L.I.F.E. Lesson 17 - The Struggle Within

Welcome back, everyone, and praise the Lord. What a journey we're having thus far. I'm Pastor Mike. We're on lesson number 17 in this video. We continue our journey through the 40 lessons that makes up the curriculum for Life Ministries. We've been talking quite a bit about the wonderful gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fact that when we identify with that gospel, we put our faith in what Jesus Christ has done for us and who he is, who he was, then our addictions are dead and buried because we realize that Jesus didn't just die for us. He died as us. And then we also recognize he didn't stay dead. He arose from the grave on the third day, and he did that for us, but he also did that in our place. And so when we put our trust and faith in him, he's able to help us get the old person we used to be behind us. That old person is dead and buried, and now we've got resurrection power. We've got the power we need to live a transformed life and to go in a different direction. I'm praying for you through these videos together, through these biblical teachings. I'm praying that God will set you free. I'm praying that you're going to renew your mind. I'm praying that the Holy Spirit of God will help you change your thinking, maybe change your beliefs as we renew our minds with what God says. Now in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ and in light of the last couple of video teachings that we've enjoyed together talking about the gospel, if the old me is dead and buried, why do I still have struggles? Why do I still want to do what's wrong? Why am I still pulled backwards, the enemy of the world and the flesh causing me to want to relapse? Why is that struggle still there if the old man is dead and buried? Well, because even though the old person is dead and buried, you still got the influence

of that old person you used to be in you. You still got old ways of thinking that need to change. You still got old belief systems that aren't quite where they ought to be. You still got things within your heart and your mind that need to change. So we still got the influence of that old person wanting to pull us back, wanting us to do what's wrong. We got a sinful world around us wanting us to do what's wrong, tempting us to relapse. We've got our own flesh. We've got the enemy that's real, the demons and the devil. He's pulling at us all the time. And so there's going to be this struggle because we've also got the Holy Spirit of God in us. That's resurrection power. We put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That Holy Spirit came to dwell in us. We've got a power now as God's people that we didn't have before. And so those two, the remnants of the old person, the person I used to be, and the Holy Spirit resurrection power, they're always at odds with one another. They're always pulling at one another. I want to do what's right, but so many times I do what's wrong. In the Bible, in Romans 8, verse 29, and by the way, I love the previous verse, and I believe you always ought to consider the context of verses that you look at in Scripture. So before I read Romans 8, verse 29, the previous verse, Romans 8, 28, says, For we know that all things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose. All things work together for good. For who? For those that love God and are called according to His purpose. Now the very next verse in Romans chapter 8, verse 29, says, For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. God's conforming us into the image of His Son.

You know, what is God up to in our lives? What is God's plan for us when we put our faith in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit comes within our bodies to live? The Bible says our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit begins to change us. The Holy Spirit begins to chisel out of us everything that doesn't look like Jesus or act like Jesus or talk like Jesus. He begins to chisel all that out of us. He begins to conform us. He begins to cut out everything that doesn't reflect Jesus, and He begins to put in things and qualities and characteristics that would reflect Jesus Christ. And so in this journey of life, you know, the Bible talks about sanctification. It's that ongoing process whereby the Holy Spirit of God is making us more like Jesus Christ. And that process is not going to be complete until we stand before the Lord in glory. We're all broken people. Every single one of us are broken people. Every single one of us have sin in our lives. Every single one of us have areas in our lives that the Holy Spirit still needs to work on and chisel out of us those things that do not. reflect our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. God is making us more like Jesus. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17 says, �Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.� The new man versus the influence of the old man. We've got to renew our thinking. Sometimes we've got to renew our belief system. Sometimes we've got to change our belief system. The things that we're believing to be true, when they don't line up with what God says, we need to line up with what God says. We need to put on that truth. We need to thirst after Him. We need to hunger after Him and His truth and His Word and His will for our lives. Now in Romans chapter 7, beginning in verse 14, as we read this, I want you to listen to the Apostle Paul. One of the greatest missionaries who ever lived, the Apostle Paul, a man that

