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ARE WILLPOWER VICTORIES REAL?

Back in late March, 1998 when we recorded these radio programs, a Kathleen Willey had just appeared on the television program, 60 Minutes. As you may recall, she shared with Ed Bradley details going back to a meeting she had in November of 1993, where the President of the United States allegedly behaved inappropriately, making an unwanted sexual advance toward her.
Well, stories like these have been about a dime a dozen in recent months, and who knows what will have happened in the time between when we record and when you hear this on the first of May, 1998? But a headline like this one certainly does underscore a truth that applies to all of us, and that's this: sin is a deadly INNER infection.

In this particular story, which, I want to emphasize again, is several weeks old now as you hear this, it's clear that one party or the other is absolutely lying. Someone is telling deadly, premeditated, high-stakes lies. And that pattern of lying is an infection of the soul; it's a twist in the heart, the character.
In addition, if what Kathleen Willey alleges is true, then the fair-minded person could also conclude that a man can reach the highest political office in the world, and still have within him a fatal flaw of sexual adventurism, an addiction.

I mean, the risks would be enormous! Why would a person who's obviously blessed with a good daughter and an extremely loyal and loving wife betray that trust over and over and over again? Why risk a presidency over a few tawdry flings? But the answer lies, again, in an inner infection. Friend, instead of looking angrily at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on this Friday, let's all look into our own hearts, because the stain of sin is in us too. We don't just have tainted skin cells and a few sin-colored freckles. We're men and women who are infected right to the very core. As author Marvin Moore points out, our lives are like the bitter springs of water you find at Yellowstone. You could spend millions trying to clean it up and make it drinkable, and not succeed, because the poisons, the sulphurs, are so deeply rooted underground.

With that realization in mind, we have just this final day to wrestle with the question of fighting temptation. How do we do it? Certainly Band-Aids are not the solution — not if the cancer goes all the way through us. And really, knowing this diagnosis takes us back to Tuesday's study, where we realized that all we as infected humans can do is to surrender absolutely and completely, to throw ourselves into the hands of a loving God. "Jesus, save me," we cry. "I'm fatally sick!"

But for a few moments today let's get right to the White House problem. We know we're sick. We surrender. Furthermore, we realize that our only hope for victory against Satan is to rely completely on having a relationship with God. I mentioned yesterday that our main struggle is not AGAINST sin and temptation, but TOWARD knowing God. TOWARD spending time with Him. TOWARD Bible study and prayer and fellowship and witnessing. If we're going to grit our teeth, we need to grit our teeth in that direction.

And yet that doesn't mean sinful temptations will go away. Even a United States President might be faithful in church attendance and Bible reading; he might lead out at prayer breakfasts at the White House . . . and still struggle with inner demons. Does the Christian, then, spend ANY time and ANY effort still fighting against lusts and temptations, or simply relax in the arms of Jesus and say, "God, You take care of all this. I'm going to just keep on living my life as before, and You take sin away according to whatever timetable suits You"?
This is a very practical question, made more real by the fact that all of us in the church say often to a new would-be Christian that they must stop SOME sins immediately. A man who makes his living performing "hits" for the Mob is told by the preacher, "Listen, Sharky, you need a new line of work immediately. You've got to stop committing murder, like, right now." We don't give him ten years to pull things together. We tell the adulterer: "Stop that! Right now!" We tell the thief, "Give up robbing houses. Right now! At least, give up robbing MY house." But when it comes to pride and selfishness and maybe things like lying — you know, little common sins — we begin to wonder: how soon do I need to start experiencing victory? And does the Christian, in a high office or a low one, expend any energy whatsoever in fighting against temptation?

You know, I've sometimes read the suggestion that a born-again Christian ought to pour 100% of his or her energy into simply knowing God, and none into fighting temptation. What's more, it's sometimes suggested that when we're tempted to lie or be angry or commit adultery — because of that inner infection we all have — if we simply tighten up our willpower and grit our teeth and refrain from smacking someone out of our own sheer human strength, that this isn't true obedience. True obedience is when we love God so much and are so in tune with Him that we no longer have even these desires. The cancer, or the smelly Yellowstone water, would be completely gone!

I'd like to share an observation made by Pastor Marvin Moore, in his book The Crisis of the End Time. He points out, correctly, that because of free will, God never reaches down and simply prevents a person, even a Christian, from sinning. So when we pray, "God, please don't let me sin today," that's not a prayer God can answer. What's more, we sometimes don't pray that prayer because there's a certain sin out there that we WANT to commit! We want to do such-and-such, and so we don't pray.

With that in mind, Pastor Moore suggests that this should be the real prayer: "God, please help me not to WANT this sin. Take away the DESIRE right now." In fact, he observes that there are three aspects to this great battle: conviction, conversion, and resistance. And in all three phases, there's not a thing we as humans can do except this: ask God for help. We can ask God to show us our sins: that's conviction. And it's God's job to do it. We can ask God to change our desires; that's conversion. And it's God's job to take away sinful desires. And we can ask God to help us resist sin, and it's His job to give us the power; that's resistance. But in all three cases, our only job assignment is to ask. It's God's job to point out sins, take away desires, and give us power when desires still exist.

Pastor Moore also shares this principle, which is helpful to the Christian:
"As long as your mind thinks there's the slightest chance it might get the sin it wants, your desire for it will remain white hot. But once your mind accepts the fact that it really is NOT going to get what it wants" — because you've sought heaven's help — "your desire will disappear very rapidly."

Now, friend, let me take a chance. I agree fully with those who teach that the Christian's first job is to walk with Jesus and fellowship with God, to build a faith relationship. That is my number one priority each day, and yours as well. However, I'd like to suggest that the follower of Jesus will also make an effort — let's call it a SECONDARY effort — to also resist the devil, as we're taught to do in the book of James. Is fighting Satan our first effort? No — seeking God is our first effort. But part of the process of seeking God will include wanting to obey Him and please Him. And as we ask for these three things — an awareness of our sins, a removed desire, and resistance through the power of Jesus — our second effort should be directed toward honoring Christ through holy living.

You see, I may hate you with all of my heart and want to punch you out, maybe even kill you. Even as a Christian, I may struggle with those feelings, a murderous rage from the cancer within. What a wonderful thing it would be, as I walked with God, to have those feelings completely disappear. That would be true obedience, to be sure. But in the meantime, wouldn't you rather that I NOT beat you up or even kill you, even if my heart is still pounding in anger? In the Bible, Jesus says that hate is a sin just as murder is, but from your perspective, isn't it better if I struggle with hating you — and don't kill you — than if I go ahead and pull the trigger? And frankly, I don't believe that is "(quote) false obedience." Growing up into Christ is the work of a lifetime, the good work of a lifetime. And it certainly is true that the man or woman who is in fellowship with God shouldn't be discouraged over the timetable of heaven.
I remember a prominent Christian who took a little swipe at my denomination's well-publicized smoking-cessation program called "The Five-Day Plan." "I prefer the five-minute plan," he said happily. "I asked God, and He instantly took away the desire to smoke. In five minutes I was delivered."

Well, that's wonderful news, but not every believer has that experience. Some people battle cigarettes or temper or lust their whole lives, but as long as they are turning to Jesus each day and asking God for help, the timetable is God's responsibility and not ours. As we quoted from C. S. Lewis the other day, the true believer does focus some efforts on obedience, but how? Notice again: "In a new, less worried way." Because now the battle is the Lord's, and not ours. We participate, to be sure; we feel the sting of the arrows.

We may sweat great drops of blood as even Jesus did when tempted to abandon the cross of Calvary. But victory is assured — our victory — because of that very cross.