. Oh, there's an awful lot of hope in our conversation today with Carl Claussen. Killing sin is our featured resource, and I wonder if there's anyone listening right now who would say that your one thing is getting out from under the weight of something that you chose years ago? There's guilt from something. Maybe it was decades ago. Maybe it was an was an abortion. If you could really feel forgiven, you could move on in your life. But you're being pushed down by that. January's Sanctity of Human Life Month and the Ministry Care Net is committed to helping people understand and embrace what it means not just to be pro-life, but pro abundant life. You saw the March on Washington, the pro-life march on Friday, and part of being pro abundant life is recovering from the trauma of an abortion. You don't have to live captive to that decision that you made back there. Karnad has a lot of resources, not just for those who are making decisions about the unborn, but for those who are dealing with the past. If you click the green net button today, you will see the free Sanctity of Life toolkit that you can download, designed to guide your church through three actions elevate Jesus, engage with community stories, and empower with actions. So click that link today and you'll find practical steps for your community to make a tangible impact. But there are also resources for those who need abortion recovery and care. It's all caring. Click the green Care net link at. Chris. Org. Chris. fabric.org. Uh, Carl, I mentioned that I was going to say that in the break and you know that there are women and men who are dealing with that guilt from the past that are being held under. Right.

Oh, yeah. And, you know, the beautiful thing about Jesus is that he is a mirrored reflection of the character of our father. And you need to hear something right now. There was a woman caught in adultery, and she was trotted out by the religious elite and said, this woman's caught in adultery. And the amazing thing is, is Jesus bent over and began to write in the sand. Most theologians agree that what she was, what he was doing was writing down their sins. The accuser sins. Imagine what these guys thought when they saw lust, when they saw greed, when he's just writing these in the sand. And then he looked at the woman and he said, listen, where's your accusers? Where's the stone throwers? They're gone. He said, go and sin no more. He didn't say, oh, you didn't do anything. He said, yeah, you committed adultery. But today's a new day and somebody needs to hear that. What Jesus was putting on display was the love of our father in heaven. Who says that's past. Go, walk. Take up your pallet. You don't need to revisit this anymore. Today's a new day. That's what people need to hear, Chris.

Walk in the grace. And your dad said something. Here's. I underlined this on page 81. Um, Carl. Grace isn't the permission to live as we like. Grace is the privilege and power to live as we never could before. That's what we're talking about.

What a good dad I had, huh? Yeah. 95 years he lived. Went home to be with the Lord a couple of years ago. Yeah, he was right on. And a lot of us are looking at Grace. And you might have done this with grace. Like my dad said, we think it's. Yeah, it's kind of a get out of jail free card to watch. Walk near the edge. Listen, I didn't need Grace to drink when I was in the early 80s and pounding, you know, I was snorting coke and drinking Crown Royal like it was going out of style. I didn't need grace to drink. Isn't that funny? What we've done? And no condemnation here. But we've said, you know, we need. Well, God's given us the grace to do it now. Grace is the privilege to live as we never could before God found us. It's. It's this way we can. We can live and walk. I didn't need Grace to get drunk, Chris. I just need to tell you I didn't need Grace to do that. I did that all on my own. But God's grace is so much more than walking on the wild side or walking near the edge. Nah, man, it's it's the privilege to live as we never could before. My dad was right, wasn't he, Chris?

Yeah. He was.

So let me ask you then. So seeing this, finding it, you know, identifying what is the the one thing that's the first step. The second step is the killing part. So how do we without without it becoming a whack a mole. How do we step into that. What is killing sin mean?

It takes extreme measures to kill. What's killing you? And if I could just for a moment come back to this, because I don't want people to skip this becoming powerful in Christ through the father and by the power of the spirit is foundational to this thing. Or will head out trying to kill sin. And we will find ourselves a big, sweaty, perspiring mess, feeling like I've lost again. I've had victory for I got it for a day. I did it for a week. And I'm talking about sustained victory over this one thing that's been killing you. And the difference maker is what I outlined here. And I just want to hit these quickly. Humility. Andrew Murray says this and I'm going to stick with it. He is spot on. It's the one virtue that gives birth to every other virtue. And he says the absence of humility is reason enough to explain all character defects in our life. I agree. You humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and he will lift you up. God resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble. Humility is powerful. Go ahead. Weep and get on your knees and go. God, I admit it. This thing's kicking my tail. I want victory in Jesus name. He loves that posture of utter dependence. But then proximity. When Jesus was giving his kind of marching orders and not talking in a duty way, but in a joyful soldier of the Lord way, he looked at his disciples. He was on the way to the cross. He said, you see these grapes here? He's holding a fistful of grape leaves. He said, you see these grapes here? This is what I want your life to be. Then he told them how he said, I'm the vine. You're the branch. You abide in me. You will bear much fruit. You know what we've done, Chris? We have tried to paste fruit on our lives. We think our job is to produce fruit. No, our our role is proximity to Jesus. He produces the fruit. That's freeing.

