Victory over the Besetting Sin

  There is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus

The bible says that God has given us the victory by our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15 v 57).  If God has given us the victory why is it that so many of us struggle when we try to live a holy life?  All we want is to glorify God in our daily walk yet we seem to continually fall short of what we feel we should be in Christ.  We pray and cry to God for deliverance from sin but nothing changes; we fall short of being the victorious Christian that we want to be.

 The reason is, I believe, that God is teaching us by our experience and the word of God, that we are dependent on Him and that we cannot improve ourselves one iota by our own effort. 

 We are body, soul and spirit.  Our body is that part of us that can be seen, it is through the body members that we have our senses. It is the part that links us with the world.  It is awaiting redemption which will happen when Jesus returns.  Our spirit is our innermost being, it has been redeemed and is one with the Holy Spirit.  It is the part of us that links us to God.  Our soul is who we are and can choose to follow either the outward desires of the body or the desires of the spirit.  We also have within us what the bible calls the flesh.  The flesh is very much linked to the body and is often used as a description of the covering of the body.  But it is also used to describe what might be called our sinful nature. The flesh is the place where sin dwells (Romans 7 v 14-21).  It is sin’s last stronghold within us and it is fighting for its life.

 The bible says that, “The flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh: and these things are opposed one to the other that you should not do those things which you desire” (Galatians 5 v 17). 

 It is the flesh part of us that lusts after the things that we cannot have. 

1 Peter 2 v 11 tells us to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.  Is this possible or impossible? Do we abstain or give in to them?  One of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5 v 23) is self-control (temperance in KJV), so we do have self-control within, therefore let us exercise it in our lives.  Peter tells us in 2 Peter 1 v 5-6 to give all diligence to add to our faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge self-control, so we must persevere in self-control.

 
We will always have the tendency to sin until our bodies are redeemed.  However sin has been dealt with once for all by Jesus and we are now under grace.  God does not condemn us when we sin.

 Romans 8 v 1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit”  [Authorised (KJ) version].

 Here we have a condition, “Who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit”, what does this ultimately mean?

 In Galatians 5 v 25 we are told “If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit”.  Here it is distinguishing between what we are in Christ (the fact that His Spirit lives in us), and our walk or conduct.  Galatians 5 v 16 says “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh”.  James 1 v 15 tells us that when lust hath conceived it brings forth, or gives birth to, sin.

 If we look at Romans 5 v 16 we read, “And not as it was by one (Adam) that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one (sin) to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification”.  In other words Adam committed one sin and was condemned to death, bringing death on everyone, however the free gift, the gift of salvation and eternal life, is of many offences unto justification.  Justification being the opposite of condemnation.

 Which means there is no condemnation (sentence of death) for those in Christ because by grace, through faith, we have been justified.

 Going back to Romans 8 v 1, where it says, “- - who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit”, these words that are in the King James Version of the bible (which is one of the most accurate versions), undermine the statement that there is now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus and make it say that there is no condemnation to those who don’t fulfil the lusts of the flesh or to put it more simpler there is no condemnation to those Christians who don’t sin.  What it also implies is that if we do sin we are condemned.

 In actual fact the words “who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit” in verse 1 are not in the earliest and best manuscripts and are rejected by many excellent bible scholars, most modern translations leave this part out.  It is repeated in verse 4 which is a correct translation and gives a better understanding of what Paul is saying.

 
Now Romans 8 v 1-4 reads “There is therefore now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”.

 Now it makes sense.

 God does not condemn us when we sin because we are no longer under the law that says if we sin, we die.

 There is another problem that can arise from this and that is that this verse could become an excuse to sin without any feelings of remorse.  This would eventually dull the conscience so that we don’t even recognise when we are sinning. 

 However when we do sin it does have an effect on us, and also on the Holy Spirit, and on others.  In one sense we do stand condemned when we realise we have sinned, this is not the sentence pronounced by God to death, but it is a self-condemnation that affects our conscience and as such affects our relationship with God (Romans 14 v 23, Galatians 2 v 11).

 God’s remedy is 1 John 1 v 9, “If we confess our sins, He is able and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.

 If we confess our sin, means that we are acknowledging to ourselves and God that what we have done is a sin.  This keeps our conscience alert to what sin is. 

 We should however be grieved when we sin, this is natural and right.  The bible says that the Holy Spirit lives in us and the Spirit is grieved when we sin (Ephesians 4 v 30), so it follows that if the Spirit within us is grieved when we sin, we will feel this grief in our spirit, so we will be very grieved, not just because we have sinned but also because we have grieved the Spirit of God.

