But if you'll turn in your text this morning and start this series of sermons entitled Waging War. 1 John 2, verses 15 through 17. If you would stand this morning in honor of the reading of the Word of God. Waging War, part one. 1 John 2, 15. Very clear command this morning. Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father, or love towards the Father, is not in him. Because everything that belongs to the world, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the pride of one's lifestyle, is not from the Father. It is from the world. And the world, with its lust, is, you can be assured of this, passing away. But the one who does God's will remains forever. Let us pray. Father in heaven, may your word be honored today. How we desperately need to hear this word today. I pray that it would help us greatly. Father, there are those here this morning who are undoubtedly unconverted. They're under a cruel taskmaster. Whether they know it or not, they are just a pawn under the ranks of Satan himself. God, I pray they get enlisted into a new army today. I pray they sign up with Jesus. They have become followers of Christ. God, I pray for the Christians in this church today. I pray they'd not be prisoners of war. I pray that they would not be missing in action. But I pray they'd realize that greater is He that is in them than he that is in the world, and they'd rise up and cast off chains and shackles, and they would stand boldly for the Lord Jesus. Lord, help us today. We need Thy help. We pray these things by Your Spirit. In Christ's name, amen. Before I get started, maybe I'll get past my emotional side this morning. Good night. We sang that song, and I don't know, I can't speak for you, but I can't sing that song every day of my life, that I'd rather have Jesus than anything because I've settled for lesser things so many times. You know why it breaks my heart? I don't know. I can only share it. May the Spirit help you with it. This is because I think that when I finally see my Lord face-to-face in all of His glory... Last night as me and my son were driving across the lake and we saw the setting sun coming through those clouds, I mentioned to him, he looked, man, it was so beautiful. but it is so much less than the glory of being in the presence of God. And I'm afraid that when I stand in heaven before Him, I'm just going to be utterly embarrassed at the things I gave attention to in my life. I give attention to motorcycles and money, grass and shrubs, Washing my car. Not that those things are wrong in and of themselves, but boy, just little things turn our hearts. And we invest in these other things and we settle for little things. And we miss out on the best. This is how real this message is this morning, though, by the way, is this. 1995 or 94, God spoke to my heart in Glorietta, New Mexico. And I went forward in this building and I got on my knees and I'll never forget that day as long as I live. I said, God, I'm tired of fighting. I said, I quit everything that I have. And we'll follow Christ. And I remember giving him my heart, not in the sense of salvation. I was already a believer, but I had been settling for worldly loves much in my life. And I said, I'm through. Now, some 10 years or so later, I just want you to know God's faithful. And I want you to know that there has been no regrets in my life for giving up things for Christ. I haven't given up everything and God's stripping me, it seems, daily at times, things and stuff. But I'm increasingly convinced and daily reminded, it seems, all God wants for us is the best. We look at a negative command and we say God's too severe. Why does God say, do not love the world? Because He loves you. He don't want you to settle for that which is less. My daughter Lydia, she's my daughter, and no matter what she do, she's my daughter. Fair enough? I still tell her don't play in the road, and we put locks on our gates where she can't open the latch to go in the road. Why? Because I want her best. Right? That's why I prohibit things, because I want to protect her and give her the greatest thing. And God's infinitely more wise than I am. Well, waging war is where we're at, verse 15 through 17. Let me read somewhat of this introduction and we'll jump into this text. I'm only going to deal with verse 15 pretty much today. John has encouraged all of his church. He had little children, he encouraged them, he encouraged the young men, he encouraged the fathers. And now he ushers to them an admonition. And this admonition is, do not love the world. Now, keep in mind, the world is always attacking the Christian with the intent of destruction. Make no misunderstandings about it. The world system, if you will, intends to destroy your Christianity. Do not minimize the war. Did you know you were in one? Anybody? Okay, they are