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Episode #7 - Resistance is NOT Futile!
Do you desire to please God with your life? Do you also struggle with sinful thoughts and habits? There’s a conflict going on there, right? On the one hand there’s a desire to please God. Yet on the other there’s a strong desire to please self.
In Gal. 5:17 Paul reminds us that the flesh is in conflict with the spirit – and the spirit is in conflict with the flesh. They are opposed to each other making it difficult to do what is right. How do I successfully and victoriously resist?
Transcript
(Soundtrack Opener)
Do you desire to please God with your life? Do you also struggle with sinful thoughts and habits? There’s a conflict going on there, right? On the one hand there’s a desire to please God. Yet on the other there’s a strong desire to please self.
In Gal. 5:17 Paul reminds us that the flesh is in conflict with the spirit – and the spirit is in conflict with the flesh. They are opposed to each other making it difficult to do what is right. How do I successfully and victoriously resist?
Welcome to The Point of Purity Podcast. A weekly study filled to the brim with the all the tools from Scripture you will ever need to build a lasting life of Biblical purity.
Well, I’m your host Steve Etner ... and this is episode #7 entitled “Resistance is NOT Futile!”
(01:00) Times of Refreshing
Acts 3:19 commands “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
I am going to assume that you would appreciate some “times of refreshing from the Lord.” Am I right? I am also assuming that those “times of refreshing” include that elusive sexual purity you’re longing for. Might I also be safe in assuming that you struggle sometimes believing that those “times of refreshing” are even achievable?
I assure you; God is not a liar. God has promised you that when you repent and turn to Him, He will give you times of refreshing. He will give you victory. I know that right now you may find this hard to believe, but you can be completely free from the powerful, relentless grip that Lust, Porn, and Masturbation has had on you. That’s not my promise. You have God’s authoritative word on that.
You don’t have to give in anymore! James 4:7 reveals Heaven’s two-part recipe for guaranteed victory. James writes: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Did you hear the two parts there? Part one is to submit to God. Choose daily to place yourself under His absolute authority in every aspect of your life (including your sexual desires and passions). Choose daily to yield your will completely to His.
Part two is this: resist the devil. Choose daily to say no to the lies he is whispering into your heart. Choose daily to cling to the Truth because as John 8:32 tells us, it is the Truth that will set you free.
Let me repeat James 4:7 to you. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” I want you to notice the order of things here. First you must daily choose to submit to God before you can ever effectively resist the devil. If you attempt to reverse the order you will fail - guaranteed. Why? Because the enemy will not flee from you without God on your side. The enemy is not afraid of you. However, when you submit yourself to God, when you allow God to be the authority in your life, Satan has to turn tail and run - guaranteed!
So, to live in victory, to live in purity, you must first submit to God. Ok, great! But what does that mean and how do I do that? Why must I do that?
When James says the first thing we are to do is submit to God, he is saying that we need to walk in obedience to Him – all the time, no matter what. We must put ourselves under His full and complete authority in our lives – all the time, no matter what. Just like a soldier is under the leadership of his superior officer, so we are to be with God.
It’s not that the soldier is less of a person, or less important than someone else. It’s simply acknowledging the authority that has been placed over you and trusting in the fact that your commanding officer knows more than you do. It’s trusting Him to lead you and choosing to obey his commands and follow his leadership whether you understand or agree or not.
Here’s the struggle: In our own sinful, independent spirit, we think we know better. In fact, we usually think we know best. We are a generation of people that claim our “rights.” As one hamburger chain used to advertise – you can “have it YOUR way!” This mindset has permeated every aspect of life – to the point where even the concept of submission to a higher authority will rub us the wrong way. When your focus is on King Me, you are easily swept away with the world’s philosophy of “my rights” and “my way” no matter the cost.
Submitting yourself under the Lordship and leadership of God in every aspect of your life is easier said than done. Correct? That’s due, in large part, because submitting yourself to God and resisting the devil requires both humility and repentance. Something most of us struggle with in spades.
(06:08) Humbly Humble Humility
James 4:10 commands us to “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
In Scripture, “humility” refers to being fully aware of and in agreement with the fact that you are not God. You are a created being fully dependent upon your Creator for all things. You are in all ways subservient to the One True God. You owe Him everything, and he owes you nothing.
Pride (which is the opposite of humility) says, “I want. I need. I deserve. I desire. I must have. I cannot live without.” It’s always all about me, me, me. I like to put it this way: King Me always has an eye for the “I.” King Me makes sure that the “I” gets everything that the “I” wants. I must be happy, happy, happy no matter the cost. Can you see who is sitting on the throne when pride reigns?
On the other hand, humility says (along with the apostle Paul in Galatians 2:20) “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Humility understands that (as Galatians 5:24 says) “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” In humility King Me surrenders completely, totally, and unreservedly to the King of all Kings.
