The Saints Civil War

November 13, 2016                  Notes Not Edited

The Spiritual Civil War

Romans 7:13-8:4

SIS:  Every believer is a soldier in a great Civil War.

INTRO:  The American Civil War

1. One-third of the soldiers who fought for the Union Army were immigrants, and nearly one in 10 was African American.

2. Black Union soldiers refused their salaries for 18 months to protest being paid lower wages than white soldiers.

3. Harriet Tubman led a raid to free slaves during the Civil War.

4. Lincoln was shot at—and almost killed— nearly two years before he was assassinated.

5. Before William Tecumseh Sherman became a great Union general, he was demoted for apparent insanity.

6. General Ulysses S. Grant wasn’t the bloodiest general of the war—Robert E. Lee was.

7. Both before and during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln pushed to send freed slaves abroad.

8. Robert E. Lee’s Virginia estate was confiscated by the Union and turned into a cemetery during the war.

9. Privates weren’t cannon fodder during the Civil War—generals were.

10. More men died in the Civil War than any other American conflict, and two-thirds of the dead perished from disease.

TRANSITION: The Civil War was probably the lowest point in Americas history.  It was brutal.  It was bloody.  It divided families.  It devastated our national spirit.   Obviously, no veterans of the American Civil War are alive today, but if you are a believer you are a veteran of another, even more significant war—a Spiritual Civil War.  A war much more devastating that even the American Civil War.

Signing up to fight for our country is a serious matter.  Literally, every American veteran gave our country a blank check on which the nation could collect any amount up to and including one’s very life.  Many, many veterans have died to keep our country free.  Many, many veterans have given body parts for our country.  Many veterans bear scars so deep that only another veteran can understand.  Signing up and taking the oath to defend our country is a serious matter.  It should not be taken lightly.

Likewise, fighting the fight of faith is a serious matter—and eternally serious matter and we should reflect deeply upon what it will cost to serve Jesus.  To better understand what it means to fight and win the Spiritual Civil War, we must reflect on three considerations.

1.  We must choose a side (13-24)

13 Therefore, did what is good cause my death?  Absolutely not!  On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual;  but I am made out of flesh,  sold  into sin’s power.

The Role of the Law:  to teach us about sin.

Paul describes the basic essence of the human condition:  a struggle between two natures,

Non-believers struggle with sin's consequences but not not sin's nature.  They are one-natured.

One of the classic writings on man's depraved nature outside the Bible is Augustine's "Confessions."

Our "new birth" imparts a "new nature" but the old one never quite dies until the resurrection.  Thus, we have the need to choose.

A non-believer is "in the flesh" (7:5).  A believer has the "flesh in him." (7:18)

7:5 For when we were in the flesh,   the sinful passions operated through the law in every part of us and bore fruit for death.

7:18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.

15 For I do not understand what I am doing,  because I do not practice what I want to do,  but I do what I hate. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

Will power is no help in the Spiritual Civil War. This is why you must "choose" which nature you are going to serve.  This is a one-time transaction that repositions your will.

16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

The whole purpose of the Law is to highlight the power sin has over us -- apart from Christ.

17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.  For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.

The flesh (body, old man) is an enemy outpost.  This outpost will remain as long as we are in these mortal bodies.  Yet, this outpost has no power.  It is "worn out and useless"

6:6 For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body  may be abolished,  so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, 7 since a person who has died  is freed  from sin’s claims.  8 Now if we died with Christ,  we believe that we will also live with Him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead,  no longer dies. Death no longer rules over Him.  10 For in that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in that He lives, He lives to God. 11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin,  but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey  its desires.

Several terms point us to the matter of "control."  We cannot control "having" desires, we can control being "dominated by our desires."  This again goes back to the choice we make about "Who" or "What" is going to control our lives -- Christ, or sin.

Our trust is not in our ability (v 18) but in God's ability through Christ.  All we need to do is choose.

ILLUSTRATION:  Have you ever bought a soda from one of those machines with the glass front.  You put your money in, push a button, and a contraption of some kind goes up and sideways until it is in front of your selection.  Another contraption opens and your bottle slides on to a tray.  The tray moves on to a drop and your bottle slides out the opening.  The whole process started when you "made a choice."  Once you made the choice, the process was out of your control and the result was inevitable (or at least should be).

That's how the struggle begins that Paul is describing.  It begins when we say "yes" to God.  We now have His Spirit to assist us in saying "no" to the flesh.  But, this is an all-out war.

22 For in my inner self  I joyfully agree with God’s law.  23 But I see a different law in the parts of my body,   waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.