actively, consistently, seven day a week, 24 hours a day, waging war against God's children to get them to turn their hearts from God to the things of the world. It is a war. If you don't fight, you will be killed. You will be run over, you will be destroyed. Don't minimize the war. Even as I preach, the world will war with your mind. Even while I preach this morning, you will think of lesser things. happens all the time. The world never gives up on this. The world would like nothing more than to get Christian people to turn their love from God and give their love to themselves. The world would like nothing more than to turn your heart and to cause you to love yourself more, which will be for the detriment of your soul. Don't love yourself more, love God more, and by loving Him more, then you will be fulfilled. The devil would laugh hysterically if more Christians would love themselves more than they love God. He would think that's the best joke that's ever been told. How Satan would laugh that a Christian would turn to lesser things. Look God, they find cars more beautiful than thee. They find stuff and trinkets and bells and whistles more lovely than Christ on Calvary. Oh, how he laughs. The devil knows that this would break the heart of God. And there is nothing the devil enjoys more than getting some type of hurt to God. That is of my position or my opinion. that because the gospel has been so watered down for so long that many professing Christians do not even know that a war exists. Why? We're taught in church, repeat this prayer, jump through these three hoops, shake the preacher's hand, you're saved, live however you want to, it doesn't matter, let's just all get along, and we have a bunch of people running around, bearing the name of Christ, at least in somewhat of confession if you ask them, that have not a clue what it means to love God supremely and distance themselves from the world. Take this theology that, well, I'm saved and I'm a saint. It doesn't matter. If it doesn't matter, I beg the question, why did John write this? He said, little children, you're forgiven. Young men, you're forgiven as well. Fathers, you've known him from the beginning. You are saints. You are forgiven. You're a royal priesthood, Peter would say. You're a peculiar people. You're a chosen race. But don't you love the world? They're forgiven just like any Christian would be. Then why the admonition? Because He loves you and wants your greatest good. The church has become so politically correct that it does not hate the things God hates and it does not love the things that God loves. In case you have forgotten, God hates sin and God loves righteousness. God hates sin. We're supposed to be like Him. He hates it. We ought to hate it as well. He loves righteousness. Professing Christians, listen closely, are divorcing at the same rate or a higher rate than unconverted people. gambling, drinking, delving into pornography, becoming more materialistic, self-centered as the unconverted, they're media-centered, they're child-worshipping, and they're also living a lifestyle that looks very much like the world in which they live. Do you detect a problem? If we had a proper view of the gospel, we would understand that God saved us from the world. God saved us from sin. He didn't save us to the world. He didn't save us to sin. He's delivering us from that. Then I beg the question this morning, why in the world do so many church people look just like the world? Somebody's got an improper view of the gospel. If you understood the calamity of sin and the consequences of sin, You would be longing to be a victorious warrior over sin. Point number one this morning, know the enemy. First John 2, 15, the text I want to deal with. Do not love the world, the things that are in the world or that belong to the world. If you love the world and you have your passions and your thoughts to the world and that's where your desire is made up, then you can't have love towards God at the same time. Can two walk together lest they be agreed? We cannot love these things at the same time put love towards God. So he is warning us of this because it will have a great detriment on us if we do not adhere Know the enemy. The devil is pushing the world system. I'm gonna do more with defining world tonight, but just understand, we're not talking about the sense of people in the sense, but the system of the world, turning our thoughts towards it. I thought that interesting this week. Everybody in the world seems to know John 3, 16, for God so loved the world. Our church sign says, don't love the world. I wonder if anybody caught it. We're not to love the system of worldly thought that takes and turns our attention from God to other things, lesser things. Now, let us look at knowing the enemy this morning. In 1 Peter, one reference I want to look up very quickly, and then I'll give you some thoughts. 