Life, liberty, and the pursuit of holiness: the enemy within, part 2

The Enemy Within Kris Lundgaard

Distillation of Jon Owen, a Puritian writer.

What is deception?

To make someone believe that things are not as they are...

Ephesians 4:22 tells us that we are to put off our old selves.

The mind tells us what is good. The affections will follow. Lastly, the will puts us into action.

So in order for the enemy to win, it must deceive our mind. Once our mind is captured, our heart will follow. We will then imagine and think about the sin. It will appear good to us.

Two schemes used against the mind:

1)  The flesh gets us to abuse the grace of God to separate the design of grace from it's remedy. We remember the remedy but forget the end goal.

Anxiety about obedience is not legalism. Legalism is about the remedy, not the design. The gospel ends in a holy people.

2) The flesh wants to drive every thought of God from our minds by filling it with thoughts of the world... And it does it under the guise of necessity.

How then do we fight? The practice of meditation and prayer.

How will the enemy attack?
Physical weakness - tiredness, laziness, undisciplined. Hit the snooze, sit on the couch.
Tyranny of the urgent - never enough time, so private time with god gets squeezed out.
Duty Swap - you think you can get by without private meditation and prayer because you went to service, small group, congregational prayer
The big promise - next week, next month, next year...another time. We are too busy, too much...another time.

Seven first-love dousers..

The flesh knows how to eat an elephant: one bite at a time
The flesh dresses us up in tuxedos and evening gowns: we go through spiritual rituals without the spirit and power
The flesh sends us down rabbit trails: we can get lost in things other than the gospel
The flesh turns sin into a cuddly pet: we play with sin thinking it is okay
The flesh puffs up the mind and shrinks the heart: we understand theology but our hearts are not moved.
The flesh gets is to do our own thing: we do our own thing
The flesh is a cat that gets our tongue: we don't talk to the love of our lives. We don't commune with God

In Christ, sin has been dealt the death blow. We are only called to bury it, in faith and love.

WHEN YOU GLOSS OVER SIN, JESUS IS NO BIG DEAL.