The Forfeit of Intimacy with God

 As we come to salvation there is something that takes place in us.  We come to know God for whom He really is.  We begin to see God as a righteous God, a holy God and a loving father.  When we have an earthly father who loves us and blesses us, and there is an intimacy that springs up between us.  We can know and have an intimate relationship with God in much the same way.

God is also able to have an intimate relationship with us.  Look at the relationship he had with Adam.  They walked together in the garden in the “cool of the day.[i]” They knew each other; there’s understanding there.  God knows each one of us down to our smallest parts.

Luke 12:7 (NKJV)
^12:7 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.

He even knows how many hairs are on our heads.  That’s a detail we don’t even know about ourselves, but God does.

We, as Christians can often begin with a deep intimate relationship with God, but can that intimacy be lost?  Can we forfeit our intimacy with God?  People forfeit intimate relationships with other people all the time.  Marriage relationships are broken because of infidelity, the breaking of vows.  Family relationships are broken because of domestic violence or other causes.  Parental relationships can be destroyed by abuse and alcohol and drug addiction. 

In many cases those relationships cannot be restored because a refusal to forgive or because the relational trust is broken.  We can forfeit intimacy with God also.  We violate His trust.  We bring deceit and intrigue into the relationship.  Today I want to post on the forfeiture of Intimacy:

Revelation 2:1-3 (NKJV)
^2:1 "To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, 'These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: ² I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; ³ and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name's sake and have not become weary.

Forfeiting Intimacy with God

In the Book of Revelation Jesus writes a letter to the Ephesians.  He commends them for their labor and patience in persecution.  They continue to labor for God and they despise evil but He also rebukes them.

Revelation 2:4-5 (NKJV)
^2:4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place--unless you repent.

Nevertheless, I have this against you; “You have left your first love.”  They’re no longer intimate with God.  They’re still laboring but, in their hearts, they’ve lost the desire for a real relationship with God.  They’re laboring for Jesus because that’s what they do, not because they have a real desire to serve Him.

This isn’t intimacy with God.  It’s a behavior similar to schoolchildren memorizing a poem or a famous speech.  They can repeat them perfectly and still have no understanding of what the poem or speech means.  It’s behavior, there’s no intimacy with the writer, that comes from understanding. 

We can continue to do the things that are called “serving God,” like praying, but without intimacy.  We are just saying words - It’s habit.  We’ve lost the intimacy with God because we have drifted from the call of God on our lives.

David is the king of Israel.  God called him to lead the nation in 1 Samuel 16.  God even called him, “a man after my own heart.”[ii] By 2 Samuel 11, David has lost his desire for what God has called him to do.  He’s become bored and complacent with his calling, and he’s backed off. 

2 Samuel 11:1 NKJV

It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

In the springtime when the kings go to war David stays back.  He’s no longer striving for the will of God…he’s arrived!  He’s laying back on his laurels and past victories.  This is a huge contrast to the David whose psalms are filled with cries of worship and devotion.  What could have caused this man to fall from that level of intimacy into what he has become, which is an adulterer and murderer.  David should have led his generals into battle as is the duty of the king. 

In verse 2, David arises from bed one evening.  Not in the middle of the night but in the evening, when the sun is still out.  He sees Bathsheba bathing; lust is kindled and in one moment of sin and self-gratification he forfeits his relationship with God.

2 Samuel 11:2-4a NKJV

Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So, David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her…

Then to cover his sin he kills Bathsheba’s husband, his friend, Uriah the Hittite.  David makes a conscious choice here; he’s not stumbling around and falling into sin.  He understands the sin of adultery.  He recognizes that the sin is against God.  He understands what he has done.  Look at how many sins David broke, this “man after God’s own heart.”

He broke the tenth commandment, in coveting another man’s wife; the seventh in committing adultery; the eighth in stealing what did not belong to him; and the sixth in committing murder.  All because he had drifted out of the will of God and become complacent in what God had done for him.

I’m positive that he was sure that he couldn’t be led into sin like this. So, where did it start? It started when he stopped responding to the call of God and refused to lead his men into battle.  We are at no less risk than David when we also keep ourselves out of God’s will.   Where is intimacy with God found these days?  In prayer, hearing from God and responding to His call.  Not just saying words but engaging with God.  In the Bible studying and feeding on the word of God. An intimate relationship begins by knowing someone.  You learn whom God is by reading the Bible. In church, hearing the word of God preached.

How well do you know God?  Are you engaged in strengthening your relationship with God?  When we lay back out of those things we are complacent in the same way David was.  When we’re complacent and we’ve seen no consequences, we think that Go will understand, but there is a consequence and it’s subtle. Our mind is no longer trained on His will, our faith is no longer strengthened and we come to a point where we no longer know and understand God like we once did.

That’s when we’re susceptible to sin like David was.  The loss of intimacy isn’t a consequence of sin.  Sin is a consequence of the loss of intimacy.

What About Failure?

What can we do when we fail?  What can we do when we break ranks with God? What we do with our failure is an indicator of the strength of our relationship with God.  At some point we’ll fail, we all do.  It’s not If we fail but when we fail.

In Davd’s case he immediately confessed his sin, not that he sinned against Uriah the Hittite but against God. 

Psalms 51:4 (NKJV)
^51:4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight-- That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.

David was a man after God’s own heart because of the quality of his repentance.  He longed for a return to that level of intimacy with God.  He realized that he violated that relationship.  His repentance opened the door for restoration.

That’s the key or us as well, it’s restoration we desire.  Failure is not meant to be an end point.  Men have failed many times and returned to success.  Donald Trump failed to win reelection in 2020, but in 2024 he has become the forty-seventh president of the United States.  It’s being called the greatest comeback in American politics.  He could have allowed that failure to destroy him but instead made a decision to move forward.