1 Peter 5 and verse 8, know the enemy. The devil is pushing a worldly system. 1 Peter 5, a verse that you ought to be familiar with, verse 8. He says to us, be sober. You can't be sober-minded if your mind's full of cluttered junk. Be on the alert. These are commands. These are imperatives. Why should we be sober? Why should we be alert? Here's why. Your adversary the devil is. Do you realize this? Do you know this? He is seven days a week, 24 hours a day. He has not gone on vacation. He's not gone out to lunch. The devil is. He's doing something currently, consistently, and thoroughly. He's actively engaged against you if you bear the name of Christ. He is actively pursuing and doing something. What is it? He is prowling. like a roaring lion looking for anyone he can devour. He enjoys devouring Christians. He loves it when you fall into sin. He loves it when you fall into carnality. He loves it when you turn your love to other things. He rejoices when you walk away from God. He gets great excitement when you get on the broad road and forget the narrow road. He loves these things, and you make Him greatly happy when you get involved in these things. Know the enemy. Don't give him reason to rejoice about your life. He is so bold. He is so confrontational. In Matthew 4, he has the audacity to tempt even the Lord Jesus Christ. to do anything, to even divert the Son of God. In Matthew, in chapter 13, you find that it's the devil who goes in and sows bad seed and musters up bad seed in order to choke out that which is good. In John 8, 44, you find that the devil is a liar, you find that he's a murderer, and you find that he is devoid of truth. In John 13, you'll find that it's the devil who puts the heart of a traitor into Judas, that he can go out and do that which he did. In Acts 13, you will find that it is shown that he is the very enemy of righteousness. He sets himself up. Scripture makes it clear. The devil is the enemy to righteousness. This ought to help somebody. I've been trying to live right, and every time I try to live right, I have a hard time. Well, hello, because every time you try to live in righteousness, he sets up war against you. You say, I've been trying to have my prayer time. I've been trying to memorize scripture. And all these bad things are happening. No kidding. Because when you pursue righteousness, your enemy says, ah, I see what you're doing. I'm going to stamp you out. Because he's an enemy of righteousness. In Ephesians 4, we admonish not to give an opportunity to the devil. Hear what God says. God says, don't give the devil an opportunity. Because if you do, he'll take it. He will take it and use it to the maximum. You give Him the opportunity of not having a prayer life, not having scripture memorization, not being a student of God's Word, you give Him the opportunities, He'll grab them and use them for all they're worth. Ephesians 6, 11, put on the whole armor of God and stand. And having done all therefore to stand, stand therefore. We're in a war. Ephesians 6, put on this whole armor of God. It is vastly important. You have the helmet of salvation, the belt of truth, the shield of faith, and you have the sword that you can pierce with. You need these things for this war. As Spurgeon once said, some of us have had the sword in the scabbard so long it's rusted in there from non-use. Pull it out and cut somebody with it. 2 Timothy, the devil actively sets snares and traps. He's contemplating ways to catch you, to catch you in something. He actively wants to trap you. Snares, traps are the result of deception because he is the great deceiver. In Hebrews 2, we find that the devil has the power of death. He wants nothing more than to kill. 1 John 3, 8, we find that the Son of God has come to destroy the works of the devil. Get on page. Jesus come to destroy his works. We're followers of Christ. Know your enemy and fight. Fight your enemy. Stand against your enemy. Build up some confidence. Don't give in to the world. Jesus come to fight and destroy him. Take up arms against the devil. Revelation 2.10, the devil will come and he will throw some into prison. In Revelation 20 and 10, the devil, here's the good news, will be defeated in the end. We walk in absolute fear and we're unable to do anything. It seems at times as Christians we just give up and say, well, that's just the way it is. By the way, this is chasing a rabbit, but it just came to my mind. The whole world gives up and gives in when they buy into, when teenagers get to a certain age, they just go into adolescence and that's just what they all do. Hello? Mom, Dad, anybody here? Don't buy into a world system that says when your kid turns 13, they just have to rebel in their teenage years. You can't find that in the Word