At War With Ourselves [cc]

Well
you know the uh... all the Oscar buzz this week is about
“The King's Speech”
Where George the sixth
overcomes his stammering
and it occurred to me as the one of the readers and given the privilege to be in one of the readers
one of our blessings is
we get to hear the King's speech
without stuttering
every week, so I think it's a great blessing
One of the things that I appreciate about the Bible
is its descriptions of faith in life are keenly accurate
Today's Scripture passage from Galatians is a great example just how inspired the Bible
is
our focus today is to understand our own inner struggle of good and evil
Our sinful nature and our regenerated spiritual nature
we all want to win the war
with ourselves
let's begin by looking at Galatians chapter five
Please open up your Bibles pull out your message outlines and follow along
So I say
let the Holy Spirit guide your lives
then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves
this sinful nature wants to do evil
which is just the opposite
of what the Spirit wants
and the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires
these two forces are constantly fighting each other
so you are not free to carry out your good intentions
but when you're directed by the Spirit
you're not under obligation to the law of Moses
when you follow the desires of your sinful nature
the results are very clear
sexual immorality impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy
outbursts of anger, selfish ambition
Dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these
Now I wonder how Paul knew about Washington D.C.
Let me tell you again as I have before
that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God
but the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives:
love
joy
peace
patience
kindness
goodness
faithfulness
gentleness
and self control
There's no law against these things
Galatians 5:17
What does it really mean? I know what's right but I do what's wrong?
I guess that makes sense. I do know what is right but it is
so easy to do the wrong thing. I mean I've got some habits so deeply ingrained in me
that well, when sin shows up it's just a reflex at times to do what I've always done.
Man, I'm so glad to have the night off
Finally an evening to relax and do what I want to do.
Can you come and help me set up for youth group?
Yes, I'd love to. Liar. But I need to...
bake a cake for someone who is on fire.
alright maybe next time
OK sure
so I honestly have a problem with lying
But it is just the little stuff
Yes But God frowns on that sort of thing
No one gets hurt. But it is still wrong.
Then there are times I struggle to do the right thing
For example it is nine o'clock in all of Sequim [the town we live in]
is asleep
I'm at the street corner and the light is red there's no one around. Now do I have
to wait for that light to turn before I go when nobody, nobody is coming?
Should I go?
Stay? Go? Stay?
but there is no-one
there
But it is the law
Go? Stay?
and then there are times when the habits are so deeply ingrained inside me that
it's a literal battle inside me just to figure out how to do the right thing
Money spent on
Time spent with
where should I give my resources?
Do I give my money to the church?
well I talked to my Grandma last week
I could help someone out
eat right, read my Bible and exercise more often.
Why use my cash instead of credit cards. Computer games are much more interesting
But I want to keep my stuff
Then there is chocolate and TV and the couch is much more comfortable
you see, you see?
Wouldn't it be simpler to do
what I've always done?
What do we do? How do we change?
but now what?
We all experience
An inner war don't we?
we all suffer from this
tug of war this
conflict
The key is well, it is an issue of
self control
now don't tell me the Bible is not relevant
listen to what
Paul says in Romans chapter seven
he said that I don't really understand myself
for what I want to do
what is right but I don't do it
Instead I do what I hate
And that is the proof
That sin is living in me.
the inner battle that we have, it's proof that sin lives in us
that there is a battle of good and evil so to speak
inside of us.
it is so common that well the great
Winston Churchill said I feel like I'm a walking civil war
and many times I don't know about you but it is easy to feel like I'm a walking civil war.
the Bible encourages us
in terms of this
battle
it also warns us as it does in Proverbs twenty five twenty eight
like a city that is broken down and without walls
is the one who has no control over
their spirit
how do we
get control of our spirit?
