The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Five Essentials to Overcome Sin

Episode Date: March 3, 2023

Is it possible to overcome sin? It doesn’t seem possible, but in this episode Jeff brings in words from the saints and from Scripture to help us understand sin better so that we can work to overcome it. Find out what you need in order to avoid sin and strive for holiness. Snippet from the Show When we hear the Gospel, we gain a sensitivity to sin. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 312, five essentials to overcome sin. Well, thanks for joining me again this week. I'm Jeff Kavans, and today we're going to talk about five essentials to overcome sin. sin, you might be thinking of yourself, well, I've tried this before, but it didn't work. Well, yes, it will. We're going to talk about overcoming sin, and we're going to look at, you know, this whole idea of understanding what's really happening in sin in our life and what is the goal of sin. And I want to draw from St. Pope John Paul II, because I think he can help us understand a bit more what sin really is. I'm talking about the inner dynamic.

your relationship to God, your relationship with the Father, you know John Paul II says that all sin really is a rejection of the Father. And when you think about it, you'd have to come to the same conclusion. That doesn't matter what it is in life. As far as sin goes, there is either an explicit or implicit rejection of the Father, his love, his security, his provision, his direction, his correction, all of these different things. reject the father, then we're going to find ourselves in a whole basket of trouble and that basket is called sin. So we're going to take a look at that. By the way, I heard from my producer that

some people were asking, how do you get a hold of the show notes? Because rumor has it that I give a lot of show notes. I give a lot of scriptures and a lot of quotes. And I try to provide as much of that as I possibly can in the show notes so that you don't have to pull over, you know, on the side of the road or stop running and take that little notebook out and write down some notes. I already did it for you. So all you got to do is, is text my name. That's Jeff Kaven's one word, J-E-F-F-C-A-V-I-N-S, and then you can text it to the number 3-3-7-7. That's 33-7-77, and you'll be all aboard and we'll get you to the show notes for

every single show, like today. I'm just looking at some of my show notes here today. I have so many scriptures and quotes that are going to be very helpful to you. And it's a gift. You know, it's sharing the good stuff with you. So in the last, let me ask you a question. In the last month, have you been aware of trying to overcome some sin in your life? Now, sin is missing the mark.

That's what sin is. It's missing the mark. Paul put it this way when he said in Romans three years. 233, he said, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, we have fallen short of the expectations, what God has called us to walk in, we fall short. And the result of that is that we get ourselves in a mess. And I just want to ask you in the last month, have you struggled with any particular sin. It could be a sin of commission.

It could be a sin of omission. It could be a sin that is physical, something you have done. It can also be something that you thought. Or you dwell on something. Either you had some kind of lust or you had some kind of anger or envy or jealousy that just welled up inside of you. and you went in your thoughts to a place you shouldn't have gone. And it's something that's been repeated over and over, and you don't know what to do about it.

That's what I want to talk about today is overcoming that. You know, going back to James, one of my favorite epistles is James in chapter 1, verses 13 through 15. Here's a good example right now. I'll give you this in the notes. James talks about sin, and he talks about how sin lures us and how sin is concealing. and what is the full-grown fruit of sin? And I think this is really important to know.

He says, let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, get this now, then desire when it has consistent. received gives birth to sin. See, that's what happens. It gives birth to sin and sin when it is full grown brings forth death. So when we think about death being the result of sin, we have a habit of ratcheting this up to the big ticket item of murder, adultery, bearing false witness, whatever it might be. But we have to remember that all sin comes from the same, the same

DNA there. It comes from the same pool. And venial sin, which is not mortal in the sense that venial sin does not cut off your relationship with God. It weakens your relationship with God. If venial sin is not dealt with, and I'm going to talk about that today, then it can move into something more serious. And eventually, it can morph like a virus into mortal sin, where you're starting to get involved in things that are very serious. And it does cut your relationship with God. It's severed, and it needs to be, it needs to be healed. It needs to be brought back, and that can happen through going to confession and receiving absolution, receiving forgiveness of sins, rather, and that is really, really important, very, very

important. So I like this, what James says about sin. It says, starts, first of all, he says, Listen, I want you to know something, first of all, it isn't God that's tempting you. Those thoughts, those actions that you're about to act on, that is not God. He's not giving you some kind of, you know, test to see if you'll do something there. He tempts no one, but here's what happens. Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. And we all do have desires. We do.

