The Fight
Every Christian is in a lifelong struggle with sin. All sins are dangerous but the really dangerous sins are the ones you don't see such as sins of attitude and spirit. As Christians, a spiritual rebirth has taken place, the Holy Spirit lives within, and we are no longer the same person. So we may think there should no longer be an emotional or spiritual struggle with sin. But we often find ourselves fighting inward battles, struggling with desires and emotions that oppose our New Life in Christ. If not controlled, they have the ability to drive us to decisions and behaviors we know to be wrong.
Really Christians?
As we go through these battles of the flesh, we can question the genuineness of our conversion. Am I really a Christian? If I am really saved then why do I feel this way? If I have a new heart then why do I continue to struggle with sin? These are legitimate questions and require biblical answers; we need to hear God's counsel. Christian are told to put off the old and put on the new, Eph 4:22-24. We must not miss to whom this portion of scripture is addressed, the scripture is speaking to born-again Christians. They are being told to stop their old way of living and to put on the New Man, who after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness. They are told specifically to stop their lying, stop their anger, stop quitting, stop stealing and start giving, stop corrupt speech and start using words that edifying. Stop grieving the Holy Spirit, get rid of all bitterness, anger and fussing. Start being kind, be tenderhearted, and forgive each other just as God has forgiven you!
Is it not amazing that real Christians, post regeneration, continue to have to deal with these kinds of sins. The point is, the Lord does not treat the believer as a non-believer because he has sin to overcome, rather, the Lord is treating the believer as a believer by telling him to stop sinning. When the Lord tells us to stop sinning He is showing us the love of a Father by correcting, rather than casting us away.
Christian Do Not Live In The Abstract
Christians do not walk out the redemptive victories of Christ in the abstract or in the theoretical. Christ purchased for us victory over the world, victory over the flesh, and victory over the devil. These are not theoretical enemies, they are real. We are always surprised at the strength of the opposition and underestimate the relentless nature of spiritual darkness. If we did not have inward and outward sin to overcome, then our born-again experience would not be lived out over real enemies. Christ promises victory, but it is our walking out that victory, over inward enemies, that gives substance to our born-again experience. Christ is not honored by theoretical victories. When we overcome sin, it is overcome in this life, in this world, and in our heart and body. Our inward and outward victory over habitual sin shows that Christ's atoning work is greater than sin, and He gets the glory. Just as Old Testament Israel, being promised the promise land had no meaning unless the land was physically possessed. In the same way, we take the promises of a New Nature and actually overcome the emotional and spiritual giants of darkness; we, in fact, possess the life and lifestyle Christ promised for those who love Him.
The Christian Does Not Obtain Deliverance, He Proves Deliverance
If Abraham had not been given the Promise Land, Israel would not have had to struggle with the giants of the land. We need to see our struggle as an evidence of our promises of deliverance. There would be no fight if we were not delivered from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of God. We are not fighting to obtain deliverance but to prove we have been given deliverance! Our enemies, by nature, oppose Christ and His work of redemption; it is because we have been inwardly changed that we are now struggling with the enemies of Christ. When we overcome sin, we prove the gospel to be true and powerful, defeating the Devil himself. When we overcome sin, God gets the glory, for He is the One that proclaims to all creation the power of the cross to be greater than the power of sin! If the Christian had no sin to overcome then salvation would be in theory only. It is our walking out the victory of Jesus over very real, inward and outward sin, that removes all questions about the victory of the cross.
The Nature of The Struggle
So we fight, fall down, and get up. The Christian life is a life of battling sin, battling the devil, battling our flesh, and battling the world. We battle every enemy on our knees and in the Name of Jesus. Redemption has won the victory for us. We get smarter and stronger as we learn to overcome, but we never come to the place, in this life, of no struggle.
Christ Gives Victory
Christ expects us to win our battle with sin. He alone provides the weapons that give the ability and spiritual power to defeat darkness. Our responsibility is to take them and use them to possess the promises of a new nature. Jesus expects nothing less than Godly living from His people because He personally has overcome all enemies, and personally promises victory to those who use His weapons. So, when we struggle with sins of all kinds, nothing strange has happened to us, we're Christians walking out the redemptive victories of Christ over very real, not theoretical, sin. Non-Christians do not struggle with sin, they do not have the gut wrenching, life and death attitude toward sin. They do not have the heart commitment to Christ that results in an effective war against wrong living. So dear brother and sister in the Lord, if you are having a bare knuckle, eye-to-eye, nose-to-nose struggle with sin, you are acting like a born again Christian. Be encouraged, there are more for you than against you and there is more right with you than wrong with you and Christ will see you through.
Christian Armor Ministries