I have been writing that the battle against sin in our life is of such primary importance. It is not a trivial, light, and unimportant battle. It is mortal combat and what is at stake is our soul. If you don't believe this in the way you think, feel, and live your life, then your position is very precarious. The enemy has lulled you into sleep or into a peacetime mentality, as if nothing serious is at stake. Therefore, we must not be complacent about sin. We must fight the good fight of faith and battle against the unbelief of sin. (1 Timothy 6:12). We must take seriously the warnings of Christ and scripture about sin and its consequences. Part of the way God preserves His people is through the warning passages of scriptures.
Jonathan Edwards soberly writes,
"Many think because they suppose themselves converted, and so safe, that they have nothing to do with the awful things that God has threatened to the wicked, they do not hear it for themselves, but only for others. But it was not thus with the apostle(Paul), who was certainly safe from hell, and as far from a damnable state, as any of us. (Yet) He looked upon at himself as still nearly concerned in God's threatening so f eternal damnation, notwithstanding all his hope, and all his eminent holiness, and therefore gave great diligence, that he might avoid eternal damnation. For he considered that eternal misery was as certainly connectted with a wicked (sinful) life as it ever was, and that i8t was absolutely necessary that he should still keep under his body, and bring it into subjection, in order that he might not be damned, because indulging the lusts of the body and being damned were more surely connected together...God has revealed these threatenings and this connection, not only to deter wicked men , but also Godly men, from sin. And though God will keep men that are converted from damnation, yet this is the means by which He will keep men from it, by their own caution to avoid damnation, and by His threatenings of damnation if we live a wicked life." Jonathan Edwards from his sermon The Character of Paul An Example to Christians
We must fight sin on a daily basis. Alexander Whyte helps us to understand what we must do daily in this battle of sin and yet what Christ has done and can only do in our battle:
“So bent is the great Apostle on our full salvation from all our sins that their mere crucifixion does not satisfy him. Nothing will satisfy him short of their full mortification. For crucifixion after all is only crucifixion. But mortification is more. Mortification is death. Mortification is absolute death. It is a complete and final and everlasting death. A crucified man may continue to live for hours and even for days after he has been nailed to his cross. But after he is dead, he is forever dead. And so it is with a sin. A sin may continue to live, and as a matter of fact is does continue to live for days and weeks and months and years after it has been crucified. But, when once it is dead, it is forever dead. Nailing a sin to its cross; denying it all its former freedom of action and all its former food and keeping it nailed on its cross, so that it cannot rob or murder anymore – that is its crucifixion. But all the time so to crucify a sin is not yet to mortify it, as Paul himself knew to his cost. For, if ever any man’s sins were crucified, it was the Apostle’s sins. But at the same time if ever any man’s sins were still alive and unmortified, to his unspeakable wretchedness, it was Paul’s sins. … while every saint’s self-crucifixion is his own immediate and ever-urgent duty, at the same time the full and final mortification of all crucified sin is the proper work of Almighty God alone.”
So how do we kill sin? How do we nail it to the cross? John Piper writes an excellent series of practical ways in which we can tactically battle against sin. This is taken from his book A Godward Life pages 187-189:
1. Take heart from the truth that the old sinful you is decisively already dead (Romans 6:6; Colossians 3:3; Galatians 5:24). By faith we are united to Christ so that his death was our death (Romans 6:5; 2 Corinthians 5-14).
This means three things:
(a) The mortal blow to our "old man" has been struck;
(b) the old self will not succeed in domination now;
and
(c) his final obliteration is certain.
2. Consciously reckon the old man dead; that is, believe the truth of Scripture about the old mans death in Christ and seek to live in that freedom (Romans 6: 11). Living out the reality that you are is the proof that you are. One clear illustration of becoming what you are is found in I Corinthians 5:7: "Clean out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened." It sounds strange, but salvation is a strange and wonderful thing: Clean out the old leaven of sin, because it is really already cleaned out. If you try to play logic games with this reality and say, "I don't need to fight sin because it is already cleaned out," you will prove only that you are not among the number who are cleansed.
3. Cultivate enmity with sin! You don't kill friends (Romans 8:13). You kill enemies. Ponder how sin killed your best Friend (Jesus), dishonors your Father, and aims to destroy you forever. Develop more hatred for sin.
4. Rebel against sin's coup. Refuse to be bullied by its deceits and manipulations. "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you obey its lusts" (Romans 6:12). Temptations to sin are all half-truths and half-lies at best. Paul calls their fruit "lusts of deceit" (Ephesians 4:22).
5. Declare radical allegiance to the other side-God-and consciously put all your mind, heart, and body at his disposal for righteousness and purity. "Present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your
members as instruments of righteousness to God" (Romans 6:13).
6. Don't make any plans that open the door for sin’s entry. "Make no
provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts" (Romans 13:14). Don't prove your purity in a pornography shop or your commitment to simplicity at an upscale mall or your conquest over alcohol in a bar.
7. Know the spirit of the age and consciously resist conformity to it (Romans 12:2). As D. L. Moody said, "The ship belongs in the water of the world, but if the water gets in the ship, it sinks."
8. Develop mental habits that continually renew the mind in God-centeredness (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 4:16). Fix attention daily on "the things of the Spirit" (Romans 8:5), "things that are above" (Colossians 3:2). Let your mind dwell on "whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, excellent, worthy of praise" (Philippians 4:8).
9. Admit failure and confess all known sin every day (I John 1:9). Ask God for forgiveness (Matthew 6:12).
10. Ask for the Spirit's help and power in all these things. "By the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body" (Romans 8:13). All that is good in us is a "fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5:22). He causes us to walk as we should (Ezekiel 36:27; Isaiah 26:12).
11. Be part of a larger and a smaller fellowship where you are exhorted often to beware of the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13). Perseverance in faith is a community project. We have no warrant to think we will make it to heaven if we neglect the appointed means of mutual encouragement and warning.
12. Fight your sinful impulses with all your might as a boxer fights. an opponent and as a marathon runner fights fatigue (1 Corinthians 9:27-1 2 Timothy 4:8).
13. Beware of "works of law," but let all your warfare be "the work of faith" (2 Thessalonians 1: 1 1). That is, let your fight against sin spring from your confidence in the superior pleasures of all God promises to be for you in Christ.
Declaring war on sin for Christ's glory and my soul satisfaction and joy,
Pastor Bill
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