Our Enemy Within: The Flesh

Lead Vocalist (Joel)

Welcome & Announcements (Bubba)

Good morning family!

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Now please take a moment of silence to prepare your heart for worship.

Call to Worship (Advent Reading: Joy)

Prayer of Praise (Phoebe Boutot)

Joy to the World!

The First Noel

Prayer of Confession (Joel Whitcomb)

Assurance of Pardon (Romans 8:3)

What Child Is This?

O Holy Night

Scripture Reading (Romans 7:14-8:11)—page _________ in the black Bibles

Pastoral Prayer (Bubba)

Prayer for PBC—Help us to resist the flesh

Prayer for kingdom partner—Waite, Luke & Emily (Reaching & Teaching)

Prayer for US—State representatives

Prayer for the world—Canada

Pray for the sermon

SERMON

START TIMER!!!

Christmas Eve at Nakatomi Plaza was going to be a night to remember.

The decorations were up, the champagne was cold, and the company Christmas party was in full swing on the 30th floor.

From the outside, everything looked peaceful—just another glittering Los Angeles skyscraper celebrating the season.

But looks can be deceiving.

Because while everyone inside was laughing and celebrating, an enemy force was quietly slipping into the building. They weren’t outside threatening the party—they were already inside the walls. They cut the power, locked the doors, seized the elevators. And suddenly, what looked like a scene of peace and celebration became a battleground.

The danger wasn’t out there somewhere.

The danger was inside the building the whole time.

Just like the partiers at Nakatomi Plaza in the beloved Christmas movie Die Hard, we too are at war.

We’ve spent the last several weeks talking about the battle we’re always fighting—even at Christmas.

We are at war with a deceitful enemy and a destructive culture that appeals to our disordered desires.

Those three enemies are the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Today, we conclude by considering the last of those enemies: the flesh.

If you’ve closed your Bible, please open it back up to Romans 7.

While you’re turning there, let’s consider for just a moment what’s going on at this point in Paul’s letter to the Romans.

In Romans 1–5, Paul shows that all have sinned and that salvation comes only through faith in Christ.

And in Romans 6–8, he explains what it means to live as someone who has been justified but not yet perfected.

That tension—freed from sin’s penalty, yet still fighting sin’s presence—is exactly what our text, and this battle with the flesh, is all about.

As we’ve done the past two weeks, we’re going to ask and answer three crucial questions about this enemy:

What is our enemy?

Why is this enemy so dangerous?

How is this enemy resisted?

First, from Paul’s teaching we can answer the question…

1) What is the FLESH?

Romans 7:14–17—For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

What does Paul mean here by the term “flesh”?

Just like we said last week with the word “world,” the word “flesh” has various meanings in the Scriptures.

And just like we said last week, often studying the context is far more helpful than doing word studies on a particular word.

Sometimes the Bible uses the word “flesh” to refer to the physical body.

For example, every Christmas we celebrate...

John 1:14—And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…

When the Bible says that Jesus, the eternal Son of God, “became flesh,” it’s saying He was born into a physical body. He became human.

Other times the word “flesh” can refer to our sinful nature. The fact that we have an internal propensity to sin.

That’s the way Paul is using the word in our text.

Ever since the fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve, all of us have been born with a sin nature. That’s our flesh.

Think of a toddler. Nobody has to teach a toddler to throw a tantrum, or to be selfish, or to hit, or to lie.

Why? Because they have a sinful nature!

I once heard Voddie Bauchum say, “One of the reasons God makes [toddlers] so small is so they won’t kill you! And one of the reasons He makes them so cute is so that you won’t kill them!” [1]

All of us are born with a sinful nature, an inward desire to sin against God and our neighbor. This is the flesh, our great enemy within.

Martin Luther puts it this way in his masterful book, The Bondage of the Will:

“A man void of the Spirit of God does not do evil against his will, under pressure, as though taken by the neck and forced into it, … but he does it spontaneously and willingly. And this willingness and desire of doing evil he cannot, by his own strength, eliminate, restrain or change. He goes on still desiring and craving to do evil. And if external pressure compels him to act outwardly to the contrary, yet the will within remains averse and chafes under such constraint.” [2]

Here’s the problem: you want to sin. Nobody has to force you to sin. You do it spontaneously. And no matter how hard you try, you can’t stop in your own strength. And if somebody tries to stop you, you get angry.

You and I have a traitor living within us. Our very own inner Judas. It’s the flesh. [3]

That’s our enemy within.

What is the flesh? It’s the old man, your sinful nature, your internal proclivity and desire to sin.

Let’s consider the answer to our second question...

2) Why is the Flesh So DANGEROUS?

Our culture is filled with messages telling us to trust who we are on the inside.

Shakespeare wrote, “To thine own self be true!”

Moana sings, “The call isn’t out there at all, it’s inside me.”

Obi-Wan and Yoda repeatedly tell Luke, “Trust your feelings.”

Elphaba sings, “It's time to trust my instincts; Close my eyes: and leap!”

I could go on, but you get the point. Our enemy, the world, constantly preaches that the pathway to happiness and peace lies within.

The Apostle Paul says the exact opposite.

