"Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock." Acts 20:28-29
In his final message to the elders (pastors) of the church in Ephesus, Paul gave a strong exhortation. Many dangers awaited them in the coming years. Listen to how Jesus Himself spoke to this church in Revelation 2:
“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent." Revelation 2:2-5
There is a two-fold application for us – to guard our own hearts as we seek to protect one another. There are many dangers in our world today. “The devil prowls around like a roaring lion” (1 Pet. 5:8). “The days are evil” (Eph. 5:16). Our world is increasingly darkened and corrupted by sin. And the enemy of our souls is increasingly desperate to ruin as many lives as he can. In addition to these dangers outside of us is the greatest danger of all: the sin inside of us.
"Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers." James 1:14-16
We recently learned (Kingdoms in Conflict – May 30, 2021) about the three layers of idolatry: practices, values and beliefs. What we do (practices) is the result of what we prioritize (value), which grows from what we believe deep down. We watched this video to help us see the idolatry we cultivate in our hearts. And we learned from Jeremiah 17:
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9
Puritan Pastor John Owen wrote a classic of the Christian Faith, On the Mortification of Sin:
“Let no man pretend to fear sin that does not fear temptation also! These two are too closely united to be separated. He does not truly hate the fruit who delights in the root. Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work? Be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.
“Let no man think to kill sin with few, easy, or gentle strokes. He who hath once smitten a serpent, if he follow not on his blow until it be slain, may repent that ever he began the quarrel. And so he who undertakes to deal with sin, and pursues it not constantly to the death. The vigor and power and comfort of our spiritual life depends on our mortification of deeds of the flesh.”
John Owen
For more from Owen, and Pastor Colin Smith read this post, Fight Sin. In order to fight your sin you must first know it. “Sin is no longer your master, but it is still your enemy” (Colin Smith). Only a fool would go into battle without significant intelligence on the nature and strength of his enemy. Yes, there are enemies to fight around us in the world. But the greatest danger to each one of us is the sin that still dwells in our flesh – the remnant of our old sinful nature. Jesus paid the penalty for sin on the cross, and he broke the power of sin through His resurrection. But until Jesus comes back or you go home to Him, sin remains and must be resisted.
So you also must consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." Romans 6:11-14
The decisive battle with sin has been won by the Lord Jesus, but that does not mean we are passive agents. God calls us to actively believe the truth of the victory Jesus won and to actively fight our sin. The primary way we resist sin and our flesh is by cultivating better desires based on better promises. All temptation is based on a lie. If you expose the lie and replace it with the better promise in God’s Word, it will weaken the temptation and strengthen your joy and victory in the Lord.