I am going to make some statements in this post that are strong and forward and I mean them with all my heart.
If you are going to profess Christ, you must get serious about staying free from sin. The cycle of sinning and repenting must be broken and you must resolve to do it at any cost.
If you are having a problem falling into sin and you are not willing to commit to following radical steps to get free and stay free, you probably need to stop professing – as you are just deceiving yourself.
In this post, I am going to give clear instructions on how to put a stop to falling into sin. If you “do these things” (2Pet 1:10) and continue in them, you are guaranteed by the Word of God that “ye shall never fall” (2Pet 1:10) into sin again.
1. Renounce the Sin-You-Must Teaching:
You must renounce the teaching that sin is compatible in any way, shape, or form with the Christian life. When I say sin, I am not talking about driving 10km over the speed limit, lacking patience with others, or being late for some commitment you’ve made. I am talking about willful sins such as anger, lying, viewing porn, giving into hatred, acting spitefully towards others etc… Things where you are clearly tempted and where God promised to “make a way to escape” (1Cor 10:13), but you refused to take it, and instead give into temptation and do what you clearly know is wrong because the Bible stands against it.
It is essential that you clearly understand Romans chapter 7, where “the evil which I would not, that I do” (Rom 7:19) and being in “captivity to the law of sin” (Rom 7:23) is the old covenant experience – where they were not converted in the sense that we are under the new covenant, but only justified. Also, in Romans chapter 8 where “Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom 8:2) is the Gospel experience – as “the law could not do” this (Rom 8:3).
It needs to be revealed to you that 1 John 1:8 is written to those that John declared the Word of Life so that they “also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1Joh 1:3), as those that don’t have fellowship with the Father and claimed to be sin free without Christ are deceived. It is those that claim to be Christians and “keepeth not his commandments” that are “a liar” and are deceived (1Joh 2:3,4), not those that are “born of God” and “sinneth not” and have the testimony that they “keepth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not” (1Joh 5:18).
You need to see that when Paul held that he was a chief sinner (1Tim 1:15), it was because he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious to the church (1Tim 1:13). After he got saved, he had the testimony to have “always a conscience void of offense toward God” (Act 24:16), and noted “how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved” (1The 2:10) to the church of the Thessalonians.
God needs to show you that when Paul stated that there “is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom 3:10), he is referring to those “that understandeth” not and those that refuse to “seeketh after God” (Rom 3:11). Not to the Christian whom Christ has opened “their understanding, that they might understand” (Luk 24:25) or those that have been rewarded because they do “diligently seek him” (Heb 11:6).
Cast out this unholy doctrine that Christ doesn’t have the power or the will to “save his people from thier sins” (Mat 1:21). Plug your ears and cry “eternal life, eternal life”, when the priests of Baal plead for sin. Have no more to do with this foul, blasphemous teaching that holds we must sin in word, thought, and deed daily.
You will never become more Christ-like if you continue sinning, as “he that committeth sin is of the devil” (1Joh 3:8) and you never can be of the devil and be Christ-like at the same time. You can be no more a sinning saint (holy one) than you can be an honest thief, a chaste fornicator, or a sober drunk!
Renounce this teaching at once and have no more to do with it!
2. Pray For Godly Sorrow & Repentance:
You must get before the Lord and beg for godly sorrow that will work repentance unto salvation (2Cor 7:10). See the sins you have been committing as “exceeding sinful” (Rom 7:13). “Bewail” (2Cor 12:21) what a terrible example your sinning experience has been before your family, other Christians and the world. But you say “I thought salvation was by grace alone through faith alone and that it is not of works least we can boast” (Eph 2:8,9). Yes, that is right, but true faith will not be found where God has not worked godly sorrow and repentance in the heart. For it is “godly sorrow” that “worketh repentance to salvation” (2Cor 7:10). godly sorrow and repentance is the ground where saving faith for salvation is born.
Forsake every sin that you have been making room for in your life. Take radical steps that you “enter not into temptation” (Mat 26:41). If you have had problems with porn, get rid of the Internet. Yes that’s right! Get rid of it!Renounce the fleshly thought – that you want to hold unto that which has been a tool of Satan to have you deny Christ. If you have fallen into sin by looking upon a “woman to lust after her” (Mat 5:28) then stay away from the beach and the mall and avoid immodestly dressed woman at all cost. Run from them, flee, close your eyes, plea the blood! Whatever you must do! Take radical measures!