We can allow our personal failures to destroy us, or we can be like David and cry out to God saying, “I have failed, restore me and draw me back into a relationship with you, the joy of my salvation."

David Had a Right Heart with God

God sent the prophet Nathan to rebuke David for his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah the Hittite.  David had a right heart with God.  He didn’t react to Nathan’s rebuke with anger and hostility.  He recognized his sin, accepted what he had done and immediately turned to God for forgiveness.  He didn’t complain about how the devil had tricked him.  He didn’t blame his sin on Bathsheba for being seen naked.  He turned to Nathan and said, "I have sinned."  Because of the way he accepted his responsibility and repented before God, God put away his sin and didn’t kill him.

God has a history of restoring us back into relationship with Him.  He restored Jonah when he sinned and ran from God’s calling.

Jonah 3:1 (NKJV)
^3:1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,

He had tried to hide from God’s command to go to the Ninevites, but after repenting God once more called on him and was able to use him, restoring the intimacy.  God spoke through Jonah once again.

The pot that was marred in the potter’s hand was made new once again.

Jeremiah 18:4 (NKJV)
^18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.

Because David cried out for restoration God did restore unto him the joy of his salvation.  He did restore the intimacy between them, and David continued to be a powerful leader of the people of God well into his old age.

Where is intimacy cultivated?  Where is the desire for friendship with God built?  It’s built in prayer, in the study of His word, and in the hearing the preaching of the word of God.  You’re not going to find intimacy with God by lazing around the palace but in diligent obedience to the call of God.

I always say, “Pray, read your Bible, go to church.”  Ninety percent of what I preach is just that, because it is in these things that intimacy with God is first found.

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[i] Genesis 3:8-9 NKJV

[ii] 1 Samuel 13:14 NKJV

Leviathan

 In this post, I want to talk about something that’s not totally familiar to most people.  It’s something we all deal with at some point.  It’s a part of spiritual warfare.  Something we must be careful to recognize and deal with in our own lives, but you don’t always see posts like this, so I want to present this because I want to educate people about this.  Even more than that, though, I want to begin a conversation about dominion.

Dominion is the ability to overcome and defeat the devil and defeat his plans for your life. He really hates us and wants to destroy us and our effectiveness in bringing about the Kingdom of God.

How many problems in life are the result of spiritual issues?  How many are the result of a lack of dominion and spiritual authority on our parts?  This post is a step toward taking dominion in your life. 

Isaiah 27:1 NKJV

In that day the LORD with His severe sword, great and strong, Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea.

Leviathan

M. Scott Peck, an American psychiatrist, and author of the book, The People of the Lie, said in his book that many of people’s problems are explainable in common psychiatric practices.  However, he also makes the statement that he has, “seen the face of evil.”

“When the demonic finally spoke…an expression appeared.  It was an incredibly contemptuous grin of utter malevolence.  I have spent any hours inf ront of a mirror trying to imitate it without the slightest success… The patient suddenly resembled a writhing spirit serpent of great strength., viciously trying to bite the team members.  More frightening than the writhing body however, was the face![i] 

This is Leviathan!  Leviathan is like a sea serpent, a twisting spirit.  It is a description of a type of spiritual power.  I believe there are only two sources of spiritual power in the universe today – God and the devil.  Look at the description of Satan in the book of Revelation:

Revelation 20:2 NKJV

He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

Leviathan isn’t a name for the devil, it’s a description of the power that he wields, a form of action.  He takes the things of God and twists them, perverts them.  That’s the spirit of Leviathan!

A lack of spiritual authority and dominion in your life is an open door to sin; to unrighteous thought and behavior.  We call that unrighteousness iniquity.

Iniquity is a twisting dynamic, something happens when one’s mind or spirit gets twisted.  It’s not just your neighbor or circumstances.  It is your mind.  It is a demonic twisting of the mind.[ii]

Iniquity is not just everyday sin; it’s unrighteousness of the heart.  In other words, iniquity is a character issue, it’s part of what makes up your moral choices.  When there is a lack of spiritual authority in your life, when you’re not standing on God’s principles your mind and character begin to twist.  That affects your thoughts, your understanding and your behavior.  You are no longer in your right mind. There is a twisting effect. 

A [church] pastor in 1990, was involved in a church rebellion.  In a meeting he literally lost his “I have it all together.”  Some described it as going “ballistic.”  This was not the event of a moment although it may have looked that way.  No, somewhere he had opened a door or given place in his mind to this twisting spirit..  The issues were twisted in his heart.  His motives twisted his view of leadership.[iii]

People who are twisted cannot think properly about correction, discipline or even advice.  That spirit (Leviathan) rages against the stable and godly mind.  They seek to make trouble, leading others into their twisted pattern of thought. Leviathan divides, Leviathan ruins relationships; Leviathan destroys:

Proverbs 12:8 NKJV

A man will be commended according to his wisdom, But he who is of a perverse heart will be despised.

This is the strategy of the Leviathan spirit, to destroy fellowship and defeat God’s promises in you by destroying your faith in the promise through causing you to suspect God’s intentions and your leader’s intentions.

1John 2:18-19 NKJV

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

Who were they that went out?  They were members of the church; they were in fellowship with the saints, but their minds were captivated by twisted strengths of arguments and imaginations against God and His people and so they left.

Do you know who they are?  They’re the “former members” that speak against the church in public with statements of twisted fact. “It’s a cult, they’ll tell you whom you have to marry.”  “They shun those who’ve left.  That’s Leviathan!

Have you ever felt like that?  That there’s nothing for you but defeat?  Do you feel like even God is against you; that the other people in the church are against you?  That’s Leviathan. 