God would use to write at least half of the New Testament. You ever thought about that? Man, what an honor that is, that God would call this man Paul to write at least half of the New Testament books. Paul, a great Christian, a great church planner, a man of boldness, what a theologian the Apostle Paul was. But Paul dealt with this struggle, and he wrote about it in Romans chapter 7. Just listen to this. I'm going to begin in verse 14. Paul writes and says, For we know that the law was spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. Can I get a witness on that? I mean, Paul says, I don't even understand my own behavior sometimes. I don't understand my own actions. He goes on. He says, For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me. That is in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. That's significant right there. You know, let me pause right there before I read the rest of this text. Paul says, I've got a desire to do what's right. I want to live a godly life. But Paul says, it seems like I don't have the power to carry it out. Now Paul's talking about on his own in the flesh. He's saying, I don't have the power to live out the law of God. He says, the law of God is good. Why? Because it comes from a good God. But he says, I don't have the ability or the power to live out the word of God in my life. And in the flesh, you don't either. In the flesh, I don't either. We need a power outside of ourselves. I remember when I was first trying to break free from addictions in my life, when I was an active drug addiction and alcoholism. I mean, I tried so many things to try to break free. I tried as hard as I could. Every time I would fail, I might do good for a handful of days, but then I'd relapse. I'd fall right back into old patterns. And you know why? I didn't have the power in me. I was like Paul. I was like, I want to do what's right. I want to break free from these addictions, but I don't seem to have the ability to carry it out. Well, he goes on in Romans chapter 7, verse 19. And he says, for I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being. But I see in my members another

law, waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Now, before I read the next verse, because the next verse is the verse of hope and encouragement, it's actually the good news. So I'm building anticipation here. But Paul said in his flesh, he feels this battle going on. He says, man, I got this struggle going on. I want to do what's right. But it seems like I don't have the ability or the power so many times to do what's right. And Paul says, I find it so easy so many times to do what's wrong, even though I want to do what's right. It's almost like the apostle Paul's confused here. It's a little hard to even read this text because, I mean, he's just kind of back and forth. But the struggle's hard, isn't it? The struggle, sometimes it's hard to even understand why we struggle the way that we struggle. And of course, Paul's saying, I've got the flesh, I've got the remnants of the old nature, the old person I used to be, and I've got the Holy Spirit of God. And those two, again, they're at odds with one another. They're contrasts to one another. And it's much like what Jesus said in John chapter 10 and verse 10, the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. In contrast to that, Jesus says, I've come to give life and to give it more abundantly. And so Paul's saying, in my flesh, he says, hi, I'm a hopeless man. He says, I'm a wretched man. And he asks the question, who's gonna deliver me from this body of death? Addictions, strongholds. Maybe you're at a place right now where you're crying out in brokenness and you're like, who is gonna deliver me? Who is gonna give me hope? Who is gonna give me the encouragement that I need? Who's gonna give me the support that I need? Where am I and how am I ever gonna break free from the chains that bind me?

And maybe you've been bound, maybe you've been wrapped up for a long time, maybe years in your life, you've been in active addiction. And maybe you're at a point right now that you feel hopeless and you feel helpless. Well, I want you to know with God, all things are possible. God enters into the picture, God can do what you can't do. God can empower you to have a power and a strength that you don't have in your flesh. And so even though the struggle and this battle is real, we've got all that we need. Now, let me read the good news. The very next verse, Romans 7, verse 25. This is right after Paul asked that question. He says, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this hopeless situation, from this body of death? Well, he says, thanks be to God. Here comes the rejoicing, you ready? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin. Paul's saying in my mind, in my spirit, in my heart, I'm serving the law of God, but yet in my flesh, I don't always, I'm not always successful in that. Paul's reminding us as we go through this journey of life, as you walk down this road of recovery and you strive to get the past behind you, you cannot allow your flesh to control you. Don't go through life doing what you feel like doing.