You may say “Why?… this sounds like bondage!” No! Your sinning is bondage. For by what “a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage” (2Pet 2:19); this is the Bible’s instructions to get you free from bondage. Jesus said if your “right eye offend thee, pluck it out” and if your “right hand offend thee, cut it off” (Mat 5:29,30) and you complain at giving up the Internet, the mall, and the beach. Shame on you! You have yet to find godly sorrow.
It is not easy to break and turn away from a “form of godliness” that has been “denying the power thereof” and your habit of sinning and repenting over and over. You have seared your “conscience with a hot iron” (1Tim 4:2) by all your hypocrisy and all this going back to the barf and excrement of sin (2Pet 2:22) so many times. So make sure your godly sorrow is deep and true and your repentance is firm and solid.
3. Practical Christian Living How-to:
After you have made a clean start you now need to take steps so that you will not fall back into sin.
a) Avoid the places of temptation of the sins that you have been falling into (2Tim 2:22; 1 Tim 6:9-11).
b) Find a spiritual person that has victory over sin and be accountable to them (Heb 10:25).
c) Listen very closely to and obey the voice of the Lord – who will be faithful to warn you when temptation is near (1Cor 11:32).
d) You must start your day with prayer and reading of the Bible (1Tim 4:13; 1Tim 2:8). This is more important than breakfast. Make sure you get to bed early so you can get up early and spend at least 30 minutes in devotions every morning. It is by faith that we have the victory over the world and quench all the darts of the evil one. Reading your Bible (Rom 10:17) and praying in the Spirit (Jud 1:20) will build faith.
e) Get a good devotional book and read a portion each day (2Tim 4:13).
f) Get a small New Testament and take it with you everywhere and take time out at lunch and breaks to read and meditate on some of the Word (1Tim 4:15).
g) Memorize scriptures regularly. Start with 1Cor 10:13; 2The 3:3; 2Pet 1:10; and Jud 1:24. Hide these scriptures and others in your heart, that you will not sin against the Lord (Psa 119:11).
h) Spend your free time with spiritually minded people and follow their Godly example (2Thess 3:9).
If you have been having problems with sin, please print this out and put it on your wall and read it every morning and make sure you follow the instructions.
If you have victory over sinning, please take this short tract and give it to everyone that you know is having a sin problem.
Related Posts:
Pauls Experience in Romans Chapter 7
Grace Offered For Obedience
The Importance of Personal Devotions
Retire Early and Get up Early
Progress From Grace to Sin in 8 Steps
June 14th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
(If you have had problems with porn, get rid of the Internet.) Got this from your article Stop Falling Into Sin. Wouldn’t it be better and more powerful for an individual who is addicted to porn on the internet to decide that it is not worth going to sites like that and just like quitting smoking just stop viewing porn instead of getting rid of the internet? Besides what if he or she wanted to go to Spirtual web sties and learn how to except Jesus. Oh yes there is the Bible sorry, there are online bibles also.
June 14th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Hi Vincent,
I would hold if a person is having problems falling into the sin of porn but they don’t want to give up the Internet yet they keep on falling in sin on the Internet that they don’t have a real holy hatred for sin.
We should be more willing to die than to sin. If this is the case then getting rid of that which is causing you to fall into sin is just a given.
>>>Wouldn’t it be better and more powerful for an individual who is addicted to porn on the internet to decide that it is not worth going to sites like that and just like quitting smoking just stop viewing porn instead of getting rid of the internet?
The Bible teaches us to flee temptation. The Internet is not nessary and if it is causing a person sin they need to get rid of it, plain and simple!
July 15th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Hi,
Me and my boyfriend are both born again believers, he has been a christian for 5 years and i have for just over 6 months. We have had a problem with sexual sin and are continually trying to fight this temptation.
We both have been though a lot in the past few months and stupidly thought this would take hurt away. We have both been on abstinence courses and both really do not want to be doing this sin. We seem to last a while and eventually after a few months we give into our fleshly needs. We are doing a lot of measures to ensure that we do not do it such as not going to each others places, without someone else there and having accountability partners.
Is there however any other suggestions for us as to preventing this happening again as we do not want this happening and are wanting to change to grow in faith and become closer to God.
Thank you,
Jade
July 17th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Hi Jade,
The Bible teaches there is no place for dating for fun. It is a very serious thing to trifle with the affections of another person. So if a couple is just dating around with no intent to get married they should break up the relationship whether they are having problems with sin or not.