well to do that we need a understand the conflict the battle
we have to understand
who the enemy is
and the Bible is clear the reason we have this internal civil war this internal conflict
is because there is a conflict between our sinful nature in the spirit of God
that is part of the human condition
now how do we know that we are
In this civil war? how do we know that our spiritual nature is not winning out but our sinful nature
is
Paul wants to make it clear to us
When we are
losing the battle
when our
sinful nature is
winning out
So he
gives us a list
the sinful nature wants to do evil
which is just the opposite of what the spirit wants us to do
these two forces
are constantly fighting each other
so you are not free to carry out your good intentions
we all have good intentions that don't play out in our life. why is that?
the reason is that there's this influence inside of us that's not good
it's bad, it's sinful, it's evil and it's doing battle
with the spirit of God, with in us.
how do we know that this is true? because we are all casualties
We are all casualties
we've all experienced
our sinful nature winning out
over our spiritual nature
when you follow the desires
of your
sinful nature, the results are very clear
now I want to say something about this list
if you pick up Cosmo and you read it
this isn't the list you're going to find
you pick up
most self-help books
this is not the list you're going to find
and it's interesting, God is the one who gets to make the list
we don't get to make the list
because God knows what
are sinful nature really is better than we do. And trust me we do not as a society understand
sinful nature any longer
our morality
has been watered down to “I can do
whatever I want to do with whoever our wants to do it with me”
I can do whatever feels good to me
in the moment
with whoever wants to do it with me
that's not the list I'm going to read.
what does God say our sinful nature looks like?
and Paul understands humanity very well so he starts with sexual immorality
not sexual freedom
We are living in a society of sexual freedom
Aren't we?
you know I know in this service when I
start talking about sleeping with whoever we want to sleep with
that you might say look we're a bunch of old people what are you talking about?
we don't sleep anymore
it applies to your age group was well doesn't it?
Cause you know people
sexual immorality, what's a simple way to define it?
Paul says as you understand that it's sexual activity outside of marriage between a man
and a woman
It is very clear
you don't have to be a Bible scholar to figure out what sexual immorality is
but isn't it interesting because we want to do whatever feels good to us
with whoever we want to do it with
we want to ignore sexual
immorality
But I can tell you it's not good for anyone
sexual immorality is a sin of the body that's why Paul starts with it first
and Paul makes it clear that the sins of the body are worse for us
and I'll simply
say this
find me
find me that psychological sociological theological benefit of sexual immorality
Because I've not read it
I've not read anything consistent, anything scholarly
that says sexual immorality is good
for those involved or for society as a whole
I can tell you sexual intimacy in marriage is good for the couple and it's good for society
I could show you all sorts of good data
psychologically sociologically theologically that says sexual intimacy exclusive
sexual intimacy in marriage between a man
and a woman is very good
very good in fact
exclusivity with a sex partner
is the number one determiner
of the longevity of that relationship
Isn't that interesting?
Paul wrote this two thousand years ago
and it is still relevant isn't it?
Okay you can breath now I'm not going to talk about sex any more
okay
Then he goes on to impurity
We talked about purity of the body now he uses the word impurity because he's really talking
about purity of the mind
and the heart
then lustful pleasures
guys get this
We understand lustful pleasures
Then idolatry that is an interesting one isn't It?
idolatry is worshiping
like god anything that is man made
and it's interesting how we worship lots of things around us don't we?
I do love my car
but it's interesting
how we have a tendency to worship
houses
toys
the money we made
we worship it
it's our source of security isn't it?
witchcraft were not really into that so
although your influenced
on a daily basis
By it more than you might realize
hostility
quarreling
anyone here never quarrel?
I'm just checking
OK just checking
well you know this list that Paul starts with
when we got a sexual immorality
there are a bunch of us that went, you know
were not were not
messing around with anybody we're not supposed to be messing with
So we are safe
Now he gets down to quarreling
Jealousy, ever been jealous?
how about a outbursts of anger? and I love the idea outbursts of anger you know why?
because in that area it comes out
comes out
it comes out in
hurtful words
sometimes it comes out in
in physical ways
With fists and
things flying through the air
“Oh were safe we we've never done any of those things” but you've gone to your room
And pouted haven't you?
yes
I was just feeling good about my outbursts of anger
selfish ambition, you ever had a selfish ambition?
