Thou therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
And the things which thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life, that he may please Him Who enrolled him as a soldier.
And if also a man contend in the games, he is not crowned, except he have contended lawfully.
The husbandman that laboreth must be the first to partake of the fruits.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith:
henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give to me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved His appearing.
Lord, we do want to thank Thee because Thy word is truth, and it is Thy truth that sets us free. So, Lord, as we consider Thy word together in Thy presence, we do pray that Thy Holy Spirit will reveal Thy word to us and bring us into Thy truth. To Thee be the glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
If you were here yesterday morning, probably you still remember that what we would like to share this time is on two opposites. But these two opposites are the two features of Christian life.
On the one hand, a Christian must experience the rest that our Lord Jesus has promised and given to us. Our Lord Jesus is our Sabbath rest, and we need to know that.
On the other hand, we need also to know how to fight the fight of faith. So Christian life is basically composed of these two opposites. On the one hand, we rest in the Lord Jesus; on the other hand, we fight the fight of faith. That is the way our Lord Jesus lived when He was on earth, and that is the way we ought to live.
Now, we do not have the time to review what we had yesterday, so we will just go ahead and share together on this aspect of our life: fight.
You know, as long as we believe in the Lord Jesus, we are called and enlisted into the army of the Lord. We are called to fight the good fight of faith.
You remember the story of the children of Israel. They were slaves in Egypt. They had no hope of living, and yet God, in His mercy, delivered them out of Egypt.
As we have already mentioned this morning, our brother mentioned that God commanded the children of Israel to provide each family a lamb. On that night, before the angel of destruction passed over the whole land of Egypt, the children of Israel were to slay the lamb and sprinkle the blood on the doorposts, the lintel, and, as our brother mentioned, the threshold.
So, in other words, you find the whole door—the top, the sides, and the bottom—was sprinkled with blood. The children of Israel stayed behind that door in the house, eating the lamb.
When the angel of destruction passed through the land of Egypt, when he saw that there was blood on the door, he passed over. So this feast is called the Passover. He passed over them because there was already bloodshed.
In the Egyptian houses, there was no blood upon the door. The angel of destruction would go in and slay the firstborn. So it was by the paschal lamb that the children of Israel were saved from death. There was a sentence of death over the whole land, but because the children of Israel had the Passover lamb already slain, their firstborn were spared.
Brothers and sisters, this is just a type. The reality is our Lord Jesus, the Son of God. He is our Paschal Lamb. Because He is our Passover, we who believe in the Lord Jesus have had death pass over us. We have passed out of death into life, and thank God for that.
But, brothers and sisters, you know that this was not the end of the story. On that very night, when God commanded them to put the blood of the lamb on the door, they were gathered as families in the house, eating that lamb.
While they were eating the lamb, they had girded their loins, taken the staff in their hand, and had their shoes on. Why? They had to eat in a hurry, because on that very night God delivered the children of Israel out of the land. In other words, there was not only deliverance from death; God wanted the children of Israel to go out of the land of Egypt.
Quite strangely, you find in Exodus 13:17-18 that, on the night the children of Israel left the land, God did not lead them by the way of the Philistines, which was near. Why? Because God said, “If I lead them out of Egypt by the way of the Philistines, they will meet conflict right away, and because of that they will repent and return to Egypt.”
Now, maybe I could explain a little bit. God’s purpose in delivering His children out of Egypt was not just to bring them out; it was to lead them into Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey, the promised land.
Going out of Egypt into the promised land, Canaan, there was a way by land. It was the way of the Philistines, because the Philistines were the people who left Africa and went to Canaan by land. It was the nearest way, but God did not lead them that way.
If the children of Israel had gone out of Egypt by the land of the Philistines, they would immediately have met the Philistines. The Philistines would have blocked their way and fought with them. Because they were not yet trained, they would have been disheartened and immediately gone back to Egypt, because by land they could go back.
So, in view of that, God led them by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea. After they crossed the Red Sea, there was no way to return to Egypt. Now, this was the mercy of God.
But you notice that even so, when the children of Israel left Egypt, the Bible uses the words, “Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt.” That word armed is a military word. It is martial array, military order. It means girded; it means ranks of five.
