SPIRITUAL-WARFARE-WEAPONS-GOD-TRIUNE

Sin turns ugly and is subject to defeat only when seen in the light of Christ’s beauty.

Sam Storms

The only way to liberate the heart from servitude to the passing pleasures of sin is by cultivating a passion for the joy and delight of beholding the beauty of God in the face of Jesus. What breaks the power of sin is faith in the promise that the pleasures of sin are temporary and toxic but at God’s right hand are pleasures evermore (see Psalm 16:11).

Sam Storms

Volitional restraint and abstinence are only effective against sin when the soul embraces a pleasure superior to the one denied. There is little sanctifying value in depriving our souls of fleshly entertainment if steps are not taken to feast on all that God is for us in Jesus. Suppressed desire will always resurface, desperate for satisfaction. Finding fullness of joy and everlasting pleasure in God’s presence alone will serve to woo our wayward hearts from the power of the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Therefore, falling in love with the Son of God is the key to holiness.

Sam Storms

How do you fight the pleasure of sin? I’ll tell you: with another pleasure. Holiness is not attained, at least not in any lasting, life-changing way, merely through prohibitions, threats, fear, or shame-based appeals. Holiness is attained by believing in, trusting, banking on, resting in, savoring, and cherishing God’s promise of a superior happiness that comes only by falling in love with Jesus. The power that the pleasures of sin exert on the human soul will ultimately be overcome only by the superior power of the pleasures of knowing and being known, loving and being loved by God in Christ.

Sam Storms

What will turn our hearts from the passing pleasures of sin? What can strengthen our wills to reject the temptations of the flesh? What will energize our souls to turn from world delusions? What has the power to transform our desires and reconfigure our longings and stir our emotional chemistry that we might love what God loves and hate what He hates? Only one thing. Not rules and threats and fear and punishment. Only one thing. Jesus, in all His beauty. Jesus, in all that He is for us now and will be tomorrow.

Sam Storms

What elevates the human soul and empowers it to live in the fullness of its created purpose is not religious intimidation or new rules or an anxiety induced by spiritual scoldings. It is faith in the promise that the enjoyment sin brings is fleeting and futile, but at God’s right hand, and in the presence of His radiant glory, are pleasures evermore (Ps. 16:11).

Sam Storms
One Thing, Christian Focus, © Enjoying God Ministries, 2004, p.130. www.enjoyinggodministries.com. Used by Permission.

Satan’s “fiery darts” do not easily penetrate a mind captivated by the beauty of Christ. When our hearts beat with perpetual fascination and our thoughts are filled with the beauty and splendor and adequacy of God, little room is left for the devil to gain a foothold (see Phil. 4:8).

Sam Storms
Tactics of Temptation, November 8, 2006, www.enjoyinggodministries.com. Used by Permission.

There is a great difference between realizing, "On that Cross He was crucified for me," and "On that Cross I am crucified with Him." The one aspect brings us deliverance from sin's condemnation, the other from sin's power.

John Gregory Mantle

God has defeated Satan through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through this overwhelming victory, God has also empowered you to overcome any temptation to sin and has provided sufficient resources for you to respond biblically to any problem of life. By relying on God’s power and being obedient to His Word, you can be an overcomer in any situation.

Biblical Counseling Foundation

Self-Confrontation Manuel, Lesson 21, Page 2, Used by Permission of the Biblical Counseling Foundation.

When you willingly or unknowingly are under the control of any power other than God’s Holy Spirit (e.g., drugs, alcohol, sex, another person, your peer group, a false religion, a self-centered habit such as gossip or laziness, or a self-oriented desire for power, food, or wealth), you are in bondage to sin. However, God has broken the power of sin through the Lord Jesus Christ, and you can overcome sinful habits by depending on His strength and being obedient to His Word.

Biblical Counseling Foundation

Self-Confrontation Manuel, Lesson 20, Page 1, Used by Permission of the Biblical Counseling Foundation.

As an obedient believer, you are to stand firm in the strength of the Lord, to be sober in spirit, and to remain alert in order to resist the schemes of the devil. However, in all areas of your walk as a believer, you are incapable in your own strength and insufficient in your own resources to overcome the wiles and temptations of Satan. Therefore, you must put on the full armor of God to be an overwhelming conqueror in you continuing spiritual battle.

Biblical Counseling Foundation

Self-Confrontation Manuel, Lesson 21, Page 4, Used by Permission of the Biblical Counseling Foundation.

There is no death of sin without the death of Christ.

John Owen

A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 30.

Whenever God pardons sin, He subdues it. Micah 7:19. Then is the condemning power of sin taken away, when the commanding power of it is taken away. If a malefactor be in prison, how shall he know that his prince hath pardoned him? If a jailer come and knock off his chains and fetters, and lets him out of prison, then he may know he is pardoned; so, how shall we know God hath pardoned us? If the fetters of sin be broken off, and we walk at liberty in the ways of God, this is a blessed sign we are pardoned.

Thomas Watson

A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 25.

This is the great business of life - to 'put our mouths out of taste for those pleasures with which the tempter baits his hooks.' I know of no other way to triumph over sin long-term, than to gain a distaste for it, because of a superior satisfaction in God.

John Piper

Desiring God, 1996, p. 11, Used by Permission, www.desiringGod.org.

If my thirst for joy and meaning and passion are satisfied by the presence of the promises of Christ, the power of sin is broken. We do not yield to the offer of sandwich meat when we can see the sizzling steak on the grill… At first lust tricks me into feeling that I would really miss out on some great satisfaction if I followed the path of purity. But then I take up the sword of the Spirit and begin to fight… And as I pray for my faith to be satisfied with God’s life and peace, the sword of the Spirit carves the sugar coating off the poison of lust… And by the grace of God, (lust’s) alluring power is broken.