of God. You pray over your kids, you stand with your kids, you hold your kids accountable, and you don't let them go down that road for the glory of God. Don't buy into that junk. Where'd they get that from? Hezekiah 82? Instead of buying into it, why don't you get on your knees with your children and pray with them? Know your enemy. He's seeking to turn you, the devil is. He will turn you to neutral things. He will turn you to forbidden things. And he will turn you to accepted things. Neutral things. Don't want to spend long here because it's too convicting. He'll turn you to neutral things. In and of itself, Ah, let me make up something that won't be so convicting for all of us. A lawnmower, there you go, that's pretty neutral, is it not? Lawnmower, those are pretty, you know, harmless, you know? Neutral? A lawnmower's not a sin, is it? Anybody think a lawnmower's a sin? Nobody? Little kid says, when my daddy makes me mow, it's a sin. July 110, hello? It's gotta be a sin. Take a neutral thing like that, and you drive through some areas of town and some places, and for some people, their entire yard has become their God. They're consumed. Water at the right time, plant at the right time, mow at the right time, fertilize at the right time, and it consumes their whole life, just a neutral thing. And there's so many, our world is full of neutral things. Motorcycles. Computers, things, stuff, neutral maybe? And God would take, I mean the devil would take and turn us to these things and they'll consume all of our attention at the expense of our relationship to God. Even the TV is not a sin in and of itself, but the devil will take and use even that and turn us to where it just totally strips us of scripture memory, totally strips us of spending time in prayer with our families, totally strips us of spending valuable godly time as families. In and of itself, not a sin, but the devil would turn us in order to strip us of these things. Obviously forbidden things, we don't have to spend much time there. The devil would spend much time to turn us to those things that God says is sin. And then, not only that, but to accepted things. The devil turns you and I to things the world accepts and says it's okay because all of the world says it's okay. The devil would like nothing more than little things I think of, It's okay to cheat on your taxes, he would say. Everybody does it. What's the big deal? If you were honest on your taxes, it'd probably throw a kink in the system. Is this registering anywhere? It's tax time. Let's be honest with our taxes. If you think about that, you think about other neutral or other accepted things. As I said about teenagers rebelling, when they're teenagers, they say this is acceptable. It is not acceptable. You talk about gambling, hobbies, lying. You say if people started telling the truth, it'd mess up the whole world. Well, let's mess it up a little bit. Let's speak the truth. I think about police officers like Eric and other police officers I know. If someone was to actually tell them the truth, they wouldn't know that it was the truth because they're always lied to. The whole world lies all of the time. Everybody's lying. Somebody tries to tell the truth, they go, I know you're lying. Remember that great prophet in the Old Testament? He said, ask him, he'll tell you. And man, he always speaks things bad. And when he spoke something good, he goes, no, that ain't right. What'd you really mean? Accepted things. The devil, in my opinion, has not gotten any smarter. Genesis 3. Genesis 3. You should know the text well by now. If you'd turn there, spend a moment there. Genesis 3. You find the story, the temptation, midst of the garden, the tree that was there. And we see an exposure of how the devil works and the tactics that he uses. I'm not gonna read through all of it, and you're probably familiar with the story, but you see here, the first thing he does, we see in verse four, no, you will not die, the serpent said to the woman. The devil in this passage of scripture here begins to question the validity of God's word. Did he really say, oh no, you won't really die? Is that really what God said? Did God mean that? Maybe that's just your interpretation. The devil works in the same regards in our day and age to get you to question the authority of the word of God. Is that true? Well, that was back then, but now it's different. Is it? Has God changed in some way? Has God come up with a new covenant or a new way of working? Is God somehow working somehow different than His Word is revealed? But the devil will push that in, and then we can dismiss this section. We can dismiss this verse because, oh, that was in this culture with Paul. Be very cautious. The devil will lie about what God has said, be assured of that. He will tell you, and I don't know how to