How to Fight Sin With The Gospel

How Do You Fight Sin With The Gospel?

Paul told the Colossians “put to death what is earthly in you” (Colossians 3:5). The reason and the means by which they were to do this is found in the previous verses where Paul rehearses the Gospel. He says, “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. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4). Here Paul includes the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, the return of Jesus and the believers union with Jesus. This is the Gospel. So Paul meant for Christians to put sin to death with the Gospel. So what does that look like?

1. You must know what sin you are fighting.

Paul lists particular sins in Colossians 3 and many other places. Sin is always specific, so the fight must be specific. The Gospel addresses all our sins. You must discover the sin that is lurking beneath the sin you are committing. You might be fighting lust, but what is lying beneath it? Perhaps it is a fear you are seeking relief from. Perhaps it is laziness that is preventing you from pursuing your spouse. Lust might be on the surface, but there is most definitely something else beneath the surface.

You do not however, want to overlook the fact that you are committing lust, but you must deal with it on more than one level. In most instances our sins spring from some lack of trust in the true God, and instead we cling to a functional savior, or idol, for our joy and hope. All of us have a center, something we cling to, something that drives us to do what we do. We all have something that gives us meaning and value and when that thing is threatened, we sin. This is why Paul spends so much time, especially in Colossians, rehearsing our identity in Christ. He wants us to know who we are and what we have in Christ. Tim Keller lists particular categories of idols that are helpful in identifying the causes of our sin in his book The Gospel in Life. He says:

“Life only has meaning/I only have worth if..."

• I have power and influence over others.” (Power Idolatry)

• I am loved and respected by _____.” (Approval Idolatry)

• I have this kind of pleasure experience, a particular quality of life.” (Comfort idolatry)

• I am able to get mastery over my life in the area of _____.” (Control idolatry)

• people are dependent on me and need me.” (Helping Idolatry)

• someone is there to protect me and keep me safe.” (Dependence idolatry)

• I am completely free from obligations or responsibilities to take care of

  someone.” (Independence idolatry)

• I am highly productive and getting a lot done.” (Work idolatry)

• I am being recognized for my accomplishments, and I am excelling in my work.” (Achievement idolatry)

This list can be helpful to discovering what is causing the sin that you are struggling with in order for you to identify it. Often, half the battle to fighting sin is being aware of the sin you are fighting. I would caution you however in the search for your idols. Idol searching itself can be an idol! You can focus more on your problems and sins and less on the finished work of Christ. Eventually you must admit that you will never fully know the depths of your soul. But this should not prevent you from keeping a close watch on yourself (1 Timothy 4:16).

2. We must see sin as sin.

The Gospel shows us how dangerous and ugly sin is. Sin is so bad that the sinless Son of God had to die for it. He had to identify with it. He had to become sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). We must load our conscience with the dread of what sin can do to us. Imagine what anger will do to your health, your spouse, and your children. Think of what it will be like to look back over a life filled with lust. Let that sink into your soul. But we must go further. We must see how much God hates sin, how much it grieves Him. We must see it in all its ugliness and hideousness. Do you really see sin this way? In your minds eye see the Son of God hanging there, bleeding, crying out, and getting what you deserved.

3. We must acknowledge before God that we have sinned.

Here is where we repent of our righteousness. We must lay down our arms and admit that there is sin in our life and that we are guilty of it. The Gospel shows us that no one is sinless, we are all guilty before God. There is nothing good in us that we can present to God. We, though saved by Christ, are still able to sin in the most hideous of ways. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1John 1:8). We must not hide our guilt and sin before God. We must say to Him, out loud, “I have sinned against you.” “I have trusted in money for my joy and hope.” “I have sought relief and immediate joy through lustful images.” “I have based my joy on how moral and successful my children are.”

Here is where we acknowledge that we are wrong in how we have chosen to conduct our lives, our speech, our thoughts, etc. Here is where we acknowledge that God’s will and commands are right. Here is where we confess that sin lives in us and that there is no hope apart from Jesus Christ. David said, “Against you and only you have I sinned and done evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4). But if you were living in Israel during David’s time you would’ve said that David sinned against everyone! David knew however that all sin is against God and all sin is evil in God’s sight, regardless of who reaps the consequences. This is what keeps us depending on God as we presently fight sin, and the proper attitude we should have before God after we’ve sinned.

4. We must fly to the Gospel.

Here is where we perhaps rely on the Spirit the most. We must ask Him to help us see the Gospel and its sin killing power in a fresh way, in a way that will weaken sin’s power over our lives. Paul told the Romans “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13). If we merely use our will to apply the Gospel, it will take us to a certain point, but we need the Spirit to magnify Christ in our eyes and assure us of who we are in Him if we expect to successfully fight against sin. Here are some ways that we can, with the help of the Spirit, fly to the Gospel.