I know what people think when I'm going through this list
people say “yes but pastor you know the cards are stacked on these things in your
Direction”
uh... I can tell you what
I had to admit it when part of my life
I was being very selfish I had very selfish ambitions
I had the
most addictive kind a selfish ambition
that you can have. it's called success
when I started out in ministry
literally every door I approached opened
And one day I had to realize
That wasn't a God thing as much as it was a Scott thing
My wife is good
helping me see this of course
That Holy Spirit always speaks to my wife
The Holy Spirit is described with a feminine now once in the bible
How about dissentions?
Have you been ion a group and have you gone off in a corner and had a conversation with
someone else about everybody else
or about them
That is dissention
that creates divisions
Doesn't it?
Envy, ever been envious of anything
Any one?
Sure you have
Paul's created a circle that includes everybody in the room including me
drunkenness
I did that a few times
Before I was a Christian
I didn't get our of elementary school
by the fifth grade I did just about everything on this list
that's true
I hung with a fast crowd in the sixth grade
Drunkenness orgies, now here's the deal
we want to check off this list get to the bottom of it and go
OK I know now
Paul throws in this little phrase
and other sins like days
so notice
that Paul is being selective here not exhaustive here
There are other signs that your sinful nature is winning out but let me tell you
Paul wrote this two thousand years ago, not a bad list for today is it?
I think that's not a bad list for me
and the fact that we've got to check one or more
of the items on that list
that's proof that we are a casualty
and that our siinful nature
has won out in our life
so how do we win over this enemy?
it's very simple, its
an issue of self control
self control
Will enable the Spirit
To win in your life
I don't know if you've ever been in a big tug of war
I've actually been in some of those really huge teen tug of wars
one thing about those team tug of wars, all the really big guys get
to be at the back
and they always put the little guys like me up in the front
and when you lose
do you know who gets pulled through the mud
it's always a little guy
back in the back the big guys go “we are toast”
And they let go of the rope
isn't it interesting
there's a tug of war going on inside of you
the way to let the Spirit win
Is to let go of the rope
to let go of your sinful nature
And the way you let go of your sinful nature
Is self control
now it's interesting how Paul
lays things out
he's talked about the battle of the sinful nature and the Spirit and then he's given us
a list just so we don't
misunderstand
and then just so we don't misunderstand he's also given us a list of how we know the Spirit
is winning out in our life, what I find really interesting,
everybody wants to mess with the sinful list nobody wants to
to mess with the Spiritual list
nobody questions
any of the fruits of the Holy Spirit isn't that interesting
but the Holy Spirit produces the kind of fruit notice
It is not plural
that means when the Holy Spirit resides in you
you get all of these, you have some fruit
some puny fruit that's true
but you get all of them
Love joy peace
kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and
self control
now I don't know if you're a farmer and I lived in farm country and I had
my little farm you know my little
garden and my fruit trees in my backyard
and you know what determines
the kind of fruit on the tree?
in terms of the quality of the fruit
it has everything to do with where the tree is planted
if you want to have the fruit of the Holy Spirit you have to get planted in God
you have to get planted in God's work
and I could go on there is
twenty passages that talk about the word of God being the place that you need to plant your
life
and if you're honest
maybe you are not
planted there
you play around with it a little bit
everybody has a Dalmatian view of the Bible, spotty
Spots we like and spots we don't like
you ever transplanted a tree?