 We also lose our witness to others when we sin, so we need to be conscious of our sin and to deal with it according to God’s word.

Christ our Righteousness

 We first became a Christian when we believed that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God, trusted in the finished work of Christ on the cross, and received the free gift of eternal life.  Now that we are saved our standing is not by what we feel but by faith in what God says we are.  We need to believe the Truth of what God says we are before we start to deal with the practical aspect. Our tendency is to bring ourselves under the law and therefore suffer the consequences of condemnation, shame and bondage.  The Truth sets us free from all these.  We are justified and righteous in Christ, we are not trying to achieve righteousness in order to be accepted by God. We are accepted by God when we submit to His righteousness.  It is from this place alone that we walk in righteousness.  When we see it is all about God’s righteousness which is revealed on the principle of faith and that we can achieve nothing by our own power or righteousness but only by being dependent on God and obedient to the Holy Spirit, when we see that without Him we can do nothing, then God can use us in the works He has before prepared for us.

 Jeremiah 23 v 5-6 says, “The days come, says the Lord that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch ----- He shall be called Jehovah our Righteousness.

 In Jesus Christ we have the fulfilment of that word.

 The Bible says that Christ is made unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption (1 Corinthians 1 v 30). Christ lived a sinless life but when He died on the cross, He took our sins and Himself suffered the punishment of our sins, when we believe in Jesus then God gives us His righteousness.  This is what we call imputed righteousness which simply means reckoned to us or attributed to us because of faith.

  Imputed righteousness is to do with justification.

  Justification means that God declares us justified (in other words, just as if we had never sinned) the reason He can do that is because He reckons us righteous.  We are reckoned as righteous because we believe in Jesus Christ.  We can only come before God trusting in the righteousness of God and not our own.

 However there is a practical aspect that needs dealing with and this we call sanctification.

 Sanctification is different from righteousness because it is not imputed to us.  It is also progressive in that it is something we practice every day.   It means to be separated to God, this happens to us when we first believe (we are separated from the world unto God) but it is also a continuous thing where we learn daily, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, through the word of God, what God is calling us to separate from.  By being obedient to the Holy Spirit we produce righteousness in our daily walk which develops holiness in our character.

 God uses clean vessels (2 Timothy 2 v 19-21) but our trust must never be in our own godliness but always in Jesus Christ and the fact that He is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.

 J. N. Darby said that “the two leading features of the child of God are that he practises righteousness and loveth his brother”.

 Practical righteousness is sometimes called “imparted righteousness” for the simple reason that when we are born again God imparts His life to us.  1 John 3 v 9-10 says, “Whoever has been begotten of God does not practise sin, because His seed abides in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God.  In this are manifest the children of God and the children of the devil.  Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, and he who does not love his brother.”  

 Here we have a dilemma because Romans 7 v 14-21 tells us that sin dwells in our flesh.  So, in our spirit is the life of God, yet in our flesh sin dwells. Paul tells us in Romans 6 v 19 that we are to yield our members, our tongue, our ears, our hands, our feet, etc., to righteousness unto holiness.  As we yield ourselves to righteousness the fruit we will yield is holiness.  Every morning when we ask God to keep us from temptation do we then offer Him our members to use in righteousness?  Romans 12 v 1 tells us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God.

 We have now presented ourselves to God for His service but we will still have to face temptation and now probably more so.

Sin and Temptation

How do we deal with temptation?  If every time that we are tempted we give in to it, it will leave us feeling defeated with a bad conscience, and a bad conscience affects our relationship with God. The bible tells us to resist the devil but many Christians don’t know how and are left defeated and feeling shamed.  How can we resist the devil and overcome our temptations? How do we deal with the temptation to commit the sin that easily besets us?

 The Name Jesus means Saviour.  What is He saving us from?  The Bible says, He shall save His people from their sins (Matthew 1 v 21).

 Sin and death reigned right up to the Lord Jesus.  Now grace reigns.

 The law was given with Moses but all that did was to give strength to sin and death. Its purpose, of course, is to bring us to Jesus Christ who alone can save us.

 So on one side we have the law, sin and death.  On the other side we have grace, righteousness and eternal life.

 How did Jesus save us from our sins?

  When He died on the cross His blood was shed as an offering to God for the sins of the whole world.  He suffered and died on the cross to pay the punishment for our sins, and all who come to Him He takes their sins away never to be remembered again.  It is by His death that we are reconciled to God (Romans 5 v 10a).  Once we are reconciled to God we still need the saving work of Christ to save us from sinning.  This is accomplished by faith in His life (Romans 5 v 10b).  This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith, faith in the death of Christ reconciles us to God and faith in the life of Christ saves us from our sins.  The full gospel is that Jesus died and rose again, there are many who stop at the death of Jesus, they don’t realise the power of His life. We are “in Christ” and Christ lives in us.  The bible says that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world (1 John 4 v 4).

