Turn in your Bible to Ephesians 6.  I want to study with you about the battle.

When I was about 19 years old, I was asked to preach in a church.  I preached on this subject, and I used this passage of scripture.  When I was 19 years old, the Supreme Court had just ruled a few months before that it was constitutional to have a Sunday law.  At that time, we had a Roman Catholic President for the first time in the United States.  I was told that I would never get through college.  Things were closing up fast.

It was about that same time that in the State of Colorado there was agitation and an attempt to pass a statewide Sunday law.  (My family lived in Colorado then.)  At that time, the Seventh-day Adventist Church had an active Religious Liberty Department, and it was probably more the results of the work that the Adventists did than any other people that that law didn’t make it.  It didn’t pass.

But we were expecting Sunday laws, and we were expecting the work to close up.  When I read this passage to the people that’s what I preached about; that’s what I thought the battle was going to be.  It was going to be the battle against this false teaching—the persecution, the boycotting, not being able to buy or sell, the threatened imprisonment, the threatened death.  I thought all that sort of thing that we were going to have to face was the battle.

Well, I’m not saying that that isn’t any part of the battle, but I realize now that the real battle is in here, in the mind.  If you win the battle in here, you will be able to win the battle out there, but if you don’t win the battle in here, you are not going to be able to win the battle out there.  That is what I want to study with you.

I want you to see what this scripture is talking primarily about.  It is not talking about Sunday laws or persecution or somebody being burned at the stake or somebody being put in prison or somebody not being able to buy or sell.  This is talking about a spiritual battle, and a spiritual battle takes place in the mind.  You are going to see this as we read this passage of scripture.  A spiritual battle takes place in the mind and in the heart.  Let’s get real specific so we all know what we are talking about before we get started.

We have studied this before, so we don’t need to spend a lot of time, but I’ve read more than once to this congregation from Jeremiah 17 about the natural condition of the human heart and the fact that we all have a sinful nature—every single man and every single woman in the world.  I’m not criticizing anybody, just recognizing the facts about who we are.

We need to make something else clear before we get started, because there is so much confusion today.  Some people think that if you surrender your heart to Christ and you are born again that that sinful nature doesn’t exist any more.  They haven’t studied the New Testament carefully enough.  I’m going to read to you some statements, today, that show that you and I will have to continue to do battle against the fallen sinful nature.  Ellen White says, in some places, that that battle will continue “as long as life lasts,” but she also says, “as long as time shall last.”  How long is that?  As long as time shall last we are going to have to do battle, and we are going to have to learn how, by the grace of God, to win.  That is what the battle is about.  Remember the real battle is in the mind.  If you win there, you will win out here, too.

As Mrs. White says, in the book Christ’s Object Lessons, 174, 175, “Christ desires nothing so much as to redeem His heritage from the dominion of Satan.  But before we are delivered from Satan’s power without, we must be delivered from his power within.”

If you or I have sinful thoughts, if we have sinful feelings, if we have sinful words, if we have sinful actions, the devil still has a hold in our heart, and this is what the real battle is about.

Let’s read Ephesians 6:10, 11.  In my Bible, the heading above this paragraph calls it “the battle against evil.”  That is a pretty good subtitle.  It says, “Finally, be in empowered in the Lord and in the power of His might.  Clothe your selves [or in other words put on] in the full armor of God, so that you will be empowered to stand against the trickery [or the wiles] of the devil.”  Does the devil use trickery to get people?  Does he use deception to keep people in his grasp?  He certainly does.

“Because our battle [or our warfare] is not with blood and flesh, but with the rulers, with the authorities.”  And then comes a very interesting expression.  I’ll translate it for you very literally: “With the world rulers of darkness, with spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places.”  Verse 12. 

Our battle is not with other people.  Oh, if we could just learn that.  Our battle is not with each other; our battle is not with other people of the world, whether they are saved or unsaved.  That is not who the battle is with.  That is whom we might think the battle is with, because people say that they are going to pass Sunday laws, and they are going to make laws that we can’t buy or sell, and they are going to cast us into prison, so we think they are the enemy.  They are not the enemy.  They are just deceived by some spiritual power that is using them like puppets.  They are not the enemy.

