Holiness: The Fight – Part 1
Spiritual Warfare 1. This is a war that is of far greater importance than any other war and concerns everyone that exists. 2. This warfare has its consequences which, in the end, are unchangeable and eternal. 3. If you want to understand true holiness you must know about the Christian fight. True Christianity Is a Fight 1. There are many people in churches that have a Christianity that may look good to others and eases their conscience but it is not a real faith. Real Christianity is a fight. 2. According to the Bible, true Christians are soldiers. They cannot live a life of religious ease, habitual laziness, and security. 3. True Christians are not to fight with other Christians. Sometimes there is a need to fight for the right interpretation but often we waste our strength in quarreling with one another. 4. The main fight is against the flesh, the world, and the devil. a. The flesh. The disciples in the garden could not stay awake. Jesus said, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:27, “I discipline my body and keep it under control.” In Romans, he describes the struggle, “but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” In Galatians 5:24, we are told, “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” And finally, he puts it very clearly, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.” (Colossians 3:5).