One last statement about Leviathan.  He cannot be tamed by you.  He is untamable.  You cannot control demonic power in the flesh!

What About Your Life?

This is a spirit that gains access to your heart but demonic forces have no right to you.  They cannot just enter into a mind that is solidly focused on God’s will.  They cannot enter into a heart that is filled with the indwelling Holy Spirit.  They can only enter into a heart that is opened to them.  A heart that is not released from sin. 

One covert gave a great testimony of deliverance.  She was doing really well but later confessed that she never gave up smoking marijuana with “friends.”  Soon she found herself compromised and began doing all she had been doing before salvation.[iv]

This was the beginning of her “born again” life but she’d never broken away from the habits and friends of the old life. 

Think of the things that you say.  Are they God surrendered words or are they the language of the old life?  What are you watching?  What are you listening to and thinking about? Are they the things of God or the things of the world?  These are important questions, because these things can be an open door for Leviathan.  We’ve seen people caught up in twisted words and tortured logic, because there was door that was never closed in their lives.  Think about the following scripture for a moment. 

Isaiah 49:24

Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, Or the captives of the righteous be delivered?

Is your life and the pursuit of God available to be taken? Are your thoughts captive to the will of God, or are they vulnerable to hijack?  Can the things of God be taken from you?  When are the things in your home vulnerable to thieves and hijackers?  When your doors are open and unguarded.  When are the thoughts of your mind vulnerable?  When the door to your mind is open and unguarded.  We must protect our hearts and mind from Leviathan.  One way we do that is to slam the door to the old life.  Another is to guard the door and not allow the desires and lusts of the eyes and flesh to gain access to our minds.  You need a bouncer to cast out worldly things.  When we yield ourselves to the demonic, when we surrender to sin, we are not merely held captive; It’s not that we just become prisoners.  What happens is that we have given the demonic he right to access.  We aren’t just captives we are legally possessed by hell, because we have broken and/or ignored God’s law and will.  Hell owns us.

Leviathan is a spirit you must survive.  You must survive the whispering of Leviathan in your ear.  You must survive Leviathan’s strategies.  Leviathan is the king over the children of pride. 

Job 41:34 NKJV

[Leviathan] beholds every high thing; He is king over all the children of pride."

Pride is the spirit of Lucifer – The spirit of Satan.  You will not defeat Leviathan in your pride.  Pride says, “I will never make that mistake again!” You will!  Pride says, “I know better now!” You don’t!  Pride says, “I’m in control!”  You’re not!

The Sword That Pierces Leviathan

It may seem like there’s no hope.  How can we ever overcome?  It’s in what I think.  It’s in what I feel.  It’s in the life I’ve lived to this point.  It’s in my old habits.  It’s even in the way I speak. I’m defeated; I will suffer oppression for the rest of my life.  I can never be anything than what I am now. 

Never underestimate the power of Salvation.  When a soul is saved a miracle takes place.  Hard core sinners set free of horrible addictions, in a moment; instantaneous relief.  It’s God that defeats the powers of hell and darkness.  It’s God that frees us from bondages, habits, evil thoughts and sin.  It’s the great promise of God.  It’s by God’s plan that Leviathan is defeated. 

Jesus came to destroy Satan’s power.  Jesus came to set us free from sin.  Jesus came to liberate us from the possession of hell.  God promised that in the Garden of Eden.  That promise holds true today, because God keeps His promises. 

"Jacquelle Crowe, as a teen, wrote a book for teens about the miracle of salvation. In it she tells the story of a prominent pastor. He heard a message at a youth conference that stunned him. The speaker said being a Christian wouldn’t change anything. You could keep the same friends and keep up the same activities. In effect, the things you enjoyed would remain things you could enjoy even after salvation. She titled her book, This Changes Everything. She then went on to explain salvation meant friendships and relationships were all changed. The view of God and the church were changed. Salvation changed everything. Jesus, through the Holy Spirit transformed everything about her life. In a moment of time and through a simple prayer everything changed.”[v]

Jacquelle Crowe is no longer held captive to a twisting spirit that wants to keep her captive. She was set free, liberated, in a moment of time by the miracle work of salvation – and so can you be!

 

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[i] M. Scott Peck, The People of the Lie, The Hope for Healing Human Evil © 1983, Touchstone

[ii] Joseph C. Campbell and John W. Gooding, Deliverance to Dominion © 2019

[iii] Joseph C. Campbell and John W. Gooding, Deliverance to Dominion © 2019

[iv] Joseph C. Campbell and John W. Gooding, Deliverance to Dominion © 2019

[v] Joseph C. Campbell and John W. Gooding, Deliverance to Dominion © 2019

 

Deliverance: Goliath Had A Brother!

I’ve been a pastor for nineteen years.  In fact, August 1, 2001 was the day we opened the church we founded in Riverside, California.  In those nineteen years, I have seen a lot, and one of the things I have seen over and over is people who just can’t seem to break away from certain sins.  It’s like they’re trapped in that thing – They think they’ve beaten it, only to come have it come back at a later time.

The problem with this is that people begin to think that they can’t be completely delivered; that there’s a reliance on willpower for deliverance.

There’s a young man that attends one of our Free Talk Sessions that is quite taken with my testimony about how I stopped drinking.  He wants to do the same thing, but without Jesus and he’s struggling with it.  I have to declare to you right now, I could not have stopped drinking without Jesus in my life.  I can state that so positively, because I tried many times to quit drinking, unsuccessfully, before I got saved.

Willpower cannot keep you from sin.  There will be weak moments that will cause you to do that thing you don’t want to do.  This is why twelve step programs will say that you are forever an addict.  I have news for them, I am an ex-drunk! I’m delivered.

