Hello, this is Brother Denny.
Welcome to Charity Ministries.
Our desire is that your life would be
blessed and changed by this message.
This message is not copyrighted and is not
to be bought or sold.
You are welcome to make copies for your
friends and neighbors.
If you would like additional messages, please go
to our website for a complete listing at
www.charityministries.org.
If you would like a catalog of other
sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or
write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street,
Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522.
These messages are offered to all without charge
by the freewill offerings of God's people.
A special thank you to all who support
this ministry.
Well, we greet you in the precious name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the risen Lord
and Savior.
Hallelujah.
I must say I am humbled to be
asked to give a message here this morning,
knowing that there would be many people here
and knowing that in a crowd this size,
there's probably many needs and perhaps many of
you are looking to God and longing for
some answers for some of those needs.
And it is a humbling thing to consider
abiding in the presence of God, to find
and to hear the heart of God and
then to be able to come here and
by the grace of God to be able
to minister what God has given.
That's a humbling thought to me and so
we look to God this morning in faith.
I must say I feel like I face
an impossible task here this morning because my
heart, I have a twofold burden.
Now, the first burden of my heart seems
to have been conveyed quite a bit already
and I'm catching that other brethren have the
same burden and that is that as young
people, as youth, you have sat here in
the Bible school all week long and you've
seen God work and you've experienced God working
in your life and the burden on our
hearts is that you could come back here
a year from now and testify of a
faithful walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the burden and cry of our hearts
and I have to echo the blessing of
yesterday when a brother got up here and
testified of how God had worked in his
life last year and then how that worked
out and through the year as he up
to this point and what a blessing that
was.
May you set that vision before your heart.
I have another burden on my heart this
morning and that is that behind you young
people are sitting many mothers and fathers and
I can't even see who they are from
here.
I can't distinguish their faces.
They've not been here all week, many of
them.
They've been on the job.
They've been at home caring for the family.
But my burden this morning is that if
you're sitting in the very last row in
this room that God would not pass you
by today, that you would also be the
recipient of the grace of God on your
heart and life this morning.
For I believe that is the heart and
burden of God.
That you could also enter into the spirit
and reality of the living God working in
our lives, moving us on, changing us from
glory to glory.
That's my prayer for you.
You know, many, many prayers have been prayed
all week long and again I know for
this morning's service.
But why don't we all together stand to
our feet.
I don't know how many people are here
but let's all quiet our hearts in the
presence of God and let's quietly in our
heart and in our spirit intercede that God
would come and visit us this morning.
Let's all pray together.
Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be
Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it
is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and
forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us
from evil for Thine is the kingdom, the
power and the glory forever.
You may be seated.
You know, as I listened to some of
your testimonies yesterday, I appreciated so much hearing
those testimonies and those breakthroughs and how God
dealt with you as youth.
And there was something I thought about.
Often, you know, we make reference to the
victory.
That I've gotten the victory.
And I understand what we say.
I understand what we mean when we say
that.
But I'd like to remind us that until
there has been a test, you really haven't
gotten the victory.
And maybe that's some of my burden for
you today.
There will be tests.
You will be tested.
You can count on it.
And that's okay.
That's okay.
If you face those tests head on, it
will strengthen you in the Lord mightily.
The danger is that someone in the middle,
in the heat of the test, in the
heat of the battle, begins to waver, begins
to turn aside, begins to lose their way.
So, the tests will come.
The title of the message this morning is
Subduing Your Greatest Enemy.
Now, I'd like to clarify that statement of
the title just a bit.
Because I'm going to talk about a given
subject this morning and I'm going to refer
to that subject as your greatest enemy.
And I want to recognize that someone else
could give the same title and preach a
message on another subject and it probably would
be as true.
So, when I use that statement, I'm not
necessarily saying that it's all conclusive.
But I do want us to see this
great enemy and many times is one of
the greatest ones that we face.
And the need to subdue that enemy.
We'd like to turn to the book of
Romans this morning.
We'll begin in Romans 8.
Two precious verses here.
Quite a few precious verses.
But we'll look at Romans 8, verses 1
and 2 where the Scripture says, There is,
therefore, now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus hath made me free from
the law of sin and death.
Now, I'd like to, for the first part
of this message, I'd like to focus a
bit on that statement in verse 2 at
the end of the verse, the law of
sin and death.
Let's look now at Romans 7, verses 18
to 24.
As we try to get a glimpse into
this law of sin and death, Paul here,
as he writes to the Romans in verse
18, he says, For I know that in
me, that is, in my flesh, in me,
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.
Paul says, He says, For to will is
present with me, but how to perform that
which is good I find not.
For the good that I would, the good
that I know that I should do, the
good that I have a knowledge that I
should do, I do not do.
But the evil that I don't want to
do, that I do.
Now, if I do that I would not,
it is no more I that do it,
but sin that dwelleth in me.
Notice that statement, sin that dwelleth in me.
He says in verse 21, I find then
a law that when I would do good,
when I would desire to do good, evil
is present with me.
