“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” Rev 21:7

An incredible statement, the above scripture.  Even when one falls into line with the Son of God life is not a simple ride, a nice journey filled with prosperity and endless joy. We are fairly warned that all who name the name of Christ must depart from iniquity if they are to win the approval of God’s Only Son, Jesus. The one who was crucified so we might have a chance to find life. But trouble and pain are not the only things which we must overcome. Sin and unrighteousness of soul and spirit, ignorance and defiance of God these are the prime enemies of the soul and heart that fester and then breed worms of unbelief that separate us from our Maker.

If we are to be among those who shall inherit all things good and beautiful, which includes eternal life then we must overcome the things that would separate us from the promised inheritance, not least of all life itself. Most exciting is that we are promised that overcomers shall become as Jesus, for the scripture tells us that when we see him we shall be like Him. God Himself shall count us as if we were a son of His, and we know how He loves His Son and that Jesus is given all things by His Father for His loyalty and love to do nothing but only what His Father desires at all times. This is the stature that all christians that overcome will have in eternity with the true God of all things. Incredibly magnificent, the promise to those who overcome all the adversities of life in and outside of Christ – wouldn’t you agree?

The Battle is on
Christians easily lose sight of the true nature of the Christian fight; the Bible declares our real enemy to be “powers and principalities and spiritual wickedness in high places”, Eph 6:12 rather than people of mere flesh and blood. In this light, the Book of Revelation further reveals that the faithful disciple is able to overcome Satan because of three powerful weapons: the Blood of the Lamb, the Word of their Testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the Death. It is this combination of forces, working continually in the believer which enables the Christian to become a true disciple of Christ, able to combat and overcome the great unseen enemy of “spiritual wickedness in high places”.

To begin with, there are three primary battlefields in which we must fight and overcome if one is to come out of darkness of soul and stand victorious in the light. Only in the light can we become a vessel, morph by His power into a human being that is useful to the God of love , purified from my innate unrighteousness so I will allow myself to be led, as King David has put it, into “the land of uprightness”. Ps 143:10 But this requires coming away from the way the world does things and allowing God to lead us into another land, another life, another way, another truth. We do not delude ourselves. This process is a warfare a battle against the attrition of faithlessness of the Devil and his lying and tricky minions. “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that wars entangles himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” 2Tim. 2:3-4

Among the bevy of actions and wars which we must be overcomers are three specific battlefields where Satan himself must be met and defeated. They are succinctly revealed in the last book of the Bible:

“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
   And they overcame Satan  [1] by the blood of the Lamb [2] by the word of their testimony, and [3] they loved not their lives unto the death.” Rev. 12:10-11 

To be successful in the Christian life one must be an overcomer. In Revelation’s seven letters to the churches (chapters 2 and 3) rewards are offered to those who overcome. In some instances we must overcome our natural inclinations and become faithful, patient and steadfast in the faith. In other cases believers are asked to resist idolatry, Satan’s seductions, or desire for riches and power. In still other cases Christ admonishes His believers because they have forgotten their first love (Him), become lukewarm, arrogant, complacent, or carnal. He tells the church to repent, and to please Him they must overcome all of these obstacles that stand in the way of full discipleship. Those who tread the streets of Philadelphian faith will be concerned and convicted by the many warnings sounded in the seven letters and will take seriously the call to be an overcomer in each area. Satan is the enemy of our souls. We are to overcome this enemy of our soul by having faith in the ongoing stream of the blood of Jesus which supplies us on the battlefield of the spirit with mercy, love, support in the battle as it rages during our life here on earth. Because of His power that gives victory we give glory to God and tell of all His wonders for us and toward us. By giving testimony to the things which God has manifested in us in all reality and actuality of action we defeat the ambushes of the lies of Satan and his ministers of his anti-gospel. We must be willing to give ourselves over to the Holy Ghost and His Will entirely. To die to self, as the expression goes, is “to have the sentence of death working in us.” 2 Cor 1:9  

But Satan and his minions are not the only mortal enemy the Christian faces. The Scriptures identify three formidable enemies to discipleship along the Philadelphian pathway. Along with Satan, we battle as Christian soldiers against the world and our flesh. These two domineering antagonists of the spirit must be conquered and overcome by the power of Christ in us. These three foes, then, Satan, World and Our Flesh, rage against us all during our Christian walk, but we can be “more than conquerors through Him that loves us” Rom 8:37 if we will have courage and applied faith in His power and give way to let His grace grow within us.

