FIGHTING THE WAR THAT RAGES WITHIN

Romans 7:25-8:13
March 19, 1995
Bob Bonner

War is no laughing matter. All wars produce unspeakable atrocities and too many casualties. There are no rules for a war. As someone once said, “All’s fair in love and war.” Hence, if you are going to win a battle, you must first understand that your enemy does not play by the rules, because there are none. In addition, if you are going to win a battle, you must understand the principles or tactics of warfare that are necessary to win. So it is with all wars, economic, political and spiritual wars.

Last week, we saw in Romans 7:23 that there is an invisible war raging on in the human soul of every believer, every person who has committed his or her life to Jesus Christ. Moreover, from what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 2:14, we know the future outcome of that war has already been decided. We win, because Jesus has led us in victory.

But in the meantime, we also learned that as long as we live in these bodies on the face of this earth, we will still be fighting the battles that make up that war. The war won’t be over for any of us until Jesus comes again or we die, whichever comes first. This spiritual war is a war in which the participants, us, know what is right to do but for some reason, we find ourselves incapable of doing what we know God says we should do. Instead, we sin or do the very thing we know we shouldn’t do and we don’t really want to do.

Each of us fight this war daily on different battle fronts. Sometimes we know exactly when the battle is about to begin, we see the foreboding signs and we can prepare for it. At other times, we are caught up in ambushes or sneak attacks of the enemy, which may lead us to being wounded or down, but never out!

Some of you may be fighting the battle within on the battle front called temptation. There may be a specific sin that is haunting you. You know it is wrong, but you aren’t winning. Whether it be the sin of anxiety over things like your finances, kids or health, or it’s the sin of trying to take over the controls of your life from the Lord, or the sin of some addiction, or the battle with bitterness or living for the approval of others.

For others, it may be those conflicts with key people with whom you live, work or play. Or, maybe you have had a week like I have had, one that has taxed you beyond your physical and emotional limits, and you succumb to trying to meet the issues of your life in your own strength and fail miserably. It doesn’t matter which front of the battle you are fighting, all the battles are a part of the same war.

Paul has taught us, as we saw in Romans 7:14-25, that we can choose to fight these battles in our own human strength, in our flesh, which is powerless against sin, and hence end up in defeat, crying out “Wretched man that I am, who is going to deliver me from this body of death?” or we can choose to rest in Christ’s strength and enablement to fight these battles in and through our spirits, the end result being we will find peace and rest even in the fight.

Nobody likes living in defeat and frustration. None of us like hearing the lies from our enemy that scream, “You are nothing but a failure.” None of us want to continue to try and fight this spiritual war in the flesh or out of our limited human resources which never seem to bring victory in the end, only pain. So how do we fight this war in the Spirit, win daily battles and find peace within? What is our responsibility as believers?

We are only going to touch on the very basic fundamental principles that show us what are our responsibilities are in the midst of this war. But when we finish our study of Romans 8, we are going to take a hiatus from Romans and look closely at spiritual warfare and what our responsibilities are and what are the tactics that God says lead us in His triumph and victory.

Let’s look together at Romans 7:25b-8:13. When last left off, learned about this war that wages within. And from verse 23 we saw that the battleground for this war is our minds. Beginning with verses 7:25b-8:3, Paul has two news flashes for us that concern this war that is won or lost in the mind. The first news flash might be called the “bad news” and the second “the good news.”

At the end of verse 25 Paul gives us the “bad news”. He says, “So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”

Now to be fair to you who are visiting, there is more to that statement than meets the eye. Paul in this statement is summarizing something we already saw last week. In essence, the bad news is that in this war that rages within my human will to do what is right is weaker than “the flesh” within.

You may remember that we defined “the flesh” as that desire within, “that drivenness to operate independently of God.” It is a desire to do it our way even if it means rebelling against God. That propensity deep within is called the flesh.

Although with our minds we may want to do that which is right, there is this thing in us, this “flesh” that is stronger than our human will to do right, pushing us toward doing that which is wrong. It is only when we quit depending upon the weakness of our human will and submit our wills to the power of the spirit of Jesus Christ which lives in us and by faith trust Him to empower us to do what we can’t do in the flesh, that we find victory. And that submission of our wills is a moment by moment decision.

Having human wills that are weaker than the flesh is the bad news, but Paul’s next two points make up the “good news”.  He says in 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”

Before we understood what Paul has taught us here in Romans 3-7, whenever we failed to live up to a standard that was expected of us, we felt like failures. We would hear the voice of the enemy, Satan, condemning us, telling us that we are wicked and saying things like, “How can you call yourself a Christian when you fail so badly as this? You are hopeless.”