The real question, today is, “Why do some people go back to the sin from which they’ve been delivered?”  That’s what I want to explore in this post – Through David’s life!

2 Samuel 21:15-17 (NKJV)
^21:15 When the Philistines were at war again with Israel, David and his servants with him went down and fought against the Philistines; and David grew faint. ¹⁶ Then Ishbi-Benob, who was one of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose bronze spear was three hundred shekels, who was bearing a new sword, thought he could kill David. ¹⁷ But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, "You shall go out no more with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel."

Goliath Had A Brother

I believe, as a Christian, that one of the biggest things we struggle with is our old sin.  It’s supposed to be “buried with Christ in baptism.”  (Romans 6:4).  “Put off the Old man and put on the new.”  (Ephesians 4:22-24).  “Walk in the newness of life.”  (Romans 6:4).

The problem is that some of those things are stubborn and difficult.  It’s not easy to defeat some habits and addictions.  The Bible says that “we are slaves to sin;” they own us!  They can be giants that we face and have to fight to defeat.

I want to talk about David and his defeat of the giant, but I want to look at it in a little different way.  We all know the story – A young shepherd faces and defeats a battle hardened giant. 

So, look at this:  David has decided that he will destroy the giant and he’s preparing for the battle:

1 Samuel 17:40 (NKJV)
^17:40 Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.

Why did David take five stones?  Does he think he’s going to need five stones to defeat Goliath?  Is he afraid God isn’t going to help him?  The answer is that Goliath had a brother and he had three sons.  David knew he might not have to defeat just Goliath.  He knew that there might be others who came for him.  David did defeat Goliath with just one stone.

1 Samuel 17:49-51 (NKJV)
^17:49 Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. ⁵⁰ So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. ⁵¹ Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

David destroyed the giant with one stone, then he cut off his head.  You don’t get much deader than that!  No head equals totally dead! 

So, let’s think about this for a moment.  Why do people get saved?  People don’t come to Jesus when everything is good.  “I’m so blessed, I need Jesus!”  People usually get saved when they’re sick of the way they’re living.  In my own case, I thought I’d ruined my life!  I was exhausted, sick and depressed.  I was addicted to alcohol, a depressant, what else could I expect?  I needed to defeat that giant in my life – alcohol!

For others it may have been something different – maybe financial debt, or sickness, or marital problems.  Whatever it was that led you to Jesus was probably a giant in your life, and you were looking to defeat it.  Some of you may still be in the process of selecting your stone, or running out to face it.  Others have already cut off the giant’s head.  Maybe its been a while.  Maybe you’ve even testified, “I beat my giant (whatever it was)!”  Months later, or years later it’s come back, you’re facing it again and you don’t understand why.  I’ll tell you why – Goliath had a brother!

When David defeated Goliath, he was seventeen years old.  He hadn’t become king yet.  That didn’t happen until he was thirty.  So, our text takes place many years after he killed the giant, but now he finds himself fighting with a giant once again.  The giants have come back!  The original giant has been defeated – He’s not coming back from the dead.  That original deliverance in your life wasn’t temporary.  The giant in your life has been destroyed, it’s not coming back, either, but a similar thing is rising up to destroy you.  This is what’s happening in our text – Do you think this son of Goliath isn’t gunning for the man who killed dear old dad?  Of course, he is!  The devil hasn’t given up on you, either – He wants his revenge!

This Happens to Mature Christians

Look at verse 15 of our text:

2 Samuel 21:15 (NKJV)
^21:15 When the Philistines were at war again with Israel, David and his servants with him went down and fought against the Philistines; and David grew faint.

David has been engaged in the battle.  He’s been fighting, and the Bible says, David grew faint!”   He’s weary.  The devil above all other things is an opportunist.  He watches and waits, and when the time is right, he comes back.  He even did that with Jesus!

Luke 4:13 (NKJV)
^4:13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

When he saw that he couldn’t tempt Jesus at that time, he departed “until an opportune time.”  Goliath’s son waited until David was weary to attack him.  He waited until David wasn’t in a good position to fight.  When you’re exhausted from battle you don’t have the energy to fight a fresh opponent.  In a spiritual battle this takes place when you’re spiritually worn down – when you’ve been facing assaults.  When you’ve been pushing back against the enemy, but he’s worn you down.

A number of years ago I had an opportunity to visit a battlefield from the US civil war.  The person I was there with was an expert on civil war battles.  This particular battle was won by government troops, because they just kept sending wave after wave of fresh troops until the opponents were too tired to fight any more and were destroyed.

That’s how the devil fights – temptation after temptation, struggle sfter struggle, with sickness.  Financial failure after financial failure – marriage problem after marriage problem until you’re worn down and exhausted then he sends in the giants, and this giant looks an awful lot like the last giant!  Why?  Because they’re related!

Think about it.  He beat you once with pornography.  That’s his “Go-to Giant” in your life.  Maybe it’s not exactly pornography, but an affair with someone at your job.  Maybe it’snot alcoholism this time, but some other addiction instead.  That’s how good strong Christians end up failing.  That’s how they end up defeated.

“I thought God would protect me! I thought God would keep bad things from happening!  I’m just tired of it all – I don’t want to fight anymore!  Oh, Hello, Ishbi-benob, is that a new sword?” 

Guess what, this wasn’t the last one, either. 

2 Samuel 21:18-20 (NKJV)
^21:18 Now it happened afterward that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbechai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the sons of the giant. ¹⁹ Again there was war at Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. ²⁰ Yet again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also was born to the giant.

Three more times they came after him.  Remember, the five stones?  There’s the other four.  The devil isn’t going to give up!

