God's Power Over Sin

“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20).

I’m certain that it wouldn’t take much for me to convince you that sin is bad. All one needs to do is to examine the current state of the world scene to observe that sin dictates the values, morals and mindset of the day; the examples of which are far too numerous to list. Yet as I’ve meditated on the passage cited above, two things came to mind for me. The first is that although sin causes untold suffering to men, the worst thing about it is that it created the need for the sinless Son of God to be crucified. The need for Christ to go to the cross is the most devastating effect of sin.

But the second thing I see in the passage is that because of the cross, sin does not win. The ultimate outcome of Satan, the one who brought sin to Adam and Eve, is simple. He will be crushed by the “God of Peace.” So on one hand sin is horrible in that it necessitated the Son of God to hang on a cross. But on the other hand, Satan will be crushed by the God of peace.

Now what does that mean for you and me? It means that Satan will never be able to defeat a person who is armed with true grace. Those who have received the grace of God in Christ will ultimately be victorious. The Holy Spirit who led Christ into the wilderness also gave him victory. What he did for Jesus, he will do for us as well.

Here’s my point. God is our very best friend as we battle against sin. No amount of personal discipline, inner resolve or established safeguards (as important as these things might be) can ever secure victory over the inroads of sin in our lives. It is only through the abiding presence of Jesus Christ living in us that we will ever be able to kill sin.

In that light, there is a partnership we must pursue with God. The partnership I have in mind looks like this; God provides the power to overcome sin, we must accept it and make choices in light of it.

That leads me to ask you a very simple question. Can you identify an area in your life where the inroad of sin is manifesting itself? In other words, if God has determined that he will crush Satan, how can you implement his power to deal with the allure of sin in your life right now? My guess is that each of us can readily identify an area of sin that we want to “crush.”

Yes indeed; the God of peace will one day “crush” Satan. He stands ready to assist you in crushing him on your behalf as well. Sin put Christ on the cross, but he didn’t stay there. He lives in you to empower you to do what he will ultimately do to Satan; crush him!