make this any more real for you, this is one key to recognizing the work of the devil. He'll tell you what you want to hear every time. He'll tell you exactly what you want to hear. He says, yes, that's what I want. That's what he'll tell you. He'll tell you what will gratify your flesh every time. Here, take and eat of the tree. It's all right. That's what she wanted to hear. You're not going to die. It's OK. It's all good. He'll give you the desires of your flesh. You ought to write that down and mark it somehow. Well, I mean, it worked out and I got it. It must have been the will of God or the cursing of the devil. He'll give you what you want. Be very, very cautious. He will encourage you to share your sin with others. I noticed that in eating and drinking, by the way. Whoo, that tastes bad. Here, taste this. People do that all the time, like, if it tastes that bad, why do I want to taste it? And change the bit. Notice the three-step formula here in Genesis 3 and also that you find in Genesis, I mean, in Matthew 4. And it is this. In 1 John 2, 16, the verse we'll be looking at later, he says, the lust, the lust of the, what's the first one? and the lust of the eyes and the pride of one's own possessions. Notice what he does in Genesis. He shows food that's delightful. Okay, lust of the flesh. Saw the tree. Lust of the eyes. There it is. It looks beautiful. It's all good. And then the lust of what one possesses. You'll know what God knows. You'll be like God. You'll know good and evil. Those same three principles that John's gonna warn about in 1 John 2 and 16, we see the devil has done this very thing from the very beginning. That's how he caused us to fall there. You say, well, surely he's got a new tactic. I don't know. When Jesus came along, Matthew chapter 4, you remember the three temptations of Jesus, if you will? In Matthew 4, what does he do? He says, lust of the flesh, take these stones and turn them into bread. Eat them. It'll satisfy... You've been fasting all this time. Turn these stones into bread. It'll satisfy your flesh. What does Jesus do? Man, should not live by bread alone. He answers with the word of God. Secondly, you see, takes him up on a pinnacle and shows him a whole city. Lust of the eyes. Throw yourself over here. Surely angels will sweep down and protect you. Look at all this stuff. And he says, lust of one's possessions. I'll give you all of these kingdoms. I'll give them all. Just bow down and worship me. It is written you not hid. That's my translation. It's written, you knothead, should not worship anything but the Lord thy God. Jesus waged war. By the way, back to a point you might have missed a while ago, and that point of when I try to do right, and when I try to do good, all this bad stuff happens. Don't miss that in Jesus' life. Man, he fasted 40 days. That's pretty solid stuff. How many of you have fasted 40 days lately? Not my hand. He's doing right, man. He's pursuing the things of God. And what happens? The devil comes face to face and assaults him with temptations. Happens to the Lord. It will happen to you as well. Know your enemy. What is his goal? It's to destroy you by using the things of the world. He'll make things appealing to your eye. He'll make things delightful to the flesh. And he'll give you a desire for the edification of self. Most of us in this room that are in debt are in debt because of that. Did you catch that? It looked good. I wanted it now and I'm paying on it for the next 80 years. I wonder if we'll ever wise up to the workings of Satan. I tried to make a real fancy quote here, but I don't know. This is the best I came up with. Tons of misery are in hell, but added to all of the misery will be the eternal reality of knowing that the one you listen to is the one who hated you the most. Imagine spending eternity in hell looking at Satan and knowing the one you listen to is the one who hated you. And the one you ignored is the one that truly loved you the most. Can you imagine being in hell for all of eternity because you listened to a scoundrel like him? Oh, that you'd see the beauty of Christ and come to Him. Oh, come to Christ. Whoever comes unto Him, He will in no wise cast out. Oh, come to Him. If you're unconverted today, come to Him. Do not listen to the world and all of its hollering and bellerings. Turn it off and run to Christ. It's what you need. It's who you need. Come to Him. All of the trinkets of the world are passing. Look, every day that I grow a day older, I'm reminded of my need for Christ. I wake up and my right knee hurts. It's not going to last. I wake up and I try to move and my lower back hurts. It's not going to make it. I am wearing out. You're wearing out. I can tell by some of your flesh is falling, bulging out, those type of things. We are deteriorating. I'd rather have Jesus than