The Sin Killing Power of Christ

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”(1 John 1:8 ESV)

A false teacher has stated he has not sinned in over 12 years; in other words, he has achieved the heretical state of “sinless perfection.” In today’s verse, John tells us we are all sinners, and if we say we are not, we are still sinning because we lie. Everyone sins; you can thank Adam for that heart and mind.

To say one does not sin is to deny the Christ. If we were able to achieve the heretical state of sinless perfection, there would have been no need for Christ to sacrifice His life to pay for our sins. It is only through Christ that we can begin killing our sin.

But what about 1 John 3:4-8? “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.” Some would say John is contradicting himself, but he does not. What John is speaking of is willful, unrepentant sinning. Christians will sin, but when we sin, we are convicted by the Holy Spirit of our sin, and we repent.

The apostle Paul also writes of this in Romans 6: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Here, Paul is speaking about the same thing. We cannot go on willingly sinning, yet we cannot stop sinning. So, what shall we do?

What we are to do is listen to Paul in Romans 6:12-14: “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.  For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace.”

We strive not to sin, knowing full well we will sin. We, therefore, wage war against our sin.

The primary weapon in the battle against sin is our Savior. It is by his grace we have been saved and made righteous, and we are able to repent our sins. The second weapon is prayer. When confronted with that which draws us to sin, we must pray. But prayer is not limited to these times. In our battle against sin, we must devote our time to prayer; this is also necessary to remain constant in our communication with God.

When we do sin, which we will, we must crush it through our repentance, removing any pleasure by reinforcing to ourselves its rebellion against God. If we are not remorseful of our sins, there is a spiritual problem. This constant connection with God through prayer empowers us in our struggle against sin. Christ gave us his grace and made us saints. Through Him, we are able to kill our sins.

We will all sin. It is an inexcusable part of our human nature. We can only pray that our conviction by the Spirit helps our repentance. As we grow in sanctification and closer to God, we hopefully are less sinful. Notice I did not say stop sinning. We will continue this way until, as Paul wrote, “we might walk in the newness of life. (6:4) We are united with Christ in both death and life. Knowing and believing in the resurrection of Jesus gives us assurances that we, too, will be resurrected in an eternal body, no longer sinful but glorified and able to fully worship God as He deserves for eternity.

Grace and Peace!