The following section Overcoming in Christ deals with three areas of embattlement necessary for overcoming and walking in a pleasing way before God. The three mortal enemies of our soul: Satan (spiritual wickedness), the World (humanism) and the Flesh (ourselves) seek to block us from the freedom possible in the kingdom of God. We begin in the most appropriate starting place of all, an article (preceded by a brief introduction) by LeRoy J. Gardenier dealing with the theme: “And they overcame him (Satan) by the Blood of the Lamb. The article is entitled: The Atoning Blood: A River of Redemption.

THE ATONING BLOOD: RIVER OF REDEMPTION

by LeRoy J. Gardenier

1. FREED BY THE BLOOD

…Redemption’s bloody river issues from the dim mists of eternity past as God the Father looks upon “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” Rev 13:8. Here on earth the steady stream, prefiguring the shedding of Christ’s precious blood to cover the sins of mankind, starts in Eden’s perfect park. God Himself sacrifices and pours out the blood of an innocent animal (surely it was a lamb) to atone for our first parents’ rebellious disobedience. Even the victim’s skin was used to hide their self-conscious shame. Mankind began to realize the horrendous personal wickedness of sin when Father Adam recognized the sacrificial lamb as one of the dear and cherished fellow creatures he himself had named! God made it completely clear to both Adam and Eve what later was written in His Holy Word. The blood alone makes an atonement for sin. And, the life is in the blood. Lev 17:11 The Creator forcefully, dramatically and unequivocally decreed His unique dominance over all life by allowing bloodshed only for sin’s atonement and spiritual cleansing, all other acts involving blood spilling of the innocent brought condemnation and death. In the story of salvation redemption’s scarlet stream sometimes appears to be momentarily hidden or go underground, but its flow continues down through the ages and its purpose remains unmistakable.

All the more shocking is Cain’s open defiance against and deliberate perversion of God’s perfect procedure. To offer, instead of the atoning blood, the fruits of an accursed earth copied the humanistic attempt of his parents to hide their nakedness and cover their deliberate sin by weaving garments from fig leaves. The cleverest, even the most sincere humanly devised efforts could never cloak an infinite offense against an all-holy God. Cain compounded the felony by shedding in fierce anger the innocent blood of his righteous brother, Abel. With this murder, he brought down on himself a personal curse and the punishment of perpetual banishment.

The River of Redemption continued on its course through the less fertile areas once inhabited by the ancient patriarchs. While the world around them grows increasingly wicked, these righteous descendants of Seth, Adam’s later son, offer the required, mandated sacrifices. Those from the family of Adam who “called upon the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:26), most likely all those named in chapter five of the Bible’s first book, performed their part in appeasing their offended God and in keeping a righteous relationship with Him by offering blood sacrifices. The last of these antediluvians, as they came to be called, was Noah. With him and his family, a new era in the history of salvation began. After the Flood, the River of Redemption flowed down the slopes of Mount Ararat covering the plains of the Fertile Crescent where the offspring of Shem, Noah’s special son, chose to dwell. God’s faithful followers and true worshippers from Shem to Abraham carried on the tradition of authentic atonement, following the example of righteous Abel and the other pre-Flood believers. All this, in spite of the attempts of ungodly men to follow the way of Cain by seeking God through their own efforts and foolishly attempting to overthrow Him. These were the builders of the Tower of Babel and their wicked offspring!