always affects the production
Of the tree
self control leads to freedom
That's the exact opposite of what society's telling you
what society says is if you really want to have freedom then you ought to be able to
do whatever you want to do whatever you want to do it with whoever you want to do it with
and it's interesting
that they're is no freedom in that kind
of living
and the proof of that
addictions
the proof of that is our fixations, now fixations usually come before addictions
and isn't it interesting with all the freedom there is
addictions are not going down there doing what? they're going up
why is that?
because living
by our sinful nature
becomes our dictator
and if you've ever talked to anybody with a fixation
or addiction
they'll tell you
they are a slave to their sin
that instead dictating to their life their fixation or their
addiction
is dictating to them how they're going to live their lives
And Gee wouldn't you think with the human potential movement
we'd be doing better?
but we're not
Now you know why I was late getting here.
It is interesting to notice
the downturn in so many indicators of what we would consider a quality of life
not only worldwide, but in America
and if I had more time I could delineate a list of them
I'll just give you a simple one you can all relate to
they're more hungry people in America today
than there were ten years ago
That's human potential at work?
that's sinful nature
if we're not careful our sinful nature becomes our dictator. I love what
Chuck Swindoll says
He says why do we need self control? because self control gives us an ability to have victory
Over the things that we'd despise about ourselves
that's an interesting question, is there something about you that you despise?
I'll ask it to you this way as its easier to get a handle on it
what is it that you dislike about yourself?
now everybody's got something that they dislike about themselves
what you dislike about yourself is usually a byproduct of your sinful nature
and the only reason why you don't despise it is because you're looking at it from your
perspective instead of God's perspective
because when I look at my life from God's perspective there's a few things I despise
about how I live
and what I think and what my attitude is sometimes
there are some things I dislike about myself
we need the Spirit
don't you realize Paul says that in a race everyone runs but only one person gets the
prize?
so run to win
all the athletes are disciplined in their training
they do want to win a prize that will fade away but we do it for an eternal prize.
and everybody's running a race
I'll just ask you a simple question
what prize is it that you are after?
is it truly an eternal prize?
I meddled last week and I'm really meddling today. some of you'll never come back
last week I talked about the fact that were a comfortable community
you might mull over this week whether comfort
is always a sign that you're running the race for eternity
what's your prize that year after? financial security?
Comfort?
Ease?
your house?
Your toys?
I'd tell you what, when you get to eternity
you're not taken it with you
all that effort
all that time, all that talent
Your not taking it with you
you get to take two things when you go to eternity
I've mentioned this to you
one is your character
in the second thing is everybody that you've influenced eternally
and that's it
you're not taking your portfolio
you're not taking
your prominence
you're not taking
anything
that's it that's all you take. isn't it? wow
and I'm running so hard for what?
for what?
Paul says you need to realize you're all running a race
and you got to decide whether you want earthly trophies or whether you want
An eternal reward
and it has everything to do with your discipline training now I understand that
I started in competition when I was five years old
and I was in competition
twice a month
if not every week
until I graduated from college
and I was training for something
virtually every day
in college five o'clock every morning
I got picked up outside my dorm rain or shine
snow sleet minus thirty below they didn't care
Hour and a half in the morning
go to class
Hour and a half in the afternoon
virtually every
day 0:34:20.879,0:34:22.959 Of the year
I understand training
do you think training is easy, then go hangout at the gym.
it's not easy
it takes intentionally
it takes control of your time
and your aspirations
in your life
Go to take the enemy head on. I discipline my body like an athlete
training it to do what it should you know it's interesting is your body never really
wants to do what it's supposed to do when you're doing an athletic endeavor that's why
you have to practice. its called muscle memory
there are very few people for instance
that can pick up a bat
and swing a bat the right way
or a tennis racket or
if you really want to know about evil take up the golf!
your body naturally does not want to do
what you're supposed to do when you hit a golf ball
It is really interesting
so you have to do what? practice
and I* can tell you this you re all practicing towards something
because you're all running a race we all are in
is it
An earthly prize
That you are disciplined towards her or is in An eternal prize?
