There is no friendly sin, nor is there a sin that allows us quarter or has good intentions. Sin has to be defeated otherwise it will come back again and again. It exists for one reason – to see us dead.

Sin, whose author is the devil, wants us in its grips.

Jesus met with the devil and gave him no quarter. "He has nothing in me," said Jesus (John 14:30). There was nothing they could agree on. The devil did not have Jesus' interest in mind. The devil wanted Jesus to turn against God and reap the wages of sin which is death. Jesus knew from the outset it was Him or Satan. This would never be a win-win situation. Jesus would not agree with Satan and gave his life to defeat sin.

Paul said, "For sin shall not have dominion over you...." (Rom 6:14) and in verse 12: "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body."

Does sin come back around? Yes, but each time it must be defeated. It must have a diminished hold on us. It relentlessly wages war and tends to have nine lives. It lives to fight another day. Sin is just one of those things that we will again meet unexpectedly when we turn the corner. Don't show sin any quarter by entertaining it. Jesus overcame any possibility of succumbing to temptation by commanding the devil to get behind him. Don't negotiate a cease fire with sin!

We have to face the enemy the same way Jesus did. We live in this world and hear the words of the devil regularly. We have to stand and face him and say, "NO!" -- and see him as an enemy. We are given the strength to do just that! But we tend to give in just before the battle is completely won. There has to be a clear decision in our minds that sin will not reign in our bodies. Victory is the only option.

The final victory is when we are crucified with Christ "...that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin" (Romans 6: 6). Are we dead to sin? Jesus was -- to the point that He would die before He gave into temptation and sin. So must we.