Deliverance and Overcoming

For years I got this wrong and I think that most evangelicals get it wrong. We want deliverance from the world and we are told to overcome sin. However, that is backwards. We are told to overcome the world but to seek deliverance from sin. We are powerless to conquer sin alone, we need to bring our sins to the cross. John tells us that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Again, notice the little word "just". It would be unjust to pay the penalty for sin again since it has been paid for on the cross. Let us stop trying to overcome sin in our strength and bring our sins to the cross.
But how do we overcome the world? I believe it is the same way that we are to overcome Satan. Revelation tells us that he was overcome by the blood of the lamb, the word of our testimony and not to love our lives so much that we would shrink from death. The problem we have is that we love our lives and the lives we live in the world.