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Colin Smith: What would you say are the top three sins to which you are most vulnerable at this point in your life? How familiar are you with the workings of your own heart?

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. Colin, those are some searching questions that you've asked us to ask of ourselves. Why is it so important to know those sins that you're most vulnerable to?

Colin Smith: Well, you can't fight against something if you don't know what you're fighting against. You've got to be able to identify where the battle is. And the thing is that it moves. What we're being tempted to at different points in our lives will vary and it will change and we've got to keep up with that.

I've found it's an important and really valuable spiritual discipline to try to identify what are the sins that I need to be fighting against most strongly in my own life at this present time. From time to time, I've made it my habit of asking my wife that.

Steve Hiller: That's a scary thing.

Colin Smith: It's a helpful thing. I'll never forget the first time that I did that. We were on a drive together and I said, "Here's a question. What would be one sin that I should be fighting against more strongly in my life?" And she thought about it for a moment and she said, "Can I tell you two?"

She did and it was very insightful, very helpful. You can't put up a fight if you don't know what you're fighting against. So, we're going to look at how to prevail against the power of temptation in your life, and this is where it begins, knowing what you're up against.

Steve Hiller: Well, we're going to begin by looking at James chapter one, so grab a Bible, join us there as we begin a message, "Turning From as Much as You Know of Your Sin." Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: We've been learning a definition of repentance given by Dr. J. I. Packer, that repentance is turning from as much as you know of your sin to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of your God. And it follows then that repentance will expand throughout a Christian's life as our knowledge of sin and self and God grows and increases.

Last time, we saw how growing in the knowledge of God puts you on the path to a changed or a transformed life. Job experienced a remarkable encounter with God. Though he was a righteous man, when he encountered God in a particular way, he said, "My ears have heard of you and my eyes have seen you, but now I repent in dust and ashes." Having this vision, this theophany, this appearance of God brought him to a deeper repentance. And we saw therefore from Job's example that real and lasting change begins with knowing God.

Today, we're going to try and follow on the path of where that leads. As you come to know God better, so you will become more aware of your own sin. The Bible says that God is light, and so to come near to God means to come into the light, and when you come into the light, you quickly find that you see things you didn't see before.

Suppose you go to a movie theater and you get one of these huge buckets of popcorn and you get it absolutely drizzled with melted butter. And you work your way through this bucket of popcorn as you're watching the film, and then when you come out, you suddenly see that there are butter stains all over your shirt. You never saw it while you were in the theater, but now that you've come into the light, you become aware of it and you know that something needs to change.

So, our focus today is going to be turning from as much as you know of sin, and as you come into the light, so you're going to see more of what needs to be changed in your life than you did before. I want to suggest very simply a three-step strategy for fighting sin and prevailing over it in your life. It's very simple, I hope that it's easy for us to remember, and it will appeal to any of the folks in the congregation who have ever gone or wanted to go hunting. Here it is: know it, stalk it, kill it. That's the three-part strategy for fighting sin and prevailing over it in your life: know it, stalk it, kill it.

First of all, then, know it. And here let's turn to the passage that was read for us, James chapter one and particularly verse 14. "Each one is tempted," James says, "when by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed." Notice that James makes it quite clear that we will all be tempted. There's no "ifs" here, it's "when." Each one is tempted when he is dragged away by his own evil desire. And this is something that we anticipate happening throughout the entire course of a Christian's life.

And then James makes it very clear that the root of temptation lies not outside of us, but inside of us. Each one is tempted when by his own evil desire he is dragged away and enticed. Remember he's talking to Christians here. He is reminding us that sin is not simply something out there in the world, but it is something that remains in here, and I have to contend with it throughout my entire life.

