Successfully Fighting Sin Through Submission Part 2

IV. By submission to God, resistance of Satan and sin is an attainable reality. JAM 4:7. A. A major advance in this warfare is the abandonment of all forms of self-righteousness in favor of submission to the righteousness of God. ROM 10:3-4. Successfully Fighting Sin Through Submission 9-3-23 Page 2  1. One cannot be a victor over Satan and sin when living a lie that sinners have the power of mustering the righteousness which would fit them to live with God. 2. Therefore, one must renounce national righteousness, ceremonial righteousness, decisional righteousness, works righteousness, hereditary righteousness, etc. or these delusions will be used against one to hobble him in warfare. B. In ourselves we have not the power to resist and overcome Satan; we can of our own selves do nothing. JOH 15:5 c/w EPH 6:10. 1. We deceive ourselves if we think we can outwit or outfight Satan at his own game. 2. Satan brought down sinless Adam and Eve; how much more power does he have over sinful human flesh? C. Christ has the power and appeals to Him for deliverance are honored. 1JO 4:4; ROM 10:13. 1. We appeal to Christ through prayer. MAT 6:13 c/w PSA 138:3. 2. We appeal to Christ through appealing to His word. MAT 4:1-11. 3. Appeals to Christ for deliverance from sin must be sincere. a. Be not as the remnant of Judah who dissembled in their hearts about seeking the right way. JER 42:1-3, 20. b. Do you genuinely seek deliverance from sin on God's terms, or is it more of a matter of seeking deliverance on your terms? God is only nigh unto the former. PSA 145:18. D. Resistance of Satan is to be “...stedfast in the faith...” (1PE 5:9). c/w 1JO 5:4. 1. This brings us again to the word of God. ROM 10:17. 2. Our personal faith is a major piece of armour in this warfare. EPH 6:16. 3. But faith must be grounded in truth! Faith in a deception, delusion, fantasy, fable or any other lie only helps your enemy whose power is the lie. JOH 8:44. 4. Every aspect of resisting Satan, including knowing his power, God's power, and our power through Christ must be based upon the plain truth of Scripture. a. Truth is a frontline piece of armor that of necessity precedes faith. EPH 6:14. b. Truth must be consciously chosen over a lie. PSA 119:30. c. Truth is vital to our personal sanctification. PRO 16:6; JOH 17:17. d. The more we are familiar with Scripture, the greater our ability to resist and overcome him. 1JO 2:14; PSA 119:11. e. We are thus able to spot Satan's tactics and approach and so avoid unnecessary entanglements. c/w 2KI 6:8-10. f. We see the cover ripped off our own self-deceptions and hypocrisies and renounce them, which deprives Satan of some of his greatest allies. g We see our hope of deliverance entirely grounded in Christ to Whom we flee for refuge, Who pleads for us when we fail. This strips Satan of the power he wields against us by accusing our consciences. HEB 6:18; 1JO 2:1-2. h. We need grace to bear up under tribulation and trials which tend to wear us down, and grace is multiplied through the knowledge of God and the Lord Jesus. 2PE 1:2. i. We gain understanding which facilitates true joy that strengthens us and true hatred of the false ways which corrupt us. NEH 8:10-12; PSA 119:104. 5. Victorious faith is an applied faith that walks in keeping with the knowledge of the truth it embraces. JAM 1:22-25; 2:19-20. E. Satan is frustrated by the saint who “...keepeth himself...” (1JO 5:18). 1. We are to keep ourselves from idols. 1JO 5:21. Successfully Fighting Sin Through Submission 9-3-23 Page 3  2. We are to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. JAM 1:27. 3. We are to keep under our body. 1CO 9:27. 4. We are to keep our soul and heart diligently. DEU 4:9; PRO 4:23. 5. We are to keep ourselves from the path and proximity of temptation. PSA 17:4; PRO 5:8 c/w 7:8; MAT 6:13. 6. We are to keep ourselves from the company of corrupt men. PRO 4:14; 13:20; 22:24-25. 7. We are to keep ourselves in the love of God (JUDE 1:21) which is obedience to His commandments. JOH 15:10. 8. By such means we keep ourselves from iniquity. PSA 18:22-23. F. As noted above, Satan loves to accuse our consciences whenever we fail, implying that we are not even God's child, or that we are nothing but hypocrites, or that resistance is obviously futile, and so we should just give up and give in to sin. Beware of “spiritual Stockholm Syndrome” where you develop a sick bond with Satan your captor as a corrupt means of avoiding conflict of soul. 1. When our heart is convinced that we are only worthless losers, we will act like worthless losers since “...a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit” (MAT 7:17). 2. But there is a big difference between having sin and being sin. 3. In Christ we are no longer totally depraved sinners; we have been redeemed by the blood of our Savior and are saints who sometimes sin. ROM 7:21. 4. Satan may disrupt our daily victory but not our position and identity in Christ. ROM 7:22-8:1. a. But if he can dupe us into believing that we are not in Christ, we will live as though not in Him. b. This underscores again how important truth is to our walk. The truth of what God's word says about believers must be claimed against the deceptions of Satan. c. This is why we must gird up the loins of our mind (1PE 1:13) and renounce any voices of bad teaching, emotion, imagination or circumstances, etc., that tell us something different than God wrote in His word. d. When we sin it is because we have in some way rejected the truth about the deceitfulness of sin, the sinfulness of sin, the consequences of sin and the power that we have in Christ to overcome Satan and sin. 5. Nothing less than repentance to the acknowledging of the truth will set us free from our captivity. 2TI 2:25-26. a. acknowledge: To own the knowledge of; to confess; to recognize or admit as true. b When we sin, the first acknowledgment of truth in our recovery program is an acknowledgment of the fact of our sin. PSA 51:3-4. c. The next is an acknowledgment of the truth that we need to forsake or renounce our sin and the paths that led to the sin. PRO 28:13. d. Then we must acknowledge the truth about God’s cleansing of the sin to set us at liberty from condemnation and from bondage to our past and our nature. 1JO 1:9; JOH 8:11. e. Then we must acknowledge the truth that submission to the truth is a needed continual exercise to make us free. PSA 119:45 c/w JOH 8:31-32. Successfully Fighting Sin Through Submission 9-3-23 Page 4