How can I achieve victory in Jesus?

This is the point reached in Romans 7:24: “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?” It is not, “Who shall help me to deliver myself?” or, “Who shall help me to make myself better?” but, “Who shall deliver me from myself altogether?” And the answer is found in God Himself. “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Deliverance does not come through his battling for the victory, but by finding that he is in Christ, through whom before God he now lives; that he has died to sin, and is no longer in the flesh before Him. He now stands before God in the life of Another—Christ—and is victorious in the power of Him whose grace has placed him there.

A believer no longer needs to serve sin — sin no longer has dominion over him (Rom. 6:1, 2, 14). He has ‘died with Christ’ and, therefore, sin no longer has any claims over him (Rom. 6:1-11). This is true of every believer – it is our ‘position’. In principle, therefore, a believer never needs to sin. He can just live his life for God. But this is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit. If we try to please God in our own strength we will fail. This is the painful process as described in Romans 7 (where a person, who is already born again, tries to please the Lord in his own strength but keeps failing). Once he realises that sin still dwells in him (7:17) and that he cannot please God in his own strength but needs help from outside (7:24) that person finds full deliverance in through the power of the Holy Spirit: ‘For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death’ (Rom. 8:2). Then he can walk in the Spirit and, in this way, overcome the flesh (Q.29).

Power does not lie in new birth or in any other work wrought in us, but in the Holy Spirit of God. He is the power of the new nature, and if we occupy ourselves with the objects which He sets before us in the acceptance of the new place given us in a risen Christ, reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Him, and go on in constant dependence on God, realizing our own weakness, the victory over sin will most surely be ours.

The power to put down the old nature and keep it in the place of death is found through the Holy Spirit, "if, by the Spirit, ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Rom. 8:13 New Trans.). We find that we are helpless in ourselves to put down the evil nature within us for it is stronger than the new man. But, by the help of the indwelling Spirit of God, who strengthens us with might (Eph. 3:16), we are able to put to death the evil deeds of the flesh and keep it under control. This is the secret of victory over the old and sinful nature - victory by the power of the Spirit.

We are exhorted to "Walk in the Spirit [heed the voice of the Spirit and do through His power what He tells us to do], and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16). The Holy Spirit in the believer is like a strong man living in a house where there is a bad roomer that must be kept under control. This bad roomer is stronger than the owner of the house and overcomes him, but the strong man helps the owner keep the bad roomer locked up and under control. The bad roomer we may liken to our evil nature. If we let the Holy Spirit have control of our lives, He will keep the old nature down and give us victory so that we do not walk after the flesh hut after the desires of the new nature.

As born-again believers we have a new nature (Q.12). This new nature has the right desires but lacks the power to act accordingly, or to overcome[5] the inclinations or promptings of the flesh (or sin) that still dwells in us (Rom. 7:15, 17). This is where the Holy Spirit comes in as the power that enables us to live in a way that pleases God (Rom. 8:4, 13). This does not mean that we overcome sin once for all (we cannot) but that the only way to avoid giving in to the demands of the flesh is to walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5 gives us the divine problem statement ‘For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh’ (verse 17) as well as the divine answer: ‘Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall no way fulfil flesh’s lust’ (verse 16).

"If we live in the Spirit, let us therefore walk in the Spirit." "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16, 25). The power of the Holy Spirit in us detects by the word and hinders, through Christ's grace, the flesh from acting, even though still there. "Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under law, but under grace." Were we under law, sin would be provoked into action. It is there, but grace gives us the victory through the death and resurrection of Christ. The last clause in Gal. 5:17 as to this is ill rendered in our A.V., "So that ye cannot." This accredits the flesh and strips the Spirit of His power, representing it as an impossibility to overcome the flesh and walk in the power of the Spirit. But this is erroneous. The correct thought is given us in the R.V., "That ye may not." Doubtless the flesh strives to hinder; but as we lie in the Spirit, let us therefore walk in the Spirit (even though the flesh would ever so hinder), and we shall not fulfil fleshly lusts. We are called to "mortify the deeds of the body," as having already died with Christ. The Holy Spirit in us is of power and of love and of a sound mind.

