Sin takes your desires and makes liars out of them

Here is how the enemy does battle. Sin is the enemy, the rebel, the pretender to the throne. And the main way sin does battle against you is to turn you as God’s servant into a traitor. Sin wants to turn your servant-desires into schemers against the throne. Desires which were appointed by God to serve you – like desire for food, desire for drink, desire for sex, desire for rest, desire for friends, desire for approval – are attacked by sin and captured and corrupted and turned into betrayers. Then these desires – when in the service of sin instead of God – lure you to obey them. When that happens you hand over your members – eyes, ears, tongue, hands, feet, sexual organs, vocal cords, etc. – to serve those desires and their master, sin, and your members become weapons of unrighteousness.

How does sin succeed at this? How do the desires that he captures and turns into betrayers turn you into a slave of sin? They lie to you with half-truths. "It will feel good." Obeying this desire does feel good. But only for a short time then later comes the misery and destruction. That's why Hebrews 11:25 refers to "the fleeting pleasures of sin." These half-truths are very deceitful. Ephesians 4:22 says that your "old you" is corrupted by the "desires of deceit." 1 Peter 1:14refers to "the desires of your former ignorance."

Sin takes your desires and makes liars out of them. They promise satisfaction and happiness, and they deliver cheap, fleeting, shallow stimulation that leaves you less content and less peaceful and less hopeful and more guilty, more restless, more discouraged and more enslaved. That's why Romans 6:21 says, "The outcome of those things is death." And that's why 1 Peter 2:11 says, "Abstain from fleshly desires which wage war against your soul." There is a war for your soul going on. Sin is fighting for the throne of your soul; it is using your desires as betrayers; and sin will turn your members into weapons of unrighteousness.

 How Shall You Do Battle Against Sin?

How then shall you fight? Look at Romans 6:11-14 teaches you to do battle with sin.

First, remember that five chapters on God, sin, and justification have gone before chapter 6. Scripture does not teach you how to do battle with sin until you have learned how Christ has done battle with sin first and done what you could not do and what the law could not do. Five chapters to help you see why justification by faith is utterly essential as a foundation for doing battle with sin! You cannot fight sin successfully until you know your sin is forgiven. The only sin that you can triumph over is a sin that Christ has died for. If He had not died to take away your condemnation, you could make no progress at all in sanctification. You don't make yourself holy in order to be justified. You are justified by faith in order to become holy. That is why Romans 1-5 precedes Romans 6. Your triumph over sin in the body follows Christ's triumph over sin on the cross.

Planning and conducting a war – Christ Died for Your Sin

Part #1 In your battle with sin: Stand Firm in your awareness that Christ died for your sin. Christ shed his blood so that God's wrath would be satisfied, appeased, taken away. You were saved from the wrath of God through Him." That is Part #1 in your battle against sin. Don't ever skip it. If you do, Sin will defeat you with a hopeless and guilty conscience.

Part #2 You Died and Rose with Christ

When Christ died and rose again, you died and rose again. Or to be more precise, God viewed you as united with Christ so that his execution for sin, became your execution and his reward with resurrection became your reward.

Galatians 2:20; 5:24; 6:14.) These first two strategies of defeating sin in your life happened before you were even born.

Part #3 – You Have Become United with Christ

God united you with Christ by faith. In 1 Corinthians 1:30, You are in Christ Jesus, God grafted you into Christ. What was your part? Faith in Christ, receiving His death and resurrection as a free gift.

Part #4 – God Justifies you

God justifies you by your faith because you believed in Christ. He forgave all your sins and assigned to you the righteousness of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21

Part #5 – Consider Yourself Dead to Sin

Romans 6:11, "Even so consider yourself to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus."

This is something you do with your reason and your will. You "Consider " something to be so.”Consider yourself" to be dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." as you have been united with Christ in his death and resurrection – "even so" bring your mind and will into alignment with this. Think this way. Know yourself this way. Count this to be the truth about yourself. You died and you rose with Christ.