Winning the War Within
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The Biology of Faith
A Study in the Book of James
Winning the War Within
Children’s message - our resource in temptation is our union with Christ. We are in Christ, His Spirit is in us. That enables us to win the battle of temptation. Who I am in Christ. The Battle Between comes from the War Within You.
(ESV) 1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
All of us experience and cause conflict. But the battle between people starts within. This is so important to remember. Because the first thing we do is seek to blame someone else.
When our children were young, they occasionally had conflict with each other as brothers and sisters. I know that is hard to believe but it is true. 4 kids close together in age, different personalities and a very small house occasionally led to conflict.
We had one question every time they would begin to blame their brother or sister for doing something… “Were you doing right?” I don’t want to hear about your brother, I want to know were you doing right?
It is the first question I want to ask myself. When there is tension, how did I add to it. How did my motives, desires, failures add to the conflict. We need to win the war within by the power of God’s grace before we even explore the battle between.
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.
Pleasure is not sinful in itself. In fact true pleasures all come from God. He created them and He made them to be enjoyed when they are pursued as His gifts and according to His instructions.
What is wrong is to live for pleasures, for comfort and pleasure to be the driving force of your life.. The only other uses of this word in the New Testament suggests this idea: , where Jesus describes those who fall among thorns as “choked by the. . . pleasures of life,” and , which refers to people as “slaves to various passions and pleasures .” James’ emphasis is on a desperate search for one’s own pleasures and gratifications.
The truth is when we pursue selfish desires it is not that we desire too much but that we settle for too little. We choose the shadow promises of sin rather than the daylight warmed reality of God’s gracious goodness.
As a result there is a war within the heart of a Christian. Our selfish nature is in conflict with the Spirit of God. And that battle spills over into our relationships with one another.
This is written to the church. Divisions in the church are not new, but we must clearly recognize where they come from:
Our selfish desires The attack of the enemy who seeks to divide and destroy
Evidently the conflict in the church had gotten so bad that murder had occurred. And if a literal murder did not happen what was happening was just as serious because it was causing division in the Bride of Christ. He wants us to look deeply at our own desires and see how they are leading to conflict.
What James is doing cutting through to our very hearts. He is using the exact same logic as Jesus when he said,
(ESV) 21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Holding anger in our hearts towards another believer is committing mental assault upon one who is made in the image of God, loved by Him and in the case of believers, one Jesus died to save. Our attitudes matter immensely to God.
Notice James does not seem concerned about who is in the right and who is wrong, His focus is on the right response of our hearts towards others when we experience conflict.
An Obedient response matters more to God than who is in the wrong.
It is more important to do right than to prove to others that we are right and they are wrong.
It is matter of faith. If I truly believe God is God, that He is loving, that He is good, that He is in control then I can trust Him completely. Even when we are wrongly accused or our motives are questioned, we are to put our trust not in the justice of humanity but in the greatness of God.
God already knows all the details. He knows all the mitigating circumstances, and He is a perfect judge who is always right and always just, but thankfully He is also merciful and gracious.
God will use the conflicts we experience to reveal the war within our hearts. That it an incredible blessing.
James calls us to be like Jesus. Especially when there is conflict in the church.
(ESV) 43 “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
We are to respond like Jesus, because we are also sons and daughters of our Father in heaven.
Conflict comes from the war within our selfish desires - sin.
The Principle: When your thirst outweighs your thanks you are losing the war within.
When our thirst for what we do not have exceeds our thankfulness for what we have been given we are in great spiritual danger, Sin is waiting at the door of our hearts.
(ESV) 13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
Part of God’s strategy to win the war within is taming our desires through prayer and praise.
The Problem:
Make no mistake there is a war within you and I. And the outcome of that war will either build up the body of Christ or lead to conflict.
The great ancient book the Art of War by Sun Tzu reminds us of a very important truth. All warfare is deception. The way to victory is to see through the deception and know the real enemy.
Assessment of Self & Enemy
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
James is revealing some truth about our sin. Remember this is written to believer’s. Those who are fully saved and justified through faith in Jesus Christ, but are struggling with living out their union with Christ. They are often deceived by counterfeit desires that wage war with the soul.
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
We can be spiritually saved but physically living like an enemy of God. That will never work. Here is what keeps us from experiencing our union with Christ Jesus.
Desire/Lust - You want what you do not have Covet - You want what someone else has Faithless: You do not ask - You trust in our own resource and ability Selfish: You ask with the wrong motive - to spend God’s gifts on yourself Spiritual adultery - the war within reveals the unfaithfulness of our hearts. We love the comforts of this world more than we love God who gives them.
There is a real war within us: Sin will fascinate us right up to the point where it will assassinate us.
The Passion: Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
I love this. God is passionate about you. He wants you. He desires the best for you. Not the counterfeit promises of sin, but to give the joy of intimacy with Him and to live out the victory that Christ Jesus won for us.
God desires you more than you can imagine God will not relent until He becomes your all in all, because that is where you will experience the greatest joy.
The Power: God’s answer to our problem is more grace.