The flesh—your internal sinful nature—will not lead you to love God or your neighbor. It will not lead to your happiness or peace. It will lead to destruction.

Notice with me three reasons why the flesh is so dangerous...

A) Your flesh is always POWERFUL, even as you grow.

Nobody would deny that the Apostle Paul was a mature believer. And yet, in our text he describes a serious internal battle in his life.

Romans 7:18-19—For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

Paul wants to do what is good, but far too often he ends up not doing that. And he doesn’t want to do evil. But far too often he does it anyways.

If you’re not a Christian, this battle probably doesn’t make sense to you. You’re fine spending hours indulging your flesh while you neglect the things of God. It doesn’t bother you.

But if you’re a Christian you can relate with the Apostle Paul here. You want to do what’s right, but far too often you don’t.

In his wonderful little book, “The Enemy Within” Kris Lundgaard illustrates the power of the flesh through the story of David. [4]

David was a man whose holiness and zeal for God was greater than everybody else in his day.

God Himself said this was “a man after His own heart.” [5]

He wrote nearly half of the book of Psalms, the longest book in the Bible.

Now if we really want to test how strong the flesh is, let’s stack the deck against it.

Let’s not look at David when he’s a young man, more prone to impulsive, high-risk behavior.

And let’s not look at David after some great disappointment in his life, but after David has seen God deliver all his enemies into his hand.

If an older, mature, wise, victorious, faithful David can see a woman bathing on a nearby roof and dive headfirst into adultery, lying, and murder, we should never again doubt the power of the flesh.

Brother, sister, friend, you cannot “age out” of the power of the flesh.

Your temptations may change with age, but the power of your flesh does not.

And to make matters worse…

B) Your flesh is always PRESENT until you meet Jesus.

There’s an old saying, “Wherever you go, there you are!”

That is certainly true of your sinful flesh.

Romans 7:20—Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

Paul is NOT saying he isn’t to blame for his sin. When he says “it’s no longer I who do it” he’s drawing a contrast between the old man and the new man.

The new man in Christ is no longer a slave to sin. That’s who Paul truly is.

And yet, until Christ returns and makes you perfect you cannot completely escape the old man, your sinful flesh.

Once again Kris Lundgaard is helpful here. He writes: “If sin only came to visit now and then, like an occasional guest, we could get a lot of godliness done while it was away. If it were like an army that struck, then pulled back for a time, we could refresh ourselves and fortify our defenses during the calm. But the flesh is both a homebody and relentless assailant.” [6]

This is one reason why avoiding things that are demonic and worldly is not enough in the battle against sin. Because even if you managed to somehow shelter yourself entirely from the worldly and the Satanic, you cannot shelter yourself from you.

Now if you’re a Christian, this bothers you doesn’t it?

Many of you remember Cliff Hall, who led worship here at PBC for several years before he died two years ago. He would often tell me what he was most looking forward to about heaven was finally being free from sin.

That day will not come until you meet Jesus face-to-face.

Until then you’re always at war.

You really feel the weight of this when you consider the final reason why the flesh is so dangerous…

C) Your flesh is always PULLING you away from God.

Consider a little test. Which is easier, to sit in front of the TV and watch your favorite movie or sport or a news channel for several hours? Or to bow your head in prayer for five minutes? Which is easier, to scroll through social media on your phone for an hour or read your Bible for ten minutes? [7]

By nature you aren’t neutral to God and His Word. By nature, apart from God’s work in your heart, you are hostile to the things of God.

Paul is so confident that this is the way the flesh works, he says…

Romans 7:21–23—So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

Typically when we read about the law in Scripture we rightly think about the law of God revealed to Moses in the first five books of the Bible. But notice Paul mentions “another law” in verse 23.

He’s using the word “law” there in the same we we talk about the law of gravity.

The law of gravity is a fixed rule on earth: what comes up will come down.

It’s always there, always pulling, whether you notice it or not.

You can defy it for a moment—airplanes do, rockets do, even jumping does—but it takes tremendous force from outside. The moment that lift or thrust stops, gravity wins and you come back down.

In a similar way, the “law” of the flesh is a fixed law inside every fallen human being.

By nature, you will always gravitate toward sin—pride, lust, selfishness, and unbelief.

You may resist it for a time. You may feel moments when you “rise above” it.

But the flesh is always pulling you away from God.

And just like with gravity, the only way to rise above the flesh is with a greater power outside of you.

The flesh is so dangerous because it’s always POWERFUL, even as you grow; it’s always PRESENT until you meet Jesus; and it’s always PULLING you away from God.

I wonder how you’re responding to all this?

If your response is something like this, “Yup, all this is right! Bummer!” you just might be more deceived by your flesh than you think.

This is no small matter. This is life and death, heaven and hell!

So how should we feel about our flesh?

Look at...

Romans 7:24a—Wretched man that I am!

Do you feel wretched, friend?

When you measure your failures against the holiness of God—His blazing moral perfection and intolerance of anything unclean—do you feel wretched?

You should.

And if you do, you’re ready for what comes next...

Romans 7:24b— Who will deliver me from this body of death?

The answer, of course, is Jesus. That’s clearly said in verse 25.