God called Abraham out from the midst of these God-mockers to father a nation of Semites who would become an example to the whole world. Redemption’s crimson stream sprang from the heights of Mount Moriah when the father of Isaac made a bloody offering of the God-provided ram in the place of his cherished, chosen son. Over the centuries, the stream rose to a torrent as the successors of this “father of believers” shed the blood of thousands of innocent lambs on the night of the first Passover. Combined with the rite of circumcision and the example of the family sacrifices performed by righteous Job, the Mosaic sin offerings involving sheep and goats, oxen and lambs; the daily blood sacrifices required by The Law, would continually demonstrate to an unbelieving world God’s requirements for righteousness. From the peak of Mount Sinai, the River of Redemption circled the desert sands until the new nation of Israel, born in the blood-washed Egyptian delta, later entered the Promised Land. There a scarlet cord, hung from the walls of Jericho, signaled the broader acceptance of believing, obedient Gentiles under God’s covering blood. The River raced on through the period of the Judges and eventually spread out from the lesser-known altars erected at Gilgal, Shiloh and Gibeon to the world-renowned city of Jerusalem. There, on Abraham’s Mount Moriah, for almost countless centuries, the atoning stream of blood-covered God’s people and even influenced all the nations of the then known world. The Temple and its steady flow presaged the perfect atonement for sin and full reconciliation to God that would one day become available to all mankind!

The Levitical priests were the principal sacrificers. Israel’s anointed kings sometimes entered into these acts of true worship. But it took God’s prophets to warn His people away from their vain sacrifices to false gods. Only by heeding the reminder from these anointed and empowered messengers could the chosen nation come close to reverencing the one true God in spirit and in truth. It was the prophets who recalled the true spirit of blood sacrifice and applied its powerful symbolism to God’s “Suffering Servant” – the Messiah promised immediately after the Fall. Only in light of God’s original intent in instituting animal sacrifices as covering for sin and as a condition for atonement could the multiplied millions of slaughtered innocents be seen as an ocean of mercy, staying God’s hand of righteous judgment from falling on sinful mankind. Year after year, for innumerable centuries, the River of Redemption streamed from the Temple mount. The sacrifices were offered daily and the crimson tide seemed to swell beyond earth’s borders on the annual feasts of Passover and the Day of Atonement.  Even as the relentless river of atoning blood continued from a rebuilt Temple in a capital repopulated after the Babylonian exile, expectancy for a liberating “King of the Jews” mounted. Relatively few sincere seekers were on hand when John the Baptist publicly pointed out “The Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:36). But this earth shaking statement was the turning point in the history of the world. The appearance of Jesus Christ as the Savior was the beginning of the consummation of salvation’s thrilling story. All the sacred blood-letting from Adam on was in anticipation of God’s perfect and complete sacrifice for sin. “The final atonement has begun”, says the song. The one anointed, consecrated Victim purposely comes to die, to shed His sacred blood for mankind’s sin, for reconciliation to God, and for ultimate and everlasting Redemption! From Calvary’s blood-stained cross there flows, not a river, but rather an ocean of divine mercy and forgiveness. Three times in His word God declares: “For I have desired mercy and not sacrifice”. Hosea 6:6/ Matt 9:13/12:7

2.  BY THE WORD OF OUR TESTIMONY …      

GIVING GOD THE CREDIT DEFEATS SATAN’s LIES

In Revelation 12:10-11  we are offered this insight:

“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

It would be hard to overestimate the importance of a Christian’s personal testimony of conversion and salvation. Besides being the nail upon which the reality of his faith and salvation rest, it puts to flight Satan and his minions and makes him out to be the blasphemous liar that he is. Job exposed Satan as a liar when he refused to curse God for his misfortune and continued to recognize God’s lordship. With every saint’s testimony, the whole of creation resounds with the truth that God’s love is more powerful than Satan’s hate and“he that is in us is greater than he who is in the world”. 1 John 4:4

“Resist the devil and he will flee from you” Jas 4:7, is advice well heeded. One proven way to resist the enemy of our soul is to testify to God’s love and salvation in our own lives. Satan hates to hear of the stories of repentant man saved from the dregs of sin and brought into the marvelous light of Christ. The power of God’s testimony in us, the words of what he has done for us defeat the enemy. “He uttered His voice and the earth melted” (Psalm 46:6), is only a small expression of the power of the testimony of truth that swells inside each believer. This is why the apostle Paul echoes the words of David: “I believed, and therefore have I spoken.” (2 Cor.4:13). Through the centuries stories of repentance, salvation and deliverance have spurred the believer onto heights of discipleship and powerful faith. We are surrounded, it says in Hebrews 11, by a great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us and testified of great works of faith and words of praise to God. The personal testimony of the apostle Paul, recounted in the book of Acts, having been struck blind on the road to Damascus, served to catapult the Gospel into all corners of the Roman world. Paul, the much feared man who had been the persecutor of Christ, had become by the grace of God, Christ’s greatest evangelist. It was by the personal testimony of Paul, more than any other factor that the power of Rome succumbed to the power of the Gospel. Not by the might of armies or the power of political authority did the pagan world recede behind the march of Christ’s love, but it was by the Spirit propelling the great personal testimonies of Paul and Peter into provinces of the empire, creating testimony upon testimony of the other apostles and faithful martyrs and the simple, faithful believers from Antioch, Lystra, Corinth, Thessalonica, Colosse, Ephesus, Athens, Sardis, Philadelphia and Rome.

