Sermon Tone Analysis

Title: A Battle Rages

Theme: Uncovering the Root of Our Failures

Series: Grasping Our Authority in Christ

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?

Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.

They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.

No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

(1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

A holy fear of the wicked heart of mankind is what is needed in the lives of Christians

A preacher of salvation may yet miss all that the Lord has for him.

He may tell others all the doctrines of God, yet be unable to live out the victorious life promised in Christ Jesus.

To prevent this from happening, Paul took whatever measures necessary to subdue the flesh, protect himself from the world’s influence and reject the lies of the devil, all for the sake of his Lord, Jesus Christ.

A holy fear of the wicked heart of mankind is what is needed in the lives of Christians.

Christians who grasp their authority in Christ have a fear of themselves and do not hold the grace of God in contempt.

(Romans 2:4) Mature Christians who feed on the meat of God’s Word know that the Lord had disciplined in the past, (1 Corinthians 10:6-10) He disciplines in the present, (1 Corinthians 11:30-32) and He is able to discipline in the immediate future.

(1 Corinthians 5:5)

Christians who grasp their authority in Christ are enabled to say in their work with the Lord, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.”

(2 Timothy 4:7)

Just what prevents the unrepentant from coming to Christ and the child of God from enjoying God’s perfect will?

Although the Apostle Paul knew that nothing can separate him from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39) and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1) he was very conscious of the constant battle against sin.

(Romans 7:21-24) Christians who walk in the authority of Christ live in confidence of God’s sovereign grace because they are conscious of their battle against sin.

I would propose to you that God cannot and will not give more authority or instruction to the child of God until he obeys the ones that the Holy Spirit has already revealed to him.

The Apostle Paul knew the danger of this for he used the phrase, “I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

The word disqualified (adokimos) means to be unapproved.

The Holy Spirit of Christ moved the Apostle Paul to write today’s key text, therefore, the children of God should take to heart the danger of becoming unapproved for the reward God desires to give His obedient servants.

The Holy Spirit moved Paul to write, “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.

They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.

Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.”

(1 Corinthians 10:1-6)

The Christian life is a life of continued repentance, humiliation for and mortification of sin.

Christians who walk in continued faith have thankfulness for Christ’s redeeming blood and have a joyful expectation of Holy Spirit empowerment to live a life beyond mediocrities.

Get the right diagnoses of our condition

The first step to living in the authority of Christ is to get the right diagnoses of our condition.

Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.

Who can understand it?

I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind to reward a man according to his conduct according to what his deeds deserve.”

Two other wonderful translations say the heart is desperately sick.

These passages of Scripture expose the sinfulness of man’s heart, and the divine inspection for which mankind gets his just rewards or chastisements.

It is easy to make others think that we trust in God.

Too often church attendees can speak the Christian language, even go through the motions of Christian living, yet in their hearts there is that root of rebellion that is always resisting, arguing and grumbling against the Holy Spirit of Christ.

The Apostle Paul writes about this in Romans 7:21-23, “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

Christians who grasp their authority in Christ allow the Holy Spirit to do a cleansing within their spiritual hearts.

This cleansing prevents them from becoming like the little boy who wanted to hang on to his rebellion even though he was doing the right actions.

Vance Havner tells the story of a father who had a little boy who loved his rebellion more than the joy of heartfelt obedience.

“On the way to the store the father had to keep telling his son to sit down in the car and buckle the seat belt.

But the little boy just kept standing up in the seat.

The father finally became angry, and told the little boy, ‘You’d better sit down and buckle your seat belt!’

After the third time of being told, the little boy understood that he if did not sit down and buckle his seat belt, there would be serious consequences.

So the little boy slipped down in the seat and buckled up his seatbelt.

While sitting in the seat all buckled up the little boy said, ‘Daddy, I am sitting down on the outside, but on the inside I am standing up.’”

(The Best of Vance Havner / The tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Swindoll) It is that inside that needs to be dealt with before the child of God can enjoy the authority of Christ in overcoming sin.

All Christians who live under the Lordship of Christ have the spiritually maturity to say, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

(Psalm 139:23)

Recognizing when you are walking in rebellion

A truthful diagnosis of the human heart opens the door to the next step of living in the authority of Christ, recognizing when you are walking in rebellion.

