How can we, practically, have victory over sin?

What does it mean practically when we say Christ sets us free from sin? To clarify, what does it mean for the believer who has been battling a particular sin — say, short temper, envy, sloth or anything else — and who has been asking God repeatedly to help them overcome that particular weakness in their life, yet finds themselves failing over and over again? How can we have victory?

Thank you for asking this question. We usually hear a lot of sermons around the topic of living holy, Christian lives — but most of these sermons merely end with a charge to pursue holiness; they don’t offer practical ways to fight sin. As Christians, it’s critical to take our battle with sin very seriously indeed. So, I’m glad for the opportunity to address this question.

As I read it, I see the pain of your heart in your struggle. I understand it because I have been there and felt the same desperation too. As much as we’d all love to be completely free from sin, we know that it is not possible until His return. So, till that day comes, I would encourage you not to despair, but know that the Lord loves you and is right there beside you in this battle, as long as you seek Him and walk with Him.

I’d like to answer this question in two parts. First, I will try to answer what it means when we say Christ has set us free from sin — after which, I will offer what we need to do practically in order to keep from falling over and over again.

Christ sets free

In order to understand what it means when we say Christ sets us free from sin, we need to first look at what He has freed us from. I believe this is foundational to understanding how to fight sin in our daily Christian walk.

1. Bondage: As Christians, we know that we are born sinners; that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). In order for one to be freed from sin, one needs to be held captive to sin — and the Bible teaches us precisely this when it tells us that we were all “slaves” to sin (Romans 6:20). Ephesians 2 furthermore tells us that we were “dead” in our sins. This means that there was absolutely nothing you or I could do to be freed from sin with our own strength, because, in our flesh, we would always choose to gratify our desires — and the devil’s — over God. It doesn’t mean that we would never do good, but it does mean that sin held authority over our lives. Even our ‘good’ was born of wickedness.

Therefore, the first thing God did through His work on the cross was to free us from the bondage of sin. We are no longer slaves to sin; rather, God has redeemed and delivered us from it, adopted us, and given us new life through His Son Jesus Christ. In Him, we have a new identity, a new nature, a new Master, and a Holy Spirit who dwells in us. In 1 Corinthians 3:17, Paul says: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” It is the Holy Spirit that convicts, guides and fills our hearts with the Word of God, and that’s how He enables us to enjoy freedom from sin.

The first thing God did through His work on the cross was to free us from the bondage of sin. In Him, we have a new identity, a new nature, and a new Master

2. Death, condemnation, and shame: God has not only freed us from the bondage of sin but He has freed us from the condemnation of sin. Scripture teaches us that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). What you and I deserve is eternal death on account of our sin. We also deserved to bear all the guilt and shame that come with it. But God not only sent His Son to give us eternal life, He did so to free us from condemnation as well (John 3:16-17). He wipes away all our shame and guilt when we truly ask for forgiveness (Psalm 103:8-12). Praise God that He has set us free by His saving grace!

Getting practical

Having said that, it’s important to acknowledge that though Christ has set us free from the bondage of sin and death, we are still living in our fleshly body. In other words, we are still going to struggle with sin in our flesh.

Paul looks at this struggle as a war in Romans 7, so let’s take a look at how we can battle our sins on a day-to-day basis.

1. Plead before the throne of grace.

I didn’t want to just say “Pray”, because that seems to have become such a clichéd Christian platitude, it barely registers in our hearts anymore. But bear with me for just a moment here, as I want to help you see why this needs to be our first resource when it comes to battling our flesh.

I’m not recommending you speak to God; I’m encouraging you to plead to God. Too often, we don’t understand how deep or how great the war is that’s going on within us. But if we truly understood the power of sin in our lives, we wouldn’t just ask God for help — we’d cry out and plead to Him for it.

If we truly understood the power of sin in our lives, we wouldn’t just ask God for help — we’d cry out and plead to Him for it

In Romans 7, Paul describes the war within him, immediately after which, he cries out in despair: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (v.24). Keeping the context in mind, we can understand that Paul’s lament comes from a place of real anguish and real struggle with his flesh. David too, in Psalm 69, cries out to the Lord in similar fashion to show mercy towards him.

Fellow Christian, there is a reality we need to level up with: we really don’t have the strength to fight sin on our own in our lives. You have, no doubt, already experienced this, judging by the heart of your question. Fighting the flesh is a power that can only come from God, because the battle with our broken/sinful nature is a spiritual war — for which we require spiritual resources.

