The Believer's Life

Q: What does the Bible say about our two natures?

The Bible teaches that believers possess both a sinful nature and a new nature in Christ, leading to an internal conflict. Scripture reveals that believers undergo a profound internal struggle due to possessing two natures: the old sinful nature and the new spiritual nature given through faith in Christ. Paul articulates this struggle in Galatians 5, stating that the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, indicating an ongoing battle within the believer's heart. This conflict is exemplified in Romans 7, where Paul describes himself as a wretched man, frustrated with his inability to perform the good he desires. Thus, the recognition of this duality is essential for understanding the Christian's journey of faith and sanctification.

Q: How do we know that Christ fights our battles for us?

Christ fights our battles as our Prophet, Priest, and King, enabling us to overcome sin and temptation. The process of fighting our spiritual battles is not reliant on our own strength but is fundamentally dependent on Christ, who serves as our Prophet, Priest, and King. In Exodus 17, Moses lifting his hands symbolizes Christ being lifted up, indicating that our victory over spiritual enemies comes through His intercession and authority. The victory over Amalek signifies the conquest over the flesh, as we recognize that it's through the obedience and righteousness of Christ that we find strength. Our role is to trust in His accomplished work rather than depend on our own efforts to defeat sin within us.

Q: Why is relying on Christ important in overcoming temptation?

Relying on Christ is crucial as He provides the strength and victory needed to overcome sin and temptation. Christian life is characterized by struggles against temptation and sin, where believers often find themselves impeded by their sinful nature. Relying on Christ is paramount because He is the one who satisfies the requirements of the law and provides redemption through His sacrifice. In moments of temptation, turning our eyes toward Christ and resting in His finished work allows us to draw upon His power, enabling us to combat the sinful inclinations that would lead us astray. Our strength lies not in personal willpower but in recognizing Christ’s empowerment through His Spirit, as Paul elaborates on in Romans 8:2, where the law of the Spirit of life sets us free from the law of sin and death.

Q: What does it mean that the battle is the Lord's?

It means that our responsibility is to trust in God's power rather than rely on our own efforts. When we declare that the battle is the Lord's, we acknowledge His sovereignty and power in the spiritual warfare faced by believers. In the context of Exodus 17, although Joshua led the fight against Amalek, it was Moses' lifted hands that enabled Israel's victory, symbolizing that divine intervention is essential. This principle signifies that the efforts we make against sin and temptation must be grounded in faith and reliance on God's might, not merely our personal determination. Our approach to life's struggles should involve surrendering to God’s methods, trusting in His providence, and accepting the reality that it is through Him that we gain victory over our spiritual enemies.

Q: How can we live the believer's life amidst sin?

We live as believers by constantly trusting in Christ and acknowledging our need for His grace. Living the believer's life entails a continuous reliance on Christ for grace and strength amidst the persistent reality of sin. Believers are called to walk in Christ as they received Him—by faith, acknowledging their sinfulness and need for His righteousness. This involves recognizing that our performance cannot attain righteousness but rather, it is Christ’s perfect obedience credited to us that defines our standing before God. Moreover, engaging with the Scriptures, confessing our weaknesses, and recognizing Christ's ongoing role in interceding for us as High Priest sustains us in our daily battles, allowing us to experience victory over sin and pursue holiness as an act of gratitude and worship.

