Good morning
and welcome! We’re going to continue
today with our superheroes series. Over
the last four weeks, we’ve talked about some of the amazing things that God has
said about us, those who believe in Him.
“Everything is possible for one
who believes.” Mark 9:23
We talked
about how we are called to believe what God has said about us. Carl shared Philippians 4:13 and John 15:5,
how we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us and how we can do
nothing apart from Christ.
Last week,
Brian shared two key points which are exemplified in people that God has worked
through mightily. First, that you know
the desires of God. And second, that you
see people the way God sees people. He
reminded us that “both of these are a gift given to us from God. They are not given to us because we are
superheroes. They are given to us in
order to become superheroes through Christ.”
The theme of love shines through brightly.
This week,
we are going to turn our focus and take a look at the darker side of
things. Being a superhero means that you
have enemies right? Was there ever a
superhero that didn’t have an adversary?
I can’t think of one. Some
superheroes have a particular nemesis, someone they go up against again and
again. Others fight against a recurring
sequence of bad guys. I think about the
old Batman series from the late 60’s.
You had the big four villains, right?
Joker, Penguin, Riddler, and Catwoman.
Batman and Robin seemed to always be up against them individually or in
some combination.
So what
about our generally mild-mannered lives?
Do we see and experience battles?
Do you?
Do you remember the scene from the original Star Wars, when Luke
Skywalker walks into the cantina? He
wants a drink, so he tugs on the bartender’s shirt. Bad idea.
Then, the guy standing next to him takes a dislike to him. He says, “I don’t like you.” Luke replies, “Next time I’ll be careful,”
but the man’s response: “Next time you’ll
be dead!”
Sometimes battles and enemies just seem to popup unexpectedly. Other times, they are known to us and we have
seen them many times before. Jesus was
pretty clear that we would face adversity.
He told the disciples at the last supper that in this world they would
have trouble, but to take heart because Jesus has overcome the world. (John
16:33).
We’re going to focus on arch-villains today. The prefix arch- there has its origins in the
Greek and means most important. So we’re
talking about the most important enemies.
In our faith, and even before we came to faith, three enemies are
mentioned frequently in Scripture. We
say them together: the world, the flesh and the devil.
The most cited location for these in Scripture is found in Ephesians
chapter 2:
You were dead through the
trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work
among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the
passions of our flesh, following the
desires of flesh and senses... Ephesians 2:1-3
From R.C. Sproul’s website, “Here Paul reveals the three great powers
that enslaved us completely before we knew Jesus and which we must continually
rebel against in the course of our growth in holiness — the world, the flesh,
and the Devil.”
--http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/world-flesh-and-devil/
--http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/world-flesh-and-devil/
They also appear in the parable of the sower. (Mark 4:15-17) In that story, Jesus compared the good news
to seed. Some seed was sown of the path
which was so hard and smooth that the birds could easily come and take it
away. Some seed was sown on rocky soil
which was too hard for roots to form properly so that as the seed sprouted up,
it was withered by the sun. There was
also seed sown among thorns which choked out the good seed.
After telling the parable, Jesus explained it to the disciples saying
that the birds were like the devil taking away the good news. Then, the rocky soil was compared to hardness
of heart, hardness of the flesh. The thorns
were compared to the world and its cares which choked out the good news.
Let’s look at each one of these individually, some things to look out
for, and some ways to fight against them effectively.
First, let’s talk about the devil and his schemes. It is important to note that the devil a
created thing. He is not equal to
God. He was one of the angels, one of
the highest. He rebelled against God,
took some additional angels with him, and fought against God and the other
angels. He was defeated and cast down to
the earth, and he dwells in this realm until this day.
Job 1:6-7, 2:1-2 make it clear that the devil is not God’s equal.
One day the angels came to present
themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come
from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back
and forth on it.” Job 1:6-7
We’ll come back to this point in a second, but the devil is not like
God. He is not everywhere all at
once. He is not omnipresent. He has a position beneath God as one would
present himself like in a court. He did
not barge in on God, he came with others at a certain time.
The devil is devious, but he is not all-powerful. Jesus told Peter in Luke 22:31 that “Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.” Satan had to ask for that access. It was not something he could do to God’s
people on his own.