In other words, when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, they came out in military order. They came out as the army of the Lord.
Now, they were not yet very greatly organized, because they were greatly organized only when they arrived at the foot of Mount Sinai. There at Sinai, God organized them very strictly. You find in Numbers that they were all numbered. All the young men twenty years old and above were numbered.
They camped around the tabernacle on the four sides, with three tribes on one side under one banner. When they marched, they marched as an army through the wilderness.
So, brothers and sisters, what we see in this type—for what was recorded in the Bible is for our admonition, for us who live in the last days—is that when God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, they came out as the army of the Lord.
That means that as soon as we are saved by the blood of the Lamb, our Lord Jesus, immediately we are enlisted into the army of the Lord. So, brothers and sisters, we today are on a military footing. We should not be complacent. We must remember that we are enlisted in the army of the Lord. We are called to fight the good fight of faith.
So far as the children of Israel were concerned, you find that God led them out of Egypt. Their first fight was against the pursuing army of Pharaoh.
Because destruction came upon the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to the firstborn of the slave girl, and all the firstborn of the cattle and of the herd, all were slain that night. There was crying in all Egypt.
So you find Pharaoh says, “Go, go quickly.” The Egyptians pushed the Israelites, saying, “You go, because if you do not, we all die.” So they came out in a hurry and marched out of the land. But God, as I have already mentioned, in His mercy did not lead them by land, but led them out through the sea.
They came out by the wilderness and came to the Red Sea. Now Pharaoh, after he realized that the children of Israel had left—all the slaves had left—repented. So he called his army and his chariots, and they pursued after the children of Israel.
They caught up with the children of Israel by the Red Sea. When the children of Israel saw the army of Pharaoh pursuing after them, they cried. Why? Because there was no way out. The pursuing army was behind them, and the sea was before them.
So they said, “Moses, you led us out that we might die in the wilderness.” You remember in Exodus 14, Moses said:
Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you to-day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
The Lord will fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
God commanded Moses to raise his rod over the sea, and God divided the water. The children of Israel went through the Red Sea on dry ground; the bottom of the sea was dry.
Pharaoh’s army pursued after them. They saw that the children of Israel were on dry ground through the sea, so they pursued. The pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire, where the presence of God was, turned from leading the children of Israel and came to their rear, standing between the Egyptian army and the children of Israel.
The children of Israel safely passed through the Red Sea to the other side, but God troubled the chariots, troubled the army, and delayed them. When they realized that God was working against them, they tried to turn back. But the children of Israel had already passed through the Red Sea.
God told Moses to raise the rod, the waters flowed back, and Pharaoh and his army were drowned in the Red Sea. That is the way the children of Israel came out of Egypt. When they stood on the other side of the Red Sea, they could look back and see that the army of the Egyptians was drowned in the sea, and Egypt was behind them. They were out of Egypt.
Before we apply this a little more in detail, probably let me mention something first. The children of Israel came out of Egypt, and you find that they were fighting all the way from Egypt into Canaan, and even in Canaan.
If you read the Bible, I will just sum it up. Before they crossed the Red Sea, their fight was against Pharaoh and his army. Or, to put it another way, it was a fight against the world, because Egypt in Scripture represents the world: the things of the world, the riches of the world, and yet the tyranny and oppression of the world.
But when they crossed the Red Sea and entered the wilderness, you find that their fight during those forty years was against their flesh—themselves, their flesh. We will explain that later.
After they crossed the Jordan River into Canaan, they fought against the seven tribes of Canaan. These seven tribes serve as types of the principalities, authorities, and powers of darkness in the heavenlies. So they fought against the spiritual forces that are against God.
These are the conflicts typified in the history of the children of Israel, and we will apply them to ourselves.
First of all, how did they fight against Pharaoh and his army? How were they delivered out of the world? That principle is applied to every fight afterwards.
Did the children of Israel fight against Pharaoh and his army? Did they turn their backs against the Red Sea and, in desperation, fight against the chariots and army of the Egyptians? No.
