07/26/20 – Winning The Battle Inside of Me
WINNING THE BATTLE INSIDE ME
The Invisible War – Part 2
ROMANS 7:15-25 (LB)
THE COST OF THE BATTLE
1.
“I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can’t. I do what I don’t want to — what I hate.” Vs. 15
2.
“I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws I am breaking.” Vs. 16
3.
“But I can’t help myself because I’m no longer doing it. It is sin inside me that is stronger than I am, that makes me do these evil things.” Vs. 17
4.
“I know I am rotten inside as far as my old sinful nature is concerned.” Vs. 18a
5.
“No matter which way I turn I can’t make myself do right. I want to but I can’t! When I want to do good, I don’t; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway! Now if I am doing what I don’t want to, it is plain where the trouble is: sin still has me in its evil grasp.” Vs. 18b-20
6.
“It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong…In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin.” Vs. 21, 23
THE CAUSE:
“I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.” Vs. 21, 23
“So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in!” Vs. 24a
GOD’S BATTLE PLAN FOR MY VICTORY
1.
“Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Thank God! The answer is through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:24-25 (NLT)
“Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to its lustful desires… Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life.” Romans 6:12-13 (NLT)
“For the new spiritual principle of life in Jesus Christ lifts me out of the old vicious cycle of sin.” Romans 8:2 (Ph)
2.
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8 (NIV)
- BEHIND EVERY SELF-DEFEAT ACT IS
- TO STOP DEFEATING MYSELF, I MUST:
“When you know the truth, the truth will set you free.” John 8:32 (NIV)
“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so God can heal you. When a believing person prays, great things happen.” James 5:16 (NCV)
“Live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won’t do what your sinful nature craves.” Galatians 5:16 (NLT)