page 154 we are letter we're studying here letter V in the ABC's of Christian growth and this is study number 22 we are coming close to the end of the book here the last page is page 186 so we're we're only a little over 30 pages left so we're coming to a close on it, and I'm thinking that we may actually, if I get that book printed before then, before we're finished with this, we may actually go through that series next. So, all right. We are on page 154, and the topical heading here is How to Have Victory Over the Flesh. Letter A says Identify your enemy. Let's do a quick little backtrack here to remember what we're doing. We talked about God wanting victory for us. Yes, God wants victory. He died for us to have the victory. We talked about the steps to having victory in your life. First, you must identify your enemy. Second, you must understand your enemy. You must realize God's provision for victory, and then, four, you translate victory into your own experience. Hey, while you're out there, could you pull that door shut, just so that we can keep Brother Jim from freezing to death? All right. So, looking at that, we began identifying our enemies. We have three enemies, and that is the world, the flesh, and the devil. And last week we talked about the world, we identified our enemy, we sought to understand the enemy, we realized God's provision for victory, and hopefully this week you have translated Christ's victory into your own experience concerning the world. And so now this week we're going to begin here with identifying the next enemy, which is the flesh. When the Bible speaks of the flesh in the context of opposition to you, It is not referring to your literal body, but to the old sin nature, the old man, the corrupt Adamic nature, which belongs to all men. According to 2 Peter 1, verse 4, letter B there, but we'll look at the whole verse, it says, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." So according to this, we're made partakers of the divine nature. However, the old sin nature is not removed. In the flesh, our old nature dwelleth. No good thing. Romans 7, 18 says, For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me. But how to perform that which is good I find not. So number two here on identifying our enemy. As a Christian, you have two natures, the flesh and the spirit, the old and the new, the sinful and the divine. Remember, we talked about that in another study recently, and I'm trying to remember whether it was in this study booklet or if it was in the other study booklet dealing with the differences of our standing and our state and all that. Actually, that was probably, yes, that was when we talked about the crucified life in the ABCs of Christian maturity. So we talked about those two natures. If you want to get a refresher on that in detail, go online and pull up the ABC's of Christian maturity and watch all of letter C. I think there's, I don't know, five or six weeks or something like that. Or five or six messages. So letter B here says, understand your enemy. So we've identified the enemy here as the flesh, the old nature, the sinful nature. And now we're going to understand that enemy. The fact is really we understand that enemy all too much. It's unfortunate how much we understand that enemy in some cases, and more unfortunate that when we understand that enemy, we don't fight against it. How does the flesh attack the Christian? Here's the answer. It produces conflict and inner turmoil. It cooperates with the world and the devil. According to Romans chapter 7, verse 21, what did the apostle Paul discover? Let's read the verse before we answer the question. It says, I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. How did you put that into your own words? Persecution of the flesh? Okay. The flesh persecutes you. I put, he would, when he would do good, evil was present with him, which is pretty much what it says. What's that? Okay. My own words would be, he had, He had the presence of evil with him. The other key here is that he found a law that this was a fact of life, that evil was present with him when he would try to do good. So, how does Galatians 5.17 describe this conflict? The flesh against the spirit. Yes, I said the spirit and flesh are contrary and keep you doing or keep you from doing what you would Or what you would like to do And when I say you would like to do it It's what you would like to do according to what the Lord would lead you to do So the passage here says in Galatians 5 17 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. According to Romans 7.23, where does this conflict take place? In the mind. In the mind. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. So as we've now identified and we understand how this works, that the battle takes place in the mind and that the flesh and the spirit are fighting and there's a battle, they're contrary one to the other. We recognize what's going on now. Now we need to realize God's provision for the victory. What did God do to enable us to have victory? So what was Paul's question in Romans chapter 7, verse 24. He said, Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? He says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And he says to write out the answer that he gives in verse 25. He says, I, amen, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He says, 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. So the number three here says the Lord Jesus Christ has won the victory for you. Someday there's going to be full deliverance as we As we dealt with the crucified life, talked about the crucified life, talked about how that takes place looking through Romans chapter 6, where you reckon and you, now I'm forgetting how it all went. There were three points, three steps. Let me pull my book out here. Anybody else looking at their book? reckon was letter B, first, oh no, you know. You know the truth, you reckon it to be so in your life, and then you yield to the spirit of God to accomplish what he's working in you. So, letter D here, we're going to translate Christ's victory into our own experience. Galatians chapter five, verse 16 says that if we, this I'd say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." That's an easy prescription for not fulfilling the lust of the flesh. Walk in the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 7 says, for we walk by faith, not by sight. These scriptures show the importance of walking constantly with the Lord in His Word. Romans chapter 13 verse 14 says, Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. This verse instructs us to blockade the flesh, not feed it. Put you on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh. Come on now. make sure I didn't pass over