Christ Through Me: Your Internal Battle (Romans 7:18)

Series: Christ Through Me

Sermon: Your Internal Battle

Scripture: Romans 7:18

Date: September 1, 2019

 

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.  (Romans 7:18)

The flesh is trying to satisfy your desires outside of God's will.

The flesh is the capacity to be self-controlled, to be uncontrolled by the Holy Spirit, and it encompasses all that has been made old by the presence of the new nature.

1. It refers to one's own effort independent of God (Rom. 4:1; Phil. 3:3; Gal. 3:3)
2. It refers to one's infirmity, weakness, and helplessness (Rom. 8:3)
3. It refers to our state of sin or being controlled by sin (Rom. 7:5)

The devil loves to keep you preoccupied with yourself instead of being preoccupied with Christ.

To allow Christ to live through me, I have to deal with the flesh.  Here are three important words to consider as we deal with the flesh:

1. Struggle
   • Romans 7:18-19, NLT
   • "Praise God for the war within!  Serenity in sin is death.  The Spirit has landed to do battle wit the flesh.  So take heart if your soul feels like a battlefield at times.  The sign of whether you are indwell by the Spirit is not that you have no bad desires, but that you are at war with them."  -John Piper
2. Seriousness
   • "The flesh is a built-in law of failure, making it impossible for the natural man to please or serve God.  The flesh can never be reformed or improved. The only hope for escape from the law of the flesh is its total execution and replacement by a new life in the Lord Jesus Christ."  -Mark Bubeck
   • Isaiah 14;13-14
3. Spirit
   • Galatians 2:20
   • Galatians 5:16, NIV
   • "You have been trying not to fulfill the lust of the flesh, in order to walk in the Spirit - fighting a battle already lost.  What God has said to you is this, 'Walk in the Spirit,' in an attitude of total dependence upon Him, exposing everything to Him, 'and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh' - for you will then be enjoying through Him the victory that Christ has already won."  -Ian Thomas

WEEKLY GROWTH SUGGESTION: Read chapter 9 in "The Saving Life of Christ" twice this week.  Pray a lot this week, "Lord Jesus, live Your life through me right now.  Thank You that You will."