(ESV) 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
(ESV) 6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. 7 Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’”
The Grace of Jesus is more powerful than the sin of our human hearts. His grace moves mountains and His grace can transform a self centered sinful heart.
Grace not law is the power to win the war within. Trusting what Jesus has done for us and will do in you is the victory. We put our faith in the future on going flow of God’s grace.
It does not say… try harder, work more, God promises grace to overcome the war within.
How does our self nature deal with sin - Guilt and Pride.
Pride is the soul set on SELF! But our pride recognizes that we have failed, we sinned. So how does it seek to deal with sin - guilt and self work to try and regain our lost pride.
When we try to win the war within in our own strength in our pride it leads to cycle of
Temptation where we begin to entertain sin
Defeat - we give into sin
Diminishing pleasure from sin
Guilt - we feel condemnation over our sin
Shame - we try to hide our sin and hide from God.
Guilt, condemnation and shame always push us away from God. it is the enemies tactic to make you a slave to sin and to rob your life of the victory our union with Christ has gained for us.
Some of you are stuck in that cycle. You have tried and tried to get out. But you are trying in your own strength.
Legalism cannot win the war within. The law rightly proclaims us guilty but it does not defeat temptation and sin. Grace does.
The Holy Spirit uses conviction to remove the barriers so that we can draw near to God. James is calling us to access the incredible power of God’s grace and come closer. This is the only strategy that can win the war within.
The Holy Spirit uses grace upon grace to win the war within your soul. By grace Jesus conquered the penalty of death the Holy Spirit uses the same grace to defeat the power of sin in your life and give you victory in the war within.
Recognizing Conviction verses condemnation
(Difference between the Holy Spirit and Satan)
Grace calls us closer, submit to God’s power not our own, resist the false promises of sin, draw near to God, be cleansed, purified and humbly trust in God’s future grace that He is able to win the war within our hearts.
The Practice: Faith Actions to win the war within.
This is how we trust in the future grace of God and rest in our union with Jesus Christ. He is the power to overcome our flesh and win the war within.
(ESV) 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
SUBMIT to God -Say “No” to sin, and “Yes” to God. Say no to sin right away, do not entertain a temptation or thought. Kill it at the beginning. If you allow it to stay in your mind for more than 5 seconds, It will gain an advantage over you. Once you start the trailer for what sin might do for you, you will stay for the whole movie. Turn from sin to God. Saying no is not enough, we cannot fight sin our our strength. But saying “Yes” to God brings victory.
(ESV) 6 … to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.
RESIST the Enemy - There are 2 enemies of our souls: Satan and our sin. See your sin as not only an enemy against God but also against you. Call sin what it is. It is an enemy of your soul not a weakness. We make allowances for weakness, but not for our enemy.
If your family is threatened by an intruder what will you do? You will fight. Sin is an intruder seeking your destruction.The wages (payment sin delivers is always death) It may not be physical death right away, but the fruit of sin is always death. Sin will kill your joy, your relationships, your victory. But Jesus has already proven that He has won.
The most important step to resisting the enemy is to pray right away, “Lord, lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil, both the evil within my own heart and the schemes of the enemy.” ()
God’s promise is that if you trust in Him and resist the enemy he will flee. Both sin and satan must bow before the grace of God.
Our fights are spurned by our coveting desires to be satisfied in the world. But what stops our fights is our proximity to God. What stops our fights is our wanting who He is. What stops our fights is finding our souls satisfied by what we believe is our ultimate good, God Himself.
The solution to our conflicts is not guilt and trying harder in our own strength. The solution is to become awakened to new desires. To desire more of the real rather than the shadow promises of sin and temptation.
The more you desire the beauty of God and enjoy His presence the more victory you will find in the war within.
John Owen the great puritan who wrote extensively on Killing Sin said this…
To respond to the distorting nature of sin you must set your affections on the beauty and glory of God, the loveliness of Christ, and the wonder of the gospel:
He calls us to draw near. Do you see God’s heart for you? Knowing everything about you. Every failure, every sin, what does He desire - for you to draw near.
The enemy will use guilt about our sin to keep us from coming to God. And yet the Scriptures call us closer, because by God’s grace our faith has united us to the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Draw Near to God. We draw near to God in faith through our union with Christ Jesus. Jesus in us, and us in Jesus. In Christ we are invited to come close to God and experience true intimacy with Him. ,
(ESV) 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
(ESV) 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Cleanse your hands - We are cleansed by the Word of God. , ,
(ESV) 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
(ESV) Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
(ESV) 9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
10 With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
11 I have stored up your word in my heart,
Purify your hearts - Confession. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Obedience to God and Love for Others Purifies our hearts.
(ESV) 22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
Humble yourselves before the Lord - Rely on His power and strength. Wait for God’s timing and direction. God promises grace to the humble who trust in Him. ,
Exalt: to be lifted up to victory - Follow these actions of faith and God will lift you up to victory in the war within.
God wants you close. He will give you more grace to come closer if you submit to Him, then resist the enemy and draw near to God and He will draw near to you!
Be killing sin or sin will be killing you - John Owen
God’s Grace kills sin and wins the war within!
God’s Grace kills sin and wins the war within!