We have a great enemy in this world, each and every one of us. This enemy is close, familiar and his goal is to see us falter. To see us fail, to see us fall short, to see us shackled in mediocrity compared to what is promised to us. Most believers would quickly name this enemy as satan. And they would blame him for all that goes wrong in their life, including their personal sin…not so. The old adage, the devil made me do it, could not be farther from the truth that is stated in God’s Word. No, this enemy is just as crafty but much closer. Just as wily and unfortunately, with us constantly. You see, the greatest enemy you face looks at you in the mirror each and every morning. The worst enemy that you have is yourself.
There are several tricky issues in dealing with this enemy. He uses the same brain; he uses the same hands and he occupies the same flesh. He can control your brain and it’s thinking, moving your thoughts quickly to places you abhor. He controls your hands, and in that power, can move them to do things you are ashamed of. And the flesh, well the flesh wants what he wants and many times he can steer your entire body, mind and spirit into the opposite direction of the Lord.
There are also several tricky factors present that make doing battle with this enemy difficult. In the first place, we are reluctant to recognize and identify him. We loathe to label this enemy as the nemesis he truly is…oursleves. In fact, we have lived with this enemy for so many years before Christ saved us, there’s certain aspects of the enemy we rather enjoy. How do you fight an old friend? The second problem is that he is internal, silent, invisible. If this enemy would come out and fight, if we could easily locate him, we would at times, be ready to slay this enemy and be done with the ongoing struggle. But not so, this enemy is embedded in us, always present and ready to surface at the very moment you are unprepared and unsuspecting.
But we are not alone in dealing with this enemy, we see Paul also struggling with his great personal enemy as he uttered some of the most personal, honest and chilling words in the Bible describing this personal battle.
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” Romans 7:15-20
This morning in Joshua chapter 8 we see the Israelites going for round 2 with Ai. In chapter 7 they lost miserably, and it was because of the sin of one man. The sin has been identified, dealt with and eradicated from the people. As a result, God’s blessings have returned, and He is once again guiding the people in the conquest of the Promised Land. In chapter 8 He will deliver the victory over Ai and the people will rejoice in His goodness. But what is important to realize about the first three cities they conquer is that they symbolize much more. They symbolize the struggle not of 3,000 BC, but the struggle that each of us still encounter today, in 2020 AD. You see, the city of Jericho represents the world. It was impossibly big, impossibly strong and towered over the people. They realized quickly there was no way they could ever hope to make a dent in that city without the power of God. The same is true of us and the world today. It is impossibly large, impossibly confusing, extremely hostile and without God, we can never understand, deal with, and hope to overcome the world. The third city the Israelites will deal with in chapter 9 is Gibeon. As we’ll study tomorrow, we will see that the Gibeonites cleverly tricked the Israelites into a false treaty, therefore they represent the devil, the ultimate liar. But as far as Ai, it represents the flesh. Ai represents the sin nature we all have; it represents that silent enemy that secretly whispers to us when we are weak. Whispering and desiring what will be satisfying to us in the moment, yet lead us farther from God in the process. It’s interesting to note that the only defeat the Israelites suffered in the Promised Land was at Ai…the flesh. Dealing with Ai, dealing with the flesh and dealing with your enemy within is quite the battle. And as you battle with this enemy, there are a few points that will help you to garner the victory through the Holy Spirit of God, let’s take a look.
1) Recognize the enemy. You cannot fight if you don’t believe that you have an enemy. What do you really think about your flesh and the sin nature God’s Word says we all have?
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Rom 3:23
Do you truly believe that you are riddled with sinful thoughts, sinful actions and sinful speech? Where do you think they come from? You see, you must identify and fully recognize your enemy before you can attempt to resist. As you accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord, the Holy Spirit of God comes into your heart and takes up full-time residence. As he does, conflict ensues. Your old nature now has an opponent. This is what you feel as the enemy within desires to sin, yet you know that you shouldn’t. The Holy Spirit is guiding you in righteousness as your flesh is guiding you into fulfilling the self-pleasure it craves. Folks, recognizing the enemy within and his intentions is the first step in developing a successful battle plan.
2) Take away the enemy’s power. What do you think gives the enemy within his power? What would you think if I said pride? Yep, good ol’ selfish, internal, personal, stubborn pride. I want what I want when I want it. Or maybe you state it as “I deserve this.” Or maybe it comes out as, “it’s my business what I do in private.” Or maybe you say, “my sin hurts nobody but me, so I can do what I want.” Maybe you justify it with “I’m an adult and I can sleep with whoever I want.” Or maybe it’s “I can look at porn all I want, it’s my private time.” Folks, the irony of the enemy within is that you grant him his power by your pride. And in that same strain of irony, we control the ability to deny him his power and therefore deal him defeat. But how?
3) Rest not in your own power. The only way that you can truly experience victory over the enemy within is to rest in a power that is greater than yourself. In order to gain this control, you must first give control away. In order to experience a victory, you must admit personal defeat. If you hope to see the victory over your flesh, you must admit that you do not wield the power to accomplish it. Only through the power of the Holy Spirit can you ever hope to see the victory over this enemy. And in order to do this, you’ve got to surrender your pride, your ego, your stubbornness and your arrogance. There is only room for one to sit upon the throne of your heart and if you want to see victory over the enemy that lives within, that seat belongs to Jesus Christ.
Folks, if you are experiencing defeat after defeat at hands of sin today, you can change it. If you have never called upon the power of Jesus to save you from the insanity of the sin in your life, do it today. Call out to Jesus and admit you’re a sinner and that what He did upon the Cross was enough to cover all of your sin, past present and future. It’s simple, it’s instant, it’s free, it’s the single biggest gift God has ever given. As a result, God will gift you with His Holy Spirit. His Holy Spirit will guide you, advise you, correct you, empower you and give you wisdom in doing battle with the enemy within. He and He alone can grant you the victory. Millions of people today are trying to do battle with the enemy within in their own power, and they’ll never see the victory, only the insanity of fighting the same fight over and over and hoping for a different result.
If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord, your battle is far from over. You see, if you are still, in pride, running your own life, you are not allowing the Holy Spirit to operate. You must step down from the throne of your heart, bow in deference and allow God to be seated. You see, God will not fight with you for that seat, you must allow Him to be the Lord of your life, it’s your decision. Today if you’re struggling with pride, I bet you are also struggling with the enemy within. Give up, let God run things. And as you do, you’ll start to see that He is much better at it than you are.
I pray today that you experience the victory that is in Jesus. That you know Him as Savior and as a result you are letting His Holy Spirit guide every aspect of the life He gave you. It’s the only way, it’s the way to true joy, it’s the way to absolute freedom, it’s the way to the abundant life that He promises us.
May God’s peace envelop you this day.
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