Our battle, Paul says, “is not with blood and flesh.”  We don’t usually use that expression in English.  A lot of translations flip it around and say, “with flesh and blood,” right?  It says the same thing.  Our battle is not with flesh and blood; it’s not with blood and flesh.  Our battle is with the world rulers of the darkness or of wickedness, with spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. 

Who are these world rulers of darkness?  I used to think that is the devil.  It is interesting.  It is the devil all right, but it is more than the devil, because the word is in the plural.  There is more than one.  The devil has other agents—the world rulers of this darkness, the spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.  Notice this is a spiritual battle, because it is a battle against spiritual forces.

Paul says, “On account of this, take up [or put on] the full armor of God, in order that you may be empowered to resist, in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.  Therefore you stand, having your loins [that’s your waist] girded about with the truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.  Above all, taking up the shield of faith by which you will be empowered to quench all the fiery arrows of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God.”  Verses 13–17.  Notice that there are both offensive and defensive weapons, and Paul says you need to use it all.  You need to have it all.

You need to be fully clothed with the armor.  If you are fully clothed with armor, then there is no place on you where the devil can attack.  He can’t attack your head; you have the helmet of salvation.  He can’t attack you in the chest; you have on the breastplate of righteousness.  He can’t attack you at the feet; your feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.  He can’t attack you at the waist; your are girded about with the truth, and you have a shield of faith.  Furthermore, you are ready to attack yourself, because you have a sword, the Word of God.  Think that through for just a moment before we go on.  Will the sword do you any good if you have never practiced using it? 

It says, in verses 18–20, “Through all time [or all the time] with prayer and supplication praying and every time in the Spirit, watching unto the same with persistence, make supplication on behalf of all the holy people [or the saints] and on behalf of me in order that the word might be given me to open my mouth in boldness to make known the mystery of the gospel on behalf of which I am an ambassador in chains.  In order that I might speak boldly as it is necessary for me to speak.”  Paul describes here the battle that takes place.

As I told you, when I was young, I thought the battle was out here, but as I get older, I realize more and more that the battle is in the mind.  If you win the battle in the mind, you will win the battle out here.

Let’s read just a few more texts that have to do with this battle.  There are many, many texts in the New Testament that deal with this subject.  Now, you may not think that this text deals with this subject, but turn to Philippians 2:12, 13.  Paul says, “Beloved, you have always been obedient, not only in my presence, but also in my absence.  Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”  Have you ever tried to figure out what that verse is talking about?  Why should you work out your salvation with fear and trembling?  We need to spend just a moment on thinking through the issues at stake—the battle that we have been describing. 

This is the battle that takes place in the human heart.  We are going to describe more specifically what it is in a moment.  If you lose this battle, the consequence is that you will lose your soul; you will lose eternal life.

This is a life and death battle, not just for your temporal life like people fight in this world.  This has to do with your eternal life or eternal death.  This is the most important battle in which you can ever engage or ever will engage, because, if you should lose this battle, you will lose eternal life.  That is why Paul says “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

He goes on to say, in verse 13, that there is somebody else that is going to be involved; it is not just you who works it out.  Who else is involved?  “It is God that works in you to will and to do His good pleasure.”

Let’s just look at two more texts.  In the Book of Revelation, in the message to the seven churches, to each church there is given a promise, but the promise is only given to certain people in that church.  It is always the same group, every single time, in all seven churches.

We will just read about the seventh church.  Look at Revelation 3:21.  In the King James Version of the Bible, the word nikao is translated “overcome,” which is an excellent translation.  What does the word overcome mean?  In Modern English we would use the word conquer.  This is a word that has to do with a battle or a fight.  You don’t overcome anything when you’re sitting down in a chair.  Overcoming or conquering anything has to do with some kind of a fight, either a mental fight or a physical fight.  This is a word that is a battle word.  Conquering or overcoming is something that soldiers and armies do.  It does not have to do with washing the dishes or keeping the house or fixing your car or doing some ordinary thing; it is not that kind of a word.  This word has to do with fighting a battle and gaining a victory over something.

