From His Heart

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Today on From His Heart, we'll learn how to win the spiritual battle that we all fight. Here's Pastor Jeff Shreve.

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So what do you do when you fall, when you fail? A righteous man falls seven times. Proverbs 24:16 says, "A righteous man," not a bum, not a scum, not a loser, a righteous man. He falls seven times and he rises again. He keeps getting back up.

And if you've fallen to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life; if you've given yourself over to sexual immorality, drugs, alcohol, or whatever, and you say, "I've sinned too greatly," you don't ever quit in your battle against the flesh. You don't just give in.

He can heal every scar with real truth, real love, real hope from his heart.

Speaker 1

Welcome to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve for part two of the lesson called the Battle Within. Today we're continuing the series entitled This Is War: Overcoming the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.

And you say, what is the flesh? Well, when you become a Christian, you're given a new nature, but there's still a problem with that residual old nature. And that's what Pastor Jeff provides insight about today on the message, the Battle Within. It's from his new six-lesson series, This Is Overcoming the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.

The series is also our gift of thanks to you for your support of any amount to From His Heart this month. Just go to fromhishheart.org to get your copy.

First though, open your Bible to Romans chapter 7. Here again is Pastor Jeff with a short recap of last time and then the conclusion to the Battle Within.

Speaker 2

Now we're in a series entitled "This is War: Overcoming the World, the Flesh, and the Devil." Those three enemies that we face all work in tandem. We're at war with the world, we're at war with the devil, and we're at war, an internal battle with the flesh. And so here's our question for today: Do you understand the inner battle of every true Christian? Non-Christians don't have this battle. This is a battle that is true for a Christian.

So, three truths for today. Truth number one: every Christian is dead to sin and alive to God. That's the truth. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, if you've given your heart and life to him, you are dead to sin and made alive to God. This is what Paul says in Romans chapter 5. As he finishes up Romans 5, he states, "The law came in so that the transgression would increase. But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." We're all in sin, but God's grace is greater. Every true Christian is dead to sin and alive to God. That transformation has taken place.

You may ask yourself, well, when does that happen? It happens the moment we repent and believe. The moment we turn from sin and turn to the Savior, boom! There's a transaction that takes place. We are dead to sin and alive to God. This is a truth that we must remember daily. You have to constantly remind yourself, "I'm dead to sin, I'm alive to God," as it says in Romans 6:11. "Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus." We have to constantly remind ourselves of that because truth number two is that every Christian feels the internal pull of sin. If you don't feel the internal pull of sin and you truly are a Christian, then you're a liar. Because every Christian feels that. And the feeling is the big operative word there. We feel.

So the Lord says, "You're dead to sin, you're alive to God." But hey, you know what? You and I don't feel dead to sin. But truth is not what you think; it's not what you feel. Truth is what God says. So if God says you're dead to sin and alive to him and raised to walk in newness of life, then that's true, even though I don't feel like it. We don't feel dead to sin; we still feel the desires of the flesh. Paul said, "The good that I do, I don't do, and the evil that I don't want to do, I find myself doing." What is going on here? I've got this pulling me to do evil. Every Christian knows what that's like. You're not alone. Paul got tempted by those things too.

We still struggle with our old crucified self. Now, Romans 6:6 states, "Our old self, our old man was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with." The King James says "destroyed," but the body of sin is not destroyed; it's rendered inoperative. It's rendered powerless so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. The greatest illustration I've ever heard about this is as follows: Suppose that you're on a ship, and the captain of the ship is the worst, meanest, cruelest captain you've ever seen in your life. He does terrible, horrible things, and you can't stand it, but that's what you're living under.

One day, there's a mutiny on the ship, and the captain is overthrown. He's no longer captain anymore. They tie him up and hoist him up to the top of the mast, and he is there, rendered powerless. No more power over you. Now you have a new captain who is wonderful, who loves you, who wants what's best for you. But here's the problem with the old captain: the old captain was not gagged. He's taken out of the way, but he still has a voice and still barks out commands. You're so used to obeying that old captain that you jump when he says jump. You just say, "Ah, you know, I'm so used to doing what you say." That impulse comes, and that's a picture of the flesh. The flesh is rendered powerless over us, but it still has a voice.

The Bible tells us that sin should no longer reign in us. As one commentator said, "Well, sin doesn't reign in us, but it does survive in us." And so that's where you have that struggle. Just because you become a Christian doesn't mean that you're not still going to battle with sin. The devil will appeal to your flesh, and the world appeals to your flesh—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. Romans 7:22 states, "For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man. But I see a different law in the members of my body waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from this body of death?"

John MacArthur points out in his commentary on this that where Paul was from, they had a punishment that they would inflict upon murderers. If you murdered somebody in the town where Paul was from, they would take that victim who had been killed and strap that dead person's body to the murderer with straps that they couldn't break, that they couldn't get out of. They were forced to carry this dead corpse on their back as their punishment until the rottenness from that corpse would corrode their own body and bring them to death. That's the picture that Paul is painting here: "Wretched man that I am! Who's going to set me free from this body of death?"