Before our salvation, we were slaves to sin and dead in sin; it is by the work of God that we are redeemed. Having been saved and freed from the bondage of sin by the power of God, do we really expect to attain freedom from our flesh without looking to God? It is He who “began a good work” in us — and He who will “carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). For this reason, we need to seek Him — every hour — for grace.

2. Fill yourself with the Word of God.

I cannot emphasise enough how much memorising Scripture helps in the practical battle against sin. It’s not that reading your Bible will magic your sins away. You don’t show up for a war and expect to win just because you are armed with weapons — you use them to guard your life. Similarly, we are called to read the Word, be obedient to it, and use it as a weapon in our fight against the enemy.

If we think of our hearts as jars filled with poison, the natural response is to empty those jars of all the poison. But what we also need to remember is that emptying them alone is not enough; what we fill the jars up with next is critical as well. Fill them up with the Word of God.

How do we do that?

1. 1. When studying the Bible, make it a point to draw out applications for your own heart from every passage. If you are a forgetful person, I’d strongly encourage writing them down. Once you do this, pray through those points. Ask the Lord to help change what needs to be changed.
   2. Actively try to memorise Scripture. This has personally been a huge struggle for me, as I have what may arguably be one of the worst memory banks. But what I know is memorised portions of Scripture have come to my aid on several occasions in my struggle with sin. Reminding ourselves of what we learn from the Word of God is a surefire way to guard our hearts. David applied this principle in Psalm 119:11: “I have stored up Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You.
   3. Pursue willful obedience. When Jesus saw the man, who’d had an infirmity for 38 years, lying by the pool of Bethesda in John 5:6, Scripture is very clear that He knew he’d been in that condition a long time. Yet, Jesus proceeds to ask him the strangest question: “Do you want to be made well?” At the end of the day, it’s really about how much you want to fight your sin.
      

You don’t show up for a war and expect to win just because you are armed with weapons — you use them to guard your life

3. Do not give opportunity to sin.

This helpful tip comes to us from Paul in Romans 13:14: “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Make no provision for the flesh. This means we intentionally cut off what we know will lead us to sin. If I struggle with pornography, I have to make an intentional decision to block every possible way of watching porn on any device I can use to do so. If I struggle with the sin of pride or envy, I need to avoid interactions that lead my heart to commit those sins.

Never think that it’s okay “just this one time”. This is one of the greatest lies Satan uses to deceive God’s children. Every time we make provision for our sins, we are feeding our fleshly desires and the more we accommodate that sin, the quicker it will destroy us. Sin needs to be killed, not coddled. We need to, therefore, be both intentional and discerning about not making provisions to gratify our fleshly desires.

In the words of John Owens, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.” No doubt, this is difficult to apply practically, but it is essential. The next point will help us see how to best apply this aspect.

4. Have an accountability partner.

I thank God for the band of brothers God placed in my life with whom I could honestly share my struggles and allow them to keep me accountable in my battle with sin. We all need such brothers and sisters to walk alongside us in this journey.

Accountability partners encourage each other by praying, building one another up through Scripture or songs, and basically sharing life’s sorrows and joys together. This is the person you ring up first when you struggle with your sin, the person who keeps you in check every day.

Sin needs to be killed, not coddled. In the words of John Owens, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.”

Unfortunately, one of the things I often hear is that we struggle to identify the right people for such a role in our lives. I would encourage you to look out for older, mature believers of the same sex who are intentionally living gospel-centered lives. What this means is that you see them intentionally hating sin and fighting sin. Once you identify someone, work to build a good relationship with them, and when you feel you can trust them, ask them to help you by being your accountability partner.

5. Set your minds on the things above.

Consider these two portions of Scripture:

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:5-6

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3 

Paul shows us two ways of living: one way leads to death, the other to life and peace. The choice is really ours. All temptation to sin begins in our mind (with the desire, as James 1:14 says). If we know that following fleshly desires will lead us to death, should we not rather avoid that choice? This is why believers are encouraged to engage with godly friends, maintain a godly community, and have godly mentors. They are the ones who care for your soul. And it is this same reason that God established His Church for: so that we build one another up for His glory and the furtherance of His kingdom.

In closing, I’d like to leave you with Paul’s charge to the churches of Galatia in Galatians 5:19-25, which applies to every believer today:

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.