Freed for Life, 2007: Paul and Kathryn Hopkins

Repentance

Breaking the Power of Sin and Satan

Jesus is victorious over sin and satan!

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But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6No one
who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has wither seen or known him

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Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he
is righteous. 8He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning
from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.

1Jn 3:3-5

The seriousness of sin

1. When we sin we are opening the door for enemy influence. When we sin, we are in rebellion
against God and His love and we are partnering with the enemys nature-rebellion. Satan is
more than happy to take the grounds for influence that we give him. The foothold for that
influence is our own sin.

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Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbour, for we are all
members of one body. 26"In your anger do not sin":Do not let the sun go down while you are still
angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold*. Eph 4:25-27

NB Note the urgency of dealing with anger so that it does not turn into sin and the danger of giving
topos to the enemy.

*The Greek work topos means area or sphere. The oldest use in the singular means a defined
place, territory or land, district or dwelling place. It can also mean the place to which
something belongs.

2. Sins progressive hunger which gives ground to the enemys influence in our lives

a. We harden our hearts towards God

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So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in
the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the
life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
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Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in
every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. Eph 4:17-19

*Note the progression in this passage

Question. What does this passage show as the consequences of living in rebellion against Gog?

b. It robs us of walking in our inheritance and effectiveness of who we are in Christ.

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Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35Now a slave has no
permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you
will be free indeed. John 8:34-36

Question. What ways can you see that sin robs us of the freedom that is ours in Christ?

C. It allows footholds to become strongholds. Persistent sin becomes entrenched habit

patterns of sin in our lives that are often hidden and we come to think of as part of us. We
simply do not realise these patterns are there.

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The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine
power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself
up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to
Christ. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is
complete. 2. Co 10:4-6

NB This will be covered in the section on strongholds

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The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of
others trail behind them. 25In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are
not cannot be hidden. 1.Tim 5:24-25

3. In contrast, Jesus gave the enemy no room for influence in His life

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I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on
me, John 14:30

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Repentance: the Doorway

1. Repentance is a beautiful gift from God

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Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realising
that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? Rom 2:4

2. Repentance is a lifestyle, not merely one time event.

We turn from agreeing with the lies and ways if the kingdom of darkness and align
ourselves to the truth and ways of the kingdom of light.
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To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my
disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32

Jesus constantly challenged his disciples to change the way they saw God and themselves.
Discipleship is a lifestyle of changing to become more like Christ.

3. Recognition is the beginning of repentance

With humility and determination, resist every desire to defend and or justify yourself. Be
intentionally wiling to recognize in yourself feelings, thoughts, behaviors that are broken,
twisted, and sinful.

Why? Because it is the beginning of freedom!

Question: Some of our defensive responses to challenge can be saying...Who are you to tell me
that?! Thats not my motives! What other responses can you think of?

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Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will
be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that
what he has done has been done through God. John 3:20-21

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Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Psalm 139:23

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Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD. Isaiah 2:5

4. How does God bring conviction (recognition) of sin

a. The role of the prophetic

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The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain
town, one rich and the other poor.. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but
the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought...4 "Now a traveler came to the
rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal
for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man
and prepared it for the one who had come to him."

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David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the
man who did this deserves to die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a
thing and had no pity."

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Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man!...

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Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD."
Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by
doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will
die." 2 Sam 12:1-14

See also the woman at the well in John 4.

b. Correction from another person

i. Jesus and his disciples (eg Mark 10:35-45 (least is greatest); Mark 8:24-27
(calming the storm)).
ii. Paul and Peter Gal. 2:11-13
iii. Acts 11, the judaisers challenge Peter

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Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But
watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Gal 6:1

If someone speaks to you of your sin (anger/selfishness) how do you tend to react?

a. Who has permission to tell you anything?

b. How do you feel about a less mature Christian correcting you?
c. What if the person does it clumsily or with a judgmental attitude?
d. Do you have a show me whatever I need to see attitude?
e. Do you have a let me test this and see if even 1% of it is true attitude?

C. Personal sensitivity to sin through conscience and revelation

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When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.
John 16:8

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Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews
10:22

5. The principle of the sin reaction

a. When somebody sins against us or causes us offence, our temptation is to react sinfully and
then to justify ourselves (e.g. I felt so rejected I couldn't pray... } For example, contrast the
reaction of Jesus and Peter to the soldiers in Gethsemane -Jesus stays walking in grace and
peace whilst Peter picks up the sword to fight.

b. Our sin reaction to someone elses sin against us is never justified

c. The principle of the tipped cup.

6. We accept full responsibility for our sin

We cannot blame our past /parents / the society /the devil...

7. Learn to call your sin by its true name

Do not water it down! E.g. Anger not frustration Fear, not a little bit worried
Unbelief, instead of not being sure

8. Why do we resist the revelation of our sin?

Some reasons are:

Pride: because we like to believe we are better than we actually are (self righteousness)
Fear: because we fear exposure, rejection and punishment from God and from man.
Unbelief: because we do not trust God to deal with us according to his mercy and to set us free.
Control: we want to stay in control and handle it ourselves (rebellion).
Spiritual blindness: we just do not realise that sin is there. We are ignorant of it.

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But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and
the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who
believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him
as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice,
because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished Rom 3:21-25

The blood of Jesus Christ is understood as the life of Jesus Christ poured out as a sacrifice
on our behalf.
Jesus lived the life we could never live.
Jesus died the death that we deserve.
His blood shed on our behalf is the price paid for our freedom from slavery
(redemption).
No one can earn their salvation and forgiveness, but must receive it as a free gift through
putting their faith and confidence in Christs death rather than their own ability to please
God by good works.
The effect of the blood of Jesus Christ is:

i. The effect on man

we are forgiven.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

we are at peace with God

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Rom 5:1

we boldly enter his presence

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find
grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16

we are forgiven and declared not guilty.

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to
cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:22

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ii. The effect on Satan

The blood of Christ disarms (renders powerless) Satans right to our lives.

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you [a] ]

alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having cancelled the written code, with its
regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the
cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them,
triumphing over them by the cross. Colossians 2:13-15

iii. The effect on God himself:

God is at peace with us.

And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in
heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Colossians 1:20

God is attracted to a contrite and broken heart.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not
despise. Psalm 51:17

Practical Thoughts:

The ground and foundation of our lives is that we are forgiven accepted and secure in
Christ.
We do not look, hunt or go digging for sin and become sin focused or legalistic.
We can be inviting people (giving them permission) to speak into our lives both by
observation and prophetically.
The prophetic gift should resonate as we hear it so that we can honestly say that is in our
lives. If it does not, then we ask for God to show us if this is true over time.
We allow the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin and then deal with it very quickly.
Forgiveness is immediate and need never cause us to withdraw from God.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus Rom 8:1

Notes:
Scripture references are taken from the New International Version 1984 International Bible Society unless otherwise
stated

Notes adapted from the Living Free Course notes with permission, 2007 ChristChurch Fulham.

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