Thank you all for receiving us
so warmly and making us feel at home. I want to thank Claire
and Annie for having us in their home. What a blessing that's
been. You have your Bibles, let's open
them together to the 17th chapter of Exodus. Exodus chapter 17. I was talking to a man recently
about how Before God, we are perfectly righteous in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And in the same conversation,
I made a comment about how sinful I was. And he said, well, that
doesn't make sense to me. How can you reconcile those two
things? I knew right then that he knew
nothing of what it meant to have two natures. The scripture says, as you therefore
received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. How do we receive him? We receive
him as sinners. We continue to walk the believer's
life as a sinner, painfully aware of the fact that the greatest
conflict that we experience in this believer's life is the conflict
within our own hearts. The passage of scripture that
we're going to look at tonight illustrates that conflict and
gives us an answer as to how this battle between the spirit
and the flesh is won. Paul said in Galatians chapter
5, for the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against
the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that
you cannot do the things that you would. I was so encouraged
recently to read an article that our brother Bruce Crabtree wrote
about this subject and someone asked him, are you suggesting
that believers can just live any way they want? And Bruce
responded by saying, oh, I wish I could. Oh, I wish I could. That's the conflict. The spirit lusting against the
flesh so that we cannot. The flesh, if it had its way,
would indulge itself completely in the things of this world,
but the Spirit of God won't let it. Spirit, if it had its way,
would be completely without sin, but the flesh won't let it. Now
the children of Israel have been delivered from the bondage of
the taskmasters in Egypt, a picture of salvation. And now they're
in the wilderness. They find themselves coming out
of the wilderness of sin, the Scripture says in verse 1 of
chapter 17, all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed
from the wilderness of sin after their journeys according to the
commandment of the Lord and pitched in Raphidim and there was no
water for the people to drink. What a picture of our pilgrimage
in this life. Living in a land of that's dry
and thirsty, a land where there is no water. Like the children
of Israel, we find ourselves tempted and chiding, as the scripture
goes on to say, look at verse 2, Wherefore the people did chide
with Moses and said, Give us water that we may drink. And
Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do you
tempt the Lord? I must confess to you that I
tempt the Lord a lot. I chide, I complain, I murmur. There's a part of me that just
can never be satisfied. And it's in constant conflict
with my new nature. And I don't question, how could
the children of Israel be so stiff-necked? How could they
be so hard? How could they be? Because I
know I'm that way. I'm that way. The people thirsted,
and there was water. And the people thirsted there
for water, and the people murmured against Moses and said, Wherefore
is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us
with our own children and our cattle with thirst? Moses cried
unto the Lord, Lord, what am I going to do? And the Lord showed
him a rock. gave him a rod. Look what he
says. Moses cried and said, what shall I do for these people?
They be almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses,
go on before the people and take with thee the elders of Israel
and thy rod. wherewith thou smotest the river,
take in thy hand and go. Behold, I will stand before thee
there upon the rock in Horeb. Now Horeb is the same as Mount
Sinai. Here they are at the foot of
Mount Sinai. Horeb meaning desolate. That's where we are in a desolate
land. And thou shalt smite the rock,
and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink.
And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel, and
he called the name of the place Mesa." Translated, Mesa means
temptation. Now that's our experience. In this world you shall have
tribulation, the Lord Jesus Christ said, but be of good cheer, I've
overcome the world. We have a lot of battles, a lot
of trials, a lot of troubles, a lot of temptations. But you
know if you're a child of God, that your worst enemy is yourself. And I've read some statistics
on the number of people that move to our state in Florida.
It's over a million people a year move to Florida. And yet our
net growth of population is very, very small in the tens of thousands.
And I'm convinced that what happens is people come down to Florida
on vacation, and they think it's paradise. And they're so tired
of their miserable lives, wherever they might live, they move to
Florida thinking everything's gonna be hunky-dory. And in a
short order, they find out that they brought the problems with
them. We really are our own worst enemy. Our problems really are from
within. Our chiding in this desolate
land, the temptations of our flesh. I love that verse of scripture
in Psalm 23 where the Lord said, I've prepared a table before
thee in the presence of thine enemies. You know, that's exactly
what the Lord is doing for us right now. He's prepared a table
of bread for us in the presence of our enemies. Where is our
enemy? Sitting right there with you. Sitting right there with
you. Paul put it like this in Romans
chapter 7, he said, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver
me from this body of death? To will is ever present with
me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. I want to,
I want to be without sin, but this body of death is always
strapped to my back. Now in verse 8, the children of Israel experience
a battle that illustrates this conflict that we've been talking
about. The spiritual conflict between the flesh and the spirit.
