Speaker 1: Today on Daily Hope with Pastor Rick Warren, we continue
Speaker 1: in our riveting journey through the series The Invisible War.
Speaker 1: In it will explore the unseen world of good and
Speaker 1: evil and see how it impacts our day to day existence.
Speaker 1: Join us for eye opening biblical insights into the spiritual
Speaker 1: dimensions that influence our lives in ways we never imagined.
Speaker 1: Right now, Here's Pastor Rick Warren would part one of
Speaker 1: a message called winning the Battle Inside Me.
Speaker 2: Now, the Bible tells us that there are three mortal
Speaker 2: enemies to your life that are out to mess up
Speaker 2: everything God wants to do in your life. The Bible
Speaker 2: calls them the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. The
Speaker 2: world is the value system around you. The flesh is
Speaker 2: the old nature within you. And Satan is coming against
Speaker 2: you and his des and his minions. During this series,
Speaker 2: we're going to look at what our angels and what
Speaker 2: do they do? And what are demons and what do
Speaker 2: they do? But I want us to begin the series,
Speaker 2: we actually began it last week by looking at the
Speaker 2: battle within. Because you are your own worst problem, You
Speaker 2: are your own biggest enemy.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I talk to a lot of people who you know,
Speaker 2: go around and they say, you know, I've got so
Speaker 2: much stress from this boss, and I've got so much
Speaker 2: stress from the kids, and I've got so much going
Speaker 2: on from all these things, and I've got all these
Speaker 2: problems in my life. I need to go to Tahiti.
Speaker 2: The problem with that is when you go to Tahiti,
Speaker 2: you take you. I mean, it's like the people who
Speaker 2: talk to me and say, you know, I don't get it.
Speaker 2: All my relationships suck, and they move from one relationship
Speaker 2: to the next relationship, to the next relationship, to the
Speaker 2: next relationship to the next relationship, and they say, you know,
Speaker 2: they just why do I have some bad relationships? Well,
Speaker 2: what's the common denominator?
Speaker 3: You?
Speaker 2: You're the common denominator, and so something's got to change
Speaker 2: in you. First, back in nineteen seventy, before many or
Speaker 2: most of you were born, Walt Kelly, the famous cartoonist,
Speaker 2: had a Pogo cartoon that became an icon in American culture.
Speaker 2: It's here on the screen, it says, Pogo says, we
Speaker 2: have met the enemy and he is us. And it's true.
Speaker 2: I'm my biggest problem. Most of the time, Satan doesn't
Speaker 2: even have to worry about tempting me because I'm messing
Speaker 2: up my own life.
Speaker 3: Most of the time, Satan doesn't even have.
Speaker 2: To think about you, because you're doing a good job
Speaker 2: of screwing up yourself. So what happens is we have
Speaker 2: to work on all three of the enemies. We're going
Speaker 2: to start first with the internal war that goes onside you.
Speaker 2: Then we're going to look at the world, and then
Speaker 2: we're going to look at Satan. Now you may identify
Speaker 2: with this letter that I got a while back, Pastor.
Speaker 3: Rick, I need you to explain something to me.
Speaker 2: When I first came to Christ, everything seemed to change
Speaker 2: for the better. Immediately, I felt joy for being forgiven
Speaker 2: for all of my shame, and I felt peace knowing
Speaker 2: that God loved me, and I felt hope because I
Speaker 2: learned that He had a purpose for my life.
Speaker 3: It was all a great relief.
Speaker 2: But after a while, my joy seemed to shrink, and
Speaker 2: following Christ became a struggle. Old habits reared up their
Speaker 2: head again, and I felt the tug of old ways
Speaker 2: coming back. Now this really frustrated me because I thought
Speaker 2: I was through with all of that. I want to
Speaker 2: do the right thing, but I lack the ability to
Speaker 2: do it, and I can't seem to fulfill all of
Speaker 2: my good intentions. I know what is right, and I
Speaker 2: know what is wrong, and I really don't want to
Speaker 2: do wrong anymore. And I know God doesn't want me
Speaker 2: to do wrong. So why do I still make bad choices?
Speaker 2: What's wrong with me? It's so frustrating. I sometimes wonder
Speaker 2: if maybe I'm not really a Christian. Now, if you've
Speaker 2: ever felt that way, you came to church on a
Speaker 2: good weekend, because you're not the only one. Fortunately, you're
Speaker 2: not alone. Every other believer has experienced this. And Paul himself,
Speaker 2: the greatest Christian who ever lived, who wrote most of
Speaker 2: the New Testament, next to Jesus Christ, is probably, without
Speaker 2: a doubt, the greatest Christian ever lived. He talks about
Speaker 2: this internal war in a very famous chapter of the Bible.
