The Troublemaker Within Us

In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Next on In Touch, the troublemaker within us. I used to wonder if the Christian life really and truly worked. I don't mean I wondered that as soon as I was saved. I even wondered that after I'd been a pastor for a while. Because I would look at the scripture and then I'd look at my life. And they didn't always match. It wasn't because I didn't want it to match. It was somehow I didn't understand how do I live this Christian life with all the difficulties and the hardships and the trials and the temptations. How do I do it? Well I began to look around and realize that some other people felt the same way. In fact, what I discovered was this, that most people's idea was really doesn't work like the Bible says it does. And so what you do is you just relax and just live it out. And so what they consider the normal Christian life, everything in me said no, that's not it. Because I saw their life like a roller coaster. The reason I could identify it in them is because that's what I felt. Somehow it was up today and down tomorrow, in today and out the next day. I knew there had to be something better than this because I would stand on Sunday morning and tell all the people who Jesus was and what He was like in the Christian life. And finally, I came to this conclusion. I said, God, I can't keep telling these people something that deep down inside I know is not working for me. I have to have an answer. I have to have a solution. I can't keep doing this. I have to have an answer to this. And I was desperate.

And it wasn't that I did not try because I would fast and pray and read the Scriptures and confess and repent and try to come up with something to repent, maybe I couldn't even think of. And somehow it wasn't working. And you see, it really, the real reason it wasn't working was because I didn't understand a very basic truth. And more than likely, most Christians don't understand it. And they keep feeling defeated in their Christian life, doing the things they don't want to do, failing to do the things that they know they should do and can't figure out why. So they just settle down for what I call a settle for life, which is a life God never intended for any one of us. So what I want to do in this passage of Scripture, I want to answer the question why. And I am certain that many of you feel the very same way I used to feel. And it was only when I began to understand what I want to share with you today that God changed my life. He absolutely gave me a joy and a happiness and a peace and a contentment in my life that I had not known before. You can have the same sense of contentment and joy. Because before that, the Christian life was a burden to me, certainly not a buoyancy. It was a burden. It was difficult. And I used to think, now I understand why lost people don't want to go to church. Because they've already got enough troubles, then they become a Christian and you've got more troubles. I did understand that. And then when I discovered what I want to share with you, all of that burden lifted and my life changed. I want you to turn, if you will, to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5, the Apostle Paul has been talking about the freedom that we have in our life once we trust the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior.

And so, one of the things he says in this thirteenth verse, he gives a little warning of his fifth chapter. He says, for you were called to freedom, brethren. So do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Then beginning in verse 16, he says, but I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you're led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, Indians, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live with the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Now, what the Apostle Paul is really saying is this, that is, our greatest troublemaker is within us. Our greatest troublemaker is the flesh. And I can remember looking around and thinking, well, it must be this problem and that problem or this person or the other person. Finally, I had to conclude, whatever the problem was and whatever was causing me to be defeated was not something outside of me, it was something inside of me. And so I want to begin by simply defining what the flesh is, because usually when people

think of flesh, they think of this, you know, our skin, blood vessels, and so forth. This is the flesh. And certainly Paul uses the word flesh to indicate that sometimes, but he also uses it to indicate a spiritual truth. So what is it that he means when he says the flesh? Well, let me remind you that when you and I trusted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, He saved us. He forgave us of all of our sins. He broke the power of sin in our life. He redeemed us, as he says, sanctified us. He justified us, declared us no longer guilty. He wrote our name in the Lamb's Book of Life. We are forever His children. But still remaining in us is something that we all have to acknowledge. We still have a propensity towards sin. There is something within us that still leans in that direction at times. Somehow within us, there are desires that crop up within us that we know do not fit who we are as children of God. And so when we think about what that is, some people call it an old sin nature. Some people call it propensity to sin. Whatever people call it, the truth is the Scripture says, you and I have within us those desires that are going to be there for the rest of our lives. And that is things that come and go. It isn't who we are. That is, we have a new nature, and so our desire is to be obedient to God. We want to do what's right. We try to do what's right, and yet in spite of that, there are those times we have this desire to do what we know is not right. Where did that come from? Well, it's part of our inherited nature from Adam.

