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.

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

Romans 7:13-25 ESV

Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Rev. Dwight Yoo

The law does not enable us to do what is right. It gives us the standard, but we don't have the power to do it.

It is like a poster of the ideal body given to a morbidly obese person. This poster shows them where they need to be, but it does not empower or enable. They can't eat the poster and lose weight. They can't roll it up and lift it. It only shows them their need.

Change is not easy. It is not a straight line. It is not like we accept Jesus and we just change. We have times of success and times of failure. Even in the same day. That is the experience of the christian life. So much struggle. It is like a battle or war going on.

Who is the Enemy?

Indwelling sin or the flesh is the enemy. Not flesh like physical body, but the part of us under sin's influence. We believe in a bodily resurrection, so the body is not bad.

From our last sermon, we know that sin is not our master. It no longer has power over us. But we still feel the influence... We are no longer slaves to sin, but we still let it tells us what to do.

We are like slaves immediately after emancipation. Even though the slaves are legally free, they still let their old masters control and influence them. So it is with us and our old master, sin.

Why do we have to take this Enemy seriously?

• It is always there and it never rests.

Even though sin has been dealt a deathblow by Christ. It is still fighting. It is like an guerilla war. It is waiting and hoping for an opportunity to attack.

"The Enemy Within" - Kris Lundgaard

• It seeks to do the worse at all times

Sin nature always seeks to try and drive you to it's worse end. Adultery, murder, and atheism. That is sin's goal. Subtle compromises and attempts to manage our sin result in horrible consequences. Sin wants to destroy us and those around us. If we play with sin, we are deluded.

If you have no tension, no fight with the inner man, no struggle...beware, sin has snuck up on you. Anything is better than apathy. Praise God that you are fighting sin.

What do we do?

• Be encouraged, if you feel the battle.

God is at work. Take heart. Sin will lose.

• Know your enemy.
• Kill the enemy.

Take the battle to the one you are fighting with. To battle well, you need to know who you are fighting. And how to fight. How to fight in the Spirit.

Walk in humble vigilance and confident resolve.

Humble in our vigilance over our soul, knowing our weakness and sin's strength and strategies.

Confidence in the promise of God, that sin will die and Jesus has opened the door into heaven.