For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man, but I see another
law in my members warring against the law
of my mind and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in
my members.
Pretty despairing situation, isn't it?
Verse 24, he says, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death?
Or we might say, from this body of
death.
Who is going to deliver me from this
body of death?
And again, as we notice there, some of
these statements are very comparable to what we
read there in Romans 8 verse 2 where
he speaks about this law of sin and
death that seems to exist.
In Romans 7 verse 24, he says, as
he makes that statement there, the body of
this death or this body of death, we
notice that there is, it's like, well, let's
look at Romans 5 verse 12.
The Scripture says in Romans 5 verse 12,
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
the world and death by sin, and so
death passed upon all men.
And there we get even a deeper glimpse
into this whole subject of this matter of
this death passing upon all men.
And I'd like to, today I'd like to
make a comparison.
I'd like to draw a line up here.
And we would like to, as we consider
this law of sin and death, and we'd
like to label this line actually the law
of sin and death.
Maybe I'll just put the initials here.
We'll put some words here.
Law of sin and death.
Now, I would like to make a comparison
here with this law of sin and death
that the Bible is speaking of.
This body of death that Paul speaks of
here in Romans 7.24 and this death
that passed upon all men in Romans 5
.12. This death that it is speaking of,
I'd like to compare that to the law
of gravity.
We all know what the law of gravity
is.
The entire earth's surface is controlled by the
law of gravity.
If I take this book and if I
let it go, it would immediately fall to
the floor.
And that's because there is a law called
the law of gravity that is in effect.
And it keeps all the objects around us
clinging to the floor.
It's the law of gravity.
Well, there is a law that is controlling
or is the entire human race is in
the grips of a law.
And it's called the law of sin and
death.
It doesn't matter what creed, what land, what
race, what tongue.
It matters none.
Every human being that has ever been born
in the earth with the exception of the
Lord Jesus Christ are held in the grips
of that law of sin and death.
They're held there.
That's what controls them.
And that's why we see the continual decay
of mankind.
You know, God has done, and we have
the history of the Scriptures where God has
done various things to try to work with
mankind and to bail them out of their
situation, if you want to say it that
way.
And yet we see men destroying themselves.
We see nations destroying themselves.
We see communities and families destroying themselves.
We see young people destroying their lives.
Why?
It's because there's a law of sin and
death that is ruling their lives.
And they can't do a thing about it.
Well, the Bible
has a lot to say.
As Paul said there in Romans 7.18,
he says, In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing.
And I'd like us to realize that while
this physical flesh is not necessarily the cause
of this law, it seems to be the
agent through which it works.
This law seems to work through our flesh.
I guess it's a little bit like there's
nothing evil in this finger, and yet this
flesh is the agent through which this law
operates.
Maybe we'll put it that way.
And when we see in the Scriptures, and
especially here in Romans 8, we see Paul
as he speaks and as he dialogues on
these truths, he uses terms like walking in
the Spirit.
Verse 1 there, they who walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit.
And he uses that term quite a bit
there in Romans 8 where he makes the
comparison between walking in the flesh and walking
in the Spirit.
And I simply want us to make that
connection.
I want us to make that connection this
morning.
That this law of sin and death is
simply our flesh.
That's where it operates.
That's where its seat, where its throne is.
In our flesh.
In us.
In me and you.
And so I want us to make that
connection this morning that as we read through
the Scriptures and we read about this whole
thing of to be they that are after
the flesh, mind the things of the flesh,
and they that are after the Spirit, the
things of the Spirit, he's talking about this
law of sin and death.
This flesh, this self, this body of death
that he spoke of in verse 24 of
chapter 7.
Now, I'd like to put a little attention
to the subject of how the law in
the Old Covenant affected this.
And by the way, I don't know if
you've discovered it yet, but it is your
flesh and it is my flesh that is
our greatest enemy.
And it's in that flesh through which that
law operates that is our greatest enemy.
And that's, you know, remember the clarification I
gave in the beginning.
Maybe somebody says, well, the devil's our greatest
enemy.
Well, that is also true, I believe.
But as I speak this morning, I'm speaking
to us concerning our flesh and I'm going
to make that statement of it being our
greatest enemy without apology and without clarification from
here out.
And so, I'd like to, as we have
taken a look at this enemy, we see
this enemy, we see this law that is
in effect, I'd like to just spend a
few minutes talking about what happened when God
tried to or when He worked with Israel
as a people and He gave them the
old covenant, the old law, as we sometimes
say it, and how that affected this enemy
of ours, this flesh of ours, this law
of sin and death.
Okay, so here we have this law of
sin and death and we know what is
all contained there.
We know what is all contained in our
flesh.
As Paul says here in Romans 7, he
talks about the things that we should do,
we don't do, and the things that we
shouldn't do, we do.
The flesh lusts to sin.
You know, the flesh strives after sin.
The flesh wants to do its own thing.
And so here we have the God of
heaven, the holy God of heaven.
