Romans 7:18
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
In Romans 7, Paul goes through the battle that the flesh faces with right and wrong every day. When you read Paul describing the battle, at times, he almost seems to point out that you can't win the battle. Paul points out the wretchedness of man when he asks, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Paul very clearly makes it seen that man is wretched at his best.
However, there is great hope in this dialogue that Paul gives about the flesh. He says, for to will is present with me. You have a will that determines what you do. In other words, you don't have to do wrong if you choose not to do wrong. You can do right if you choose to do right. You are not helpless in this battle against sin. Just as much as a person makes the choice to do wrong, they also make the choice to do right. The difference between the one who is victorious over sin and the one who allows sin to defeat them is one chooses to do right and the other doesn’t. Let me share a few helps about this choice to do right.
First, stop giving the excuse that you cannot help yourself. This excuse is a crutch that will keep you in the bondage of sin. As long as you give excuses for doing wrong, you will continue in sin. Nobody makes you sin; you choose to sin. You don't inherit sin; you choose to sin. Yes, you inherit the sin nature, but so does everyone else. Just because your parents are drunkards does not give you the excuse to be a drunk. Just because your neighborhood is a bad area of town does not give you the right to do bad. The first step in overcoming sin is to stop giving excuses as to why you do wrong and accept the fact that you do wrong because you choose to do wrong.
Second, the battle to overcome sin won’t be easy, but you can overcome it. God says to will is present with me. In other words, you have it in you to will yourself to do right. To say you can't help yourself is a lie because God says you have within you the will to choose to do right. No, it may not be easy to say “no,” but you have the choice to say “no,” just like you have the choice to say “yes.” If it were easy to overcome sin, nobody would be a sinner.
Third, you must be determined to will yourself to do right. If you are not determined to do right, you will never will yourself to do right. It takes a determination that you are done with doing the sin that is destroying your life and hurting those around you. Nobody has overcome sin without having the determination to say “no” to sin and to the crowd that is trying to pull them into sin. Inside of you is the opportunity to do right if you choose to do right. However, if you are passive about your sin and the choice to do right, sin will continue to defeat you.
Do you want to do right? How badly do you want to do right? Do you hate your sin so much that it disgusts what it is doing to you and what it causes you to do to those around you? My friend, you can do right if you will yourself to do right. The victory over sin is in Christ, but you must choose that victory before Christ gives it to you. Christ will not force you to do right because He gives you soul liberty, but use that liberty that Christ gives to will yourself to do right, and you will find that you will have victory over sin.