So that when you become a Christian, you see the guilt of your sin is forgiven as you are covered by the shed blood of Christ. The condemnation that would have come to you because of your sin is removed because Christ died in your place. The reign of sin over you is broken. You are no longer sin's prisoner, you are under grace. But the root of sin remains in the life of a Christian believer and that is why the Christian life for all of us is always a struggle. The flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, Paul says, and the spirit desires what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other. That's Galatians chapter five and verse 16.

Now, this is what James is talking about. Your flesh will be drawn to various kinds of sin. It's just how it is. Now, the particular variety of sin to which you are drawn frankly will depend on a number of factors: temperament, background, past experiences, and so forth, as well as opportunity. But the reality for each of us is that there is that within us which is drawn to sin. Each one of us is tempted when by his own evil desire he is dragged away and enticed.

Now, what James refers to here as evil desire can refer to the drawing power of many impulses that are offensive to God. Let me give you seven examples and they may ring a bell with you: pride, greed, envy, anger, laziness, lust, gluttony. These are often referred to as the seven deadly sins. And notice by the way that none of them are actions. They are all impulses. Because sin is not simply about actions that are offensive to God, it includes the impulses that lead to these actions and that, of course, is where our greatest and most critical battles are actually fought.

Christian writers sometimes refer to all this as indwelling sin. That's an important phrase to get hold of: indwelling sin. In other words, the impulse or the drawing to sin that remains within the flesh of a Christian believer and against which we battle throughout the course of our entire lives. Indwelling sin means you have a battle on your hands and this is true of every Christian throughout our entire lives.

Notice that this impulse to sin, as James speaks about it, often acts in a hidden way. James says, "after desire has conceived." Now, of course, the whole point about conception is that it's a hidden thing. Nobody sees, knows exactly when it happens. It's just that the fact that it's happened becomes evident later. Conceiving is a hidden thing, always hidden from the eye.

And when the impulse to sin conceives and remains hidden, unchallenged, and undetected, James says that that sin will grow. He talks about sin being full-grown, verse 15. Sin grows and as it grows, it gains strength in your life. Like a weed that takes root, it becomes established. And it becomes harder to pull out. Then James says when it is full-grown, verse 15, sin leads to death. So, here's a dreadful path that we have now, three horrible steps: sin hidden, sin grown, sin leading to death. Obviously, this is the path on which we do not want to move.

We rather are choosing to pursue the path of repentance, the hidden path to a transformed life. Now, we find that path therefore when, instead of our sins being hidden, we move in the other direction and they are revealed. And the obvious question is, how is sin revealed so that it does not remain hidden taking us down the wrong track? And the answer, of course, is that sin is revealed through the Word of God.

It is the entrance of God's Word that gives light. Remember that's what happened to David when, although he was a believing man, he'd actually managed to push out of the range of his conscience what he had done until God sent the Word to him through the prophet Nathan, who told him a parable about a rich man who stole a poor man's single lamb. David was so far gone, he didn't even recognize the story was about himself until Nathan said, "David, you are the man." And God's Word through the prophet brought what was hidden so that it was revealed.

Now, let me ask this question then. How much do you know of your own sin? How familiar are you with the workings of your own heart? What would you say were the top three sins to which you are most vulnerable at this point in your life? Now, if you can't answer that question, you need to take some time till you can do it. What would you say were the top three sins to which you are most vulnerable at this point in your life? If you don't know the answer to that question, how can you possibly be on your defenses against them and how can you possibly be launching an assault towards them?

You've got to know them. You've got to know where the battle is in your life right now. I've found it a very helpful exercise to list them, identify them clearly. Now, I want to encourage you in this to use the Bible as a regular tool for self-examination. Being brought up, I was taught a very simple method of Bible study that included three important questions. Whenever you read the Bible, ask: is there a command to obey? Is there a promise to believe? Is there a sin to avoid? I've found that very helpful. Whenever you read the Bible, ask these questions.