Because success is up to him. Then it's.

All him. It always has been. Our Are our persecuted brothers and sisters in Afghanistan and China. And the 1040 window. They get this because they've had to be pressed into Jesus. We've thought, well, you know, it's kind of like you start a business. I'm going to get out there and I'm going to make this a no no. The God's economy is absolutely backwards from the economy of the Western world. His economy is you cling to me, I'll do the work in and through you. I'll produce the fruit. And then lastly, I admit, as I wrote, that the Holy Spirit was my lost God. I didn't know. I didn't understand what the advantage was because Jesus said, it's to my advantage. That's his word. It's to my advantage. And it's a great original Greek word, but it means it's to your advantage that I go so that the Holy Spirit will come. He will convict the world regarding sin, righteousness, and judgment, but he will also remind you of the truth that's going to set you free. He will bring to remembrance these things. So before you get killing sin, become powerful. And then can we go killing sin? Yeah. And. And it's work. It's beautiful. Um. It's not meaning that you don't have anything to do, but you're doing it in the power of the spirit, not in your own juice. That's the difference maker.

Yes, exactly. And it's. And it's that grace that comes in there. Okay, let's see how this then works out with the folks who are calling in here today. Okay, uh, Bruce is on the line. Bruce, why did you call today?

Hi. Chris and Carl. Yes. I wanted to give you my answer to why people or why I continue to sin, you know, and act selfishly. Okay, I wrote it down so I wouldn't screw up. Uh, my brain continued. Even though I've been born anew. My brain And continues to be flooded with self-centered, self-gratifying and self-protective thoughts, which are coming from my survival instincts, which God hardwired in my brain for my protection and my survival. So until a person's soul is separated at death from this physical body and brain, his conscious soul will continue to receive selfish thoughts from the, you know, his God given survival instincts which are telling him to seek comfort, pleasure, safety and security.

Yeah. Could I respond to that, Chris?

Go right ahead.

Okay, Bruce, I love your heart, but I think we just need to make a little adjustment here. The new birth miracle is this radical. Galatians 220 I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God. The beautiful thing about the cross is that it took away survival instincts, and it put in us dependence instincts to full dependence on God. See, there in lies Bruce has just illustrated the point. A lot of us think, wrongly, that I've got to survive. Here's the beauty. No, God breathes life into us. He's Jehovah jireh. He's our provider. And the disconnect is that we need to understand the reality of this new birth miracle, and that we have been absolutely changed. Colossians three we can fix our eyes on things above. For I died and my life is now hidden with Christ in God. We were natural man, but now we are supernaturally reborn of God. So, Bruce, I kindly have to tell you, bro, we've got to. We've got to get into the word and understand the reality of this new birth miracle. Because when we have been changed by God, we have been radically altered. This is not some theological concept. This is a practical reality.

Yeah.

And I can understand the, the I've done some program and reading on trauma and what trauma does to you and the fight or flight and all that. And, you know, all of that, the chemical things that go on in the brain. And I totally believe that. But you're saying, no, you don't have to be controlled by that. It's almost like the fear of the Lord and the fear of the Lord, I think, gets a bad rap in our, you know, you shouldn't have any fear. God's not there to, but you have this or you have this reverence, and that trumps anything else in your life that you might be afraid of. For me, you know, that whole provision thing. Am I going to be afraid of this thing? You know, this bill that I'm going to get or whatever, am I going to be sent apoplectic? No, I'm going to remind myself of what's true. God is the provider. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and he can do what he said he was going to do for me, in me, through me, so that I can move out that fight or flight to real trust in him. We'll talk more about that. Carl Claussen has written Killing Sin. It's our featured resource at Chris Fabry Live. This is Chris Fabry live on Moody Radio. Carl Claussen has written Killing Sin. It's a small book. It's not a it's not a huge book. But he goes through in just 130 or 40 pages what it what the process is. And we're only skimming the surface of it here today. So get a copy. The subtitles conquer the one thing that is defeating you. And I'm seeing folks on the on the phone as well as online who are responding. And here's the thing that that I'm going through. I want you to talk to the person who says today it could be alcohol. It could be pornography, it could be, uh, shopaholic, you know, overeating. This is always going to be with me. This has been with me for so long. There is no hope for me to break this. I'm just going to have it with me the rest of my life. What do you say to that person?