And the question is raised here, as God
brings the law on the scene, the question
was raised in Romans 7, verse 7, is
the law sin?
We might ask, if the law didn't take
care of the problem, is it then sin?
Well, we want to try to answer that
question.
And also, just going down to verse 12,
he says, wherefore, in Romans 7, verse 12,
wherefore, the law is holy, and the commandment
holy.
And that's what I'd like us to see
this morning.
The law was an expression of God.
It was an expression of His holiness.
And what happened when God brought that law
on the scene, exactly what happened is this,
it was like putting a magnifying glass to
man's sin problem, to this whole matter of
the law of sin and death.
And now, the problem is magnified.
You see, we have this holy law.
It tells us about God.
It tells us what God wants for His
people.
It tells us how we should live.
But, it does absolutely nothing to deal with
this law that is in effect.
It does nothing to deal with the law
of sin and death that men and women
are bound by.
It only puts a magnifying glass to it
and explodes it to be something...
You know, all of a sudden, mankind sees
that He's wicked, He's evil, He's...
Wow!
Such an ugly creature I am.
Here's the law of God.
It's holy.
He wants me to live in purity.
He wants me to love my enemies, you
know, and to be kind to people around
me.
And I'm a sinner.
I've got this anger in my heart.
Well, that's what it was supposed to do.
That's what it was supposed to do.
And Paul describes that here in Romans 7.
He says in verse 12...
No, let's back up.
Let's read some of this context now in
Romans 7.
Maybe we ought to begin all the way
over in verse 5.
He says, therefore, when we were in the
flesh...
And now I'd like you to notice that
statement right there.
When we were in the flesh.
This Scripture is not speaking about a half
-hearted Christianity.
This is speaking about people who are in
the flesh.
And a person who is in the flesh
is living in the grips of the law
of sin and death.
He says here, for when we were in
the flesh, the motions, or we could say
the passions of sins, which were by the
law did work in our members to bring
forth fruit unto death.
But now we are delivered from the law,
that being dead wherein we were held, we
should serve in newness of the Spirit and
not in oldness of the letter.
What shall we say then?
Is the law sin?
Was the Old Testament law sin?
No.
He says, God forbid.
He says, I had not known sin but
by the law.
I had not known lust except the law
said I shouldn't covet.
He says, but sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, wrought in me all manner of desire,
concupiscence, all manner of cravings.
For without the law, sin was dead.
It had no power.
He says, for I was alive without the
law once.
And I'm not exactly sure what he means
there.
I gave thought to the possibility that he
meant before he was old enough to understand.
But then he grew up and became of
fuller age and began to understand the heart
of God and began to understand the law
and conviction settled down on his heart.
And he died.
But anyhow, he says, when the commandment came,
sin revived and I died.
And the commandment which was ordained to life...
You see, there's nothing wrong with the commandment.
It was a holy commandment.
It was a glimpse into the holiness of
God.
It was ordained to life.
He said, I found it to be unto
death.
For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived
me and by it slew me.
Wherefore, the law is holy, the commandment is
holy, it's just and it's good.
Was then that which is good made death
unto me?
God forbid.
No, not at all.
But sin.
The problem is sin.
The problem is not the commandment.
The problem is sin.
But sin that it might appear sin, working
death in me by that which is good.
That sin by the commandment might become exceeding
sinful.
Hallelujah.
For we know that the law is spiritual.
You ever think about it that way?
The law is spiritual.
But I am carnal, sold under sin.
And there we have it.
Sold under sin.
Exactly what we were talking about here.
Sold under sin.
Held in its grips.
No getting free.
A slave to sin is what he's saying.
A slave to sin.
He goes on, for that which I do,
I allow not.
See what he's saying?
He has the law, the Old Testament law.
He knows what he should do.
In his mind he doesn't allow it.
But his body does it anyway.
He doesn't have no power over that law
of sin and death.
He doesn't have no power over that sin.
Says, for what I would, that do I
not, but what I hate, that I do.
If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it
is good.
Now then, it is no more I that
do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
And again, he's just bringing us right back
down to this whole, this law of sin
and death.
And he goes on in verse 18 again,
he says, for I know, and I'd like
to reemphasize this, for I know that in
me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no
good thing.
And then he goes on and gives this
dialogue all over again about what I don't
want to do, I do.
And what I should do, I don't do.
And again, it brings us right down to
the same bottom line.
This chapter is speaking about the flesh.
And a person who is living in the
flesh.
But trying, and in certain cases, trying to
please God at the same time.
You know, when you identify yourself as a
Romans 7 Christian, I don't think there is
such a thing.
Frankly, I don't think there is such a
thing.
If you're living in the experience of Romans
7, I don't think you're a Christian.
And we'll try to clarify some of that
as we go.
Now, so we see how the old covenant,
the law of the old covenant, affected this
law of sin and death.
It only magnified it.
Only brought the problem out in the light.
But it gave no solution.
So now, we would like to look at
how does Christ deal with the problem?
How does Christ deal with this law of
sin and death?