But now, Paul says we no longer have to listen to these condemning lies of Satan anymore, because we are “in Christ”. He not only is in us, but we are positioned in Him. When God sees Jesus, He sees us complete and whole. We were made righteous or fully approved and accepted by God. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves any more or less pleasing to God. As a result of this, even when we do sin, there is “no condemnation” coming from the hand of God. Instead there is love and forgiveness. As a result of this lack of condemnation, there are three things that take place in the believers’ life.

First, God’s perfect love casts out fear. This is the reality that we no longer have to worry about God throwing us away because we have failed to obey Him. There is no fear of rejection. He understands our struggle and has made provision for us when we do fail. He will never toss us aside. We are forever secure in His love, thanks to Jesus’ work on the cross, and making those who put their trust in His work, forever acceptable to God.

Second there is no anger of God aimed at us should we give way to sin. We may hate ourselves for our failure, but God doesn’t. And those thoughts of self hatred are lies placed in our minds and emotions by the evil one, according to Ephesians 6. Those thoughts have no origin in God. According to Christ’s permanent anger satisfying, and love releasing action of death on the cross in our place, His propitiating work, God will never be angry with the believer again.

The third implication of not being condemned is demonstrated in that when we do sin, God does not bring punishment for our sin. God doesn’t hate us and will not punish us for our wrong doing. 

However as we did see in 6:15, there is going to be discipline for our deliberate wrong doings. The motive behind that discipline is love. The purpose of that discipline is to teach us and to drive us back to Christ, not away from Him in fear. But God is not angry and going to punish us out of His fury.

Furthermore, when we sin innocently out of ignorance or without premeditation, there is no discipline as such. There may be some consequences that we will have to live with, but that is not what is meant by discipline. If you don’t understand the law of gravity, and you walk under a falling object, you may soon feel the consequence in the form of a headache because the ignorance of the law of gravity does not give you freedom from the consequences of violating that law. Being in Christ has set us free from the punishment of the Law of sin and death.

So the first bit of good news is that in Christ, we experience no condemnation from God when we lose a momentary battle with sin in our lives.

The second bit of good news that he passes on to us is that God has made provision for present day victory. We no longer have to allow addictions or habits or passions to have a control over us and cause us to feel trapped by a vicious cycle of failure. We no longer have to depend solely upon our abilities to deliver us from failure.

Why? It all has to do with the new arrangement or the new law or principle under which we now live as Christians. It’s what Paul calls in verse 2, the “Law [or the principle] of the spirit of life in Christ.” This “spirit”, that gave us new life in Christ, is the same spirit that brought breath or life to both Adam and Eve. Greater is this spirit that lives in us than all the powers of the evil one or the temptations to sin that we face on a daily basis.

This new principle of Chris enabling us and living His life through us is contrasted against the old principle which used to govern our lives before we met Christ. That old principle, as stated at the end of verse 2 is the law of sin (that is sin’s control over our spirit) and death being the consequence of our spirits ability to live up to God’s law and to earn His approval. The Law of sin said that if I was going to control sin, it was only up to me. Hence, every time we failed, even after trying hard since the last time we failed, we died a little more inside. Life becomes nothing but a deadly frustration and defeat.

“The law of sin and death,” is still operative as a law today for believers who put themselves back under it. If we try to maintain God’s approval with us by trying to do things for God, we have reverted back to the Law of sin and death. When we do that, we will discover that in our own ability, we can do nothing eternal for God in our own strength. Instead, the only thing we can do in our strength is either fail or produce something that is worthless to God. The Law of Christ, on the other hand, has set us free from the Law of self performance.

“The law of sin and death” contrasted against the “law of the spirit of life in Christ” is like contrasting the law of gravity and the law of jet propulsion. If we apply the law of jet propulsion by purchasing an airline ticket, we can overcome the lesser law of gravity. We are set free to fly. So, the Law of Christ sets us free, when we apply it, to live as we ought, from the lesser Law of sin and death. Christ’s power is greater than our power to overcome sin in our lives.

So the good news is that God not only doesn’t condemn us for our failures, but He has provided for us all the power we need to live as we ought, if we choose to use His power, which leads us to verses 3-9. Here Paul explains to us what our responsibility is in fighting this war that is taking place inside our lives. Because the Christian life is not just sitting back and saying, “Jesus you do everything.” We do have a part to play. We have a responsibility.

Paul shows us what that responsibility is in verses 3-5, “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God {did}”

What was it that God did for us that we couldn’t do by trying to obey the Law? We could not earn God’s approval, so He made us righteous and approved. We could not bring our spirit’s back into right relationship with God, so God did it. How? Paul tells us in the rest of the verse. He says by, “…sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Basically, Jesus paid for our sin problem and conquered its control over our spirits and then entered our spirits.