A. Meditate on the Cross.

We need to see Jesus Christ, in our minds eye, hanging there, bleeding, forsaken, and abandoned for us. We need to see Him, the Lord of Glory, dying in our place. We need to hear Him screaming. We need to see Him praying “Father, forgive them.” We need to hear him exclain, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” We need to see his strips, his wounds, and his nail pierced hands.

In JRR Tolkien’s, The Return of the King, there is a huge battle between the forces of Mordor and the men of the Rohan led by King Theodan. Eowyn, the king’s niece though forbidden to go to battle, enters the fight secretly. She comes up against a Nazgul, one of the deadliest foes from Mordor. With her is the hobbit Merry who is mortified at the mere thought of this creature. But when he recognizes that it is Eowyn who is up against him, Tolkien says, “Pity filled his heart and great wonder, and suddenly the slow-kindled courage of his face awoke. He clenched his hand. She should not die, so fair, so desperate! At least she should not die alone, unaided.” Mary then goes to her aid and helps her defeat the deadly creature.

The beauty of Eowyn, and the sheer fact that she should not be the one fighting in that horrible battle against that horrible creature, moved him to action. Seeing Jesus Christ hanging there and knowing that He should not have been there, but that he wanted to be, should melt your heart and move you to either repentance or a renewed strength to resist sin. In this case, the beauty of God is what helps us fight our sin. It helps us to refrain from the sin we are tempted with and repent of the sin’s we have committed. This is a great way to fight against lust. Lust is a beauty battle. We are wrestling between gazing upon the beauty of a sexual image and the beauty of God. Jesus Christ is the only one who can truly fulfill all He promises when we behold Him.

B. Ground An Imperative In An Indicative

An indicative is something that expresses reality. In theological terms we would say that an indicative is what has been done. It is the reality of who we are in Christ because of what he has done for us. We have been declared righteous and just in the sight of God. We have been adopted into God’s family. We have been washed, renewed, and born again. We have been utterly and completely accepted by God because of Jesus. An imperative, on the other hand, is what we should do. It is a command to do something. Since Christ died for us and rose again and credited to our account His perfect life, we can now do what he commands us. We can live a holy, repentant, godly, pure, and righteous life. Another way of saying this is that we are sanctified by continually returning to the fact that we have been justified. The Bible is filled with examples of this. Here are two.

“And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:2) The imperative is to walk in love. But why should believers walk in love? We should walk in love because Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.

 “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. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:1-5) The imperative is to put to death the sinful inclinations and desires in us. But why are we to do this? We are to kill sin because our identity is in Christ. We have died with Him, we have been raised with Him, we are hidden in Him, and we will appear with Him in glory. Therefore, we should kill sin in our lives.

We must see all of God’s commands in the Bible through the lenses of the Gospel. We can fight sin by applying these Gospel commands to our lives. The Gospel gives us the motivation and the incentive to obey these commands in a way that seeks to please God, not earn His favor if we do them, or lose His favor if we don’t.

This is how we should understand commands in isolation from any near Gospel indicative. For instance, 1 Thessalonians 5:22 says, “Abstain from every form of evil.”Nothing in the immediate context of this command reminds us of the Gospel. In cases like this we must take this kind of command and fly to the Cross. We might pray like this, “Father, this command comes from your loving heart, the same heart that caused you to send your Son to die for me and give Himself for me that I might live a holy, righteous life free from every form of evil. With all my might then I abstain from this form of evil.” This may seem foreign, but we must remember that Paul began the letter to the Thessalonians by saying, “For we know brothers, loved by God, that He has chosen you...” (1:4). Any command in this letter must be grounded in these facts, that God has loved us and chosen us.

C. Grab Hold Of The Gospel

Often when we sin we are attempting to accomplish for ourselves what Christ already accomplished on our behalf. We sin when we attempt to accomplish: joy, success, approval, excitement, security, value, and hope apart from what Jesus Christ has done for us. But Paul said, “If God is for us who can be against us” (Romans 8:31). But what is the ultimate proof that God is for us except “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). The Gospel is the evidence that God is for us. He and He alone offers us all the hope, value, peace, joy, approval, security, and acceptance we need. When we forget this, we sin. We trust our skill and performance. We bank our worth on our success and achievements. We fear the opinions and approval of people. We lean our value and identity on something besides the Gospel and when it fails, we fall with it. We must grab hold of the Gospel. We must believe that God is for us, not against us.

By applying these three principles we can either resist the sin that we are facing or we can repent of the sin that has taken root in our lives.

5. We must rejoice.

Practice

When you are tempted to sin: Take principles A, B, or C, and apply them to your life.After you’ve sinned: Repeat steps 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Conclusion

The Gospel empowers and motivates us to fight against sin and win. But we must know that this fight will not end. There are no magic bullets that stop sin once for all. John Owen said, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.” Be watchful. Walk in the light with a few close friends. Be honest about your sin. Don’t trust yourself. Sin is lurking at the door and you must master it. But the only way to do so is by clinging to the one who knew no sin, but for our sake, became sin so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Greg Breazeale, February, 2012

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