The conflict between the two natures that believers are all
too aware of. And in this story, we find the
answer to how this battles to be fought. Notice that the children
of Israel come upon Amalek. the Amalekites. And then came
Amalek and fought with Israel in Raphidim. And Moses said to
Joshua, choose out men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow
I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my
hand. So Joshua did as Moses said unto
him and fought with Amalek. And Moses and Aaron and Ur went
up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass when Moses
held up his hand that Israel prevailed. And when he let his
hand down, Amalek prevailed. And Moses' hands were heavy.
They took a stone and put it under him. And he sat there on,
and Aaron and Ur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side
and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until
the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomforted Amalek
and his people with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said
unto Moses, Write this for a memorial. in a book, and rehearse it in
the ears of Joshua, for I will utterly put out the remembrance
of Amalek under heaven. And Moses built an altar and
called the name of it Jehovah Nisi, the Lord himself is my
banner. For he said, because the Lord
hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation
to generation. Now turn with me in your Bibles
to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 25. And look with me at verse 17. The Lord promised Moses that
Amalek or the Amalekites would be utterly removed from the face
of the earth. But you know, as long as the
children of Israel were in the wilderness, that didn't happen. That didn't
happen. Look at verse 17 of Deuteronomy
chapter 25. Remember what Amalek did unto
thee by the way, when you were come forth out of Egypt, how
he met thee by the way and smote the hindmost of thee, even all
that were feeble behind thee when thou was faint and weary
and he feared not God. Now, who is this Amalek? He's
the grandson of Esau. The scripture says that Esau
is a man of the field. He's a man of flesh and so is
Amalek. I find it interesting that when
Esau and his brother were born from the
womb, Jacob, that Jacob, the scripture says, hand was holding
on to the heel of Esau. That's where I find my experience.
I find my experience with my hand holding on to the heel of
Esau. And there's a part of me that
doesn't fear God. There's a part of me that's weak
and weary and faints and is feeble. And that part of me is taken
advantage of. by my old nature. Look what he
says. Therefore it shall be when the
Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thy enemies round
about in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance
to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek
from under heaven. Thou shalt not forget it. See, it wasn't until the children
of Israel entered into the promised land, which is a picture of God's
people getting into heaven, that Amalek was finally blotted out
and destroyed. Amalek surely is a picture of
our flesh. He's a picture of Esau. He's a picture of that
man whose God is his belly. You remember there was a time
when Esau was willing to sell his birthright for a bowl of
beans. That's what the scripture says.
A pottage of lentil. He sold his birthright. He chose
that which gratified his flesh and sacrificed the spiritual
blessing of the birthright. Have you ever done that? I have. I have. How do we engage in this conflict? How do we fight this battle? Well, the first thing to remember
is the battle's not yours, it's the Lord's. And the way to fight it is the
same way we come to Christ as sinners, exposing our sin. You remember when Moses was brought
by the Lord Jesus Christ to the burning bush? What did the Lord
say to Moses? What did he say to him? He said,
take off thy shoes. For the ground on which you stand
is holy ground." We just read in Isaiah chapter 6 where the
seraphim took two of their wings and covered their feet, did they
not? And we read in Revelation chapter
1 that the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ are like brazen brass,
hardened and strong and firm. What are the feet a picture of?
The picture of our creatureness. And for us, the feet like Moses
at the burning bush is a picture of his sin. Moses, uncover your
nature before me. Now the seraphim covered their
feet because they don't know anything about sin. They don't
know anything about grace. They don't know anything about
forgiveness. They're creatures and they're humbled in the sight
of God. And here's the secret to fighting this battle. It's
coming before the Lord, confessing to Him like we did when we first
came to Him. Lord, I'm a sinner. Lord, I've
got an old nature that if you don't restrain it, if you don't
constrain it, if you don't fight this battle for me, Lord, I'll
lose. I'll lose the battle. And the
feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, oh, they're not like our feet
at all, are they? No, they've been tried by fire. And they've
been proven to be as brazen brass. They're strong and firm. He's
the one that fights the battle for us. Now that's the picture
here of these characters in our story. They represent for us
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ fighting our battle for
us. Amalek's a picture of the flesh. He's a grandson of Esau. He's a picture of sin. It's this
inner conflict that we have between the spirit and the flesh. And
every believer knows everything there is and knows about it very
well, don't they? Who are the characters in our
story? Joshua? Aaron, Moses, and Ur. And I submit to you tonight that
all four of those characters represent a different aspect
of the one who fights the battle for us, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when Moses' hands were being lifted up, the Lord Jesus Christ
said, if I'm lifted up, I'll draw men to me. As the serpent
was lifted up in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted
