The Gospel: Sanctification — Peter Simms

The Meaning and Scope of Sanctification

Well, tonight we're going to talk about sanctification. That's another one of those major truths that we find in our Bible, and we definitely won't be able to deal with it fully tonight. There are probably five words used to describe that term, sanctify.

And you get your concordance and you look them up. It's a good study. But we're going to look at it from the term of being sanctified tonight. We're going to read some passages now, and the first one is found in Jeremiah chapter 1.

Jeremiah chapter 1. Well, we'll read in at verse 4. Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, that's Jeremiah speaking now, before, and Now that's what we're going to call pre-conversion sanctification.

Positional Sanctification in Christ

And now let's look at another one, and it's found in 1 Corinthians 1 and 2. We're going to call this one positional sanctification. First two verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, through the will of God, and Sothanim, our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints with all, and in every place, call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.

Now that's positional sanctification. We're going to look at another verse in connection with this in Romans chapter 6. Now Romans chapter 6 is a very important chapter for all of you to read, especially those of you who like to study your Bible and to know these doctrines more fully.

And there's no better way to establish your mind on these things but to take your Bible and personally study them out for yourself. Probably everything I'll say, you'll forget it. But if you study it out for yourself, it's going to remain in your mind.

Verse 8, Romans 6 verse 8,. Now if we are dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him.

For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. Let's change the word through to the preposition in.

To be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Practical Sanctification and the Believer's Three Enemies

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Now we're going to read three passages that have to do with practical sanctification. And let's read our first one in 1 John.

The first epistle to John. Chapter 2, and we'll read from verse 14. I have written unto you fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you young men, because you're strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father's not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

And the world passes away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Galatians chapter 5, and verse 16. This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, idolatry, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like, of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

And one other one found in James chapter 4, James chapter 4 and verse 7. Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. So there we've had the threefold enemy of the child of God, the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Progressive and Perfect Sanctification

Now Romans chapter 12 and 1, here we have progressive sanctification. Romans chapter 12 and reading from verse 1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And the last one, Ephesians chapter 5.

We call this one prospective or perfect sanctification. And we'll read in at verse 24. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.

Now this is the verse. That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Sanctification Means Being Set Apart

Now the Lord will bless his word. We always have to start with the meaning of the word. And the word sanctify or sanctification means to set apart. That's what it means. And it does not carry the meaning that in so many religious circles where they tell us it means to be holy.

The word holy has the impression in the minds of many that there's no sin, holy. But the word sanctify does not necessarily carry that word, that idea in the term. Sanctify means simply to set apart. In the Old Testament, you might have had gold and every day the gold was used in the market to buy and sell.

It was weighed out with the weight of the gold of that day. But when that same gold was taken up to the temple and used for the sacred use of the temple, it was set apart, yes. It's sanctified. But the character of the gold never changed.

Still gold. The same gold that was used in the market is the same gold that Moses took and used in the tabernacle and so on. But it was used for a common use here in the market, but it's used for a sacred use in the tabernacle.

So in that sense, there's no holiness in that there piece of gold. All that's happened is it's changed use. It's been set apart from a common use to a sacred use. Now, when God sanctified you, he set you apart from all that you were an atom and he put you in Christ.

He set you apart for himself. We're going to look at that more fully in a minute. So you have that in your mind. Do not be swallowed up or swayed by the charismatic movement and some of these very hyper-religious people who say they are holy.

I had a pastor tell me, and they believed in the sinless perfection. He told me he never sinned. I said, are you sure? He said, I never sinned. Now, that's a pastor teaching a congregation. So if the pastor teaches the congregation that, then you know what the congregation believes and it's not really their fault.

That's why it's very important when we stand up here and we teach the word of God and preach the gospel, we do it according to the word of God. Because our pupils, our subjects, cannot rise above what their teacher teaches them.

Same as the elders in the meeting. You can't expect the sheep to rise above the shepherd. And if the shepherd feeds bad food, the sheep are going to get sick. You see? And so it's very important we know these terms.

And sanctify means to set apart. Though there can be, when you come to practical sanctification, the idea of being set apart from sin, but never to the point where it's absolutely holy. We won't reach that point until we get to heaven.

Pre-Conversion Sanctification and Divine Election

Now, we're going to look at pre-conversion sanctification. There's no point the gospel preacher, the teacher, or the elder trying to bypass the difficulties that the younger people have, and even older people have, with this concept.

