How to Overcome the Power of Sin

Introduction

Romans 7:14-25 “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which i…”

I want to talk to you this morning about shifting your focus.

Get in the flow of the Spirit

Introduction:

Did you know that there are rivers in the Ocean? When you stand on the beach looking out, it seems like the water is just going in one direction, toward the shore. However, there are currents flowing through the ocean. We were warned, when we were on vacation and visiting a small island off the east coast Mexico, that if you get too far from shore the current would pull you away from the island and your body would be found on the West side of Cuba.

Many Christians are confused by Romans Chapter 7, and then again confused by Chapter 8. Many think that they can not stop sinning (chapter 7), and then they think, there is no motivation to stop sinning because if they are a Christian there is no condemnation (chapter 8). First of all, you have to know that God is for us. Consequently, the Law is for us. Chapter 8 tells us that verse 1 is not all there is to it. We can’t just read verse 1 and say, wow, no condemnation and then not read the rest of the chapter. verse 4 tells us that God had a purpose for rescuing us from the law of sin and death. He said, so that, so that is a greek word that indicates reason and purpose. His purpose was so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Should I begin with Chapter 7 and explaining (my Romans 7 paper) what is missing, or should I begin with this illustration of my problem?

Also, should I go into some detail about Romans 6 and what we need to know?

Should I begin with Chapter 7 and explaining (my Romans 7 paper) what is missing, or should I begin with this illustration of my problem?

Also, should I go into some detail about Romans 6 and what we need to know?

Ok, what I was thinking when I was lying in bed was about when Ron suggested that I memorize Romans 6, 7, and 8. I remember that I thought about how when you are living the Christian life in your own strength you fall into pride because you think that you are doing good. You are able to check off in your mind the things you are doing right and when you run into a problem you tend to think that other people are the cause of your problems. Romans 6 is about knowing things and it is not that we don’t need to know things, because we do, but knowledge can make a person arrogant. So, I had memorized chapter 6, but when I came to chapter 7, I didn’t like it. My spiritual pride could not accept the fact that the great apostle Paul had a problem with sin. Now, you have to understand that our mind is very capable of rationalizing everything to keep us from realizing that we are having a problem with spiritual pride. This problem was right in the middle of my blind spot (Matthew 7:3-5). The big problem comes when we try to take on the Law and the law of sin all by ourselves. Romans 7. That is why, if God gets through to us, we end up crying out “wretched Man that I am.” The worse thing is if we continue to be successful in overcoming every sin except that of pride. Pride is very insidious. One can even be proud of his or her humility. Pride can blind you and prevent you from recognizing the hurt you are causing. That can and does happen when people cut everyone out of their lives except those who agree with them. (A thing to flout).

There is a more excellent way. There was a popular song many years ago called, “What’s Love Got to do with it?” Well, unlike the song, love has everything to do with it.

Be kind to one another…

The word and the Spirit are necessary elements in transformation!! We need both!!

Something is missing from Romans Chapter 7.

Samson: Did not know that God had left him. The key is here. Being in the flow of the Spirit, being in the presence of God. There may be 7 steps to whatever, but relationships rely on sensitivity, selflessness, and humility. Your relationships cannot exist on doing things because we should but because we want to. If you tell your… that you love them because they need to hear it, it is not going to mean…?

Seven Steps for Overcoming Sin

by Steve Moody

Overcoming sin―changing―should not be left to chance. A definite plan is needed. What steps can we take to ensure success?

God has called Christians to a life of change. Peter summarized it this way in Acts 3:19: “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.”

Both “repent” and “be converted” are translated from Greek words that involve change. Repent is translated from the Greek metanoeo, which is defined as “change one’s mind” (Frederick William Danker, ed., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature). “Be converted” is from the Greek epistrepho, defined as “to change direction” (ibid.).

Any major project, whether building an office building, taking an extended trip or having a wedding, requires planning. Any task worth doing is worth devoting meaningful thought and preparation to.

Christian conversion―overcoming sin―is no different.

Here are seven tried and tested steps that, if used, will help us in overcoming sin.