They did not fight at all, and yet they did fight. The Lord fought for them. It is the battle of the Lord. The Lord said, “I will fight for you.” It is a fight, but the children of Israel did not really fight. All they did was stand there, be still, and see the salvation of the Lord.
It was the Lord Who opened the Red Sea and brought them through. It was the Lord Who overthrew the Egyptian armies and drowned them in the sea. It was the Lord Who delivered them out of Egypt, and He delivered them in such a way that there was no way to turn back. Now, is that not a mercy of the Lord?
The Red Sea in Scripture is a type of baptism, because in 1 Corinthians 10 we are told that all the children of Israel went through the cloud and the sea, and they were baptized unto Moses.
Before they crossed the Red Sea, they were in Egypt. They were slaves to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and they were put into hard labor. They were not even allowed to live, because all the male children were to be thrown into the river Nile.
But after they crossed the Red Sea, Egypt was behind them. They were no longer under Pharaoh. They were baptized unto Moses, and Moses represents God. In other words, by the Red Sea the children of Israel were completely delivered out of Egypt. That is the doing of God.
Now, brothers and sisters, people always ask that question: if you believe in the Lord Jesus, you are saved. But why is it that we who believe in the Lord Jesus must be baptized? Some people say, “Can I believe in the Lord Jesus and not be baptized? What is the meaning of baptism? I already believe in the Lord Jesus. I am already saved. Why should I be baptized?”
Do you know why we must be baptized? That we may be delivered out of the world.
On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many people were moved, and they said, “What shall we do?” Peter said, “Repent ye, and be baptized.” He used many other words to exhort them, saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation.” Those who believed were baptized. Three thousand were baptized on that day.
So what is baptism? The water does not wash your sins away. It is the blood that washes your sins away. Then what does the water do?
It is by faith that we enter into the water, and by faith that we come out of the water. When we enter into the water, the world is buried—Pharaoh and his army, who were drowned in the water. When we come out of the water, we belong to the Lord Jesus.
So, in other words, baptism is a declaration of our faith, accepting what the Lord Jesus has done for us. When our Lord Jesus died on the cross, He judged the world.
We may say it was the world that judged the Lord; the world put the Lord on the cross. But by that very cross, the Lord said, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.”
So, in the salvation of our Lord Jesus, He not only shed His blood for the remission of our sins; His very cross has judged the world and has delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.
When you, by faith, believe in what the Lord Jesus has done and go into the water, you declare that from now on you do not belong to the world. When you come out of the water, you proclaim that you belong to Christ Jesus—another world, a new world altogether. Now, that is baptism.
Maybe I should explain a little bit more what the word world means. You know, the word world in Scripture may mean several things.
First, it may mean the earth that God has created. Second, it may mean the people—mankind.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
The world there means mankind. God so loved mankind. So the world can mean the earth, or the world may mean mankind.
Yet there is another meaning of the world. The world means something organized by the arch-enemy of God in opposition to God. So the world is a cosmos; it is an organization.
Satan organized the world into a system. He is called the ruler of this world, the prince of this world, and he uses the world to oppose God.
Whether it is political, economic, social, educational, or even religious, you find that he has organized the world in all these aspects into a system to oppose God and His kingdom. That is the meaning of the world.
So far as the world as the earth is concerned, we should take care of it and not ruin it. In the beginning, God gave this earth to man to till, to guard, and to have dominion. So take care of this earth. Unfortunately, man failed in that mission.
So far as the world as people—mankind—is concerned, we should love them as God loved the world.
But so far as the world as a system, dominated and ruled by Satan, the arch-enemy of God, in opposition to God, is concerned, what is our attitude to the world? We shall come out of it.
Once we belonged to the world. All who are born into this world belong to that system. It was the world that crucified the Lord. The world hated the Lord: “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him. We have nothing to do with Him.”
Brothers and sisters, once we belonged to that world. We were part of it; we were born into that.
But thank God, when our Lord Jesus died on the cross, He delivered us out of the tyranny of the ruler of this world. The ruler of this world was judged by the Lord on the cross, and He delivered us out of this world.
Brothers and sisters, we no longer belong to this world system that was under the arch-enemy of God, in opposition to God and His kingdom. Thank God, we belong to another world—the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. That is where we belong.