Sometimes it opens up things that aren't quite obvious and God speaks to you through them. I was reading recently the story of the four men who took their paralyzed friend to Jesus and got discouraged at first because they couldn't get anywhere near. And then they got creative and they climbed up onto the roof, dug a hole through the roof and then lowered their friend on the mat so that he came right down through the roof to the very feet of Jesus. You've got to say brilliant. I mean, it is absolutely brilliant.

What's the sin to avoid? The sin of giving up too quickly. The sin of saying it's too difficult. The sin of saying I can't be bothered. I found that helpful because God spoke to me through that. When you read the Bible, ask the question, is there a sin to avoid? God's Word is light and if we're going to succeed in our battle against sin, we need to understand where it is going on within us and it is the scripture that God will use to identify where the struggle is at its most fierce.

It's also useful alongside this regular self-examination to have particular times when we examine ourselves more closely. And again, you can use the scriptures to do this. The most obvious way to do it is perhaps the Ten Commandments. Write down on a piece of paper what each command requires in your own words.

And then use that to examine yourself and to explore what is going on in your life in relation to the calling that God has given to you. The first priority in turning from sin is that you should know it. And if you can't identify what it is from which you need to turn at this point in your life, you will make very little progress. It's a vagueness about repentance that causes so many Christians to get stuck so that the path remains hidden to them and very little progress is made or change is seen. So, first strategy, know it.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, a message called "Turning From as Much as You Know of Your Sin." And we're going to pause here, but we'll continue the message in just a moment. It's part of a larger series called "Repentance, the Hidden Path to a Transformed Life." If you are struggling with sin, if you're longing for a deeper relationship with Jesus, "Repentance" might be the key.

If you want to go back and listen to any program in the series, you can do that at our website. Come and listen at OpenTheBible.org. There you can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. You can also listen if you have the Open the Bible app, which you'll find for free at your app store. But whether you listen online, on the radio, or through the app, it's all made possible because of your generosity. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you Pastor Colin's brand-new devotional book called "Grow in Faith."

There are five occasions in the Bible when Jesus said, "O you of little faith." And Pastor Colin's book will show you how a person with little faith can grow that faith into something more. No Christian should ever be satisfied with little faith. Again, we'd love to send you a copy of this brand-new book from Pastor Colin as our way of saying thank you for your financial support. You can give online at OpenTheBible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365. Let's get back to the message. Again, here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: First strategy, know it. Second strategy, stalk it. Once you have identified where the heat of the battle is, then you need to deal with the area of sin that you have clearly identified by watching for its movements in your life. So, let's take some practical examples. Suppose that you have discerned, as you've looked at the scriptures and you've examined your own heart, that you really need to deal with some issues of pride, or lust, or laziness, or unbelief, or whatever it is. You've identified an area or a couple of areas where you say there needs to be significant change in my life here if I'm to move forward as a Christian. What are you going to do next?

As you stalk these things, you'll be asking questions like this: When am I most vulnerable to this? In what ways do I see this being expressed in my life? Now, nobody, at least in my own reading, has proved more helpful on this issue than John Owen. His book has the marvelous title, "The Mortification of Sin." My wife looked at the cover last night and she said, "Wow, looks seriously interesting."

I tell you and I promise you, this is pure gold. John Owen wrote in the 17th century. He was a master physician of the soul. I don't know if there's been any Christian writer throughout history outside of the New Testament who had a deeper and more penetrating understanding of the inner workings of a Christian believer's life.

Let me give you a sample of Owen on stalking sin. "Ask," he says, "ask envy what it aims at." You see, isn't that brilliant? Where are you taking me, envy? Where are you going? Murder and destruction are envy's natural conclusion. So set yourself against it as if it had already got there. That's brilliant.

In a similar vein, he says, every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could. Every covetous desire would be oppression and every unbelieving thought would be atheism. So, you look at that unbelieving thought that plagues you and you draw it out and you say, I know where you're going, and if I follow you, I'll be an atheist and I'll have no hope for this life or the world to come either. I'm not going there.