What Saved David

This is the interesting part – What saved David?  You might say, “A better question is “Who saved David?”  Okay, “who saved David?” – His fellow soldiers.  The reason I asked what saved David is because what really saved David was the fellowship he had with those other men.  There was a camaraderie and concern among them.  Abishai was concerned for David so he fought for him.

That’s why God has structured the church the way He has.  That’s why the church is a body of believers.  Christianity was never intended to be a solo pursuit.  It was always about being of one accord, fighting and contending together against a common enemy – You know who!

How many times in the Bible are we exhorted to be together and encourage each other?

John 15:17 (NKJV)
^15:17 These things I command you, that you love one another.

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NKJV)
^10:24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, ²⁵ not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

1 Thessalonians 4:18 (NKJV)
^4:18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

This is God’s plan for us to defeat the giants that we face.  The Bible shows us that this is the way to go!  The Bile gives us concrete examples.

Matthew 18:19-20 (NKJV)
^18:19 Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."

Are you struggling with something?  Is there a battle to wear you down?  Ask someone to pray with you – Don’t fight alone.  Find an Abishai to stand in the gap with you!

James 5:16 (NKJV)
^5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Sickness?  Physical or spiritual?  Confess your sin and pray for one another.

“I don’t want anyone to know I’m struggling!”

“People might judge me, if I confess and ask for prayer.”

Abishai saw that David was weary – If you hold back and put on appearances, that it’s all good – there won’t be anyone to help.  Don’t let your ego be your downfall.  David need help with that second giant – we all need help!  That’s why God brought us together.  FOR EACH OTHER!  No soldier wins a war by himself.  Not even David!

Bamboo in the Garden

Have you ever seen a stand of Bamboo?  It grows out from one stalk in different directions in the ground.  So, the area covered by the bamboo grove is constantly being enlarged.  If you want to reforest an area it’s very effective because it grows and spreads rapidly. 

The difficulty is in trying to contain it.  What happens is that shoots called rhizomes spread underground and the plants sprout out of the ground along the rhizome.  Now, these are not like roots. They’re stalks of the plant that grow horizontally under the ground.  They’re very tough and difficult to remove.  You don’t see them growing, they’re hidden under the soul.  The only way you know they are there is that a plant sprouts out of the ground and shows itself.  All of the Bamboo in a garden are connected by rhizomes.

If you plant them in an area and don’t want them to spread beyond that area, you must be diligently searching for and tearing out the rhizomes, because when one is removed another immediately begins to generate.  Some types of Bamboo can grow up to twenty-four inches in a day.

2 Samuel 11:1-17 (NKJV)
^11:1 It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. ² Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. ³ So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" ⁴ Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. ⁵ And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, "I am with child." ⁶ Then David sent to Joab, saying, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷ When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered. ⁸ And David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." So Uriah departed from the king's house, and a gift of food from the king followed him. ⁹ But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. ¹⁰ So when they told David, saying, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "Did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" ¹¹ And Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing." ¹² Then David said to Uriah, "Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³ Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. ¹⁴ In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵ And he wrote in the letter, saying, "Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die." ¹⁶ So it was, while Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. ¹⁷ Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also.

Rhizomes in Our Lives

David is God’s man to lead Israel but sin has overcome him, just like Bamboo overtaking a garden.  The first step is a step away from responsibility.  David stepped away from the battle.  He’s no longer contending against the enemies of Israel.  He hasn’t really done anything wrong yet, but he’s resting in what God has already done in him and through him.  He’s let his guard down.

This is how sin works in us.  We’re delivered.  It’s not necessary to pray for that deliverance any longer.  It’s not necessary to be contending.  “I don’t need to pray for that anymore, I won’t fall into that again.”

I had a friend that began to look at pornography.  His wife caught him at it, and he confessed and was delivered from it.  The problem was that he thought he’d overcome it.  So he decided to check himself and ended up right back in the same problem again.  He’d let his guard down…He’d stopped contending for that deliverance.

In the garden, you need to continue to hunt down the rhizomes.  The only way that you can control the growth is through constant attention.  If you stop searching for and removing the rhizomes, the Bamboo will get out of control again.

We need to constantly be digging for rhizomes of sin in our hearts or that sin will spread and appear again. 

David has neglected his heart and stalk of lust has grown up.

2 Samuel 11:2-3 (NKJV)
^11:2 Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof, he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. ³ So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"

From this stalk of lust, rhizomes have spread out to other areas of his life.  Lust led to adultery, lies, cover-ups, manipulation, and murder.  That sin of just looking at a naked woman and lusting sexually for her finally led to the murder of an innocent man.

The events that led to the resignation of President Nixon started in a simple enough way.  There was a break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC.  The break-in was illegal, but what cost President Nixon his job wasn’t the original crime.  What cost him his job was the cover up of those things; the lies, the manipulations and all that resulted from that.  The original break-in led to the crimes that destroyed Nixon.

In the Bamboo plants, there is one stalk.  That stalk puts out rhizomes and other plants manifest themselves in different places.  As a result of the way the plants reproduce, all of them in a particular area are connected.  All of the sin in our lives is connected like the Bamboo.

Sin defiles and deceives the human conscience, and thereby hardens the human heart.  A sin-hardened heart grows ever more susceptible to temptation, pride, and every kind of evil.  Unconfessed sin, therefore, becomes a cycle that desensitizes and corrupts the conscience and drags people deeper and deeper into bondage. – J F MacArthur, The Vanishing Conscience

Sin is aggressive – like an organism; like a virus.

Genesis 4:7 (NKJV)
^4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."
The man-eaters of Tsabo is a true story of man-eating lions that were killing and devouring native workers on a British railroad project in Africa.  In the end, the lions were destroyed as the British leader set up a stand in the trees and waited for days until the lions attacked again.  He maintained a vigil in order to protect the people.

