Indwelling Sin

So this morning for devotions I started a new book called, The enemy within. The back of the books description says that, "This book takes dead aim at the heart of ongoing sin. Drawing from two masterful works by John Owen, Kris Lundgaard offers insight, encouragement, and hope for overcoming the enemy within."

Romans 7:21 - So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.

Lundgaard tells us that if we want to stand in conquest over our bleeding flesh, we'll have to follow Paul into the fight. When we do, we'll find the same four truths that humbled him in battle.

The Four Key Truths
1. Sin living in us is a "law"

The "law" Paul refers to is the same thing he calls "sin living in me."

Indwelling sin works like this -- enticing, threatening, even bullying. So Paul calls it a law to get us to see that it is powerful even in the lives of believers and that it constantly works to press us into its evil mold.

Lundgaard asks us the question, "In what sense has Christ defeated sin in the believer?"

He has overthrown its rule, weakened its power, and even killed its root so that it cannot bear the fruit of eternal death in a believer.

2. We find this law inside us.

"It is one thing to sit in a group and critique dissertations on original sin; it is something else to find yourself subdued by its strength and madness. It is one thing to listen to a lecture about AIDS --how it spreads, what it does to a body, how invincible it is; it is another thing to hear your doctor say to you, "HIV positive, I am sorry."

Lundgaard goes on and says that the law of sin is a raging river; carrying them along; they cannot measure the force of the current, because they have surrendered themselves to it and are borne along by it. A believer, on the other hand, swims upstream -- he meets sin head-on and strains under its strength.

3. We find this law when we're at our best.

As powerful as this law of sin is, it doesn't rule the heart of the believer. Paul found it at work in him even while he wanted to do good. He was aware of it even when he most wanted to serve God.

I know that I want to do good, I want to please God, and give him glory. By God's grace the desire to obey him ordinarily prevails in us even against this insidious enemy within.

4. This law never rests

The "law of sin and death" is in a constant tug of war against the believer's overall desire to please God.

Galatians 5:17 - For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing things you want to do.

Lundgaard writes that in your struggle against sin, there is only one thing more important to grasp than these four facts: the free, justifying grace of God in Christ's blood. The grace of God in Christ and the law of sin are the two fountains of all your holiness and sin, joy and trouble, refreshment and sorrow. If you are to walk with God and glorify him in this world, you need to master both.