Lesson 9: No defeat in temporary failure
1 John 1:8-9 
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

As we said in a previous lesson, our victory will not come in a day. It may take us weeks or months to find consistent victory over our addiction. We must keep our eyes and attention focused on Jesus. Each time we fall the evil one will whisper into our ear: “You cannot be free, look at what you just did. Do really believe that God still loves you after that? Why not just give up?” This is a lie, and we must learn to turn our backs on the lie and be thankful for Jesus’ statement - I will be with you always, even to the ends of the earth. He never said - until the next big sin. His love for us is unconditional and complete – he does so because he wants to love us; it is his sovereign choice.

One key to victory is to understand that it is not about trying harder to sin less. One of the evil one’s lies is if we only had enough faith we could be perfect; if we only believed enough, overcoming this addiction would not be so hard. This is a lie! We cannot be set free from our addiction by the effort of our will – we are only set free as we rely on Jesus and His promises to help us change our life and make us the person He created us to be. Think of someone sculpting a piece of art from a stone. Pieces and bits are chipped away over time until the sculpture is complete. We are Jesus’ sculpture, see Ephesians 2:10. His work in us is not done as rapidly as a sculptor might work, because the sculptor takes no care for how the stone feels. Jesus cares about our pain. He knows how much we can handle at one time. When we stay with Him through the process Jesus uses the process itself to build this into the person He wants us to be.


Our verses today say we cannot be without sin here in this life. Jesus understands this, and He never asks us for perfection. “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16

This does not, however, mean we can lie back and take it easy. We cannot reach victory if we do. We must not allow temporary failure to defeat us. Our failure does not cause Jesus to give up on us. Our sin cannot make Him hate us, because our victory is not based on our effort just as salvation was not by our works. Salvation has always been based on Jesus’ death and resurrection and our victory is assured on His continuing work in our life. But His work continues only as we choose to allow Him to do so. He works in us as we give Him permission to make His changes in our life.

Verse to memorize: 1 John 1:9

Your Prayer: Dear Jesus, I confess to You that I am imperfect. I need You. I give myself to You to do Your work in me to overcome my addiction of (name it). I choose to obey You, I choose to follow You, I choose to allow You to make whatever changes in my life You want to make.