But when that desire is conceived, in other words, in other words, we act on it. We dwell on it. It gives birth to sin. And sin's ultimate goal is death. It is death. Now, here's a few things from St. John Paul II, who has been such a help to me over the years. He has a small, I think it's an apostolic letter, and it's called reconciliation and penance. I suggest you get it. I'll put that in the show notes under some of these quotes. Reconciliation and penance. he has an awful lot to say, a lot of wisdom about sin. And you know, that sin, and we'll get to that in a second, but sin does affect the soul. It does. Instead of the intellect guiding the will by the light of truth, the intellect is darkened. The intellect is darkened. And the will, well, what happens to the will because of sin?

Well, the will acts impetuously without gathering all the necessary data. So this can happen very quick. You get a thought, you act on it. it's over with. You think, what in the heck just happened there? How did I fall for that so quickly? Well, the intellect was, instead of the intellect guiding the will by the light of truth, the intellect is darkened. And so the will, it acts very quickly on things. And that's something that we need help with. And I'm going to share that with you. Okay, so John Paul the second says this. He says that sin is a product of man's freedom. And sin does not acknowledge

God's sovereignty. I mentioned this before in that all sin at its root is a rejection of the father. And John Paul II says that when you fail to acknowledge God's sovereignty in your life, well, you can fall into sin. It's a product of your freedom. You might say, well, why didn't God just make us so we do everything right? Well, because you wouldn't be created in the image and likeness of God. And God is love, and he created you with the ability to choose and love. Love him, to embrace him, or to reject him, and walk away from him. That's completely up to you.

It really is. So I love that quote. He also says that sin is not merely to deny God. you know sometimes we think well a sin is just say is to say no god or uh or i don't i don't believe you but sin is not merely to deny god he says that sin is also to get this sin is also to live as if god did not exist to eliminate him from one's daily life now that is very powerful because this means that you could confess god you could say god is lord god is king god is everything, creator of the world. But the truth of the matter is, is that we live as though

he did not exist. In one other area, John Paul II calls this a practical atheism. It is to believe in God, but to live as though he did not exist. That's very powerful. And then he goes on and says that as a rupture with God, sin is an act of disobedience. As a rupture with God, sin is an act of disobedience. As a rupture with God, sin is an act of disobedience. Whatever it is you've been dealing with this last month, in thought, in a word, in deed, o commission, omission. As a rupture with God, sin is an act of disobedience. That, my friend, was an act of disobedience by you and me, creatures who reject, at least implicitly, the very one from whom he came and who sustains him in life. It is therefore, now get this, you want to get the show notes just for this next line

right here that John Paul brings out. He says, in reconciliation and penance, he says, sin, it is therefore a suicidal act. That's what sin is. A suicidal act. Since by sinning man refuses to submit to God, his internal balance is also destroyed. and it is precisely within himself that contradictions and conflicts arise. Have you ever been out in the woods, say, growing up, or even as a, you know, in the years past, you went out hiking in the woods and all of a sudden you found yourself lost. You didn't know what north was or southeast or west. You couldn't remember how to get back.

It was almost like all of your bearings were gone. they were just absolutely gone. That internal balance was wiped out. Or how about this? And this has happened to me, I don't know, three or four times. It's a little scary. And I'd like to know, has this happened to you? You can write me, it's very easy,

the jeffcaven show at ascensionpress.com. The jeffcaven show at ascensionpress.com. I'd like to hear if this has ever happened. I was driving down the road. I must have had something on my mind. And then all of the sudden, I'm looking at the sides of the road and I have no idea where I am. Something inside of me says, Jeff, you're only about four miles from home.

