How to Biblically Guard Against Sin

Jesus said that we are in the world, but not of it (John 17:11-17). Therefore, proper guarding against the world is not isolation (1 Cor. 5:10), but transcendence. Jesus said, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). As we access the overcoming life of Jesus, we access victory Himself. How does this practically play out? How do we guard against sin? There are several key factors. I will mention four. All four are God-centered, not man-centered.

First, embrace Jesus as the Lord of your life. Jesus is Lord, but in order for us to fully benefit from His lordship, we must have a heart to obey His leadership—in everything. It cannot be a cafeteria approach that picks and chooses what we want to obey, but rather a heart to obey Jesus in all matters, believing that He has perfect wisdom for us. Present your all to Him, trusting Him to take it, and take His all to you, trusting Him to give it. Yield your life to Jesus, allowing Him to transform you by His Spirit from the inside out (Rom. 12:1-2). 

Second, trust to obey everything that is clearly written in the Word of God. When the Bible says, “Thou shalt not …” and so forth, then there should be no debate. We must trust to obey. The absolutes that are black and white, and thus are not debated by those who respect the authority of Scripture, must be embraced period, regardless of pressure from culture. While there is a biblical distinction between the greatest commandments and the least commandments, anything that is clearly commanded by God must be gladly and obediently embraced, even if it is a matter of less importance. 

Third, trust to obey the personalized leading of the Spirit of Jesus (Gal. 5:16 and 18). The Holy Spirit knows each one us and knows our developed propensities (James 1:14). Therefore, He will lead each one of us accordingly in applying truth. His leadership will always be within the boundaries of the written truth He ultimately wrote. For example, the Spirit may lead one man to use a flip-phone instead of a smartphone because He knows that “standard” will help protect that man from that which could ensnare him. (Some opt for flip-phones to save money, so this is not a broad brush as to motives.) However, the Spirit may lead another man to use a smartphone with proper caution. 

In this example one application is not higher than the other. Both are on the high ground of carefulness, but one is more strict. This is not the same as the “slippery slope” imagery. The imagery of a slope indicates higher and lower. This, of course, is legitimate if we are dealing with any type of actual sin, which obviously goes outside of the lines of God’s truth, and is therefore lower than God’s high ground. But this imagery is not accurate if we are dealing with applications that may be more strict or less strict, but on the same high ground of truth. It would not be fair for the man who feels led to use a flip-phone to say the man who is led to use a smartphone is on a slippery slope. Used properly, both are led by the Spirit within the boundaries of the absolutes. 

When the Holy Spirit leads you to a particular standard, then you must obey His personalized leadership, even if no one else has the same application. When you do, you are depending on the Spirit. This is different than a one-size-fits-all approach that makes everyone embrace the same standards and leads people to, perhaps unwittingly, depend on the standards instead of the Spirit. The focus and, therefore, faith must be in Jesus, not the desired outcome. That is why the key is not the guardrails, but the Spirit’s leadership, even though the Spirit leads to guardrails. But this will differ at times between individuals. Personalized applications are not universal for all, but show the loving personalized care of the Lord for individual persons. The focus must be on the Lord, not the standards. When this is the case, Spirit-led and, therefore, Spirit-dependent standards will follow.

A garden may have a fence around it to protect it from intruders, but the focus is not the fence; it’s the garden. The Spirit will lead to needed personalized fences/standards, but the focus is not the fences/standards, but on the relationship with the Spirit of Jesus.

Fourth, take Jesus as the way of escape in the face of temptation (1 Cor. 10:13). Jesus lives in us to overcome the flesh and the world. We Iive in Him to overrule the enemy. Whatever realm temptation approaches, we may take the provision we have in Jesus to experience His overcoming and overruling life. This is relational. Focus on Jesus. If you focus on a formula or rituals, you may not want Jesus when temptation is triggered. But if you focus on Jesus, as you look to Jesus He authors faith. 

For a thorough treatment which provides the balance that addresses both beyond-the-Bible rigidity and not-up-to-the-Bible relativity, and argues for a relationship with Jesus through the Word and the Spirit, see The Liberating Life of Jesus: Finding Freedom in Christ between the Two Extremes of Law and License.