You can’t overcome sin, but Jesus can.
In my previous post, we saw the first three ways that we rely completely on Jesus Christ to overcome sinful conduct. Let’s continue with three more ways to overcome sin.
4. Trust his promises that through him you can do what is holy.
Our holiness must stand on the strong legs of faith. Doubt brings defeat. Jesus says we can overcome sin through him, and we must believe him.
Romans 6:14 says, “Sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 8:2 says, “The law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” John 8:31–32 says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Galatians 5:16 says, “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
5. Take up the cross and die again to self.
Christians are united with Jesus in his death on the cross, and that death enables us to be dead to sinful desires if we rely on it and regard it to be so.
Romans 6:6–7 says, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.” (Read the entire section, Romans 6:1–11, to fully understand this crucial reality.)
This is spiritually real, not just a way of thinking. I really am united with Jesus in his death, and I can draw on that reality at any time. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
Galatians 6:14 says, “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Jesus died to this world, and I am crucified and dead with him. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. Repeat these words until the Holy Spirit helps you believe them. Then you can live them.
6. Rely on your union with Christ in his resurrection.
This too is a spiritual reality that we can draw on at any time, not just a way of thinking. Just as surely as Jesus rose from the dead in power and lives in a resurrected body now, so you are united with him in his resurrection power.
Romans 6:4 says, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
Romans 6:13 says, “Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life.”
This spiritual power is as real as the electricity latent in an electrical socket.
Paul prayed accordingly for the Ephesian Christians that they would know “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places” (Eph. 3:18–20).
So, there is resurrection power available to you if you will learn to call upon it in understanding, prayer, and faith.
Our way versus God’s way
Our way: Be holy in conduct by relying on human will power.
God’s way: Be holy in conduct by relying on Christ.
My challenge for you
Identify one sin that defeats you and focus for two weeks on overcoming it through ideas above. I hope you will send me an email and let me know how things went.