The writer of the Book of Hebrews writes much about this, “So, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried Me and for forty years saw what I did.

…Their hearts are always going astray… See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

(Hebrews 3:7-12)

This charge is from the Holy Spirit Himself, and it is directed to every generation of Christians.

The charge is of critical importance because there is great danger in not being aware of our rebellious acts toward the Lord.

During Israel’s wandering they distrusted God’s care, murmured against His chosen leaders and regretted their leaving Egypt.

Those in rebellion today withhold their tithes and offerings from the Lord.

They refuse to exercise their spiritual gifts for the good of others or to make time for the things of God.

These rebels grumble against church leadership, they keep looking back to those places where they were in bondage, thinking that it was better there than where the Lord has them right now.

Those who attend church make a serious mistake when they think that just exposing themselves to the things of God, the preaching and teaching of God’s Word, the listening to or singing of Christian music will enable them to have an intimate relationship with the Lord.

As important and valuable as these things are they will have little effect until the root of the problem, rebellion is dwelt with by surrendering to the Holy Spirit of Christ.

Adrian Rogers wrote, “We are guilty of rebellion every time we choose to believe a different idea about the way things should be done than the way God has instructed us in His written Word.”

Let the Holy Spirit place this truth within your spiritual heart.

Whenever you make a decision or live out an action without meditating upon and surrendering to the Word of God, you have chosen to enjoy the flesh, the World, or the lie of the devil over Holy Spirit leading.

Those who grasp their authority in Christ understand the heart of Isaiah when he prayed, “Yet, they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit…” (Isaiah 63:10) Grieving the Holy Spirit leaves us in the hands of ourselves and that is the worse thing the Lord can to do us.

(Romans 1:18-32)

In a book titled, “Can Man Live without God,” Ravi Zacharias writes about a conversation between Malcolm Muggeridge and Svetlana Stalin, the daughter of Josef Stalin, who was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death on March 5, 1953.

Bible teacher Ravi Zacharias writes, “According to Svetlana, as Stalin lay dying, plagued with terrifying hallucinations, he suddenly sat halfway up in bed, clenched his fist toward the heavens once more, then fell back upon his pillow, and was dead.

The incredible irony of his whole life is that at one time Josef Stalin had been a seminary student, preparing for the ministry.

Coming of Nietzschean age, he made a decisive break from his belief in God.

This dramatic and complete reversal of conviction that resulted in his hatred for all religion is why Lenin had earlier chosen Stalin and positioned him in authority—a choice Lenin too late regretted.

The name Stalin, which means “steel,” was not his real name, but was given to him by his contemporaries who fell under the steel-like determination of his will.

And as Stalin lay dying, his one last gesture was a clenched fist toward God, his heart as cold and hard as steel.

(Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God, Word Publication, Dallas: 1994), p. 26.

Stalin had the great opportunity to study the Word of God, but chose to harden his heart and live a life of rebellion toward his Creator.

It takes more than just knowledge of God’s Word, enjoyment of Christian music and Christian fellowship.

There must be a mortification of this rebellion that so often rises up in the heart of mankind before a person can grasp their authority in Christ.

The exhortation from the Holy Spirit at this moment is, “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

(Hebrews 3:7-12)

Christians who grasp their authority in Christ make Biblical checks

The work of the Holy Spirit is to continually work on the spiritual heart of mankind.

(John 16:8) Christians who grasp their authority in Christ make Biblical checks to make sure they are overcoming that root of rebellion which in truth is contempt of God.

Psalm 107:11 says, “…for they rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High.”

Rebellion puts a person into both physical and spiritual bondage.

Another word used to describe rebellion is “apostasy.”

(The New International Dictionary of the Bible) The heart attitude that leads to protecting a person from living a life of rebellion is to have a reverent fear of Jeremiah 2:19, “Your own wickedness will correct you, And your apostasies will reprove you; Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter…” The New Testament gives warnings against apostasy because it is a continual danger to the church of Christ.

(The New Bible Dictionary, 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; Hebrews 3:12; 2 Peter 3:17)

“Apostasy” (apostasia) is a technical term for revolt or defect and in the Word of God always relates to rebellion against God.