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Introduction:
Today we are going to conclude
a series which has taken far too long to get through.
Next week, if I can get my thoughts together, I will be speaking
on a topic entitled, “Women are Not Equal to Men in the
Kingdom of God”. You won’t want to miss that one.
But today, we’re going to finish our description of the
Battle, with a discussion on the topic of the Flesh.
Here are the 3 factors which we have discussed
so far regarding the Battle:
1. The Evil One is cunning but weak. He only
has one weapon with which to engage us in the Battle; Deception.
His lies only have any influence on us because they appeal to
the desires of our Flesh ... to live independently from God
and to decide what is true for ourselves.
We overcome his lies by learning the truth and by following,
in close relationship, the One who is Truth. We live dependent
upon Truth.
John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I
am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me.
John 8:31-32 Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you
are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free."
We Battle the Evil One because he is our enemy and He is an
enemy of God. We hate him and his lies.
2. We battle the World because they have chosen
to side with the Evil One. The World believes that we have the
right to live independently from God and to decide what is true
for ourselves. It isn’t so much that the World has no
truth, but any truth they have is credited to themselves and
not to God... it is independent truth; therefore, it is useless
truth because it does not bring us closer to God but drives
us further from Him.
The manner in which we engage the Battle with the World is the
same as how we battle the Evil One ... by learning the truth
and by following, in close relationship, the One who is Truth.
We live dependent upon Truth.
John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am
the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me.
John 8:31-32 Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you
are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free."
We Battle the World because they are loved by God. We do not
Battle them in order to destroy them, rather to save them from
the lies they believe. We love the World and hate their lies.
3. The Flesh is the most important aspect of
the Battle. It is the most important because this is the part
of the Battle which we have been given ability to defeat; and
it is the aspect of the Battle to which the Evil One and the
World appeal. It is our weak link as it were... the chink in
our armor. If it were not for our flesh (sinful nature, old
man etc) the lies of the Evil One and the World would have no
pull on us.
Remember that the strength of the lies is based on the sinful
desire to live independent from God and to decide what is true
for ourselves. That desire is resident in our Flesh.
So what can be done? If this sinful appetite
is resident in our Flesh, how is it that we can ever overcome
it?
The Battle with the Flesh
Experience Jesus, the Truth
It is no surprise that the short answer to this question is
the same answer we’ve discovered for the other two battle
fronts. We overcome the Flesh with Truth ...
John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am
the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me.
John 8:31-32 Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you
are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free."
... but there is much more to it than just simply knowing the
Truth ... we must partake of the Truth. It’s been a long
time since I’ve referred to my favorite Greek word “Ginosko”.
It is the word which is translated “know” in this
verse. It means knowledge gained from experiencing something
not merely hearing about it.
So this verse tells us that if we believe the True One we will
obey the True One ... then we will experience the Truth and
it/HE will set us free.
He, the Truth, must be more than a source of information to
us He must be the source of Life to us. We must do more than
just take in the truth about Christ, we must take in Christ
Himself; for He is Truth. We must ingest Truth into our very
heart.
Ingest Jesus, the Truth
This principle is what turned so many of Jesus’ disciples
away. They were pursuing Him for the miracles and the wisdom.
It made them feel good to see these things with their eyes,
but Jesus told them that that was not enough, they must take
in more than the teachings of Truth, they must take in the One
who is Truth.
I wonder how many here today may be in the same situation. Perhaps
you’re still at the place where the information about
the True One is intriguing; you can see His great wisdom and
sacrifice. But the Truth that you’ve absorbed is still
only knowledge; and more specifically, the Truth that you’ve
absorbed is still only Truth that you intend to use to live
independently from God. It is still Truth designed to make your
life better. You are still managing your own life, you are still
in a place of control over your own choices, YOU, IN FACT, ARE
STILL GOING TO DECIDE WHAT IS TRUE FOR YOURSELF ... JESUS IS
ONLY ONE OF THE SOURCES YOU’LL PICK FROM.
But the believing that Jesus talked about had nothing to do
with merely giving Him credit for being smart or perhaps even
giving him credit for being a source of great truths. He is
not a source of great truths, HE IS THE TRUTH. And you cannot
merely take the information that he offers into your mind in
order to live a more successful independent life, YOU MUST TAKE
JESUS HIMSELF INTO YOUR VERY LIFE AND GIVE UP YOUR INDEPENDENT
CONTROL. He cannot be only one source of Truth, no matter how
much importance you give Him, HE MUST BE THE ONLY SOURCE.
This demand to give up independence, this criteria of ingesting
Jesus Himself into your life is the most critical point of understanding,
and it is the demand which turned many disciples away from Jesus.
They were willing to take His information in, but they were
not willing to lose their identity by taking Him in.
John 6:28-66 Then they asked him, "What
must we do to do the works God requires?"
