1 - Introduction - Living like a real Christian 3 - Blessed are those who mourn | Page 6

#3: The Comforter gives Courage to break the Cycle of sin. I do not know if you
have noticed in your life how that sin comes in cycles. It begins with us
committing the sin, as a result there is a required response. We have two choices
at this point: we can either deal with this sin through remorse, or we can truly
repent it. If we choose to be only remorseful, it may look like repentance but it is
not, even though tears may be shed and sadness may come, these tears and this
sadness is usually as a result of us being miserable because we have been
caught. The moment we restore our equilibrium when the temptation comes, we
sin again, and this happens over and over again. It is called the cycle of sin. The
only thing that can truly break the cycle of sin is true repentance. The cry of
repentance says I will never do this again! The cry of true repentance is life
changing and cycle breaking. In 1 Samuel 15 we have king Saul being confronted
by Samuel over the issue of Agag the king. He was told to wipe out the entire
army, but he kept the good cattle and sheep and he spared the life of the king.
Samuel was terribly displeased with this and confronted Saul about it. Saul was
quick to make excuses and to plead with Samuel that God would not remove his
presence from him, but the tears Saul cried were “crocodile tears” and were
those of remorse and not repentance. This was not the first time that this sort of
thing had happened in the life of Saul. The fact was that Saul had merely lived his
life responding with remorse to the issue of sin.
The issue that we have been dealing with here is hugely important. Do you find
yourself being in the grip of habitual sin? The answer to dealing with this habit
of sin is not to try harder to not sin, but is to truly love God with all of your heart
and when you love God like that, you will not want to hurt Him by sinning and
then by focusing on God instead of the sin, you will gain victory in this area.
#4: The Comforter Challenges the Chains that keep you on the Couch. I am
convinced that for many Christians their Christian life is just too comfortable.
God never purposed for believers to sit comfortably in a pew, warm it for an
hour or two and then go back into the normal routine of life. Comfort has always
been the greatest chain that keeps people on the spiritual couch. We have said
before that God is more interested in your character than He is in your comfort.
It will help us considerably if we were to measure life through this paradigm
than through the “God wants me to be comfortable” one.
One of my favourite heroes of the Old Testament was a young lady named
Esther, who came out of nowhere to become the queen of a very powerful
empire. She had everything that she needed, she wanted for nothing and she