anything. Okay, second point. Keep on fighting. Keep on fighting. Ephesians 6, I've already referred to. You find this word, I just want to give a definition here. I just want you to know it's biblical. This is not from 1 John. This is Ephesians. But in Ephesians 6, 12, he talks about wrestling or fighting. This word pali literally means to wrestle. Figuratively, it can mean the believer's struggle against evil forces. To engage in intense struggle. I wonder if that's a news flash for some of you. I don't know. But Christianity is the engaging into an intense struggle. This should be something that should be obviously aware to you in your life. There's an intense struggling to walk a narrow road. On a narrow road, as pilgrims progress, you have to walk through Vanity Fair and everything's pulling, dragging, yanking, all of these things. In order to make it through Vanity Fair, in order to make it through the other side and cross the river, you must wrestle intensely. If you don't, you are taken prisoner. You are locked up and bound by the sin of the world, and you are left there to be the laughingstock of all of hell. There's another word in Greek text that means to wrestle or to fight, agonizomai, to struggle and to fight, like in an athletic competition, physical combat, trying very hard and not giving in. Now, think about this. When I say the point, keep on fighting, think about these texts. Luke 13, 24. Strive to enter the narrow gate, or wrestle to enter the narrow gate, labor to enter the narrow gate. There's a whole lot of people without any effort that make it on the wide one. Fight! Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Take up battle armament and go for the narrow road. You say, I feel like I'm going uphill. I'm on 820 on the wrong side going through traffic. You stay in there. Fight! Colossians 1.29, Paul says, For this I told, struggling with his energy that he powerfully works in me. Paul struggled with this spirit of energy that dwelt in him. He wrestled and struggled and fought for the things of God. Colossians 4.12, Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling. What is He struggling with? He's always struggling on your behalf. It's a fight to pray for others and to encourage others. Struggle on. 1 Timothy 4.10, For to this end we toll and strive, toll and fight, toll and wrestle, because we have our hope set in the living God. Why do you fight, dear preacher? Because my hope's in God! Why do you wrestle? Why do you strain? Why do you sacrifice? Why do you give up things of the world? Because my hope's there! You understand, dear Christian, may it well up in your soul when people come to you and say, why are you doing all of these religious things? You're some kind of fanatic. You go to prayer meeting on Tuesday. You go to prayer meeting on Wednesday. You go to Bible study on Thursday. You show up for prayer at 8 o'clock on Sunday. Why don't you let that go and live? You just raise up your chest like this and say, because my hope is there, not here. Everything I've got invested is on the other side. Look, what's it going to matter when life comes to an end if you've got a $500,000 house and a $50-something-thousand-dollar car, and you die and bust hell wide open? Look, think about the reality that you have no place to lay your head, and you have nothing that the world has to offer, and you die, and you're ushered into the presence of Christ. Glorious exchange. Can't ever get that out of my head that Piper said. These people invest all their lives in their filthy, stinking rich. And they retire with all this money. They buy a motor home. They travel all the way across to get to the sea. They walk down the beach and they pick up seashells. What a tragedy. You stand before God. Look at my shells. What are you investing in? What are you investing in? What are you investing in? Where's your priority? Keep fighting. You say, I haven't been fighting. And you better get to war. Because if not, you're not going to have any rewards when you get there. You're not going to have nothing to show. Paul says to Timothy, fight the good fight of faith. You fight. It's a good fight. Remember when I was growing up in school, two kids getting mad at each other? Meet me at the park, four o'clock. Everybody gets around, they duke it out, get black eyes, go home and nobody profits and there's no good done out of it. Here's the fight worth fighting. Fight for the faith. Fight daily. Fight weekly. Fight, fight, fight in order that you can shine for Christ. Here's the thing, show the world that He's worth fighting for. Is He? Is it worth it to sacrifice and to purge thyself of the world for the glory of Christ? Is He worth it? Or is it, no, He's not worth it, I've got to have these things in Him. Look, we can't hold both. Hello? We can't hold both. Let us