Dealing With Indwelling Sin

By Alistair Begg

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 3:4-5

If becoming a Christian meant we no longer sinned, Paul would have been wasting ink when he wrote, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.” It is possible to embrace a form of externalism that makes us look really good to people on the outside when really we know that what the Bible says is true: that while we are saved children of God, we are also sinners. How is it, then, that sin continues to wreak havoc? It is because while we are indeed in Christ, who liberates us from the bondage of sin, we are also in our flesh. That’s the problem: we experience “the desires of the flesh that “are against the Spirit … for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (Galatians 5:17). We are justified in Christ; all of the guilt that attaches to our lives is dealt with in Jesus. We have died to sin in Christ so that it no longer has a tyrannical rule in our lives. But although sin no longer reigns, it still remains and rages. It no longer defines us, but it still clings to us. We therefore need to learn not to underestimate the seriousness of sin; instead, we must watch out for its subtleties and insinuations. To fight against sin, we must come to understand its addictive and enslaving power. As the saying goes, “Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny.” Sin, then, must be attacked at the point of entry before it takes root within our hearts. The only way to tackle sin is to recognize that we need to kill it, without compromise, so as to prevent all future damage, seen or unseen. We will only be able to overcome sin when we are motivated to take strong measures against it. Yet we make a serious mistake if we think that we are the ones who can overcome sin’s indwelling power. Since Christ “is your life,” your battle against sin is not faced in your own strength but in God’s mighty power; and since Christ “is your life,” your battle against sin is not a battle for salvation, for He has already secured that for you. So now you need to commit to putting your sin to death, and you need to ask the Holy Spirit to overwhelm you with His wonderful love and fullness so as to create within you the desire to do that which God’s word calls you to do: to seek out, find, and kill off all that “is earthly in you.” As you read this list of earthly things which you are called to “put to death,” which are you being called to fight, in His strength, today?