up. As Christ is lifted up, the battle is won. And as Christ is turned from
and looked away from, the Amalek gets the upper hand, doesn't
he? There's the picture, Joshua. Who is Joshua here? He's a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ as the prophet. What we have in this
story is Christ in his role as prophet, priest, and king incarnate. That's the four characters, prophet,
priest, and king incarnate. The Lord Jesus Christ, as Joshua,
He's the one who wields the sword of the Spirit of God. The sword
of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. In John chapter 1, the
scripture says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. Here we have Christ as the very
incarnate Word of God. And the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us. We beheld His glory as the only
begotten of the Father." What? Full of grace and full of truth. Joshua, in our story in Exodus
chapter 17, is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ as our prophet. as our prophet. The Lord said
in John chapter 17, He said, Father, I have given them Thy
words which Thou hast given unto Me. And they've heard them. They've
received them and they've believed them. The Lord Jesus Christ has
given us Himself as the Word of God. In John chapter 6, well,
The Lord calls himself the bread of life, doesn't he? He says
the bread which your fathers ate in heaven, Moses didn't give
it to him. My father, which is in heaven, gave that bread, that
manna to your forefathers. And the scripture says that the
people of Jerusalem, this is a hard saying, who can receive
it? And what did they do? They departed from the Lord,
didn't they? You remember what the Lord Christ said to the disciples
in John chapter 6? Will you leave me also? What did the disciple, what did
Peter say? What did Peter say? Lord, we've got no place else
to go. Lord, you alone have the words
of eternal life and we know and are sure that thou art the Christ,
the Son of God. And what did the Lord say in
the next verse? Have I not chosen thee? Why did some believe that the
Lord Jesus Christ was the very incarnation of the Word of God,
and others said, this is a hard saying, who can stand it? What
made the difference? Who makes thee to differ? What
do you have that you've not received? The Lord God makes us to differ,
doesn't He? He's the one who's chosen us.
He's the one who opens our ears and the eyes of our understanding,
enables us to hear the word of God. He said, as I mentioned
this morning, he said to Pilate, when Pilate said, truth, truth,
what is truth? He said, that's the reason I
came to this cause, came I into the world to bear witness unto
the truth and they that are of the truth hear my word. They hear it. How do we fight
this battle? This conflict of the flesh. We look to the Lord Jesus Christ
as our prophet, the one who himself not only brought the word of
God, but is the truth of God's word. The incarnation of the
word of God. It is the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. This word can't be figured out
through intelligence or study or intellect. It's got to be
revealed. It's got to be revealed. And
I have a great respect for people who are intelligent enough to
excel in education. I tell our young people, I say,
get all the education you can. It'll help you in this world.
But it's not going to make a hill of beans. It's not going to make
a bit of difference in your ability to understand the truth of the
gospel. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. I want to show you something. If you excel in this world, in academia, you'll graduate
from a higher institution of learning with a what? A PhD. A doctorate in philosophy. And if you study philosophy today,
you're gonna study men like Plato and Aristotle and Socrates and
Confucius. You know all four of those men?
Lives overlapped. They all lived in the 3rd century
B.C. Why? The Lord raised up the most
brilliant minds in the 3rd century B.C. to plumb the depths of truth. Aristotle said, oh, my passion
for life is to discover the truth. Now look what the Lord says in
1 Corinthians chapter 1. Look with me at verse 20. Where
is the wise? You know, discover all of the
observable truth of whatever discipline you choose. That's
a good thing. But all you're going to discover
is that which is observable. Whether it be in medicine or
science or whatever, you're going to discover those things which
are observable. The gospel's not observable.
Not by human wisdom. Not by intelligence. Look what
the scripture says in verse 20. Where's the wise? Where's the
scribe? Where's the disputer of this world? Hath not God made
foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. All the Greek philosophers could
not find God with all the depths of their study, and no PhD will
open that mystery to you today. The world, by wisdom, knew not
God. And God, through the foolishness
of preaching, was pleased to save them which believe. Look what he says, "...It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. For
the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.
But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block,
and to the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom
of God." Here we have Joshua wielding
the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, representing the
Lord Jesus Christ as our prophet, as the very Word of God, fighting
against the Amalekites for us. The battle's not yours, it's
the Lord's. Oh Lord, reveal to me your glory
in your person and in your work. as you're revealed in the Word
of God. As you received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in Him. We never get beyond that, do
we? We never get beyond that. People ask me, well, what are
you preaching? What are you all preaching over
there? Well, we preach Christ. Well,
I know that, but what else? What else? can't get beyond Christ. Sinners
are always in need of a savior. They never get beyond their need
for Christ as the word of God, the prophet of God. The truth