passionately abandon all for Him. I wonder if you would be able to say with Paul, I've fought the good fight. And I've finished the race and I've kept the faith. Just a couple of questions. Are you fighting? Are you fighting? What are you actively doing to keep the world from becoming your love? It's a valid question. You need to answer it in your heart today. What are you actively doing to keep the world from becoming your love? If you say nothing, then it has become your love. Second question, how are you defending yourself from pornography, financial lust, materialism, improper relationships, hobbies, self-interest, alcohol, other things? Like things, how are you defending yourself from these? What things are you actively doing to ward these things off? And like fashion, question number three with the Apostle Paul, in what ways are you crucifying your flesh? I feel like I must insert this here, There's a danger here. It's only 10.50 by that clock, so we've got plenty of time. There's a danger here. There's a danger into becoming a legalist. And taking this thought, what has happened with some is they've developed, at least in Luther's day, a sense of a monastery, and you've got to so separate yourself from the world, you've got to become a monk, if you will, or you've got to abstain from all of these things. They even concluded it was wrong to marry, and there was sinfulness in marriage, and all of these type of things. You could take this legalistically and go way too far, and it'd be a terrible thing. Of course, our danger is on the other side is what most of the Baptist church has done is say, well, I'm forgiven and I'm in Christ so I'll just do whatever I want to do. In many ways we look just like the Gnostics. There's a balance here and you have to hear this. Why is it that we fight? There's a motive for everything. Why do you fight? What is your motive? Why are you doing this? Why do I want to abstain from the things of the world? Please listen. Why would I even try? Why would I sacrifice? Why would I take and why would I fast on a regular basis? Why would I beat down the body? What's the motive? The motive, if it's gonna be proper, is because you love Him. It's gonna be because of delightful love in him. In case some of you are brain dead or sleeping because you lost an hour of sleep, this will maybe help. When I fell in love with this lady over here, my wife, some 20 years ago, there was things at that point when we fell in love that I did not do and I sacrificed, but my motive was not legalistic. My motive was because of my love for her. Friend calls on the phone. Hey, you want to go fishing tonight? Hey, you want to do this? I used to spend the night with friends, do this, do that. Hey, you want to come over here? I can't do it tonight. What do you mean, boy? Come on, we're friends. Why can't you come over to my house? Come on. I just can't. And you don't want to own up and fess up to it, because you don't want to sound like a wimp, you know, and so you kind of try to wrestle around. I can't, da, da, da. And he finally beats you to the point, and he's like, why can't you come? I've got to go to my girlfriend's house. That's right. My friends leave me, my friends drop off. Why? He ain't got time for us. He loves that girl from Pittsburgh. You get it? We strip ourselves of things in the world. I can't go and watch that movie with you. I can't go and do this thing with you. I can't go and be a part of this thing over here. What's wrong with you? Everybody's doing it. Yeah, but I found somebody I love more. That's the motive. There's the motive. Last point. Kill the enemy. Kill the enemy. Kill him. Kill him dead. Know the enemy. Fight the enemy. And kill him. You say, man, that's rough. That's biblical. Kill him. The battle starts out in Romans 7. I won't read through the whole text. There's the battle. I want to do this, and I do that. I don't want to do that, and I do this. And battle's back and forth. All these things I want to do, I don't do. All these things I don't want to do, I end up doing. And he's just battling back and forth. How in the world can I make it through this thing? I thank God through Christ Jesus, my Lord. There's a battle that rages, even with the apostles. Now, in Romans 12, I should have been able to quote it, Romans 12 says, Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you, I urge you, I implore, I beseech you, by the sure mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. This is your act of spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to the spirit of this age. Don't do it! But be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We must battle in order for this to happen. Romans 8, verse 12. So then, brothers, we are not obligated to the flesh. Did you know that? You're not obligated. You don't have to feed it. You