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"WHY DO I STILL SIN?" "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (I John 2:1-2) It is incorrect and unscriptural to call Christians "sinners," but it is not unscriptural to say that Christians still sin. We probably should not say it as easily as we do, but it is a reality that a Christian can still sin. So let's ask, "WHY?" for a while today and try to get some answers. I have seven points to cover, so let's just jump right into it . . . YOU STILL HAVE A SIN NATURE Notice that our text doesn't say "when" any man sin, but rather "if" any man sin. The word of God doesn't present or promote the premise that sinning is a normal thing for a Christian; it simply acknowledges that the sin nature is still there and can rear its ugly head, if we fail to keep it crucified and buried. In Galatians 2:20, Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ" (That's the old nature), "nevertheless I live" (That's the new nature). If you get that backwards, then the old nature will rise up and sin while the new spirit nature will be quenched. People write books and make videos to complicate the whole thing, but that's really all there is to it. You either choose to walk in the spirit of holiness or you choose to walk in the sins of the flesh. You're identified by the new holy nature, but the old sin nature is still present and will produce sin, if not mortified. Paul said that in his flesh dwelt "no good thing" (Rom. 7:18). That doesn't mean you HAVE to sin, but it does mean that you have a righteous switch, and if you fail to flip it on, sin will naturally prevail. In fact, some Christians just leave the switch off all the time and use it as an excuse for not stepping up and walking in the spirit. When you refuse to turn on the lights, you choose to walk in darkness. Pretty simple. We sin because we fail to get victory over our old sin nature. SIN IS EASY Sin is everywhere and sin is easy. It's like breathing. It will happen naturally, unless you do something to prevent it, and very little prevention is practiced anymore, because it's easier to NOT practice it. People just go with the flow, and that usually includes some level of sin. If you jump into an ocean and make no effort to swim, you will drown, and that's what this world is. We live in a "present evil world" (Gal. 1:4), and Satan is the "god of this world" (II Cor. 4:4), so the temptations are everywhere and the pressure is on to sin. It's easier to sin today than ever before, so that's why people sin so freely and so regularly. Holy living doesn't come naturally, and it doesn't come easy. It takes work, and most Christians are just lazy Laodiceans who only work for material things, not anything spiritual. Bible study is work., prayer is work, being actively involved in a good church is work, and folks just don't want to work. By nature, you'll do what comes easy, and that just happens to be sin. Work to prevent sin, else you'll commit sin. It's just that simple. We have an emergency escape plan out at the plant. That means we have thought it through and have put together a plan for protecting ourselves in the event of a tornado or a fire. Everyone knows what to do and where to go, so we have increased our changes of remaining safe. We must do the same as believers, else we'll be closer to sin than safety and will commit sin. We sin because sin is easy. Make it harder and you'll sin less. Paul said, "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." (Rom. 13:14) Make it harder to sin, and you'll sin less, because we sin due to sin being easy. EVIL COMMUNICATIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS Paul said, "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners." (I Cor. 15:33). Peter said that righteous Lot "vexed his righteous soul from day to day" by "seeing and hearing" the unlawful deeds of the wicked (II Pet. 2:8). Part of sin prevention involves getting away from bad people. That means you must JUDGE between the good and the bad, and the devil has taught this generation that it's a sin to judge. So, Christians just keep hanging with the wrong crowd and corrupting themselves from head to foot, inside and out. George Washington said that it's better to be alone than in bad company, but very few people believe that anymore. Consequently, most people see and hear sin regularly, and most people commit sin regularly. Paul said to ". . . come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing . . ." (II Cor. 6:17), but folks would rather be "social" than sinless, so they just ignore God's word. It doesn't have to be that way, but that's how it is with many people, and that's why they sin. Bad company. EVERYONE ELSE SINS That's the trouble with evil communications. Not only do their sins rub off on you; their excuses do as well. Even though you might not be buddy-buddy with them, you still know that sin is very common, and that makes it easier to go ahead and sin. The fact that "everyone else does it" makes sin appear less ugly and less evil.Allow me to illustrate. There are Ten Commandments, right? The violation of any of them is a sin, right? Yet, the violation of some of them seems less sinful than the violation of