Step 1: We must want to overcome

This sounds simple. However, too many people fail to change because they really don’t want to expend the time and effort necessary to make the changes they need to make. We will tell ourselves, “I want to overcome this problem.” But then we will not do what is necessary to overcome.

Most of us realize that we will always find time to do the things we really want to do. If there is something we really want to do, we generally don’t let anything stand in the way of our doing it.

However, it is also natural to keep putting off those things we really don’t want to do.

So why don’t we overcome those harmful habits, wrong words and evil thoughts that so easily beset us? We must ask ourselves, “Do I really want to overcome them?” How much effort and planning have we put into making the changes we need to make?

Changing old habits―ways of doing things, ways of thinking and speaking—is not easy. Sometimes such changes are literally painful (especially if there is a physical addiction to overcome). And changing any old habit of thought, word or deed is not easy because the change takes us out of our comfort zone. Old ways of doing things are comfortable. We follow those ways automatically. To change will require constant alertness, effort and a willingness to face the discomfort of change.

Therefore, the first step is to determine that we really want to change badly enough to expend the needed time, effort and planning. We will never follow the rest of these steps unless we really want to change.

Step 2: Clearly identify the sins we need to overcome

To honestly search for and see our own sins is unpleasant. Why? No correction is pleasant (Hebrews 12:11). Even self-correction is unpleasant. However, self-correction is less painful than being corrected by someone else. We don’t like to see the areas of our lives that need change. It is painful to see our failings. But, if we are going to change, we must be committed to finding and facing our faults.

To understand how painful this is, ask yourself, “When was the last time I asked my mate or anyone to show me a fault I need to change?” The answer in the majority of cases will be, “Never!” We don’t even like to ask ourselves. But we must, because self-examination is something a Christian is instructed to do (2 Corinthians 13:5).

In prayer we can seek God’s help to see where we need to change. We find such a prayer in Jeremiah 10:23-24: “O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. O LORD, correct me, but with justice; not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.”

If we ask God to show us our sins, He will. But be prepared to see them. Seeing our sins will be painful. If we don’t remember that we asked God to help us see them, we may try to forget what we see instead of learning from them and seeking to implement the steps for overcoming those sins.

Identifying sin in ourselves is more than just identifying wrong thoughts, words and deeds. We must also identify the cause of sin. Why did we think, say or do what we did? The reason will most often be some form of selfishness or lust (see 1 John 2:15-16).

Unless we work on overcoming the cause of our sins, we will keep repeating them. If we just stop the outward “show” of sin without changing the underlying reason, our sin will not be fully overcome.

To completely overcome sin we must be seeking to honestly see what the sin is and its cause, and be truly committed to overcoming both the sin and the cause.

Step 3: Study to learn what should replace the cause of sin

For every sin of selfishness or lust, there is a way of righteous love that should be put in its place. Once we have seen the cause of our sins, we must seek to learn the way of righteousness that needs to replace it.

The way of righteousness needs to become what we truly are. This involves studying God’s Word―the Bible―seeking to learn and understand the spirit of God’s laws. The letter of the law reveals what we are to do. But it is possible to outwardly do what is right with a wrong attitude. It is the spirit of God’s law that reveals how we are to think as well as conduct ourselves.

Jesus revealed this principle in Matthew 5:27-28: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Every sin that we commit has some cause―some aspect of selfishness or lust. In order to overcome the cause of sin, we need to learn how God wants us to be. This involves learning God’s way of love as revealed by the spirit of His laws. Paul expressed this in simple terms in Romans 12:21: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Once we know how God wants us to think and conduct ourselves, we can proceed to the next step.

Step 4: Meditate on living by what God says is right

Knowledge is useless unless we understand how to apply it. Too often having knowledge of God’s way of living does not transfer to our daily living. Meditation—taking sufficient time to deeply think about a specific incident or concept—is an important tool in learning how to actually use the knowledge we learn from our study of God’s Word.

Every sin we commit is triggered by something we encounter in our daily lives. We may be late for an appointment. As a result, we get impatient with others if anything happens to further delay us.

