Spiritual Warfare

Robert D. PattonMissionary to SurinameBaptist World Mission

Temptation and the flesh

James 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man; 14. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

ENEMY #1 – THE FLESH

Thus our weapons must not be fleshly. The flesh will never cast out the flesh

Our old nature, the flesh

Gal. 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Our old nature, the flesh

Gal. 5:19 Now the Works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20. Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21. Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and the like…

Our old nature, the flesh Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that

is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present in me, but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Romans 8:5 For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit, 6. For to be carnally minded is death;but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Temptation: Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil

The pride of life - to direct our own destiny.

Don’t be under God when you can be like God

Don’t worship God... Steer your own life - don’t be

obedient to God

Temptation – to replace these with dependence on self

The will of God - depend on God The Word of God - confidence in

God The worship of God - obedience to

God

Adam at Creation God met all his needs

Body – God cared for everything – food, water, temperature, oxygen, etc.

Soul Intellect – Adam named all the animals Emotions – love of God and Eve, peace, no

fear or anger Will – everything OK except to eat one fruit

Spirit – direct contact with God

Satan’s temptation

God does not really care for you God’s word cannot be trusted God can live independent of God

and be your own God

Satan’s temptations are lies

God does care for us and meets all our critical needs

God is the one person who can be totally trusted

God created us to rule under Him, but not to be independent. No one can be independent ultimately

After the fall… Body – now he must work hard for

food, the body begins to age, sickness, pain, sweat

Soul Intellect – confused – tries to hide from

the God who is everywhere Emotions – fear, anger, jealousy, etc Will – to do what SELF wants, not God

Spirit – dead in sin, separated from God

Our situation after the cross

Body – God continues to meet our daily needs, but we still have to deal with sickness, pain and physical death though eventually a new body

Soul Intelligence – we have the mind of Christ Emotions – we must be under control of the Holy

Spirit – love, joy, peace, etc Will – submit our will to God

Spirit - reunited – contact with God possible

Christ meets our primary needs in Himself

For acceptance For security For significance But satan wants to tempt us away

from our relationship with Christ

Our flesh – our old nature The center of the flesh is SELF.

We have worldly self-centered people We also have religious people who

are also basically self-centered Satan’s primary interest is to

promote self-interest as the primary motivation of the world

But the center of the Christian view is from the CROSS

Our old nature When we were dead in trespasses

and sin, our entire focus was self-centered

When we are saved, that self-centered focus may persist through the flesh although we are a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17)

We must choose to resist the devil and submit to God

Adam’s choice Adam tried to live without God and

become his own God But no one can live apart from God Since we are spiritually dead when

apart from God, we seek meaning apart from God - pride; self-exaltation

Adam couldn’t be God before he sinned, and he certainly couldn’t be God with sin in his life

Christians defeat the flesh by

Recognizing the defeat of the sin nature Rom. 6:[6] Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.[7] For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Christians defeat the flesh by

Reckoning that we are dead to sin and alive to God Rom. 6:[11] Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Refusing to let sin rule us: Rom. 6:[12] Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

Christians defeat the flesh by Relinquishing control to God as

alive from the dead: Rom. 6:[13] Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Christians defeat the flesh by Relinquishing control to God as

alive from the dead: Rom. 6:13 Grace (not the law) will give us the

victory: Rom. 6:[14] For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Now we are prepared to be filled with the Spirit Eph. 5:18. [18] And be not drunk with

wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

We must obey His Word: Col. 3: [16] Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Don’t limit the Holy Spirit in your life

Eph. 4:30[29] Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.[30] And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Don’t limit the Holy Spirit in your life

Eph. 4:30[31] Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:[32] And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Don’t quench the Spirit

I Thess. 5:[16] Rejoice evermore.[17] Pray without ceasing.[18] In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.[19] Quench not the Spirit.[20] Despise not prophesyings.

True freedom – Mt. 16:24-27

[24] Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.[25] For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

True freedom – Mt. 16:24-27

[26] For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?[27] For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

True freedom: Mt. 16:24-27 Deny yourself.

.This is not the same as self-denial like an athlete, which is ultimately self-promotion.

.It means that we stop being “God” in our lives

.We are not designed to be independent of God

.We are not designed to be our own master - either God or satan will master us

True freedom: Mt. 16:24-27

Take up your cross daily Follow Christ

Self will never cast out self. We must be led to death of self

True freedom: Mt. 16:24-27 Sacrifice the lower life to gain the higher

life Don’t find your worth in positions, titles,

possessions and accomplishments If you struggle for earthly treasures, you

will fail in all you can be in Christ Try to win the world, and that is the most you

will get, and only for a time Shoot for the other world, and God gives you

blessing in this one as a bonus

True freedom: Mt. 16:24-27 Sacrifice the pleasure of things for

the pleasure of life: Love people and use things, not the

other way around Sacrifice the temporal for the eternal: The world’s solution is to inflate

the ego and take God’s place - which is satan’s ultimate goal!

We find His will in sacrifice: Rom. 12:1-2

[1] I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.[2] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Remember who we are in Christ

.We are partakers of the divine nature: II Peter 1:[3] According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:[4] Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be par-takers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Remember who we are in Christ

Eph. 5:[8] For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

2 Cor 5:[17] Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Remember who we are in Christ

We can be victorious over the flesh and sin

But you can choose to walk according to the flesh.

In Christ The flesh is crucified. We are dead to sins – The old

nature is not annihilated, but we are separated (dead) from its power in our lives so that we can choose to live for God, and not for self

This on-going conflict only Christ can conquer in our lives

Christians defeat the flesh by

This is a constant battle, and we must depend on Christ continually for the victory and the power to live for Christ, obeying the Word, not grieving Him through unconfessed sin or quenching Him by resisting His will:

Remember Eph. 4:30 & I Thess. 5:19

Quenching & resisting the Spirit

Eph 4:[29] Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.[30] And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.[

Quenching & resisting the Spirit

Eph 4:[31] Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:[32] And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Don’t quench the Spirit

I Thess. 5:[16] Rejoice evermore.[17] Pray without ceasing.[18] In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.[19] Quench not the Spirit.[20] Despise not prophesyings.[21] Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.[22] Abstain from all appearance of evil

Live free in Christ

We have already died to sin - note that Rom. 6:1-11 has past tenses. They are not things to do, but facts to believe

This is what Jesus did for us on the cross.

But it is our responsibility to crucify the flesh and walk by the spirit: Gal. 2:20, 5:16

Live free in Christ We have the responsibility to crucify the

flesh and walk by the spirit: Gal. 2:20, 5:16 We have already died to sin - note that

Rom. 6:1-11 has past tenses. They are not things to do, but facts to believe .Our belief must precede our feelings and

experience .We cannot remain neutral. If we do not

actively give our bodies to be used by Christ, satan will take advantage of us

Live free in Christ We must take our thoughts captive to

Christ. The battle is in the mind 2 Cor. 10:[3] For though we walk in the

flesh, we do not war after the flesh:[4] (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)[5] Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

The world system – kosmos

The world - kosmos = the system which satan has devised.

Its basis is SELF – and corresponds to our old fleshly nature, which came from satan himself