The War Within
Romans 7:15-25
I want to do more but I do less ... I want to be better and wind up being worse... I want to reach higher but just fall lower.
Sound familiar???
It is hard for me to picture Paul, the great apostle, writer of half of the New Testament, preacher, missionary, martyr being weak. .. like me .... like you.
But when I read this passage I feel like someone has been eavesdropping on my prayers... reading my diary... reading my mind.
Listen to Galatians 5: 17, "For my sinful nature desires what I know is contrary to what the Spirit would have me to do and what the Spirit wants me to do is contrary to what I want to do."
I am thankful to Paul for being so honest and confessional. It helps me to do the same.
There is no verse in the bible “more true” of me than these in Galatians and Romans.
My problem is not just that I don’t DO what is right, what God wants me to do.
The real problem is that I DON’T EVEN WANT TO!! !
I try to want to, I try to make myself want to ... but the truth is IT IS FOREIGN TO ME.
It never comes easily or naturally ... it is a constant battle.
No wonder I keep on finding myself flat on my back, done it again, and asking for God to help me up, forgive me, and making those promises that He doesn’t believe and I don’t either. .. "I won’t do it again."
Michael Hoyst is another person who has walked in my shoes. He wrote a prayer that is my very favorite.
READ
1 The War Withing Exceeds Human Understanding
Jeremiah says "The heart is deceitful above all things and exceedingly evil beyond anyone’s understanding. " 17: 9
That is true. How many times have you asked yourself the question, "HOW ... how
could I have done it again? How could I be so weak? How could I be so STUPID?
Paul is not claiming ignorance as an excuse ... I didn’t know what I was doing." 7: 15
He knew full well what he was doing. JUST LIKE YOU AND ME!!
We know what we are doing ... we just fail to see it in context. .. that it is contrary to God, that God is standing there calling us away.
We get tunnel vision ... all we see is the thing to be grasped.
We know what we are doing when we reach for it.
Then, later, after the thing is done and Satan leaves, taking his temptation, then we see the situation clearly and we realize our sin ... and THEN we ask. ... HOW ... WHY?????
I echo the words of Paul. .. WHAT A WRETCHED SINNER I AM!
The Conflict
NOT just. ..
What I want vs What God wants
BUT ... What I want vs What I do
It is almost as if some demon takes over my body and I do things I can’t imagine and then he leaves my body and I find that I have done the unthinkable.
But the reality is I DO IT !!!!!
Then I stand back in amazement and ask, "HOW? ... WHY?
The Concession (v. 16)
I have to admit that I know the law, God’s Word and Will, is right.
I don’t even waste time trying to show that the law is flawed or that I am right.
I know that the Word is good and is the way I should live.
The Condition (v. 17)
"It is no longer I who do it but sin living in me."
There is an intruder that lives in each heart ... it is sin, the old nature.
How did it get there?
You inherited it... from Adam.
You have invited it in ... habits, temptations.
You have fed it
You have allowed it to grow and be strengthened and then ... it takes over.
But you are not excused ... you put it there and what it does is your fault.
2. The War Within Exceeds Human Will
The Desire, (v. 18 b)
Wanting to do better is not enough.
I know ... I have begged God with tears and great emotion to deliver me from this body of unrighteousness.
Paul admitted that with all of his heart he truly desired to do better
v. 18b, "For I have the desire to do what is good, BUT I CAN NOT CARRY IT OUT."
Desire does not necessarily equal performance.
The Dilemma, (v. 18a)
"I know that no good thing dwelleth in me."
dwelleth in me = lives permanently in me.
Oh, sure I have times when I want to do good, times when I do good, times when I am controlled by good.
But those times are NOT THE NORM.
Those things are visitors ... the full time resident is greed, envy, hatred, revenge, lust, and the like... those things LIVE IN ME.
Since those things dwell in me.. it is only natural that those things will show up most often.