 It was a tremendous price He paid to save us.  Never be flippant about sin.

 Do we still sin?  If so how can we stop?

 What is sin?

 There are two aspects of sin.  One is the root and one the fruit.

 The root is the sinful nature that dwells within us, in the flesh that is.  It is a result of Adams sin.

  The fruit are the sins that we commit.  Sins are a result of giving in to the sinful nature within us.

  We know that if we do wrong, it is a sin, if we break God’s law then that is a sin.  But it is not as easy and straight forward as that.

 There are sins of ignorance, in other words we don’t realise we have sinned, but it is still a sin (Leviticus 4 v 27-28).

 There are sins of omission.  In other words we have neglected to do something we should have done (1 John 3 v 17-18, James 1 v 22).

  There are the obsessive or repetitive sins that easily beset us.  These are the ones we normally think of when we talk about sin (Hebrews 12 v 1).

  There are sins in our thoughts.  Jesus said if we even think it then it is the same as sinning in the heart (Matthew 5 v 28).

 Probably one that easily trips us is sins of the tongue.  We can even bypass our thoughts in that one.

 In fact anything that is not of faith is sin.

 We deal with all these sins differently but there is only one remedy for sin, Christ’s death on the cross.

  The sins we don’t know about we ask God to search our hearts and expose it to us (Psalm 139 v23-24).

 The sins of omission call us to discipline ourselves to do what needs doing.  James says “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only then God will bless you in your deeds” (James 1 v 22-25).

 How do we deal with the sin that easily besets us?  We stop doing it.  It is more difficult than that of course but it is possible if we know how to do it (Hebrews 12 v 1).

 How do we deal with the sins in our thoughts?  The bible says we are to cast down our imaginations ---and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10 v 5).

 What about the tongue?  The bible says if we can tame the tongue then we are perfect (James 3 v 2).

 The source of sin can be either, the world, the flesh or the devil.

  If it is the devil then we are to resist the devil (James 4 v 7, 1 Peter 5 v 9).

 If it is the sinful nature in the flesh then we are to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive unto God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6 v 11).

 The world rejected Jesus and crucified him.  We cannot have both.  Friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4 v 4).  It is faith in Jesus that overcomes the world (1 John 5 v 4-5).  Faith clings to Jesus who the world hates.

 The Victory

 Now I want to look at how to get the victory over the sin that easily besets us.  If we get the victory there we stand on better ground to deal with any other sin that rears its ugly head up.

 First recognise that there are at least two of three things involved in maintaining the power of the besetting sin over us, the devil (this will probably be a demon or two representing the devil), the flesh or sinful nature and a possible third, the lusts of the world.

 It goes without saying then that before we become involved in any warfare we must have put on the whole armour of God (Ephesians 6 v 10-20).

 We will look at how we deal with the two adversaries (the devil and the flesh).  In order to spoil the goods of the strong man (the devil), we need to bind him.  How do we bind him?  The same as Jesus bound him.  When Jesus had been baptised in water, the Spirit came upon Him and He went out into the wilderness where He bound Satan then He came back in the power of the Spirit and destroyed Satan’s works.  How did He bind him?  He bound him by resisting his temptations.  He resisted with the word of God.

 We need to ask God for the scripture that is the weapon against our weakness and when we are tempted to sin then we should speak it out against the enemy.

 It is the water of the word of God that cleanses us for sanctification, therefore it is important that we use the word effectively.

 As for the flesh, we need to confess that we reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive unto God (Romans 6 v 11) because we have been crucified with Christ (Romans 6 v 6), now it is “Not I that lives but Christ that lives in me” (Galatians 2 v 20).  That is our position as Christians, identified with Christ in His death on the cross (Romans 6 v 5).  

 When we start to reckon ourselves dead to sin we have moved into spiritual warfare and the flesh and the devil will be out to prove that you are not dead to sin in order to undermine your faith in this truth.  Christians often seem to struggle with reckoning they are dead to sin (Romans 6 v 11), they don’t feel it is true so they won’t confess it.  They have no faith to believe the Truth which will set them free.  The bible says “This is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith” (1 John 5 v 4).

 We need also to mortify the acts of sin.

  Romans 8 v 13 says, “For if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live”.    In other words it is by the leading and power of the Spirit that we stop sinning, not by our own determination.  Every day we need to pray “Lead me not into temptation”.  “Lord don’t let me stumble or fall this day, keep me from sinning I pray”.  Go to the one who is able to keep you from falling (Jude v 24) and ask for mercy and grace not to sin.  Offer Him the members of your body, tongue, ears, eyes, hands, feet, that He might use them for righteous acts. 

