David Diga Hernandez - 4 Ways the Holy Spirit Helps You Overcome Sin

I want to talk to you about walking in holiness and how the Holy Spirit can help you overcome sinful habits. If you have a desire to live holy but have been struggling to overcome the flesh, this message is for you. We’re going to go into the Scriptures, and I’m going to show you how the Holy Spirit helps you to walk in holiness. This is really going to bless you.

Number one: He stays with you even when you fall. In John chapter 14, verse 16, the Bible says, «And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate who will never leave you.» Remember this: the Holy Spirit is not a reward for holiness; He is the source of holiness. I’m going to say that again. Let that get into your spirit: the Holy Spirit is not a reward for holiness; He is the source of holiness. Some believers are under the impression that if they mess up enough times, the Holy Spirit is going to get frustrated with them, that He is going to remove Himself, that He is going to take away His influence, that He is going to abandon them to their own desires.

Now, the argument can be made that if someone persists enough in sin, they can become reprobate. We understand this, but I’m talking to those who want to live holy. The Holy Spirit would not abandon you. It makes no sense for God to remove from you your only source of holiness as a punishment for not living holy. That just doesn’t make sense. You can make mistakes, and the Holy Spirit will abide; that doesn’t mean that He approves of the sin, but it means that He faithfully remains to help you overcome that sin. Otherwise, you couldn’t overcome that sin. The Holy Spirit helps you to be holy. That’s why I call Him the Holiness Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the key to righteous living.

So, number one, He stays with you even when you fall; He doesn’t abandon you. The Holy Spirit is more patient than we are sinful. The Holy Spirit is more faithful than we are stubborn. He’s more loving than we are flawed. He’s not going to abandon you. So that’s the first way that He helps us to overcome sinful habits and ungodly living: He remains. Think about the faithfulness of the Holy Spirit. You may feel sometimes, after you’ve messed up, that the Holy Spirit has abandoned you, but I’m here to remind you that Jesus said the Holy Spirit will never leave you. I’m here to remind you that you have a faithful friend in the Holy Spirit of God who will abide and give you the power to live holy. He’s not going to abandon you. He’s not going to leave you. He’s not going to abandon you to your habits and your ways. He loves you too much to leave you, and He’s going to abide and help you fight the flesh. The Holy Spirit will remain with you.

So many believers live in condemnation, worry, and fear: Has the Holy Spirit left me? Did I finally go too far? Did I make one too many mistakes? Now is that it? Is He done with me? No. The Scripture declares that His mercies are new every morning. Every day that you wake up, the Holy Spirit is prepared to give you a fresh start, and He abides right there with you—your faithful friend, fighting and contending for you because He loves you.

Number two: He gives you a love for the Word. Jeremiah chapter 20, verse 9 tells us, «But if I say, 'I’ll never mention the Lord or speak in His name, ' His word burns in my heart like a fire; it’s like a fire in my bones. I am worn out trying to hold it in; I can’t do it.» One of the symbols for the Holy Spirit in Scripture is fire. It was the fire of the Holy Spirit in Jeremiah that gave him a love and a passion for the Word of God, and the Word of God keeps you from sin. In Psalm chapter 119, verse 11, the Scripture declares, «I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.»

As you read the Word, as you receive the Word in your spirit, you are strengthened in the battle against sin. The Word of God shows you the will of God so that you might not violate it, but the Word of God also gives you the spiritual strength that is necessary for overcoming the flesh. When the enemy tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he said, «If you are the Son of God, make these stones bread.» Jesus told him that He doesn’t live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. It’s the Word of God that helps you to overcome the cravings of the flesh. It’s the Word of God that gives you the spiritual strength to resist the temptations that the enemy throws in front of you.

If you have a word deficiency, then you will have a weakness toward sin. Temptation becomes weaker in your life the stronger you become in the Word. So, if you’re not in the Word daily, if it’s not a habit of yours to get into the Scripture and let the Scripture get into you, then what’s going to end up happening is you’re going to become weak; you’re going to become unresponsive to the work of the Holy Spirit within you. But the Holy Spirit gives you that desire for the Word. You couldn’t desire spiritual things on your own; you wouldn’t even desire to do right or to live holy on your own. Those desires come from the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit gives you this…