No less of a commitment is needed in our lives.  If David had pressed into the things of God; if he had continued to do what was necessary to protect Israel from the enemies of God, he would have been removed from the temptation.

When we take ourselves away from the things of God; the battle for souls and things that strengthen faith, we create distance from God.  When we stop reading our bible or praying we’re drifting away from God.  The closer you are to God the less likely you are to sin.  When we’re close to God it is difficult to get something between us and God.  It’s much easier when there’s a distance between us and God.

But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the enemy [God].  It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that they’re cumulative effect is to keep the man away from the light…Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick.  Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one – C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Closeness to God eliminates opportunity for Satan to draw us into decisions that lead to sin.  Satan doesn’t force us to do anything; we make a decision to sin.

David stumbled on to Bathsheba.  It wasn’t something he was looking for, but when he asked who she was, and sent for her, he made a decision to sin.  That decision was the result of his traveling on a path that led to a separation from the will of God.

The Result of Sin

Bamboo is what biologists call an “extremely opportunistic” plant.  It wants to exploit all of the sunlight, water and nutrients for its own reproduction.  This plant isn’t concerned about the others in the garden and if left alone will destroy every other plant in the garden by robbing them of nutrients.

David has turned away from the Will of God.  He’s backslidden at heart.  We often think of backsliding as when we are already engaged in sin, but backsliding begins when we slide back away from God and pursue our own desires.  David was already backslidden when he sinned with Bathsheba.  He backslid when he tarried in Jerusalem, because he’d already begun the process of pulling away from the will of God.  All of the other things that took place were the result of that original sin of pulling away from God.

David and Uriah knew each other.  Uriah was a mighty man; one of David’s elite hand picked.  They were friends.  There was a camaraderie between them, but sin is selfish.  David’s not thinking of Bathsheba; He’s not thinking of Uriah.  He’s thinking only of David.  David’s not even thinking of his children, because sin always computes out in our children’s lives.  David’s sin played out in his children’s lives in a way he didn’t expect.

Deuteronomy 5:9 (NKJV)
^5:9 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Sin in our lives follows us into the next generations.  In David’s case his son Amnon rapes his half sister Tamar – selfishness and lust.  David is angry but he can’t judge the sin in Amnon.  He can’t judge the sin that he himself had fallen into, but Absalom, Tamar’s brother did judge it and killed Amnon.  Absalom went into exile after that, and when given the right to return, he tried to usurp the government of his father.  Look at his reasoning:

2 Samuel 15:4 (NKJV)
^15:4 Moreover Absalom would say, "Oh, that I were made judge in the land, and everyone who has any suit or cause would come to me; then I would give him justice."

He believed that his sister never received justice, so he overthrew the kingdom.  David’s sin played out in his children’s lives.  Their lives came under the influence of sin and it destroyed them.

Bamboo can infect not only the garden in which it’s planted but it can spread and affect another garden that’s next door.  The rhizomes being underground can easily pass under a fence and into the garden of a neighbor.  Our neighbors in Riverside planted Bamboo next to their fence in order to give them privacy.  My wife had to be constantly digging and cutting rhizomes that passed under the fence in an effort to keep them out of our yard.

Amos 1:9 (NKJV)
^1:9 Thus says the Lord: "For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, And did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.

Tyre and Israel had a relationship of brotherhood at one point.  It’s a picture of relationship between people in the congregation; regard, concern – I’ve got your back, you’ve got mine.  But Tyre sold out the relationship when they broke the covenant of brotherhood.  They joined with the enemy of Israel and instead of living peacefully they sold out – Every man for himself.

In the garden the assault is underground and it isn’t until the stalk manifests itself that the assault can be recognized.  By then it can be too late and only a pitched battle will save the garden.

The church can’t be protected from what is hidden.  Discord in relationships, loss of dominion causes the church to stall.  Sin in the church affects us all.  The effort turns to keeping people from scattering and forward momentum stops.

Eradicating the Bamboo

Bamboo can be beaten, but in order for that to happen the rhizomes must be found and removed along with the original stalk.  It must all be removed.  Any stalk that’s left will begin to put out rhizomes.  Any rhizome left will put up other stalks.  In order to defeat it it must all be destroyed.

2 Samuel 12:13-18 (NKJV)
^12:13 So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan said to David, "The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. ¹⁴ However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die." ¹⁵ Then Nathan departed to his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it became ill. ¹⁶ David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. ¹⁷ So the elders of his house arose and went to him, to raise him up from the ground. But he would not, nor did he eat food with them. ¹⁸ Then on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, "Indeed, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not heed our voice. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm!"

David recognizes his sin and repents.  This is more than just crying out he’s actively contending for God to move.  The relationship must be restored.  The connection to God will must be strengthened.  The consequences of the sin played out in the death of the child, but God restored David – never removing him as king.  God blessed him later as he allowed his son to rule after him.

1 Kings 15:4-5 (NKJV)
^15:4 Nevertheless for David's sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, by setting up his son after him and by establishing Jerusalem; ⁵ because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

It took David contending to live for God after that.  We have to have a resolve to live for Jesus. 

Have you ever taken a piece of paper and folded it over, then torn the paer along that line?  When it’s been folded it’s easy to tear it along the fold, because that fold becomes a weakness in the paper.  Sin, when we have fallen once, will attack us at that same place; that fold in our lives seeking once again to gain entry into that weak place.

We must contend in order to overcome.  Where is victory found?

1.        Remember that what is hidden from people God sees.  When we know that wickedness lies in our heart yet we fear God we can have victory.

