Knowing God as the Means of Killing Sin

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful
and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping
steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will
by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the
children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7)

Beloved Kinney,

Too often we fall into the trap of thinking that killing sin requires certain tactics…certain
tools and practices.

 “To help my anger problem, I need to have outlets that release my pent-up
energy…like, sports or running.”
 “To fight my anxiety, I need to learn deep breathing methods.”
 “To overcome my lust, I need to put blockers on my phone.”

While these tactics can be helpful in the fight, none of them are the solution because
they don’t get to the root of the problem.

The root problem with my anger is not that I have pent-up energy needing to be
released. The root problem with my anxiety is not that I have trouble breathing properly.
The root problem with my lust is not that I have too much access to inappropriate
images.

The root problem of sin is that my heart is captivated by something other than the Lord
himself. And therefore, the solution is to have a heart captivated by Christ. You must
know him.

In Exodus 34:6-7, God gives a picture of who he is—the essence of who he is. He is
gracious. He is abounding in covenant love. He is forgiving. But he is also just. He
cannot overlook sin. I would propose that knowing God in these ways is key to fighting
sin.

Take lust, for example. When you feel the pull towards sexual sin, what do you think
would happen if you began to dwell on the covenant love of God? Often, deep down, in
our battle against lust, we have a longing to be loved, value, accepted. We try to fulfill
such longings in cheap and quick pleasure buzzes with the click of a button or the
glance of our eyes. But truly, such longing will ultimately be fulfilled in know the
covenant love of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He loves you with an unfathomable love. His love for you is far deeper, far stronger, far
more intense and purer and perfect and fulfilling than any love we might look for in this
life.

Oh, that we might know the Lord—truly know him! So that our hearts might not be so
easily prone to wonder.

May the intimate knowledge of God serve as the key means of
killing sin!

Love,
Pastor Josh