The Battlefield of the Heart

Introduction

➟ ➟ ➟ During July we’ve been talking about the need to go on the offence and take the battle to Satan.

Cain has done a good job talking about how defense is not our only posture as we engage as participants in this great spiritual war.

God expects us to use His strength and the tools He provides to actually gain ground and conquer strongholds and territory occupied by the enemy.

We have been called to fight against sin, and eradicate it … not just tolerate it, ignore it, or cede large swaths of our life to it.

As Cain said last week, our mission is to advance. To be transformed and to share the news of Christ with others so they too can be transformed.

Today, we will focus on the place where the battle is fought. The place where we’ll be able to look at literally see and feel the difference as our victories begin to mount.

I want you to think back for a moment to the day you came to Christ to receive salvation.

For me, it was August 16, 1987. Do you remember how you felt when you came out of the water?

➟ ➟ ➟ I can still see my grandparents and most everyone from the small congregation standing there on the riverbank.

That was the day your eternal address changed from hell to heaven.

That was the day when you turned from darkness to light.

That was the day when you got out from under Satan’s power and now have God’s power infused in you.

That was the day when the angels rejoiced over you. A victory shout from then and from those who have gone on before.

➟ ➟ ➟ And that was the day the very real spiritual war began inside of you.

Your conversion to Christ made your heart a battlefield.

As surely as there is a God who loves you, there is also a devil who hates you … a devil who wants to block the work God is doing in you.

Matthew 13.19, Jesus speaks of Satan’s snatching away the seed planted in our heart.

Satan will attack. We need to be prepared.

➟ ➟ ➟ This is why we have passages like Proverbs 4.23. The battle takes place inside of us.

Sin has to be defeated on the inside.

➟ ➟ ➟ James 1.14: Each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire.

I want you to notice how James places the problem squarely on us. In fact, he says the problem is in us. Evil desires in us lead us to sin. Note how the progression continues:

Sin brings forth death.

All sin begins in the heart. It is conceived there. It is nurtured there. It is incubated there.

This is where sin must be dealt with. Sinful behavior results from sinful thinking in the heart.

➟ ➟ ➟ 1.16 - don’t be deceived.

If we are going to take the battle to Satan, we have to deal with the sin on the inside. If we don’t, we’ll never stop it on the outside.

➟ ➟ ➟ Look again at Proverbs 4.23. Your heart is the source of life. Your life is defined by what is going on in your heart.

➟ ➟ ➟ Proverbs 23.7 (NASB): for as he thinks within himself, so he is.

Jesus, Matthew 15:19-20 says the things that defile a person aren’t want goes into him … it’s what comes out of him.

Sin is a matter of the heart … and we can’t just talk about what shows up on the outside and expect to have success.

➟ ➟ ➟ So, today…three things

we’ll learn how sin works on the inside.

We’ll see how it conceives and moves us to action ....

We’ll learn how it works in our past, present, and future to lead us to destruction.

We’ll briefly talk about what not to do, but mainly...

We’ll learn how to fight back. How to win, complete with a 7-step offensive plan that will lead us to victory.

How Sin Works in the Heart

➟ ➟ ➟ Sin works from our past by pulling out the garbage we’ve collected and dragging it back through our mind … where we relive it all again.

Have you ever held on to some memory of the sin in your past?

We can reprocess:

bad attitudes, relationships, and actions.

All the bad things we once did that were filled with pleasure. Evil desires. Evil deeds. Lies. etc.

And when we do that we induce sin all over again.

This is why those of you who are younger really need to listen and pay attention.

How you spend the days of your youth may well determine the nature of your temptation in the future.

You will not forget those experiences … and there will be temptation to re=-harvest that pleasure in the future from the memory of those sins.

Lustful hearts can recycle those sins … and re-savor the pleasure all over again.

Even inside truly repentant people, sin can work in the memory. I think we can all admit to struggling at times with forgetting our sins.

➟ ➟ ➟ Ezekiel 23.19 - God confronted Israel about this.

Israel multiplied her harlotries by what? Remembering the sins of her youth.

God calls the nation out for recycling all the sins of the past.

Not only were His people presently unfaithful, disloyal, and immoral, … God says they were enjoying and remembering the pleasures of sin from when they were in Egypt.

This practice is devastating. It’s not harmless. And when those memories come, we must immediately reject them.

This is why we must be careful what we watch, read, see, and do. In the future these things will be re-harvested and played out all over again.

➟ ➟ ➟ Sin also works inside the heart by scheming or planning to sin. This is how it works in our future.

➟ ➟ ➟ Psalm 36.1: (ESV) transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart.

Psalm 36.4: he plots trouble while on his bed.

➟ ➟ ➟ Psalm 64.6: (NIV) They plot injustice and say, “We have devised a perfect plan!” Surely the human mind and heart are cunning.

Proverbs 12.2; 20; 14.22; 15.26

We plan or scheme sin when we think things like:

When I see that person again I’m going to...

This is how I’m going to let them know how they hurt me...

This is what I want to do if the opportunity presented itself...

And then we focus on thoughts of anger, hatred, lust, greed, envy, discontent, selfishness, and pride.

When these things come up in our mind, we must resist them and redirect our thoughts.

➟ ➟ ➟ Sin also works in the present through our imagination.