is that faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word
of God. We must be born of the spirit. We must be born of God. God himself
must reveal to us the truth of who Christ is if we have any
hope defeating the Amalekites. Pilate said, truth, truth, what
is truth? Well, the truth is that truth
was standing right in front of him and he didn't see it. He
didn't know it. The second character in our story
from Exodus chapter 17 is Aaron. Joshua represents Christ as our
prophet and Aaron, of course, represents the Lord Jesus Christ
as our priest, our intercessor. The one who bears on his breast
the names of the Israelites and presents himself before God Almighty. God said, my word will accomplish
the purpose for which I sent it. It will not return unto me
void. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
High Priest. Now, that's our great comfort
when we preach, isn't it, Bob? That the Lord's going to use
His Word, and it's going to have an effect on every heart. It'll
harden some hearts, it'll soften other hearts, but it'll accomplish
the purpose that God sent it out to accomplish. But as the
Lord Jesus Christ is the Living Word, and as He is our Priest,
which went before God Almighty, He didn't return to heaven void
either. He returned back into glory with
the names of those for whom He lived and died as our priest. Here we have Aaron holding up
the arms of Moses. And Aaron's part of the victory,
isn't he? Joshua's part of the victory
as the prophet. Aaron's a part of the victory
as our priest. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
9. And look at verse 12. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. I like that. There we have a picture of our
high priest presenting himself before the father, having satisfied
justice, returning into glory as the word of God, presenting
himself as the center sacrifice as our substitute, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. Abraham took Isaac up on the
mountain to make sacrifice as God had commanded him. Isaac,
you remember said, father, here's the wood and here's the fire.
Where's the sacrifice? And you remember what Abraham
told his son, God will provide himself a sacrifice. God will be, God will do the
providing. God will provide himself and
God will make this provision to himself. What a glorious picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ as our high priest. And just as Abraham
lifted that sword to slay his own son, he looked about, God
stopped him, what did he find? A ram in the thicket. A picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ in a crown of thorns, prepared as a sinner's
sacrifice, our priest, who not only goes before God, but offers
himself for our sins. How do we fight this battle against
the Amalekites? How do we defeat Amalek? What
do we do with this nature of Esau that will be with us until
we depart this world? And that's the truth. He said,
I'm going to, I'm going to remove the memory of Amalek forever
after you enter into the promised land. Long as we're here in this
life, we're going to have this battle, but here's the hope we
have. We have Joshua, our prophet. We have Aaron, our priest. And
we have Moses, our king. Our king. The lawgiver. The one who provides. The one
who protects his people. The Lord Jesus Christ as our
king. I have set my king upon my holy
hill of Zion. God's people rejoice in bowing
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, crowning him with many
crowns, acknowledging him as King. You don't make him King. You remember the time when the
people tried to take the Lord Jesus Christ and make him King?
He slipped out of their midst. You can't make him King. He is
King. You don't make him Lord. He is
Lord. God's people acknowledge him as King, don't we? We rejoice
in submitting to the authority that he has over us as our king,
knowing that he's got nothing but good for his children, nothing
but good for his people. Oh, what a, you know, history's
proven that, I think history's proven that a representative
republic of democratically elected public officials is probably
the best form of government this world has to offer. But don't
get confused by that. You know, as Americans, we're
all born out of rebellion. We really are. This rugged individualism
of the American spirit, it's fine when it comes to pursuing
the things of this world, but it The kingdom of God's not like
that at all. Our king is not running for office.
You know we're in the midst of a political campaign right now
and every time I watch these guys on TV I think, I hope there's
no politicians here, but I think what a pitiful profession it
would be to be a politician. I mean to have to kiss babies
and beg for votes and cry to people, oh vote for me, vote
for me. You know people think God's that way? They really do. They really do. They think that
our God is in the heavens wringing his hands, waiting for us rugged
individualist to let him have his way. The kingdom of God,
it's a monarchy with a king that reigns supremely, unthreatened
by the foolishness of man. Oh, and God's people rejoice
in that, don't they? They just rejoice in bowing before
Christ as their king. As long as he's lifted up as
prophet, as long as he's lifted up as priest, as long as he's
lifted up as king, the victory is won over the Amalekites. Be careful, the Amalekites, the
Amalekites are cowards. You remember what we just read
over there in Deuteronomy? They used guerrilla warfare.
They came against the Israelites, not head on. They came around
behind and they cut off the weak parts. They took advantage of
the stragglers. And that's just the spirit of
our flesh, isn't it? It's the spirit of our flesh.
But when the Lord Jesus Christ is lifted up as prophet, priest,
and king, then the battle's turned. The Israelites win. Malachites
are defeated. What about Ur? What about Ur? Well, here's the truth of this
story. The Lord Jesus Christ has always, from eternity past,
in the covenant of God's eternal grace, been the prophet, priest,
