Overcoming: the battle towards Holiness
Notes
Transcript
With all the talk in the last number of weeks on the pursuit of holiness I was thinking about this statement: We want to do well, we want to do good but there is a battle within us that is a struggle. Sin or evil still tries to gain mastery over us.
Paul writes in Rom. 7:21 and the NIV makes it so clear to me:
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
We do not like to admit that there is something we struggle with, or that there is some king of weakness within us that we battle with. We don’t like admitting that there is a lifelong struggle. Realizing that we are struggling or have a weakness and accepting that this exists helps us to better deal with it.
So this evening we are going to look at the battle towards holiness.
Even after we have surrendered our lives to Christ, believers still have the ability to sin. The Holy Spirit is within us and keeps our desire for holiness going.
Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God.
God shows us our sin and we as believers struggle with seeing the sin that is within us exposed. This is the picture that is being depicted in Rom. 7:21.
This picture is different from unbelievers who lie peacefully in their sin, in their darkness.
When we examine Rom. 7:14-25 we see some important lessons that we need to keep in mind.
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
No matter how you look at Rom. 7 we all acknowledge the universal application of Paul’s statement in v. 21.
“When I want to do good, evil is right there with me”.
Sin remains in us even though it has been dethroned. Although it has been dethroned and weakened, its nature has not changed. Sin is still against God and will not and cannot submit to His law.
For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.
If we are to overcome, if we are to wage a successful war there are some things we need to be mindful of:
The seat of indwelling sin is the heart
The seat of indwelling sin is the heart
The heart in scripture is used in various ways. Sometimes it is referred to as:
our reason
our understanding
our affections
our emotions
our will
the whole soul of man and its faculities
For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.
A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.
The word heart also can be used to refer to the mind as it reasons, denotes and judges. Also, the emotions as they like or dislike. The conscience as it determines and warns. Also the will as it chooses or refuses.
The Bible tells us that the heart is deceitful and unsearchable to any but God alone.
The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
“I the Lord search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”
Even as believers we don’t know our own hearts.
I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.
None of us can discern fully the hidden motives, secret intrigues and turnings of the heart. In this unsearchable heart dwells the law of sin. Much of sins strength lies in that we fight an enemy we cannot fully search out.
The heart is also deceitful. It makes excuses, rationalizes, and justifies our actions. It blinds us to our sin. It causes us to deal with sin using only halfway measures. It sometimes can cause us to think that we have done it and then thinking on it is the same as doing it.
But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.
We need to ask God to to search our hearts daily. To search our hearts for the sin we cannot or will not see. We need to join with David in his prayer in Psalms.
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
The primary way God searches our heart is through His Word, as we read His word we are under the power of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit makes His word come alive to us showing us things we need to hear, heed and apply to our lives.
The Word of God is alive and active. It is sharper than any double edged sword. It penetrates into the soul and spirit, joints and marrow.
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
As we pray and ask God to search our hearts we must open up our hearts to His searching and search His Word. We must yield to the power of the Holy Spirit and His search.
If we try to search our wn hearts we are bound to be easier on ourselves than we need to be. We will surely fail or fall into one of two traps .
Morbid introspection - this kind of introspection can easily become a tool of Satan who is called the “accuser”.
Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens,
“It has come at last—
salvation and power
and the Kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters
has been thrown down to earth—
the one who accuses them
before our God day and night.
One of his chief weapons is discouragement. He knows if he can make us discouraged we will loose our spirit (despirited) and then we will not fight the battle for holiness.
We will feel overwhemed with discouragement and feel that holiness is unattainable.
2. Missin the real issue in our lives. This is where we will focus on secondary issues and where satan’s deceitfulness will cause us to believe that other things are more important here.
The Holy Spirit enables us to see the areas that are sinful and the enemy will try to get our focus off of these area and onto other areas. He will try to shift our focus.
Indwelling sin works largely through our desires
Indwelling sin works largely through our desires
Ever since the Fall in the Garden of Eden man has listened to his desires more than his reason.
Desire has become thr strongest part of man’s heart. When we give into temptation it is because desire has overcome reason and this influences your will.
Hebrews calls it “the pleasures of sin”.
He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
I am not saying all desire is evil. Pauls speaks of his desire to know Christ and his desire for salvation for his loved ones and the desire that people would grown in spiritual maturity.
I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved.
Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.
What I mean by desire in this context is evil desires that lead us into sin.
James said we are tempted when we are dragged away and enticed by our evil desires.
Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.
In order to win the battle towards holiness we need to recognize that the basic problem lies within us. It is our own evil desires that lead us into temptation.
We may think we just need to respond to those outward temptations that are presented to us, but the truth is our evil desires are constantly searching out temptations to satisfy lusts that are unending and insatiatable.
Think about the temptations that you are particularly vulnerable to, think about how often you find yourself trying to search out a way to satisfy those desires.
There are times when we get tempted unexpectedly. There are times when we could be in the midst of confessing a sin when we find ourselves starting once again to think about that evil thought associated with the very sin we are trying to rid ourself of. When this happens our evil desires are ready and willing to receive and embrace them.
“Just as fire burns any combustible material presented to it so our own evil desires immediately respond to temptation” (J. Bridges p. 64, Pursuit of Holiness).
We must make sure our deisres are directed toward glorifying God and not on satisfying our desires or lusts of the body.
It tends to deceive our understanding or reasoning
It tends to deceive our understanding or reasoning
Our reason is enlightened by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. This is why we are called to read the Word of God daily and to apply it to our lives. Without this vital spiritual food in our lives on a daily basis how can we prepare our hearts against the attacks of the enemy? How can we protect the relationship we have with God? How can we grow and mature in our walk?
The word if God is vital to our spirutual life. The leading and direction of the Holy Spirit is also. The Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit stands in the way of sin gaining mastery over us through our desires!
Therefore Satan’s greatest stretegy is to deceive our minds.
In this day and at this time isn’t that an area where we feel the greatest attacks? Our society is under attacks from the enemy trying to get into our minds and haunting us trying to rid us of any sort of peace, joy or contentment we have left.
Tonight I want you to realize that God has given us things to use against these attacks. Please grab hold of them and grip them with all that you have so that you are able to be victorious over these attacks and so that you can overcome them.
throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.
Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other.
These passage speak of the old life but we must realize that deceit still wages war against su though it no longer has mastery over us.
Deceit of the mind is carried on by degrees little by little trying to get footholds. We are first drawn away from being on guard or watchful then from obedience.
There are times in our walk we think that we are beyond aa particular temptation and then look at someone else’s life and say I would never do that.
Paul warned us about this.
If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.
Even when helping soeone else we need to watch ourselves so that we don’t be tempted.
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.
We get drawn away from obedience by abusing grace. This is also something that we see happening more and more. God’s grace is a blessing and a gift that He pours on us but we are not to make a joke of it.
We abuse grace hen we think we can sin and then receive forgiveness by claiming it. Or when we sin we dwell on the compassion and mercy of God to the exclusion of His holiness and hatred of sin.
I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
We are drawn away from obedience when we begin to quesion what God says in his Word. This was Satan’s first tactic with Eve.
The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’ ”
“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
He tried to create doubt in her mind. He does the same with us. We see that though sin no longer has dominion over us it still wages warfare against us. If left unchecked it will defeat us.
How do we deal with it?
Deal with it swiftly and firmly with the first signs of it.
When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong.
Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”
Guard your heart above all else,
for it determines the course of your life.
Be on guard. Guard your heart, desires and walk with God. We need to be on guard more now than ever because we would never want this to stop our growth, damage our testimony or make us loose out on etenity.