Struggles With Sin

Romans 7:13-25

I want to obey God, and I want to do right, but I keep messing up and sinning. Have you ever felt like that? Paul did, and he writes about that in our New Testament passage today, from his letter to the Romans.  I remember when I first read this passage many years ago, after I was saved, I felt like Paul was talking about me. Let’s look at this passage and what Paul wants to teach us.

After we become saved, our old nature, the flesh nature which is still in us, still seeks to rebel and be independent of God.  Sin contaminates and frustrates our desire to obey God, and we experience a battle between our desire to obey and serve God, and to follow after sin and our old nature.  This battle will continue on until we are safely in heaven.

The inward struggle with sin is a real one.  It was for Paul, and it is for us. Paul wrote that he wanted to obey God, and he hated his sin. He was humble, and knew that there was nothing good in his old flesh nature. Paul’s new, born-again self did not approve of the sin that still resided in his flesh, that came from the flesh.  This was a daily battle for him, and for us. Paul lamented as to how he could find victory. He longed to be delivered as a wounded soldier is pulled off the battlefield by his comrade. He no longer sided with sin, but with God’s Word; however the still-sinful flesh nature wages war against the desire to obey God.

The only way to gain a victory is to die to ourselves and let Christ live through us.  We need to submit to the Holy Spirit, and His wisdom and power. Becoming a Christian doesn’t eliminate sin and temptation in our life.  Never underestimate the power of sin. If we struggle against sin in our own strength we will not succeed. We cannot fight it in our own strength.  The power of Christ is available to us, though, and we should avail ourselves of it. If we are saved, the Holy Spirit lives in us, and gives us power.  We must depend totally on the work of Christ, first for our salvation, and then for victory over sin.

We must also remain very sensitive to sin.  When we first come to the Lord and are saved we are usually quite sensitive to even the slightest sin in our life.  We have a godly fear of offending God. Time in the world, and perhaps godless companions, will harden our once sensitive spirit, and we allow our heart to become calloused.  First we start to excuse the little sins. Slowly, by degrees, we allow more and more sins, thinking that it is nothing, no big deal. We toy with them, cover them up, call them by other, less offensive names then what they really are - sin.  To avoid falling back little by little, we need to take heed, and keep sensitive to sin. Because we tend to see our own sinfulness in direct proportion to how we view God’s holiness, we must also get a Biblical view of just how pure, holy, and righteous God truly is.

Though we do not have the power by ourselves to win over sin and please God, we need to remember that sin and Satan are defeated enemies.  Without Jesus’ help, sin is stronger than we are. However, Jesus conquered sin once and for all, and He will fight by our side.