God had used a dream to show the Jews that the Gentiles were now being drawn into the plan of salvation under Christ. The dream was given to Peter and he was sent to Cornelius, the Roman centurion, to explain that God had declared the Gentiles clean and worthy of salvation. It was not Peter who declared the Gentiles acceptable for salvation before God, this was the exclusive work of the Creator, but it was the job of Peter to testify to what God had declared in that monumental gift of the Holy Spirit. By this testimony Paul’s work with the Gentiles was not only legitimized it was made indisputable. Peter and Paul’s testimonies about this were critical for the early success of the Gospel and in defeating the repeated attempts of Satan to Judaize the early Church and exclude the Gentiles from salvation in Christ.

Every Christian has a personal testimony of how they found Christ and were converted in heart. It is their own personal testimony and prime artillery against the demonic world and subtle lies of Satan. Faith is increased in others, doubt diminished and overcome by such personal testimony. Personal accounts of victory over Satan can have an effect on bystanders as well, who may suffer from demonic oppression or even possession. One such case was witnessed by Christian Spirit Magazine staff member, Eloise Gardenier, in a church in Boston.

“As the word and testimonies were coming forth, a woman directly behind me began to growl like an animal and in that same grotesque tone went on to yell profanities. I turned my head to look back and saw a lady who seemed to be in charge of what was obviously a possessed person. We reached for one another’s hand. As we held hands we also prayed together in the Spirit (tongues). After a very short time the “demoniac” fell fast asleep. She dozed for some time, then awoke and was startled to hear “Beelzebub” come pursing from her lips with the most terrible guttural sound I had ever heard. The demon had been driven from her by the testimonies and word that had been preached and she began to praise the Lord.”

“Even when we were dead in sins, hath he quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
   And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
   That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”  Eph. 2:5-7

Our testimonies are varied, different, personal and always miraculous. They are fashioned by God for the “ages to come” and not just for this lifetime. They are meant to be for the eternal praise and glory of God, to denounce and destroy the works of the Devil. Each testimony is a note, a cord, a chime ringing out in the death knell of Satan. We should take the word of our testimony very seriously and with the utmost reverence, for it is God’s work. Jesus said that He had come into the world to testify to the truth. As followers of Christ it is not only our great privilege to testify to Christ and His mercy, but it is one of the greatest and most powerful tools we have in our arsenal of weapons which are used in spiritual battle to fend off the accusations of Satan. The testimonies of love, deliverance and power over evil and sin which Christ compiles in us bring to light the lies of the Devil and prove him to be the evil blasphemer that he is. If the believer expects to overcome the enemy in this life he will not forsake the testimonies which God has brought about in him through Christ’s love. As an explorer, a pioneer, or a great adventurer we advance into the kingdom of God with much tribulation. It is our stories of true faith and Christ’s love that undo Satan and his persecutions and will be, in the final analysis, our most prized possessions throughout the coming eternity.

3. AND BECAUSE THEY LOVED NOT THEIR LIVES

…Those who resist Satan best and overcome his power and influence in their lives will be those who no longer consider their personal lives or specific ambitions of the primary importance. Christ will be given preeminence in all things. They will have found their lives by the very reality of ‘losing’ their lives but in favor of living in Christ. It may not be that they will have to actually demonstrate this by martyrdom it could be by spiritually dying to self. The two churches of ‘losing their lives but finding it’ are represented in the letters to the churches in Revelation: 1) Smyrna by persecution and martyrdom, and 2) Philadelphia through self denial and meek submission. In the spirit both types will have lost their lives by living as Elijah and other faithful prophets and disciples of Christ have, dying to themselves, living in obedience to the voice of the Spirit of God.

