Why can't I stop sinning? Please help!

To rejoice in the God of his salvation might seem to the believer to be the very climax of divine blessing. If he is now so full of joy, what more can he contain or require? But the young believer soon finds his joy in God interrupted. He experiences something within him that does not respond to the abounding grace of God. He fails to appreciate the possessions of faith. He looks back to the country from which he came out, to the present age from which he was redeemed. He finds evil thoughts and desires arising, increasing in intensity, and multiplying till he is sorely distressed and bewildered by the unexpected anomaly. He clings to the belief that Christ suffered and died for his sins, yet he still has a disposition to commit sin, and he discovers that the wrong act is not distasteful to him while doing it. Afterwards he is sorry; he regrets what he has done; he resolves that it shall not occur again, but it does! Why is he so powerless to prevent the recurrence? Is there no remedy for the proneness of a believer to sin against God? This Epistle answers such questions.

In Romans 7:15-25 Paul describes the wretchedness of one struggling against sin which he hates, finding in himself no power to overcome it. Every born-again person, before he learns the secret of victory gained through the power of Christ by His Spirit, goes through these distressing experiences of giving way to sin. Inwardly he hates and struggles against sin, only to learn by sad experience that he is powerless to overcome it in spite of all his resolutions not to fall into it again. Paul's description of these struggles leads us to find God's way of deliverance and victory in Christ:

The fact that sin dwells in the believer is again a lesson which has to be learned. That sin dwells in the child of God is true to the end of his history on earth; but when this fact becomes a realization, and the way of freedom is not also known, there can be nothing but misery of spirit. But how are we to overcome the power of sin which dwells within? We have no power native to ourselves. A believer is still a slave to his flesh, until he knows his standing and his liberty in Christ risen from the dead. Self in its sinfulness, wilfulness, or fancied goodness, is that which the natural heart idolizes. To the quickened soul, to the possessor of life in Christ Jesus, and the holy desires of that life, self is the greatest trial possible. Hence to feel what "sin in me" is, and yet not to have the divinely-given apprehension of power in Christ outside self, is intense spiritual suffering.

So they (and we) are told, "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (v.16). This is turning thoroughly from self-interest, self-exaltation, self-sufficiency and all that is of self, to fix the eye upon Christ, the Object with whom the Spirit of God would engage each of us. This does not involve fleshly determination, but a genuine turning from ourselves, to place all value on what God is and what God has done. The Spirit of God dwells in every believer (Rom.8:9). Therefore we are simply required to submit to His leading and power, and the flesh will have no occasion to work. It is really a most simple truth, but one of great difficulty for Christians to lay hold of because of our natural pride that delights in taking credit for well-doing, instead of giving all credit to God. Indeed, even when there is a recognition that the Spirit of God only can produce fruit for God, there is too often the conception that this is mixed with some inherent good in ourselves, The resulting conflict is seen in Romans 7 - "I" against "I", the flesh determined to put itself down, while actually this means opposition to the Holy Spirit's work.

The flesh and the Spirit are contrary one to the other: there is no point of agreement. The work of the one leaves no room for the work of the other. God will not give His glory to another, and the flesh will not abandon its dishonest selfishness. If God is to be allowed to work, the energy of the flesh must cease. In fact, it is only God's own voice that can quiet the soul so that His work might be seen and rejoiced in, but when the flesh is active, we will have no spirit of thankfulness, no recognition of God's true glory. The last clause of verse 7 shows that the flesh is too strong for us: "you do not do the things that you wish." There is no suggestion that it is impossible to do what is pleasing to God, but the activity of the flesh tends toward not doing what we want to do. It is only God, by His Holy Spirit, who can gain the victory in this battle. My struggling does not help at all, for this would be only the flesh trying to subdue the flesh. The Spirit of God within me accomplishes what I cannot do because He draws my heart to the Lord Jesus to depend totally on Him and have no confidence in the flesh.

However, reasoning from verse 16, there is the conclusion of verse 17. It is not I, as to will and intention, who do the evil, “but sin that dwelleth in me.” Involuntarily, despite my precautions and determination, the evil principle of my nature, like a fretting leprosy, breaks out again and again. Thus sin is at least distinguished as the terrible and powerful enemy of the soul. And this is good, for it were ruinous to fail to recognize an enemy or to underestimate his power. When it is plainly seen what is the true character of our souls' enemies, it may stagger us to compare with it the poverty of our own forces, but it would drive us to seek other refuge — in Him who only is stronger than all enemies.