So, every Christian feels the internal pull of sin. Truth number three is that every Christian can experience victory only in the Holy Spirit. In Romans 6, we're dead to sin, alive to God. In Romans 7, Paul acknowledges, "Yeah, but I struggle with sin." That's right; Paul did too. He uses the first person "I" 36 times in Romans 7:14-25. He's not talking about his life before Christ; he's talking about his life as a Christian. Then in Romans 8, he says, "Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God, because he's given me his Holy Spirit."

I can live the Christian life not in my own strength, because I don't have any. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. I can live it in the power of the Holy Spirit, and that's how the Lord wants us to live. Now, Jesus is in the life; you've received Christ. But see, self is fighting because self wants to be in charge. Self wants to be on the throne. The flesh is warring against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. When you live a life where Jesus is dethroned, everything is knocked out of order. Your life is frustrating, and you live in constant defeat. You don't like that, and the Lord is grieving the Holy Spirit of God.

When Christ is dethroned and not allowed to direct the life, but when you yield to the Lord, then he's on the throne. Interests are controlled by Jesus. Self is yielding to Jesus. Every Christian can do that. We can yield ourselves to the Lord. Now, how do we do that? The three musts.

Number one: we must walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. You can't do it without the Holy Spirit, without yielding yourself to the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:16 states, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please." It goes on to list 15 things about the deeds of the flesh that are evident: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have also forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

If the practice of your life is the flesh, guess what? You've never been saved. We have to yield as Christians. We have to yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit. When we do, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law.

Now, we vacillate between walking by the Spirit and walking in the flesh because nobody wins this battle 100% of the time. Paul didn't, and he's probably the greatest Christian who has ever lived. He still struggled. You know, just take outbursts of anger, but those things are there. We have to constantly yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit. That's what Paul says in Romans 6. He says, "Listen. Don't offer your members, the members of your body—your eyes, ears, hands, feet, heart, and mind—to sin. Use your members. Offer those to God as instruments of righteousness to God."

We've all had the experience as Christians of offering ourselves over to sin. He said, "Don't you know that if you do that, you become the slave of sin?" You're not the slave of sin on paper, but you become that in practice. So, offer yourselves as slaves to God. Romans 12:1 states, "I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship."

"Lord, my hands belong to you. Lord, my mind belongs to you. I want to think things. I want to set my mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. Lord, I want to make a covenant, as Job said, with my eyes, so I don't look upon a maid, so I don't lust after some other person. My mouth, the things that come out of my mouth, the ears, the things that I'm allowed to hear. Lord, I'm surrendering all that to you."

And how often do we do that? We do that every single day. It's not getting saved again; it's just re-upping all the time, saying, "Lord, I belong to you. I've been bought with a price. Therefore, let me glorify you in my body." That's a daily struggle, a daily battle that we would walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Then the second must: we must deprive the flesh of its provision. Romans 13:12 states, "Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts."

Don't give the flesh a supply of provision. That's why, as Christians, we would be sinning against God if we went to the bars, to the boats, to the gentleman's club. You just give provision for the flesh. You just set yourself up for failure. I still remember when I was working at a chemical company. We had a bachelor party for one of the guys. We didn't have a huge sales district; it was just the district manager and about eight guys, eight salesmen. We had a bachelor party, so it was kind of required. You go to the bachelor party because he's one of our sales reps, and you're part of the team.

So we went, and we cooked out, and that was fine. When we played cards, that was fine. Then it got to be about 10:30, and my boss said, "Now let's get in the car and go to the strip joint." I said, "I can't do that." He said, "Yeah, you can do that. What do you mean you can't do that? Just get in the car and do it." I said, "I can't do that." He said, "Don't you like girls?" I said, "Yeah, I like them a lot. I can't go there. That's not a good place for me. I can't handle that kind of place."

He said, "Jeff, just go and close your eyes." I said, "I'm not going to be able to do that." So they all went, and I didn't go. I went home, and two of the guys that were in my district talked to me Monday at the office. They said, "I can't believe you didn't go. That spoke volumes to me that you wouldn't go." I knew that if I went and I had rationalized, "Oh, it's okay for me to go. My boss wants me to go," I would have trashed my witness to those guys. I would have been offering my eyes up to the enemy and my members as servants of sin. I couldn't do that.

Now, I wish I could say in my Christian life I've never offered myself up like that, but I can't because there are other times when I've succumbed. But here's the thing: make no provision for the flesh with regard to its lusts. Don't allow the flesh to feed and get strong. "Two natures dwell within my breast. One is foul and one is blessed. One I love and one I hate. But the one I feed will dominate." So I can't feed the flesh. I can't provide a way for the flesh.

Let me give you, as parents and as students, the iPhone and the iPad. That can be a gateway to all kinds of evil. It's good for parents to have rules when it comes to that kind of stuff. Have a no-phone zone at dinner time. Put the phones away. No more devices. You don't get to take your device, your iPhone or your iPad, into the bedroom and close the door and be alone with that. Why? Because it makes provision for the flesh.