Every sin is triggered by some occurrence in our daily lives to which we did not respond in a right manner. In step 2 we should have identified the cause of our sins. As we identify the cause, we should also be taking note of what triggered the sinful response.

Meditation helps us to mentally practice putting the right response in place before we are faced by the triggering situation. In our personal time of quiet reflection we can meditate on what we should do when we see or sense a situation may lead to a wrong response. We can call this mentally practicing righteousness. Or, as Paul said in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, … noble, … just, … pure, … lovely, … of good report, if there is any virtue and … anything praiseworthy―meditate on these things.”

“If we are truly committed to changing, if we really want to overcome these sins, God through His Spirit will spark the right thoughts in our minds if we are asking Him to do so. God wants us to change. He will help.”This kind of meditation helps prepare our minds for responding righteously when we should. For further study on this tool for spiritual growth, see the article “What Is Meditation?”

Step 5: Pray for God’s help to remember the right response

For each of us, it seems that there is some sin that “easily ensnares us” (Hebrews 12:1). These are sins that we should be working on overcoming first. We should daily ask God in prayer to help us. We need to ask Him to help us remember to have the righteous response come to our minds when the trigger situations arise.

If we are truly committed to changing, if we really want to overcome these sins, God through His Spirit will spark the right thoughts in our minds if we are asking Him to do so. God wants us to change. He will help. One way we draw closer to God is by seeking to live righteously. God has promised to draw near to us if we draw near to Him (James 4:8).

But to draw close to God, we need to be committed to living His way of life and praying for His help. To learn more about prayer, see the articles in the section “How to Pray.”

Step 6: Begin living the right way

Right habits take time to build. They will not be built if we do not replace our old habits with new, godly ways of living. We have to implement what we have learned to actually change the way we live.

God offers us His power through His Spirit to help. That power will grow in us. And the ability to use that power will grow as we use it to live rightly. Paul reassures us: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

Once we begin to practice righteousness, we must continue with step 7.

Looking for the church behind Life, Hope & Truth? See our “Who We Are” page.

Step 7: Don’t give up

We may not use the right response the first time it is needed. However, if the right response came to mind (even after the fact) that was progress. We need to keep seeking God’s help. If we continue to strive to live rightly, we will begin responding sooner. Eventually we will begin responding correctly as our first response. The sin will be replaced with righteousness. Evil will be overcome with good.

These steps have been used and proven to work. But they will only work if we really want to use them. Learn more about the process of change in our free booklet Change Your Life!

Isaiah 54:5 (NASB1995)

[5] “For your husband is your Maker,

Whose name is the LORD of hosts;

And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,

Who is called the God of all the earth.

Scripture is the greatest gift God has given us

What does it look like to delight in the law of the Lord.

The word of God does use marriage as a metaphor

In the world the emphasis is on finding the right person but the emphasis should be on being the right person.

Romans 5 Justification by Faith as marriage covenant

Some married people are like some Christians. They only communicate with their spouse once a week or less unless they are in a crisis. That is known as a submarine Christian.

Romans 6 When a prince gets married his wife legally becomes a princess but…

When 2 people get married, normally, whatever belonged to each individual is now jointly owned.

This chapter is about knowing the benefits received from our legal relationship with Christ. We know that our relationship to the Law has changed because of our death with Christ.

Romans 7 Like the Jews of the Old Testament, we have been brought out of Egypt, but Egypt is still in us. marriage roles and responsibilities. We may agree with our minds but we have trouble becoming one with the person we married. Our own strength, determination, and will only takes us so far.

Romans 8 We can’t do this so God sent his Spirit to live inside of us and help us. We must set our minds on the Spirit. The greek word for mind is different in chapter 8 than in chapter 7. We must be willing to stay in the flow of the Spirit, stay in step with the Spirit, be led by the Spirit. We must not quench the Spirit, we must not grieve the Spirit. Like the electric scooter, we have to pedal some to get it started. We must humble ourselves for His grace to empower us. We are saved in every sense of the word by His Grace. Ephesians 1:7; 2:4-5; 2:8-9

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Sustainable spiritual growth happens when I actually want to do what I ought to do. This means I have to change how I think about what “counts” as spiritual, for what makes an activity spiritual is not the activity itself. It is whether or not I do it with and through the Spirit. It is the quality of the presence and interaction with the Spirit while I am doing the activity.