We came into this world. We came into this world, every single one of us, with an old sin nature. That sin nature works every bit the best it can in order to do what? To detract us from God, move us away from God, distract us from those things that are godly and holy, to upset us in our Christian walk, to detract us in our relationship and our mind upon Him. And so we have within us this propensity, this leaning, this yearning at times that causes us to want to do the wrong thing. Now, let me say this about it. We inherited it. It isn't something we chose. But let me remind you of this. You cannot clean it up. You cannot change it. You cannot, listen, you can't wash it away. You can't pray it away. You can't repent it away. You cannot educate it. You cannot eradicate it. It is there as long as you and I live. Somebody says, well, that is very encouraging. Well, I'm just telling you the truth. It's there. It's going to be there. It'll always be there. As long as you and I are living in these bodies of ours, it's going to be there. God, listen, when He sent the Holy Spirit, He broke sin's power. He broke the power of the flesh. But when you and I agree with these attitudes that we have, then we find ourselves in trouble. And so when Paul uses the term flesh here, what he's referring to, he's referring to

that thing within us, whatever you want to call it, that attitude, that longing, that yearning for those things that you and I know do not fit him. Now, all of us have it, and it affects every single aspect of our life. It affects the way we think. It affects the way we feel. It affects our relationships with other people. Every aspect of our life is affected by it. And so whatever this is we call the flesh, this propensity towards sin, this inherited corruption that we got from Adam, there is something within us that still has yearnings and desires to be disobedient to God. Now what happens when you and I yield to that, and I think all of us realize that at times we do, there is tension in our life and distress. And we sense, we know when we've done wrong. And as a believer, we are convicted by the Holy Spirit that that does not fit who we are. Now, when Jesus Christ saved us, he saved us to make us like his Son in character. And therefore, those things that do not fit who Jesus is do not fit who we are. And you see, the unbelieving world thinks, well, you Christians can't have any fun because they think if we don't drink and carouse and so forth that we can't have any fun. Listen, let me tell you something. Christians can have fantastic fun. We can have the most awesome time. The difference between you and us is, we get up the next morning, we feel great, you got a hangover. That's the difference between us. That is the difference. Now watch this. Listen to what he says. Because what he does, he divides,

he divides, now watch this carefully. He divides the work, that is the work of the flesh in us, in three different categories. In the first category, listen and watch this, turn if you will now to verse 19. First category are sensual sins, sensual sins. Listen to what he says. Now this is the way the flesh operates in people's lives. This is, now watch this, this is natural and normal. This is just human. Look, verse 19. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, every type of immorality. Whether it is fornication, whether it's adultery, every type of immorality. And listen, impurity, that means dirty, filthy thinking. So people who say, well sure, I'm a Christian, but there's nothing wrong with telling a dirty joke. Yes, there is. You know what's wrong with it? It's flesh, that's what it is. And flesh is hostility toward God. Look, he says, immorality, impurity, sensuality, that is all kind of lustful appetites. And notice, there's nothing wrong with eating, but then such a thing as gluttony. There's nothing wrong with sex within the bounds that God has given us. There's nothing wrong, listen, with power when submitted to the living God.

So you and I could take every single appetite or desire that we have, and as long as it is subdued and brought under subjection to the Holy Spirit in our life, there's nothing wrong with those things. It's when they get out of control. Now watch this. So he says the first set of sins here are those sensual sins. Then he says the second are superstitious sins. Look, idolatry and sorcery. And if somebody says, well, listen, those are the things I may be guilty of once in a while, but never adultery. Don't have any images in my house. They're not wood, they're not stone, not any of those things. So count me out on idolatry. No, count you in. How do I count you in simply this? Because idolatry is anything, whether it is a person, whether it is something you own, whether it is yourself, your self-image, or whether it's your children, whatever it is, whatever, listen, stands between you and the living God. Whatever you place above the living God in your life is an act of idolatry and it's hostility toward God. It is of the flesh. And one of the deceptive things about the flesh is we think, well, just because we don't have some wooden or gold, silver, brass, bronze, stone image