This is the promise that is given through out the Book of Revelation.  It is given to each one of the seven churches.  It says, in Revelation 3:21, “The one who overcomes I will give to him to sit with Me on My throne, as also I have overcome and I sat down with My Father in His throne.”  Notice what Jesus promises to the Laodicean church.  He says, “the one who overcomes” I’m going to call up, and you are going to sit on the throne.  I don’t comprehend that, but that is what He says.  That, friends, is not the throne for this world; that’s the throne of the universe, and He says, “If you overcome.”  Think of the stakes involved in this battle.  If you lose the battle, you have eternal death, but if you win the battle, what does it say is going to happen?  You are not only going to have eternal life; you are going to be called into the throne room.  You are going to be treated as royalty by the King of the universe.  Jesus goes on to make a most interesting statement.  He says, “As I also overcame.”  Jesus has overcome in my behalf, to give me an example of how I might overcome.

Let’s read one more text of scripture, Revelation 21:5–7.   I’m sorry that all Greek manuscripts have not exactly the same wording in these verses, so if your translation reads just a word or two differently than what I read, don’t become alarmed.  You will see that the meaning is almost exactly the same, although the wording may not be exactly the same.  “The One sitting upon the throne said, ‘Behold I am making all things new.’  And He said, ‘Write, because these are the true and faithful words.’  And He said to me, ‘It is done!  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.  To the one who is thirsty, I will give of the fountain of the water of life, freely [without cost].  The one who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be to him a God and he shall be to Me a son.’ ”  Isn’t that exciting to think about?  “If you overcome,” God says, “you will be to Me a son.”  Not a servant, but a son!

Sons have privileges that servants don’t have.  God says, “If you overcome.”  God knows that you are going to be tempted to quit and to give up.  He knows that the battle is going to get so fierce that people are going to be tempted to say, “I just can’t make it.”  They are going to be tempted to give up.  So, God wants you to see what the stakes are so that you will say, “I am not going to give up no matter what happens.  I’m not going to give up.  I’m going to stay in the fight.”  That is the first principle that every Christian needs to understand, because I’m going to show you in a few moments that the only way that you really can lose is if you give up.  There may be somebody saying, “Pastor John, you have no idea how many battles I’ve been through and lost.”  That may be true.  You may have lost more times than any of us know, but you are still alive or you wouldn’t be here.

Just last night I was reading a sermon that Ellen White gave to some people who had been backsliding and going in the way of sin.  She told them, “It’s not too late for you to renew the battle.”  You are here; you are not in the coffin, so as long as you are alive, you can say, “Lord, I’m choosing to fight.  I’m going to renew the battle.”  If you will choose to fight, the Lord has promised to give you the victory.  The Lord hasn’t promised to give anybody the victory that doesn’t fight.

Maybe we should spend just a moment or two on that, because there are some people that think that when you become a Christian, you don’t need to worry about the sinful nature anymore—you just pray and study your Bible and everything happens automatically.  That is not New Testament religion.  Hebrews 12 talks about resisting sin unto blood.  What do you suppose Paul is talking to Timothy about, when he says fight the good fight?  Oh, somebody says, that is just the fight to see if you are going to surrender to the Lord.  Well, it involves that, all right, but it also involves resisting the devil, according to James 4, and it involves putting to death the carnal nature, according to Romans 8, and it involves crucifying the old man, according to Romans 6.  That is the battle.

God knew that you would be tempted to be discouraged.  Discouragement is one of the main weapons that the devil uses.  First the devil tempts a person over and over again, and after he has tempted them many times, and they have fallen many times, he makes them think it is impossible.  So, the devil tempts them, and then he tells them what a terrible sinner they are and that they will never make it, and they get discouraged.  If he can get them discouraged enough to quit, then he will win.

