Transcript
Ben Fallon: Today’s episode of Ask Paul Tripp features two answers from the archives by Paul, as he tries to help believers who are struggling. The first is struggling with sin in his own life: Why do I keep struggling with the same sin over and over again?
Paul Tripp: Well, I think everybody hits this wall at some point in their Christian life. If you don’t, you’re just not paying attention. You hit the wall, saying, “Why do I still struggle so? You would think, with the power of God’s grace, I would’ve licked this Christian life by now.” Well, I think the reason we think that is pretty clear. It’s because we seriously underestimate the drama, the power, the depth of sin, how deep it is inside of us, how its fingers go to every aspect of our being, how much that sin is in our thoughts and in our desires, in our deepest unspoken longings, in the way we view ourselves, in the way that we view others, in the way that we want from God.
And so, God’s forgiveness and His acceptance is immediate. It’s a lifelong process of weeding out all the artifacts of iniquity that still remain in me. The long process of sanctification, of personal transformation is an argument for the power and the depth of sin in everyone of my hearts. I kind of think I should’ve been completed a long time ago, but because I don’t think I was that great of a sinner.
It’s humbling to know how long God must work on me in a variety of situations, in a variety of locations, day after day, moment after moment, to get at all of the roots of sin that still live inside of me. Praise Him for His patience. Praise Him for His faithfulness. Praise Him that He would continue to exercise that power. No, we’re not done yet because what God is working on is huge, but we will be.
And there will be a day when we will be invited to a funeral that all of us will be happy to go to (maybe the first funeral we’re happy to go to). It will be the funeral of sin and death because sin and death will die. And we will live forever with a burden lifted, the struggle over, with our Redeemer and like our Redeemer, forever and ever and ever. Until that day, yeah, it’s right, we’re still in a workroom and the hammers and saws and the screwdrivers redemption are on us everyday because the work still needs to be done.
BF: This next question comes from a believer who is struggling with understanding the will of God in their life: How do I discern God’s will for my life?
PT: Wow, the will of God, what a big topic. How to know the will of God, how to discern the will of God. Well, theologically, what the Bible presents is there are two primary forms of the will of God. God’s secret will, those are the planning of His sovereignty that is in His own counsel not known to us; and God’s revealed will, they’re written on the pages of His word.
There is no call in scripture to try to divine or discern the secret will of God. Please hear what I’m about to say. The secret will of God is called the secret will of God because it’s secret. Man, if I tried to figure that out and try to read the tea leaves of the future, who knows where I’m going to go? The safest place to be is “I want to give my life to knowing and understanding and living inside of the boundaries of the revealed will of God”.
Now, here’s how it works. You don’t have to guide yourself. God will guide you. I’m sitting here, answering these questions. I never thought for a moment I would be doing this. I could’ve never written my story. What I tried to do is live in the context of the revealed word of God, along with the community of the people of God, and God continued to write my story. That’s the way it works. You can trust God to do that.
There’s so much anxiety that’s the result of trying to figure out God’s secret will. Let me give you an example. I knew that Luella and I had forged in our engagement a relationship inside of God’s boundaries. I knew that we stimulated good biblical character in one another, but the day before I got married, I didn’t actually know for sure this woman would be my wife. Oh, we had planned the wedding and the whole party was there, but who knows what would’ve happened? It could’ve been that God would’ve taken one of us away at that point.
Our focus was on resting in God’s guidance as we sought to build a healthy relationship as defined by the word of God. Focus yourself on the revealed will of God and watch God guide.
BF: We have a growing library of over 100 answers by Paul on a wide range of topics. If you’re struggling with the situations, locations, and relationships of everyday life, check out all the episodes of Ask Paul Tripp at Paul Tripp.com/Ask.
© 2025 Paul Tripp Ministries, Inc.
You have permission to print, repost, share, distribute, and translate this resource as long as you credit Paul Tripp as the teacher, do not charge for this resource, and do not alter the content in any way. If you require an exception or special permission, please email Info@PaulTripp.com.