More than once Jesus spoke of an astounding contradiction that can only be understood by those who are walking by faith. “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” Matt 10:39 It was in this vein that Jesus lauded the widow at the temple because she threw in “all of her living” Mark 12:44 telling His disciples that in her two pennies she had given more than all those who had given out of their abundant riches. Christ’s point was far and above a suggestion that one should give money. For he immediately begins to talk about how the temple would be totally destroyed. Jesus makes it evident that He does not care about houses and buildings, but about his followers giving Him all of themselves without restriction or selfishness. She had given all of herself, all of her living, to God. She had withheld nothing and had not done it for a reward, but in honor and appreciation of God. In her giving of all herself, she had also defeated the grip of Satan upon her. For once we have surrendered ourselves Satan has no power over us for we have nothing to lose. In losing herself she had found Christ and His boundless love. She had found life.

This is Christ’s meaning when he says in a few places.

“And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.” and,
   “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple” and also,
   “And he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”  Matt. 10:38, Luke 14:27, Luke  9:23

Once we have undergone spiritual death we are freed from the grip of the enemy. Satan and sin no longer have power; no longer hold sway over us. The book of Romans states it thus: “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. For he that is dead is freed from sin.”  Rom 6:6-7 When we are crucified with Christ, dead to self, we are freed from the burden of sin and the accusations and condemnation of Satan. We overcome Him by losing our ambitions, recanting against our natural willfulness and stepping back from our spiritual and universal human pride. Universal, because all people have a pride in life, a spiritual fact repulsive of the truth and one which competes with what only God is able to accomplish or do. The most poignant Scriptural evidence of this reality is on display in the famous exchange between Christ and Peter as Jesus was on His way to be crucified in Jerusalem. Peter had tried to dissuade Jesus from His mission of obedience and His sacrifice at Calvary. Finally, Jesus “turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Matt 16:23-24 The moment stands framed in eternity, a moment in which the two opposing forces of good and evil faced off in a mortal combat, even though it was among two friends. God’s belief in selfless love versus Man’s pride and belief in selfish love squared off in the arena of truth. The incident shows Satan’s contempt for God’s selfless love. It shows God’s disregard for persons when truth is at stake. If Satan could get Jesus to think of himself, fear for himself and preserve His own life above the will of the Father, flatter Peter or compromise with his misguided idea of loyalty and love, then Satan would have been the winner, would have proven that selfish desire is greater than godly selfless love. But Satan was defeated in that landmark moment because Jesus chose the cross; he chose to lose His life so that many could gain life. He loved not his life unto death…

When we forsake this world and the things of it and live a resurrected life in Christ, finding a new life in Him, we are beyond the bounds of Satan’s grip. He may be able to touch our bodies, he may even be able to trifle and twist our souls; he may be able to get into our minds, but he cannot overcome our spirits, nor separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:33-39). In Revelation 12 we are made aware of the fact that Satan is cast down from heaven and that the saints had had a part in overcoming this master of deceit and lies by receiving the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony and by loving not their lives unto the death. We are told that Satan is very angry over this and will pour out his wrath on the earth during the Tribulation. This crucified life is for saints today. It foils Satan and his evil powers and principalities which we war against on a daily basis. Those who heed the call to discipleship in a Philadelphian fashion will do so by walking a crucified life in the shadow and power of the cross. They will be able to say as Paul testified: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and 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.” (Gal. 2:20).