Sin's expression, he says, is modest in the beginning, but once it has gained a foothold, it continues to take further ground and presses on to greater heights. Again, he says we need to be intimately acquainted with the ways, wiles, methods, advantages, occasions which give sin its success. This, he says, is how men deal with their enemies. He's thinking warfare now. They search out the plans of the enemy, ponder his goals, and consider how and by what means the enemy has prevailed in the past. Then the enemy can be defeated. Know your enemy.

One of the most important parts of spiritual wisdom, he says, is to find out the subtleties, policies, and depth of any indwelling sin, to consider where its greatest strength lies, how it uses occasions, opportunities, and temptations to gain advantage. We need to find out its pleas, its pretenses, its reasonings, and to see what its strategy disguises and excuses are. We need to trace this serpent in all its turning and windings and to bring its most secret tricks out into the open. We must learn to say to our sin, "This is your usual method and I know what you are up against."

Isn't that marvelous when you have the kind of discernment to be able to say to your prevailing sin, "This is your usual method. I know how you work in me. I know what you are up against." And because I've gained a handle on how and when and where the enemy operates, therefore I am put in a position to gain a victory. Stalking sin. You have to know it, know what you're going after. You have to stalk it. And stalking is the way in which you move from knowing your sin to being in a position where you are able to kill it or to mortify it.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called "Turning From as Much as You Know of Your Sin." It's part of a series called "Repentance, the Hidden Path to a Transformed Life." Maybe you have some sinful patterns in your life that you just can't seem to change. You've tried just about everything, but the same sins keep popping up again and again and again.

Well, God has actually provided a path for true transformation. It's the path of repentance. So, if you feel stuck in a destructive cycle of sin, this series can help. If you'd like to order a copy of this series, "Repentance, the Hidden Path to a Transformed Life," call us at 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365. Or you'll find ordering information online.

Open the Bible is a listener-supported ministry. It's your generosity that allows us to bring you Pastor Colin's teaching whether you listen online, on the radio, podcast the program, or however you've connected with us. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a copy of Pastor Colin's brand-new 30-day devotional. It's called "Grow in Faith." And Colin, why did you write this book?

Colin Smith: Well, the Bible speaks to us repeatedly about the central importance of faith and of hope and of love. At the end of First Corinthians 13, Paul speaks about everything else is going to pass away, but these things are going to remain: faith, hope, and love. So, they're of central importance, and of course they speak to the needs of our world today. I mean, we're living in days where so many people experience fear and a sense of gloom and where there's so much conflict. We need faith, hope, and love.

And so, "Grow in Faith" is actually the first of a series of three books that are coming out beginning this month and then in the two months that follow. Really excited and grateful for the opportunity to do this. If God's people can grow in faith, grow in hope, and grow in love, then the world is going to see something distinct about us that is very powerfully attractive. And so, I hope that these books are going to be a means of God's blessing and encouragement to many. Start this month with "Grow in Faith" and follow up next month with "Grow in Hope" and the month after that with "Grow in Love."

Steve Hiller: Well, we'd love to send you "Grow in Faith" this month to say thank you for your financial support. You can give online at OpenTheBible.org or when you call 1-877-673-6365. That might be easier to remember as 1-877-OPEN-365. And again, our website is OpenTheBible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time. This program is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

At Open the Bible, we're grateful for like-minded organizations committed to sharing the Gospel around the world. And to that end, I'd like to commend the work of Global Fingerprints. You know, in the book of James, God calls us to help orphans in their distress. That's a clear command, but it's not always clear how we should obey it. And this is where Global Fingerprints comes in.

Through Global Fingerprints, you can sponsor a vulnerable child to help meet their physical needs and ensure they hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to commend Global Fingerprints to you. They're focused on equipping the local church to care for children, and where there is no church, they help to plant one. If you'd like to help a vulnerable child, you can find more information on Global Fingerprints at our website OpenTheBible.org/GF. That's OpenTheBible.org/GF.