But is it because I wasn't paying attention? And then in the moment you think, oh my gosh, did I have a stroke? What's going on? It's like, I'm not sure where I'm at. And you're looking around, looking around. Okay, all right. And you get your balance back. You get your bearings back.

That's kind of what this is, what John Paul, second is talking about when he says that since by sinning man refuses to submit to God his internal balance is also destroyed destroyed yeah for sure so that that's happened to me before now as a personal act sin has its first and most important consequences in the sinner himself so as a personal act that's you that's me a personal act sin has its first and most important consequences in the sinner himself, that is, in his relationship with God, your relationship with God, who is the very foundation of human life and also in his spirit, weakening his will and clouding his intellect. Can you see, my friend,

how much we are in need of God? We're so in need of God. It's like going out in the woods using that analogy again. You're out in the woods and all of a sudden you realize I am lost. And someone says, can I help you? I've got a compass here. No, no, no, no. I can do this myself. Well, I've got a compass here and I've got some flares.

No, no, no, I'm fine. And little do we know that our spirit is weakened. Our will is weakened, and our intellect is clouded. We're not thinking the way we normally should be thinking. That's what sin does to us, our judgment, our decision-making mechanism. It was Pope Pius I, who said, he actually said this, and this is a big one, a pope says something like this. He said, the sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin.

That's when you know you're in trouble. The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin. This, my friend, is where it becomes dangerous. It's like not having any sense of heat or touching an oven. You have no sense of being burned. You're a dangerous man now. And it's dangerous to be around you because you have no sense of heat. and you're going to hurt yourself because of that.

And you'll think you're fine the whole time, simply because you don't feel it. Someone says, well, I don't think that's sin. That doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Sin does not look at you and say, do you believe I'm here? No, I don't. Okay, I must not be sin. No, sin is sin whether you feel it, believe it, or know it.

Sin has consequences. By hearing the gospel, you can gain a sensitivity to sin, though. By hearing the gospel, you gain a new sensitivity to sin. The sense is rooted in man's moral conscience and is, as it were, it's thermometer. It's thermometer, their moral conscience. While the sense of God and sin can never completely be eliminated, the conscience is deformed and numbed. Now, when the conscience is weakened, the sense of God is also obscured. And as a result, with the loss of this decisive inner point of reference,

the sense of sin is lost. Hmm. Very, very serious. So what we're going to do in a moment, we're going to talk about, well, what should we do when we sin? And sin stalks us. What do we do? We'll talk about that. I'm Jeff Kavans, and you're listening to The Jeff Kavens show.

Father Mike Schmitz and myself wrote a new book called Pocket Guide to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. If you want to be able to cultivate virtues that oppose your dominant vices, avoid the near occasion of sin, and cultivate the near occasion of grace, then I want to encourage you to check out our book, Pocket Guide to the Sacrament of Reconciliation at Essentialpress.com and Amazon.com. From all of us here, Earsion Presents, I'm Father Josh Johnson. Talking today about something that, you know, some people would say, I don't know if I want to talk about sin, but if you are being dogged by sin and it's bringing you down, this is the thing to talk about. It really is. Because listen, I want to encourage you, you can overcome. You can overcome sin. You can overcome it. Just because you have failed in the past does not mean you're going to fail in the future. Don't give up. Don't give up on the grace of God. Don't give up on the power of God and the love of God. You might be struggling. God is not struggling. He's here to help you. And we want to shed some light on that here today. So what should we do when sin stalks us? Well, Paul told young Timothy, a pastor of Ephesus, quite a place. He told this young pastor, he said, Timothy, 2, 2, 2. that's 2 Timothy 222. Easy to remember. Just remember it's for you too. Okay. If you ever

