1Corinthians 9:24-27
Beating Self
Notice some thoughts from these verses.
1. This is the Apostle Paul speaking, one of the most used Christians in all
time. I suppose that means that he was one of the most holy men of all
time. (That is a assumption but one that seems safe to assume.)
2. Yet, Paul speaks of himself as having to struggle WITH himself.
a. \\#1Cor 9:26\\ Paul speaks of FIGHTING to keep himself in SUBJECTION.
b. \\#1Cor 9:27\\ Paul must KEEP his body UNDER.
c. These are terms that indicate a struggle is going on.
Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is
idolatry:
1. Another verse written by Paul.
2. This time, Paul is not speaking about himself, but he is instructing
Christians.
3. He tells them to MORTIFY their physical MEMBERS WHICH ARE on EARTH.
4. MORTIFY means TO MAKE DEAD, TO PUT TO DEATH, TO KILL.
5. Paul is counseling the people to kill the members of their body, to put
their flesh to death.
6. Of course this is not literal.
a. It is a spiritual analogy.
b. God is telling us that we must fight and even take drastic measures
to make our bodies obey us.
There are other verses which speak of the battle we have with ourselves.
Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the
law, but under grace.
Romans 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
1 Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not
expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power
of any.
All of these verses point out that we must do battle with our own selves.
Bearing these verses in mind, let me share some thoughts with you about beating
self.
I. We need to understand some basics about beating self.
A. Fighting self is a common battle; that is, it is something we all must
do.
1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to
man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye
are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be
able to bear it.
1Peter 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is
to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1. It is a common misconception among humans that the personal
problems they face are just "their" problems.
2. Satan makes people think that they are the only ones battling
their problem and that they must keep their problem a secret so
that others will not know just how weak or wicked they really are.
3. The Bible says that you are not alone.
a. God says that what you face is COMMON to mankind.
b. Lots of others are facing it.
c. In fact, you’d be surprised how many!
4. I am amazed at how many people are living my testimony.
a. There are people who have problems with their temper, struggles
against sin, depression, feelings of inadequacy, and pride.
b. The truth is that no matter what problem you have with yourself,
probably one-third of the people in this room would say they
either do or did face it too.
5. Why is that the case? Because we are all wearing the same flesh.
a. The problem is not you. It is what you are made of.
b. You and I are both made of weak, sinful, carnal flesh, so we
must all fight similar battles.
6. The point I want you to get is that you are not alone and you are
not unique.
a. If you are struggling, get help before it gets worse.
b. And rest assured, if you do not, it will get worse,
B. Fighting self is a perpetual battle; that is, it never stops—at least
not as long as you are still in this fleshy body.
1. I hate to have to tell you, but there are no "breaks" from this
warfare in this life.
a. You never out grow battling your flesh. What you are battling
about may change but the battle goes on.
b. There is no where you can go where you won’t battle your flesh.
(1) You battle your flesh at church.
(2) The battle with the flesh intensifies when you pray.
(3) Your flesh is after you even when you are asleep.
c. There is nothing you can do so that you won’t have to battle
your flesh.
(1) Even being saved does not end your battle with the flesh.
(2) Having Christ on the inside will certainly help you, but
salvation does not change the flesh.
2. Why?
a. Because as long as you are alive, you will be in your the
same flesh.
b. It would be nice if you could just take it off every once
in awhile, but you can not.
C. Fighting self is your greatest battle.
1. If you have been listening, you have probably figured that out.
2. This flesh is capable of great evil.
a. deceit, malice, envy, revenge, perversion, abomination,
violence, and the like of which I will not speak of.
b. King David is an example A great godly man, but he lusted
after a woman, took her, and murdered her husband.
c. Peter is an example. A Christian but he got scared. To
stay warm he joined those who would crucify Christ, denied
Jesus, and even cursed to save his own skin.
d. I have said before that a saved person is capable of every
sinful act a lost person is capable of committing.
3. Did you know that every other source of temptation will come
after you through your flesh?
James 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and
enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is
finished, bringeth forth death.
a. Sin always comes at us through a lust, a desire, a want.
b. Those lusts are part of our flesh.
c. That means that even Satan and the world can attack you
through your flesh.
II. How do you win the battle with the flesh?
A. To win the battle with the flesh, you must be born again.
1. I said earlier that salvation will not stop your battles with
flesh, and it won’t.
2. However, it will give you power to fight against the flesh.
3. God gives all kinds of new resources when we are saved.
a. He gives us His Holy Ghost.
John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,
that he may abide with you for ever;
b. He gives us a new heart and a new spirit.
Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put
within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will
give you an heart of flesh.
(1) That is, we get a new and holy way of looking at things
and reacting to them.
(2) God takes the cold, hard, unfeeling heart and spirit out
and puts a tender, compassionate, considerate heart
inside.
c. He gives us a new life.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
4. All of these new things mean that while the flesh is the same,
everything underneath the flesh is new!
a. The flesh is to the Christian what the apple peal is to the
apple.
b. We have the same pealing with all of its weakness and faults,
but everything beneath the pealing is new and different.
c. The new insides does not change the flesh, but it gives us a
greater power to beat it.