Paul continues, “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds [they make a choice to focus] on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, [they set their minds, or choose to focus on] the things of the Spirit.”

In other words, Paul says that we choose how we are going to live as Christians on a moment to moment basis. Either we are going to set our minds on what God says is true and right and what His desires are and allow Jesus to live His life through us, or we are going to try to live this spiritual life in our own power, setting our minds on this world’s self help philosophies. We have a choice as to what we set or focus our minds upon. The principle of “if it’s going to be, it’s up to me”, which is the Law of sin and death based solely upon human efforts and goals, or the principle of, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”, which focuses upon Christ’s desires and His enablement to accomplish His goals through our lives.

Once again, Paul reminds us that if we are going to win the spiritual battles in our lives, we must recognize where the battle is fought, won or lost. In our minds, this fighting of the battle in our minds is what I want us to focus on when we finish Romans 8 in a few weeks. At that time we will look at what Paul means practically speaking by setting our minds on Christ, or renewing our minds, taking every thought captive to the obedience in Christ.

The battle we face is a truth encounter in our minds, not a will encounter. It is not a power encounter. It’s a matter of our choice. We are free to choose, and it is our responsibility to choose correctly. If we want to win the war that rages on within us, we set our minds on Christ, what He says is true and His purposes, depending upon Him to live His life through us. If we want to lose the war, then we can focus on our wishes and our abilities, and the world’s methods, and our ability to live up to God’s standards.

Notice the distinction in these verses between being “in the spirit” and “walking according to the Spirit”. Being “in the spirit” refers to our new identity in Christ. All Christians are “in the Spirit” or in Christ. But not all Christians are living or walking according to the spirit. They may still live their lives “according to the flesh” or trusting merely in the power of their own reasoning or human capabilities to do what is right. They may even try to do good things for God in their own strength, which produces nothing but wood, hay and stubble, or frustration for them and those with whom they live.

For instance if we come up with a new program for evangelism and we put all our confidence in this program for evangelism and tell everyone that if they just do it this way they will lead thousands to Christ, we are setting many people up for failure. True evangelism doesn’t rely upon a program but rather the power of Jesus Christ. Programs of evangelism that ignore the supernatural work of Christ we will produce nothing, accept frustration and a sense of failure or defeat for those who don’t have an extrovertish nature or don’t have the gift of evangelism. We set people up to fail. That is our fleshly nature being put on others.

People getting saved is a supernatural work, not something we produce by drumming up an evangelism program or forcing all preachers to have alter calls. What is right for some people is not right for others. It could be a great program used elsewhere with success, because the others are not trusting the program but the spirit. But when we try in the flesh to copy something that is being done in the spirit, we produce nothing. We just make others uncomfortable. That’s why so many efforts to reach the lost or change our morals in society produce no long lasting results. They are programs depending upon our abilities rather than the power of Christ that works within us.

As we look at verse 6, notice the truth of this statement. Differing choices lead to differing results. Paul states, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.”

When se set our minds on the philosophies of this world that promote man’s goodness and the power of positive thinking and ideas like, “You can be anything you want to be in life”, that focus will lead to a death of sorts. For instance: if you have no arms and legs, all the will power in the world will not make what you want to be, a professional baseball player, come to pass. I’m not suggesting that diligence or hard work or focusing on a goal is not a good thing. But only the mind set on what the Spirit of God says is true, right and part of God’s plan brings life and peace.

Let me compare and contrast for you what Paul means when he describes these differing results between “Death” and “Life”.

Death	Life
Fear Fear of death, punishment from God, fear of needs not being met, fear of failure, fear of other’s rejection	Trust, hope and confidence More to life than what we see here today, a noble future, confidence that one’s needs will be met, free from the fear of others’ rejection, because you know God loves you
Guilt That comes from being in bondage to bad habits or sin; despair, defeat, depression because you can’t break the bondage	Feeling of acceptance, security, assurance Assurance for a good future due to freedom from no longer being enslaved to sin, joy rather than depression and defeat which is caused by unending failure to perform well
Hostility Usually toward others because they keep you from proving your value and worth	Love, friendliness, kindness, reaching out to others Based in knowing your life has worth, because it was made so in Christ
Emptiness	Sense of well-being, fulfillment, excitement, vitality, fullness
Restlessness	Inner peace, calm in the midst of life’s struggles

When we feel like it is up to us, and us alone to correct what is in our lives and we put ourselves back under the Law, rather than trusting in who we are in Christ, the results are death.