and king of the church. Always has been. Never a time
when he wasn't. Ur's name means from the dust. From the dust. I believe her
as a picture of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. I said
all four of these characters represent Christ. Christ has
to be lifted up. You see, unless the Lord Jesus
Christ was born of a woman, born under the law, unless he came
into this world in a body that had been prepared for him, all
the benefits that we have of him as our prophet priest of
King would never been realized, never been enjoyed. The Lord
Jesus Christ had to be made in the likeness of sinful flesh. Turn with me to Romans chapter
eight. Paul concludes chapter 7 with,
O wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God, through Christ Jesus
our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, with the flesh the law of sin. Always
battling the Amalekites. The children of Israel, battled
the Amalekites their whole 40 years they were in the wilderness. There is, therefore, now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through my flesh, God sending his own son
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh. There's our, there's our, the
man who was made from the dust representing the Lord Jesus Christ
as prophet, priest, and King made incarnate to do what? to make of Himself the sinner's
sacrifice on Calvary's cross, putting away our sin once and
for all. In the likeness of sinful flesh,
for sin condemned sin in His flesh. God made Him who knew
no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. You see, the truth is, The truth
is that though we battle the Amalekites, though we have this
conflict going on within, though we be our own worst enemy, the
only hope of defeating this is to know that I am not condemned
before God. All the sin that seems so real
to me, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. How can I be dead indeed unto
sin? Because the Lord Jesus Christ bore my sin for me. All these struggles, all these
conflicts in my flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ has already satisfied
the demands of God's law when He bore in His body, on that
tree, my sin. And in the flesh of the God-man,
he satisfied justice once and for all. That's my hope. My hope is that though this is
my experience in this world, fighting the Amalekites, the
Lord Jesus Christ as the incarnate prophet, priest, and king is
the hope of my righteousness before God. You see, I don't defeat the Amalekites
by something I do. I don't defeat the Amalekites
by, well, you know, I just need to, I need to pray more. Well,
I do need to pray more. You probably do too. I need to
read my Bible more. I need to be more committed,
more obedient. I need to try harder. No. Stop trying and start trusting. Rest in the finished work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one that's got to be
lifted up. When he was lifted up, the battle turned for the
Israelites. When Moses' hands came down,
the battle went for the Amalekites, didn't it? Lift up Christ. His obedience. Turn with me to
2 Corinthians 10. Verse 3. For though we walk in
the flesh, we have this body of death, we have this ever-present
old nature that's always keeping us from being what we
would be. Though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war after the flesh. Don't try to conquer the flesh
with the flesh. Don't fight fire with fire. Don't
think, well if I just get more committed or more dedicated or
if I work harder, try harder, I can defeat this enemy within. That's fighting flesh with flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, they're not fleshly, but they are mighty through God,
powerful to the pulling down of strongholds. So many strongholds,
so many imaginations, so many thoughts, so many sinful inclinations,
casting down the imagination and every high thing that exalts
itself against God. What were the Israelites doing
there in the wilderness of sin? What were they doing at Mount
Horeb? What were they doing at Raphidim? What were they doing
at Mesa? They were chiding, they had imaginations, they were going
against God, they were tempting God just like we do. How do we pull down these imaginations?
How do we cast them down? How do we bring into captivity
these thoughts? Look carefully now at the very
last phrase of verse eight, verse five, to my obedience of Christ. I'm going to just be more obedient.
That'll do it. No, the battle's not yours. It's the Lord's to
the obedience of Christ. That's our only hope. That's
our only hope. Our only hope in conquering the
Amalekites, the only hope that we have in living this believer's
life, is to walk in Christ Jesus in the same way in which we came
to him. Acknowledging him as our prophet,
as our priest, and as our king, who came in the likeness of sinful
flesh to do in his flesh what we could not do. put away sin
once and for all. And as I look by the Spirit of
God to the obedience of Christ, then and only then does the power
of God work in me, enabling me to some degree to pull down these
strongholds and vain imaginations. Looking to Christ. That's the
believer's life. That's the sinner's life. And yes, we are perfectly righteous
in Christ before God. And we're sinful, sinful, sinful
at the same time. Why? Because we've got two natures. Let's pray together.

The Believer's Life

What does the Bible say about our two natures?

How do we know that Christ fights our battles for us?

Why is relying on Christ important in overcoming temptation?

What does it mean that the battle is the Lord's?

How can we live the believer's life amidst sin?

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The Believer's Life

What does the Bible say about our two natures?

How do we know that Christ fights our battles for us?

Why is relying on Christ important in overcoming temptation?

What does it mean that the battle is the Lord's?

How can we live the believer's life amidst sin?

Sermon Transcript

About Todd Nibert

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