We are instructed in 1 Peter 5:5-6 to “Clothe yourselves, all of you with humility ... for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.”
To be free from the grip of sexual impurity; to be victorious over your sinful habit, you must daily choose to humble yourself by removing King Me from the throne of your heart. You must make that choice. I cannot make it for you, and you cannot make it for me. You must choose to step off, step back and allow the King of Kings to assume Lordship and leadership of your life – all of your life, all of the time.
Proverbs 22:4 tells us that “The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life.” Boy wouldn’t that be nice!
You must choose daily to humbly submit every part of your life to God and let Him give you the victory you desire. Let your Creator richly bless you and honor you. Let Him raise you up to a position of dignity and honor if and when He so chooses. It’s all about God, none about you.
2 Corinthians 10:17-18 says, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.”
It’s not about you fighting the three-headed dragon and emerging at the end of the battle wondrously victorious. It’s not about you being able to shout out “I fought the beast and the beast lost!” It’s all about God getting the praise and the glory. As 2 Peter 1:3 says it’s all about God giving you “everything you need” to be (what Romans 8:37 calls) “more than a conqueror” in this battle for purity. It’s about the fact that (according to Philippians 4:19) only “God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” That requires humility on your part. Daily drop to your knees before God and yield your heart and your soul to Him.
James 4:6-7 reminds us that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Proverbs 18:12 says, “Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.”
Proverbs 11:2 warns, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.”
And Proverbs 29:23 says, “One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.”
(11:10) Surrender = Victory
Consider this next statement carefully: There can be no victory where there is no surrender. You will not experience victory over the beast until you fully surrender to the Beast Master. Don’t be deceived into believing you can beat LuPoMas on your own. You cannot. Your past attempts and failures prove that point over and over again. Only God can help you defeat the beast.
Let me remind you here that James 4:7 commands you to “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” You don’t have to cower before the enemy. You don’t have to bow the knee to your lusts. You don’t have to give in to your sexual temptations anymore.
Submitting yourself to God requires both humility and repentance. We’ve talked about humility, now let’s talk about repentance. Repentance refers to having a change in your thinking. You have been accustomed to thinking about pleasing King Me. Up to this point you have been trying to defeat the beast. You have been trying to quit. It’s time to stop trying and start turning. You need to do an about-face and chose to think about glorifying God instead of satisfying self. You have repeatedly failed yourself, He will not.
In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God says, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Can you see both humility and repentance here? Do you see the promise that God gives you? Submit yourself to God. Humble yourself before God. Resist the devil. Turn from your wicked ways. THEN God will hear. THEN God will forgive. Then God will heal! There can be no victory where there is no surrender.
(14:00) All Returns Accepted
Submission to God includes this: Admit and acknowledge that only God can give you what you are seeking. Only God will give you what you are needing! You cannot do this without Him!
2 Chronicles 30:9 says, “The LORD your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.”
And Joel 2:1 says, “Rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
Let me once again remind of what James 4:7 says: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” There are two things you must do if you want guaranteed victory. First, submit to God.
Second, after – and only after – you have done the first, choose to plant your feet firmly on the solid rock of Christ and set yourself against the devil, resisting his temptations, refusing to give him any ground to stand on. When he pushes, you push back harder. When he feeds you lies, you shove God’s truth down his throat.
1 Peter 5:8-9 commands you to “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.”
In Ephesians 4:27 we are commanded to “give NO opportunity to the Devil.” Don’t miss that my friend. NO OPPORTUNITY. Resist him. You are to – as Ephesians 6:11 commands – “put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”
Please understand that God is giving you yet another powerful promise here. Willingly place yourself under His authority, allow Him to be Lord and leader over all of your life (including your sexuality) – then, in His authority alone you can resist the devil. Upon God’s authority alone the devil has to flee from you. Did you catch that? The enemy HAS TO GO!
No matter how long you’ve been fighting (or giving in to) the beast, no matter how defeated you may feel, you can live in victory and freedom. Your sin can be wiped out and you can experience “times of refreshing!”
Listen closely to Proverbs 28:13 which says, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”
(18:06) Closing Sound Track
The question is not whether you want to be in this war. Everyone is in it. Either you are daily defeated by the devil and therefore you are following the whims and wishes of the enemy like cattle to the slaughter ... or you are (as 1 peter 5:9 says) daily choosing to “resist him, firm in your faith!”
There is no neutral zone. You either triumph “by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony,” or you will be enslaved by Satan. So let me encourage you with two commands from our Commander-in-Chief, 2 Tim. 2:3 says, “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” and 1 Tim 1:18 commands you to “wage the good warfare.”
So, let me close today’s podcast with this reminder from James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the Devil and he will flee from you!