Learning the Battlefield

Introduction

-Fear came upon Jacob as he heard the news. His brother Esau had 400 men journeying toward Jacob and his family. The last time Jacob was with Esau he cheated him out of the birthright and the blessing. Esau shouted death threats if he ever saw Jacob again. Now Jacob is on a path to meet his brother again after years apart. He divided up his family, servants, and livestock so that some could escape if everything fell apart.

When Jacob was left alone a man wrestled with him all night. The man was losing, so he touched Jacob’s hip, dislocating it. Jacob fought through the pain and had the man pinned when dawn began to break. The man sought to be released and Jacob demanded a blessing. Little did he know that he was wrestling with God. The Lord changed his name to Israel, for he wrestled with God and prevailed.

Jacob was humbled, saying, “I saw God face to face and my life has been preserved.” Jacob walked with a limp for the rest of his life. When you wrestle with God and don’t give up then you walk differently and for the better. Jacob went on to be reunited with his brother in peace and he was the father of a nation after his own name, Israel, those who wrestle with God.

-Christian, you are the spiritual Israel, descendants of Abraham and children of God. Have you wrestled with God? I’m willing to bet that you have. No, it probably wasn’t one night when you got home from work and a guy popped up in your living room so you grappled and thrashed around, breaking all your furniture, until morning and got a name change.

But you’ve wrestled with trust in hard moments. You’ve wrestled with trying to understand in the midst of trials. You’ve wrestled with doubts during life’s hardest challenges. And you’ve wrestled with assurance because you continually sin.

The devil is a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. He doesn’t always appear monstrous, he often masquerades as an angel of light to deceive people. He’s probably tried to trick you into thinking that you aren’t worth saving, or you’ve committed so many egregious sins that God won’t save you, or, that you keep stumbling into this repetitive sin that means you’ve fallen from grace, never able to return.

Did you know the apostle Paul struggled with that very same thing? (Romans 7)

I. Sin-Cycle and He who Breaks the Cycle (Romans 7:14-8:4)

-(Describe the following from Paul’s perspective). Romans 7:14-24: Paul depicts the struggle all Christians feel. Notice I didn’t say “all people” because unbelievers have a seared conscience, veiled from the truth of glory in the gospel. Only those seeking to be spiritual (to be like Jesus) struggle with sin (v. 14-18). The Law is spiritual, it takes the moral high ground. It reveals how despicable sin is because it displays what righteousness looks like. The problem? People live in the flesh, sin-corrupted flesh. Our bodies tend toward sin because it is pleasurable. We can see, understand, and agree that God’s ways are good because we experience evil through the practicing of sin. We crave to do good but we fall into sin. Our flesh is dominated by sin and has a hold on us, doing good falls by the wayside.

If believers find themselves practicing sin while our mind/spirit wishes to do good then we learn an important and devastating principle: Evil is present in us (v. 19-23). Inwardly, in our spirit, we agree that God’s ways are good but we see a war waging in our flesh, battling our spirit. We feel stuck in a cycle of temptation and sin, like a prisoner wanting to escape. Left with the inescapable conclusion, Paul cries out “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from this body of death?”

Does that describe you? Ever been there? That captures the essence of the battle all Christians face. We want so desperately to do what pleases God, to always dwell in the joy of His ways, to enjoy the freedom in Christ from sin. But our flesh craves pleasure, wanting instant gratification. We feel wretched, stuck, evil. If Paul struggled with sin, how much more do we? We can’t free ourselves from the bondage of sin, who can?

-Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ (v. 25-8:4). You feel weak and unworthy because you can’t stop sinning? You’ve tried everything and still find yourself back in sin’s prison? Exactly! Welcome to the club. The apostle Paul wrestled with this and was found wanting. He found himself in a prison of his own making that the devil gleefully loved. But then Paul put his trust in someone who broke his chains, who freed him from that prison of death, Jesus Christ.

There is now, NOW, no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. His Spirit, who lives in every Christian, has freed you from the law of sin and death. Yeah, your flesh still tends toward it because it is corrupted. But your mind, your spirit, your inner man, has been freed, forgiven, and bestowed life.