Speaker 2: It's called Romans chapter seven. What we're going to do
Speaker 2: this weekend is we're going to look at the consequences
Speaker 2: or the conditions that happen in your life when this
Speaker 2: battle is going on.
Speaker 3: I call it the.
Speaker 2: Emotional costs, the emotional costs of having this battle in
Speaker 2: your life. And Paul says that they are sick things
Speaker 2: that happen in your life when you don't know how
Speaker 2: to deal with this battle that's going on inside of you.
Speaker 2: And then Paul explains the cause of this battle, and
Speaker 2: then he explains the cure, and we're going to look
Speaker 2: at that both this week and next week. Now, I
Speaker 2: want to just read you this passage first. It's up
Speaker 2: here on the screen. Romans, Chapter seven, Verses fifteen to
Speaker 2: twenty five.
Speaker 3: Here's what Paul says.
Speaker 2: And I really love this because it's a gut level,
Speaker 2: keeping it real kind of approach. Paul doesn't mince any words.
Speaker 2: He's transparent about his own struggles. He's very honest about
Speaker 2: the frustration he feels. Verse fifteen, he says this, I
Speaker 2: don't understand myself at all, for I really want to
Speaker 2: do what is right, but I can't. I do what
Speaker 2: I don't want to, I do what I hate.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: I know perfectly well that what I'm doing is wrong,
Speaker 2: and my bad content proves that I agree with these
Speaker 2: laws that I'm breaking. But I can't help myself because
Speaker 2: I'm no longer doing it. It is sin inside me
Speaker 2: that is stronger than I am, that makes me do
Speaker 2: these evil things. In other words, you know, I don't
Speaker 2: want to gossip but I end up doing it. I
Speaker 2: don't want to be impatient, but I end up being impatient.
Speaker 2: I don't want to say bad things to my kids,
Speaker 2: but I do. I know how to take better care
Speaker 2: of my health, but I don't. He just goes on
Speaker 2: and on about all the things in life. He says,
Speaker 2: it's sin inside me that's stronger than I am and
Speaker 2: makes me do these things. Says, I know I'm rotten
Speaker 2: inside as far as my old sin nature is concerned.
Speaker 2: But no matter which way I turn, I can't make
Speaker 2: myself do right. I want to, but I can't. When
Speaker 2: I want to do good, I don't. And when I
Speaker 2: try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. Now,
Speaker 2: if I'm doing what I don't want to do, it's
Speaker 2: plain where the trouble is. Sin still has its me,
Speaker 2: and it's grip. He actually starts to seem a little
Speaker 2: discouraged here, like it's like it's going to be unchangeable.
Speaker 2: He says, seems to be a fact of life that
Speaker 2: when I want to do what is right, I inevitably
Speaker 2: do what is wrong. I love to do God's will
Speaker 2: is so as so far as my new nature is concerned.
Speaker 2: But there's something else deep within me? Am I in
Speaker 2: my lower nature that is this war within my mind
Speaker 2: and wins the fight and makes me a slave to
Speaker 2: the sin that's still within me. In my mind, I
Speaker 2: want to be God's willing servant, but instead I find
Speaker 2: myself still in slave to sin my old ways. So
Speaker 2: you see how it is. My new life tells me
Speaker 2: to do right, but the old nature that is still
Speaker 2: inside me loves to sin. Oh what a terrible predicament
Speaker 2: I'm in. Who will free me from my slave to
Speaker 2: this deadly lower nature? Thank God, it has been done
Speaker 2: by Jesus Christ, our Lord. He has set me free.
Speaker 2: Now can you hear the frustration? And in Paul's voice,
Speaker 2: Now Paul.
Speaker 3: Is baring his soul.
Speaker 2: And what's going on here is he's explaining the battle
Speaker 2: that happens in your life when two things occur. When
Speaker 2: you try to please God by your own strength, you're
Speaker 2: going to be frustrated and you're going to fail when
Speaker 2: you try to do it on your own strength. And
Speaker 2: number two, when you try to change things in your
Speaker 2: life from bad to good by simply willpower, it's not
Speaker 2: going to work and you're going to eventually give up. Now,
Speaker 2: the encouragement that ought to be here. Paul is not
Speaker 2: a new believer. This guy's not a novice.
Speaker 3: He is a mature believer.
