Walking in the Spirit (Part 8)

Resistance to Sin

In this portion of our study, let’s look at how the Christian resists sin. One important principle of resisting temptation is to live in the Spirit. Everyone struggles with temptation in one form or another. Most people approach temptation in the flesh and then try to resist by the flesh. It is impossible to overcome the flesh through the flesh. All temptation is of the flesh. If you live your life in the flesh, temptation and sinful habits will dominate your life. You will never have a close relationship with the Lord until you begin to walk in the Spirit. The power of the Christian life and all the promises of the Christian life are in the Spirit.

Your flesh is like a beast with an insatiable appetite. The more you feed it, the faster it grows and the more control it gains over your life. Why do seemingly good people do such bad things? If you take a look at the lives of people who commit evil acts, it always begins small and with a subtle compromise. One compromise leads to another as they journey deeper into sin. Sin builds upon sin as habits are formed and soon life is controlling the person rather than the person controlling their own lives. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control but the fruit of the flesh is the loss of restraint to commit sin. While accountability can curb our behavior, our sinful nature can only be brought under control through the Spirit.

The secret of living in holiness is walking in the Spirit. As you go through this life, even if you live in godliness there will be times of temptation. When you begin to feel the power of temptation, it is a warning sign that our spiritual walk has begun to waiver. As our focus begins to shift away from walking in the Spirit, our eyes will begin to be drawn to the things of the flesh. Each person has times in their lives when they begin to struggle. We live in a fallen world with many temptations and distractions. Everything of the world is drawing your focus away from Jesus Christ; therefore, there must be a consistent time of renewal. If you do not renew your mind daily, you will begin to drift. You must make a purposeful effort to maintain the spiritual focus of your life. Look at Romans 12:1-2  

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

The ONLY way to avoid being conformed to the world is to continuously renew your mind through the word of God and prayer. If you do not renew your mind, you will begin to conform to this worldly culture – even if you do not intend to do so. This is why the vast majority of Christians struggle in their Christian walk. The average Christian does the things that they feel ‘pays their Christian dues’ to God, but does not present themselves as a living sacrifice to God. A sacrifice is something given to God to be set apart for His use – whether it be an offering or something to be continuously used in God’s service. What has been given to God, now belongs to God. Your living sacrifice is not one portion of your life, but your entire life.

When you begin to struggle with becoming distracted by temptation, this is evidence that there is an underlying spiritual problem. You cannot overcome the flesh without pursuing your walk in the Spirit. This must be a daily renewal as we transform our minds and set our minds on the things of the Spirit. As you cease from pursuing the Lord, your focus will begin to shift away from holiness as the distractions and the temptations around you call out for your attention. You cannot walk in sin and with the Lord and you cannot walk with the Lord while walking in sin. Consider Proverbs 1:20-23   

²⁰ Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares.  ²¹ She cries out in the chief concourses, At the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words:  ²² "How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge.  ²³ Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.

The wisdom of God calls out to you to turn away from the things of the world and to the things of God. This is what repentance is all about. Repentance is not only being sorry for the things you have done but turning from what is contrary to God to the will of God. When you respond to God’s call and turn away from your ways and toward the ways of God, God has promised to pour out the spirit of wisdom on you. Notice that you are not only turning from foolishness but toward the wisdom of God. We can’t merely resist disobedience – we must pursue obedience. Let’s visit 2 Corinthians 10: again:

⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,  ⁵ casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,  ⁶ and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

Take special note of verse 6. You must fulfill obedience before you can overcome disobedience. Most people take the reverse approach. Most try to conquer disobedience while ignoring obedience to God’s commandments and His call over their life. This will never work; you must first pursue obedience and then you can avenge what is wrong in your life. The word translated as ‘punish’ is the Greek word ‘ekdikeo’ which means to vindicate or make right what is wrong. This is better understood in the Greek because a little is lost in the translation. What I believe the Bible is teaching in this passage is that God gives us the power to vindicate, or make right, the things in our lives that cause disobedience once we fulfill God’s commands to pursue righteousness and bring our minds in subjection to Jesus Christ.

Once this has been accomplished in our lives, our battle is not over. You must consistently bring your flesh under control so that it does not gain a stronghold again. Your flesh is born in sin and cannot be subject to God; therefore, it is necessary to continuously put to death the deeds of the flesh. It is your responsibility to both pursue what is right while at the same time bringing your body or fleshly desires under subjection. The Apostle Paul addressed this concerning himself in 1 Corinthians 9:27  

I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

When the scripture states that the flesh cannot be under subjection to God, this means that the flesh cannot be brought under your spiritual nature. The flesh is opposed to holiness and can’t conform to the spiritual things of God. When we bring the flesh under subjection, this means that we restrain the flesh from pursuing sinful desires. We bring our flesh under subjection by subduing it, putting to death the lusts of the flesh and not allowing our flesh to rule over our minds. Accomplishing good works and spiritual practices is only part of the picture. Even the apostles recognized that their good works would come to naught if their own flesh was not brought under subjection. Do not be disqualified from God’s promises by allowing your flesh to remain unbridled. The secret to resistance to temptation is found in James 4:4-8  

⁴ Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  ⁵ Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously"?  ⁶ But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."  ⁷ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  ⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Did you notice that the same process for resistance described in James 4 is in perfect agreement with 2 Corinthians 10 and Proverbs 1? Resistance begins – not by resisting sin, but by submitting to God. Just as Corinthians instructs us to avenge unrighteousness once our obedience is fulfilled, James affirms this by saying that we first submit ourselves to God and then we resist the devil. Anyone who has struggled with habitual temptation knows that resisting temptation does not make the devil flee; however, drawing near to God does. If you are resisting by the strength of the flesh, Satan keeps coming again and again until he hits our weakness or hits us at a time when we are weak in our minds.

