How to Be a Conqueror in the Battle Against Sin

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Nov 27, 2014 4241

by Desmond Ford

It was Paul, the apostle of justification by faith alone, who had so much to say about the Christian warfare. Read his comments in Romans 7:23; 13:12; 2 Corinthians 6:7; 10:4; Ephesians 6:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:8. Best of all are his words: “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom 8:37). Conquerors! That’s good. More than conquerors. That’s better. And not “so shall it be one day,” but we are conquerors right now, this very day.

Mature Christians know success in the war against evil. “Sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace” (Rom 6:14).

What is the modus operandi ? How does “More than conquerors” work?

We are by nature such legalists that even after conversion we regularly slip into legalistic methods of character development. It is as though the crew of a sailing ship tried to get the becalmed vessel moving by pushing against the masts. Or like a drowning man trying to lift himself out of the water by pulling at the hair of his own head.

Paul taught us a better way. ”We, who with unveiled faces all con- template the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18).

Thus, we are changed. We do not change ourselves anymore than we can birth ourselves. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed” (Rom 12:2). We do not transform ourselves. We are transformed.

More than conquerors! Yes, you and me. Not by gritting our teeth. Not by more resolutions. By regularly exposing our hearts and minds to the Chiefest among ten thousand, the One altogether lovely.

He has already crushed the head of the serpent. Instead of being a seven-headed dragon, that serpent has shrivelled to a tiny snake with a death wound.

Christ has judged and cast out the prince of this world, and his victory is for us. It is Christ who puts enmity between us and evil. When the heart is filled with the most precious thing in the universe – Christ’s love – then the alternatives offered by temptation appear in all their tawdry shabbiness.

In the face of even colossal enticements, we victoriously cry, “I don’t want them! I’d rather have Jesus.”

– Des Ford. Rom 8:27–32 (Adapted from “More Than Conquerors”)