AI would hold that the Bible would teach that even in the case where a couple are courting with the intent to get married, if they fall into sin they should break off that relationship for a period of 6 months. During this time the couple should not see each other at all and be spending lots of time in prayer and the Word and receive spiritual counsel. If after the 6 months they feel like they are in a spiritual condition to keep pure they could enter back into the courtship if they are both clear it is the Lords will.
After a couple gets the mind of the Lord that he wants them to get married, I would hold that Bible principles teach a short courtship of 3 months and that the couple would NEVER be alone but always have a spiritual adult with them. Also that the courtship would be hands off and the couple would be kept accountable with a weekly phone call from a spiritual adult of the same gender to make sure they are not declining spiritual or giving into the flesh or any secret sins.
If this is followed the chances of the couple falling into sin will be minimized.
Fornication is not only a sin against God but a sin again your body (1Cor 6:18) and it is a sin that causes someone else to sin also. The word of God instructs us to “flee youthful lusts” (2Ti 2:22). You have not only sinned yourself and against your body, which is the Lords, but you are responsible for causing another person that is trying to live for the Lord, to sin also. His spiritual blood is on your hands.
Godly sorrow brings repentance unto salvation and it works in us carefulness what we don’t fall back into sin, eagerness to be completely clear from the sin we fell into, indignation and a holy hatred against that sin, fear of falling back into that sin, vehement desire to live holy, zeal for purity, and revenge against the devil (2Cor 7:11).
If you are continually falling back into this sin either you are not following good godly principles of courtship or you have not truly had godly sorrow and repentance.
August 6th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
In the 40 of my spiritual journey, I was taught and only experienced sin and repent. I concluded that this way is as good as it gets. At age 49, I heard that I could be sanctified by the Holy Spirit. My life changed forever. I am so glad that God gave us power to become the sons of God through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Thank God for Pentecost. If we do sin, thank God for “I John 1:9, If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
September 15th, 2009 at 9:14 am
ok u say get rid of the internet if addicted to porn but that doesnt get rid of the desire u can just use ur mind and u say to run from women u lust for but u will always see women..u would literally have to lock yourself in a room 4ever.the piont God is making is that the only way to stop the sin expecially in the deepest parts of our mind is by relying on god not your own abilities or strength….u are wrong to right this post because u are trying to do ut under ur own power….only by the power of god can you achieve this cry out to god for his power amen.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:13 am
Hi Bob,
I am supposing you are the author of this article.
I really enjoyed it. Most the time i hear that “FAITH ALONE” (and yes they put it in all caps) is all you need to over come sin. My question is about Part 3 of your article. Where in the Bible did you find these. I am not trying to argue, i want to read them in context so the Bible can expand on what you have said. The “how-to” you have given have close ties with the program of AA. alcoholism i believe is a great tool to understanding the slavery of sin.
This brings me to my next question. I am aware of the “disease concept” of alcoholism. And i am convinced that Alcohol has truley enslaved the Alcoholic. But it isn’t the case for everyone, even those who abuse alcohol for years don’t become alcoholic. So if this sin only enslaves some, is it still a sin for others. Eating can be viewed the same way. I am 175lbs and 5″11, but have eaten Mc Donalds to excess most of my life. I have endulged in glutton just as bad as any problem eater. But for some it appears something is different about them, and they can not stop eating. My father is one of these.
Also, what are your views if someone does fall back into sin. What has happened? Did they never have true faith, or has their faith stopped working cause they didn’t have the actions to back it up. And if someone does slip into sin, after part 1 and part 2, and doing part 3 for a while, and they die; what becomes of their soul?
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:08 am
Hi Mitch,
I added more scripture for items a) through h) in part 3. I feel there are Bible principles for all of these items.
With the AA program I would think they have taken principles not only from Christianity but perhaps from other religions also.
As far as alcoholism being a disease I feel that some people are predisposed to become addicted to alcohol much easier than others.
I don’t think you have to be addicted or enslaved to some thing the Bible speaks against for it to be sin. Gal 5:19-21 lists drunkenness as a “work of the flesh” and that those “do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Pro 23:2, Pro 23:20-21, Pro 28:7 speak about gluttony. The New Testament scriptures speak of that those which lack self-control or temperance are “blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (1Pet 1:9).
Paul also told us in the last days people would be “incontinent” (2Tim 3:3 KJV; 2Tim 3:3 NKJV, 2Tim 3:3 NIV) or lacking in moderation or self-control and that these have “a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2Tim 3:5).