Don't go through life just yielding to the flesh and the desires of the flesh and the desires of the world. You gotta be determined. I'm not gonna walk in the flesh. I'm gonna walk in the Holy Spirit of God. I'm gonna keep my eyes on Jesus. Thanks be to God, Paul says. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. It's all about him. And he gives me all that I need to set my mind on him, to set my heart on him, to walk that walk, to live that life, to get the past in the past. John 5, verse 24, the Lord Jesus Christ said, "'Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word "'and believes him who sent me has eternal life. "'He does not come into judgment, "'but is passed from death to life.'" Have you responded to the gospel of Jesus Christ in faith? These previous two videos, these previous two lessons that we've looked at are all about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? Not just with your head. I'm not talking about in the flesh. I'm talking about in your heart, in your spiritual person, in the heart, the center of who you are. Do you really believe in what Jesus Christ has done for you and who he is, God in human flesh? The sacrifice he made for you that you don't have to live

under the strongholds of the enemy anymore, held captive by sin. Have you ever really latched on in trust and faith to what Jesus has already accomplished for you? That's where the journey begins. And we keep coming back to that many times throughout this curriculum because that's the most important thing. Without putting your faith in God's provision for your sin to set you free, you don't have the power you need to be transformed. You're gonna continue a life of relapse. You're gonna continue a life of just trying to try harder, turn over a new leaf, do more good things. It's not about what you do, it's about who you are. When you come to Jesus Christ in faith, you become a child of God. You're not hanging on to God anymore, he's hanging on to you. Man, I love that. I'd much rather God hang on to me than me hang on to him. My grip's not always that secure. I mean, I may get tired of holding on, right? God doesn't get tired of holding on. His grip is always secure. And so when you put your faith in Christ, he's got you. He's got you. In your pain, in your struggles, in your temptations, God has you in the palm of his hand. And he gives you, offers you his strength, his power.

You can be transformed. Paul goes on in the book of Romans, in Romans chapter eight. We've got verses one through 11 in this lesson. And Paul's telling us that, you know, if we belong to Christ, then we're in him and he's in us. Let me read this text in Romans chapter eight, beginning in verse one. And the Bible says, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sinning. His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin. He condemns sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 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. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, if you have trusted Christ as your Savior, He is speaking to you. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your immortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Paul's talking about the mind, that's the flesh. He's talking about the Spirit, that's

the Holy Spirit of God. And he begins this text by saying there's no condemnation, no judgment, no condemning towards those who are in Christ Jesus. The law of God, the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of God. Not the law of God that the Pharisees and Sadducees were so hung up on. You know, the law of God, the written law of God was given to man not for salvation, but to point us to the one who can save us. The law of God was given to us to help us understand that we're lawbreakers, that we can't live up to the law. That's the written law of God. But the law of the Spirit, the law of the Holy Spirit of God is a law of grace. It's a law that liberates us and sets us free from the bondage of sin and slavery. It's a law that dictates to us that it's not about what we do that we can earn the favor of God or to earn value or self-worth. No, my friend, it's about who we belong to as children of God. And so Paul says, in my mind, my mind is set on the flesh. He's talking about what he senses and what he sees and what he feels like doing. He says that's at odds with the law of the Spirit. He says the flesh cannot please God. The only way we can please God is in the Spirit. That's walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. You know, let me encourage you at this point in this lesson today, don't go through life doing what you feel like doing. If you go through life just following your flesh, then you're going to relapse. You're going to have a hard time, man. You're going to have a struggle trying to break free from the past. We've got to have the power of the Holy Spirit. We've got to walk in that power. And the Bible tells us that when we put our faith and trust in Jesus, we've got the Spirit of God in us. We've got all that we need. Now, according to Romans 8, verses 1 and 2, why are we not under condemnation right now? Now, I'm going to re-read those first two verses. Verses 1 and 2, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Why are we not under condemnation right now? Now, according to verse 3, according to verse 3, what is it that makes the law of God weak in us? Verse 3 again says, for God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do. And so the question is, what makes the law of God weak in us? The next question I ask in this work text is, in verse 4, we find the real struggle that's within us. The struggle is not about doing, but rather about being. We must not simply walk or live in the flesh, but we must walk and live in the Spirit. That