Now in verses 7-8, Paul continues to give the reason why walking according to the flesh leads to death and walking according to the Spirit leads to life. He says, “because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward [at war with] God; for it [meaning the arrogant person’s reasoning, which thinks he can handle life and all that God asks of him] does not subject itself [or humbling his thinking] to the law of God, [that God will do the work through you, if you by faith set your mind to depend upon Him] for it is not even able {to do so};”.

You can’t have it both ways. Either you are trusting in yourself or God. Your mind can’t submit to two masters at the same time. It is either the Law of self, the flesh or the Law of trusting in God’s enablement.

If we trust in the flesh, the reason we experience death while we live is that we stand hostilely opposed to God and He toward us. I don’t know about you, but it is sobering to know that when I choose to live for myself or I even try to do good for God in my own power, there stands God, lined up against me. James 4:6 says “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace [or His enablement] to the humble.” [or to those who put their trust in His working through them].

Then in verse 8, Paul makes a clear application of this principle to those who do not know Jesus as their savior and Lord. He says, “and those who are in the flesh [that is an expression for someone who is not saved or is not in Christ] cannot please God.”

His point is that before we were saved or after we are saved, God will stand opposed or against our every effort or work to prove our self sufficiency apart from Christ, to prove our worth of God’s approval by our own means.

Now turning to his readers, Paul reminds them of the basic difference between themselves and those who do not have Christ as their savior and Lord. He says, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” In other words, you are not like unbelievers, so what in the world are you doing walking in accordance with the flesh or in dependence upon your human abilities that are tainted with sinful pressures?

He will go on to persuade his readers that they are new persons, with a new identity and control center in their lives. That new identity is Christ in you. Their power center is Christ living His life through you. As he says, in the rest of verse 9, “But if anyone does not have the Sprit of Christ, he does not belong to Hm. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” 

When he says that the “body is dead because of sin” he means that the seat of sin is in our bodies. As long as we are in these bodies, sin will go with us everywhere we go. However, our spirits, in these bodies have been made alive to God. Hence, when we die and have our glorification bodies or our new resurrection bodies, the sin which indwells us now, will no longer be there, but our new enlivened spirits that we possess will be in these new resurrection bodies.

Meanwhile, our spirits have to live in these bodies, but with no fear. Look at what else Paul says, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus form the dead dwells in you, [meaning right now in your spirit which is in your mortal bodies] He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.”

In other words, as Christians, we have Christ within our spirits right now. And even though we are still living in mortal bodies and be co-laborers with Him. We have what it takes, even in those bodies right here to get the job done.

Christ wants to live His life through your mortal body, using it as His instrument of love to a dying and hurting world. At this point, Paul drives his point home. Since we are “in Christ”, we have an obligation to make the correct choice as to how we choose to live each day in these bodies. We have an obligation to set our minds on the things of the spirit, not on the things of the flesh. In verses 9-11 Paul has been leading up to this reminder stated in verses 12-13, “So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die;” I must die? I thought I already died with Christ. What does he mean by that? He tells us, “but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, [he is not talking about putting our identity to death. That was already put to death. Instead he is talking about putting to death the deeds of the old life in the flesh that still have desires resident in our bodies] you will live.”

How do we “put to death the deeds of the flesh”? Two major elements are involved. First, learn about who you are in the spirit, what your new identity truly is. You do that, as Romans 12:2 says, by having your minds transformed. And your mind gets transformed as to what is right thinking about who you are by having your mind set on the spirit, by learning about who you are, your new life and identity from the Word. You study the Word to see who you are, what all your rights and privileges are as a child of God. Also, learn who you no longer are. Galatians 5:16, let’s look at what Paul says many of us used to be and who we are not in Christ. 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 are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Las. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are; immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, 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 by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

So to put the deed of the flesh to death, you must be aware of what they are and what the deeds of the spirit are. Then, if you start practicing the flesh, you can seek forgiveness and back away. Recall what is true about you in Christ, which is what Paul means here by setting your mind on the things of the Spirit and then by faith, ask Jesus to live that life, His new identity out through you. What is true of Jesus’ character is now true of yours. He is loving, patient, kind, etc. In Christ, so are you.

The Christian life is an entirely new life that requires an entire change of mindset. It is not the power of positive thinking. It is not denying a reality. Rather, it is recognizing a new reality and change that has taken place in your life.

Unbelievers can’t help but live according to their own powers and failing and living in defeat. They have not had their very nature changed. But God has changed your nature if you are a Christian. He has given you His very life and power to live differently. It is your responsibility to learn the facts about who you are in Christ, now that you are a new person, and then put to death those deeds that behavior that no longer coincides with your new identity.

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