That God set, sanctified, set Jeremiah apart while he was still in his mother's womb for a purpose. Before he was ever born, God set Jeremiah apart to be a prophet to his people. And in our world, in our country anyway, there are two major theological viewpoints on salvation.

One, they are called Calvinist. The other is called Armenians. Now they're two opposed to each other. They're both Christians. You know, they both believe in salvation. But they believe in different concepts of that salvation.

And you're going to meet it in your Bible, and you're going to meet it when you talk to people, and it's going to come up in your own mind. Because as you read the Bible, this thing's going to come up.

So I'm going to tell you just a simple way in which you can deal with it. The Calvinist says, we're chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world, like Jeremiah. Chosen, says 2 Thessalonians 2 and 13, chosen unto salvation.

We were marked out ahead of time, picked out ahead of time, for that purpose. Well, we can all pray for Brother Ray. Our day is coming. Now, chosen from before the foundation of the world, like Jeremiah.

Then there is the Armenian view. And they say, no, God does not choose. You make a choice by your free will. And so many groups will come. They'll have a series, a tent. I saw them in the tent. Four hundred got saved.

Four hundred were baptized. And the meetings were over, and the Americans come back home and told everybody they had a tremendous campaign in the Caribbean. Four hundred got saved. Four hundred were baptized.

Four hundred Christians in Dominica that were never there before. Yeah, but how did those Americans win those four hundred? Well, they preached their message, and then they had a little card. And they had four steps.

You believe this? Yes. You believe this? Yes. You believe this? Yeah. And you believe this? Yeah. Well, then you're saved. Sign it. So the fellow signs it. Now, let's say he's saved. Four hundred of them.

Baptized all four hundred in three weeks. You see, this is something that we cannot allow to happen in our midst. We can't have that kind of thing happen. We're lying to the people. So that's the way the Arminius does it.

Now, the Calvinist, he'll say, no, you have no part in it whatsoever. You have no part in it whatsoever. God chooses you from before the foundation of the world. And if He chooses you, you'll be saved.

If He don't choose you, sorry for you. Now, what are you going to do in that situation? Well, you know, you're going to have arguments from this side, and you're going to have arguments from this side.

And they're going to come from very intelligent theological guys that know what they're talking about to a degree. So what I do, I tell the folks, you know, you take a piece of paper and make three columns.

Three columns. Put the Calvinist in that column, the Arminian over in this column. Then take all the verses you can find that the Calvinist believes in, and then take all the verses that the Arminian believes in.

And leave the middle one open. Alright? Now, there's lots of verses to support what the Calvinist says. And there's lots of verses to support what the Arminian says. But who's going to reconcile the two?

So I tell them, now you reconcile the two in that middle column. You explain that. And nobody's ever filled the middle column yet. Because that cannot be answered. That secret, I heard a preacher, David Oliver, say, that truth is buried in the heart of God.

And we'll never get it out and fully comprehend it. And I believe that. We just have to leave God, do His work the way God does it, and just leave it alone. Because God said, chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world.

That's in Ephesians 1, I think, in verse 3. 2 Thessalonians 2, in verse 13, we've been chosen, or we've been called, or we've been marked out to our salvation. Chosen onto our salvation. Now, God did that.

We didn't have no part. Then the Bible turns around and says, listen, He that heareth My word, and will by his own free will, believe what the Word of God says. He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life.

And now it's all up to the guy. It's all up to the individual now. And there's lots of verses. You know all those verses. And you'll meet some of these fellas, they'll say it like this. Now, I was told by others in the past that Arthur Pink was a good commentary to buy.

Well, don't listen to him. Here's how he interprets John 3 and 16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

But who is the world? You know what Mr. Pink says? The world is the elect in the world. But not the whole world. So, when you buy a book, well, you go to the elders and say, you know, what about this book?

Well, I bought that book from Pete Smith. And I had a talk to him. And he took it from the shelf and it's gone. You'll never buy it from him anymore. He didn't know. But you should go to your elders and ask them about these things.

Because if you get into it and your mind is swayed, there's so much persuasive preaching on both sides that a young believer can easily be taken astray. Nobody can bring the two together. So, in your mind, you enjoy that God chose you from before the foundation of the world.

But when you go and preach to the sinner, you tell him. The ball is all in his court. It's up to him. The Lord Jesus Himself taught this truth. He taught this truth in Luke 15. There was a sheep. The shepherd had a hundred sheep, counted the sheep.

