A Pocket Guide to Picking a Fight with Sin, the Flesh, the Devil
There are endless Scripture passages that I could go to in entering into this discourse. One of my favourite passages in talking about the fight against sin and for holiness is Colossians 3.
“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God… Put to death therefore what is earthly in you… and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” (Col. 3,5,10)
Another favourite passage is Ephesians 6:10–13 and forward:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm…”
Throughout the Scriptures, the imagery for fighting sin is martial imagery.
Of course, those who would fight and would fight effectively, must not only hate what is in front of them, but also love what they are fighting for. In order to fight against sin, you must know what is true, good and beautiful that you are fighting for.
For example, a man may be fighting off some sort of sexual sin - pornography usage, lustful thoughts. To fight that sin, you must not just hate the sin, but you also must love something more than the sin. You must love Christ, you must love the Triune God. And in loving God, your loves will be rightly ordered. You will fight the sin with an affection for your own wife. You will fight the sin if you are not married by dwelling upon the beauty of a chaste life and the joy of walking with God, with the hope of potentially getting married in the future.
For that reason I want to lay out a list of tools in the tool-belt of fighting the wiles of Satan.
(1) Confession of sin. There is no greater tool that Satan uses to oppress Christians than the guilt and the shame of unconfessed sin. When that sin has been confessed and forgiven, he loves to remind the Christian of it so that you will be hampered in your war against evil and against the Evil One.
We read in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” James writes in James 5:16: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
(2) Speaking the truth. Satan love the shadows, the spin, the grey spaces of the night. He hates the truth because the truth sets men free (Jn. 8:31-32). That is because Satan hates Christ and Christ is the source of all truth, beauty and goodness.
We read in 1 John 1:6: “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” The Apostle John also pens in John 3:20–21: “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” The Apostle Paul uses martial imagery again in Romans 13:12: “The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
(3) The Church. A man was not supposed to do this all alone. I have already quoted from James 5:16: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” Notice the one anotherness here. Obviously it is helpful to confess your sins to a pastor and to receive counsel from that pastor. But there is also a priestly aspect to the congregation and those within the congregation as we reflect Christ to one another. The healthiest congregations of the church are where sin is exposed in a healthy manner and tended to by individuals and communities in obedience to Jesus Christ, always acknowledging the mercy and grace of His loving sacrifice.
Of course, the ministry of the Word & sacrament is pivotal in the battle with sin. The Lord’s Supper being one of the major places where the Lord Himself nourishes our faith and gives us strength to go out into the battle again. The ministry of the Word is necessary for encouragement, rebuke and exhortation in this ongoing warfare.
(4) Prayer is a major tool for waging war. Paul includes in the full armour in Ephesians 6 the line “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayers and supplications.” When a Christian is too stubborn and proud to get down on his knees and call out to God in prayer, that is a sign that he will lose the fight. God has given prayer as a means by which we fight against the evil one and win in the evil day.
(5) Singing. Singing is a form of prayer. Melody can be a powerful tool for evil, but also for good. Remember that King David calmed Saul down with melody. In Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16, Paul acknowledges that the singing of Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs plays a central role in the life of the congregation. In James 5:13, James calls on men to pray when they are in trouble and to sing when they are cheerful. In Zephaniah 3:17, God sings over the salvation of His people.
But singing is also warfare. In II Chronicles 20, singing plays a central role in the defeat of Jehoshaphat’s enemies. In Acts 16:15-26, the Apostles sing in prison. In Psalm 59:16, King David sings in the face of threats.
This should not fall flat on the ears of the Christian, that song is a tool of war against sin and evil and temptation and the Devil.
(6) Meditation. By meditation, I don’t mean emptying your mind, but filling it with truth beauty and goodness, especially with the holy Scriptures. God commands Joshua in Joshua 1:8: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” This is descriptive of the righteous man in Psalm 1:2: “but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Our Lord Jesus Christ is the righteous man, and demonstrates through the gospels His deep knowledge of the Scriptures in teaching the people and refuting the errors of the teachers of that day. We must meditate on the Scriptures in union with Him.
(7) Holy laughter. This is not often included the list of tools, nevertheless the Bible is full of references to joy. In Nehemiah 8:10, Nehemiah tells the people “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Our Lord demonstrates His joy by rejoicing over His people with song (Zeph. 3:17), but also laughing at the vain conspiracies of the nations against Him and His Word (Psalm 2). Throughout the Scriptures we see the mockery of evil from Elijah, Ezekiel, the Apostle Paul, and our Lord Himself.
Now, of course we must distinguish here between the mockery of what is evil and the mockery of what is good. Too many young men have taken good advice on mockery, and turned it on what is good in our age, reflecting the foolishness of the young friends of Solomon’s son Jeroboam, rather than imitating the humor and mockery of our Lord and His prophets.
If there is one principle target of our mockery, that is the Devil himself, as Luther so aptly displayed in his example.
To laugh as you face trouble and battle with the Evil One and his minions is quite fitting in response to the command of James in James 1:2–4: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Joy and laughter will blow away the clouds of moroseness and sorrow that afflict the embattled man.
With that I’ll leave you for today and invite you to add anything you think I missed in the comments. Of course, the focus of this article was on the major Biblical tools, but there are many supplementary tools for this battle, like exercise, diet, sleep etc. Don’t forget about those. But what I have laid out above is of the highest value.
Pastor Nathan Zekveld
Note - This article has been cross-posted today on both Kuyperian Commentary and Nathan Zekveld’s Substack.
Photo by Sasun Bughdaryan on Unsplash
Very good brother.