The devil is a liar and a deceiver.
People must choose to follow him.
One of the commentaries I read declared that the devil is looking for
accomplices. He is trying to justify his
rebellion against God by getting more people, demons, anyone on his side. But this does not change his character, his
true nature …
[The devil] was a murderer from the
beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he
lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of
lies. John 8:44
I Peter 5:8 describes him this way …
Your enemy the devil prowls around
like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. I Peter 5:8
The devil is prowling. He is
limited. He is not everywhere at
once. He is looking. He does not know who he even can devour.
I showed a video a while back, probably longer ago than I can
imagine. Anyway, the clip was from the Pixar
movie Cars 2. In it, the bad guys shoot
a missile at the good guys. It’s an
intense escape scene, and it looks like the good guys are in trouble. But then, the good guys shoot a missile which
hits the bad guys’ missile and blows it up in the air. And, the good guys get away.
I don’t know if you’ve experienced something that happened in the past
which came back in the present to create trouble or problems. I used to think of the devil’s schemes like
that. That he was planning to attack
believers every way throughout all time.
And yet, it does not seem to be the case. Scripture present the devil as limited in
many ways. We must be careful not to
give him more credibility that he deserves.
Also, if schemes of Satan are impacting you. If lies that others have believed are causing
difficulties, challenges, or trials in your life. Remember that God sees all. He also can shoot a missile to hit the
missiles or fiery darts of the devil.
God can and He does protect you.
The devil is “leader of all that opposes God [and] stirs up trouble all
over the world, and he even endeavors to infiltrate and disturb the church ([Eph.]
4:26–27). The devil is fierce but easily put to flight when we resist him by
the Spirit, as Jesus has triumphed over him (James 4:7; Col. 2:15).”—R.C.
Sproul
“In your anger do not sin”: Do not
let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a
foothold. Ephesians 4:26-27
Submit yourselves, then, to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7
When you were dead in your sins and
in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave
us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which
stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the
cross. And having disarmed the powers
and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by
the cross. Colossians 2:13-15
Let’s move forward and talk about another archenemy, the World
I was reading in Genesis about Joseph yesterday morning. In particular, I was thinking about this
message when I read about Pharaoh’s dream about the cows. Pharaoh told Joseph …
“In my dream I was standing on the
bank of the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and
sleek, and they grazed among the reeds.
After them, seven other cows came up—scrawny and very ugly and lean. I
had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt. The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows
that came up first. But even after they
ate them, no one could tell that they had done so; they looked just as ugly as
before.” Genesis 41:17-21
In the version I was reading, rather than “no one could tell that they
had done so,” it said, “it could not be detected that they had devoured
them.” I think most all of you know the
story. The interpretation of the dream
was that seven years of plenty would be followed by seven years of famine. The famine was going to be so severe that the
years of plenty would be completely forgotten.
I think the world is like that. We
see these glimpses of good things, but then circumstances change. If our hope is in the world, it will
disappoint. Back in the summer, I was
buying deli meat. There was a coupon at
the counter which said that I could save $0.50 or $1 if I bought a pound of
meat. I was shopping for our family on
vacation, so I was buying a couple of pounds, so I grabbed a coupon.
At the checkout, I hand the coupon to the cashier and she can’t get it to
scan. She reaches over and looks at the
deli meat and sees that I bought 0.96 lb of one meat and 0.98 lb of the other. “I’m sorry,” she says, “the coupon is only
valid if you buy a pound.” I replied
that I did buy a pound and almost two, but she wouldn’t agree with me and told
me that it happened to people all the time.
It’s a silly story, but for me, it exemplifies the world. The world is always promising you something
that looks good or sound good but it just doesn’t satisfy. Not in a sustaining sort of way. I enjoyed having a coupon until I tried to
redeem it. That’s what putting your trust
in the world is like. Its pleasures are
temporary at best. In the end, “it
cannot be detected gaunt cows had eaten the fat ones.”
Jesus said it this way …
What will it benefit a man if he
gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will a man give in exchange
for his life? Matthew 16:26
In summary, two weeks ago, Carl shared it this way … we need to repent of
our thirsts for this world so that we can once again find our thirst for
Christ. (John 7:37-39)
If we hold to the things of this world, they will interfere with our
relationship with Christ. They will
cause us to have shallow roots in him.
