When Jesus Christ saves a true believer from his sin, He does it completely.  He saves a Christian from the penalty of sin (Romans 3:24); the power of sin in daily living (1 Thessalonians 4:4); and one day, He will remove us from the presence of sin (Romans 8:32b).

Right now we face a battle with sin on a daily basis.  That’s why we need to look at the Christian life as a spiritual war.  Every day we have a choice as we go through the day.  We can choose to follow the flesh, or we can choose to follow the Spirit of God.  We will never be sinless in this life, but we can learn to sin less and less.

 

The Bible gives us four helpful hints regarding how to consistently win over sin.

 

1.  Realize we are in a daily struggle.  Paul describes this struggle between “the flesh” and “the spirit” in Romans 7:14-25 and Galatians 5:17.  Our problem now is that we are redeemed people in an unredeemed body.  One day the Lord will give us a redeemed, glorified body when He completes our salvation, but right now we must live with this struggle.  But, we can be consistent winners over this struggle.

 

2.  Identify and forsake the world system.  1 John 2:15-17 identifies the world system and urges us to forsake it.  We must consistently forsake…

·        “The lust of the flesh” (Hedonism)

·        “The lust of the eyes” (Materialism)

·        “The boastful pride of life” (Humanism)

 

These are the things we face very day. (See blog—“What in the World is Worldliness.”

 

3.  Learn to triumph over temptation.  James 1:13-15 tells us that temptation follows a consistent pattern.  We must learn to cut it off at the very beginning.

 

4.  Walk (be controlled) by the Spirit as you go through the day.  Galatians 5:16 says that the only way we can overcome the desires of the flesh is to walk by the Spirit.

 

Galatians 3:3 – “How foolish can you be?  After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect (mature) by your own human effort?” 

 

That is…

·        You cannot be saved by human effort.

·        You cannot become mature by human effort.

 

This sinful world is a reality of life, but Christians can win over sin.