Why You Keep Sinning

Picture by: Pexels – Darina Belonogova

I recently heard a pastor preach on this topic, and then I listened to another message on a similar topic.  So I let it sit on the shelf for several months cooking in my spirit, now it popped up again.   So I’m sharing this on the blog.

Have you ever wondered why we keep sinning?  Have you asked yourself why I keep repeating the same wrong things over and over? Or what about not wanting to hear someone tell you what you should or should not do because deep down in your mind, you already know what you should and should not do?

Paul, who wrote the majority of the New Testament, acknowledges that he, too, struggles with sin.  But he identifies the source of why he sins.

Romans 7:14-23 (NLT)  ^“So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. ¹⁶ But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.”

¹⁸ And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. ¹⁹ I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. ²⁰ But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

²¹ I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. ²² I love God’s law with all my heart. ²³ But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.”

The reason why you sin is that you were born with a Sinful Nature.  Your nature is to sin.  No one has to tell how to sin, where to sin, or explain the details of sinning.  You naturally do it.  Another reason why you sin is that you are a slave to sin.  You become a slave to whatever you choose to obey (Romans 6:16). You can be a slave to something that leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.

Here is something vital to understand about God’s laws.  The law intends to “point or identify” sin.

Romans 7:7 (NLT) “Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.” 

If there were no speed limit posted on the streets, you wouldn’t know it was against the law.  Now, is the speed limit sign guilty?  No!  It is YOU who decides that the posted speed limit isn’t adequate for your driving excursion.

Reasons why you keep sinning:

1. You love sin more than you hate it!

Let’s be real.  When you sin, you enjoy it.  You enjoy it so much that you begin to think and crave it.  Why?  Because it is temporarily satisfying the human body and the mind.   The Bible is very clear about hating sin.

• Psalm 97:10 – You who love the Lord, hate evil.
• Proverbs 8:13 – The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.
• 1 John 2:15-17 (NLT) “¹⁵ Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. ¹⁶ For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. ¹⁷ And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.”

When you sin, you are not afraid of the consequences that sin brings.  Fearing God is not only about acknowledging His sovereignty, His love, His grace, and His blessings.  It is also recognizing that He is the one who has the power to invoke His Judgement.  Even Jesus said to fear the one who has the power to destroy both the body and the soul. (Luke 12:5, Matthew 10:28)

Stop trying to stop sinning alone.  You can’t win.  If Lucifer (Satan) was able to convince a third of the angels in heaven to rebel against God, then you don’t stand a chance facing him or any demon alone.  Remember, the Angels were in Heaven, in the presence of God, experiencing God’s glory, and all what eternity has to offer, and THEY REBELLED DUE TO PRIDE AND SELFISHNESS!  Lucifer is the most cunning liar that has ever existed.  He is known as the father of lies, meaning the source of any lie comes from him.

The Bible says, “Greater is He who lives in you than he who lives in the world.” (1 John 4:4).  Even the Lord’s prayer teaches you to pray to God, asking for help to lead you NOT into temptation.  Stop trying to do it alone and ask God to give you a heart that hates evil.  Ask God to lead you not into temptation.  Ask God to fight your battles (2 Chronicles 20:17).

2. You Keep Leaving the Door Open

Have you noticed that when you repeat the same sin, you enjoy it twice as much as you previously did, fell deeper than you previously did, and have fewer regrets than you previously did?

Some of you will experience spiritual attacks, and even a knock on the door of your mind.  But most of you are just leaving the door wide open for the enemy to return.  You enjoy doing the sin that you leave a place in your heart to do it again.  You never dealt with the sin by getting rid of all aspects that will cause you to stumble.

Here is what Jesus says,

Matthew 12:43-45  (NLT) ⁴³ “When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. ⁴⁴ Then it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So, it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order. ⁴⁵ Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation.”

I’m not accusing every person who sins of being demon-possessed.  I’m using this scripture to explain a bottom-line fact that the enemy will come after you to get you to sin.

When you are dealing with sin, after you ask God for His help, you need to close the door to sin. Would you leave your front door open?  There was a time when it was safe to leave your front door open, whether you were in the house or away.  But not anymore.

3. Your mind is wired to sin.

When you become a Christian, God makes you righteous based on the blood of Jesus and what He did on the cross.  God forgives you of your sins, and you are a new creature.  The Spirit of God now dwells inside of you. (I Corinthians 3:16).  Ok, check.  Your spirit is now joined with God’s Spirit.  We are righteous through Jesus Christ.