And it is not only what dwells in me but where I dwell.
Isaiah, in the presence of God’s holiness cried out, "Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips
and I dwell among a people of unclean lips. "
In John 17: 15 Jesus chose to leave us in this world
Our problem is that we LIVE IN THIS WORLD.
We live in a world that is increasingly evil and ungodly, filled with more and more,
newer and stronger temptations and a world where the inhibitions, the prohibitions are more and more eroded ....
In our grandparents day there were barriers, prohibitions, morals, mores that helped us to keep our distance
public opinion
religion
morals
But in our day, in the name of freedom, we have eroded and torn down the barriers and prohibitions.
Things that in their day was pornography is not standard fare
Things they could not even imagine we se regularly
Things that "good" people didn’t do, now everyone does
So do you see the problem?
We live in a sinful, evil, godless world where living a righteous life, where doing
what the Spirit wants us to do is not the norm ... its foreign.
We dwell among a people that are sinful, evil and godless and are constantly
tempting us to indulge and who tear down the barriers that would keep us safe.
And added to that there is this monster that lives in me... my old nature... that loves
the sinful and godless things and hates the things of God.
There is a strong magnet on the outside and a strong magnet on the inside.
And only now and then is there anything in me that is not magnetic ... the good things.
And all of this is being controlled by a superior, stronger, smarter Satan for whom I
am no match.
WHAT HOPE IS THERE?
How can I ever expect or even hope to escape this fallen condition?
1. Put On the FULL Armor of God
We are not fighting just flesh and blood but spirit so we must fight spiritual enemies with spiritual armor.
Ephesians 610ftells us ... (READ)
TRUTH - The Word of God that dispels the lies of Satan.
RIGHTEOUSNESS- righteous friends, activities, movies, books, etc.
F AlTH- to extinguish the fiery darts ((Knowledge/truth)
SAL V ATION- no hope for lost
SWORD / WORD ... 3rd time mentioned
With those weapons we can destroy the forces of evil.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says we can ...
1. Conquer the unconquerable .... "demolish strongholds"
We have to identify Satan’s strongholds ...
lust, compulsions, obsessions, involuntary thoughts, lack of self-restraint
That secret sin in your hidden place ... the constant source of failure/defeat
Then, in the power of the Lord, the Word and the Spirit... we have to come against it.
Lay siege to it, starve it out, over-power it.
2. Explain the Unexplainable ... "demolish arguements"
With the truth of the Word we can expose the lies of Satan, we can tear down the deceptive arguments about why we should.
Satan loves to dwell in the dark, there he has the advantage over you like a blind man does.
We are at the advantage when we turn on the light. .. he is blinded, powerless.
3. Assail the Unassailable...
"demolish everything that is raised up against the knowledge of God.”
Science, medicine, philosophy, psychiatry are all "things that are raised up against the knowledge of God.”
They claim to be superior, they claim to disprove the Word of God, they claim to make the Word obsolete.
Many people today believe that.
Only A THOROUGH familiarity with the Word can overcome such worldly
enemies.
With a knowledge of the Word we can flatten the opposition.
4. Capture the Unthinkable ...
"take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
The battle is NEVER ... NEVER lost from the outside!!!!!
It is only from the inside that we are vulnerable.
Only when the thought gets from OUTSIDE... temptation
And gets INSIDE... evil imaginations... that we are weakened.
Persecution, opposition, accusations, and temptations are all EXTERNAL and all can serve to strengthen the soul, the witness, and the Kingdom.
Evil imaginations, lust, evil desires ... are INTERNAL and ALWAYS WEAKEN the soul, the witness, and the Kingdom.
WHAT TODO
Set a watch... you know the most likely place the enemy will attack.
1. AVOID that place/ activity/ Person
2. Turn on the light.... know the truth ... set you free. = = = WORD WORD WORD
3. Safety in numbers ... hang out with Christian people, in Christian places, doing Christian things.
