Winning The War Within

THE WAR WITHIN

ROM 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

INTRODUCTION: THE YEAR WAS 1914 WHEN ARCHDUKE FRANCIS FERDINAND OF AUSTRIA HUNGARY WAS ASSASSINATED IGNITING THE BEGINNING OF WORLD WAR I, WHERE MANY LIVES WERE LOST IN AN EFFORT TO RESTORE ORDER. THEN 25 YEARS LATER IN 1939 GERMANY, UNDER THE DICTATORSHIP OF ADOLF HITLER, INVADED POLAND INAUGURATING THE BEGINNING OF WORLD WAR II; A WAR THAT COST OVER A TRILLION DOLLARS TO FINANCE, AND SOME 27 MILLION LIVES MET THEIR DEMISE. THEN SEVERAL YEARS LATER, COMMUNISM IN VIETNAM PRODUCED THE MUCH CONTROVERSIAL VIETNAM WAR; A WAR MANY SAID WE HAD NO BUSINESS IN, THAT INVOLVED OVER 1/2 MILLION TROOPS, COSTING OVER 500 MILLION DOLLARS, CAUSED A MAJOR UPROAR IN THE UNITED STATES. MANY FAMILIES WERE LEFT FATHERLESS, WIVES LOST THEIR HUSBANDS, OTHERS LOST BROTHERS, COUSINS, UNCLES, AND FRIENDS. ALL OF THESE WARS WERE TRAGIC AND COSTLY, HOWEVER, THERE IS ANOTHER WAR THAT IS RAGING THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, A WAR BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL, RIGHTEOUS AND UNRIGHTEOUS, IN THE LIVE OF EVERY CHRISTIAN, AND THAT IS THE WAR WITHIN!

I. TEXT

PAUL IN THIS TEXT SHARES WITH THE CHURCH AT ROME HIS DESIRE TO DO THE THINGS THAT ARE PLEASING IN THE SIGHT OF GOD, BUT BECAUSE HE IS A NEW CREATURE WITH SOME OLD HABITS, THERE IS A CONSTANT WAR, A STRUGGLE, A CONFRONTATION, BETWEEN HIS SPIRITUAL NATURE AND HIS CARNAL NATURE THAT IS CAUSING HIM MUCH DISTRESS. AND MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS DON’T THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE WE ARE SAVED THAT WE ARE IMMUNED TO SIN, 1JOHN 1:8 SAYS, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." ROMANS 3:23 REMINDS US THAT ALL HAVE SINNED AND COME SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD.

PAUL AGONIZES OVER HIS OWN IMPERFECTIONS, REALIZING THAT IN HIS FLESH DWELLETH NO GOOD THING. HE HAS THE WILL TO CARRYOUT GODS WORD, BUT CARNALITY APPEARS TO BE A STUMBLING BLOCK. IN OTHER WORDS, HIS SPIRIT WAS WILLING BUT, HIS FLESH WAS WEAK. AND MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES WE COME TO CHURCH, THERE WILL BE TIMES THAT WE WILL BE WEAK. DON’T GET ME

WRONG, AS DEVOUT AS PAUL WAS, HE BOUND UNDER THE FRAIL LIMITATIONS OF HUMANITY.

II.DUAL NATURE

THE EFFECTS OF ADAMS’ SIN IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN, CAUSED GOD’S IMAGE TO BE TARNISHED IN MAN RESULTING IN MAN LOOSING SPIRITUAL FELLOWSHIP WITH HIS CREATOR; AND CONSEQUENTLY EVER PERSON BORN INTO THE HUMAN RACE WAS BORN WITH A SINFUL NATURE. THAT’S WHAT PS. 51:5 MEANS, "BEHOLD, I WAS SHAPEN INIQUITY; AND IN SIN DID MY MOTHER CONCEIVE ME .”

AS LONG AS WE ARE IN THIS WORLD WE WILL BE AT WAR WITH THE OLD SIN NATURE THAT DWELLS WITHIN US. AND THE SIN NATURE SIMPLY MAKES US DESIRE THE THINGS OF THE WORLD, RATHER THAN THE THINGS OF GOD. I’M NOT SAYING THAT WE DO NOT NEED THINGS OF THE WORLD BECAUSE WE HAVE TO LIVE, BUT THE THINGS OF THE WORLD ARE NOT TO HAVE DOMINION OVER US. IN OTHER WORDS, WE ARE IN THE WORLD BUT, NOT OF THIS WORLD!

THE SIN NATURE IS AT WAR WITH GOD, WHILE OUR SPIRITUAL NATURE IS AT WAR WITH SATAN, EACH TRYING TO SUBDUE THE OTHER. IN THIS WAR THAT WE ARE IN THERE WILL BE NO PEACE TREATY, ONE WILL DEFEAT THE OTHER.

III. PREPARATION FOR WAR

IN EVERY WAR THERE IS USUALLY CASUALTIES. MANY SAINTS HAVE LOST THEIR EFFECTIVENESS AS A RESULT RECEIVING SPIRITUAL WOUNDS. WHENEVER YOUR SIN NATURE PREVENTS YOU FROM STUDYING THE BIBLE YOU ARE IN DANGER OF BEING WOUNDED; WHENEVER YOU DON’T COME TO SUNDAY SCHOOL, PRAYER MEETING, AND TO CHURCH ON A CONSISTENT BASIS YOU ARE IN DANGER OF BEING WOUNDED IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN WOUNDED ALREADY.

THERE ARE FOUR POINTS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO OFFER THAT WILL PREPARE US FOR THE WAR WITHIN. FIRST, WE MUST SEEK THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, MATT. 6:33. SEEKING THE KINGDOM OF GOD WILL PREVENT US FROM SEEKING THE THINGS OF THE WORLD. SECOND,WE MUST STUDY TO SHOW OURSELVES APPROVED UNTO GOD, 2 TIM. 2:15. WHEN WE STUDY GOD’S WORD HIS WORD TAKES ROOT IN OUR HEARTS .THIRD, WE MUST BE MINDFUL OF THE IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER, MATT. 26:41 INSTRUCTS US TO WATCH AND PRAY THAT WE ENTER NOT INTO TEMPTATION. PRAY

BRINGS US INTO THE VERY PRESENCE OF ALMIGHTY GOD. FOURTH , THERE MUST BE A TRANSFORMATION OF OUR MINDS. ROMANS 12:2 INSTRUCTS, “AND BE NOT CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD: BUT BE YE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, THAT YE MA PROVE WHAT IS THAT GOOD, AND ACCEPTABLE, AND PERFECT, WILL OF GOD.”