Three Defeated Foes & Why That’s Important – Sin

INTRODUCTION

In the previous blog, we looked at how the Lord Jesus defeated Satan. As a result of Christ’s death and resurrection, the Devil has no room for accusation because Christians do not stand in their own righteousness, but are fully represented by the Lord Jesus Himself. Now, let us consider our next adversary.

THE SECOND ENEMY – SIN

Sin is any word, action, thought, idea, desire, belief, attitude, literally anything you could think of that stands against God’s holy and righteous character. It is a state of bondage in which all people are held to – a controlling force that is so prevalent, pervasive and permanent to all who reside in its domain. And the problem is not a matter of where you go, because you cannot escape from sin’s jurisdiction, the problem is who you are: we are sinners by nature.

Thus, in order for this enemy to be fully and finally defeated, it would seem that we have to die…which is exactly what our God has chosen to do, in a positional sense, in order to save our lives in the long run! 2 Corinthians 5:14 says “that One has died for all, therefore all have died.” When Jesus died on the Cross, what He was doing was fully representing each and every human being [past, present, and future]. This means that, when He died, we died. It’s the truth of substitutionary atonement in that He willingly chose to offer up His own life in our place by dying on the Cross for our sins. Now, not all will live as is described in the next verse, because salvation only comes to those who place their faith in Christ, but eternal life has been made available to all by the death of Christ.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO CONSIDER?

This is important because the payment for sin has been submitted and it no longer has power over those who are saved. Why? How? Because when people place their faith in Christ, they are born again (John 3:5-8) which means that their old sinful and rebellious nature is crucified on the Cross with Him (Romans 6:6-11; Galatians 2:20). Yes, our old nature is still present [for the time being] and can still influence our decisions if we allow it, but an old man that is nailed to a cross literally has no power whatsoever to do anything to you – all he can do is yell, scream, or try to manipulate but we must remember that his hands and feet are literally nailed securely to that tree – he’s not going anywhere except to his eventual death. As such, sin no longer has the child of God under its control like it used to because God has set His people free.

Thus, Sin was defeated.

About the Author

Cameron Neace is the pastor of Watermark Church. Born & raised in Missouri, he & Caitlin and their two cats, Pierogi & Poptart, have called Union home since 2023. In his free time, Cameron enjoys playing board games, writing, reading, & drinking coffee.