 But what about that besetting sin the secret sin that easily entangles us and causes us to be full of shame?  2 Corinthians 4 v 2 tells us to renounce the hidden things of shame.  Say “off” and forbid them from entangling us again (the Greek word for “renounce” also means to “forbid”).  King David spoke to himself when he said “why art thou cast down oh my soul? Bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me bless His holy name” (Psalm 103 v 1).  We need to speak to that besetting sin, bind it and forbid it from having anything to do with us again. Bind the lusts of the flesh from coming forth, forbid them and confess the word choosing to “walk in the Spirit”, do this at the start of each day. Let your spirit be the dominant part of your life, that the Holy Spirit, being one with your spirit, will lead you and teach you all things.

 Let us turn to 1 John 1 v 7-10.

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

v8, If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

v9, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

V10, If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us”.

 
In verse 8 when it says, “if we say we have no sin” it is referring to the sinful nature rather than acts of sin.

 Verse 9 is talking about the sins we commit and says that “if we confess them”, or agree with God about them, “Then God will cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.  Our attitude in confessing them is all important.  We must be grieved over our sins, we must hate the sin and be full of remorse about it.  We need to have a contrite heart. 

  I remember a very dear saintly lady being asked what was the big turning point in their Christian life.  She said, “The day we learned to walk in 1 John 1 v 9”.

  When we sin then we need to take a leaf out of that dear sister’s book and walk in 1 John 1 v 9.  If we sin many times a day then recognise it and confess it, we will be forgiven, however there may be a time of chastisement to bring us to a place of deep remorse because of the sins we have committed.  This is also spiritual warfare because we are acting by faith in the word of God.  However, how much better if, instead of confessing immediately after the sin, we call upon God when the temptation first hits us, asking Him to delivery us from falling to the temptation.  This isn’t asking for a once for all deliverance but dealing with it in our everyday walk, learning to go to God immediately temptation strikes.

 This means being persistent and persevering.  We are in a war and fighting a battle that we will win if we persevere.

 Now why did John write all these things to them?

 The reason John wrote thus to them was in order that they may not sin.  Not because he was expecting them to be in bondage to sin, but in order that they might not sin.

 Then he says, and I love this bit, it’s full of compassion.  “If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

 I like what J. N. Darby says here, he says it is “if anyone sin, not, if anyone confess or repents”.

  If we sin Jesus is interceding for us and it is that intercession that brings us to repentance.

 Let us now look at how temptation affects us.

 The first place that temptation attacks us is in the mind, in our thoughts.  If we entertain those thoughts for a second then we are on the slippery slope.  The longer we entertain the thoughts we will experience the same emotional feelings as if we are indulging ourselves in the flesh.  Sometimes an incident from the past which involved negative emotions will be triggered in our memory and all the past feelings and emotions will resurface. These may be hate, anger, fear, lusts, or just carnal worldly pleasure that we might find ourselves entertaining longer than we should by reliving the incident in our minds.  Immediately that a wrong thought comes to our mind we need to refocus our mind.  Turn to Jesus and thank Him for all He has done.  The Bible gives us a wonderful promise that if we rejoice in the Lord, and make our request known to God by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, then the peace of God will guard our hearts and thoughts by Jesus Christ, so whatsoever is honest, just, pure, and lovely to think on those things (Philippians 4 v 4-8).  God will keep our hearts and thoughts from sinning if we rejoice with prayer and thanksgiving. We must also think on things that will produce the fruit of the Spirit in our minds, love, joy, peace, meekness etc. Galatians 5 v 22-23). To resist that wrongful thought by the strength of the flesh will only feed the sinful thought until it overcomes us and we fall into sin it is better to turn our mind to something else.  If we find some temptation easily besets us then it may call on much discipline to turn from it. 

  Research has shown that obsessive thoughts cause a brain pattern to develop which is like a groove in a record which the needle gets stuck in.  The way out and the way to change the brain pattern is not to give in to the urges.  Eventually the brain will change its pattern and the obsession will lose its strength. (Brain Lock by Jeffrey M. Schwartz)

  The way we resist is not by meeting it head on and thereby thinking about it but rather to use it as a trigger to cause us to turn to Jesus Christ and tell Him that we love Him. The brain is affected when we habitually sin and therefore will follow the same pattern of sin when something triggers it off, but its pattern can be changed over time by not responding to the obsessive thought.  Recognise the things that trigger wrong thoughts and avoid them where possible.  Try to avoid situations that will cause us to sin.  Flee from things that will encourage the lusts of the flesh.  We need to refocus our mind on Jesus by telling Him we love Him.  We need to devalue the wrong thoughts by recognising what the consequences of them shall be, they are sin which will cause us shame and grief until we put them right in the Lord.  Count the cost, it just isn’t worth it. Where the enemy is misquoting the word then we need to know and confess the truth.