I want to stop right here for a second and make a note. This
question is a question from an independent person. You see,
ever since our fall in the Garden of Eden, man has been asking
for a recipe which we can follow in order to undo what we’ve
done. The emphasis is always on what WE can do. These people
are only stating what is so very entrenched in the independent
human soul ... they are saying, “Jesus we need your help,
for thousands of years man has been searching for the good works
that we can do in order to undo the sin we’ve committed.
Your teachings show us that you are wise. Your miracles show
us that you are powerful. We are humbling ourselves and asking
you to tell us what WE must do to do that works God requires.”
They have not come to that place where they acknowledge they
cannot undo their sin. They have not come to a place where they
recognize their absolute need for God to undo it for them. They
have not given up their independence; they are simply treating
Jesus as the most recent source, or perhaps even the greatest
source ever, to tell them how they can fix the problem themselves.
So Jesus tells them what that work is. He confronts their independence.
And observe how they handle it.
Jesus answered, "The work of God
is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
So they asked him, "What miraculous
sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you?
What will you do? 31 Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert;
as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses
who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father
who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God
is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes
to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never
be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you
do not believe. ....
my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes
in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the
last day."
At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said,
"I am the bread that came down from heaven." They
said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?"
"Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered.
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws
him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written
in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone
who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. No
one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only
he has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes
has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers
ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the
bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not
die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone
eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh,
which I will give for the life of the world."
Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How
can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no
life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal
life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh
is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh
and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the
living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the
one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread
that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died,
but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." He said
this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard
teaching. Who can accept it?"
Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said
to them, "Does this offend you? What if you see the Son
of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life;
the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you
are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who
do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning
which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went
on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come
to me unless the Father has enabled him."
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer
followed him.
Jesus does not give them the secret to what THEY
must DO in order to come to God, He tells them that they must
BELIEVE IN HIM. They must TAKE HIM IN and let Him be the one who
does the work.
This whole description, of course, is foreshadowing the last supper
and communion, which are symbolic descriptions of the beating
that Jesus endured in his body and the blood that He spilled at
the cross for us. His message was simple to the question of what
they must do to do the works of God. He told them that the work
God required was simply to believe in Him.
- Believe that He would pay for the sin that they could not pay
for.
- Believe that the beating He endured and the blood that He spilled
were sufficient penalty to pay for the sin of all men.
- Believe what He had told them earlier that John 3:16-19 "For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is
not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already
because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only
Son.
- Believe that He was not leading them astray when He asked them
to stop trying to undo their sin through good works.
- Believe Him when He asked them to give up their independence
and totally and completely rely on His work on the cross to bring
them back into fellowship with God.
Earlier messages have been referring briefly to
the three fronts on the Battle as addressed in the parable of
the sower. We see in the last infertile seed that the battle can
be lost if we allow our flesh to hang on to our independence.
The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the
man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness
of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
When we live independently of God, the worries of this life and
the deceitfulness of wealth can choke out the effect of Truth
in our lives. We are still in the mode of trying to make our life
work out for us. Those of you who took the counseling course in
the fall will recognize that this verse addresses the two sinful
choices we make to find life independently of God ... avoid pain
& seek pleasure. This is why it is critical that Jesus not
merely be one of the sources of Truth, but that we acknowledge
that He is the only source of Truth. This is done by believing
in Him
Conclusion
It is clear that eternal life is gained in an instant, but overcoming
the Flesh is a constant Battle. And this message could go on forever
about all the subtle nuances of Battling the Flesh. But you really
need to make that a matter of learning for yourself. The pages
of Scripture are full of wisdom on this matter.
Before we take communion this morning I want to close the message
with a few Scriptures pertaining to this Battle and make some
very brief comments about them.
We discussed last message that Jesus was less likely to sin because
He did not have a history of sin. Sin has a way of snowballing
in us. I hope you realize now that the Battle against sin is not
a Battle we fight in the power of the Flesh but only through believing
in the finished work of Jesus on the cross and following the Truth
Christ brings into us.
As we follow His Truth, the righteousness He creates in us also
snowballs. Just as sin leads to more sin, righteousness also leads
to more righteousness.
Rom 6:19-20 Just as you used to offer
the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing
wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading
to holiness.
2 Cor 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's
glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing
glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Heb 5:13-14 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is
not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid
food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves
to distinguish good from evil.
Heb 12:11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.
Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and
peace for those who have been trained by it.
He mentions that righteousness is produced in us as we are being
trained by Truth.
I tell each one of you. Life is not found in living independently
from God and deciding what it true for ourselves. Life is found
in giving up our sinful independence and taking Jesus, who is
the Truth, into our very being by believing in the work He did
for us on the Cross, and by following His ways as He leads us
further and further into His image ... as we more increasingly
bear His image of truth, the lies of the Evil One and the lies
of the World have less and less influence over us.
Gal 2:20-21 I have been
crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in
me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Gal 5:24-25 Now those
who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions
and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the
Spirit.
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