some others. Sometime tomorrow, you will likely hear someone bear false witness or maybe even take God's name in vain, yet you won't be shocked by it. You might be disappointed, but you won't be shocked. But what if you see someone murdered? That's a whole new ball game, isn't it? Why? Because it's a greater sin and therefore a less common sin. The "lesser" sins happen all the time, so it's easy to sin and just say, "Everyone else does it." We SHOULD focus on the word of God and on people who DON'T sin, but we don't, so we end up sinning. A LACK OF QUALITY TIME WITH GOD'S WORD Look at Romans 7:12-13: "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." Do you see that? The trouble is that "everyone else" gets involved and sin no longer APPEARS to be sin, and it sure doesn't appear to be EXCEEDING sinful. Only the words of God can accomplish that. A room might appear rather clean, if you leave the lights dim. But turn on the lights, and you'll see the dirt. The light of God's word must regulate the believer's walk, else the "everyone else does it" philosophy will keep us in darkness. David wrote, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee" (Psa. 119:11) He also wrote, "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word." (Psa. 119:9) Jesus said, "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." (John 15:3) It's pretty simple: if you want a holy life, follow the HOLY BOOK. When your Bible collects dust, your life collects sin. There's nothing complicated about it! I'm sick of preachers confusing this issue and helping God's people to feel more comfortable in sin! People are dirty because their Bibles are dirty. Dust off the Book, start spending quality time with it, and you'll see immediate results. Like Bunyan said, "Sin will keep you from this book, or this Book will keep you from sin." It's no more complicated than that, and if your preacher says otherwise, then you need a new preacher. I don't care how big his heart is or how much he "loves God" and God's people. If he doesn't make you feel uncomfortable about sin, then he's no good. You have over 160 hours every week when this godless world will help you to feel all snuggled and cozy in sin. You ought to THANK GOD that when you come to the house of God and the preacher opens that Book, sin is condemned, righteousness is promoted, and you are challenged to BETTER yourself with God's word!You don't need anyone's forty days of purpose or anyone's stupid group therapy where your spiritual walk depends on other people doing anything. It's always nice to have the encouragement and support of others, but we need to think of that as a bonus, not the regular source of our strength. THAT BOOK is the source of your strength, and if you're neglecting that Book, then you are weak. It's YOU and GOD'S BOOK. If you have that right, then everything else will be right. Period. I'll go to my grave believing that, or I'll go up in the rapture believing. Whether the clods or the clouds, I'll not stop believing that.A LACK OF PRAYER Jesus said, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Mat. 26:41) But we don't do that. We just go ahead with the sin and then claim I John 1:9 forgiveness instead. I grant you, I John 1:9 and I John 2:1 are there, if we need them, but we don't HAVE to need them! We don't have to sin! Insurance is not for using all the time; it's for using on rare occasions, IF you need it. Slow down, drive carefully, practice prevention, and you won't need it near as often.People wait too long about praying. They assume that all is well and that they're gonna stay clean, so they neglect the word of God and prayer. Then the temptation comes and they end up sinning. Why? They waited too long. We're supposed to pray that we never even enter the temptation, not wait till the temptation starts and then try to get out of it. All temptation has an escape (I Cor. 10:13), but that doesn't mean you have to actually enter the temptation. You can escape it, or detour it, if that's what you really want to do, and you do that by thinking ahead, planning ahead and praying ahead.YOU WANT TO SIN That's really the bottom line. We allow the old nature to rise up and dominate and cause us to sin. Why? We WANT to sin more than not wanting to sin. No one wants to admit that, but it's obviously true, else we'd sin less frequently.If a man stops off at the bar and drinks a few beers, it's because he wanted to do so. The devil didn't grab the steering wheel and steer him to the bar. The man CHOSE to go to the place, he chose to go inside, and he chose to order the beer because that's what he wanted to do. He gave more attention to the flesh than to the spirit, so he will became dominated by the flesh to the point that he WANTED to sin. He'll keep sinning until he starts mortifying the flesh and he starts feeding the spirit and following after spiritual things. Sometimes, we sin out of carelessness or habit without actual premeditation, but even then we must be wanting to sin, else we'd be making a more serious effort to break the habits and be more careful. No one has to sin. We sin because we WANT to sin. Hopefully, some of what we've considered today can help to change that. Thank you for your time.