Romans Series

The war in the inward man.

Not sure how many of you ever ran out of steering fluid in your car . When you run out its very difficult to turn the wheel ( your pulling an tugging the wheel to try to get it moving in the right direction.

But when you let the wheel go it goes right back in its neutral position.

Thats like our flesh. The Bible calls it the Body of sin and death. We pull and tug to get things right and soon as we get tired we go right back to our neutral position. Our bent.

Romans 7:18 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.”

Paul wrote this with a solution in man. Knowing the depravity of man and the

Naturally man believes he’s inherently good. And That his heart is inherently pure.

We look at places like Ukraine and on the news station you hear the will of the Ukrainian people

They have the heart to conquer mother Russia.

Growing up saying someone had heart was a good thing. It was usually in reference to something stupid though.

But this heart is propagated and paraded as being something inhertitly good.So we say things like

“ Follow your heart”

“What does your heart say”

“Follow your heart listen when it speaks to you.”

“You heart is free have courage to follow it”

“ Make mistakes, take chances , be silly , trust yourself, follow your heart”

We hear things like this, let m be led by my heart my intuition.

But the Bible says

Proverbs 12:20 “Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, But counselors of peace have joy.”

Tun to

Jer 17:9 ““The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

Who would naturally choose sin knowing the outcome. But the deceitfulness of our heart convinces us that sin is okay.

Knowing the broken relationships .

Would you really would have got with that girl knowing she would slash your tires.

Knowing poverty that comes with it.

Know health issues.

But the heart is deceitful.

When man searches the heart he sees a reflection of himself. and if He doesn’t see if sin thats a wrong and scary analyst of the heart issue.

God can know it!

Jer17:10 “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.”

“ Out of the heart flows the issues of life.”

“ Cursed is the man that trust in man”

Jer 17:5 “Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the Lord.”

Phil 3:3 “For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,”

Luke 12:13-21 “Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher ( He called Jesus teacher possibly this man was a Pharisee, usually Jesus disciples called Him “ Master or Lord”), , tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man (Jesus was empathic, Jesus is not harsh with him ), who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness (greed ), for one’s life (zoe life) does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.””

Wealth brings a measure of false security.

You have three greek words that describe life.

Bios- quantitative life i.e. how long one lived, how many goods one acquired.

Psyche- which referred to qualitative life, i.e., to to the values and relationships that constitute personhood.

Zoe- which referred to quintessential ( most perfect , in quality ) life i.e. to the life offered to humanity in the call to follow Jesus, and through him to live in a personal relationship with The Father.

Bios life could be measured by ones possessions.

Your hearts says “ take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”

Our hearts can be this way. Our hearts boast many things.

Is like you spent all this time all these resources to build your own kingdom and God says you fool this not is required of you.

you say let me work so hard i want to retire when I’m 40 and then eat drink and be merry and God says you fool.

Its not always the open bad things or evil things that are the problem. Its the good things which could be the biggest curse.

The flesh is the a word we throw around allot sometimes we think its merely the material part of man. Oppose to the immaterial ( The soul).

The flesh is Often understood as the seat of sin and rebellion to God.

John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”

Romans 13:14 “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”

1 John 2:16 “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.”

Romans 8:3 “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,”

Those are in the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 8:8 “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Thats why you must be born again.

John 3:6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Fleshly lust war against the soul.

1 Peter 2:11 “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,”

Flesh wars against the Spirit.

1 Cor 1:29 “that no flesh should glory in His presence.”