the there we go. Um, so number four here. So he gives us three points of, you know, walking in the spirit, walking by faith, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, block the flesh, make not provision for the flesh, don't feed it, but block it. Um, I always think about your what you do for a living when I'm your your your job is like a perfect illustration for everything. I mean, you know, you think about like the church, you think about the the the Christian life, the the battle between the flesh and the spirit. Then you've got, you know, will. And, you know, you deal with people who have a weak will, you know, or they they all they can do is stuff the garbage food in because it's what their flesh wants, you know. Anyways, so you have to deny the flesh. It's not just and it's not just spiritual. It's also physical You have to deny the flesh to have a good healthy lifestyle and and you know healthy diet, but So this is that's the same concept. I don't know. I I'm not just picking on you and stuff You just picked the right career path to like be the illustration almost all the time. So It just fits So number four here, recognize your position in Christ. So our position, remember, our standing, our state, and all of that. So our position in Christ says, the old nature, the flesh, has been crucified, right? It says, and they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts, and that's Galatians 5.24. And then Galatians 2.20, which was our memory verse for letter C of the ABCs of Christian maturity, it was I am, Crucified with Christ nevertheless, I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me in the life, which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I Got it, right Amen And hopefully you guys were quoting that in your head while while I was as well Roman 6 6 says that my old man is crucified with Christ. So we have crucified, crucified, crucified three, three times. They're mentioned, uh, does knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin. This is a fact, our old Adamic nature, was dealt a death blow when it was crucified with Christ. But crucifixion is a slow and painful death, and what you experience in the inner conflict is a doomed enemy still trying to raise its ugly head in your life. Reckon this fact into reality each day in your life, and write out Romans 6, 11, which says... Remember, this ties right back into our other study. I love how these studies often overlap and they're woven together and everything. And like the study on revival that we're gonna deal with, this study here on victory and the study, letter C, on the crucified life, those two things, if you have those down, then you have the perfect starting point for revival if you're not already experiencing it. But in Romans 6, 11, it says, likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And hopefully you wrote that out, right? All right. And then number six here, according to 1 Peter 2, verse 11, which we're gonna go ahead and read, and I'll pause at the part that we're supposed to have written out. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, What's the next word? What? Number six, it says you are to abstain. I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Sorry, I meant the next word in the verse, not the next word on the page. How to have victory over the devil, so that this next point We have five minutes. I wonder if we can get through that in five minutes. Probably not. Man, well, we'll just make it a three-parter. Next week, we'll finish it up. I'm gonna sneeze here. So, we'll just, I guess, discuss this just a little bit further since it was so short. I hate to be dragging this out, but I've I just don't want to rush the other part five minutes. You know what? It is likely that we will maybe waste the next 10 minutes after five minutes. So why don't we just go on and take it on, get on through there. We've got enough time. We'll do it. So how to have victory over the devil. First, you're going to identify your enemy. Again, the four steps. Identify the enemy, understand the enemy, realize God's provision for your victory, and translate Christ's victory. into your own experience. And we may just deal with this section and then take the very last part for the next week. We'll just see how quickly we get through. So, identify your enemy. Before going on, it says to review study number five. That's how you can help identify your enemy. Study number five was about what? Does anybody know? Yep, study number five. What's that? Good letter, yeah. It's about our enemy. The devil, Satan, our enemy, E, enemy. Yeah, A, B, C, D, E, our enemy. So you can go back to study number five and look at the enemy there and identify him and also the whole study kind of goes through who he is and all of that so that can help you also to understand him. But according to 1 Peter 5, 8, the devil is our adversary, and we are to be sober, be vigilant, because our adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. So understanding our enemy, how does Satan attack the Christian? He uses a number of devices to attack us, and 2 Corinthians 2, verse 11 says, lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. We know about his devices. We're not ignorant of them. Number one here, he uses, first of all here, what? Temptation. 1 Thessalonians 3, 5 says, For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain. So there's temptation. Satan is a master at using the world to entice you. Number two here, he uses wiles. He uses wiles. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 11 says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Now, could some of these be similar? Yes. but this means a crafty deception. Number three here, he uses pride. 