Faith in Christ's finished work on the Cross is the answer to sin. Faith in Christ's sacrifice sets the sinner free from the penalty of sin; and that very same faith in Christ's sacrifice sets the saint free from the power of sin.
If we are truly born again—if we have a living daily relationship with God, and not merely an intellectual apprehension that He is real and an acceptance of a philosophy based on His teachings—then the Bible says we are "born again". This means literally that before this point we did not exist spiritually in a way that could connect to God but instead our spirit was all intertwined and merged with our soul. But when the Word of God penetrated with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, it separated our spirit from our soul (Hebrews 4:12), making it alive, and we become entirely new creations. (2 Corinthians 5:17) These are not metaphors, my dear friends, these are realities.
Now, the problem all Christians live with to one extent or another exists because our new Creation, our spiritual birth, takes place inside a fallen body with a soul that has spent a lifetime up to that point being controlled by that body and its passions. In fact the two together are referred to in the Bible as "the flesh". And we have two choices: we can be content to allow our "old man" (our fallen nature) to control us, or we can seek to have our "new man" (our new nature) grow and control us. If we have truly been born again, then we will desire the second option, for that is the desire God puts in us— His law written on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10, 10:16). If we are "too worldly", if we are experiencing a losing struggle with the world and the flesh, it is because either we are more desiring to please self than God (which might bespeak a lack of true salvation) or we are trying to defeat the flesh by the flesh, using human effort to live for God.
This latter will NEVER work. Paul made this clear in Galatians 3. The exercise of will-power only strengthens the flesh, never weakens it. It is only through the Holy Spirit that we can ever put to death the works of the flesh (Romans 8:13); and He works only within the confines of faith in the Cross, which word (Cross) is shorthand for the finished work of Christ at Calvary. That ever must be where our faith is placed— in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is the only thing the apostle Paul wrote that he focused on. (1 Corinthians 2:2; 1:23) And if he did, where do we get the idea we don't need to?
Once we realize our victory is in the Cross (and in the Cross alone) and we place our faith in Christ's completely finished work there, then we will see that victory made real in our life.
THIS is the only way to truly experience victory over sin in our lives. When the Bible says that "The just shall live by faith" (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38) it means "the just shall LIVE by faith"! Not merely that through faith they will receive eternal life, in Christ; but that through faith they will live daily and thus receive the victory over the world, the flesh and the devil, in Christ. Faith in Christ and Him crucified means that we believe in faith ALL that He won for us on the Cross. And that includes an increasing freedom from sin.
In practical terms, every time we fall into sin we need to own it ... admitting it to God and confessing our love of it and our inability to overcome it. At the same time we need to acknowledge that we know that God does not want us to sin, that He has something far better and we want to please Him. Then we need to reckon IN FAITH that since Jesus won the victory over all sin in our lives at Calvary and that since sin shall not have dominion over us (Romans 6:14), we are going to accept and believe—regardless of any evidence to the contrary—that this is all true and that HE, God, will manifest the freedom from this sin in our lives, as surely as He is and His Word is true.
When we do that ... when that faith in all that was paid for at the Cross is real in a Christian's life ... he or she will gradually—but surely—enter into God's rest and cease from all human cares, struggles, and effort. And more and more we will find the victory over sin manifested in us.
I pray this helps someone.
If we are truly born again—if we have a living daily relationship with God, and not merely an intellectual apprehension that He is real and an acceptance of a philosophy based on His teachings—then the Bible says we are "born again". This means literally that before this point we did not exist spiritually in a way that could connect to God but instead our spirit was all intertwined and merged with our soul. But when the Word of God penetrated with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, it separated our spirit from our soul (Hebrews 4:12), making it alive, and we become entirely new creations. (2 Corinthians 5:17) These are not metaphors, my dear friends, these are realities.
Now, the problem all Christians live with to one extent or another exists because our new Creation, our spiritual birth, takes place inside a fallen body with a soul that has spent a lifetime up to that point being controlled by that body and its passions. In fact the two together are referred to in the Bible as "the flesh". And we have two choices: we can be content to allow our "old man" (our fallen nature) to control us, or we can seek to have our "new man" (our new nature) grow and control us. If we have truly been born again, then we will desire the second option, for that is the desire God puts in us— His law written on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10, 10:16). If we are "too worldly", if we are experiencing a losing struggle with the world and the flesh, it is because either we are more desiring to please self than God (which might bespeak a lack of true salvation) or we are trying to defeat the flesh by the flesh, using human effort to live for God.
This latter will NEVER work. Paul made this clear in Galatians 3. The exercise of will-power only strengthens the flesh, never weakens it. It is only through the Holy Spirit that we can ever put to death the works of the flesh (Romans 8:13); and He works only within the confines of faith in the Cross, which word (Cross) is shorthand for the finished work of Christ at Calvary. That ever must be where our faith is placed— in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is the only thing the apostle Paul wrote that he focused on. (1 Corinthians 2:2; 1:23) And if he did, where do we get the idea we don't need to?
Once we realize our victory is in the Cross (and in the Cross alone) and we place our faith in Christ's completely finished work there, then we will see that victory made real in our life.
THIS is the only way to truly experience victory over sin in our lives. When the Bible says that "The just shall live by faith" (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38) it means "the just shall LIVE by faith"! Not merely that through faith they will receive eternal life, in Christ; but that through faith they will live daily and thus receive the victory over the world, the flesh and the devil, in Christ. Faith in Christ and Him crucified means that we believe in faith ALL that He won for us on the Cross. And that includes an increasing freedom from sin.
In practical terms, every time we fall into sin we need to own it ... admitting it to God and confessing our love of it and our inability to overcome it. At the same time we need to acknowledge that we know that God does not want us to sin, that He has something far better and we want to please Him. Then we need to reckon IN FAITH that since Jesus won the victory over all sin in our lives at Calvary and that since sin shall not have dominion over us (Romans 6:14), we are going to accept and believe—regardless of any evidence to the contrary—that this is all true and that HE, God, will manifest the freedom from this sin in our lives, as surely as He is and His Word is true.
When we do that ... when that faith in all that was paid for at the Cross is real in a Christian's life ... he or she will gradually—but surely—enter into God's rest and cease from all human cares, struggles, and effort. And more and more we will find the victory over sin manifested in us.
I pray this helps someone.