If you notice that you are feeling temptation, the answer is not mustering up the will to resist, but the answer is in submitting yourself to God and drawing near to Him. The way we draw near to God is through the word. Consider these two passages:

John 14: ²³ Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

1 John 2: ⁵ But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.  ⁶ He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

In order for us to draw near to God, we must love Him and that is only possible through the word of God. The word of God is how He has revealed Himself to us. Jesus IS the word (John 1:1) and to love the word is to love Jesus Christ. If you keep the word, God has promised to make His home with you. This is drawing near to Him. Abiding in the word is how we walk consistently in holiness. These two portions of scripture explain this further:

John 15:  ⁷ "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  ⁸ "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.  ⁹ " As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  ¹⁰ "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

 2 John 1: ⁹ Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.

Abiding in the word is essential. To abide in the word is how we abide in Christ. If you abide in Christ and His word abides in you, you will bear much fruit and will also abide in the love of God. It is when we depart from the doctrine of Christ that we fall into temptation and depart from God. You cannot walk with God and walk in sin. Either you will depart from temptation or you will depart from God. If you depart from God, the devil will never flee from you but will continue to tempt you and draw you toward sin by appealing to your lusts. Remember, you are tempted when you are drawn by your own lusts and enticed. If you are in the flesh, your lusts will have a strong appeal, but if you are drawing near to God, He becomes your focus, your strength to resist and the reason the devil must flee. We stand upon the promise of Psalm 73:26

My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

It is not your strength or ability to resist. Eventually your flesh and heart will fail. You will lose heart and your will shall give in to temptation – unless, God is your strength. The Bible never tells us to be strong by our own strength, but rather to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10) and that God’s strength is made perfect in your weakness. This is true because when you realize that you are weak, you also realize that you need to depend on God’s strength. As you humble yourself and submit to Him, you will see His power revealed in your life. If you are dependent on your strength of will, you will fall. If you drawn near to God and stand on the power of His might, He is able to make you stand. Submit yourself to prayer and the word and you will learn to submit to God and see victory in your life.

The Call of Wisdom

We have already examined our goal of seeking wisdom and seeking the Lord through His word, now let’s examine the importance of putting this into practice in our daily lives. Knowing what to do has little value if we decide not to apply it at the moment we need to act with discernment. Look at Proverbs 1:20-33   

²⁰ Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares.  ²¹ She cries out in the chief concourses, At the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words:  ²² "How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge.  ²³ Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.  ²⁴ Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,  ²⁵ Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke,  ²⁶ I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes,  ²⁷ When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you.  ²⁸ "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.  ²⁹ Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD,  ³⁰ They would have none of my counsel And despised my every rebuke.  ³¹ Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, And be filled to the full with their own fancies.  ³² For the turning away of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them;  ³³ But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear of evil."

As we approach the danger of temptation, you must either turn away from temptation or turn away from wisdom. Just as we studied earlier, the principle is the same again. If you turn toward obedience to God, the power to resist will be given to you. Once again we have the promise that if you turn at God’s rebuke, the spirit of wisdom will be poured out upon you. However, if you refuse, the consequences will come upon you and God will not deliver you. You may be forgiven for your sins, but you will still suffer the consequences. God shows little mercy in this passage simply because God has sent His spirit of wisdom to warn us and if we disdain (or reject) that voice warning us of impending danger and if we choose sin knowing God is rebuking our desire to sin, we deserve the consequences.

We have several warnings and promises in this passage. If we turn at the rebuke of God’s wisdom, He will pour the spirit upon us and give us knowledge of His truth. God will also make us dwell safely without being afraid. If we turn away from wisdom, we will receive calamity, we will feel the terror of the storm that will arise from our sin, we will experience destruction and distress, and we will anguish in regret and the scorn of God will be upon us. This is not a pretty picture. Wisdom cries aloud and pleads with us to turn away from what will harm us and we must learn how to listen.

One very important thing we should do so that we can hear wisdom is keep our temptations in check. Most people think they are blindsided by temptation and they find themselves overwhelmed before they realize what is going on. I was such a person. In the past, I would fall into temptation and never understood how I got there. It was as if I didn’t truly have time to think until after the regret began to engulf me. Why couldn’t I see the futility of sin before I sinned instead of afterward? To make matters worse, each time I sinned, the desires would become stronger and I was completely driven by my flesh. I did not know how to bring my flesh under subjection so how could I control it? That is the danger of the flesh. It will rise up and demand sin if you do not bring it under subjection. Even the apostles understood this in their own lives. Paul lamented that sin warred in his members attempting to gain control of his mind. We looked at his answer to this problem earlier when he said, “I discipline my body and bring it under subjection”. The apostle Paul also understood that if the body was not brought under subjection, he (and we) would be disqualified from the reward God has in store.