Let's read a verse in Romans 8, verse
3 now.
We read verse 1 and 2 already.
Let's look at verse 3 for a moment.
For what the law could not do, that's
the Old Testament law.
And we have to clarify a little bit
He speaks about quite a few laws here,
and we have to clarify them a bit.
In verse 3 here, He speaks of the
Old Testament law.
What the law could not do, in that
it was weak through the flesh, God sending
His own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh and for sin condemned sin in the
flesh.
And that's the phrase we'd like to focus
on there for a moment.
God sending His Son, His own Son, in
the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin
condemned sin in the flesh.
Turn over to Romans 6.
And we'd like to see how that all,
a bit more deeper into that truth.
In Romans 6 here, He gives us a
bit of a revelation of Jesus Christ and
how that by His death.
Let's begin in verse 3.
Know ye not that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized
into His death?
And now I'd like to take your focus
away from the actual water baptism for this
moment here.
I know we use this scripture a good
bit when we talk about water baptism.
But you know what water baptism is?
It's being immersed.
And what I'd like you to notice here
is not necessarily when you were baptized with
water, but when you were immersed into Christ.
When you saw Him.
And you entered into Him by faith.
He says, Know ye not that so many
of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ
were baptized into His death?
We die with Him by faith.
We enter into that death with Him.
Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism
into death that like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so we also should walk
in newness of life.
For if we have been planted together in
the likeness of His death, we shall be
also in the likeness of His resurrection.
Verse 6, Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with Him, that the body of
sin, notice that phrase, the body of sin
might be destroyed that henceforth we should not
serve sin any longer.
For he that is dead is freed from
sin.
Now, if we be dead with Christ, we
believe that we shall also live with Him.
And the sum of those words is this.
The Lord Jesus Christ, by His death and
resurrection, brought into existence a new law.
It's described in Romans chapter 8, in verse
2, as the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus.
By His death, dying, identifying with us in
our sinful state, taking on that body of
flesh, going to the grave, and then resurrecting
again.
And in Romans 7, the first several verses,
He actually uses the example of a wife
being bound by the law to her husband
as long as that husband lives.
And how that we as the human race
were bound to the law of sin and
death until the Lord Jesus Christ died.
And then we were freed from that law.
And now He wants us to get married
to another, which is Jesus Christ Himself.
We're now free to get married again because
the old law died.
We're dead to that old law.
We're free to be married to Christ.
And so the Lord Jesus, in that work
of redemption on Calvary's cross, He brought a
new law into existence.
I'd like to compare that law to the
law of aerodynamics.
You know what that is?
Marker's getting a bit dull.
I hope you can see this in the
back.
We'll try to make it big enough that
you can.
I'd like to compare that law to the
law of aerodynamics.
Now, what is the law of aerodynamics?
Well, we all know again, we have the
law of gravity.
And the law of gravity has kept men
on the ground for thousands of years.
Their main means of transportation was walking and
donkeys and horses and boats and something that
was on the ground, on the earth's surface,
whether it was water or ground or whatever.
Because the law of gravity kept everything there.
Well, how is it that nowadays you look
up in the air and you see these
big objects flying through the air?
What happened?
Doesn't the law of gravity work anymore?
Seems to work right here.
You know what?
Men developed a new law.
It's called the law of aerodynamics.
And by that law, they are able to
take a big object, like an airplane, and
they've developed various other ways as well.
And they're able to take a big object
and they actually defy the law of gravity
that is in place and they take them
up in the air and they fly for
thousands of miles that way.
You know, that is exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did in light of this law
of sin and death that held men in
bondage, that men were bound by.
He developed, He bought, He paid for, He
came up with a new law and it's
called the law of the spirit of life
in Christ Jesus.
Now, that law of the spirit of life
in Christ Jesus did not eradicate the law
of sin and death.
Did it?
It didn't.
We know that the law of sin and
death is still in existence in the lives
of many people.
And if we're totally honest, as Christians, we
see more of it in our own lives
than we'd like to at times, right?
But we see that that law is still
in existence.
However, there is a greater law.
Just as men have developed a law that
overpowers, overcomes the law of gravity, the Lord
Jesus Christ has given a law that overpowers
and overcomes the law of sin and death.
Hallelujah!
Amen!
We are free from the law of sin
and death!
Hallelujah!
Imagine that!
For thousands of years, men and women were
bound by that thing.
And many today are bound by that thing
yet.
But there's a greater law.
It's called the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus.
And to whosoever will can come and enter
into the reality of that law by faith
in Jesus Christ, by faith in His death
and resurrection.
Whosoever will can come and enter into that
law of the spirit of life in Christ
Jesus.
Well, what about this down here then?
And we'd like to spend some time now
talking about that, having established this framework of
thinking in our hearts.
You know, as a Christian, you know, just
like an airplane, you know what happens when
an airplane cuts its throttle.
Does he keep climbing?
Does he even hold a steady pace?
Can he hold his altitude?
No, he can't.
If he cuts the throttle, what's going to
happen?