They're all there except one. And the sheep was lost out in the wilderness. Now that sheep would have died there if the shepherd hadn't gone and got it, put it on his shoulders, and brought it back to the fold.

The sheep never did anything. Then he said there was a woman who lost a coin. And as long as the sheep is lost, it's no good to the shepherd. And as long as the coin is lost, it's no good to the woman in the household.

She went and she found it. And if she hadn't went and found it, it would remain lost. So there's two illustrations of the sovereignty of God. The Armenian, I mean the Calvinist will take a hold of that gladly.

But then you come to the next story and it's about the prodigal son. And the prodigal son went away from the father, went down into the far land, ended up where he was, and he would have died there. But the father never came and found him.

Father never came and found the son that was lost. That son who's lost down there, feeding with the pigs and the pigs die, he had to repent. That's something he had to do. And he had to say, I have sinned, and I'm going back to my father.

Now it's all up to him this time. So the Lord Jesus put that whole thing in Luke chapter 15. You want to try and figure it out? Well, you'll have a problem. Because you won't figure it out. You have to leave that with God.

When you talk to your friend, anybody that's not saved, you present the Gospel to their free will. He that believeth on the Son has everlasting life. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

And so it goes on and on. Alright. So let's move on now. Just don't allow your mind to get swallowed up with either view. The one is for the Christian, the other is for the ungodly. And it's for the Christian to know both, really, intelligently.

Positional Sanctification: From Adam into Christ

Now, we want to look now at the positional sanctification. And we're going to look at that from Romans chapter 6 and 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Now we read there in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 that the Corinthians, what's it say?

Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus. So they're sanctified in Christ Jesus. Now let's go back to Romans chapter 6. And we'll just read verse 10 and 11.

For in that he died, that's the Lord Jesus, for in that he died, he died unto sin once. But in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lust thereof. Now let's use our chart now to show something. Remember this man here, Adam. When he sinned, he lost contact with God.

Sin drove a wedge between him and God. And he was driven from the garden. And when he left the garden, he was a rebel, he became a slave, he became a criminal and dead in sin. He was separated from God.

And that's where the human family, all those born in this man, if any man, the first man Adam, the second man Adam, in Adam all die, in Christ shall all be made alive. So somehow, someway, God's got to separate the sinner in Adam and put him in Christ.

That just means set apart. Set apart from a sinful, rebel, slave, criminal, dead situation to one of life and hope and blessing. A child, a saint and an heir. But he has to make the transfer from Adam into Christ.

The Corinthians were sanctified in Christ Jesus. Now let's listen to these words that the Apostle Paul is saying here in Romans. For in that he died, he died unto sin once. That's the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus died unto sin once.

Never will he ever be associated with sin again. Never. He became under its... I wouldn't be able to say power. But he come underneath the burden of sin. Because God made him to be sin. But that only happened once.

Once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin. So the Lord Jesus has identified Himself or been identified with sin once. Once for all. Never to have this happen again. But you have to understand that because that's where the blessing is going to come for you and me.

So in that he died, he died unto sin once. In that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Never to have that situation retracted. Or gone through again. That's all a once for all happening. In that he died, he died unto sin once.

In that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Now listen to verse 11. Likewise... Now I remember as a young fellow I used to try and wonder about that likewise. And I used to struggle with trying to make myself likewise.

Likewise reckon yourselves also indeed to be dead unto sin. How are you going to do that? Likewise reckon yourself to be dead indeed unto sin. How do you do it? Well it's not something you do. It's just something that you reckon to be true.

I'm going to do a math question. And I reckon that 1 and 1 makes 2. And so 1 and 1 does make 2. So I'm going to use it in my equation to make it mean 2. I'm not going to make that situation to be true.

I don't make 1 and 1 to be 1. I mean 1 and 1 to be 2. I don't make that. That wasn't originated by me. I'm just reckoning that to be true. I'm reckoning to be true. If I put my head under water and hold it there for 10 minutes, I'll drown.

I'm reckoning that. That's true. You put your head under water for 10 minutes and you'll drown. So you better reckon it to be true. So it won't happen. Now listen. The Lord Jesus on that cross died unto sin once.

Now remember when He's dying, He's dying as our representative. Not as our substitute only. He died in our stead. That's true. But He's also dying as our representative. He's representing us before God when He dies.

In that He died, He died unto sin once. In that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise, now listen, likewise also, you reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. Where? In Christ. His death to sin becomes your death to sin.