that we're not idolaters. In this country, we're probably one of the greatest idolaters in the world. We've got so many different gods and people never think about them as gods. Idolatry is anything that you place before the living God in your life. Then if you'll notice, he says, sorcery. What does that mean? Witchcraft, all kinds of occult, all the occult business, all the witchcraft, all of that is absolutely flesh in the eyes of God. And then there are those social sins, the things that relate to other people. Look at this. He says, for example, he says, now there is enmities, deep hatred toward other people that looks to express itself. Strife is one of the ways enmity expresses itself. Jealousy is an act of the flesh. Somebody says, well, but you just don't understand. I don't have to understand. Jealousy is the work of the flesh. How do I know that? Because here's what he says. The deeds of the flesh are jealousy, outburst of anger. Somebody says, well, now I have a temper. That's the way God made me. No, he didn't. God did not make you with a temper.

You developed it. And you know how you developed it? Out of self-centeredness and selfishness. That is the heart and the root of a temper. I don't have my way, and I get my way. I'm gonna express myself. That's just pure flesh. When you say, as you fly off the handle, you flew right out of the spirit, right into the flesh, because you are living in the flesh when you fly off the handle. Outburst of anger. Then he says, disputes, dissensions, factions. Then he says, envying. Now you say, well, does that mean that I'm not to desire anything? No, the only way progress is ever made in life is somebody has a desire to build a bridge. Somebody has a desire to build a computer. Somebody has a desire to fly. So we have many, many wonderful, wonderful things because of desires. Nothing wrong with desire, but what's the difference between desire and envy? desire and envy. Here's the difference. I may desire that and be nothing wrong with having that, but when I desire yours and I want what you have, then all of a sudden I've gone from spirit to flesh. We never have a right to desire what somebody else has. Something like they have, fine, but not what they have. And then if you'll notice, he says the flesh is also expressed in drunkenness. Let me ask you a question. How can you justify drinking? You know what he says? He says drunkenness is flesh. Where does that start? It doesn't

start with a filth. It starts with a taste. And my friend, what you do when you start to drink, you're choosing a dangerous pathway. Drunkenness is of the flesh, is of the devil, and it's sin, any way you name it. I don't care what kind of label you put on it. You say, well, I just do it for this reason, that or the other. Why do you do it? Don't you know that God can satisfy any hunger of your heart? He can satisfy, listen, whatever is motivating you to think that you've got to have a drink over here so you'd have a little peace and quietness. That's the flesh. Look, you cannot have peace and quietness and contentment in your life without Christ. And this is why people take one drink, keep drinking. Why? Because they're still looking for maybe a little bit more will help, won't help. Then he says carousing. Now, you know what carousing is? Act natural. Just do your thing. Just have a big time. You see, none of those things fit who we are. It doesn't mean that we're less than anybody else. We're the sons and daughters of the living God. We have God living on the inside of us. We're not perfect. We are so imperfect. We have our weaknesses, our frailties. We sin against God. We confess it. We repent of it. We move on because we don't want that in our life. Do we have those tendencies? Yes. Will we always have them? Yes. Do we have to yield to them? No, unless we choose to. So you can't ever say, well, the devil made me do it. He can't make you do anything as a child of God. We sin. We get in the flesh because, listen, we attempted by something and we choose to yield. We don't have to. You say, well, do you ever reach a stage you don't? Nobody I know of ever has. It's not going to happen. As long as we're in these fleshly bodies of ours, we're going to hit those moments of weakness and frailty, and we're going to yield. The difference is we deal with it. We know it doesn't fit us. We step out of that back into the Holy Spirit. So how long does it take you to get from the Spirit to the flesh? Or how long does it take you just a thought, if you choose to follow that thought? How long does it take you to get from the flesh back into the Spirit? Father, thank you for showing me that was not right. Forgive me of my sin. I truly repent of that, God. You're on. God isn't going to say because you sin, well, well, well, well. Now let's stir that up, and you've got to just feel bad enough, and you have enough pity party, and you've got to wallow in that long enough until I think you deserve to be forgiven. You know why I know that I'm instantaneous to be forgiven? The cross. He took our sin dead and full once and for all at the cross.