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Our First Great Enemy

SATAN

All Satan’s accusations are dismissed when we bath in the river of the atoning blood of God. It is paramount that we be free from the guiltiness of sin which will eat at our souls like a rat devouring the spring crop, until all the fruits are ruined, if it is allowed to go unabated. But because of the power of the atoning blood of God, the Devil can no longer claim that God is unjust to give the gift of eternal life to sinful man, even though he has always perpetrated what he himself has been condemned to Hellacious fires for. Christ’s blood was shed first and foremost to save sinners and alleviate the guiltiness and just sentence of being alienated from life and God forever. Because the atoning blood does not wash Satan’s offenses and sins away, and never will, Satan is furious and filled with hate toward Mankind. Though Satan does not like it, he cannot deny that the innocent blood of the Lamb of God sooths the afflictions and bruises of sin, dissolves guilt, heals the broken heart, permits the human creature to look upon the Creator shamelessly, without irreversible regret, and provides this unrighteous creature called Man, a cloak that clads the sinner with a woven and seamless gown of righteousness that warms and protects them from the cold, harsh elements of the their past dark offenses and crimes against God and humanity. The cloak? The atoning blood of the Lamb of God which has the power to wash away, like the freshening torrent of a pure clean river, the sins of those lost in the darkness of the world, drowning in their misdeeds against Creator and Creation. The case for the prosecution is dismantled, Satan and his accusations silenced, the price is paid and pardon is granted because of the blood of the innocent one, the Lamb of God, who paid the price for all transgression with the most valuable thing in the world of man – the very blood of God. With His priceless blood of God Jesus paid our debt in full and has won a pardon and freedom from prosecution for all our misdeeds and erroneous ways, if we receive it by believing and acknowledging its power and unmerited favor upon us. It is the…

The above teachings have described three Scriptural ways in which we overcome the enemy of our souls, Satan. We are to overcome him by faith in the blood of Jesus and its life giving, forgiving powers. We give glory to God and tell of all His wonders for and to us by giving testimony. And, we must be willing to give ourselves over to the Holy Ghost and His will entirely. But Satan is but one of the three enemies we must overcome in our walk. The second is the world…

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Our Second Great Enemy

The World 

Jesus said to His disciples at the last supper; “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 It is easy to understand what Jesus meant by “in the world you will have tribulation”; we have only to look at our lives to know that. But what did he mean when he said: “I have overcome the world.”?

Obviously, he was identifying the “world” as an enemy that had to be beaten, rendered helpless, conquered. The World becomes our compadre, the one with who we walk in admiration, the one to whom we look up and say, what can I do for you, what can I do to please you. Help me and show me the way to get along. Let your people become my peers and I will try to learn their will and do what they say are the right ways, and right things to do. Show me the way of men and let me conform so I will belong to the league of humankind. I want to be your friend because I certainly do not want to experience your excommunication. What does Christ mean by the term “world”? Those things which are esteemed by men but an abomination to God can give us an initial helpful clue that the answer to that question involves knowing the meaning and accepting the unequivocal truth “God’s ways are not Man’s ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts”. (Isa 55:8-9)

The word ‘World’ is used in a very derogatory way in the Scriptures. The World, and all it stands for is opposed to God. His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways. John, in his first epistle, said; “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” 1 John 2:15-16 In this statement God has identified three ways in which we are influenced and even conspire with the world against all true righteousness: 1) the lust of the flesh, 2) the lust of the eyes, 3) the pride of life. We get the sense from each one of these aspects of the world that they are seductive enemies drawing us into a thirst for power, pleasure and pride, turning our faith away from trust in God and to ourselves. Eventually friendship with the world will turn a person into an atheist at heart, if not in word and deed. This is why the Lord’s brother, James, wrote: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”Jas 4:4 Notice he calls the friends of the world “adulterers and adulteresses”. To be a friend of the world (as defined by the Scriptures) is spiritual harlotry and even the sin of idolatry .

Jesus was frank about His relationship with the world and what the world thinks about His disciples when He said; “the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” John 17:14-16 The world will hate the true disciple of Christ. It hates Jesus and it will hate His followers. Therefore we need to be on the defensive when it comes to the world. We are in it, but we are not to be part of it.

1.) Lust of the flesh is one of those things which the Bible tells us to flee. All of those youthful lusts and pleasures so often listed and enumerated in the epistles; riotous, promiscuous living, drinking and partying, and uncontrolled passions are things we must be delivered from by the grace of God.

2.) Lust of the eyes is the passion for the beauty of temporary things, the worship and idolatry of man’s creative talents and esteeming the creature and its beauty above the Creator Himself. All the world encourages us to worship it. With our eyes we covet many things; it is an idolatry no one sees, but God. The current popular but vulgar term, eye-candy, is very true. We drink in many worldly things with our eyes that draw us away from God.