He's headed down.
That's right.
He's headed down.
What happens in your life after you have
entered into this law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus and you are enjoying
a glorious climb in Christ and you just
kind of...
well, you get satisfied with where you're at.
Or maybe some little old sin begins to
plague you again and you kind of carelessly
go through life and sin starts coming back
into your life.
What happens?
You stay up here.
You come down, right?
You come down.
That's right.
Well, we'd like to ponder that a bit.
You know, I counseled with a young man
here this week who was converted about three
months ago, I think you said.
I may not have all the details quite
accurately, but he was converted and out of
a life of sin.
And let's put a circle here to kind
of indicate the point of conversion.
And he had walked with God some through
those few months and had enjoyed some of
that freedom in Christ.
But in the last number of weeks, he
had just done a nosedive.
And that's where the burden of my heart
lies here some for you youth.
The potential exists.
You know, many of you, I think you've
gone, right?
You've been going up.
You've been gaining altitude.
Amen?
The danger is in the weeks ahead, as
you face the turbulence, one of the brothers
spoke about turbulence in his message this past
week.
As your aircraft is up there and you're
sailing along and you face the turbulence and
the old thing starts rocking this way and
that way, and you can hardly keep the
water in the cup, remember?
The danger is that your old plane will
start coming down.
And we don't want to see that happen.
So I'd like to talk to you a
little bit on the practical side.
Like we said here, this law of gravity,
the law of aerodynamics, did not eradicate the
law of gravity.
The law of sin and death did not
eradicate...
excuse me, the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus did not eradicate the
law of sin and death.
It overpowered it.
It gave us a higher law to live
by.
However, we must take heed because this law
of sin and death, or our flesh, where
that law operates, our flesh continues to make
bids for our soul, right?
You know, there's still some of this pull
towards sin.
And our flesh still needs to be dealt
with.
And so that brings us into this verse
here again in Romans 8 where he says
that there is therefore now no condemnation to
them which are in Christ Jesus who walk
not after the flesh but after the spirit.
And he gives those two comparisons.
Who walk not after the flesh but after
the spirit.
And it gives us this picture of a
walk, a life lived in the spirit rather
than a life lived in the flesh.
And the danger point is back here as
you are walking with God, you're living for
the Lord Jesus Christ, the heaven is open
over your life, you are gaining altitude, and
then God brings some circumstances into your life
to test you.
Remember we said the test will come?
To test you.
And we must needs be tested.
We must be proven.
Is my faith real?
Do I really love Jesus with all my
heart?
And we can't prove that until we've been
in the test.
And so the test must needs come.
And the danger is that as we respond
to those tests, you're probably going to fail
sometimes.
Your flesh will probably get the upper hand
at times.
Now that's not the worst thing.
It is bad, but it's not the worst
thing.
The worst thing is if you don't deal
with it.
That's the worst thing.
And so now, let's just use an example.
Your parents try to give you a little
guidance in your life.
And you cringe under it.
You might not even get angry at it.
You might not even express any verbal words
of disrespect or unwillingness to submit.
It might just be all in your heart.
It might just be festering there, sitting there.
Well, now you're beginning to entertain.
You're beginning to draw from this old law
of sin and death again.
You're making a connection with that old law
again.
With that old flesh.
Well, life goes on and maybe you're walking
through a grocery store or something and you
come upon some magazines that aren't the most
healthiest and you haven't been feeling real good
toward your parents because they didn't let you
do what you wanted to do.
And so you don't have a whole lot
of spiritual strength and so you stop and
you glance at those magazines and now you've
just got another connection to the flesh.
You've just plugged into that law of sin
and death the second time.
And mind you, the cords are getting thicker.
The cords are getting thicker.
Well, maybe you have a radio in your
room and by now your spiritual desires are
starting to fade out a bit and it's
bedtime and you ought to pray and you
ought to read your Bible a little before
you go to sleep.
But, well, it was just a couple of
hours ago you were in the grocery store
and you saw that stuff you shouldn't have
looked at.
So now you can't really focus on prayer
and you can't really focus on the Bible
and so you turn on the radio.
You get that secular music and that plugs,
fits right into what you're doing.
Fits right into where your heart is.
And so now you're plugging into the flesh
even more and bringing yourself into the bondage
of this old law again.
This law of sin and death.
You're bringing yourself right back in to the
bondage of that old law of sin.
And so you go on through life and
this happens and that happens.
The next thing happens and finally it's time
to go back to Bible school.
God forbid!
You know, the Bible says in James 1,
verse 14, you know, this whole matter of
temptation, I think it's one that we have
to reckon with and realize that we'd like
to blame the devil.
We'd like to blame our friends.
We'd like to blame the circumstances.
We'd like to blame everything else.
But the Bible says in James 1, verse
14, every man is tempted when he is
drawn away of his own lust.
Every man is tempted when he is drawn
away of his own lust.
And enticed.
You know, it is our flesh that draws
us away.
And if we'll be frank, if we'll be
totally honest, our flesh loves sin.