 So we see that once we have started a pattern of habitually sinning it imprints it on the brain, that imprint can be changed by not responding to the temptation.  Yes it is hard but it must be resisted in order to change the brain pattern.  Once we change the brain pattern the effect will be to reduce the power of temptation in that area.  Initially there will be strong inclinations to give in to temptation, as we resist then the strong inclinations will decline and leave us alone for a time (they do come back to try again but resistance to them will causes them to flee).  The second we recognise we are entertaining a wrong thought we must cut it off and refocus on Jesus giving Him thanks for saving us.  This is an important point to make, victory over sin is either gained or lost in our thoughts, if we allow the temptation to gain a foothold in our thoughts then the battle is lost, the whole issue of whether or not we will give in to sin or not depends on what we do with the initial thoughts of temptation, if we entertain them then it is most likely we will be defeated again. The way into victory is to stop the thought the instant that we realise what is happening and turn our mind onto Jesus with joy and thanksgiving at what Jesus has done for us.  It takes the mind off the temptation and onto the Saviour (Romans 7 v 25).  Thanksgiving brings the assurance to our hearts that the victory is won.  Thanksgiving lifts the spirit out of heaviness into victory.  Thanksgiving causes the lips to praise the Lord (James 1 v 2, 1 Thessalonians 5 v 18, Ephesians 5 v 20, Psalm 100 v 4) .

 So, resist temptation and give thanks to God.

  Let me repeat the important point.

 When we stop giving in to temptation then the brain pattern which maintains the habit will diminish, releasing us from the habitual pattern of responding to the temptation by giving in to it.  Once the habit is broken then we must maintain the resistance so as not to allow it to become powerful in our lives again.  Now that the temptation is resisted it will leave for a season.  Yes it will keep coming back after long breaks but if we resist it then it will leave again.  We need to replace the sinful habit with new habits of reading the word and prayer.  It is no good sweeping the place clean and leaving it empty. 

 Apply all the other things I have said, such as, asking God daily to keep you from temptation and from stumbling, and offer your members to Him to use for righteous acts.  Trust the Holy Spirit to enable you to mortify the flesh.  Make temptations a trigger for you to give thanks to God the second they strike. Then resist with the word of God knowing that you are involved in spiritual warfare and you have the victory.  Stop giving in. You may have to persevere a day or two but by doing so you will find it does work and you will break the power that the besetting sin has over you.  Give thanks to God.

 If you do find yourself being overcome by some temptation then, pray, pray, pray.  Keep calling out to God at the same time that you are giving in to temptation. He said, “Call on me in the day of trouble and I shall deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me” (Psalm 50 v 15).  Jesus said “Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation” (Matthew 26 v 41).

 If we do sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

 The Bibles answer to sin is to stop doing it, or to lay it aside, or put it off.

 “Lay aside—- - the sin which so easily besets us” (Hebrews 12 v1).

 “By a once for all act, and at once, put to death your members which are upon the earth: fornication, impurity, depraved passion, wicked craving, and avarice which is of such a nature as to be idolatry; - - -  But now put away once for all, and at once, also all these things: a habitual, revengeful anger, violent fits of anger, malignity, slander, obscene speech out of your mouth.  Stop lying one to another—- - (Colossians 3 v 5-9, K. Wuest Expanded Trans N.T.).

 “Wherefore putting away lying, speak everyman truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.  Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.  Let him that stole steal no more: - - -” (Ephesians 4 v 25-31).   

 To know how to stop can be hard, I hope what I have shared will be a help to all who read it.

  I do recognise that everyone’s besetting sin is different so you may need to seek God about what else can be done to meet your need. 

 Remember, until the day of redemption we will have a sinful nature, what the Bible calls “flesh”.  Once we have learnt how to deal with the sin that easily besets us we will still have to deal with the wrong reactions we have to everyday problems, each wrong reaction is a fresh challenge to seek God and learn how to overcome.

 Finally, self-judgment can be a good thing but not if we become in bondage to a permanent state of condemnation by it (1 John 3 v 20-22).  The message of the gospel is the free grace of God and where sin abounds grace does much more abound.  Don’t get bogged down with the issue of sin, turn your eyes on Jesus and rejoice in the Truth.  Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.