If this is the case, should we not make it a public declaration? That public declaration is baptism.
When we are baptized, we declare that we have accepted the salvation of the Lord. He has delivered us. Just as Paul said in Galatians 6:14, there is only one thing in which I boast: I boast in the cross of Jesus Christ.
But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
The cross stands between me and the world. It is a double death: I died to the world, and the world died to me. There is no more relationship. It is a complete separation.
Have you been baptized? If you have, do you know what it means? You have made a public proclamation that you no longer belong to this world. You belong to the Lord. Are you faithful to your declaration?
This is the reason why, especially in heathen nations, if you believe in the Lord Jesus people may not persecute you. But once you are baptized, immediately you will be persecuted, because they know you do not belong to the world anymore.
Did you do anything? You did not. The Lord did it all. Be still. Fear not. Be still, and see the salvation of the Lord. The Lord has done it. By baptism, with faith, by faith, we stand on the ground of that separation from the world. This is the Lord’s doing.
With that, you are not able to return. You know, people try not to be baptized because they want, in case it is too difficult, to be able to return. But once you are baptized, the Red Sea has separated you from Egypt. You have no way to return. Thank God for that. He knows our weakness.
But, brothers and sisters, do you think the fight is over? No.
So far as God’s truth is concerned—and truth is what Christ has done for us—truth is eternal. It never changes. It cannot be changed by circumstances, by environment, by your feelings, or by anything, because what Christ has done on Calvary’s cross is eternally true. It is truth that we must accept by faith.
Now, having been baptized and having taken the truth, then, brothers and sisters, experience will follow.
The children of Israel left Egypt. The Red Sea divided them. They could not go back anymore. They were out of Egypt. But, dear brothers and sisters, if you read their history, you find that during their forty years in the wilderness, Egypt followed them.
You know, Pharaoh will not give up that easily. Outwardly they were out of Egypt, but inwardly Egypt was still in their hearts. Do you remember the story? They cried out and said, “We are tired of this manna, the food that came down from heaven. Oh, we are thinking of our days in Egypt, when we had fish, garlic, onions, leeks, and all these good things.” They longed for the things of Egypt.
They were out of Egypt, but Egypt was not out of them.
Dear brothers and sisters, is this not true in our experience? You were baptized. You were out of the world system. You belong to the Lord. You should be satisfied with Christ. He is your manna. He is your drink. He is your very life.
But, brothers and sisters, how often we are still tempted by the world.
In 1 John 2:16, it says, what is the world? The world is represented by the things of the world: the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.
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 vainglory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Dear brothers and sisters, is it not true that we are still longing after the things of this world—things that appeal to our eyes, things that appeal to our flesh, things that appeal to the pride of our life? What are they? That is the world. The world pursues after you.
God gives this world, that is, the earth and all the things on this earth, for our enjoyment. He knows our need. Yet, brothers and sisters, we lust for the things of this world. It means that we are not satisfied with what God has given us. We want more. Lust.
Lusting after the things of the world: what we shall see, what we shall eat, what we shall drink, what we shall be clothed with. Our Lord Jesus says these are the things that the Gentiles seek after. Your heavenly Father knows your need.
Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they?
But seek ye first His kingdom, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Brothers and sisters, do you believe that? We cannot serve two masters, either Mammon or God. Yet how we long after the things of this world, never satisfied: more, more, more.
In Luke 21, it says, “Take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life.” When the Lord returns, you may be left behind, too heavy to be taken.
Dear brothers and sisters, are we completely delivered from the world? How can we overcome the world? When temptations come, how can we overcome them? By the word of God.
You remember when Satan tempted our Lord Jesus in the wilderness. He showed our Lord Jesus the whole world and all the riches in the world. He said, “If You bow down to me, I will give all to You.”
Our Lord Jesus said:
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.
He quoted the word of God. We overcome the world by the word of God. When temptations come, the word of God will come to us, and by the word of God we have the strength to reject the world.
You think, “I will reject you.” No, we reject the world. Our Lord Jesus rejected the world; therefore, the world is His.
The more you grow in the Lord, the more you see the world for what it really is. You know, the world is not only the things of the world that appeal to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.