tempted by sin, just think, yes, Timothy is for me too. Second Timothy 22. Anyway, you'll remember it. Paul told Timothy, flee from youthful desires. Flee. Flee from youthful lusts, another translation says. so shun youthful i'll read the whole thing to you he said flee from youthful desires so shun youthful passions and aim at righteousness faith love and peace along with those who call upon the lord from a pure heart what verse was that you remember that's right second timothy 22 i love that i'm read that one again that one just really there's a lot there so shun youthful passions you having problems with pornography shun youthful passions and aim at righteousness right now you're not aiming at righteousness you're aiming at death you're looking for love in all the wrong places stop shun youthful

passions aim at righteousness what's that a right standing with god that is a life of obedience to God, imitating Jesus. Aim at righteousness. Faith. Aim at faith. You say you believe? Entrust yourself now. Aim at love. Perfect love casts out fear. Love will fill that voyage or trying to fill with pornography or whatever it might be. Aim at peace along with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart. Isn't that good? Aim at righteousness. You know, years ago, when Father Groschell was with us, I did a lot of conferences with him. And I remember one time we were talking, we both were on the road here and there doing conferences and so forth. And one of the things that really kind of bug me, especially if my family was with me, is you go into a hotel room.

And they would actually advertise pornography in the hotel room. And I was talking to Father Groschell about that, not in confession, by the way, but I was just talking to him. and I said, what do you tell guys, you know, when they're on the road and they go into these hotel rooms and they've got to make a decision or dozens of decisions every day that they're there, are they going to look into that kind of thing or are they going to shun it? Are they going to resist it? Are they going to turn away from it? And his answer was brilliant. He said, he says, I'll tell you what I do. He says, of course, I look a little different. You know, I got this habit on. And he sounds like Columbo kind of, doesn't he? He says, And I go to the front desk and I say, you guys have pornography here? Now, first of all, you get a guy dressed like Father Groschelle and looking like him's like, you guys got pornography here? That's funny in itself in a way.

And, of course, immediately they're little, what do you say? Spellbound, I don't know, they don't know what to say. They're like, um, yes. Oh, okay. Can you turn it off down here? You know, at the front desk? Yes, we can. We can turn it off.

Would you do that for me, please? He said, I'm a Bible. You can teach the faith in EWTN. Yeah, turn that all. I don't want anything like that in my room. And then he says to me, he said, I'll tell you why. He said, ask him to turn it off down at the front desk. He said, because it's a heck of a lot harder to call down and say, turn it back on.

I thought that was so good, but he was sharing that with me. And that's the wisdom of Father Groschelle. So, well, if we fail, if we fail and sin, we must do what? Well, there are a couple things. One, you have to repent. You have to repent. And in repenting, that means you're turning, you're radically reorienting your life to God rather than that thing that's killing you or that habit that you're entrapped in.

Go to confession. This is not just a nice thing to do. It's not just getting it off your mind. When you go to confession, you're going straight to the man. You're going to Jesus. And you're saying, I'm struggling and I'm repenting. I'm turning my life around to you. And I confess this as sin.

And then do penance. Whatever you're told to do, do it with the idea of building life and reforming habits in your life. So what happens if you don't repent, though? well you know what happens a habit forms a habit forms now what i'm going to share with you right here it's just powerful listen habits begin to form if you don't deal with them number one we face god's punishment now the punishment for sin is different than you probably think it is Most of the time people think that the punishment for sin, God's punishment, is they get caught. No, that's not punishment.

That's grace and mercy and love. He's given you an opportunity to see yourself for who you really are. That's a flare in the night. That's what that is. But punishment, I'm going to use pornography for the example later since we started with that. The punishment is the attraction the sin exercises upon the sin. soul. Say that again. The punishment is the attraction the sin exercises upon us. In other words, the punishment becomes the pleasure we experience, resulting in a desire for more and ultimately

addiction. And we're caught. We're caught. We have this idea that punishment is like being pulled over by the police or slapped with a $10,000 fine or whatever. You know, this is the punishment. No. The punishment is the attraction the sin exercises upon us. And then, number two, number one is the punishment is the attraction. Number two, suddenly everything is backward. Evil becomes our good, making it very, very difficult to repent because repentance is turning from evil, but now you will be turning from what you have now redefined in your heart as good. You see the trap there? Trapped, defeated, slowly dying. I used to know that this was wrong. But I have somehow now redefined this in my heart and I'm saying it's good. It's actually good for me. How do I get free from that? Isaiah 520 says, woe to those who call evil good and good evil. Eventually, God removes. Number three, eventually God removes restraints. and turns you over to your passions.