The term "body" here is what we call in literature, a synecdoche.  One form of this type of figure of speech gives a specific term a more general meaning.  Body here refers to our entire earthly being:  physical, emotional, volitional.  As long as we are "in this world" -- if we are believers -- we are in a war.  Now, if we give in to the enemy Paul says,  "we become a POW."

So, we see very clearly from this passage that we are in a Civil War and if we are Christians, we must continually choose which side we are going to fight on.  Let’s look further into what is at stake in the War for our souls.

2.  The Stakes are High (24-25)

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body  of death? 

"Wretched." Even if I did not know the meaning of this word, it would still sound creepy and bad.  But I do know what this word means -- or at least after I looked it up:

1. very unfortunate in condition or circumstances; miserable; pitiable.

2. characterized by or attended with misery and sorrow.

3. despicable, contemptible, or mean: a wretched miser.

4. poor, sorry, or pitiful; worthless: a wretched job of sewing

Look at verse 24:  “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body?”

The Greek word translated "wretched" means exactly the same.  The only significant difference is the Greek word is more "emphatic" because it is a compound word.  So, in Greek, wretechedness is even worse than English.

That's what's at stake in the Spiritual Civil War.  You cannot lose your salvation.  You will gain heaven if you become a believer -- no doubt about that.  I don't know what the consequences of willful rebellion will be when you get there -- I wouldn't want to find out.

I know this:  give in to the "old man, fleshly sin nature" and you are going to become "wretched!"  Here are some synonyms:

1. dejected, distressed, afflicted, woeful, woebegone, forlorn, unhappy. Add to that, 2. Miserable, sorry  refer to that which is unhappy, afflicted, or distressed. Wretched  refers to a condition of extreme affliction or distress, esp. as outwardly apparent: wretched hovels. Miserable  refers more to the inward feeling of unhappiness or distress: a miserable life. Sorry  applies to distressed, often poverty-stricken outward circumstances; but it has connotations of unworthiness, incongruousness, or the like, so that the beholder feels more contempt than pity: in a sorry plight. Still yet, wretched refers to something, 3.  base, vile, or disgusting.

That just doesn't appeal much to me.  Verse 24 adds this insult to that injury:  giving in to sin creates a

24 . . . body of death?  Wretched in life—lost in death.  That’s the fate of those who do not surrender to the Spirit of God and accept Jesus Christ as the “Rescuer” of Life.

My Mom used to describe people who were very ill as looking like "death warmed over."  Maybe that's why I don't like eating warmed-up left-overs.

There is much at stake in the Spiritual Civil War taking place in a believers "inner being."

3.  The Victory is Assured (7:25-8:2)

25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!   So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin.

8:1 Therefore, no condemnation  now exists for those in  Christ Jesus,   2 because the Spirit’s law of life  in Christ Jesus has set you  free from the law of sin and of death.  3 What the law could not do  since it was limited  by the flesh,  God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours  under sin’s domain,  and as a sin offering, 

4 in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished  in us who do not •walk according to the flesh  but according to the Spirit.

Verse 25 reminds us that the War is still raging.  8:1-3 reminds us that the Victory has already been won.

8:4 further reminds us -- again -- that we must continually choose to follow the Spirit, and not the flesh but, this is not the basis of the victory.  Look at verse 4:

 in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished  in us who do not walk according to the flesh  but according to the Spirit

Salvation does not mean that we "escape the Law," or "go around the Law," or that "somehow the Law's requirement of perfect righteousness has been set aside."  Salvation means that "Christ completely accomplished, or fulfilled the Law on our behalf."

God required a perfect sacrifice, and He, Himself provided that perfect sacrifice, perfectly fulfilling the requirements of His perfect Law.

2Cor. 5:21 He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us,  so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

In many ways, the Spiritual Civil War is a "fixed fight."  It is a good bet, as it is said.  The winner is predetermined.  We still have to fight to avoid becoming "wretched" but there is never any danger of us losing the fight.  When Jesus died He said,

"It is finished." 

CONCLUSION: 

150 year ago the bloodiest battle in the history of our nation broke out when Cadets at the military school, the Citadel, in S. Carolina, fired on a Union ship bringing supplies.  These were the first shots of many that would claim more American lives than any other war.

And, it was a war among our selves -- a war pitting American civilian against American civilian, father against son, brother against brother.

There is another Civil War, a spiritual civil war, raging in the "inner man" of any person who has made the decision to follow Christ as Lord.

We must choose a side.  The Stakes are High.  But, the Victory is assured.

ILLUSTRATION:  White dog.  Black dog.