Remember, if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you, because the world is in opposition to God the Father. But as you grow in the Lord, you find the world is something more than just things. The world is a mould.
In Romans 12:2:
And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Be not conformed to the world. The world is like a mould, and it requires you to conform to it, to belong, to be as one. Otherwise, you are hurt.
You know, the world has a mould. To use an illustration, actually what it means in the original—the feeling, the force—is: do not squeeze yourself into the world. Because we Christians are too big for the world. It is below our dignity to squeeze ourselves into the world. Yet you find how many Christians try very hard to squeeze themselves in.
To use an illustration, if this summer a new fashion comes out of Paris, what happens? All over the world, people try to squeeze themselves into that fashion. If it is short, short; if it is long, long. Meaningless.
After several years, it goes back. So you had better keep your clothes for a number of years; they will come back into fashion. Is that not terrible? Pitiful. Let the world follow fashion, but let the world follow us—not we follow their fashion.
The world is a mould. How terrible. It is like a straitjacket. Oh, we need to be delivered. With the renewing of our mind, we begin to see things differently. Others look at something as beautiful; we look at it as ugly.
The apostle Paul said that the things he loved before were but refuse. Now he considered the knowledge of the Lord Jesus most excellent, and he would give up everything for it.
Is that your attitude towards the world?
If you go deeper with the Lord, you will find that the world is not only things, not only a mould; it is a spirit.
In 1 Corinthians 2:12, God has not given us the spirit of the world. He has given us the Spirit of God, that we may know the things of God. Thank God for that.
What is the spirit of the world? The spirit of the world is the spirit of antichrist. It is the spirit of Satan. It is a spirit of rebellion, a spirit of hatred, of jealousy, and of pride. That is the spirit of the world.
Oh, brothers and sisters, we need to be delivered from that spirit. We need to have the spirit of the Lamb, the spirit of the cross, the spirit of humility, the spirit of obedience, or submission—the Spirit of Christ, not the spirit of this world.
We need to be delivered, and brothers and sisters, our Lord has done it. All you need to do is be still and see the salvation of the Lord. You just stand on the finished work of Christ, and the world is crucified to you, and you are crucified to the world. That is the first fight.
Oh, are you fighting, or have you yielded your ground?
I have hardly begun yet. All right, let us go on a little bit more.
Now, this is the fight with the world. Then the children of Israel entered into the wilderness. In the wilderness, you find there is another kind of fight. It is not fighting against Pharaoh in Egypt; it is fighting against the flesh—themselves.
Now read Scripture: Deuteronomy 8. Here you find the forty years of wilderness experience summed up in these verses.
And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or not.
And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
And thou shalt consider in thy heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.
And thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to fear Him.
Now again, you will see that the flesh and the world can hardly be separated. They are allies. The world is outside of you; the flesh is inside of you. They work together. That is the reason why, in the wilderness, you cannot separate these experiences.
Maybe again I have to explain what the flesh means, because the word flesh in the Bible has several meanings, and you have to determine its meaning by the context.
The flesh in Scripture, first, may mean this physical body—flesh and blood. In 1 Corinthians 15:50, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” It means this body is corruptible, so it cannot inherit the incorruptible kingdom. You have to have a new body, a spiritual body, an incorruptible body, to inherit the incorruptible kingdom.
Or in Romans 9:3, Paul speaks of his kinsmen, his own brethren according to the flesh. That is physical. That is one meaning.
Another meaning of flesh is mankind. In Romans 3:20, it says no flesh shall be justified by works. That means no man can be justified by works.
But these are not the two meanings we are talking about. We are talking about the third meaning of the flesh. The third meaning of the flesh is the unregenerated part of your being. That is the flesh.
Romans 7:18: “In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.” You know, when you believe in the Lord Jesus, your spirit is regenerated, but the body and the soul have not been regenerated yet. So the flesh means the soul and the body in their unregenerated state.
Or, to put it another way, the life of your soul—also yourself, the expression of yourself—is the flesh. So the Bible calls it the works of the flesh: the unregenerated part of your being.
Now, we do not know ourselves. We think that after we believe in the Lord Jesus, we are totally changed. We are a new man, totally changed.
