There’s help in the daily battle with sin! (Part One)

From the heart of Dr. R. L. Taylor, Th.D., Bible Teacher & Expositor. If we’re truly honest with ourselves, we discover we’re still experiencing defeat at the hands of our sinful natures. We still struggle with pride, jealousy, materialism, anger, and lust. We still eat too much, waste our time, make foolish decisions, gossip, lie, and indulge in a variety of other sins, all the time being bothered doing them. Recently I was asked the question, “What good does it do to be told that the war with sin was won by Jesus in His death on Calvary if I’m still harassed and often defeated by my sinful nature?” I answered, “To experience help in this battle, starts by accepting the fact that God in His infinite knowledge and wisdom has seen fit to allow this daily battle with our sinful nature. However God doesn’t abandon us to battle alone! There’s help in the daily battle with sin. Just as God has delivered us from the reign of sin, so He’s made ample provision for us to win the daily skirmishes against sin.” Paul teaches, “So you too, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). In Romans 6:10, Paul has described Jesus' death on the cross for the sins of humanity as a one-time, once-for-all event. He submitted to death in that moment, but once He was resurrected, death was defeated. It no longer had any hold over Him. Jesus was free from death forever. Since, spiritually speaking, those who trust in Christ for their salvation also died, were buried, and then were resurrected to new spiritual life, we are on the same path that Jesus is. What does it mean that we are dead to sin? Paul explained it in Romans 6:6. Our old self was crucified with Christ and the “body of sin” that held us as slaves was done away with. We have been freed from sin’s power. In that sense, we are dead to sin. It can't force or compel us to do wrong (1 Corinthians 10:13), though we have not lost the desire to sin (1 John 1:9–10). That's why we must keep reminding ourselves that we are dead to sin, as Paul will show in the following verses. What does it mean to be alive to God in Christ Jesus? This implies a new way of living, no longer controlled by sin but empowered by God's Spirit, to obey and follow Jesus. In other words, we still experience defeat at the hands of our sinful natures because we’ve chosen to disobey what it means to be “alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Be encouraged!