Out of Hiding: How the Gospel Conquers Sin

Matt Williams, Resonate Bellingham 

“Jesus isn’t coming back for a large church, but a pure one” is something that has rang in my ears and terrified me growing up in the church. I always felt like I had to have it all together. For so many years of my life, I lied to everyone around me about having a relationship with the Lord. Although, I truthfully couldn’t figure out what I was missing. Why was there no joy and only anxiety when I gathered with my church on Sunday?

I remember when people would ask me, “How are you doing?” In my head, this immediately meant I better not share how I’m struggling or I’d face rejection because of my imperfections. Good Christians don’t struggle with the same doubts, desires, sexual sin, and lies that I was living with. At least that’s what I thought. 

This changed when I joined Resonate in 2016. In a sermon, I heard Acts 3:19-20, “Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,” and realized that the freedom I was looking for was found on the other side of repentance. However, I couldn’t think of a time in my life where repentance was modeled to me. It was a foreign idea that I could confess my struggles and be met with grace, not punishment.  

Most of my life I thought I was a failure because I wasn’t free from sin. Then Jesus met me in community and showed me the freedom of admitting my faults and the beauty of encountering the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ. For the first time, I was able to experience the joy that came from letting others see the parts of me that I had kept hidden for so long.

Over the past 4 years as I’ve stepped into more leadership, including being on staff with Resonate this year, I’ve continued to learn what it means to live in repentance. Even more so, in the last year, I’ve learned something new about addressing Gospel problems in my life. I’ve learned that repenting doesn’t get easier with leadership, and the temptation to want to be seen as perfect gets stronger. There is a spiritual war going on, and as we press into obedience to King Jesus, we have to expect the opposition to increase. In Bellingham, I’ve felt the weight of being on a new church plant lead to a fear of failure. This fear creates in me a desire to hide my pride, selfishness, sexual sin, immaturity, or weakness. 

Before Josh taught this last Sunday about living under the banner of “God’s not done with me yet, so drag your sin before the Gospel,” I went to my pastor with a weight of sin I didn’t want to bring to the surface. I found myself thinking, “I’m supposed to be perfect and I’ve let everyone down.” 

Once again, I was met with refreshing repentance and grace that I don’t deserve. My pastor forgave me, came alongside me, prayed for me, and told me, “God’s not done with you yet.” We must respond to one another in this way because this is how God responds to us through Christ. He does not condemn us but offers us a righteousness we could never earn. When we are the sinner and He the Savior, He receives all the praise. He receives all praise because we can never be the savior and He never knew sin.  

After hearing Josh lead us through Philippians 1:6, how we have to expose the parts of ourselves we want to keep hidden, I found myself asking one question:

I know what God is calling me to surrender to him, the pet sins I’ve defended for so long, but how do I fully expose my sin to the Gospel?

God is working within us from the inside out, and here are some ways we can respond:

• Reveal your sins to brothers or sisters in Christ.

What I’ve realized more and more is how deceitful sin really is. Often I’m unable to recognize all the areas it has taken hold of in my life, the ways I’m catering to it, and how I protect it by keeping parts of it hidden. Get with your community and commit to leaving no stone unturned as you let the glorious light of the Gospel touch every area of your life. 

• Get to the root.

Do the work with your community to search for the root of your pet sin. I find that I frequently avoid addressing the desire that I’m trying to satisfy through sin by focusing only on the sin itself. This is that inside out transformation that Josh spoke to us about. The Gospel is not only God’s plan for your justification but His plan for your sanctification, from the inside out. When you don’t know how to drag your sin before the Gospel, think first, “What is the desire of my heart I need to expose?” Then ask yourself, “What is under your sin, behind it, around it?” It is likely the outworking of a desire that is met in the Gospel.

• Present your sins before the Gospel in prayer daily.

We have to face the reality that dragging our sin before the Gospel is not a one-time ritual of the Christian life. The enemy and our desire for sin are relentlessly trying to get us to disbelieve the Gospel, but Jesus’ sacrifice is sufficient to clear our debt of sin, to be the grace we walk in daily, and to keep us until the day of Christ. I encourage you to make laying your desires before the Gospel daily an essential part of your prayer life. This prayer by A.W. Tozer has been such a clear example to me of the battle I need to be fighting every day.

Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou makes the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there. In Jesus' name, Amen.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:15-16).” Resonate Church, let's stand together under a banner of “God is not done with me yet!” He is the Author who began a good work in us. He is the One working in and through us to make His name known on the college campus. He is the One who will bring it to completion as the Finisher of our faith.