Let’s Pray

Civil war

I have heard this scripture described as Paul explaining the civil war that happens inside of every growing believer

it made sense to me when I heart it and made sense when I taught it

and really up until I started preparing for this message it still made sense

it still does to a degree but civil war is surface level

it goes much deeper than that

I am going to read the entire scripture then we will dive into it

we will look at it as a whole as opposed to verse by verse

Romans 7:16-20

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Romans 7:16–20 “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. 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. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.”

So as I was listening to God and trying to allow Him to prepare my heart for this message a couple things jumped out at me in regards to the truth of this passage

1. New Creature

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We have looked at this and will continue to look at this because it is something we must understand

we have talked about being a new creature in Christ and dying to self and the world and sin but it goes deeper

II Corinthians 5:17

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2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

When you are saved you are a new creature

the old is dead and gone

the new is here

part of this new creature that we haven’t talked a lot about yet is just like God you must hate sin

God hates sin and therefore as a Christian so must you

that is part of the new creation

When you get saved it is very easy to hate the big things......”big” sins that you no longer want to be a part of your life

you easily hate addiction

you easily hate porn

you easily hate alcohol etc

those are some of the things that drove you to repentance that lead to salvation in your life

they drove you to God

it is easy to hate what you know was killing you

it is easy to die to them however it must not stop there

however God hates all sin

and you as a Christian....a new creation....must hat ALL sin as well

Even the sin you love

even the sin you justify

even the sin you lie about to hide

even the sin you know you should hate but just love too much to give it up

even the sin you judge others over just so you feel better about yourself

ALL sin

Luke 9:23

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Luke 9:23 “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

the Truth is in Christ sin and death have no spiritual power over you

Jesus paid your sin debt

all of it

you have been redeemed

you have been bought by His blood

you are saved

you are eternally secure

Jesus victory applies to your life

Truth

When faith comes in is you and I are still in flesh

these human bodies.....our natures are sinful are still alive and well

not all flesh has died no matter how much we claim it has

that is why you must take up your cross daily and follow Jesus

This process has a name in theology

2. Sanctification

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This really kicks off the rest of Romans

As I said and more importantly as God says when you are saved you are saved forever (We will see this in much more detail in Romans 8)

Before we can understand that however....the legal aspect...we must understand what is happening inside of you as a believer

As I said when you get saved it is easy to give up the big stuff

the stuff we hate

addiction porn alcohol etc

the things that were destroying you and your lives

it is easy to give them up

they drove us to the cross

the drove us to Christ

the rest take a lifetime of work

sanctification

not all flesh dies at one time as we saw last week

strongholds take time to destroy

not because God needs time

not because God isnt strong enough to destroy them instantly

He is and He does

no the delay is you

the delay is me

the delay is us

we are the problem

Let’s look at Paul’s writing

Romans 7:16

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Romans 7:16 “Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.”

I do what I do not want

that is I is the new man

the new creation

that new creation wants to do God’s will

but the unsanctified parts

the parts you choose to leave alive because you refuse to take them to the cross

the yet to be killed flesh continues to produce sin and the desire to sin in you

what Paul is saying is you have to make a decision

you have a choice that you must make

This is the difference between milk Christians.babes in Christ....saved but not growing

and

meat Christians

mature in Christ

growing and maturing and doing the Lord’s work

sanctification

you must work out your salvation

that is sanctification

Philippians 2:12-13

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Philippians 2:12–13 “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

work out this comes from a Greek verb and it means to continually work to bring something to fulfillment or completion

you have to choose to work out

God is always working to bring you to fulfillment or completion

Philippians 1:6

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Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

God does His job

are you doing yours

now this doesn’t refer to salvation but sanctification

you can’t work out being saved

you can’t do enough works

you can’t get yourself clean enough

you can’t pay the price on your own

salvation only comes through Jesus and His blood being applied to your sin debt in Heaven

this refers to your responsibility as a Christian

your responsibility as the redeemed

what is that responsibility

to pursue holiness

through obedience

to work out your salvation

sanctification

Philippians 3:12-14

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Philippians 3:12–14 “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Sanctification

Straining

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Greek verb strain after....stretch forward

Press On

Greek verb pursue, persecute

Do you see it?

both of these show how serious you are to chase sanctification

you are to work

you are to strain

you are to pursue

you are to stop at nothing to allow Holy Spirit to sanctify you

you have to work not to be saved but because you are saved

Philippians 3:15-16

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Philippians 3:15–16 “Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.”

Church are you committed to this

do you think this way

are you chasing what lies ahead

so many of you will say sure

i am here arent I

I attend monday nights

or i attend wednseday nights

or i attend fridays

or i attend them all

i am here every sunday for sunday school and church

i worship loud and proud

i amen during the message

i take notes

good for you but that doesn’t mean you are chasing what lies ahead

that could just mean you are religious

this is what separates real Christians from fake Christians

what separates disciples from Matthew 7 folks

Matthew 7:21-23

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Matthew 7:21–23 ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

you can work yourself to death but doing it for you

doing it for show

doing it for social media

doing it to become an influence

doing it to please your wife or husband

doing it to please your kids

doing it to please your parents

all with the wrong heart and wrong motive and no matter what good you do you don’t know Jesus because if you know Jesus all of those things will be for Him

Church people all around us are dying and going to hell

church people in YOUR family that YOU LOVE are dying and going to hell

You know Jesus yet you refuse to chase after what lies ahead

you refuse to workout your salvation

you refuse to chase sanctification

not only are you paying the price but so are your loved ones

your friends

your co-workers

your community

the choice is yours

the choice is always yours

why

Romans 7:19-20

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Romans 7:19–20 “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.”

your flesh

your unsanctified flesh will always lead you to sin

to do what you do not want to do

if you truly want to grow in Christ

if you truly want to mature in Christ

you must first hate sin because you love Jesus

since you hate sin you will stop justifying it away

you will fight it

when your unsanctified flesh leads you towards sin you will take it straight to the cross to kill it and walk in the newness of life promised to all believers

the choice as always is yours

where will you go today?