John Piper

How Redeemed People Do Battle with Sin, Decision, Jan. 1990.

Look to the cross, and hate your sin, for sin nailed your Well Beloved to the tree. Look up to the cross, and you will kill sin, for the strength of Jesus' love will make you strong to put down your tendencies to sin.

C.H. Spurgeon

Faith is the surest of all sin-killers.

C.H. Spurgeon

Sermons, 34.393.

The biblical motivation to (avoid sin) is that we are no longer sinners by nature, and that sin goes against the new nature that God has given us.

Mike Taylor

From Legalism to Grace, 2001.

Love Christ, and you will hate that which caused His death. Love Him, and you will love to be made like Him - and hate that which is so contrary to Him.

Richard Baxter

The Reformed Pastor.

This is the saddest warfare that any poor creature can be engaged in (fighting against sin without the Holy Spirit). A soul under the power of conviction from the law is pressed to fight against sin, but hath no strength for the contest. They cannot but fight, and they can never conquer; they are like men thrust on the sword of enemies on purpose to be slain. The law drives them on, and sin beats them back.

John Owen

Works.

Ways to fight the flesh:

1. Meditate on the cross to see the rottenness of your sin and the fullness of Christ's love.

2. Keeping watch against sin's deceit.

3. Filling your affections with heavenly things.

4. Applying your will to every means of God's grace to fight temptation.

5. Renewing your first love for Jesus.

6. Hungering for a glimpse of God's holy glory.

7. All these must be combined with FAITH.

Kris Lundgaard

The Enemy Within, P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 142. Used by Permission.

[Jesus] saves His people from their sins. This is His special office. He saves them from the guilt of sin, by washing them in His own atoning blood. He saves them from the dominion of sin, by putting in their hearts the sanctifying Spirit. He saves them from the presence of sin, when He takes them out of this world to rest with Him. He will save them from all the consequences of sin, when He shall give them a glorious body at the last day. Blessed and holy are Christ's people! From sorrow, cross, and conflict they are not saved. But they are saved from sin for evermore.

J.C. Ryle

Commentary: Matthew 1.

All sin results from failure to act in faith.

John MacArthur

Ephesians, Moody, 1986, p. 359.

That is God’s plan and purpose – to use Satan’s temptations as a means of testing and strengthening our faith in Him and of our growing stronger in righteousness. God allows testings in our lives in order that our spiritual “muscles” may be exercised and strengthened. Whether the testing is by God’s initiative or is sent by Satan, God will always use it to produce good in us when we meet the test in His power.

John MacArthur

The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Matthew 1-7, Moody, 1985, p. 87-88.

Job’s story demolishes the notion that we can avoid Satan’s attacks if we’re sufficiently strong, or skilled enough, or trained in how to wage war against Satan. No one was more spiritually fit than Job. Yet God allowed Satan to ravage him anyway – and there was nothing Job could do about it. Job finally prevailed in the face of Satan’s merciless assault, not because he found some secret way to beat the devil, not because he rebuked him or ordered him to desist, but because God was in control all along. He knew how much Job could bear. And He would not permit Satan to cross that boundary (1 Cor. 10:13). When Satan reached that limit God stopped him and his attacks ended.

John MacArthur

Spiritual Warfare: Who’s After Whom? from Our Sufficiency in Christ, 1991, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org. p. 228.

Everyone is born a slave of sin. Jesus Christ said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). We cannot free ourselves from this oppressive master, for no one can live without sinning against God. But the sinless Jesus - not for His own sake, but for others - came from Heaven to deliver His people. Jesus allowed godless men to nail Him to a Roman cross, and three days later rose from the dead so that “we should no longer be slaves of sin” (Romans 6:6). And all those who trust in His work (and not their own) as the way to freedom will find emancipation from sin. “Therefore,” declared Jesus, “if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Don Whitney

Rest Your Soul in "the Simplicity and Purity of Devotion to Christ." www.BiblicalSpirituality.org, Used by Permission.

Abide in Jesus, the sinless One – which means, give up all of self and its life, and dwell in God’s will and rest in His strength. This is what brings the power that does not commit sin.

Andrew Murray

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved to be steady… (It) is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point (of attack).

Martin Luther

Quoted by Francis A. Schaeffer in The Great Evangelical Disaster, Crossway, 1984, p. 50-51.

Christ, because He was the only Man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only Man who knows to the full what temptation means.

C.S. Lewis

Today in the Word, November 1998, p. 24.

Only as we reckon on these twin facts – that I am dead to sin and its reign over me and that I am alive to God, united to Him who strengthens me – can I keep sin from reigning in my mortal body.

Jerry Bridges

We need to reckon on the fact that we died to sin’s reign, that it no longer has any dominion over us, that God has united us with the risen Christ in all His power, and has given us the Holy Spirit to work in us. Only as we accept our responsibility and appropriate God’s provisions will we make any progress in our pursuit of holiness.

Jerry Bridges

Our reliance on the Spirit is not intended to foster an attitude of “I can’t do it,” but one of “I can do it through Him who strengthens me.” The Christian should never complain of want of ability and power. If we sin, it is because we choose to sin, not because we lack the ability to say no to temptation.

Jerry Bridges

[We must] pray constantly for His enabling grace to say no to temptation, of choosing to take all practical steps to avoid known areas of temptation and flee from those that surprise us.

Jerry Bridges

There are two views which the Christian ought to cultivate with all that he has: the Devil’s back and the face of God [see James 4:7].

Kent Hughes