Then, when trials and adversity come, we will be unable to stand
firm. We will be tossed here and there
by every wind of teaching. (Ephesians
4:14) Our ways will be unstable. (James
1:6-8)
“[The world] refers to the ways of culture and society that oppose the
Lord. There are ungodly trends in the world — materialism, naturalism, desire
for instant gratification, and more — that once ruled all of our passions but
are now defeated in Christ (John 16:33; 1 John 5:5). No longer our ruler, the
world still appeals to our remaining sin, so we must maintain our guard lest we
fall back into bondage.” –R. C. Sproul
In this world you will have
trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33
Who is it that overcomes the world?
Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. I John 5:5
The response to the world takes us back to the message where Carl shared
John 15:5. Jesus said, “Apart from Me
you can do nothing.” He also shared
Philippians 4:13 where we are told, “I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me.”
Let’s look at the last arch-villain:
the Flesh. What are we talking
about here?
… “the passions of our flesh” and “desires of the body” (Eph. 2:3) refer
not to our physical bodies, as if our corporeal form is in itself wicked. After
all, God created all things good, including our bodies (Gen. 1:31). The apostle
is speaking of our fallen nature, which Christ has subdued. It is a resilient
foe, however, that remains until our glorification. We must therefore seek
daily to mortify it and deny the sins that seem the most appealing to us (Rom.
6:12–14).
Our flesh is our sinful nature, not our God designed and created bodies
“knit together in our mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:15
God was gracious in leading me to some cartoons that were created by Josh
Harris and have been published in his book Dug
Down Deep. http://www.joshharris.com/2007/02/feeding_the_flesh.php Let’s look through them. I’ll read captions that Joshua also wrote:
(1)
This is you. Or us, a human made in God’s image.
Ladies, sorry you have to identify with a little guy. I’m not sure why he
doesn’t have a shirt.
(2)
This is the flesh. He’s kind of a Jabba the Hut
meets WWF wrestler. The Flesh represents the sinful, corrupted desires of our
heart. It’s not a reference to our bodies–our bodies are created by God and are
good. The flesh represents our sinful cravings to live for ourselves and
disobey God’s laws and commands.
(3)
Before Jesus saves us, this is how all of us
relate to the flesh. The Bible says that we are slaves to our sinful desires.
Our flesh is boss. If you’re not a Christian, I’m not trying to offend you. I
know this isn’t a flattering picture of your current condition but it’s true of
all of us apart from God saving us.
(4)
This is what happens when we trust in Jesus.
Because Jesus died on the cross and conquered sin and rose again, we are freed
from the power of sin. It’s no longer our boss. See how the chain is broken?
And we get clothes, which is really great.
(5)
But our flesh doesn’t disappear. It still hangs
around to entice us. After we’re Christians, we’re no longer slaves to sin, but
the flesh can still tempt us. We can choose to give into temptation and indulge
the flesh. This is what theologians call “indwelling sin.” Jesus broke the
power of sin, but we still live with the presence and influence of sinful
desires.
(6)
That’s why the Bible is full of encouragement to
fight our fleshly desires. We can’t live at peace with it. We have to attack it
and deny it. (In hindsight, I guess the “sword of the Spirit” would have been a
bit more biblical. Oh well.)
(7)
The problem is that too often Christians make
friends with their flesh. In fact they feed their flesh. We give into our
sinful desires. We pamper our flesh. We provide it three rounded meals a day
with snacks and dessert. We might think that since we’ve been freed by the
cross it’s okay to indulge the flesh. But there’s a real problem. When we feed
the flesh…
(8)
…it grows! And before you know it, the flesh is
bigger and stronger than you and starts to push you around. That’s why Paul is
telling us in Romans 13 that we need to…
(9)
…starve our flesh! That’s what we want our flesh
to look like. We want the flesh gaunt and feeble. When Paul says “make no
provision for the flesh” he’s saying don’t feed your sinful desires. Don’t do
things—don’t think things, don’t watch things, don’t meditate on things—that
strengthen your sinful inclinations.