If you decide that no matter how many times you have fallen you are still going to stay in the fight, ask the Lord to help you.  Pray, Lord, I’m helpless, but I’m going to stay in the fight, and I’m asking You to help me.  Do you know that each one of us has an all-powerful Mediator?  He is more powerful than the devil.  He is more powerful than all the hosts of hell are.

After the feeding of the 5,000, when almost everyone had left and Jesus only had a few people still following Him, He told the disciples, “On this rock I’m going to establish my church, and the hosts of Hades will not be able to prevail against it.”  (Matthew 16:18.)  That is a divine promise.  If you choose to surrender your will and your life to Him and you choose to resist the devil and you choose to fight, He has promised to give you the victory.  God puts these encouragements in the Bible so you will decide that the stakes are so high that no matter how you feel you cannot afford to quit.  You have to win!  And you can win, because we have a General, who is the Director of the battle. 

Did you know that every moment of every day this General is looking at what is going on in your heart?  He is observing, and if you are committing your life to Him, He is directing the battle.  He is going to allow temptations to come to you of a very severe nature, because when the temptation comes, unless you fight and overcome it, you will never develop spiritual strength.  Just think that through for a moment.  If God never allowed a temptation to come to you and you never resisted it and overcame that temptation, you would never develop spiritual strength.  Paul doesn’t say, Jesus doesn’t say, the Bible doesn’t say that the Lord will just take the temptations away.  It says you have to fight and overcome.  That is what it says in Revelation, the promise is given to the overcomer.

We must not look around us as to what is happening to other people, because we don’t know—even in the church we don’t know—who is going to be saved or lost.  So, don’t look at what somebody else is saying, doing, or acting, and think that if it is all right for them it is all right for you.  Ellen White wrote: “There are few really consecrated men among us, few who have fought and conquered in the battle with self.”  Testimonies, vol. 5, 82.

Are you having victory with self-conquest—conquest over the fallen, sinful nature?  In Steps to Christ, 43, she says that this battle that goes on in the heart with ourselves, with our fallen nature, “is the greatest battle that was ever fought.”  That is quite a statement!

If you have studied any history, there have been some mighty, big battles in this world.  But she says the battle that takes place in the heart is the greatest battle that has ever been fought.  As I mentioned, there are some people that are so confused that we need to have this crystal clear in our minds, because I was confused in my own mind about this at one time, and I can remember that time.  It made me very discouraged.  I thought, I’ve been a Christian for over 20 years; I’m an ordained minister; what in the world is going on?  I’d been a Christian for many years, and I didn’t think I should be having temptations like I was having.  I thought I should be past that.

Let me tell you something, even if you have been a Christian for 50 years, you day by day have to wage battle against the fallen sinful nature and overcome it, or it will overcome you.  That is why the apostle Paul talks so much about crucifying the old man.  Do you understand what crucifixion is?  Some people misunderstand this.  They talk about the text in the New Testament that talks about being dead to sin, and they think that just means that it is dead and gone and the battle is over.  Oh, no, friends!  That type of death is a crucifixion type of death and a crucifixion death is where the nature is completely alive but it is nailed to the cross so that it can’t do anything, so it is called the living death.  It’s dead because it can’t do anything.

You know what the devil did when Jesus was on the cross?  Do you remember what the devil had his agents tell Jesus when He was on the cross?  They said, “Come down from the cross, and then we will believe you.”  That is what the trick the devil tries to work on your heart and on my heart every day.  Let me tell you, if you let the old man come down from the cross, you will find the old man is perfectly well and strong, and you will go right to the pit of sin in a very short time, if the old man does not stay crucified.

Let me read to you just a very few statements on this subject: “Till the conflict is ended, there always will be a departing from God.  Satan will so shape circumstances that unless we are kept by divine power, they will almost imperceptibly weaken the fortifications of the soul.  We need to inquire at every step, ‘Is this the way of the Lord?’  As long as life shall last, there is need of guarding the affections and the passions with a firm purpose.”  Review and Herald, February 22, 1906.  Did you get that?  How long does this go on, when you need to guard your affections and your passions with a firm purpose?  She says, “As long as life shall last”—as long as you are alive.  “Not one moment can we be secure only as we are relying upon God, the life hid with Christ in God.  The safeguards of our purity must be watchfulness and prayer.  We must do nothing to lower the standard of our religious principles.”