Someone I know once hitchhiked and road freight trains across the United States from the East Coast to the West Coast to be with his fiancé. Love empowers you do incredible things, impossible things.

Spiritual growth requires that our life with God move from the “should” category to the “want-to” category, and the most basic assessment we have for any experience or event is what psychologist Jonathan Haidt calls our “like-o-meter.”

In Romans 5 Paul taught us about our blessings in Christ and what it meant to be “in Christ” compared to being “in Adam.” In chapters 6-8 Paul continues to teach us what life in Christ looks like. Today we will see in chapter 6 that in Christ we have been set free from sin’s tyranny. Next week we will see in chapter 7 that we have been set free from the law’s condemnation. The following week we will learn that now, in Christ, we are able to live life in the power of the Holy Spirit. So in the next few chapters Paul is teaching us how to reign in life as he mentioned in 5:17. We are no longer living in darkness and futility and foolishness as those in Romans 1:21-23 were, we are now living in righteousness and wisdom and holiness because we have been united with Christ. Today Paul is going to spell out what this means and how exactly we can live in victory over sin. Doesn’t that sound great?

How many of you know who the Washington Generals basketball team is? The Washington Generals is the team that you almost always see playing the Harlem Globetrotters. Between the years of 1953 and 1995, the Generals played exhibitions against the Globetrotters, winning only six games and losing more than 13,000. Sometimes I think we, as Christians, live our lives as if we are playing for the Washington Generals. In our minds our battle with sin is a continual losing battle and we just live in hopes of doing our best. But it is so important that we understand that this mindset is inaccurate.

Paul explains in Romans 6 that we can not only have victory over sin, but that we have already defeated sin because when we become united with Christ, His victory over sin becomes our victory. So to us who are in Christ, sin has already been defeated, we have already been declared victors over sin, yet we often live as if we are in a battle that we just can’t win. Today Paul teaches us how to overcome this delusion.

READ Romans 6:1-4

As Paul begins he starts with a question (as we have seen him do often). He assumes that his audience might respond in confusion with the way he ended chapter 5 by asking, “If grace increases when sin increases, shouldn’t we just go on sinning so that grace can increase?” Paul responds with an adamant, “NO,” and he goes on to explain that when we united with Christ we died to sin, so it wouldn’t make sense to go on living in it any longer. Continuing in sin for a Christian would be like a recovered alcoholic buying a six-pack. Why would you do that?! That’s no longer part of your life, why would you go back to that?

Then in verse 3 Paul gives us our first lesson in overcoming the power of sin. In chapter 6 he’s going to tell us three things we need to know in order to have a correct understanding of our new identity in Christ and then he will explain two things we must do in order to have victory over sin. The first thing Paul teaches that we must know is found in verses 3-4. He says, “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Here is what Paul is teaching here, this is lesson number 1 – in order to live in victory over sin, you must know that you have a new identity in Christ and the goal of this new life is to bring glory to God.

The goal of our lives used to be bringing glory to ourselves, but now we have been set free from that and we exist to bring glory to God. By the way, this should sound familiar because it’s the first part of UBC’s mission statement and I hope this will become the mission statement of your life: We exist to bring glory to God by…making disciples of Christ who will FOLLOW Him, be CHANGED by him, and be COMMITTED to His mission. The first step to overcoming sin is understanding your new identity in Christ and the mission

that comes with identifying with Christ – glorifying God. That is now the mission of your life, but you will never succeed in that mission if you don’t know your mission is! So we must start with the knowledge that our mission in life is to bring glory to God, this is the first step in overcoming the power of sin.