Say, Jeff, seriously? No, right? Jeff? Yeah. Listen to this. Paul's the one that said it in Romans 1. Therefore, what am I talking about? God removes your restraints and turns you over to your passions if you're not going to repent. Therefore, it says God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie. and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, here it is, God gave them up to a dishonorable passions. To dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural,

and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men, and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. Now, that doesn't mean that he made them do that. This is the result. It's the result of refusing repentance. So, as I said earlier, and this would be, I guess, point number four is that we often think of punishment as a hammer from heaven, but punishment is far worse than a hammer.

Bring the hammer versus punishment. You see, God shows mercy in the midst of our addictions. He really does a car wreck, a lost job, a wife who discovers your pornography and is crushed. These are the wake-up calls that we often associate with punishment, but it's God's mercy, his divine intervention. It's heavenly flares going up so that you can see yourself for who you really are. and clearly see your dire circumstances. Now, what do you need?

What's essential here? Number one, what is essential as you need, and it's essential that you walk in? Humility. Humility. Start from a place of humility. I can't do this myself. I can't overcome this.

I'm not smart enough. I'm not skilled enough. I'm not educated enough. I don't have the insight that's necessary. God, I need you. I need you. Proverbs 1618 says pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall drop the hearty, the haughty spirit stuff and humble yourself. Humility is the basis of prayer, the foundation of prayer.

My friend, you're not doing it. You have no power, but God does. You need to humble yourself. Don't walk with that arrogant, prideful look and that attitude. It's not going anywhere with God. And it's not going to help you overcome. Number two, we have another essential, the need for insight. Not only do you need humility, but you need insight.

Psalm 119105, and this will be in the show notes, says, Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. you need insight my friend you need insight you need the light to go on in the area that you're struggling with so that you can see the truth for what it really is and what god expects from you what he'll do what he's telling you not to do and how to escape you need insight saint jerome was the one who said in paragraph he was paragraph 133 he said ignorance of scripture is ignorance of christ 133 if i have that wrong let me know ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ, Jerome said.

So, number one, you need humility. That's one of the essentials. Number two, essential thing is insight. Number three is one thing that's essential is a need for a model. You need a model to overcome, and that's Jesus. Jesus has never had to overcome sin. Jesus resisted any temptation by the enemy in Matthew chapter four, three times in the wilderness of Judea.

which, by the way, is a great chapter for Lent, Matthew 4. The need for a model, you have the model, and that's Jesus. And Jesus, what did he do? How did he fight? He fought with the Word of God. He said, it is written, and there's power in that. Last week we were talking about standing on God's Word. In the week before that, the value of memorizing Scripture.

In overcoming sin, you need a model, and that's Jesus. He shows us how to walk in righteousness. And then number four, the fourth essential, you need wisdom. We mentioned insight is number two, that you need wisdom. What's the difference between insight and wisdom? Insight is where you see the truth, you see it. Wisdom is the proper application of knowledge and insight. You need to know how to apply this.

You need wisdom. And scripture says in Proverbs 9, 10, that fear of the Lord is the foundation. of wisdom. So you need wisdom. Well, James says, call off for wisdom. Cry for it. I need you, God. I need wisdom. Dig into his word. It's filled with wisdom. Read the catechism. It's filled with wisdom. Look up those areas in the catechism that you're struggling with. Marinate your heart in that. Marinate your heart in the word of God. Read the lives of the saints. Go to a holy hour. Ask for wisdom. For wisdom, look for wisdom, collect wisdom, cherish wisdom more than gold and silver and rubies. And number five, you need the fifth essential, and that is the power to overcome.