Here is another statement.  Mrs. White quotes Revelation 3:21, then she says, “There are many things to be overcome. Day by day the battle goes on. The struggle is lifelong; for Satan watches every opportunity to take advantage of us, that he may ensnare us to our ruin.”  Manuscript Releases, vol. 18, 138.  Some people say that is too much for them, so they don’t enter the battle.  They just do what comes naturally.  If you take that course, you are headed for eternal destruction, and it is absolutely 100 percent sure that you are going to be some day at eternal destruction unless you are willing to turn around and get involved in the battle.

Ellen White wrote about some people in her day that were in that very situation.  Here is what she said: “Character will always be tested.  If Christ dwells in us, day by day and year by year, we shall grow into a noble heroism.  This is our allotted task, but it can not be accomplished without help from Jesus, without resolute decision, unwavering purpose, continual watchfulness, and unceasing prayer.  Each has a personal battle to fight; each must win his way through struggles and discouragements.”  The Youth’s Instructor, October 29, 1907.

By the way, don’t think that the other person in church doesn’t have struggles and discouragement.  If you think that, it just means that you don’t know enough about their life yet—and maybe you don’t need to know.  But everyone, she says, has battles that they have to fight against.

“Those who decline the struggle [the person who decides this is too much; they’re not going to get involved in the battle; they don’t want to fight], lose the strength and joy of victory.  No one, not even God [I didn’t say this the prophet said this], can make our characters noble or our lives useful unless we make the effort necessary on our part.”  Ibid.  That is a pretty strong statement, isn’t it?  Even God can’t save you, if you are not willing to put forth some effort.  “We must put features of beauty into our lives.  We must seek to expel the unlovely traits, while God works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure.”  Ibid.

Remember she says that we must expel the unlovely traits.  Let’s dwell on that for a moment, because this to me is very exciting to think about.  What could happen in this church if over 50 percent had expelled all unlovely traits of character?  Do you know what would happen?  In the book, Adventist Apocalypse, she talks about the latter rain and the Holy Spirit and what is keeping it from coming.  She says that it can’t come while we have unlovely traits of character.  Until those unlovely traits of character are expelled, the Holy Spirit cannot be poured out in power, because the Holy Spirit can not endorse those unlovely traits of character.  That would give a false representation of God.  Is this something worth fighting for?  You see, when the people in the church expel the unlovely traits of character, the Holy Spirit is going to be poured in ways that we have never seen before.  We have no idea yet, friends, of the power of God, when the Holy Spirit is poured in the latter rain.  We have no idea what is going happen.  It surely would be exciting to experience it though, wouldn’t it? 

But before that can happen, Ellen White says that signs and wonders and miracles will follow the believers everywhere, and God’s work in the world will be finished very, very rapidly.  We will be out of this place, but first we have to expel those unlovely traits of character.  We have to ask the Lord to help us; then we have to fight.  We must pray, Lord, help me—my thoughts, my feelings, my words, my actions.

How long does this battle go on?  “Jesus came to this earth, marred and seared by the curse, for the purpose of bringing moral power to men.  He fought the battle in man’s behalf in the wilderness of temptation, and it was the same battle that everyone of us must fight till the close of time.”  The Signs of the Times, September 30, 1889.  There you have it.  How long are you going to have to fight this battle?  Until the close of time.

We have been studying from the last chapters of The Great Controversy about Jesus coming.  I was thinking about that this morning, and I suppose this is selfish, but one of the reasons—I don’t know if I should tell you this or not—that I want Jesus to come is because I want to go up there in the clouds.  I really enjoy flying, and I want to fly higher than I have ever flown before.  Maybe that is a selfish reason to want the Lord to come, but I want to fly.  I want to fly really high, and by the way, I like to fly really fast, too.  When the Lord comes and He takes us up in that cloudy chariot—it has wings, by the way, and they are living wings that cry out “Holy,” when the saints are going up.  I don’t understand how that all works, but this chariot has wings.  When we get up there outside the Holy City, do you know what Jesus is going to say to us then?  He is going to say, “Your conflict is over.”  We need to keep that in mind.

