Repetitive Sin

God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

There is certainly no one righteous on the earth who does good and never sins.

For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.

Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me.

For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.

For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.

Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me.

So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me.

For in my inner self I delight in God’s law,

but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.

The mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so.

No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide a way out so that you may be able to bear it.

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity,

idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions,

envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things — as I warned you before — that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

For if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.

Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you as if something unusual were happening to you.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father — Jesus Christ the righteous one.

This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commands.

The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is made complete. This is how we know we are in him:

The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For everything in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions — is not from the Father, but is from the world.

And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.

Everyone who remains in him does not sin; everyone who sins has not seen him or known him.

Children, let no one deceive you. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

The one who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the devil’s works.

Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because his seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God.

This is how God’s children and the devil’s children become obvious. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister.

whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows all things.