Winning The War Inside Of You 6-6- 2021

THE INVISIBLE WAR WINNING THE WAR INSIDE OF ME Sunday June 4, 2021 Scripture Reference: Romans 7:15-25 (NLT2) Intro. A. Well this probably feels like we are starting a new sermon series. It has been over a month now since I shared with you the introductory messages for this series on the invisible war, but we had to take a break for several reasons, but I am pretty sure we will be able to get all the way through this series now with minimal interruptions. B. I am not sure if you will remember this but about four months ago the government announced that on September 11 of this year, they were going to be withdrawing all our troops from Afghanistan. I guess we will see if it actually happens, but whether it does or not this will be the longest war America has ever fought. Actually, it was the longest war for us over ten years ago, but today we are continuing to talk about a war that has gone on for far longer. It is an unseen war, and it is a spiritual war. 1. We learned back in the very first message that we have three mortal enemies we are fighting. The Bible refers to them as the world, the flesh and the Devil. The world is the value system of this world we are living in that is in opposition to God and His word. The flesh is your sinful nature that we are all born with and the Devil and his minions are marshalled against you. 2. Now honesty demands that we admit that much of the time we blame the problems and troubles we have in this life on people, things or circumstances. We say things like, "If I just had a better job or a better boss things would be a lot better for me." "If I had more money, I would not be in this predicament." "If my spouse were more understanding we would not have all these conflicts." I don't know if you noticed but all the things I mentioned and many more I could have, have a common denominator. I will tell you what it is in just a moment but first I want you to take out the gift you all got on your way into to church today (the mirrors). Do me a favor and look into that mirror for a moment. THERE'S YOUR ANSWER! The common denominator is YOU and it is ME. It's not the job that needs to change, its not more money you need and its not your spouse that needs to change. IT IS YOU my friend and yes, it is ME. As Walt Kelly said in his famous cartoon years ago, "We have met the enemy and he is us." 3. Again to be brutally honest the Devil doesn't have to waste much time messing with us because we are perfectly capable of messing ourselves up. AMEN? Now we have to work on how we battle all three of these enemies I mentioned, but today we and next Sunday we will focus our attention on the battle within, this sinful nature we are all born with. Trans. Have you ever struggled to do the right thing? Have you ever said, "I know this is what God wants me to do, I know this is right, but I feel pulled in the opposite direction?" Have you ever wondered why you make wrong or bad choices with your life? If this, is you then I say Praise the Lord because you picked a great Sunday to be at Cornerstone. I will also tell you this, you are in good company and I am not just referring to those around you. If you have had these struggles, you are in the company of the greatest Christian that ever lived, a guy named the Apostle Paul. For the next few weeks, we will be exploring what I think are two of the most consequential chapters of the Bible. They are Romans 7 and 8. Today we are exploring Romans 7:15-25. Let's look at Paul's brutally honest assessment of himself at one point in his life. "I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can't. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 21 I have discovered this principle of life-that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God's law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. Romans 7:15-25 (NLT2) You can hear the frustration in Paul's voice, can't you? He is telling us that when we have this internal battle two things happen. One is that when we try to please God in our own strength we will get frustrated, and we will fail. Secondly, he tells us that when we try to change things in our lives by our own willpower it simply will not work. Once again, we will fail. There are two things I want us to begin looking at today. What I am going to do is show you the cost of this battle and the cause of this battle. This is such an important issue for us I want to stop right here and call upon the Lord to help me as I preach and help you as you listen so that we can find the victory and peace God desires for us and that Jesus died for us to enjoy. PRAYER OK let's talk about the cost of this internal battle to us personally. I. THE COST OF THE BATTLE. There are six things Paul says are the consequence of this battle. The first is: A. Confusion 1. Look at what Paul said, "I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate. V.15 I want you to do me a favor if you are taking notes and circle in this verse every time you see the word "I". Five times in one verse Paul uses "I". Paul is doing what we see so few in our government do these days and that is to point the finger where it belongs, AT OURSELVES! Paul didn't blame other people, his didn't blame his circumstances. He didn't even blame the Devil! He said, "There is something wrong with ME!" 2. Friends this is the key to understanding this chapter and frankly it is part one of the keys to finding the victory, peace and joy you desire in your life. Honestly, we could entitle Romans 7 "The Defeated Christian" because that is what we see, but Praise God that is not the end of the story and we will see before I finish this message, because in Romans 8 we can also see "The Victorious Christian". 3. I would have you do it right now, but I will help you out. When you get a chance go back in these verses we read and circle the "I's" the "My's" and the "Me's". Depending on the translation you use these numbers will be a little different but, in the NLT, here are the totals, I's 24 times, My's 5 times, Me's 7 times, and the word myself is used once. That is a total of 37 first person pronouns used in ten verses. Paul clearly shows us that he had an "I" problem. Paul said, "I am perplexed." Friends this ought to encourage us. Probably the greatest Christian to ever live said, "I am confused, I am perplexed about my spiritual life." Trans. OK here is cost number two of this battle. B. Guilt And Shame. 1. Look again at what Paul said in V.16, this is from the Living Bible. "I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws I am breaking." V.16 LB Paul is saying, and you and I have said it to, "I feel guilt for what I did". "What in the world was I thinking?" I like this LB translation when it speaks of "my bad conscience" and here is why. The word "conscience" comes from two Latin words. "Con" which means "with" and "science" which means "knowledge". To have a guilty conscience is to say, "I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I did it anyway." "I did it with full knowledge." When we do this, it will always lead to guilt and shame. I will never forget the morning I caught Shellee with a mouth full of gum. She was hiding behind the curtains in the living room of our apartment. 