Speaker 2: He's writing a book that's actually in the Bible. Is
Speaker 2: a missionary to all of the Roman Empire. He is probably,
Speaker 2: as I said, the strongest Christian who ever lived next
Speaker 2: to Jesus himself. And yet he says, you know, sometimes
Speaker 2: I just can't figure it out. And there's things in
Speaker 2: me I want to do that are right, but I
Speaker 2: don't do them, and the things that are wrong that
Speaker 2: I end up doing. We're going to look this weekend
Speaker 2: in detail, this week and next week at how to
Speaker 2: win the battle inside you, to change the things that
Speaker 2: you want to change but just can't seem to change.
Speaker 3: Now, I want us to begin.
Speaker 2: By looking at the cost of this emotional battle going
Speaker 2: on inside of you. The emotional drain of trying to
Speaker 2: do the right thing on your own power is exhausting,
Speaker 2: and eventually you get worn out. And Paul lists six
Speaker 2: emotional consequences. I want you to write these down see
Speaker 2: if you identify with any of them.
Speaker 3: He says.
Speaker 2: The first thing that happens when I try to fight
Speaker 2: the internal spiritual battle going on me on my own
Speaker 2: power is I get confusion confusion, and he says that
Speaker 2: in the first verse here, verse fifteen, he says, I.
Speaker 3: Don't understand myself.
Speaker 2: I don't understand myself at all, for I really want
Speaker 2: to do what is right, but I can't. I do
Speaker 2: what I don't want to. I do what I hate. Now,
Speaker 2: before we even get into this, I want you to
Speaker 2: circle all of the eyes in this verse. I don't
Speaker 2: understand myself, for I really want to do what is right,
Speaker 2: but I can't. I do what I don't want to,
Speaker 2: what I hate. He's says, something's wrong with me. Now
Speaker 2: in this one verse he uses the first person pronoun
Speaker 2: I six times. Now, this is the key to understanding
Speaker 2: this chapter. These are two famous chapters in the Bible.
Speaker 2: Roman seven is about the defeated Christian life, and Roman's eight,
Speaker 2: which we're going to look at next week, is about
Speaker 2: the victorious Christian life. And in Romans seven, Paul uses
Speaker 2: the word I over and over and over. In fact,
Speaker 2: in just twelve verses, he uses the word I twenty
Speaker 2: seven times. He uses the word my six times, he
Speaker 2: uses the word me six times, he uses the word
Speaker 2: myself two times. In all, in all, He uses the
Speaker 2: first person pronouns forty one times in twelve verses. Paul
Speaker 2: has an eye problem, and you have an eye problem,
Speaker 2: and I have an eye problem. And the problem is
Speaker 2: I try to do it all my way, and that's
Speaker 2: going to cause me to fail. I am my biggest problem. Now, notice,
Speaker 2: he says, I don't understand myself. I'm perplexed.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: That ought to encourage you that even Paul, this great
Speaker 2: mature saint, doesn't have all the answers. If Paul doesn't
Speaker 2: have all the answers for life, it's okay for you
Speaker 2: not to have all the answers to life. It's okay
Speaker 2: for me to go I can't figure out what I'm
Speaker 2: doing what I'm doing. You know, I've stopped trying to
Speaker 2: judge other people's motives. You know why I can't even
Speaker 2: figure out my own half the time? You don't know
Speaker 2: why you do what you do half the time. Why
Speaker 2: can't I stop doing bad things? And why don't I
Speaker 2: consistently do the stuff I know is good for me?
Speaker 2: He says, it's confusing. The second thing that happens, and
Speaker 2: I don't know how to fight this battle is guilt
Speaker 2: and shame. God doesn't want you going around with a
Speaker 2: bunch of guilt and shame.
Speaker 3: But that's what happens.
Speaker 2: When you try to fight a spiritual battle with human
Speaker 2: tools like willpower. He says in verse sixteen. The next verse,
Speaker 2: I know perfectly well what I'm doing is wrong, and
Speaker 2: my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws
Speaker 2: I am breaking.
Speaker 3: And what's he say? And he goes, I know what
Speaker 3: I'm doing is wrong.
Speaker 2: And you do too, when you do it and you
Speaker 2: know it's wrong, and then you get a bad conscience circle.
Speaker 2: The word conscience, you know where that word comes from.
Speaker 2: It's a Latin word. It comes from the word con
Speaker 2: which means with in Latin, and science are scientia in Latin,
Speaker 2: which means knowledge. Conscience means you do something with full
Speaker 2: knowledge that what you're doing is wrong. You're not kidding yourself.