5. While you don’t stand a chance of beating the flesh without the
new birth, you can have the new birth and still not beat the
flesh.
a. Most everything I have said this morning has been directed
to the saved and not the lost.
b. Why? Because salvation, by itself, does not guarantee you will
beat the flesh.
(1) King David knew God and lost.
(2) Peter knew God and lost.
(3) All who are saved know God and all have lost some battles
to the flesh.
(4) What else does it take?
B. To win the battle with the flesh, you must stay close to Christ.
1. More and more I see the necessity of relying upon an on-going
friendship with Jesus not just our kinship with Him.
a. Being born again establishes a kinship with Jesus.
b. However, that kinship is not the end of the relationship that
we have with Jesus. It is the beginning.
c. The end is an intimate friendship with Jesus.
John 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what
his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard
of my Father I have made known unto you.
2. There is a big difference in maintaining a kinship and a friendship.
a. All you have to do to keep a kinship going is stay alive, but
you have to work at keeping a friendship going.
(1) If a cousin walked in this morning, one whom I have never
met, one many times removed on a remote aunt’s line of
descendents, that cousin would be my kin.
(2) However, if a childhood friend walked, one whom I have
not seen in many years, we would have to visit for awhile
to see if we still had enough in common to call ourselves
friends.
b. Too many people claim kinship with Jesus, but they have no
friendship with Him.
(1) Jesus plainly tells us what is required to maintain a
friendship with Him.
John 15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
(2) To maintain a friendship with Jesus, you must be close
enough to Him to know what He wants and to do it.
c. I am often amazed at people who do not go to church faithfully,
do not read their Bible consistently, and do not pray or
maintain any other kind of friendship with Christ and then
they are surprised that they have problems in the flesh!
C. To win the battle with the flesh, you must muster the right attitude.
1. We have seen many verses where Paul emphasizes the battle we must
fight with the flesh. Notice another.
2Tim 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he
may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
2. Here, Paul calls Timothy a soldier.
a. All Christians are soldiers.
(1) We are all in the same army,
(2) We all have the same enemies.
(3) We all fight in the same battle.
(4) And we all have the same Captain.
Hebrews 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all
things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings.
b. A soldier not only has to be wary of the enemy from without.
He must be wary of the enemy within.
(1) A common problem among soldiers who stay on the front
line is battle fatigue.
(2) It is difficult to determine how many soldiers suffer
from battle fatigue, but it is estimated that one in
every four casualties suffers from it.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19910217&id=fHkVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zesDA
AAAIBAJ&pg=5431,4045604
(3) In truth, I would imagine that every soldier who stays in
the battle for a prolonged length of time suffers from
battle fatigue.
3. I believe a lot of Christians lose their battle to the flesh
because they are suffering from battle fatigue.
a. They are just plain tired of fighting against themselves all
the time.
b. Spiritual battle fatigue shows up in our behavior.
4. Here is a list of military battle fatigue symptoms. They are about
the same for those suffering from spiritual battle fatigue.
a. The slowing of reaction time
b. Slowness of thought
c. Difficulty prioritizing tasks
c. Difficulty initiating routine tasks
d. Preoccupation with minor issues and familiar tasks
e. Indecision and lack of concentration
f. Loss of initiative with fatigue
g. Exhaustion
5. This can in turn display physical symptoms.
Headaches, back pains, inability to relax, insomnia, restless
sleep, excessive sleep, anxiety, irritability, depression,
disruptive behavior, mistrust of others, confusion, feeling of
losing control
6. We may not see all of these symptoms at church, but you the
closer you are to someone, the more you will notice.
7. The standard treatment for military battle fatigue.
a. Relieve the soldier of duty but keep them in the battle area.
b. Provide dry clothing, shelter, and rest.
c. Provide counseling.
d. With these three, in the 1982 Lebanon War, 90% of the
afflicted soldiers were able to return to duty, most within
72 hours.
e. However, once a soldier was taken off the line, only 40% ever
returned to their unit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_stress_reaction
8. Do you see the Christian comparison?
a. Counseling
(1) Counseling is talking to someone about what troubles you
and getting some sound advice on how to deal with it.
(2) God has commanded the church to look after each other,
to exhort each other.
(3) We are each other’s counselors.
b. Rest is taking some time off.
(1) I believe there is a reason God tells us to take one day
in seven off to rest.
(2) We need it.
(3) Those who minister on Sundays must still find a way to
have sufficient rest.
c. Provide a safe, comfortable place—still on the front—where
these helps can be utilized.
(1) The Christian home should be the primary safe-haven for a
Christian.
(a) A Christian who does not have a godly, peaceful home
is in a greater danger of losing the battle to their
own flesh.
(b) Christians mates should not be fighting between
themselves but to keep their home the peaceful place
that God intended it to be.
(2) The church should be a secondary safe-haven.
(3) Of course, these are just the places of safety to which
we retreat.
(a) They are not places for us to hide.
(b) And if we run from them, the chances of returning to
the fray are greatly reduced.
This are just a few of the things for which we need to watch to beating self.
The enemy that we need to deal with is not out there. It is us. We must fight
everyday to keep ourselves right with Jesus and right in attitude. If not, we
will lose the war of wars. Our old flesh will take control and all will be lost.
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