If you're reading this it's probably because the title made your curious to find out what I'm saying and/or you're ready for a fight against the above statement (or perhaps you are having a bout with insomnia and need something to read or perhaps you actually are a casual reader of this blog). You'll understand the context of what I mean after reading the rest of this blog (because if I let you know now, you'd probably not finish reading).
It seems now, in the Christian's battle against their sin and struggles, that the goal is to get knowledge of their sin and/or why they have such a battle against it. Somehow, if one can just obtain the knowledge, that will give them victory against their particular issue. However, they find that after obtaining the knowledge needed it isn't helping and so they must need more (so they buy self-help books, Christian literature on the subject, etc., all to get this knowledge).
In the wrestle against your flesh and those sins you are ensnared in, knowledge is useless....unless you are doing that which you know. We can all know to love our enemy, but knowing is not enough, we must do it! Throughout Scripture we find that Jesus has already set us free from the captivity of sin - when we sin now, we choose to do so. You don't have to continue to give into that thing your flesh keeps having you give into. You simply need to walk in the victory that has already been provided. Does that mean you won't be tempted or have to wrestle against the flesh? No, but you don't have to give into the flesh, as much as it may deceive you to thinking you have to.
Is Facebook causing you to stumble? Get rid of it (yes you can live without it, you did before). Does the internet make you fall? Buy a program or better yet, get rid of that smart phone, laptop or whatever that is causing the sin. Jesus called us to radical action in dealing with sin but again, knowing won't help - you must do! You can understand all you want about sin, why your body chemically makes you want to do whatever it is you do, why your psychological makeup and family history aids in your shortfallings, blah blah blah, but at the end of it all, it is still a choice you make to sin - the other things are just excuses or justifications for you giving into that sin.
You want to free yourself from that sin that ensnares you? Don't just gain knowledge - do that which you know to do, no matter how radical or sacrificial to your flesh it may be. Only then will you gain victory. Jesus made it simple - "Walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). Why we complicate things is simply so we can conquer in our own flesh, which as you have already realized, does not work. Walk in the victory already given to you. Walk in the power already supplied for you. Walk, do...don't just know. If all you do is simply know, then your knowledge is useless.
Compare and study on your own these passages: Galatians 5:16-26, Galatians 6:7-9, Romans 6:1-23, Romans 7:1-6, Romans 8:1-11, Ephesians 2:1-10, Colossians 2:11-23, James 1:21-25