Thank God, in the beginning days you seem to be like that, because you are in first love with the Lord. So your flesh is dormant, hiding itself, waiting for an opportunity to rise up.
When temptation from the world comes, then the flesh has opportunity, and it rises up to respond to the world.
Do you know that our flesh never changes? Even after you are saved, your flesh is still the same old flesh. Do you know that? Maybe you have already discovered it, and it is perhaps a surprise to you.
You discover that after you believe in the Lord Jesus, you think everything is new now. But wait. When temptations come, somehow you find there is still lust within you. You find that the flesh within you is the same old flesh. It has not changed.
You try to change your flesh. You try to powder it. You try to paint it. You try to improve it. You try to suppress it. But it still does not change.
You remember the word says:
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
He that is born of the flesh is flesh eternally. He that is born of the Spirit is spirit forever. So, in other words, the flesh—that is, the old creation in us, our soul and body dominated by that self in us—expresses itself in the works of the flesh. You find that our flesh never changes.
You think that before you believed in the Lord Jesus, there was no good in you. But after you believe in the Lord Jesus, now somehow that no good has become somewhat good.
To the surprise of the apostle Paul, in Romans 7, he said, “Well, I want to do the will of God. I am in the Lord. Surely I want to please the Lord. Whatever the Lord commands, I will have the strength to do it. I have the will to do it. I have the power to do it.”
Then the commandment came: “Thou shalt not covet.” Now, of all the Ten Commandments, only this commandment is not merely external. It is more than external; it has something to do with our desire.
“For a while, I was not a greedy person. I was always a very broad-minded person. I would not be greedy.” But before the commandment came, he was not very greedy; when the commandment came, he found that he became greedy and greedier.
You know how true it is. When you have a sign, “Do not touch,” that is where all the dents are. When you learn to ride a bicycle and see somebody coming, you say, “Do not hit him,” and you hit him.
He that is born of the flesh is flesh. Paul said, “I want to please God. I want to do the will of God. I think now I can do it, but I find I still cannot do it. I do not want to do things against God, but I find that somehow I do them. I do not understand.”
Until he cried out, “Well, in me, that is, in my flesh, there is no good.” Brothers and sisters, your flesh is strong to do your will, but weak to do God’s will.
You have to come to a place where you realize there is no good in your flesh. You hate it. You cry out:
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?
Thank God, through Jesus Christ.
For forty years, the children of Israel were tested and tested, and it was proved that there was no good in their flesh. They did not keep the commandments of God. They could not do it. God chastened them, child-trained them.
Not until they crossed the River Jordan was the flesh behind them.
You remember the story of how they crossed the Jordan. I am sorry, it is too late. If anyone feels you have to go, please go. It is all right, because I have trespassed on the time.
You find that for forty years in the wilderness, the children of Israel were proved to be weak in the flesh, weak in keeping the commandment of God. They just could not do it. So how could they be delivered from the flesh?
It is typified by the crossing of the River Jordan. When they crossed the River Jordan, you remember, the ark led the way. The priests with the ark on their shoulders stepped into the water, and the River Jordan divided.
The priests stood on the dry riverbed, and the children of Israel passed over. Then twelve men took twelve stones from the wilderness and placed them where the priests stood with the ark. They also took twelve stones out of the riverbed, carried them over to the other side of the Jordan River, and set them there as a memorial.
You know the difference between these stones? The stones that were taken from the wilderness were rough stones, but the stones taken from the riverbed were smooth stones.
So it represents that the old Israel was buried; the flesh was buried. The new Israel came into life. That is how they were delivered from the flesh.
Brothers and sisters, is that not the same thing with us? How are we delivered from this flesh?
Number one, you have to realize there is no good in your flesh. As long as you still think there is some good in your flesh, you will not be delivered. You will still have to wander in the wilderness.
But when you come to see that there is no good in your flesh, then you begin to see that what God has done is right. God says, “You are hopeless. I cannot repair you. I cannot reform you. I put you to death.”
When Christ died on the cross, He took Adam—the whole Adamic race—with Him and crucified it on the cross. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Christ. When Christ died on the cross, you and I were crucified there.