1 Timothy 3, verse 6 says, Not a novice being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Satan will appeal to the flesh. Number four, he uses discouragement. Deuteronomy 1, verses 21 and 28 say, Behold the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee go up and possess it and Or as the Lord thy God I'm sorry as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee fear not neither be discouraged and then verse 28 says Whither shall we go up our brethren have discouraged our hearts saying the people is greater and taller than we the cities are great and walled up to heaven moreover we have seeing the sons of the Anakims there. Sorry, I thought I read something wrong. So this discouragement that takes place, the devil will use that discouragement to take you down. Number five here, he uses fiery darts of opposition. So Ephesians 6, 16 says, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. So understand your enemy here. Understand his tactics, the devices, that we're not ignorant of his devices. He uses temptation. He uses wiles and pride and discouragement and the fiery darts. And temptation there, I believe, can be twofold. It can be temptation to fall into sin, and it can also be temptation in the form of trials. The devil will try to discourage us in the midst of trials instead of us shining and coming through that trial as Job said, I shall come forth as gold, instead of coming forth as being refined in the fires and being now pure, like pure gold. Instead, he wants to discourage us so that we will burn up in the fire, so that we'll be destroyed and ineffective. By the way, there's so much, again, you can get into about the devil and what he wants. You know, I believe that he would be satisfied with an ineffective Christian that's busy, that's busy doing good things, but he's not effective for the Lord. A proud Christian who has all the good, all the right things going for him on the outside, but on the inside, he has a poor relationship with the Lord. You know, the devil's happy with those kind of things as well. But understand the kinds of things that he that he throws out there to try to trip you up and try to destroy Let her see here. We're gonna realize God's provision for the victory over the devil according to 1st John chapter 3 verse 8 which says He that committed sin is of the devil for the devil sinneth from the beginning For this cause I'm sorry for this purpose. The Son of God was manifested. He might destroy the works of the devil and According to this passage, what was the reason the Lord Jesus Christ came? To destroy the works of the devil. And what works for those? Sin. Jesus came to destroy sin. So, according to Hebrews 2, verse 14, which says, For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. I don't want to get into a sidebar here, but I had a conversation with someone recently about death and some of that stuff. Interesting how that fits there. So how did the Lord Jesus defeat Satan? Through death. Through death he defeated him who had power over death. And who is it that has power over death? That's Satan According to this passage, right? Might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil The Lord Jesus Christ has won the victory for you We need not rebel or party on the fact of death or the idea of death, but rather rejoice in the life that Christ has given us. Of course, we're happy that the old man is dead, that the old man, the flesh is dead or has been crucified with Christ. But we focus on the life which we now live in Christ. So let's translate this victory into our own experience. Remember, you are on the winning side. 1 John 4 says, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Who's he that is in the world? The devil. According to 1 John 2, verse 14, we overcome the wicked one when the word of God abides in us. Verses I've written unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning I've written unto you young men because you're strong and the Word of God abided in you and you have overcome the wicked one Number three here Ephesians chapter 6 verse 13 says wherefore take unto you the says we are to put on the whole armor of God. Sorry, when I, when I go into the verse to read it and then pause, it kind of throws you off because it's not what it says there, but we're to put on the whole armor of God. So it says, take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, having done all the stand. And then, uh, it gives us the defensive items of this spiritual armor, uh, listed in this, uh, in this passage, but Now these are the defensive items, but we'll read the passage here It says stand there for having your loins heard about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace Above all things not a feast but a peace above all Taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. So what are those items listed out? You can either give them like exactly the way they're written in the word or you can give me your, your, uh, in your own words, what they are. We have five blanks here. I would put a sixth one there, but all right, your your loins girt about with truth. That's the one item. So that's a girdle of truth is what I called it. Or belt of truth, whatever the breastplate of righteousness that is, that is hard to hard to say in the breastplate of righteousness there. And then the next one. Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Amen. Not your feet shod with peace, but the preparation of the gospel of peace. That's meaning that your feet are ready to go preach the gospel, not to go give peace. Some people have I've heard many people take the passage and preach about peace and not about the gospel. The focus there is the gospel. And yes, it's the gospel of peace because the gospel brings peace between you and God, between between the center and and God. by taking away the sin. And then the next one is the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. And I would add a sixth one, which would be prayer. Sword of the spirit is an offensive weapon, which is the next point. So number five, it can be, can be defensive, but a sword is primarily offensive. What part of the armor of God is offensive that which we may fight or that with which we may fight? Obviously, we just talked about the sword of the Spirit the Word of God Your foot yeah And you could hit somebody with a shield too, but Alright, so according to My goodness. Yeah, we're only gonna get through this part of the passage and or this part of the study Then we'll just jump back. We'll jump back in there at the promise of victory next week So according to James 4.7, we are to resist Satan. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. So according to 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 9, I'm going to go ahead and read the verse and I'll pause at the part that you're supposed to have written there. Whom resists steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. We're to resist him steadfastly in the faith. According to Ephesians chapter four, verse 27, we are to give no place to the devil. This is neither give place to the devil. It's a simple little verse. So next week, we'll talk about the promise of victory and the person of victory and the path of victory. And we'll probably get done early because that's not a whole lot. We'll just we'll try to purposely have a sidebar conversation about these items, each of these items. So any questions or comments or anything to add or subtract or divide? Try to stay away from division. I don't like division. I mean, I like division for the right reasons, but I never did like division in school. I like multiplying though. Any multiplication? No comments on it? Or questions? Talking about the flesh or the devil?