Now that power to overcome, there's two big sources for this. This power, one is confirmation. If you've been confirmed, you've been baptized in the Holy Spirit, spirit you have received power to overcome you have received power to be a witness you have received power to do the things that you can't do on your own you have to walk in the spirit you walk in the spirit and not the flesh and that means that you are aware of your situation and the power available to you 24-7 it's not tonight at seven i'll deal with this it's now and you walk in that power and you call to god and say Lord, I need your help. Holy Spirit, animate me. Holy Spirit, empower me today to not make that

mistake again. And then the second is going to confession. Going to confession is so powerful because your heart is so encumbered by the weight of sin, the weightiness of sin that you feel like you're running a marathon and you're 80 pounds overweight. Get rid of that. Get rid of that. And give it to the Lord. Go to confession. Confession is very healthy. Confession is part of humility. Confession comes from insight. Confession is the model that Jesus has given us as a sacrament. Confession is wise. You need that. So that is very, very important. Very, very important that you do it. Because if you don't, listen, what Syrac says, I'll put this in the notes for you, Syrac 5-5, says, of forgiveness, be not overconfident, adding sin upon sin.

That's what happens when we are overconfident. We add sin upon sin. We don't deal with it. Confession, you deal with it. You own it. And you take responsibility for it. And you do penance. And you rebuild the goodness in your heart.

So I love this what it says in Syrac 5.5. By the way, if you are not Catholic, and you've been with me all these years, and you are studying with me, maybe you're doing the daily insight and the reflection on the hallow app. I do with Jonathan Rumi on the hello app. If you are not Catholic, you most likely have not had access to the book of Syrac. I'm telling you what. I was a pastor for 12 years before I came back to the church. Syrac? Oh, man. solid gold solid gold for wisdom I love, don't get me wrong, I love Proverbs Syrac who's what we say in

Minnesota Ufta Proverbs yay, Syrac ufta So get it, read it of forgiveness be not overconfident adding sin upon sin

do not be so confident of atonement that you add sin to sin. There it is right there. That's it. That's the danger. Don't be so confident in atonement. Like, oh, I'm fine. I believe in Jesus. I'm fine. I went to church. I'm fine. I gave at the fall festival, even bought a couple beers for my friend. I'm fine. Don't do that. Don't be so confident of the atonement and what God has done for you that you can just add sin to sin. You need to walk in a prudent way. And prudence is the charioteer of all the virtues.

Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstances and to choose the right means of achieving it. The prudent man looks where he is going. St. Thomas says Prudence is starting here today, figuring out where do you want to end, then you go out there, you say, here's where I want to end, I want my family to be here, I want to be in heaven, I want this, that, I want what God wants, and then coming back to the present, and then making the right decisions to get there. That's prudence.

That's prudence. It was St. Thomas who called this prudence the right reason in action. He said prudence is right reason in action. It is called the charioteers of the virtues. It guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. The prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue, we apply moral principles. to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil

to avoid. Well, wow, that was a lot today. So good to be with you, by the way, and just I hope this was encouraging that if you are struggling that you can put these principles, you can put these insights from the Word of God into action in your life and really live as an overcomer in the kingdom of God. let me pray for you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I lift up my friend to you today and whatever they are facing, whatever they're going through, the struggles of the heart and mind. Lord, I lift them up to you right now. And I ask you,

I ask you, Lord, to give them a heart of humility. Give them insight, O Lord, into what is going on in their life. Lord, be that model for them. Draw them to yourself as the model. Give them, wisdom, O Lord, and ignite the power from confirmation and confession in their heart. Lord, if they have been caught at something, may they never see that as the punishment, but the grace and mercy that you have illuminated in their life so they can see who they really are. And then, Lord, we thank you for the sacraments, and particularly the Eucharist and confirmation, these sacraments that feed us and heal us. in our situation. Lord Jesus, do a great work in my friend's life. In Jesus' name, amen.

Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I love you, my friend. I really do. And I look forward to seeing you next week and talking.