Ok, let me throw a curveball at you.  Have you ever considered that your earthly body isn’t going to heaven?  It wasn’t designed for Heaven.  It was designed for Earth and only the things on Earth.  It doesn’t want Heavenly things.  Your emotions and spirit can connect with Heavenly things now.  But your body can’t. (Unless God divinely heals your body from a sickness.)  But on its own, your body wants the things on this earth.

As I mentioned above, your body will change when Jesus returns.  We are getting an upgraded body, a new spiritual body.

There are three parts that make up who you are: Body, Soul, and Spirit.  So if we get a body upgrade when Jesus returns, and the Holy Spirit dwells inside us, joined to our spirit on this earth while we are waiting for Jesus’ return, the only part left is our Soul/Mind.  Here is a news flash…your mind/soul is YOUR responsibility to renew.  Why?  God is not going to make you love Him.  God is not going to make you follow Him.  He wants you to love and follow Him on your own free will.  When God created the Angels in Heaven, He didn’t create robots.  Even Angels have a free will to obey God or rebel.  The same when it comes to man.  God didn’t create man and woman as robots.  You have the free choice to follow him.  You can choose to do whatever you want on this earth, or you can choose to obey God.

Deuteronomy 30:19 (NLT) “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!”

You are given a choice.  Adam and Eve were given a choice in the Garden of Eden. They made the wrong choice and suffered separation from God.  That decision gave birth to the human sinful nature, which spread across the earth.

Genesis 6:5 (NLT) The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.”

God grants you free will to think whatever you choose.  But there is the responsibility of changing your thoughts to follow Him.   We have to decide to change our thoughts from what we want to what God wants.

Romans 12:2 (NKJV) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

4. You are feeding Sin, keeping it alive.

If you water a plant, it will grow.  If you feed an animal, it will grow larger.  When you feed Sin, it will grow into larger sin.  The bad part of sin is that it is like a binding cord that wraps around you.  The longer you stay in sin, the more the cord wraps around you.  And the enemy convinces you that you like it, that you’re having fun, that it’s pleasurable for you, and that this is right for you.

Proverbs 27:20 (NLT) “Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.”

If you struggle with drinking alcohol, get rid of the bottles in your house, car, and office, and don’t even drive by the store that sells it.  If you struggle with watching sexually explicit things on your computer, why do you have links in your web browser?  Turn on the browser filters that block going to those websites.  Stop going to “R-rated” movies.  Stop watching TV shows that stimulate your thought pattern.

If you struggle with profanity, stop watching TV shows that use it.  Do you know that most Christians are now numb to hearing TV shows and movies filled with profanity?  They commonly say, “…it doesn’t bother me.  I don’t say that kind of stuff.” Well, the words are now floating in your mind.  Are you hanging out with friends who tell jokes with profanity?  I know Christians who say, “I don’t see anything wrong with profanity. It’s just how I feel.”  Oh Really?  “Let NO corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” (Ephesians 4:29).  Some folks will say, “I just can’t stop cussing. It’s who I am.”  OK, here is a challenge for you.  Go to a church where you really feel blessed and God’s presence.  Then open your mouth and have at it, cussing.  Out loud and make sure everyone hears you!  What?  Can’t do it?  Didn’t you say this is who you are, and you didn’t see anything wrong with it? Oh, now you can’t do it.  What you are really saying is that you CAN control your tongue based on your environment.

There is a famous saying about sin:

Sin will

• Take you farther than you want to go,
• Keep you longer than you want to stay,
• Cost you more than you want to pay.

Ever hear a person say, “I can quit anytime I want to quit.”  The problem with that statement is that they don’t want or desire to quit.  The human flesh and mind are the easiest to deceive, which is why the enemy attacks your mind.

Your human body was not designed to go to heaven.  It was designed to operate on this earth.  Think about this for a second… Your natural body is NOT going to Heaven.  Satan and demons know this, so they are doing everything they can to approach you with earthly things; the things that your body and mind are adapted and connected to.

This Blog is not meant to be judgmental in any way.  In fact, we are now living in the days where non-Christians are calling this hate speech.  This is far from hate speech.  In fact, this is a love speech.  This is discovering how to deal with the sin that causes us to stay trapped.  Jesus set us free the slavery of Sin.  The prison doors are open, God no longer condemns you, and you are not left powerless to fight against sin.  The weapons that God gives us are mighty to pulling down strongholds (things that hang on to us, our minds to keep us trapped in sin).

I leave you with this scripture:

Romans 8:7, 8 (NLT) “ For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.”

Be Blessed!

Ron

Ron Cobbs Ministries © Copyright December 1^st, 2025, All Rights Reserved