Right?
It does.
Our flesh loves sin.
Our flesh would take us into the depths
of iniquity if there wasn't some other law
written on our hearts.
It would.
Mine would.
I tell you, my flesh is...
There's no good thing in my flesh.
And if we can see that, if we
can reckon with the fact that when a
temptation comes our way and maybe we fail
in some of these things.
Some of it, there's several...
I think there's several situations and types of
situations you'll find yourself in.
Some of them, you'll find yourself in situations
where temptations will come your way and even
though in your mind you don't want to,
but your flesh wants to.
And so it becomes a struggle of the
spirit or the flesh.
And the spirit of God prompts your heart,
but the flesh is also calling.
And it's a matter of which one is
going to win.
But I think one of the things and
the quickest way out of failure is if
we can come to grips with the fact
that I sin.
I love that sin that I just committed.
My flesh wanted to do it.
And we deal with that flesh.
We bring it into subjection.
You know, flesh is a little bit like
anything else.
It needs to be fed in order to
live.
And this is the foolishness of it.
When a person, he wants to live for
Christ.
He wants to walk with God.
He wants to live in this law above.
But at the same time, he wants to
enjoy the pleasures of sin.
And so, you know, maybe his music.
He has this filthy music.
This fleshly music.
This music that entertains the flesh.
Feeds the flesh.
Maybe he has reading materials that feed the
flesh.
You know, and we go through life wanting
to live for Christ, but at the same
time, wanting to enjoy the sin and the
pleasures of sin.
And so, here we sit, trying to gain
altitude, trying to gain strength, but at the
same time, feeding the flesh.
And that old flesh keeps right on pulling
us down, keeps right on pulling us down,
keeps right on pulling us down, and at
the same time, we are trying to go
up, trying to go up, trying to go
up.
Frustrating experience, isn't it?
And it's because we are not dealing with
our flesh.
We don't have to live down here.
And we don't have to live halfway in
between.
If we are living there, it's because we
are wanting to live there.
Maybe in our mind we are not wanting
to, but there is something in us that
is wanting to.
And we have not dealt with that thing,
that something, that flesh.
Paul says, well, let me make one more
reference, one more illustration to this whole thing
of flesh.
You know, pride is such a big one
in the flesh.
Such a big one.
And so subtle.
And we may not realize it.
We may not realize at times that the
way we handle ourselves, there is a little
tinge of pride in there.
We stand in front of the mirror and
make sure everything is nicely in place and
we don't recognize at times that tinge of
pride that is sticking in our hearts.
Maybe it's pride in our, like I said,
in our appearance, in our clothes.
Maybe it's pride in our possessions.
Maybe it's pride in our gadgets, like one
brother preached this week.
You know what I thought of when I
thought about that?
All those gadgets and sometimes people get involved
in.
You know, there is no end to gadgets
these days.
Cell phones and organizers and palm, whatever they
call them, little palm things.
I mean, oodles of them.
And my mind went back to something I
heard about cell phones years ago.
When cell phones were first coming available and
they were, of course, you didn't carry them
on your belt.
You had a big pack and you have
it in your vehicle.
And somebody told me that, I can't say
that I've necessarily seen it myself, but somebody
told me that in the Midwest, the farmers,
if they had a cell phone, you'd see
them driving down the road sitting like this,
so that everybody that drove by could see
they had a cell phone.
You know, sitting there like this on the
street, slouched way over with the phone in
their hand so everybody could see they have
a cell phone.
Sounds like pride, doesn't it?
Well, how about us?
You know, those little tinges of pride that
stick their head up.
I've got this thing hanging here.
I go out in the hallway and make
a phone call here.
Go call somebody.
Hope everybody sees what I'm doing.
Got a cell phone.
My car.
Pull in here.
It's flesh.
Flesh.
You're feeding the flesh.
You're bringing yourself into the bondage of the
law of sin and death.
Oh, it's so subtle.
I don't stand here as one who's never
failed.
I stand here as one who's had to
repent over my own pride at times.
In 1 Corinthians 9, verse 27, Paul says,
I keep under my body and bring it
into subjection, that by any means when I
have preached to others, I myself should be
a castaway.
It seems like Paul recognized the danger of
this flesh.
And he says, I keep it under.
And the picture that is given there in
the Greek context is one of some vehemence.
It's basically the idea of giving that flesh
a blow that lands it on the floor.
That puts it on the floor.
It's a little bit like, you know, here
am I and here's this old self, this
old flesh, and I see it sticking up
its head.
I see it trying to get power in
my life and I lay that thing a
blow with all the vehemence that the impact
puts it on the floor with a black
and blue eye.
That's the way we need to deal with
our flesh.
Knock it out.
Ever had anybody knock you out?
Knock it out.
Hit it so hard that it loses its
senses.
You know what?
If you don't, God might have to send
somebody else who will.
You know what happens then?
Don't hurt me.
Why do you say that?
You know, God might send somebody else to
put a blow to that flesh.
