The Battle Against Indwelling Sin

The Battle Against Indwelling Sin

God delivers us from the dominion of sin through our union with Christ. Having been shackled in prison to sin all our lives, it feels wonderfully refreshing to come out of the dungeon into the light and to breathe the fresh air of holiness for the first time. The joy that our newly received liberty brings us seems at first so incredibly glorious that we would never conceive of going back into the dungeon of sin. Yet if we’ve walked with Christ more than a few weeks we know that we can and do go back to the dark and dirty dungeon of sin. We have indwelling sin to blame for this.

God has delivered us from the reign of sin, but we still have sinful natures. The remaining sin that dwells in us constantly pushes us back toward the dungeon. Unlike our new nature given to us when we received Christ, our old sinful nature opposes the rule of God at every turn. This explains why living the Christian life is a struggle. Jerry Bridges, in The Pursuit of Holiness (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1978), calls this “the battle for holiness.” In chapter six he comments on three facts about indwelling sin that make it a constant struggle for every Christian.

First, he says that indwelling sin has taken root in the heart, the core of our being. Since our heart is deceitful, it will excuse, rationalize, and justify our actions. It will also blind us to areas of sin in our lives. We tend to see only the sins we do that hurt us and not the sins we do that hurt those around us. But God wants to remove all sin from our lives, therefore, we need to pray daily for God to reveal sins we cannot see.

Second, indwelling sin appeals to our desire, not our reasoning abilities. This means that sin doesn’t typically try to convince us that it is wise and good for us to yield to it. Rather, it promises to somehow make our lives better if we give in to its demands. This never happens. Just ask Adam and Eve how things worked out for them after they followed the appeals of temptation.

Third, indwelling sin tries to deceive our thinking. Since our minds, enlightened by the Holy Spirit through the Scripture, keep sin from gaining control over our lives, Satan counters by trying to deceive us. He may lead us to think we are beyond a certain temptation (“I would never do that”). He may lead us to think we can sin and then claim forgiveness by quoting 1 John 1:9. Or he may lead us to question the truth of God’s word.

We must combat sin, as Bridges notes, by attacking the first inclinations of it. The more we toy with the thoughts of doing wrong, the harder it becomes to resist it. And we must never stop fighting sin. That battle won’t end until we breathe our last or Christ returns.