Dethroning Sin from Your Life

Psalm 51:9

Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

Removing sin from your life is not as difficult as some make it out to be. David allowed sin to mess up his life, but he did not allow sin to ruin the rest of his life. He quickly dealt with his sin, and though he had to deal with the consequences of his sin, he made sure that sin no longer reigned in his life.

Romans 6:12 commands the believer, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. You may choose to sin, but you can also choose to do right. Sin only controls your life because you choose to let sin sit on the throne of your heart. You can clean sin from your life by removing sin from the throne of your heart. Psalm 51 shows four steps needed to clean up your life and dethrone sin from your life.

First, you dethrone sin by cleaning your heart. How does a person clean their heart? You clean your heart through two actions. You must first confess your sin to God. 1 John 1:9 says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God cleanses your heart from sin when you confess what you have done to Him. He cleanses sin from your life by using His Word as the purifying agent to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Psalm 119:9 shows God’s Word cleanses us when it says, Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. You will never clean your heart from sin if you don't read God’s Word and obey what you have read. The person who desires to dethrone sin must clean their heart by reading much Scripture and obeying all that they read.

Second, you dethrone sin by changing your associations. Wrong associations is what got you into sin in the first place. Galatians 5:7 teaches this when it says, Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? Psalm 51:11 says, Cast me not away from thy presence…. You can't run with the crowd that got you into sin and stay clean from sin. Changing your friends is a critical key to cleaning up your life from sin. You change your wrong associations from the wrong crowd to God by spending much time in prayer, and by also exchanging the wrong crowd for the church crowd.

Third, you dethrone sin by changing your spirit. Your spirit is affected by having a right relationship with God, and by having the right associations. You change your spirit by yielding to the Holy Spirit. Psalm 51:11 continues to say, …and take not thy holy spirit from me. Romans 8:5 says, For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. If you yield yourself to the Holy Spirit instead of to your flesh, you will find that sin will be dethroned from your life.

Fourth, you dethrone sin by going soul winning. Psalm 51:12 says, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation…. The joy of our salvation is found by leading others to Christ. David showed this in verse 13 when he said, Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Soul winning is the most selfless act a believer can do, and it will take your eyes off self, which is the greatest cause that led to sin taking the throne of your life.

These four actions all come down to one thing: choice. You choose to do these things, which means you can choose to dethrone sin from your life by choosing to take these four steps so that sin no longer controls your life.