It's almost too good to believe, isn't it? Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. Alive in Christ. Indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord. This helps you tremendous if you can get a hold of it.

Because if I doubted once, I doubted a million times that I was dead to sin. I had many an argument with God as a young fellow. Trying to make my way back into the fellowship with God. I'm not dead to sin.

I told God that a thousand times. I'm not dead to sin. And yet the verse seems to say you are dead to sin. Yeah. What does dead mean? Well, dead means separated. That's what death, the definition of death is separation.

And God says here that likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. Dead unto it. Or else, separated unto it. But alive unto God in Christ Jesus. What's God asking us to do? Young Christian, don't settle until you understand it.

There's nothing to make you a stronger Christian than you get to understand what God has done for you in the Lord Jesus. Apart from you altogether. Because once you bring yourself into it, then everything's going doubtful.

Everything's starting to wave. Everything's going to start to rock. Because you are you and I am me. And we'll never make this thing work in ourselves. This is positional sanctification where God's going to set you apart for Himself in Christ.

How does He do it? Well, first of all, the Lord Jesus died. He died to sin. Okay? As your representative. He's not dying to sin for Himself. The only reason He's there is for us, somebody else. He's there as our representative before God.

So He's representing you before God in His death. So, He is dying and He's died to sin once. Never again. So that means you have died to sin once. Never again. You're dead to it. He separated you in His death from sin.

Just like He died to sin once, He died to it. It's gone. Never again to be identified with it. So in His dying, as your representative, that truth becomes true to you also before God. And God wants you to appreciate it.

You're dead to sin. Sin cannot have dominion over you or any power over you. Oh, but I used to say... I used to wonder if God was sleeping or what because I was just as rotten as I could be. And yet here's God saying, you're dead to sin.

It didn't seem to make sense. So we're not looking at me in my spiritual life progressively trying to become sanctified. That's not the issue. The issue is me and sin. And God's going to separate me from Adam in Christ to Himself.

So I'm set apart from sin in Christ to God. So just as the Lord Jesus died to sin once, so do we. In that He died and was buried, so are we. In that He rose again from the dead, never to be identified with sin again, never to have sin ever, ever come near Him again, so it's true of you and I.

Suppose I were to say it this way. You're as dead to sin as Jesus Christ. You're as separated from sin as the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you say, Amen? Or would you say, I don't feel it. I don't believe it.

It's too good to be true. Can't be. Because I sin every day. Well, you see, we're not talking about progressive or practical sanctification. We're talking about positional sanctification. And the Lord Jesus...

Now, we can say it this way. Can sin ever again drag our Lord back here and back onto this cross to deal with sin again? Can it ever happen? You know it can never happen. Never. And so when the Lord Jesus died to sin, as my representative, I was identified with Him in His death to sin.

His death to sin becomes my death to sin. His burial becomes my burial. His resurrection becomes my resurrection. His present relationship to sin is right now mine and yours. And just as sin can never, ever bring Him back to this place again, so sin can never, ever, ever drag you back before God and make you become accountable to God for one sin you ever committed as His child and Adam.

Can't do it. Because you're dead to sin. So many times I've asked... I know I struggle with this so long in my own experience in years gone by that I ask the Christians sometimes. I'm not going to ask you.

I'll ask the question, but I don't want you to answer it. Are you dead to sin? Are you? Older Christians tell me. No. I still sin. I've asked older Christians. Are you holy? They don't want to say either way.

They'd like to say yes, but they're afraid. If a sister put her hand up and said, I'm holy, then she'd look around and think all the rest are going to say, oh, look at Mrs. Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy. Look, my friend, God wants you to boldly take your place and appreciate it in Christ and understand you're dead to sin.

Sin will never, ever drag you back before God and have you become accountable to God for your sins. You're dead to your sins. Dead to them. That's positional sanctification. And if you haven't got it yet, you get into Romans chapter 6 and those verses 8 there down through verse 14 and get down on your knees and ask the Lord, there's something in there I want and I haven't got.

Practical Sanctification: The World, Flesh, and Devil

And you'll get it. I've got it. If I can get it, you can get it. To appreciate the fact that you're dead to sins. Now we have also now the practical side of sanctification. We read in 1 John chapter 2, love not the world, separation from the world.

And then we read in Galatians chapter 5, walking in the Spirit so you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And then resist the devil and he'll flee from you. Those are our three major enemies that you, my young friend, will face every day of your life.

