The Pursuit of Holiness

The Battle for Holiness

Romans 7:21 (CSB)

So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me.

We must realize this truth if we are to fight effectively against sin.

Even though the battle for holiness and righteousness rages in us every day, the Spirit creates a desire for holiness (1 John 3:9 “Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because his seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God.”) If there is no desire to overcome sin, that’s when we should be genuinely concerned.

Sin is still hostile toward God and rebellious to His will.

And, sin still lives in us (Rom.8:7 “The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so.”) So, this desire still persists. Consider, actually, the enemy to our souls who stands ready to oppose our every effort to do good.

Scripture indicates that the seat of indwelling sin is the heart.

Mark 7:21–23 (CSB)

For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”

Generally, the heart refers to the seat or motivation of man. But, as a whole, it can be taken to refer to the “whole soul of man and all its faculties, not individually, but as they all work together in doing good or evil. The mind as it reasons, discerns, and judges; the emotions as they like and dislike; the conscience as it determines and warns; and the will as it chooses or refuses — are all together called the heart.”

Here are a couple of difficult truths, then:

The heart is deceitful and unsearchable to anyone but God (Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it? I, the Lord, examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve.”)

Even as believers we do not know our own hearts (1 Cor.4:3-5 “It is of little importance to me that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I don’t even judge myself. For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me. So don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.”)

It is in the unsearchable heart where the depths of sin reside which is why battling sin is such a difficult fight: it is an enemy we cannot fully search out.

Further, the deceitful heart excuses, rationalizes, and justifies our sinful actions. There are areas of sin in our lives that we are blind to because of the nature of our hearts. Such is the nature of its deception that we deal only halfway with sin or we buy some notion of thinking that mental assent to truth is the same as obedience.

What truths are we tempted to agree with mentally without actually giving consideration to how to obey?

David prays that God would reveal his hidden sin (Ps.139:23-24 “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.”) If we intend to pray this honestly, we must simultaneously hold up the mirror of God’s Word so that we can genuinely be exposed to truth and light (Heb.4:12 “For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”)

Satan and our deceitful hearts will lead us to focus on secondary issues.

We can get caught up in the “fruit level issues” and miss the “root level causes!”

Indwelling sin works largely through our desires.

This is where we have to be particularly careful as the wisdom of the age would tell us to just follow your heart. In essence, the philosophers of the day elevate desire over reason and truth and our feelings on any particular subject become the chief determiner of actions.

In what ways do you see this playing out? How has it lead us to stray from God’s standards, either as individuals, churches, or a culture altogether?

Whenever we are tempted to follow our hearts, remember:

James 1:14 “But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire.”

Jer.17:9 “The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it?”

Lest we think we only respond to external stimuli, we would do well to remember that it is an inward motivation that drags us away into temptation and sin. Our “evil desires are constantly searching out temptations to satisfy their insatiable lusts.”

When we encounter unexpected temptations, our sinful nature readily embraces them.

“Denying sin must be chiefly directed on the affections (desires). We must make sure our desires are directed toward glorifying God…and not satisfying the lusts of our bodies.”

Sin tends to deceive our understanding and reasoning.

Two truths about the mind that need to be remembered:

Eph.4:22 “to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires,” One of Satan’s great strategies is to deceive our minds.

Rom.12:2 “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” If Satan seeks to twist our mind through sin’s deception, we must be renewed constantly to be able to discern the “good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

Consider how our minds are drawn away:

First from watchfulness, then from obedience.

Hosea 7:9 “Foreigners consume his strength, but he does not notice. Even his hair is streaked with gray, but he does not notice.”

From watchfulness by overconfidence as we think ourselves above any particular sin.

1 Cor.10:12 “So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.” We may even be tempted when helping a brother deal with his sin (Gal.6:1 “Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted.”)

We are drawn from obedience by an abuse of grace.

Jude 4 “For some people, who were designated for this judgment long ago, have come in by stealth; they are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.” Beware even of nurturing a license for immorality by only dwelling on God’s compassion and grace while neglecting His holiness and hatred of sin.

We are drawn from obedience when we begin to question God’s word.

Gen.3:1-5 “Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” “No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.””

We talked last week about the fact that sin DOES wage guerilla warfare against us even though we are no longer under its rule. This week we see a little more clearly WHAT that warfare looks like. How do we respond?

“We must learn to deal swiftly and firmly with the first motions of indwelling sin.”

If sin finds any lodging place in the soul, it will almost assuredly drag us in to sin. Eccl.8:11 “Because the sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly, the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit evil.”

The heart is unsearchable, our evil desires are insatiable, and our reason is constantly in danger of being deceived.

Therefore, Pr.4:23 “Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.”