2. You all know this, but I will say it anyway. Guilt and shame are horrible things to live with. They destroy relationships and the most important relationship they destroy is your relationship with God. How many times have you done exactly what Paul is talking about here and then felt that guilt and shame to the point where you didn't feel you could ask God to forgive you? Friends that is the work of one of those enemies we identified, the Devil! He wants you to stay in that guilt and shame and not ask God for the forgiveness He wants you to have. And please listen carefully. The longer you wait to seek that forgiveness the further you will move away from God. Of course, God does not want us being disobedient and we will see when we look at chapter eight the plan God has for us to be victorious, but His forgiveness is unlimited. DON'T LET THE DEVIL DECEIVE YOU! Trans. OK here is the third cost of this battle. C. Compulsions And Addictions. 1. Here is V.17 from the LB again. "But I can't help myself because I'm no longer doing it. It is sin inside me that is stronger than I am that makes me do these evil things." What happens when you do something over and over again? It becomes a habit, right? It often becomes something you cannot not do. [] I used to tell the kids when I was teaching tobacco prevention classes in the schools that most of them had no idea what an addiction was like. Most of us know what it is to like or even love to do something, but we don't "have" to do it. I love to fish, but I do not have to go into the garage every day and touch my boat or small my fish bait. [] Many of you have heard Mike Bayer's testimony about his addiction to alcohol. Many times, he told himself he wasn't going to stop at the liquor store on the way home from work, but they car ended up there anyway. 2. Paul tells us the same thing with what we struggle with. We have the best of intentions to not do this thing we know we should not do and yet we still do it. Once again, I will remind you that all of us have a sinful nature. It is a natural inclination to do what is wrong. Let me take a little unscientific poll. How many of you like doing what is easy? How many like doing what is comfortable? How many of you like doing what makes you happy? Now let me ask this without hands raised. How many of you know that the thing we think will make us happy, the thing we think will be comfortable or the thing we think will be easy is not always the best or right thing for us to do? 3. How many times have you said, "Today will be different" "Today I am going to make the right choices" and at the end of the day you failed? Friends lets face it sin is fun. Sin is enjoyable. Sin brings pleasure the Bible even says so. "He chose to share the oppression of God's people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin." Hebrews 11:25 (NLT2) I want to remind you that this comes from the chapter we studied in the very first message. This is talking about the faith of Moses. Then remember we learned that when chapter 12 begins we have the "Therefore" to tell us that this was the example we were to follow if we wanted to be heroes of faith ourselves. Sin is fun, but only for the short term and then it brings pain, shame, guilt, regret, remorse and on the list goes. The short-term pleasures are never worth the long-term payoff. It like buying stuff on the credit card. Hey, it's fun handing someone a piece of plastic, but next month there will be pain and for most people that pain will be long term. Trans. Let me give you just one more of the costs of this battle then next week I will give you that last two plus we will talk about the cause of this battle, plus I am going to lay some groundwork for the hope that awaits us in this battle we fight. So here is cost number four. D. Self-condemnation. 1. In V.18 Paul says, "And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature." V.18 I like how the LB translates this, "I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned." How many times have we said to ourselves, "What kind of a Christian am I?" "What a miserable failure I am." "How can God possibly love me let alone forgive me?" These are just the signs that you are in a spiritual battle. I have been asked a number of times, "Pastor I think I have committed the unpardonable sin." Friends the fact that we feel the guilt or shame for our sin means we have not committed the unpardonable sin. In fact, here is something you need to know and probably share with others. The only sin God will not forgive is the one we do not confess. 2. Now I want to point out a few things quickly that Paul is and is not saying in this verse. Number one Paul is not deflecting the blame for his actions and choices. He is not saying, "Well its not my fault, it is because of this pesky sinful nature in me." What he is doing though is acknowledging where this disobedience is originating. The fact is there is nothing good in our sinful nature and it is the originating source of our disobedience, but let me say again, THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY! CONCLUSION A. In the ministry of Celebrate Recovery they use a phrase that you have heard me repeat before, but I think it is fitting to use it again here. "Revealing is the beginning of healing." If we fail to admit the problem of this internal struggle, we have no hope whatsoever of winning this war. We need to follow the lead of the apostle Paul and admit there is a problem here and that problem must be confronted if it is going to be conquered and let me say again. IT CAN BE CONQURED! We will talk about that specifically when we start to explore chapter eight. If you are in the midst of this battle right now let me, say this to you. It is not possible for any of us to be sinless in this life, but it is most certainly possible for you to sin less. If it is not, then let's abandon this so-called Christian life and just live as we please. Of course, I believe and know it is possible to find the daily victory over sin we desire, and you will see that soon so hang in there. 1. As we close today, I want to give you the opportunity to seek the forgiveness God offers to you. You might be in that place I talked about earlier where you feel the guilt and shame for your repeated disobedience, and you have believed the Devil's lie that God will not listen to you anymore. It is not true, and God is waiting for you to ask Him to forgive so that He can freely give it to you. Let's pray. 2