I can't chose that for you you've got to chose that
how do you
how do you
take on the enemy
Nose to nose?
don't overestimate your ability
when it comes to this conflict inside of us we often
overestimate our ability I'd had a lot of reasons to overestimate my ability when it
comes to an inner war
don't overestimate your willpower
because will power is not powerful enough
most of the time
the other thing is don't underestimate the consequences and we all want to do that
we all want to do that we all want to underestimate the consequences
I wish
it was different
but it's not
you're gonna die
and when you die you're going to stand before Jesus
And Jesus is going to ask you two simple questions
number one, what'd you do about me
what decision did you make about me being the Lord of your life
and then the second question he's going to ask you is what did you do with what I gave you
what race did you run
we're all going to have to answer those questions
as well all stand in judgment before God
so don't
ignore or don't underestimate
the consequences
of your sinful behavior
your sinful attitude your sinful thinking
and if you're like me I'd love to be lulled into a sense of security I'd love it
don't get lulled into uh... sense of security
so what we need to do is this a disciplne our bodies our minds in our soul
first of all you've got a discipline your body
don't let your body go where it shouldn't go
don't if you're on a diet go to the donut shop
I don't care what they say they on the sign there are no healthy donuts
a healthy donut is called a bagel
Don't let your body go where it shouldn't go
don't go to the donut shop
don't go to the porn shop
don't go to the sale at Macy's if that's your thing. I know… I know
but for some people
well he may not be an addiction but it's a fixation
they feel bad and so instead of eating donuts because they want to be thin
they need retail therapy
don't let your mind go where it's not supposed to go
and that's tough to do in this day and age
I just got a smartphone I got access to everything
right at the palm of my
Hand
I got so much work done sitting waiting for something the other day it was amazing
I was texting people, I was going on the internet I was finding
directions
and there's a lot of good to that but it also makes things very accessible
you can buy online around the world
24 hours a day now
and whatever your fixation or addiction is you can have it delivered in a day
from the other side of the planet
you need to build some spiritual habits here's CLASS 201
yes part of a living the Christian life is not doing what you shouldn't do
and isn't it interesting when you're doing what you are supposed to do you don't have
to worry so much about what
you're not supposed to do
Becuase you're too busy doing what you're supposed to do
Right? you're here
Worship, Bible study, prayer, service fellowship
those are spiritual habits that we need to develop and go into training
and most of us
read our Bibles and pray to God like we do when it comes to walking up a steep hill
infrequently and only when we need something
what race are you running today?
and I'm not saying
That earthly races and eternal races are mutually exclusive to one another
but if you don't have eternity as the goal of your race
you can't be sure that the
Other
legs of the race that you're running
are in the right direction
and I know how people are about all of this
they'll just
do nothing
if I do nothing you know it's interesting I'm not going out of that direction
isn't it interesting
but that doesn't mean you're going
In a good direction
God's plan and a purpose for our life
I'd say it's way above whatever planner purpose you ever thought you had
in fact I heard speaker say
last week
to a bunch of pastors, he says look
he says God's placed you there for a reason and that's an
important position he says do not step down to become the president of the united states
you know why? that's just about today
that's not about eternity
so what race are you running today?
who's winning the inter
war between the Spirit of God and the sinfulness
that lies within
each and every one of us
we have to chose
we have to chose. Let us pray
Lord I know that
that passages like Galatians are just not all that easy to read and digest
in fact the whole issue of our sinful nature are our general pattern is we just want
to turn our back on it
yet that doesn't really give us the victory that you want us to have and that we need
Lord help us to
allow your Spirit to win
in the inner war within us
and Lord we know that happens
by having the right goal
in mind and life
making your priorities our priorities
going into
good training
and Lord as you speak to us in this moment
Help us Lord to get out of neutral
Help us to stop going in
a self righteous direction
but Lord help us to go in your direction
At your pace
your purpose your plan
Your power
Amen
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