means simply living out who I am in Christ Jesus. Now, here's the question. In verse 5, we're told to set our what? On the things of the Spirit. Set our minds on the things of the Spirit. Over and over again, the Scripture tells us that we've got to renew our minds with what God says. We've got to get rid of the stinking thinking. We've got to renew our minds with the truth of what God says and put off the lies. I also ask this question from verse 9. Who is it that has the Holy Spirit of God? I'm thankful we all have the Holy Spirit of God, and I say all. I'm talking about everyone who's come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. When you trusted Christ as your Savior, you were given the Holy Spirit of God. So either you have the Holy Spirit or you don't have the Holy Spirit, either you're saved or you're lost. If you're saved, you have the Spirit of God. If you're lost, you don't have the Spirit of God. Now, in the Gospel of John, chapter 6, and verse 63, it says, it is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life. And this is Jesus speaking to us. Now, listening to that verse, what does the Spirit of God give us? What does He offer us? Life. In John 14, verse 17, it says, And the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. We're in Christ. Christ is in us. You know, as Christians, we're not simply declared righteous, but we're made righteous by the Holy Spirit that lives in us. And we have that power in us to live in righteousness, to live a different kind of life. Second Peter, chapter 1, verses 2, 3, and 4, says, Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to glory and virtue, that through these you may be partakers of His divine nature, having escaped the corruption that's in the world through lust. As we go through this life as born-again believers, when you trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you ought to have a twofold goal, twofold aim in your life as you live your life to bring glory to God. Number one, it's to know God better. He says that in the knowledge of God, we can know God. And then number two, we ought to have as our goal to become like God. Now, we don't become gods, but we ought to be godly. I ought to continue to be made more like Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit's conforming me into the image of Jesus Christ.

Three things we've been given, according to 2 Peter 2, 3, and 4. Three things we've been given. Can you identify what those three things are in those verses that we just read in 2 Peter 1, verses 2 through 4? We've been given His divine power. We've been given His great and precious promises, and we have become partakers of His divine nature. His divine power, that's the Holy Spirit. We're given the Holy Spirit, and we trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. His great and precious promises, that's the Word of God. And so with the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, I have all I need for life in godliness, and then I become a partaker of His divine nature. That means I don't just have the old nature. I don't just have the remnants of who I used to be. Now I've got a new nature in me, and that's the very nature of God. I become a partaker of His divine nature. Have you ever thought about the fact that our nature determines a lot about us? Our nature determines people, places, things. Our nature determines what we want, what we run after, what we desire. When I surrendered to Christ in my late 20s, God gave me a new wanter. I didn't want the things I used to want. God gave me new desires. Why? Because I became a partaker of His divine nature. I think about why do birds fly in flocks? Well, because they have a nature of a bird. Why does a pig want to wallow in a mud hole and get all nasty? Because a pig has the nature of a pig. I mean, you're never going to see a little lamb jump in a mud hole and wallow around in that mud like a pig because a little lamb, a sheep, doesn't have the nature of a pig. God's given you His divine nature. With His divine nature, you're not going to want to go to the places you used to want to go. You're not going to want to hang around the people you used to hang around with. You're not going to want to go back into the life that you used to live, not when you're walking in the power of the Holy Spirit as a partaker of His divine nature. Do the rest of this assignment. If you've got a copy of the workbook in front of you, do the assignments at the end of each one of these lessons. Let the Holy Spirit use these assignments to really reinforce the truth of God in your life, because it's the truth of God that will set you free. Can I pray with you? Dear Heavenly Father, Lord God, thank You. Lord, we praise You for what You offer us. In the midst of this struggle that's real, Lord, we know it's real. We experience it, Lord, every day of our lives as born-again believers, this warfare going on between good and evil, even in our hearts, Lord. Help us

to be more than conquerors. Help us to be victorious. Help us, Lord, not to yield to the flesh. Help us, Lord, not to relapse, to fall back into old ways. But, Lord, help us to press forward in Your divine power, the power of Your Holy Spirit. Lord, help us to renew our minds with your great and precious promises, your truth that will set us free. Lord, help us to cling to that divine nature as we have become partakers of your divine nature. Lord, that changes us. I'm praying for chains to fall off. I'm praying for souls to be saved. I'm praying for you to be honored and glorified in these videos, in these teachings as we go through your word together. God, do a work only you can do, and we'll praise you for it. In Jesus' name, amen. Remember, I'm praying for you as we go through these lessons together. I want you to take time, look ahead if you can, if you got a copy of the workbook, look at this next lesson, lesson number 18, as we start talking about anger. I'm praying for you. You'll see me in the next video. Amen. Amen.