READ Romans 6:5-7

Now Paul teaches us that not only did we unite with Jesus in His death, but we have also been united to Him in His resurrection. And with this knowledge, Paul teaches us a second thing we must know in order to have victory over sin. In verses 6-7 Paul says, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin–7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” So here is lesson number 2 for finding victory over sin, you must know that you are no longer a slave to sin because in Christ you have been set free from sin’s control. Now I know what you’re thinking – “It sure doesn’t feel like I’m free from sin’s control!” But you need to understand the difference between how you feel and what is the truth. God has just told us in Scripture that “you have been freed from sin.” So let me ask you, have you been freed from sin? Yes, of course, God said so. But what does this mean for us?

Being freed from sin means that we have been released from slavery to sin. When we were “in Adam,” before we came to know Christ, we were incapable of refusing sin. We could refuse certain actions of course, but overall we were in bondage to sin. We lived to glorify ourselves, we lived for our own amusement, our own pleasure, and that is idolatry. That is putting yourself in the place of God, and we were unable to stop doing so. But now, we have been set free from that. We may still choose to go back to the familiar ways of sin, but we don’t have to. We do so willingly because we don’t fully understand the price of sin or the goodness of God.

But we need to understand that our identity has been changed and we need to live in light of this new knowledge. This makes me think of a story I heard about a woman named “Garbage Mary.”

Garbage Mary was picked up in a shopping mall in Delray Beach, FL. She was a filthy mess – and so were her car and her two-bedroom apartment. Neighbors told of her scrounging through garbage cans in search for food, which she took back to her apartment. Police found the garbage everywhere: in the refrigerator, in the stove, in the sink, in the cabinets – even in the bathtub.

But they found other things as well. They found Mobil Oil stock worth more that $400,000. They found documents indicating she owned oil fields in Kansas, stock certificates from prominent firms, and passbooks from eight large bank accounts. Police also discovered that Garbage Mary was the daughter of a well-to-do lawyer and bank director from Illinois, who had died several years earlier.

Garbage Mary was a millionaire, but she lived like a pauper. Great wealth was at her fingertips, but she spent her life sifting through garbage and trash.

When we who are in Christ choose to take part in sin we are choosing to go back to living like slaves. We are choosing to mess around with garbage and eat leftovers rather than live as children of the King. But if we don’t know that we have been set free from sin, how else would we live?

Next Paul moves on to two very important lessons we need to DO to have victory over sin. So, there are things we must know, but there are also things we must do. [READ Romans 6:11-14] In verse 11 we find our next instruction, number 4 – Paul tells us to “count ourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” The word “count” here means to “reckon” or “consider.” So Paul is telling us that we need to consider ourselves dead to sin. How do we do that? Paul tells us in the next few verses.

The first way we count ourselves dead to sin is to not let sin reign in us. Pay attention to the word “reign.” Our brain and its thinking processes are vulnerable to Satan’s attacks, so we must actively not let sin in (or at the very least, not let it remain there when it enters). This is the type of thing Paul teaches in Philippians 4:8, “…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” Be careful little eyes what you see, be careful little ears what you hear. Whatever you let into your brain Satan can use to steer you off track, so don’t let sin in, but when it does sneak in, don’t let it remain. Run from it. Stomp it out. Do not let it reign.

Let’s take a look at the next key to living in victory over sin. The third thing we must know is found in the next few verses (READ Romans 6:8-10), “Now if we died with Christ, we believe (know) that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.” So here’s the third thing we must know if we are going to reign in life and have victory over sin (and it’s really the same as the first lesson we learned, but repeated for emphasis) – we must know that we have a new life in Christ and that life is to be lived for God. Paul teaches two things here are I don’t want you to miss them. First he teaches that we will, in fact, have eternal life and be resurrected to be with Christ for eternity. But he also teaches that we are to have this new life in Christ here and now – the type of life that is lived as Jesus lived –for the glory of God.

The second way we count ourselves dead to sin is similar to the first. Paul says not to offer ourselves to sin. This is the same idea. Don’t get involved in things that are not of God. If you struggle with drinking, don’t go to a bar. If you struggle with gossip, don’t hang out with gossipers. If you struggle with overeating, don’t go to Golden Corral. Don’t offer yourself to sin.