That gives us a pretty good summary of what goes on with our flesh. Our fleshly desires, our sinful appetites,
grow with feeding. We need to exercise
restraint over our flesh and sinful nature.
Rather than entertain or play around with things that would cause us to
stumble, we should stay far away from them.
Some religions and even some Christians excessively practice self-mortification
or mortification of the flesh. They try
to hurt themselves to punish the flesh.
This is not what we are talking about.
Another practice is extreme asceticism.
This is the renouncement of all things, possessions, etc. That’s not what we’re talking about either. Let’s go back to some thoughts from Josh
Harris on feeding the flesh.
“Let’s think for a minute about our media diet. I think one of the
biggest ways that Christians today feed their flesh is through what we watch on
TV, in movies, and online. We each need to ask the question “Are the things I’m
watching feeding my flesh?”
“And if the answer is “yes,” it doesn’t matter what the movie is rated.
It doesn’t matter if everyone you know watches it. You need to act on what God
shows you. Don’t feed your flesh. Don’t make provision for your sin. Turn away
from it.
“ • Maybe for you the sensual scenes, or even plots, in certain movies or
TV shows increase the strength of lust in your heart. Turn it off.
“ • Maybe violent movies and shows feed anger and a desire in your soul to
use violence to get your way. Turn it off.
“ • Maybe the advertisements and the values you expose yourself to are
feeding your cravings for material things or wrong ideas about your body. Stop
watching.
“ • Maybe the things you watch feed your unbelief and fear. One mother I
spoke to recently requested prayer because her dreams were filled with demonic
images. She was afraid to sleep. When asked her about her television viewing
habits, she told me that she often watched TV shows about real-life crime that
were very violent. As we talked, she began to see the connection between what
she watched and the bad results in her heart.
“Friends, what we view in media becomes our meditation. It either feeds
our desire for godliness or it feeds our flesh. Which one are you feeding? If
you added up the time you spend reading God’s word, praying, listening to
sermons or reading Christian books, how would it stack up against time spent
watching TV and movies?
“If you give more of your time to worldly entertainment and pursuits, is
there any reason to be surprised that sinful desires are so strong in your
life? No. If we’re feeding the flesh, it’s no mystery that we’re not growing in
holiness."
That concludes our look at our big three arch-villains in our quest as
superheroes in Christ.
As a wrap up and a reminder of weapons we have in this fight. We can continually return to our power
source, our God, through prayer. Jesus
taught us simply in the Lord’s prayer to ask, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:13)
Remember too that the God of all grace has “got your back” …
Resist him, standing firm in the
faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is
undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ,
after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you
strong, firm and steadfast. I Peter 5:9-10
Jesus Himself made it very clear that we’ll have to make tough choices
and even daily choices.
Whoever wants to be my disciple
must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will
lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. Luke 9:23-24
The last point is to be prepared for the battle. In dealing with the Father of Lies, we must
be prepared with the truth. With the
fleeting enticements of the world, we have to have our minds fixed on the
prize, the goal. In battling our flesh,
we need be prepared to tune out the whining and begging of our flesh. Where do we get the truth? God’s Word.
We need to be in it, reading it, and applying it every day. Jesus told us that, too.
Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word
is truth. John 17:17
We began this message looking at the world, the flesh and the devil as
they were outlined in Ephesians 2:1-3.
Let’s close with verses 4 and 5.
But because of his great love for
us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead
in transgressions … Ephesians 2:4-5
We were dead in our transgressions, but no longer. I don’t know how you feel. Maybe you feel a little pushed around by one
or more of these arch-villains. I hope
that you have hope to push back and even to anticipate victory against
them. The reason is not in us. The reason is in Him. We didn’t do anything. Even when we were dead, God made us
alive! Our God indeed is rich in mercy
and great in love.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, I thank you for this time.
I thank you for the opportunity to be alive. I confess that I don’t always fight the good
fight of the faith. I ask that You would
strengthen us to resist our enemies and stand firm in the faith. It is by You Word and power that we can do
these things, not by ourselves. Set our
feet upon the rock. That we might shine
like stars for You (Philippians 2:15).
In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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