We have hindrances, — He had none. He was a perfect vessel, and could thus say, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." We have the flesh still within us, and the flesh ever lusteth against the Spirit, and seeks to hinder His blessed power in the soul. We thus read in one of the Scriptures cited, "Always bearing about in the body the dying [or rather, the putting to death] of Jesus;" and in Romans 8, "If we through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body," etc. That is, there needs to be the constant application of death to all that we are, if there is to be the unhindered expression, in any measure, of Christ; and the power for this lies in our possession of the Holy Ghost. For example, suppose, under temptation, I am on the verge of giving way to temper, or of falling into sin of any kind, looking away from myself to Christ, and remembering that I through grace have been associated with Him in His death, I am enabled through the Spirit to refuse the flesh, to reckon myself dead to sin; and in this way Christ retains His sway, and He lives in me, and speaks through me, instead of myself. Hence, too, the exhortation not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God (Eph. 4:30); for if by any allowance of the flesh He is grieved, I not only obscure the expression of Christ through me, but I also lose the power, by grieving the Spirit into silence, to mortify the deeds of the body.

It is the opposite of this; it is the great power of and for a holy life. The apostle so uses it when the saints at Corinth were in danger of falling into dreadful sin. "What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God?" This leaves us without excuse. We have no need ever to be overcome of sin, for we have the command of infinite power, the Holy Ghost evermore dwelling in us. "Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh." Oh child of God, your vows, and promises, and efforts, are all vain. If on this ground, trusting to poor flesh, I know sin will have the victory over you, sooner or later. Now let Christ have the full glory of deliverance. The difference is so great, you will never conquer until you find you cannot fight. Lay hold of these two facts; all your sins, and sin, have been judged on the cross. God sees the value of that blood. And now at all times, and in all places, the Holy Spirit dwells in you. Walk in this consciousness, believe them, as blessed facts; for facts they are, if you are His.

Our blessed Lord, in the temptation in the wilderness, is the perfect example in this as in all else. Satan sought to ply Him with every possible seduction, but He "kept" Himself by the maintenance of entire dependence and perfect obedience, and thus Satan could not touch Him, could not withstand the two-edged sword of the Spirit which He wielded, namely, the Word of God. And may we also not "keep" ourselves? Satan has no enticements for the new nature, and God has graciously given us the power, in the gift of the Holy Ghost, wherewith to mortify "the deeds of the body," our "members which are upon the earth" (See Rom. 8:13; Col. 3:5), to keep the old man under the power of death, as well as to use the sword of the Spirit, so that there can be no necessity to become entangled in his snares. To overcome his solicitations, however, will require incessant vigilance and dependence, as is shown, by our Lord's words to His disciples, "Watch, and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." Matt. 26:41.

57 The word is represented to us as a weapon for us to handle, for it works in two ways: first, the Spirit, in using the word, can act in us by presenting to us the object which fills our hearts with joy and hope; but besides, He can use it when He would convince us of sin. The Spirit will indeed shew us what are the consequences of sin, but He will never tell us that Christ is not sufficient for our soul. The Spirit cannot deny the testimony which He bears to the glory and to the work of Jesus in grace; He can use the holiness of God to produce in us the deepest feeling of sin; but He will never tell us that God is not the God of grace towards us. To the Christian who has peace, and to whom the love of the Father has been revealed, it is perfectly clear, that if he has any other feeling about sin, it is not the Spirit of God which produces it. If we have failed, the Spirit will make us sorrowful, but He will never tell us that the Master of the house is not our Lord; this thought would be the fruit of unbelief. But here the apostle goes a little farther; he supposes faith to be in exercise, and he places the word in the hand. Satan will tell us that we are not able to use the sword of the Spirit. Then this same Spirit, who recalls the passage, silences Satan. Again, look at Christ in His temptation, Christ who never lost His confidence. The Spirit was there in power. Christ had His loins girded, and He had on the breastplate of righteousness; He was calm and knew how to use the very passage which was suitable for the circumstance. Paul supposes a Christian who is standing fast in this power of the Spirit, and who completely stops the mouth of Satan, when he tries in a thousand ways to make him fall. Such a Christian, having all the defensive weapons, is able to handle the sword of the Spirit; and when the Spirit in him is not grieved, He bears witness to the favour of God. The word of God is the most powerful of the weapons of the Christian's strength.