Through His Word, God commands us to stop sinning.
Every child of God has been given a new heart. We desire to obey
God. We want to stop sinning.
But our old sin nature, our flesh, still has sinful desires. And
so we find ourselves in a lifelong struggle with sin.
NIV Galatians 5:16-17 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not
gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the
Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with
each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
NIV 1 Peter 2:11 Dear
friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires,
which wage war against your soul.
God has put it on my heart to write a series of
blog posts with help, guidance, and encouragement to stop sinning. I’m not
writing as one who has won the war, but as one who is right in the middle of
it.
In writing this series, I pray that God will
help me help you.
We will never be perfectly sinless in this
life. But this must never be an excuse to not work to get rid of sin. We can
become more Christ-like in our thoughts, words, and actions. The Bible urges us
to do this. From Genesis to Revelation we are urged to resist sin and obey God.
Focusing on our fight against sin without
remembering God’s grace would lead to despair and failure. On the one hand, God’s
grace should never be used as a rationale to sin.
NIV Romans 6:15
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no
means!
In fact, it is only because of grace that we
can be free from slavery to sin:
NIV Romans 6:14
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but
under grace.
God’s grace makes the fight against sin worth
fighting. Grace functions like a safety rope when we slip and fall. Grace
empowers us to get up again when we are knocked down for the 10th or
100th time. Grace gives our hearts hope and peace. For these reasons
I intend to include reminders of God’s grace and forgiveness in every post in
this series. This truth about grace is captured powerfully in this 7 minute video with
music and preaching:
Sin is a terrible enemy. The devil and his
demons tempt and assault us. The world all around us pushes us towards sin and
pulls us into temptation. And the very desires of our own flesh war against us.
We can’t win this fight in our own strength. But God doesn’t ask us to.
The very Holy Spirit of God who raised Jesus
from the dead lives in us and it is by His power that we fight against sin:
NIV Romans 8:13
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit
you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
The Holy Spirit works in many ways. We need
every ounce of Holy Spirit power we can get for our fight against sin. The Holy
Spirit works through God’s Word, through prayer, and through other Christians.
These resources are mighty for overcoming temptation and resisting sin.
In writing this series, there are several
specific resources I plan to draw on.
1.
Most important is the Bible. The Bible is filled with many stories,
teachings, and warnings that are designed by God Himself to encourage us and
strengthen us in our warfare.
2. I
am also reading the book Overcoming
Sin and Temptation by John Owen (it is actually a collection three short
books written by him). John Owen wrote in the 1600’s and his style is not the
easiest to read. But his passion to overcome sin and help others to do the same
is contagious and encouraging.
3. Finally,
I draw on my own experiences and struggles, and the grace God gives me each
day.
As we each struggle, let’s pray together as
our Lord taught us to do:
NIV Matthew 6:13
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
NIV Luke 22:40
On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into
temptation."
Be encouraged. Don’t give up and don’t give
in. Remember God’s grace.
Related posts and other posts in this series:
Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .
With you on the journey of spiritual life in Christ, my brother!
ReplyDeleteI hope Philippians 4:8 gets a mention in your series. (and Romans 12:1-2. These have been helpful for me.) "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Yes, both those passages are wonderful resources for our spiritual lives in Christ! Thanks for drawing our attention to Philippians 4:8. The best way to avoid dark, evil thoughts is to fill our minds and imaginations with thoughts about things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy!
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