Speaker 2: I know I shouldn't eat this, I know I shouldn't
Speaker 2: watch this. I know I shouldn't say this. I know
Speaker 2: I shouldn't do this, but I'm going to do it anyway,
Speaker 2: and I do it with full knowledge, which means my
Speaker 2: conscience goes on tilt and it says danger, Will Robinson,
Speaker 2: something's wrong here, something is wrong, guilt and shame happens.
Speaker 2: You remember Jesus, the night before he was to go
Speaker 2: to the Cross, he goes into this garden called the
Speaker 2: Garden of Gethsemone to pray because he knows he's going
Speaker 2: to take the guilt of the entire world on him
Speaker 2: in his life, and he takes three of his best friends, Peter,
Speaker 2: James and John in with him. He says, look, you guys,
Speaker 2: I just need you to hang out with me. I'm
Speaker 2: going through a tough time. It's an emotional conflict. I'm
Speaker 2: going to go over here and pray for a while
Speaker 2: and I want you to just kind of hang out here.
Speaker 2: You don't have to say anything. You don't have to
Speaker 2: give me advice. I don't even need you to pray.
Speaker 2: I just want you to hang out with me. And
Speaker 2: sometimes that's all a good friend does. A good friend
Speaker 2: doesn't always have to have the answer. A good friend
Speaker 2: just shows up. They show up in your life. They
Speaker 2: walk in when everybody else walks out. And so Jesus
Speaker 2: says to Peter James, on you guys, just hang out
Speaker 2: here while I go over here and pray, and I'm
Speaker 2: getting ready to go and die on the cross.
Speaker 3: Tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Well, Peter, James and John fall asleep and they're sawing logs,
Speaker 2: and Jesus comes back and goes, could you guys not
Speaker 2: hang out with me just for an hour or two?
Speaker 3: Could you know? Without going to sleep?
Speaker 2: And then Jesus says to Peter, the spirit is willing,
Speaker 2: but the flesh is weak. Been there, done that. There's
Speaker 2: been a lot of times in your life when you
Speaker 2: were willing to do the right thing, but you just
Speaker 2: didn't seem to have the power to do it. And
Speaker 2: that causes confusion, and it causes guild and shame. The
Speaker 2: third thing that causes when you don't know how to
Speaker 2: fight the battle going on inside you is it causes
Speaker 2: compulsions and addictions. Compulsions and addictions.
Speaker 3: What is that?
Speaker 2: It's when you start to do something so many times
Speaker 2: it becomes habitual in your life, It becomes a habit,
Speaker 2: and then you cannot stop from doing it, You cannot
Speaker 2: not do it. It becomes a compulsion, it becomes a habit,
Speaker 2: it becomes an addiction. And Paul says this in the
Speaker 2: next verse. He said, you know, if I do these
Speaker 2: bad things enough, I just I get addicted to them.
Speaker 2: He said, But I can't help myself because I'm no
Speaker 2: longer doing it. It's sin inside me that's stronger than
Speaker 2: I am, that makes me do these evil things. He says,
Speaker 2: you know, I got great intentions, but I just can't
Speaker 2: seem to pull it off. Nothing changes, you see, we
Speaker 2: because we're built with a human nature, and that's a
Speaker 2: fallen nature. There's sin in it, which means we have
Speaker 2: a natural inclination to do the wrong thing. We have
Speaker 2: a natural inclination resistance to do the right thing. You
Speaker 2: don't like to do the right thing. You like to
Speaker 2: do the easy thing, and so do I. I like
Speaker 2: to do the popular thing. I like to do the
Speaker 2: comfortable thing. I like to do the thing that I
Speaker 2: think will make me most happy. I'm not interested in
Speaker 2: always doing the right thing. I'm interested in doing what's
Speaker 2: easy and what's comfortable, and what's quick. And how many
Speaker 2: times have you started each day and you go okay
Speaker 2: in your mind, you going okay, Lord, today is going
Speaker 2: to be different. Today is going to be different. And
Speaker 2: by the end of the day, nothing has changed. And
Speaker 2: Paul says, here, you know, I'm no longer doing it now.
Speaker 2: When Paul says it's in me, this I can't help
Speaker 2: myself because I'm no longer doing He's not making excuses,
Speaker 2: he's simply recognizing the fact that he has an old
Speaker 2: nature inside him that.
Speaker 3: Likes to sin.