II. The Battle over Our Lives (8:5-17)

-Through all of this we learn that the battleground for the spiritual war is not a city or a field but it is in you. Your flesh versus your spirit, your body versus your mind, your desire for pleasure and sin versus your desire to please and glorify God. Satan is trying to attack you personally so that you will leave God and enter destruction with him. This is the battle we face on a daily basis.

Illus. We had a morning activity when I was in junior high week of camp. They tried to have the morning activities teach us some lesson. That day they made it about teamwork, needing each other like people in the church needed each other. So, we played tug of war. But not normal tug of war, each group had to pull a 15 passenger van that was put in neutral.

After every group participated they asked if we wanted to do two teams to race: boys vs. girls. Obviously, the boys shouted their approval while the girls groaned in frustration. They set everything up and counted down, “Ready, set, GO!” We pulled with such a veracity that could not be matched because “Boys rule and girls drool!” The boys pulled ahead until our van driver pressed on the break and we came to a dead stop. We pulled as hard as we could and never budged him again. The girls passed us shouting their victory chant and we were humbled.

We feel that same way in our bodies. We are trying to pull ourselves toward God but something in us grinds to a halt. We can’t seem to make ourselves budge.

-Paul puts names to that inner tug of war: flesh vs. spirit (v. 5-10). The flesh seeks the ways of me, leads to death, is hostile toward God, being unable to please Him. The Spirit bestows life and peace, causes you to belong to God, making you alive in righteousness.

The devil will try to take your mind off of God in any way possible (those who set their minds..) Perhaps he dangles that magazine of scantily-clad women in front of you at the store, or a big sign about lottery winnings sits in front of you, that guy just cut you off on the highway, you get fired from your job. Anything to get you to choose sin over God or doubt/blame God for bad things. Satan might appeal to your flesh to get you to leave God or he may deceive your mind into viewing God as evil, flawed, or not powerful enough.

Your focus determines your journey. Focus on pleasures, self, evil, and doubt then you will find yourself anxious, hostile, unable to find peace, and on a road toward destruction. Focus on the Spirit and you’ll find peace, confidence, comfort, and strength in righteousness.

-How can we focus on the Spirit? (v. 11-17).

1. Memory (v. 11). Jesus rose from the dead and now raises you from the dead. Not because of you but because of His Spirit in you. Notice something, it isn’t life tomorrow, when you stand at the edge of heaven, it’s life to your mortal bodies. You have the life of Christ today if His Spirit dwells in you. Christian, you have God’s Spirit living in you, therefore, you have life eternal. Remember the Promise

2. Lifestyle (v. 12-13). You have no obligation to Satan. You also denied yourself when you became a Christian, making Jesus the Lord (Master) of your life. Notice something, you put the deeds of the body to death by living according to the Spirit. You don’t put the sin to death first then live for Christ, it’s the other way around. Struggling with sin? Time to get to work. Learn His way through the Word and then do it.

3. Prayer (v. 14-16). We have not been given a spirit of slavery, like sin did to us. Rather, the Holy Spirit adopts us as sons of God and through Him we are able to cry out to God as our father. We cry out to God, desiring His relationship, and the Holy Spirit communicates the same thing (testifying with us that we belong to God).

4. Hope (v. 17). Our suffering in this life is temporary but the glory in Christ to follow is eternal. We have a temporary no in this life for an eternal yes in Christ. We may be ridiculed for our faith, we may find it difficult to go without our crutches of temptation/sin, but the more we suffer like Jesus the grander the glory of Jesus that we will share.

Conclusion

You wrestle with God because of doubt and struggles, good. Don’t give up. Carry through. Hold on for dear life. Give to the one who is able to change your name and your life. When you wrestle with God then you will walk differently afterward. The battleground of our spiritual war is in you: flesh versus spirit, body versus mind. God gives you the victory. Stand in the Memory of the Promise, Walk in the Lifestyle of the Spirit, Pray with confidence, and dwell in the Hope of Christ.