➟ ➟ ➟ Matthew 5.28: Everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

The heart imagines sin before it acts it out. This is the feeding on things in the present that lead us to sin.

An action that leads us onto a deadly road … because if we keep feeding on it it will manifest itself.

This is how sin is staged. This is how temptation works. Now, how do we deal with it?

Again, the answer is found within the heart. This is where the battle field is. This is where we literally take the battle to Satan.

Before we talk about how to deal with it, let’s briefly discuss:

How not to deal with it

The answer is not found in mere commandment keeping.

Making rules and forcing ourselves or others to conform will not change a heart.

Asceticism and pietism won’t work either.

Taking a vow of poverty isn’t going to fix your heart.

If you say, I’m just going to isolate myself from everyone else, you’ve not really cured the problem because you’ve just moved the problem right along with you.... because the problem originates in the heart.

Self-denial and deprivation will not change a heart.

Neither will church attendance, religious rituals, motions, or emotions.

Not one external thing will kill the sin that is inside our heart. Not one.

The only instruments that will penetrate the heart are the word of God and the Holy Spirit.

A 7-Step Offensive Plan

➟ ➟ ➟ Abstain from sinful desire

➟ ➟ ➟ 1 Peter 2.11 - Abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul.

Stop sinning. Take responsibility for yourself.

➟ ➟ ➟ Romans 6.11-12 - do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires.

When it comes to sin, Scripture never makes us out to be a victim. It places the responsibility for sin squarely upon us. The message is that whatever we face is only overwhelming if we allow it to be.

➟ ➟ ➟ James 4.7 - resist the devil and he will flee from you.

How do we do this?

➟ ➟ ➟ Make no provision for the flesh

➟ ➟ ➟ Romans 13.14 - make no provision for the flesh.

Don’t feed your sinful tendencies.

Stop repeating in your mind what makes you angry about a person. Stop placing inappropriate images in your face. Don’t feed your ego. Don’t make any provision for the flesh.

Starve the monster who lives inside of you.

We must refuse to furnish our minds with the things that feed our desires.

➟ ➟ ➟ Fix your eyes on Christ

➟ ➟ ➟ 2 Corinthians 3.18 - fix your eyes on Christ by gazing at the glory of the Lord.

Note how we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, more and more like Christ.

Here’s the axiom we pull out of this verse: you become like what you worship.

What do you worship? Money? Popularity? Fame? Career? Lusts? Politics? Social justice?

This is why so many people are shallow, trivial, cynical, and judgmental.

Look at the world around … almost everyone is focused on everything but Christ.

If I fix my heart on Christ, my preoccupation with Him is how I participate in the process of being conformed to Him.

If I want to be conformed to Christ...

I can’t focus on or feed my fleshly lusts

Instead, I focus everything on Jesus. I’m completely occupied with Him. He fills up my thoughts.

How do I make that happen?

➟ ➟ ➟ Meditate on the word

➟ ➟ ➟ Psalm 119.11 - Meditate on the word.

Psalmist: I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.

Note also:

➟ ➟ ➟ Psalm 1.2

➟ ➟ ➟ Joshua 1.8

➟ ➟ ➟ Psalm 119.105

See how God’s word confronts and attacks sin. And since this is the case, I must fill my mind with it.

➟ ➟ ➟ Philippians 4.8

Load your mind with Scripture. Ponder it carefully. You make no provision for the flesh when you focus on God’s word.

➟ ➟ ➟ Pray without ceasing.

➟ ➟ ➟ Luke 22.40 - Pray that you may not fall into temptation. Do we pray like this? Do we pray for the strength to order our steps in life to steer clear of temptation?

➟ ➟ ➟ Matthew 26.41

➟ ➟ ➟ Psalm 19.13 - here is a prayer for protection from sin. This should be on the heart and in the soul of every faithful Christian.

➟ ➟ ➟ Practice Self-Control

➟ ➟ ➟ 1 Corinthians 9.27 - practice self control.

Self discipline that refuses to pander to bodily appetites.

We do not have to give the body everything it desires.

➟ ➟ ➟ Be filled with the Spirit

➟ ➟ ➟ Ephesians 5.18 - be filled with the Spirit.

This means I must utterly yield to the Spirit’s control, who lives inside our heart.

How do you kill sin in your life?

➟ ➟ ➟ Romans 8.12-13

Conclusion

➟ ➟ ➟ Philippians 2.12-13 - Today you have received a very practical lesson on what it means to work out your own salvation.

We have to work out what God has put in us. So:

stop succumbing to sin

stop accommodating things that pander to your sin.

Fix your eyes on Jesus

Focus on the word

Pray without ceasing

Practice self-control

be filled with the Spirit

It is up to each of us to stand in the strength of the Spirit and the power of God.

We’re not victims.

We’re no longer under sin. We don’t have to sin or do evil.

We can lead a holy life.

We must deal with the sin in our heart. This is where the battle is.

➟ ➟ ➟ What will you do with your sin?

Refuse to cover it. Quit feeding the monster inside.

Sin is not killed when it is internalized.

Sin is not killed when we exchange it for another. Lateral moves are not progress.

The goal is a good conscience.

You can experience the peace, tranquility, and rest w/no alarm from within.

If your conscience is defiled, the battle will rage.

When you begin winning the battle on the inside, you’ll have a clean conscience.

This is the battle. This is the way we have to live our life.

Can we help you?