I don't have to wallow around in sin, rather to step back into relationship with God because He says the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, is continually cleansing us from all sin. Now how do we deal with this? So I want you to listen carefully now. Look, if you will, in this fifth chapter and the 16th verse. Here is a promise from God. Now everybody's got promises. Everybody's got Scripture promises. Well, I'm going to tell you my favorite promise and so forth. So look at this 16th verse. But I say, Paul says, walk by the Spirit, that is, follow His direction, His promptings, His leadership, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. And notice what he says and what he doesn't say. Are you listening? Say amen. He says you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. He did not say you wouldn't have bad thoughts. He didn't say you wouldn't be tempted. He didn't say that. He said, when you and I are walking by the Spirit, when these things hit us, we will not fulfill them. We'll not carry them out. You can't keep something from hitting your mind. You can determine how long it stays in there and what you do with it. You can determine that. So notice what he says now. Watch this. But I say, walk by the Spirit, that is, follow His direction, His promptings, you'll not carry out the desires of the flesh. What do I mean by promptings? Now watch this. Look this way. Watch this. Here's what I mean by prompting. Let's say that you are tempted with something, whether to say it, let's say that somebody has really cut you down badly, and something inside of you is rising up, and the Spirit of God says, trust me, or He may say to you, mm-mm-mm-mm-mm, and I don't know how He'd say that, but that's what I feel. You know, in that moment, He said to you, don't respond to that, don't respond. That's the prompting of the Spirit. He's not going to beat you in the head. He's not going to put tape over your mouth. He's going to give you a prompting. And here's what I have discovered in my life, and I have to admit my failures. Whenever the Spirit of God has given me a prompting about something that's very clear to me, and I have ignored it, I have suffered every single time. I mean, I'm telling you, you can't violate the voice of God.

And it may be something as simple as this. Let's say that I'm heading in some direction, and I'm getting ready to make a decision about which way I'm going, and I just say, Lord, I just need some help here, and He gives you a little prompting, and then what do I do? I ignore the prompting and choose my reason. You know what I do? Take the wrong turn every time. That's just one simple illustration. What I want you to see is this. He is so interested in your personal life, He will prompt you about many things, not just some big temptation, but the promptings of the Spirit. Now, with that in mind, I want to give you three words. If you will jot down these three words, and if you will understand how simple but how profound and how meaningful and powerful they are, you will find your Christian life taking on a whole different perspective. And what you'll find is this, you'll find, listen, you'll find less defeat, fewer defeats. You'll find more peace, more contentment, more success, more joy, more self-control in your life than you've ever experienced, so that the Christian life's no longer a burden. It becomes a buoyance in your life that lifts you up every day. Three words. Are you ready? Number one, persuaded. What do I mean by persuaded? You have to be absolutely persuaded. You cannot live the Christian life in your own strength. Once you start doing it in your strength, you're gone. Persuaded. So persuaded that I am, listen, persuaded that I cannot live the Christian life myself. I can't do it. I don't have the strength to face that kind of temptation.