3.) Pride of life is perhaps the most severe form of world worship. It is the humanism of man. The worship of himself above the Creator. “[they] changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man… Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.” (Rom. 1:23-25). Jesus condemned this kind of humanistic worship with this astonishing statement: “Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.” After a statement like this how can the soldier of Christ seek anything but humility, how can he be anything but embarrassed by the praise of the world? But we are driven to seek the applause and approval of men. It is a lure that we must shake ourselves free from.

Surely we must overcome all connection with the world that the Holy Ghost reveals to us, if we are to be true and faithful Disciples of Christ. The pride of life and the lust of the eyes and the flesh are mortal enemies of the true saint. But how do we best conquer this enemy, the world, that tries to seek any inroad it can to overwhelm us and woo us into its deadly friendship? We can only do it by yielding to the Holy Ghost in such a way that we die to oneself, by picking up the cross, by defeating our own flesh… which leads us to the third great enemy and obstacle to walking in purity and righteousness with Christ who is our righteousness.

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Our Third Great Enemy

Our Own Flesh

Overcoming the flesh was also the business of Jesus during His ministry on earth. As with the world, Jesus also conquered the flesh for us defeating sin and condemning it by His work on the cross. The goal of picking up our cross and being crucified with Christ is so we no longer walk in the flesh but are able to walk in the spirit. Only the ‘dead’ can walk in the Spirit. The Overcomer must be walking in the Spirit and not the flesh if he is to be pleasing to God. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. … For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:1-3 (You may want to look at: Walking in Spirit) Just prior to telling the disciples that He has overcome the world He informs us: “In the world you will have tribulation” John 16:33. By this Christ obviously means we will have pain, sorrow, distress, mistakes, failures, misjudgments, persecution and betrayals to deal with during our trials to overcome. Paul told his fellow workers that we with much tribulation must enter into the kingdom of God. “And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.” Acts 14:21-23 

The disciples had commended and then ordained ‘elders’ to the Lord. It is significant to note in passing that these were men that Paul and the rest had come to believe were going to be able to stand the tribulation of entering the kingdom of God and be steadfast to the purity of their calling. So serious was the matter and so important that they stayed with each ordained elder as they toured for the gospel’s sake and prayed and fasted to confirm their calling. This praying and fasting leading to belief in the ordination of these elders was important because Paul had the wisdom to know that tribulation of the Satan, the world and our fleshly selves will always be brought to bear upon the servant of God; how much more upon elders, keepers and stewards of the Gospel. We should be ‘on to’ the enemies of our soul, which are also the true enemies of the Cross. We shall all suffer fiery trials of personal disappointment and seducing temptations of the flesh. The flesh will linger on in us as long as we are in the flesh. It will be with us warring against the spirit and as Paul we will cry out: “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 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.” Rom 7:24-25 When we walk in the flesh we are walking in sins terms, fighting on sins terms, playing according to sins terms, playing by sins rules and there is no way to beat sin when we play it according to its terms for sin is greater than us and it will defeat us and kill us if we walk according to its terms, even if we are trying to beat it with our best efforts on sins own grounds. We therefore must walk in the Spirit, walk according to the terms of the Spirit if we hope to cast off the leaden shoes of sin with which our feet are lassoed and we are thereby dragged into the pit of unhappiness and the dark destruction of despair. Who can deliver us from so great a way called ‘flesh’? Only by walking in the Spirit can we be saved from the indictment of the guiltiness of sin. (See EOE’s Invitation Page on ‘Holy Spirit as Personal Guide’). An analogy may best show how we shall have a lifelong struggle against this mortal enemy of our sinful flesh and how we must rely on the Holy Ghost and the power of Jesus Christ to live according to the benefits of the grace of Christ through the Spirit. If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit.

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
   For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
   But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
   Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
   Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told  in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
   Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
   And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
   If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Gal. 5:16-25

AN ANALOGY of An Oil Burner:

I once had an oil-burning furnace that I was having a great deal of trouble with. It spewed soot, leaked oil and water, and produced far more noise than heat. When the electrode failed to fire, the oil would accumulate in the burner and the fumes would stink up the entire house. It always seemed to fail when it was needed most during cold spells. It tried to do its job, but fell far short of getting it done. Being a Scottish skinflint by nature, I tried to fix it myself. Finally, and wisely, I broke down and decided to have a professional repairman in to take a look at it.