Now, this is not positional sanctification now. This is practical sanctification. God wants you to be separated from this world. Now, of course, everybody's going to have a different idea, you know, what this love of the world is.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh and the pride of life and so on. What is of the world? Does that mean I've got to go in a hole?

Or in my home, go down to the basement and shut myself out from the world totally? Love not the world. Well, it means what it says. Don't love it. It didn't say run from it. It didn't say get out of it.

No, it just said don't love it. Now, what all does that entail? Well, I grew up and I was told that there's a whole lot of things was of the world. And as I grew older, I began to think, you know, is all these things necessarily true?

For instance, love not the world. To play a football game, is that loving the world? You know, you get the kids together and you go out and you have a game of football. Sometimes in the assembly we go with the children to the picnic and we have a football game.

Is that sin? Is that loving the world? I don't think so. Then it used to be, you know, you weren't supposed to have a radio. If you had a radio in your home, well, you had the world right in your home.

That was awful. And so, I wondered, is that loving the world? Having a radio in your house. Some used to say your terrible paper, bringing that newspaper, and had those terrible comics in it. And Christians reading those terrible comics.

It was awful. Well, I never read a comic book in my life probably. Never meant nothing to me. But some people felt that. The television came along. It was a terrible thing. Now you not only have the radio in the world, you got the television in the world, in your home.

Because you have a TV, does that mean you love the world? And then to top it all off, that awful computer with its internet. The most deadly piece of machinery Satan has introduced into our culture and world.

So I said to myself, now suppose, suppose I get rid of the newspaper, the radio, the television, and the computer. Suppose I get rid of all that out of my home. Would I be free? Now I know some of you people have lived very good, upright, moral lives.

That's good. But I said to myself, if I get rid of all them, I would still have something that's worse than all them probably put together. What would that be? My own heart. Yeah, the Lord Jesus said, Out of your heart all the bad stuff comes.

So do you. Don't blame it on the devil. Out of the heart proceedeth every rotten thing you can think of. So if I have a radio and it gives bad music, why don't I have to listen to it? I don't have to.

I don't love that stuff. Some of these guys you see thinking they look like they come from some foreign place, with their face all screwed up and they're screaming into a mic and their hair's wild. How can anybody like that?

Huh? Okay, so, that radio or the newspaper or the TV. Some of the bad stuff on the TV, you don't have to watch it. You don't have to watch it. And that Internet. All hell's on that thing. If I had children today, young children, they would not have a computer unless I controlled it totally.

Because you can't have an unconverted mind exposed to what's on the Internet and not expect young people to go for it. Unless they're little angels. No. So what do I say? I say you determine what you love and what you don't love.

You can't go around and legislate to everybody else what loving the world is. You decide for yourself. Do I love this stuff? Do I love that? You make your choice. But if you love it, then the Word of God is saying love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh. I'll tell you, your Internet will satisfy that. And the pride of life. That is, look at my big car. Look at my big home. Look at where I'm going on my holidays.

And look at my cess in a plane out there. And look at man, I obtained all this. That's the pride of life. All that is of the world. Leave it go. Then there's the flesh. Walk in the Spirit and you'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

I tell you that old flesh just goes for everything that's rotten. Flesh. The Apostle Paul said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? The things that I would I do not and the things that I would not that I do.

I find then a law in my members that when I would do good, evil is present with me. Just a horrible chapter there in Romans chapter 7. How are we going to conquer the flesh? Well, we'll not be totally free from them till death.

And the illustration has been given that when the Lord Jesus saved you and you became a new creation in Christ. It's true you died to this fellow. But the flesh, it has been likened on to a corpse tied to the back of the Christian.

A rotten, decaying, stinking corpse tied to the back of the child of God. Wherever he goes, that chunk of flesh, rotten flesh goes. Gets up in the morning, it's there. Goes all day, it's there. Goes to bed at night, it's there.

It's always there. The flesh. How are we going to deal with it? Well, the Word of God says in Galatians 5 and 16, He says, Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Now I can say the verse very simply, very easy, but it's not all that easy.

Because I've been working at it for a long time. And still haven't got it really finished yet. But that's the way. You have the Word of God. And you have the Spirit of God inside. And God gave you a will.

As you read the Word of God, and you agree with the Word of God, and you ask God to help you in that matter, God will help you. You may never become perfect because you'll never be rid of the flesh. And it will always be there to fight you.