Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—Romans 5:12

You know what the biggest problem with sin is? It’s the mistaken belief that we can keep it under control. It is the idea that if we just practice the right formula, put in the right amount of discipline, or keep ourselves away from the wrong influences we can keep sin at bay. We are rarely foolish enough to believe that we can conquer sin entirely, but we think that at least we can make our sin manageable.

The problem with that thinking is it assumes that sin comes from the outside in. If we make that assumption then it is a natural conclusion that we can control sin by controlling our environment. But the sad truth is, sin comes from the inside out, not the other way around.

Everyone knows that tigers are, by their very nature, dangerous. They were created with ferociousness that is unparalleled, powerful bodies that no man can overpower, humongous paws packed with flesh-ripping talons, and bone-crushing jaws crammed full of piercing spikes they use for teeth.

Even so, for several decades there was an act in Las Vegas in which two men did incredible things with tigers. To hear them tell the story, they had tamed these wild beasts aand bent them to their will–and they made good money doing it. They forgot one thing, though: tigers have a nature and everything they were making these animals do was against that nature. Sure, they looked and acted tame, but a tiger’s nature is always to be wild. And so, in one act on one fateful day, one of the tigers had his way with one of the performers.

Just as those performers were foolish in thinking they could tame the wild nature of the tiger, we are foolish if we think we can tame the nature of the sin inside us. We cannot keep it “under control.” Instead, sin must be destroyed. The very nature that causes us to sin must be put to death. It must be eradicated and replaced with something pure, righteous, and holy.

And that is something only the Holy Spirit can do. This is why Jesus died on the cross. To believe that Jesus died so we could “go to heaven” sells Him and His sacrifice short. He didn’t die to save us from the penalty of sin. He died to save us from sin itself. He had to die so the Holy Spirit could come live in us, give us true life and begin the work of regenerating, changing and reforming our spirits until we think, love, feel, and act like Jesus.

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.—Romans 6:22-23