Excerpts from the message

Faith for Holy Living

If we must have victory over sin or any other thing we need to have victory over (our focus for this message is sin but the principles of this message can be applied to everything we want to overcome or have victory over in our lives), there are things we need to know. The righteousness of works begins with what we need to do, but the righteousness of faith begins with what we say. The righteousness of faith speaks (Rom 10:5-10). So there is something we must know first, believe and then act on. So for our victory over sin (faith for holy living), there are things we need to know which will ultimately lead to the things we need to do (speak) by faith.

Things we need to Know

-          We are righteous - Rom 5:19, 2Cor 5:21. To overcome sin, we need to have a righteous spirit and a consciousness of our righteousness.

-          We are dead to sin – Rom 6:1-11. We need to take into account (program it into our minds) that we are dead to sin. When we know this, the power of sin is broken over lives and as we declare it we experience the power of it (that we died with Christ).

-          We can overcome sin but not by our power. Many people feel it’s impossible to overcome sin, and one of the lies the devil has spread in our generation is that “nobody is perfect” which has given many an excuse to sin. Christ has perfected us (Heb 10:14), and we can overcome sin but not by our power. We have victory over sin, not by our power, but in Christ Jesus. It is by the Spirit of God we put to death the deeds of the body (Rom 8:13).  Flesh in the bible sometimes refers to our ability and to fall from grace is to depend on one’s ability (Gal 5:4). In Christianity, from start to finish, it is God’s power and ability.

-          The Cross gives us victory over our Lusts. The origin of temptation is our lust (James 1:13-15) and the reason something can tempt some people and not tempt others is because others do not have lust for that thing. Lust is a work of the flesh (same way the Spirit produces gifts in us), and everyone is tempted when he/she is drawn by his/her lust. The reason why even Christ was tempted was because as a man, He had a natural affinity “lusts” for the things He was with but He did not yield to the lusts. The only way we will not yield to our lusts is by the Cross. Jesus said to deny ourselves, take up our Cross, and follow Him; our lust is an opportunity to show God how much we love Him by taking up our Cross and following Him. Victory over our lusts comes in our bid to please God by denying ourselves, taking up our Cross and following Him.

-          Praying and Studying the Word of God builds strength into our spirit – 1Jn 2: 12-14. Strength comes from the word of God abiding in us, and with that strength we are able to overcome. Jesus said to watch and pray so that we don’t fall into temptation (Matt 26:41), meaning that watching and praying helps us develop strength (grace) to overcome. If we want to overcome and be strong spiritually, we must study God’s word and pray.

-          We need to know what the bible means by the salvation of our souls and the destruction of our souls. In James 1:21, we see that the word of God is able to save our soul; but is our soul not saved already? In Psalms 23, the psalmist said “He restoreth my soul” and in Prov 6:32 the bible says that whoever commits adultery destroys his/her soul. We therefore need to understand what salvation and destruction of our soul means because sin has consequences and one of the major consequences of sin is that it destroys our soul. Sin subtracts the glory of God from our soul (Rom 3:23) especially when we continue in it. Continuing in our lust, allowing it to have dominion over us leads to sin and continuing in sin, allowing it to have dominion over us leads to death (James 1:15). If we sin, we have an advocate with the Father so we repent immediately and retrace our steps; but if we continue in that sin, it destroys us and we walk in darkness. To walk in darkness is to progress in evil while to walk in the light is to progress in good. Knowledge of the salvation and destruction of our souls can provide motivation for us to overcome sin.  

Things we need to Do

-          To hate sin (Rom 6:23). We need to decide whether we want the wages or the gift. As we walk in sin we receive the wages (death – disconnection from God) and separation from the life God wants us to live. We need to hate sin; it is not enough to love righteousness, we need to also hate iniquity (Heb 1:9). If Joseph had yielded to Potiphar’s wife he may never had known what he lost. That is what sin is doing to people today. We need to hate sin.

-          To take positive action like walking or running away (James 2:17). The fact that we have confess is not enough; we must be ready to forsake (Prov 28:13). If we don’t want to sin, we must take necessary steps like praying and studying the word and flee all appearances of evil. It also helps to have someone that we can be accountable to like a spiritual authority, since sin strives on secrecy (James 5:16). We must be ready to take action.

-          Lay aside weights (Heb 12:1). Weights refer to the things that put pressure on us to sin. One of the ways to show that we are willing to forsake sin is to lay aside weights; to have personal disciplines. We must leave those environments that encourage us to sin.

-          Reach out to God for His grace, strength and wisdom in the time of temptation. We can overcome but not by our own strength so we must come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace (Heb 4:16). We must not wait till the situation is over and come to God for mercy; we must reach out to God in that situation and not depend on our own ability.

-          Speak and declare God’s word, and do what God’s word asks us to do. Running away is one of the things God’s word wants us to do and we cannot be speaking God’s word and be doing what God’s word asks us to do. Jesus overcame by saying “it is written”.

-          Praying and studying the word of God (Matt 26:41, 1Jn 2:12-14). We must pray and study God’s word before, during and after the temptation.

When we talk about God’s grace people often misunderstand it to think that God is permitting us to sin which is very wrong since we are dead to sin. There is grace for victory over sin and that is our focus. We can overcome sin, but not by our power. by the cross we have victory over our lusts.