The fifth way Paul tells us we can overcome sin is found in the second half of verse 13 and I think this is perhaps the most important of our lessons today – “offer yourself to God, as those who have been brought from death to life.” It is crucial that we don’t let sin reign in us, it is critical that we don’t offer ourselves to sin, but we are not called to a life of “Do-nots” primarily, we are called to a life of “Do.” We are to offer ourselves to God as those who have been brought back to life. Paul instructs us to replace our tendency to sin with our service to God. This is huge, please catch this. We are to replace our tendency to sin with our service to God. This requires some forethought, intentionality, some preparations in advance for when you know sinful temptations will hit you.

What do people do who want to quit smoking? They do something in place of smoking to keep their minds off of it. They might chew gum or hold a pen between their fingers as if they’re holding a cigarette. What do people who are dieting do? They eat several smaller, healthier portions throughout the day or eat small, healthy snacks. A huge key to finding victory over sin is to focus on serving and getting to know God better rather than focusing on what not to do. You have been a slave to sin (formerly) but now you have become a slave to righteousness, and that is the topic to which Paul turns his attention next.

READ Romans 6:15-18

Paul begins with the same question he posed earlier, “Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? By no means!” And here he explains why. He wants us to understand that we are slaves to whomever we serve and our slavery (in either direction) has corresponding results. We can either choose slavery to sin, which leads to death OR we can be slaves to obedience which leads to righteousness. Paul reminds us that before we came to know Christ we were slaves to sin and the death that it brings, but now we have been set free from that slavery. Now what kind of death did our slavery to sin bring? Paul asks this question for us to ponder in verse 21. Let’s read the final paragraph of this passage. [READ Romans 6:19- 23]

He reminds us that we used to offer ourselves to impurity which resulted in ever-increasing wickedness, but now we are to offer ourselves to righteousness which leads to holiness. Do you know what Paul is referring to here? He is talking about sanctification (the process of becoming holy). Just as our sin grew before we knew Christ and our minds became more and more corrupt, now the goal is the opposite. As we submit to Christ and actively serve Him (this is a key to spiritual growth by the way – serving Him) we will grow to become more and more like Him. Paul instructs us to “offer ourselves to Christ.” Does that mean we just believe in Him? Does that mean we just show up at church or Bible study and we will grow spiritually? No! We must offer ourselves to be used by Him. This doesn’t mean just telling Him you’re available and waiting for a deep, booming voice to come down from heaven, it means get busy serving Him. Get busy fulfilling the Great Commission. You will never grow spiritual beyond your service and submission to God. Growth requires work – intellectually, emotionally, mentally, and actively.

But Paul gets back to this question for us to consider while we are thinking about what kind of lives we want to live – whether we will be slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness. In verse 21 he asks, “What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?” And just in case our memories don’t serve us well, he tells us – “Those things resulted in death.” I want you to take a moment to really think about this, because Satan deceives us so badly in this area and it’s what leads us to dabble in sin over and over. What were the results of your sinful decisions before Christ? Sometimes we romanticize them in our minds and we want to be free from the instructions of Jesus and do the things we used to do, but we fail to remember where those things led us. So think about it –

Where did gossiping lead you? Where did lust lead you? Where did your pride lead you? Where did drunkenness lead you? Where did gluttony (the sin of overeating) lead you? Where did anger or fits of rage lead you? Where did sleeping around lead you?

Like a recovering alcoholic who has finally found freedom after years and years of hard work, why would you go back to those miserable things? You have been set free. Set free not only from slavery to sin, but set free to glorify God and live the only type of life that will actually bring you the fulfillment that you sought in your former way of life but could never find. This is life that is truly life.

Know your identity in Christ. Know that you are no longer a slave to sin. Know that your new life in Christ is to be lived for God.

Count yourself as dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ. Find victory over sin by offering yourself to God.

You were made to live in relation to and in service to your Creator. Grab hold of this offer of true life in Christ today. It is God’s greatest gift to you.