You do not believe it? You think you are too good to be crucified, too early to die? Two thousand years ago, God said, “You died.” That is your salvation.
Not until you see that there is no good in your flesh, not until you say, “Oh, this wretched man, who can deliver me?” You know, again, Paul is using an illustration with a historical background.
In the Roman world, there was one way to punish murderers. If somebody murdered another person, they would take that murdered corpse and bind the corpse to the murderer: eye to eye, nose to nose, mouth to mouth, hand to hand, feet to feet. They bound them together until the corruption gradually corrupted the living one, and eventually he died.
That is what Paul had in mind: “O wretched man that I am.” Someone is bound up with me. Who is that one? Himself. Who can deliver me from this bondage?
Do you feel that way? Thank God through Jesus Christ. It is only then and there that you look up at the cross of the Lord Jesus and you see, in Him, you were there. You say, “Amen. That is what it ought to be.” You are delivered.
So Paul said:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.
Brothers and sisters, do you do anything to be delivered from the flesh in this fight? Do you do anything? Be still and see the salvation of the Lord. By faith, believe what Christ has done on the cross for you and for me. Thank God through Jesus Christ. That is the way we are delivered from the flesh.
Finally, then they crossed the River Jordan. They were in the promised land. But do you think there would be no more fighting in the promised land? No. The real fighting begins.
They had to fight against the seven tribes of Canaan. There were giants there; the Israelites looked upon themselves as grasshoppers. But did they have anything to fear? No.
The Lord had already given the land to them. It was theirs. They simply put down their feet, and it was theirs, because the battle is the Lord’s.
How did they fight? The ark led the way. You remember how the ark led the way, and the children of Israel, the army of Israel, followed the ark. They surrounded the city of Jericho. They went around the city once a day, and on the seventh day, seven times. Then they shouted, and the wall of Jericho fell.
That is the way the ark led the fight. Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus, on Calvary’s cross, has won the battle.
Our brother read this morning in Colossians 2:15:
Having despoiled the principalities and the powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
In other words, when our Lord Jesus was on the cross, He judged the ruler of this world. He judged the world. He had won the battle.
He has ascended on high, seated at the right hand of God His Father. He has in His hand His rod. He is exercising His authority and power to bring this whole world back to Himself. The victory is already won.
Now, what do we do? Do we fight? We do. But how do we fight? Stand, and having done all, stand.
You understand? Stand in the finished work of Christ. We do not fight for victory; we fight from victory. The enemy was already beaten. All we do is round up these scattered, defeated enemies. That is all we do.
So claim the victory of Christ over every situation. You know, the battle is over inheritance. God has given us an inheritance. He has already given it to us. We have the seal; the Holy Spirit is the seal of our inheritance, that we will receive our full inheritance.
Our inheritance is the fullness, the riches of Christ. It is all ours. But the enemy tries to stand in the way of our inheriting our inheritance, and that is what the fight is all about.
We fight to get through to the fullness of Christ. The way to get through is to stand in the might of His grace, to withstand the assaults of the enemy, and to stand to carry through the will of God in spite of opposition.
Brothers and sisters, that is the fight in the heavenlies. We fight against the world around us. We fight against the flesh within us. We fight against the evil forces of darkness in the heavenlies.
Thank God, in this final fight all we need to do is: fear not, be still, and see the salvation of the Lord.
Now finally, finally, I think I have to put in a few words here. We may think that all these fights are personal and individual, but actually they are not. If you read the word of God very carefully, you will find that we fight as an army.
In Ephesians 6:10 onward, that warrior is the church. You cannot fight this spiritual battle on your own. On a battlefield, if you try to fight on your own, you raise your head and you will be shot.
We have to fight together. So nobody can be individualistic. We protect each other, help each other, and fight together. That is the way of the Lord.
Let us pray.
Dear heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee that before the fight, there is the rest; before the stand, there is the sitting. We thank Thee that we do sit with Christ in the heavenlies. Therefore, we can fight with Him, under Him, after Him, in the heavenlies.
We do praise and thank Thee that the victory is already ours. We thank Thee for our time together. We just pray that Thy word will be living and real to each one of us. To Thee be the glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.