It would be my view of the scriptures if a person falls back into sin they need to come back to Christ with fruits worthy of repentance (Mat 3:8 YLT) and godly sorrow (2Cor 7:10) and confess their sins (1Joh 2:1).
I don’t think the Bible teaches that they were never saved although I think some people that have professed and are falling in and out of sin all the time may never have been truely converted. Of course I reject Eternal Secruity, Once Saved Always Saved, and the Calvinistic P in TULI(P) — Perserverance of the Saints, as unbiblical teachings.
I believe the Bible teaches if you die in unrepented sins you will be lost. While I don’t think the Christian way is as narrow as some try to make it, and I think God has more mercy that some of us can see, if you live and die in willful known sin the New Testament clearly teaches you will be lost forever.
Christian love and prayers,
Bob.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
UPON READING THIS I AM DETERMINED TO CHANGE MY LIFE
November 20th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
I agree, I try to convert people to be a christian, yet I still sin. I wish it was easy but I can’t stop it. I’ll get rid of these things in my life. God take away my sin forever amen.
December 17th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Hi.
I found your Web Site by Google
And I wish you the best you can get,
the peace of God through Jesus Christ.
Welcome to visit my Site.
Allan Svensson, Sweden
[Editor: The links and most of the content have been commented out.]
December 17th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Hi Allan,
You have posted similar canned posts on this site before. Comments are for commenting on the article not posting canned responses that discuss your site.
Here are a couple of your other canned posts.
http://morechristlike.com/failed-end-of-the-world-predictions/#comment-779
http://morechristlike.com/unbiblical-teachings/comment-page-1/#comment-327
Thanks!
Bob.
February 19th, 2010 at 11:40 am
For years I have struggled with an addiction to internet porn. I am praying for the Godly holy hatred of it and to be set free from the chains by which I enslaved myself.
By God’s own grace will I be set free
from the chains by which Satan captured me
By the Blood of the Lamb for sinners slain
will I ever be free to serve God again.
March 25th, 2010 at 1:52 am
Romans 6:14 Sin will not have power over you because you are not under the law but under grace. If sin does still have power over you, clearly you are not under grace (completely) but still operating under the law. Sin passion is arroused by the law (Romans 7:5) The strenght of sin is the law (1 Cor 15:56). Uder grace all we have to do is rest in Him. How? The way I did it was to just thank Him everytime I sinned that I am still righteous before Him because of what Jesus did. Not my obediance but His. After about three days of praying this I felt so free. I started to praise and worship Him because He truely set me free. The accuser will come against you trying to make you feel guilty for sins but don’t listen to him. God nailed the law to the cross and in doing so He disarmed Satan (Col 2:14-15). Don’t give Satan back his power over you by going back under the law. Sin is no longer imputed to us (believers). Sin is not taken into account when there is no law (Romans 5:13), but just by trying to be righteous by the law you are alienating youself from Christ (Galians 5:4) and have fallen from grace. enter into His rest and stop trying to resist the temptation of sin with your own strenght. Satan knows that sooner or later you will fall back into that sin. Resist by simply praising God–Satan hates that. All who rely on observing the law are still under the curse (Galatians 3:10) Why would you continue in the flesh what you started in the spirit (Galatians 3:3). Worship God in spirit and in trueth (John 4:23) by praising Him, that will make you want to know more about Him. The more you know, the more you can’t help but fall in love with such a good God. That is your power to stop sinning. A good man is not even tempted to cheat on his wife. Not because it’s wrong but because he truely loves her and hurting her is just not an option. You won’t earn God’s favor. If you kept the law better than anyone else, Jesus would still be telling you, “there is still one thing you lack.” The law will only make you self-righteous (Phil 3:9) instead you should be seeking His righteousness (Romans 10:3) and not your own. His righteousness is thru faith in Jesus and then you become a slave to righteousness (romans 6:18). The Bible actually calls the teaching of the law “the misistry of death” (2Cor 3:6-11) because the spirit gives life and the letter (law) kills. No matter what anyone tells you remember this: God loves you the same as He loves Jesus (John 17:23) and that is not becasue you are trying so hard to be good. It’s because God is a good God. I hope this helps someone like it helped me a few years ago. God Bless.
March 25th, 2010 at 1:58 am
One more thing…
Please don’t misunderstand, the law is holy, righteous and good (Romans 7:12) which is why it doesn’t work for us–because we are not.
God Bless