Speaker 2: And by the way, so do I, and by the way,
Speaker 2: so do you. Now we like to sin. Let's just
Speaker 2: admit it. Sin is fun. It is it's fun. In fact,
Speaker 2: nobody would do it if it was a bummer. In fact,
Speaker 2: even the Bible says it. The Bible says in Hebrews
Speaker 2: it says there is pleasure in sin for a short time.
Speaker 2: There is pleasure in sin for a while, in the
Speaker 2: short term, there's pleasure.
Speaker 3: In sin for a season.
Speaker 2: But then you're gonna have the consequences. Everything has a consequence,
Speaker 2: and if you have your kicks, you're gonna have your
Speaker 2: kick facts. In other words, it's a whole lot of
Speaker 2: fun to go out and buy a whole bunch of
Speaker 2: new things on a credit card, but.
Speaker 3: Then you've got to pay for it.
Speaker 2: Okay, It's one thing to go out and have a
Speaker 2: lot of fun and eat a whole lot of food,
Speaker 2: and then you've got to pay for it with indigestion
Speaker 2: or overweight.
Speaker 3: You know, it's one thing.
Speaker 2: To stay up plate all night and party all night.
Speaker 2: I have a great time, but you're gonna pay for
Speaker 2: it the next day. You can go out and get drunk,
Speaker 2: but then you're gonna have the hangover. There was always
Speaker 2: a consequence to everything we do, and every kick has
Speaker 2: a kickback. And so he's saying, you know, the sin
Speaker 2: is fun, there's no doubt about it, but there's always
Speaker 2: a payoff for it that.
Speaker 3: Is not worth the short term pleasure.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We're so happy
Speaker 1: you've chosen to study along with us.
Speaker 3: Today.
Speaker 1: Here's Pastor Rick with a letter from one of our listeners.
Speaker 2: Today, I want to share with you a note. I
Speaker 2: got the mail from Alyssa. She wrote, Hi, Pastor Rick.
Speaker 2: I'm a thirty three year old living in Jamestown, North Dakota,
Speaker 2: and I'm married with three kids. I just want to
Speaker 2: thank you so much for your Daily Hope broadcast. I
Speaker 2: listened to them regularly and I've learned so much. You know,
Speaker 2: I realized very quickly that I needed to have a
Speaker 2: notebook journal available to write down all the notes as
Speaker 2: I listened to you. I love the convenience that the
Speaker 2: podcasts have and I turned them on as I'm getting
Speaker 2: ready in the morning, while I'm cooking, or I'm in
Speaker 2: the car traveling, and even when I'm working out, which
Speaker 2: is great. I've also been sharing them with several people.
Speaker 2: I often think of specific people that I want to
Speaker 2: share your podcast with after I've heard your message. I
Speaker 2: don't know if they've listened to them or not after
Speaker 2: I've shared them, but I do know that one of
Speaker 2: my friends has been regularly listening to you now and
Speaker 2: I ran into her at the park when she was jogging,
Speaker 2: and when she stopped to say hi, I could hear
Speaker 2: your voice in her earbuds.
Speaker 3: That's great.
Speaker 2: She's been struggling with a verbally abusive relationship for many years,
Speaker 2: and I know that your Daily Hope has helped her.
Speaker 3: Rick. God has really used you to reach so.
Speaker 2: Many people, and I think, thank you for being obedient
Speaker 2: to Him and He's calling to you. I will continue
Speaker 2: to pray for you. Thank you for impacting my life. Alyssa, well, Alissa,
Speaker 2: thank you for sending this message. You know we live
Speaker 2: to hear these stories, and I'm so glad to hear
Speaker 2: how God is using Daily Hope not only in your life,
Speaker 2: but in the life of your friends because you've cared
Speaker 2: enough to pass it on. So thanks for sharing that
Speaker 2: podcast with others. I know you're being a blessing to them,
Speaker 2: and I want to say to the rest of you,
Speaker 2: have you shared the news of Daily Hope with anybody?
Speaker 2: Would you find one person today and recommend that day
Speaker 2: to start listening to Daily Hope, either on the radio
Speaker 2: or on a podcast, or getting the daily devotional through
Speaker 2: the email. We are here to help you fulfill your
Speaker 2: mission in sharing Christ with other people, So tell one
Speaker 2: person today about Daily Hope.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to bless Pastor Rick by letting him
Speaker 1: know how much this broadcast has helped you, please send
Speaker 1: him an email at Rick at pastorick dot com. That's
Speaker 1: Rick at pastorick dot com. Be sure to join us
Speaker 1: next time as we look into God's word for our
Speaker 1: Daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily
Speaker 1: Hope and your generous financial support.