Are we not warned by this solemn scene that if we allow unjudged lust or covetousness in our hearts, we shall be ready to fall into temptation when it crosses our path. Further, one sin leads to another. We cannot stop just according to our own will in the path of sin. As one has said, "A man cannot stop his boat at will in the strong currents just above Niagara, though he might have avoided them altogether."

S-I-N, what a power it is, and how subtle! It appears small, a little thing, and so attractive at the start that men take it to their bosoms; youths and maidens embrace it and hug it to their hearts. Then it grows in strength, imperceptibly at first, perhaps — yet it grows and grows until at last with a vice-like grip it holds its victims and strangles their souls. It is soft as a zephyr breeze at the beginning — it is a devastating tempest at the close. It is like a smiling child at the start, — it is a strong-sinewed giant at the end, binding its dupes with thongs of steel, and casting them down to everlasting destruction.

From the middle (ver. 11) of the fifth chapter of Romans, where we read of the believer rejoicing, joying, boasting, exulting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle takes up the subject of the sin within the believer. We may commit sins. If we do so it is because something exists within us from which these sins proceed. From our natural birth we possess an irrepressible disposition to sin. This evil tendency is inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve. It was “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin” (ver. 12). With the single word “sin,” God points His finger to the seat of the trouble in the believer. Sin is in the heart. From that root, all varieties of evil fruit spring. The fountain is poisoned at its source. This is true, not of one person only, but of all men alike. All share in the possession of sin and in its consequence and penalty, death. And although a believer's sinful acts are forgiven and he himself justified, there remains within him the inherited disposition to sin.

We have in ourselves two different powers, the old nature (the flesh) and the Spirit and these two are opposed to each other, "The flesh lusts against the Spirit; and the Spirit against the flesh." The flesh will never like the guidance of the Spirit, a very important thing to realize. For besides new life we still have the flesh, the old and evil nature (the old man, our standing before conversion, has been taken away, but the sinful flesh remains), the power and the guidance of the new life being the Holy Spirit. Flesh and Spirit are opposed to each other. Whenever we wish to be guided by the Spirit to fulfil the will of the Lord, there is the flesh which says 'No'. Whenever we are feeble and weak and tend to follow our flesh there is the Sprit Who says, 'Do not do that. Follow the Lord'. So whatever we do, whether we are liable to sin, or whether we try to live in the new life as guided by the Spirit, there is always a power in us opposite to it, there is always this internal controversy, "that ye should not do those things which ye desire".

Now we find there are two dwelling within us who are utterly opposed to each other. The flesh is passionately opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit is passionately opposed to the flesh; so I find that within me there is a war going on, more bitter, more determined, and lasting longer than any war on earth. The flesh is always wanting to have its own way, and do its own will; the Holy Spirit who dwells in me is always opposed to my flesh. If I listen to the flesh, and yield my members to it, then the flesh quickly makes itself manifest in me; but if I walk by the Spirit, and let the Spirit lead me, then I will not at all listen to the passionate cravings of the flesh.

There are those who tell us that the flesh in them is dead, or is "burned out," and will never act again. No, dear reader, the flesh is very much alive, as we will soon see, if we do not heed the Holy Spirit within us. There was a man who insisted that his flesh was dead, and he had no more passionate desires. Someone threw a cup of water in his face, and immediately he lost his temper, and became very angry. His flesh was not dead, but was only waiting for an opportunity to manifest itself. Though the flesh is not dead, and will be with us as long as we are down on this earth, yet we may thank God that He has provided a way in which it may be kept in the place of death. So in Romans 6 we read, "Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with (Him), that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin. For he that has died is justified from sin… So also ye, reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to obey its lusts. Neither yield your members instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but yield yourselves to God." Rom. 6:6-13, J.N.D. Trans. But the only way I can put this into practical effect in my life, is by walking by the Spirit, letting the Spirit lead me, yielding myself and my members to God, to lead me, and use me as He pleases. So I live to God, not to the flesh.