Matthew 10:28 (NKJV)
^10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

2.        The second thing that brings victory is a right relationship with your pastor.

Hebrews 13:7 (NKJV)
^13:7 Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.

Hebrews 13:7 tells us to submit as well.  Your pastor will hold you accountable for your sin.  That’s why I call my pastor, Pastor and not by his name.  I have submitted my life and I’m accountable to him.

3.        Don’t neglect your relationship with Christ.

Hebrews 2:3 (NKJV)
^2:3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,

This Scripture speaks directly to our relationship with Jesus. 

If you want victory do the things you’re supposed to do:  Pray, read your Bible, go to church, and be in fellowship with your pastor.  Stay vigilant, looking for and judging sin.  Root every bit of sin out of your life, so that it can’t spread into other sin.  Finally, contend for victory.  Fight to remain in the will of God, and free from sin.

The War Within

When I was a kid, like any kid I had rules that I was supposed to follow.  Sometimes, I looked at the rules and, in my judgment, the rules were arbitrary things that were put in place to keep me from doing something I wanted to do.  “The man is just trying to keep me down”:  The “man” being my parents.  Kids think they know so much more than their parents.

Our house was on a lot that was set about 15 feet above the street, so there was this nice hill to roll down on our little soapbox type go-kart that my dad and I built. My mother told us not to do that, because we wouldn’t be able to stop.  The kart didn’t have any brakes and we would roll down the hill into the street, if a car was coming it could be very dangerous.  We tried to obey that rule, but we struggled.  It was a battle to keep from doing what we knew we shouldn’t do.

Many times as adults, we fight these same battles, not with rules that our parents or bosses put on us, but with sin.  We know that sin is wrong; we understand the cost that it has, but sometimes the desire is too strong.

I was thinking about Eve as she faced the serpent in the Garden.  God has told her not to eat the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  She knows that it’s wrong, but when the devil comes in and lays out the lie she goes right ahead and eats it, anyway.  I wonder if his is the first time she’s struggled with temptation over this fruit, or if she was already struggling with the temptation, when she was talking to the serpent.

Satan doesn’t always have to make us sin, sometimes it’s our flesh and our own nature that draws us into sin.  She’s seen the fruit before:  the Bible says that she saw that it was good for food.  Maybe she’s struggling with idea a bit.  Then the serpent comes up and says, “Did God say you’d die if you ate that?  You’re not going to die,” so she ate it.  We don’t see in the Bible that she struggled much with the decision to eat the fruit.  I think that perhaps the struggle had been taking place before the serpent showed up.

Eve had the capacity to sin, already.  The serpent didn’t really tempt her; he just laid out a good justification for her:  “He doesn’t want you to be like him.  The man just wants to keep you down.”  So, she jumped on it.

We fight this battle ourselves, to overcome the flesh; overcome the temptation to do what isn’t right. 

Romans 7:18-25 (NKJV)
^7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. ¹⁹ For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ²⁰ Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ²¹ I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. ²² For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. ²³ But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

In my Flesh Nothing Good Dwells

When the Bible refers to our flesh, what it’s really referring to is our carnal nature; our physical appetites:  Those things that drive us; the things our bodies crave.  Human beings are set up with survival mechanisms.  Those are things that are a part of us in order that we can preserve ourselves.  We have a sexual drive, because we need that to keep our species alive.  We desire food because we need food to sustain our lives.  Sin is when we allow those drives to control us.  There is nothing wrong with sex in marriage, but fornication is a sin.  There’s nothing wrong with eating, but gluttony is a sin.  The devil doesn’t make us sin, he merely places the opportunity before us.  It’s up to us whether or not we’ll act on it. 

When I first got saved I was really lonely.  I hadn’t had a relationship with anyone in a long time.  Almost as soon as I got saved, there were some women who wanted to be with me.  I had struggled with that for a long time, now the opportunity was right before me. There was a struggle but I won out over my flesh.  That’s the way the devil works, our flesh is looking for gratification, and suddenly that thing, which will provide that gratification is right before us.

You struggle with finances and then you have access to company money.  People steal from their jobs all the time, for exactly this reason.  You and your wife are having problems in your relationship and that single girl at work that you’ve always thought was attractive suddenly comes on to you.  You start to wonder, “Can I get away with this?”  It’s not like that cartoon where the devil is one shoulder saying “do it, do it!” and an angel is sitting on the other shoulder saying, “Don’t do it, don’t do it!” 

You begin to rationalize it to yourself.  “The company doesn’t pay me what I’m really worth.  My wife doesn’t understand me.  I deserve to relax and get drunk; I work too hard.”  That’s not the devil you’re fighting with, it’s your flesh.

It isn’t that we don’t want to do what is right; most of us genuinely desire to be righteous in our decisions and actions.  Even sinners speak of being morally right.    We want to do the right thing, but many times we sin anyway, and we justify it.  Sometimes we even feel compelled to do it; we call it an addiction.  We call sin disease or addiction because that takes away the responsibility to overcome it.  You need to be treated for a disease, right?  It’s beyond your control, right?  It is something that’s outside of you.

When I got saved I was a drunk, but I didn’t need a program to stop drinking, I just began to fight with my desire to drink.  When the urge and the opportunity came up, I used the tools of my salvation – Prayer, the Bible, fellowship and preaching.

It’s a fight; a struggle.  Have you ever watched a WWE wrestling match?  WWE is a perfect example, because each match is a battle between good and evil.  Both wrestlers are fighting for the upper hand.  One will move one way, the other will try to counter it.  Sometimes, we can easily beat the devil, but other times we have to fight it out with him.  That’s exactly how it is when the opportunity to sin is placed before us – It’s a real fight – Sin is aggressive.

Genesis 4:7 (NKJV)
^4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."