And then we go running away in self
-pity.
Hmm?
Go running away in self-pity when the
God of heaven divinely sends a servant to
put a blow to yourself, to your flesh.
Oh, how many people do that and miss
the opportunity for spiritual growth in their lives?
As they go away in self-pity, oh,
he had no business doing that to me.
What did he think he is?
Had no business saying that.
Would you say that to Jesus?
Would you say that of Jesus?
Are you going to say that of a
servant of Jesus who is Spirit-inspired?
That doesn't mean...
I want to clarify that.
That doesn't mean people don't make mistakes.
It doesn't mean people don't at times do
things they shouldn't do.
They do.
But be careful when somebody tries to deal
with you.
If you want to get some mileage out
of it, if you want to grow in
the grace of God, you welcome that.
You welcome that.
Even if they didn't do it all right.
Well, I hope this picture is riveted on
your heart.
I hope it is.
And I hope that you can go as
young people, you can go home and you
can see and identify that flesh when it
comes around.
And you can lay the axe to the
root of the tree by faith in Jesus
Christ.
And you can deal with it.
And you can continue to gain altitude in
Christ.
Continue to walk with God.
Well, I'd like to just shift my focus
for a few minutes here.
You know, many of you are sitting here
now speaking to those who've not been here
all week.
You've not had the opportunity to live under
the blessing of the preaching of the Word
all week long.
I don't know where you find yourself this
morning.
I don't know what you were thinking as
we went through this diagram.
I don't know what your experience has been.
I just know that you weren't here all
week long.
You were somewhere else.
Life's responsibilities called you.
But what's your experience?
Where are you living?
Which law is controlling you?
Which law is reality in your life?
The law of sin and death?
Or the law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus?
Which one is it?
The Bible says that there is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit.
What was your week like?
What was your last month like?
What's your last year been like?
Are you living in the reality of the
Spirit?
Or are you muddling around down here with
the flesh?
Defeat.
Defeat in your life as a husband and
a father.
Did you walk in the Spirit this week
or this past month in your home as
you related to your family?
Were you walking in the Spirit or is
the flesh having the upper hand in your
life as you related to your wife?
Have you been walking in the Spirit?
Have the fruits of the Spirit been coming
out?
Or have the works of the flesh been
manifesting themselves?
At your workplace, have you been walking in
the Spirit?
With your employee?
Employees?
Employer?
Wherever you find yourself.
Have you been walking in the Spirit?
Have you been living up here?
Or have you been living down here under
the law of sin and death?
Ill feelings in your heart.
Yeah, maybe you didn't get angry and curse
at them, but in your heart you were
upset.
What was your experience?
What was your experience as a wife and
mother?
Did you walk in the Spirit in your
home this week, this month as you related
to your husband?
Did you walk in the Spirit as you
related to your children?
Was the Spirit, the sweet fruit of the
Spirit coming forth from your life and heart
as you related to your family?
What did your children see?
Were your words that you spoke, were they
graced with the grace of the presence of
God?
Or were they defiled with flesh?
Your attitudes.
Did you walk in the Spirit?
Are you living in the reality of the
Spirit?
The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
You know, there's quite a few of us
pastors and elders here today.
You know, we can ask ourselves that question.
Are we walking in the Spirit with our
flock?
As we relate to our flock?
Are we walking in the Spirit as we
see their needs?
Are we responding to those needs under the
Spirit's control?
Are we responding by the grace of the
Spirit of Christ as we minister to the
weak ones or maybe even the carnal ones?
Are we ministering in the grace of the
Spirit?
The Spirit of Christ.
As we relate to those who do not
seem to appreciate our oversight, are we able?
Are we under the control, under the infinite
of the Spirit of Christ?
To be able to relate to those situations
with grace.
To be able to relate to them with
humility.
To be able to keep our hearts clean,
free from bitterness, free from anger.
As we minister to sisters in our fellowships,
are we pure in heart?
Blessed are the pure in heart.
Are we pure in heart?
Do we relate to them in all purity
as Paul exhorted Timothy?
Valid questions to ask ourselves as elders and
pastors.
Are we walking in the Spirit?
You know, as brothers and sisters in the
church, where do you find yourself as brothers
and sisters in the church?
Are you walking in the Spirit as you
relate to your overseers, as you relate to
your elders?
Are you walking in the Spirit as you
observe their mistakes?
And they make some.
When they do something different than you thought
it should have been done.
How do you relate to them?
Do you walk in the Spirit?
Is your heart free of bitterness because of
how something was handled?
Bitterness is flesh.
Maybe they didn't do it right.
But if you have bitterness, you're not doing
it right either.
The Spirit
inspired several writers to pen these words that
we are to esteem them very highly who
are called to oversight.
We are to give them double honor.
The Spirit of God inspired those words.
As the Spirit of God, as it has
filled your life, has it given you that
kind of attitude toward those whom God has
watching over your life?
And as you relate to one another in
the brotherhood, do you esteem your brothers and
sisters?