My good friend Louis Mori, who is still the counselor at Champion Forest Baptist Church, and I got saved at the same time as 17-year-old kids. We didn't have the Internet back then. He and I used to say, "Man, if I, as a lost guy, had access to those things, I mean, I only had the old nature; that's all there was in there—sin nature. I'd have rotted my brain on all the filth that you could see on the Internet." The temptations are much greater, much higher today, much more prevalent. Everything is easier to destroy your life today.

So parents, you have to be vigilant, and you have to have rules and set up safeguards. Why? Because you make no provision for the flesh with regard to its lust. You can't handle it. I can't handle it. We can't handle it. So we say, "Hey, as Adrian used to say, he had a little plaque on his desk. Adrian Rogers: 'People that don't want to fall down ought not walk in slippery places.'" If anyone thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. Don't go right to the edge and say, "Well, let me see how close I can get without falling." You're going to fall over. It's a slippery slope.

Lastly, the last must: we must never give up in the battle. So what do you do when you fall? When you fail? Proverbs 24:16 states, "A righteous man falls seven times." A righteous man—not a bum, not a scum, not a loser—a righteous man falls seven times and rises again. He keeps getting back up. As Rocky Balboa told his son, "Life ain't about how hard you can hit; it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. It's about how much you can take and keep moving forward." Get up!

If you've fallen to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life, if you've given yourself over to sexual immorality, drugs, alcohol, or whatever, and you say, "I've sinned too greatly," you don't ever quit in your battle against the flesh. You don't just give in. Debbie and I were in Branson for the last couple of days. We went on Monday; we like to go to Branson, Missouri, and we took in a show and did some shopping. We went to the zoo and some other things like that.

While shopping at the Tanger Outlet Mall, some of you know where that is, you can find some good deals there. The guy that was checking us out had a short-sleeve shirt on, and I was looking at him. On his right arm, it says "Give up." He has that tattooed on his arm: "Give up." I thought, "Good night! What, do they have a sale going on? You just had to get a tattoo, and that's all. This one's half off." Then I looked at his other arm, and it said "Never." I said, "Oh, I just saw the first one: 'Give up.' I had to look at this one: 'Never give up.'"

I said, "You know, you'd be in big trouble if you lost your left arm. Then you'd just have 'Give up.'" He said, "I never thought about that. Most of them put it all on one: 'Never give up.'" You know, listen, don't ever give up. Don't ever give up! If sin knocks you down, and if you offer the members of your body as slaves to sin, as Romans 6 says, and you've blown it, you confess your sin to God, get right with him, and start fighting again.

Make no provision for the flesh with regard to its lust. Just know that this is a battle I'm going to face until the Lord comes and takes away this old Adamic nature from me. There's residual of the Adamic nature, and I have a glorified body; then sin will not have any more pull on you and me. Jesus said, "If your right arm offends you, cut it off. If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out." Now, he's speaking in hyperbole; he doesn't want us to maim ourselves, but he's saying, "Listen, you need to get serious about fighting sin, sin and the sin within, because it's not your friend."

If you sow to the flesh, you will from the flesh reap corruption. But if you sow to the Spirit, you will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Have you fallen? Are you on the ground? God still loves you and still has a plan for you. You can be like the prodigal, come to your senses, leave the pigsty, and get right with him. And that can start today.

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Well, it's so imperative that we never, never give up. We hope that these have been reassuring and emboldening insights for you. Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, who's in this new six-lesson series, "This is War: Overcoming the World, the Flesh, and the Devil."

Now, if you feel like you're under attack spiritually, emotionally, or in your family, you're not alone. We're all in a real war against real enemies. But praise God, we don't have to fight in our own strength. Would you like to learn how to tear down the strongholds that hold you back by taking those thoughts captive and then walking in freedom by going deeper into your study of God's word?

Well, this month Pastor Jeff is in his new series, "This is War: Overcoming the World, the Flesh, and the Devil." In it, he's going to help us understand the battle, stand firm in the truth, and walk in the victory that Jesus has already won. This series is our gift of thanks to you for your support of From His Heart this month of any amount. You can get it in the format of your choice. To get yours, call 866-40-BIBLE (866-402-4253) or go online to fromhisheart.org to request the series "This is War."

You don't have to live in defeat. God will equip you to win, and your gifts to From His Heart this month help others to hear the truth and walk in victory, too. God bless you, and thanks for your generosity this month.

Our closing scripture today is Psalm 34:6-8, which reminds us of this: "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him."

Well, that's all for today. Thank you for joining us on From His Heart. I'm Larry Nobles, hoping that you'll be back next time as we present the next message in the "This is War" series. The message is called "Destroying Strongholds." That's next time when Pastor Jeff Shreve will open up God's word and share real truth, love, and hope from God's heart here on From His Heart.

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There is tremendous truth. There is hope that you always dream love. He can heal every scars of True Real Love. Real.

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From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and hurting world.

Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out more at fromhisheart.org.