The idea behind the word “lies” in that scripture is that sin is like an animal crouching at the door ready to spring on us, if we open door to it.  We open the door through our flesh.  Paul says, “If I do what I will not to do then it is not me, but the sin that dwells in me.”  It’s that carnal nature; it’s the flesh in which nothing good dwells.

Romans 7:21 (NKJV)
^7:21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

Even though, we desire to do well there is evil present with us.  This is a law.  Scientists understand that there are certain physical laws, and those laws are always true.  For example, there is the law of gravity that states that the attraction between any two bodies is directly proportional to product of their masses and inversely proportional to their distance from each other.  That means that planets are more attracted to each other based on what they both weigh and less attracted based on how far away they are.  The moon orbits the earth, because the earth has a huge mass and the moon is relatively close to it.  This law is ALWAYS true and it is the reason that what goes up must come down.  The lighter body; that which is thrown, is attracted to the heavier body that is the earth, because it never gets very far from the earth.

Paul is telling us that in every one of us there is a will to do what is right but there is also a desire for evil.  Philosophers have said that man is basically good, but Paul tells us that we want to be good but that we’re basically evil.  We can desire to live the will of God:  We can desire to live for Jesus, but that the nature of man, that sin nature, is still present in us.  Nothing I ever easy, is it? 

I wonder how many times a day that we struggle with sin.  How many times a day do we want to leap out in our flesh?  When that idiot cuts us off on the freeway?  When the boss is gone and we can sneak away from work a little early – “Who will know if I put the full number of hours on my time card?”  “I’m alone who’s going to see what I’m looking at on my computer?”  “How’s my wife going to know that I’m flirting with that woman in the cubicle next to mine?”  We struggle with it and sometimes we lose to our flesh.

I Delight in the Law of God but…

Romans 7:22-24 (NKJV)
^7:22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. ²³ But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

“I delight in the law of God…”  That word delight literally means that it’s a great pleasure to serve God.  We enjoy doing the right thing.  Paul says, “I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.”  That phrase, “according to the inward man” means from the bottom of my heart.”  That is, the thing which he desires most is the joy; the delight of doing the will of God.  But…

He finds there is one thing in his heart, but another in his members, (meaning his body parts).  It’s a joy to live for Jesus but there’s a constant tension with our flesh.  Paul has certain appetites; certain things that must be overcome.  The problem is when those appetites win out over our minds. 

We go on diets and our minds tell us what a great thing it will be to lose weight.  It will be a great joy to come to our target weight; to be healthy and look good.  That’s thing we desire from the bottom of our hearts.  So then why do we, so badly want to grab a dish of ice cream.

It’s because we have developed an appetite for it.  We allow our minds to dwell on it.  “That ice cream looks so good and it’s so sweet.”  This is where we lose the victory a lot of times.  Suddenly, we’re fighting this battle with our flesh with only half of our mind, because the other half is thinking how good the sin will feel.  That’s why Paul asks, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

Here’s the concept behind what he’s saying:  One of the ways that the Romans punished lawbreakers was to tie a dead body to the one being punished; face to face, hand to hand, and foot to foot.  They would have to go through life with this dead, putrefying, decaying body tied to them.  Paul is saying that this is a picture of our sin nature; that we are tied together with the sins of the flesh – That eventually, just as the person being punished in this way by the Romans, died.  This sinful flesh will kill us as well.  We need deliverance from it.

We need to be released from the hold of this body of death.  He’s saying that you can struggle against it; you can fight for life, but eventually the flesh will overwhelm you and you’ll be destroyed by it, unless something takes place that releases you from it.  This is the crux of the matter, right here, that we’ll eventually do what our flesh wants, unless we’re delivered from it.

Where does deliverance come from?  It’s not found in our willpower.  It’s not found in our personality.  It’s not found in our physical or mental strength.  It’s outside of us.  Just as those who couldn’t untie the dead body and remove themselves, neither can we loose ourselves from our flesh.  There’s something that must take place outside of us.  Something supernatural must happen in our lives.

Jesus delivers me From This Body of Death

Romans 7:25 (NKJV)
^7:25 I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Jesus Christ is the deliverer.  He does it through the renewal of our minds.

Romans 12:2 (NKJV)
^12:2 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 word renewing speaks of restoring.  The renewing of our minds is the restoration of our minds to the way God intended in the Garden before sin.  If in our minds we delight to live the Law of God, then when we sin or are in our flesh, we are out of our minds.  Salvation restores our minds.  It brings us back to that place of delight in serving God.  Jesus is the one who will deliver you from the body of death.  His grace, his mercy and shed blood is what releases us – It isn’t us, it’s the spiritual transaction that took place when He died on Calvary’s cross.

We still have a responsibility, though:

Titus 3:8 (NKJV)
^3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.

If we believe God, then we should live for him.  When we were sinners how many of us lived all the way, one hundred per cent, for the devil.  That struggle is still present with us but we have the tools of our salvation with which to fight the fight.

When we pray, we strengthen our relationship with God.  This is where we begin to have relationship with Him.  Think about this – If we know someone, but never speak to them it isn’t much of a relationship, is it?  But as we talk we get to know them better and a relationship forms.  This is essential to avoiding sin. 

When we read the Bible we gain an understanding of the purposes of God for our lives. 

When we fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ – Don’t run off and isolate yourself – When we have relationships with other saved people it becomes easier for us to stay in the will of God.  We can avoid sin through “peer pressure.”

When we hear the word of God our faith is strengthened.  Faith comes by hearing the word of God.  Where do we hear the word of God?  In Church, that’s where.

These things will allow your mind to be renewed.  It will help you to overcome the flesh and you’ll be more likely to win the battle and serve God throughout your whole life.