won't die. You're not obligated to feed the flesh. You don't have to give it the things of the world. It'll be okay. You can abstain from worldly lust, and it'll make your spirit strong. The old analogy was the chihuahua wants to beat up the pit bull. Just make sure he don't get fed. Eventually he'll starve to death and die. Then he'd be the champion. Starve your flesh. Verse 13, if you live according to the flesh, you're going to die. But if you live by the Spirit and you put to death the deeds of the body, what? You will live. So Paul says in Romans, put to death the deeds of the body or the deeds of the flesh. And this is a constant working. I won't go through all of my illustrations, but as I look back at my life, I know things that had a stronghold upon me in my Christianity. And I rejoice as I look back at some of them and know that they're dead, and they no longer have effect upon me because they've been killed by the spirit that's in me. We have put to death certain things in my life, and I praise and rejoice in that. And now, today, I have new battles, different battles to overcome, and my goal and my hope is to put them to death. Instead of telling you all the past battles, I can tell you my present battle. My present battle is this. I don't suffer well. It's a sin, and when I suffer, I whine like a baby. And when I suffer, I complain, and I want the whole world to have pity on me. And when I suffer, I want everybody to know it, where they feel sorry for me. It's a sin, and I want to put it to death. And I want that at some point in my life, that when suffering comes, I may count it all joy and rejoice in my Lord. I'm not there yet, but it's a fight. By the grace of God, I'm gonna win. In Colossians 3, 1 through 11, I'm just gonna look at verse 5. No, I'm gonna close with that. Okay, turn to Colossians and let's just read it. And we'll be done. Let's pick up in Colossians 1, 3. That just does not sound right. Colossians 3, I'm sorry, wrong chapter. Colossians 3, verse 1. Colossians 3, 1. If you've been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above where the Messiah is seated in the right hand of God. Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Therefore, because of that, because of verses one through four, therefore, put to death whatever in you is worldly. Told you it was biblical. What are these things that are worldly that need to be put to death? Sexual immorality. You struggle with internet pornography? Take and discard your internet. It works. At least it will help greatly. You struggle with sexual immorality? Get rid of your TV. Will you stop watching that junk? Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, God's wrath comes on disobedient, on the disobedient. And you once walked in these things when you were living in them. Anybody? Walked in these things when we were living in them. But now, you must also put away the following. You got anger problem? Got a wrath problem? Got malice? Slander? If my memory serves me correctly, that word there is diablos. It means speaking like the devil. Some of you got that problem? Kill it! Filthy language? By the way, it's possible. I was an iron worker, built skyscrapers for a living for some six years, talked like a sailor, as they say, cussed all kind of manner of cussing, and God, through the Spirit, put it to death. Don't talk that way no more. Why? Because it's been replaced with other things, and that which is in the heart proceeded forth out of the mouth. You can kill it. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his practices and put on the new man, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of his creator. Here, there's neither Greek or Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian or Scythian, slave and free, but Christ is all and in all. Kill the enemy, identify him, and put him to death. Search my heart, oh God, and see if there be any wicked way within me. And when you find it, kill it. Bow with me in prayer, please. I just want to thank you for listening to this message today for this part one of this series on waging war. And I hope that it's been beneficial for you. And I hope that these messages, this series on waging war will help you in your walk with Christianity. And so in the next part, we're still going to be dealing with verse 15, but there's going to be some additional information that I think that will be helpful for you. So when you get a convenient time to listen to the next part, I encourage you to do so. I think there's going to be at least a minimum of six messages on these verses. I just hope that it will help you, encourage you, that you will be able to say with the Apostle Paul, I have fought the good fight. And may that be true of you. Lord bless you and thank you for listening to this series. And we will see you in part two.