Do you walk in the Spirit as you
relate to one another in the body of
Christ, in the church?
Do you walk in the Spirit?
Do you esteem your brothers and sisters?
Do you appreciate them in your heart and
love them?
Are you walking in the Spirit?
Well, if you're not.
If you're not.
If you're in bondage to this law of
sin and death, even if it's just one
area of your life, just one area.
I'd like to recommend the Lord Jesus Christ
to you.
The Lord Jesus Christ brought this new law
into effect because He wanted it to be...
Number one, He saw we needed it.
And number two, He wanted us to enter
into the reality of it.
He wanted us to enter into the reality
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
He wanted to deliver us from this law
of sin and death that we're bound by.
And by faith in Jesus Christ, we can.
We can enter into that law of the
Spirit of life.
We can enter into the reality of a
Spirit-filled life.
And we can walk in the reality of
a Spirit-filled life.
And if we...
Just the way I told the youth, you
know, if they find themselves in defeat, if
they find themselves somewhere down here, we need
to repent.
We need to get right with God.
We need to clear the heaven.
We need to look to Jesus.
And I...
You know, this morning I so appreciated the
emphasis on not looking at us, but looking
at Him.
And the other night a message was preached
like that.
Looking to Him.
And that's the answer, brothers and sisters, that's
the answer.
Look to Jesus.
Are you sick of your sin?
Are you sick of the way you're responding
to your children?
Are you sick of that root of bitterness
that's in your heart?
And you've tried to deal with it.
And you've tried to think good thoughts toward
the person.
But this root of bitterness keeps springing up
within.
Are you sick of it?
Look to Jesus.
I remember some years ago when I was
still a fairly young Christian down at charity
one Sunday morning there was an altar call
given.
And I went to counsel.
I don't know how old I was in
the Lord.
I was young.
I was zealous.
I wanted to be involved in stretching myself
in all the things of God.
Bless God.
We ought to be doing that.
And I got put into a room with
a brother who was older than I.
You know, that was a little bit intimidating
to start with.
But anyhow, as we were in that room
and this brother was...
Oh my, I rarely have seen such conviction
as I saw in that brother that day
as God was dealing with his heart over
an issue in his life.
And the issue was his business.
It was an idol to him.
And God was asking him to sell his
business and get out of it.
And I found myself in that counseling room
with that brother and oh how he wrenched
under the hand of God as God was
pressing upon his heart dealing with that idol
that was in his life.
And he loved it.
And he knew exactly what God wanted him
to do.
But it had his heart.
It had his heart.
And I can hardly describe the physical wrenching
that went on as he tried to deal
with his sin and let go of this
idol.
And we can all imagine.
I mean, this is no little thing.
It was a big thing.
It was a very big thing.
I mean, it was like letting go of
life as I was standing by that brother
and trying to help him through.
And I didn't know how to help him.
I mean, it was an inner struggle.
And finally, I said, I'm going to find
somebody else to help us.
I went looking for some of the older
brothers, the mature brothers.
I couldn't find any of the ones I
wanted to find.
They were probably somewhere else counseling him.
So, I went back down again.
He was still there.
He was still wrenching in his body and
in his spirit.
And he pleaded with me.
Don't let me go!
Don't give up on me!
He was pleading with me not to give
up trying to help him.
And I was young.
I mean, I felt so helpless that day.
I felt so helpless.
I had rarely seen anything like that.
And finally, he was kneeling on the floor
and I got down beside him.
I started talking to him.
I said, brother!
Brother, look to Jesus!
Look to Jesus!
I started describing Jesus hanging on the cross.
I said, the soldier comes up and he
throws a spear in his side and blood
is flowing out.
I said, look to Jesus!
Get under that blood!
Crawl!
Get up there!
See yourself under the blood!
It's for you, brother!
It's for you!
And all of a sudden, heaven started to
open.
Hallelujah!
I mean, heaven opened over that man's life.
And he was able to just let go
of it.
He got up off his feet.
Of course, he was physically exhausted, but in
spirit he was rejoicing.
Look to Jesus!
Hallelujah!
He's the answer for your need.
It doesn't matter what it is.
Look to Jesus.
Let's bow our heads.
Oh, God.
We look to Jesus this morning as we
sit here in our hearts.
I know in our hearts there are many
different things going on in our hearts.
In a group this size, there are many
different things.
Oh, God, would You give us grace this
morning to look to Jesus, to find freedom
and deliverance out of our flesh, that law
of sin and death that dwells there, to
enter into the spirit of life in Christ
Jesus new and fresh again this morning, and
to walk therein moment by moment through life?
God, give us that.
Give us that reality.
Help us to apprehend that which we've been
apprehended for.
Oh, God, meet every need in this room
today, God.
Oh, Spirit of the living God, settle down
on this place and meet every need as
only You can.
Grant deliverance to that heart that is sick
of sin.
Bring conviction to that heart that is still
enjoying its sin.
Oh, God, give us what we need, for
we ask it in Jesus Christ's name.
Amen.