After examining the furnace the repairman gingerly approached me and said he had a bad news, good news scenario for me. As a natural realist and admitted pessimist, I asked for the bad news first hoping the good news would deliver me from the despair. He told me frankly that the furnace was hopelessly gone, absolutely beyond repair. I needed a completely new burner and furnace. Not totally surprised, I wondered out loud what the heck the good news possibly could be? The good news, he told me was that he could put in a completely new system and that I would not have to pay for it, or the installation, right away. In fact, he would not make me put anything down on it for six months and after that I would start making some regular monthly payments. Short on the ability to pay, I was thankful for the installment plan and instantly agreed to the terms. All I needed to know was what the final price would be and how much it would cost me per month once the payments began so I could fit them into my budget. What started out pessimistically ended in utter optimism. I did not have to struggle through the winter. Thankfully, I could be sure that my family and I would have a warm house to live in, in which we could receive friends and guests in the name of God.

So what does this have to do with becoming free from our sinful flesh? The oil-burning furnace represents man’s spirit, his true inner being. The oil burner itself is symbolic of the Spirit of God and the heat that is supposed to be thrown off by the oil furnace stands for love, or, in other words, the opposite of sin. Before being born again, man is like that old oil-burning furnace. We are unable to produce any warmth (love) because of our broken, useless condition. We cannot be overhauled. We must be entirely replaced, turned into a new creature and be given a new spirit (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15; Eph 4:24; Col 3:10, and so on). We are always on the verge of self-destruction ready to explode, throwing off dark clouds of soot and making a lot of threatening rumblings while producing very little good, if any at all. The repairman represents Jesus. He talks us into replacing the entire unit (spirit) and gives us a new heart, one that can receive a brand new oil burner that will work perfectly if we let it. The oil burner, of course, is the Holy Ghost and it is His oil that burns in us to produce the warmth, or love, of Christ which radiates from us into the world.

But remember the good news, bad news part. Christ gives us a new spirit free just for the asking. There is no down payment or set-up fee just as in our analogy, but Christ told his disciples they must count the cost (Luke 14:28) of the installation and what it will require to have the burner always operating in perfect fashion. It would have been ridiculous for me to keep the old dilapidated furnace out back of my house and try to reinstall it to correct any problems or to avoid paying any installments when the payments came due. How absurd would that be? There are installment payments to be made after our initial born-again honeymoon experience. There are adjustments and maintenance costs to be paid on the new furnace and burner. There are such things to be done in the Spirit in our new life as well. Among the installments and regular maintenance is carrying our cross daily as discussed in a previous part of this teaching on overcoming. It means “enduring hardships as good soldiers” in Christ (2 Tim 2:3-4) by letting God use our bodies as He did with Peter and Paul (Rom 12). They are in the fiery trials that must try every disciple (1 Pet. 4:12). They come in the form of persecution. We are told that every Christian “that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Tim 3:12). Killing the flesh within us hurts. It is a surgery of the spirit that requires endurance, steadfastness, patience and suffering – these are all things that are contrary to the way of the flesh. These may be euphemistically termed – the bad news. To defeat the flesh, we must count the cost and pay the price. I am sure the reflective reader will be able to come up with even further instances of the price exacted of us in killing the flesh. We must say goodbye to the old pals and ‘friends’ of beloved sins. We must face-down and do battle with ugly monsters in the dark corners of our life. The true disciple knows that our hope is built on the solid Rock of truth, Jesus Christ. It is the Rock and the grace of Jesus Christ that will see us through so difficult a journey as triumphing over our flesh.

True Christian optimists will shed off the hopeless ways of the world, not lean to their own understanding, let the Spirit lead them to love and righteousness and be freed from the depravity of the fallen human heart while being led into the righteous, holy realm of the Divine Nature which resides in Jesus Christ, “in whom is all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”. Col 2:9 Peter tells us (2 Pet 1:4) that the Gospel, in fact, promises man that he can be free from the flesh and become a partaker of God’s nature in this life when he 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 of the flesh.”