So that's a lie. Out of the pit of hell. If you could get a whiff of it, you'd smell sulfur. It is a lie, and it needs to be dismantled. And it needs to be called out for what it is killing sin. Let me just speak three distinct truths here that are going to help someone who's thinking that. And you're right, Chris, A lot of people think this one I'm going to carry. No, that's a lie. Confess it. Number one, bring it into the light. This is with God. I would say this. If you cannot bring this into the light, and you go back a couple of times on this confession, this thing's whooping me. God. I'm here to tell you the truth. And you can't find freedom. I believe the greatest act of confession is to a trusted friend, not someone who's going to use what you tell them as a knife hanging out of your back tomorrow. But something someone who's got the spiritual maturity and longevity in Christ to go, I'm going to bear this with you. Secondly, attack it. Put sin to death. And here's the irony. A lot of us underestimate the power of the spoken word of God. There's a Hebrew word for meditation that we have missed. We think meditation is just keeping the word rattling around in our mind. No it's not. It's the word of God. I was talking to Michael. I said, why in the world do we not feature this? He said, I'm so glad you wrote about that. Hagar is not a word of just silent thinking about truth. It actually means to mutter, to moan, to shout, to sing. What you're seeing at the Wailing Wall is without the Spirit of God filling them. They are exorcising Hagar. Where is it found? Joshua one. If you meditate on the law day and night, you will have success and prosperity as you go into this new land. As you speak it, you're speaking the Word of God. What we find it in Psalm one fools, mockers, scoffers, get away from them. But if you meditate on the law, you will be like a tree planted by streams of water. Your leaf will not wither in all you do, you will prosper. That word meditation means you've got the Word of God in you, and you've got the Word of God coming off your lips. And I'll take it one step further. We find that the Word of God is used in a couple of different ways to two different words that describe it. One is rhema, and rhema is used 70 times in the New Testament, and this is powerhouse. Jesus was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness, and he said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Different than logos, rhema means the spoken word of God. What did Jesus do when he was tempted? He spoke three times, Chris from Deuteronomy right back to Satan when the temptation was coming at him. Then we find Rhema used again in Ephesians six. You put on all this armor and oh, by the way, don't forget the sword of the spirit, the only offensive weapon of war, which is the rhema spoken word of God. What am I proposing? The greatest way to attack this. And there's more. Because you got to put boundaries around this stuff as well, and that gets really practical. But let me just leave you with this. This is vital. Get armed. And I put it in the back of the book. I've got a whole glossary. You struggle with gluttony, struggle with time, redemption, struggling with greed, lying, cheating, stealing, gossiping, you name it. We've got them there for you. You get these words of God on your lips and you begin to speak them out. God unleashes power in the spoken word of God. We find Jesus when he's tempted, and we find it again in Ephesians 670 times the word ram is used. We've got to begin to use God's Word as an offensive weapon of war, as it was designed to be used and displayed by our Savior, Jesus Christ. This is a.

Very personal book about you, and whatever you've gone through or whatever you're going through right now. But there's also a chapter in here, and I see a caller who a wife of someone who struggled with pornography. Yeah. What do you say to the person who's listening, who desperately wants somebody else to kill their sin, but they're not doing it and doesn't know how?

Yeah. This is this is a tough one because you cannot kill sin for someone else. But you also need to understand. And I put a whole section in the afterword, almost in the back of the book, on what to do when someone you love, maybe you live with them, is unwilling to kill that sin. The reality is, you cannot be a rescuer. You cannot be a persecutor. You need to stay out of those quadrants, and sometimes you need to let the pain get so profound for that person that they come to a breaking point and they cry out to God. It's hard, but it's true. So with the issue of pornography, all that is, is gratification. Apart from God. They're just going for a cheap substitute. That's all they're doing. But God can set them free. And oh, I wish we had another three hours. We could break it all down, but we can't do it right here. But oh, I think I'm. What I want people to know is that God can do what you can not do.

God can in his power. In his power. It's. And it's almost like every time I go to John 11, every time when I come to this place, it's like, what? What did Lazarus do in order to be given back abundant life? He he only just heard the word and he responded, he got up. He even had to have people around him to pull out the grave clothes. And I think that's part of what you say when you when you confess and when you have other people around you, that community around you, they help you, free you from where you are. So as you listen today, this thing that Carl has written and has lived really quote unquote works, but that's not why he's written it. It's because God is so powerful and he that's what he wants for you. And if you catch a taste of that, if you catch a little vision of that, then this is one of the things that will help you take another step toward him. Killing sin. Conquer the One Thing that is defeating you by Karl Clawson. Clawson. All you got to do is click the link at Chris Fabry live.org and you'll see it right there. Karl, thanks for your work. Thanks for staying up this late. You know, you get up real early in the morning.

You know, it's it's good. It's it's.

It's great. And thank you Chris. You teed it up, man. Thank you. You're a good man.

God bless you, friend. And, uh, if you're listening and you've this is something that's on your nerve. Do that today. See what God might do in you by his grace with that thing that is hanging you up. Chris Fabry lives a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.

Chris Fabry Live

Chris Fabry Live is designed to build up the spiritual immune system of Christian men and women. As  
Social links
Follow podcast
Recent clips
Browse 1,473 clip(s)