Having been someone who was dominated by the flesh, I would like to share with you the biblical principles that helped bring my life under control. Look at Proverbs 22:3   

³ A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, But the simple pass on and are punished.

This same passage is repeated in Proverbs 27:12. In this simple little verse God has given us a powerful principle that, if we apply it, we will derail the freight train of our flesh. The reason why I was blindsided by temptation is because I did not recognize the danger until after temptation began to drive me. Temptation is the same in each person’s life. All habitual sin has the same process in our life. Let’s look at a passage we read earlier in this study, James 1:

¹⁴ But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

It is that enticement that must be identified and cut off at its earliest stage. Let’s use alcoholism as an example. If someone is a recovering alcoholic, they would be a fool to expose themselves to tempting circumstances. Would you go to a liquor store and ‘just look around’? Would they go into a bar just to soak in the atmosphere? In reality, once they have reached the state where they have placed themselves into temptation, the process is well underway and the flesh is already driving them. At this point the subconscious decision has already been made and now they are looking for justification in their own mind to take the next step toward sin. Once in the bar or liquor store, the temptation will become overwhelming and a fall is eminent. The same is true for drugs, sexual addiction, dishonesty or any other temptation of the flesh. If we go back a few steps, the person being tempted has already entertained the idea and has willfully stepped into harms way.

How do people fall into adultery? They feel a sense of attraction and instead of fleeing, they explore. Our excuse for temptation is almost always curiosity. Very rarely does someone have an affair on a spur of the moment encounter. This sin begins by being drawn away and enticed by our desires and refusing to listen to the voice of wisdom that calls out and rebukes our current direction. What does wisdom say as she cries out as she pleads with us to turn? Hide yourself from this evil or pass on and be punished.

You must entertain the idea in your mind before temptation is born. Remember the command we read earlier – bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ? (2 Corinthians 10:5). At the moment you begin to be drawn, wisdom is crying out for you to turn and flee. Look at Proverbs 5:7-12   

⁷ Therefore hear me now, my children, And do not depart from the words of my mouth.  ⁸ Remove your way far from her, And do not go near the door of her house,  ⁹ Lest you give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one;  ¹⁰ Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, And your labors go to the house of a foreigner;  ¹¹ And you mourn at last, When your flesh and your body are consumed,  ¹² And say: "How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised correction!

This is how God calls us to deal with all temptation. Don’t go near it and do not even look at it. Listen to wisdom and turn away – do not go near – remove your way far from it. This is what is meant by the wise seeing trouble and hiding. When you see trouble or even the signs of it, don’t explore to see if this drawing of the flesh really leads to trouble; turn from it and hide from temptation. Throughout the Bible we are told to flee temptation; flee youthful lusts; flee from ungodliness. Jesus gave a radical solution to temptation. Look at Matthew 18:   

⁹ "And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.

Jesus also stated that if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. When something in your life causes you to sin, purge it out and cast it far from you. If you have movie channels and they cause temptation, don’t just try to control the temptation but cast it far from you. For some reason, we are completely unwilling to remove temptation from our lives. In stead, we try to control it even though it eventually controls us.

Most men struggle with lust at some level. Lust will destroy your spiritual walk faster than anything else. How do we control lust when we are surrounded by it? It is not nearly as hard as we make it become. Once you recognize that something is or even might be a cause for temptation on any level, don’t look. Turn at God’s rebuke and He will pour upon you His Spirit and empower you to overcome. Don’t click the web link that ‘might’ lead to something tempting. Don’t watch the commercial, look at the magazine, watch the show or turn to anything that may lead you to temptation. When our flesh is in control, it is hard to resist because the flesh wants to be gratified. When the flesh is under subjection, it is much easier to resist; however, we cannot let our guard down at all. It is like a caged lion. When it is under subjection, it is easy to control, but let it loose and you have a serious problem on your hands. It is much easier to keep the flesh under subjection than it is to get it back under subjection.

I have spoken about lust, but the same is true for all works of the flesh. Look at the works of the flesh and see if there are any that do not apply to what we have discussed, Galatians 5:19-21   

¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,  ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,  ²¹ envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

How do we control our outbursts of wrath? First we must have a biblical foundation to stand upon and then we identify the things that lead up to an outburst. The outburst is not controlled by stopping the explosion once it starts, but by bringing our flesh under subjection and changing our behavior that leads up to the outburst. An explosive temper is usually founded upon selfishness. When things aren’t going the way we think our world should be, we start building up in frustration and then explode. A better solution would be to defuse the bomb by taking the focus off ourselves and begin to recognize what is important and what we can let go of.

Eddie Snipes
Author of Simple Faith
Exchanged Life Outreach
http://www.exchangedlife.com

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