But how does Jesus deliver us?

Skip down to...

Romans 8:2-4—For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Because of the miracle we celebrate every Christmas. That Jesus became flesh.

He was truly human. But He didn’t have a sinful nature.

That’s why verse 3 says He was “in the likeness of sinful flesh.”

He was like us in every way, except for our sin.

He gladly came to this earth to die for us.

That’s what the Apostle Paul means when he says in verse 3 that “He condemned sin in the flesh.”

Jesus lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died.

And on the third day He rose from the dead so we could be forgiven if we would but trust Him.

Have you done that, friend? Repent and believe today!

Until you are “in Christ” by turning from your sins and trusting in Jesus, you are a slave to the flesh.

But once you give your life to Jesus, you can begin to resist the flesh.

3) How is the Flesh RESISTED?

Just like we’ve said the past two weeks…

We resist with the SCRIPTURES in the SPIRIT beside the SAINTS.

If you want to resist the flesh, you need the Scriptures.

Romans 8:5–6—For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

If you want to resist the flesh, you need to set your mind on the things of the Spirit.

And what exactly are the things of the Spirit?

I take them to be the Scriptures, since the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is the author of Scripture.

There is a direct relationship between your ability to resist the desires of the flesh and your time in God’s Word.

So what might this look like in your week? Here are a few ways to set your mind on the things of the Spirit:

Start and end your day with Scripture, not a screen. Before you scroll, read. Even if it’s just one psalm in the morning and one paragraph in the evening, choose to let God’s voice be the first and last you hear.

Carry one verse into battle. When you know a particular temptation is common for you—anger, lust, self-pity—find one verse that speaks directly to it. Write it on a card, put it on your phone lock screen, and bring it to mind in the moment of temptation.

Find a plan for regular Bible intake and stick to it. We’ll have a Bible reading plan that members of this church have been using for several years available to you at the exits today. Grab one and find another Christian to help keep you accountable to follow it.

If you want to resist the flesh, you need the Spirit.

Romans 8:7–10—For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

The reality is you CAN’T resist your fleshly desires unless the Spirit of God takes residence in your life.

Like thrust from its engines allows a rocket to overcome gravity, the Holy Spirit enables you to resist your flesh.

So here’s some ways to lean on the Spirit as you battle the flesh...

Pray before the battle, not just after you fall. If you know you’re going to be tempted to gossip when you do lunch with that friend, pray before you go. If you know being alone for a few hours is going to lead to temptations to lust, pray and ask the Spirit for help.

Confess quickly and start again. Living in the Spirit doesn’t mean you’ll never fall. David did. Peter did. But when you do, don’t wallow in shame. Confess your sin quickly, and ask the Spirit to help you get back up and walk again.

If you want to resist the flesh, you need the church.

You need brothers and sister to confront you when you give in. You need them to remind you of the power of the gospel.

You need these weekly gatherings to remind you of the truth that Paul explains in…

Romans 8:11—If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Your flesh is strong, but Jesus is stronger. And by the Spirit you have within you the same power that rose Jesus from the dead!

But it’s so easy to forget this! Which is why we need each other!

So how do we actually fight the flesh beside the saints?

Tell at least one other believer where the battle really is. Don’t just say, “Pray for me, I struggle with sin.” Say, “Pray for me, I keep running to anger… to pornography… to bitterness… to comparison.” Until someone else knows where the war is, you’re trying to fight it alone.

Give someone permission to ask you hard questions. Invite a mature brother or sister to check in on you about that specific struggle and to remind you of the gospel when you fail. That’s not being nosy—that’s being a church.

Refuse to fight alone. Don’t just slip in and out of the service. Linger. Pray with someone. Join a small group, a class, or a discipleship group. The flesh loves isolation. The Spirit loves fellowship.

We resist the flesh with the Scriptures, in the Spirit, and beside the saints.

Now as important as resisting the flesh is, I want to remind you of something as we prepare to come to the Lord’s Table.

The table is not for people who have successfully defeated the flesh. If that were true, none of us could partake.

The table is for people who have been delivered from condemnation.

Look at a verse we skipped over earlier...

Romans 8:1—There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

This is a staggering verse.

If you are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation for you. He doesn’t say there’s some condemnation or less condemnation, he says NO CONDEMNATION!

And He doesn’t say there will eventually be no condemnation one day, but that NOW there is no condemnation.

We do not come to this table because we’ve won the war—but because Christ has.

At Nakatomi Plaza, the danger was inside the building, and the people inside couldn’t rescue themselves.

Our greatest enemy is inside us too. And we cannot rescue ourselves. Someone from outside has come in—Jesus—He has conquered our enemies for us and promises to bring us out safe.

We fight our flesh because we understand that our greatest enemy is inside of us, not out there somewhere.

The flesh is always powerful, but Jesus is stronger. And the same power that rose Him from the dead lives in us.

The flesh is always present, but so is the Holy Spirit if you are in Christ.

The flesh is always pulling us away from God, but Jesus paid it all.

So let’s praise Him together.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Holy Forever (Christmas)

Communion

Doxology

Benediction (Jude 24-25)