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Following Christ, without reservation!

Sunday Worship -11:00am & 6:00pm

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2320 East Broad Street

Statesville, NC 28625

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Aiding & Abetting the Enemy

Romans 8:12-13

The evening news casts occasionally include reports of American citizens being charged with "Providing Material Support to the Enemy," the enemy being ISIS. We find it hard to grasp how an American citizen; a beneficiary of the freedoms we enjoy in this Nation, could sympathize with an organization that would so violently deprive them and others of those very freedoms.

As unthinkable as their actions are, there is another war raging in the heart of every Christian. It’s combatants never rest and a greater freedom hangs in the balance. The Apostle Paul describes this battle in Romans 7:14-25 and perhaps summarizes it best in verses 18-19

"For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want."

Unfortunately, far to many Christians in our generation seem to be losing this battle against the flesh. Lives and relationships lie strewn across the battlefield bearing witness to this tragedy. Like the treasonous individual on the evening news, there is a betrayer lurking; hidden in the fog of the war raging within us. He’s "aiding and abetting the enemy" within our own hearts. He’s providing material support to the enemy within us who would rob us of our freedom. The betrayer is "Us."

Our flesh is crafty for it doesn’t initially bring an all out assault but it engages in skirmishes along the perimeter of our position. It conducts a guerilla warfare with covert operations to interrupt our supply lines and undermine our security. What’s more is that it has a co-conspirator inside the wire whose identity is so secret that he himself doesn’t even realize it. He unwittingly shuffles supplies outside the wire to the enemy; food, water, ammunition, battle plans and a hundred other things seemingly insignificant. Individually and collectively, all these things strengthen the enemy for its increasingly aggressive assaults until a day comes when the enemy has increased its strength and supplied itself sufficiently for that all out, frontal assault. Only then do we realize that we’ve been betrayed but then it’s too late...the enemy has prevailed and our freedom is lost.

This sad scenario is just illustrative of how we "feed" and supply the flesh; that thinking and behavior of the fallen man within us. The flesh brings pressure to bear out along the seemingly insignificant borders of our lives. It whispers to us at first things like "you’ve worked hard this week! You deserve some time for yourself....don’t worry about going to church this morning! You can go next week! It’s just one Sunday" Or "you’ve been under a lot of stress lately...go ahead and have that drink...it’s just one and it’ll help you relax! Afterall, there’s no direct Biblical prohibition against a single drink!" Early on the Spirit pricks the heart. Something (Or rather Someone) within us sounds an alarm.... "be careful!" but the flesh quickly silences that voice and says, "it’s not that big a deal...It’s not like I’m sinning or anything." Little by little, we feed the longings of our flesh, never realizing that it’s growing stronger every moment. The whispers of its longings become increasingly more audible and our accommodation to its desires more frequent. The Spirit’s alarms meanwhile are muffled further by the growing intensity of the pleas of our flesh. Finally, the flesh is strong and well fed and its audible longings are loud and belligerent. Its appetite rather than being satisfied is more voracious than ever. Its longings have now become demands and with the Spirit’s voice quenched, we find no strength to deny it. Suddenly, although "not suddenly at all" the flesh has taken control of our lives. He was on the outside once...threatening, but because of the Spirit, unable to enter. But with the Spirit’s voice quenched and unheeded, he slipped through into our lives. He was weak at first but we fed him as we accommodated his seemingly innocent desires. Then he started telling us what he wanted rather than asking us for it. Still, we thought we could feed the monster but keep him on a leash. But in the end, no leash could restrain him! He’s strong, he's broken free of his leash. He’s taken over and we have sold our freedom for slavery to his desires. What’s worse, we have aided and abetted him in that conquest. "Oh wretched man that I am; who shall deliver me from the body of this death!?

"Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ or Lord..." Rom. 7:25

The monster must die!

And only the Cross of Jesus can kill him.

"...If you are living according to the flesh you must die! Rom. 8:13

And How shall we die yet live?

Romans 6:3-7

Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.