I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't do it. He says I can't. Now, I'm coming to the place I realize I can't. You say, well, I think I can handle it. Then you know what? Your flesh will present you with something you cannot handle. This is why people come to counselors and this is why they come to pastors and say, I never would have believed it in myself. I never would have, I never thought I'd do, I just can't believe I would do that. Sure you can. Anything you try to do in your strength, you're going to blow it. Not going to work. You've got to be fully persuaded that you cannot in your strength live the Christian life. The second word is a tough one, surrender. Surrender what? Surrender your mind, your will, your emotion, your conscience, your consciousness, your body, your soul, your spirit. Surrender yourself to the Holy Spirit. You say, well, how do I do that? Let me tell you how you don't do it. You don't run down some church aisle and say, I just want to yield everything. No. If you want to yield everything, this is the way you yield everything. And it takes courage. You have to say to the Spirit of God, Holy Spirit, reveal to me every aspect of my life. Show me my areas of weaknesses and my frailties because I want to yield every aspect of me. I yield my mind to you to think your thoughts. I yield my will to you because I want to do your will. I yield my emotions to you, and you know how many emotions that I have, Lord.

I yield my consciousness to you that I'm conscious of those things you want me to be conscious of in life, of your presence, for example, all the time. I yield my body to you, every aspect of it. My eyes, what I look at. My ears, what I hear. My lips, what I speak. Every aspect of my body. is yours to guide, to control, the discipline any way you see fit. I want to walk and to live in absolute submission to your will. Now that I'm persuaded I can't live the Christian life, I've turned myself completely over to Him. Now watch this, and this is the real, the real catcher right here. You say, all right, you mean to tell me that I'm fully persuaded. Okay, I get persuaded. I lay it all before Him. Now, not only have I laid those things before Him, but Lord, my possessions, all of them, my position in my job, all of it, my prominence and my prestige, my power, in other words, my place, my abilities, my talents, my gifts, God, give it all. I submit all of that to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Now what will make all of that happen? One thing, the third word is trust. I've got to believe that He will do exactly what He says He will do, listen to what He says, walk by the Spirit, submit it all to Him, fully persuaded that only He can do it. You will not carry out the desires of the flesh. You know what will happen? When you're fully persuaded and you surrender to Him and you trust Him, what you're saying is, God, I do believe that You'll do what You say. You don't want me living with the flesh, and I don't want to live that way. I want to live a godly life, and therefore, I'm surrendering everything I am and all that I have to You so that You have absolute control of my life.

Now watch this, the last thing you want to give up is the final control of your life. You lay it all down, and then you say, Lord, I'm trusting You to be the God You say You are, to do for me what You know I can't do for myself. I'm going to trust You and see what You can do in my life. And my friend, your life's going to change. You're going to begin to experience that love and joy and peace and goodness and gentleness and self-control. You're going to begin to see that you're going to be a man of God. You're going to begin to experience the things you've been looking for in life and searching for and couldn't find. You know why? Because you've told God your life belongs to Him now. Now watch this carefully. You say, did I just do that once? No. You do it today. And it's a wise thing every morning to wake up and just say to Him, Father, today, I'm totally Yours. I can't live the Christian life today. I can't do the things that I'm facing today. Because is it not true that there are things in your life that you can't, that you feel inadequate? What do you do? You can't, oh, God, I can't handle this. Lord, if You don't help me today, it's going to blow it bad. You know what He wants you to say? You can't do anything very well apart from Him. The truth is, listen, think about this. Ask this almighty God who is willing to live out in your life every single day what is necessary in order for you to become the person you ought to be and to accomplish the work

that God has set up for you to accomplish in your life. And it's yours for the asking. And all you have to do is to make that decision. Will you ever fail again? Yes. But now you're going to know the difference. And you know what? You will never be satisfied hanging around and lounging around in the flesh once you have decided and once you have experienced what it means to walk in the Spirit. And Father, how grateful we are for Your longsuffering and patience and forgiveness. How grateful we are that You put up with us year after year after year. You know how ignorant we are, and then you know how some things we learn, and yet oftentimes we find ourselves slipping right back into what we know does not fit who we are. We praise You that the precious blood of Jesus is continually cleansing us from all sin. Thank You that You've not allowed us to be satisfied with what the world thinks is a normal Christian life. We want it the way You made it to be, and I pray the Holy Spirit will sink this message so deeply into every life. Not a soul who hears it will ever be satisfied any longer living in the flesh. In Jesus' name, amen.