In World War I, in order to stimulate the people to fight, they were told, ”This is a war to end all war.”  That wasn’t so.  We all know that today, but because they thought that it was a war to end all war, they fought.  The war that we are in is a war that will end all war!  That is why the stakes are so big that you can’t afford to quit.  You have to win, because when you win, the victory will be forever.  The Lord will say, “Your conflict is over.”  Then you can lay your weapons down.  Then you are going to enjoy the pleasures of eternity. 

The stakes are big, friend.  You have to win; I have to win.  We must pray morning, noon, and night.  Whatever we are struggling with, we have to do like Jacob and say, “Lord, I’m not giving up; I’m going to fight until the end.”  When the end comes, you are not going to have to fight again.  When once you gain the victory and the Lord tells you the warfare is over, it is over forever, and you will never have to fight again.

Wouldn’t it be too bad to go along a long time and then quit, when, if you had kept going a little bit longer, you could have had the victory?  Wouldn’t that be terrible?  That happens to a lot of people.  That happens to a lot of Christians.  They have come a long way; they have left off all kinds of bad habits; but they come to the place when they say, “I can’t make it on this one,” and they get discouraged.  Friend, we just can’t do that.  The stakes are too big.  We have to go to the Lord and say, “Lord, I can’t make it, but you have promised me to give me the victory over every temptation.”

“The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.  The weakest saint, as well as the strongest, may wear the crown of immortal glory.  All may win . . . .”  The Acts of the Apostles, 313.  Can you win if you are the weakest?  Yes, you can; you can win.  You must win, because Jesus has promised to help you.

We are in a battle.  We are in a battle against inward corruption and outward temptation.  The outward temptations are so strong because the devil knows how to match the outward temptation with the inward corruption.  The devil knows what your sinful nature craves for, and the devil knows how to put something on the outside that is just what that sinful nature wants.  That is what the world calls addiction.  We are in a battle, and this battle will go on for as long as time lasts, Ellen White says. 

There are some things that have to be cut away from the life.  Here is what they are: “The warfare between good and evil has not grown less fierce than it was in the days of the Saviour.  The path to heaven is no smoother now than it was then.  All our sins must be put away.  Every darling indulgence that hinders our religious life must be cut off.”  Review and Herald, August 25, 1896.  What has to be put away?  All our sins.  “Every darling indulgence that hinders our religious life must be cut off.”  Are you willing to do that? 

Somebody says, “I can’t do that!”  Well, wait a minute.  Remember how big the stakes are?  We are dealing with eternal life or eternal death.  Let’s just think this through a little bit.  The Bible does talk about the temporary pleasures of sin in Hebrews 11.  There are temporary pleasures of sin.  Suppose that there is some sin in your life that gives you so much pleasure—and there are some sins that give people either physical or mental pleasure—that you are hooked on it, and you say, “Lord, how will I ever get free from this?”  Think this through rationally for just a moment.  Suppose that the Lord says okay, you can go and enjoy that sin as long as you live.  Suppose you enjoy it every day of your life, and you have immense pleasure from now until the day that you die.  How long are you going to enjoy it?  Less than a hundred years; would you agree?  No matter how much pleasure you have from it, it is going to be temporary.  Do you agree?  (Here is one of the big problems that we have as Christians.  We don’t comprehend; we need to put our minds to the stretch once in a while, trying to comprehend things we don’t understand.)  If you gain eternal life, you are going to be in a place where you are going to experience bliss.  Do you know what the word bliss means?  Go look it up in the dictionary.  You are going to experience bliss.  Even the people that don’t know what the word means want it.  And you are going to experience it all the time, with no let up, for eternity.  People down here, even with their sinful pleasure, only experience joy when they get the high or the effect of whatever they are doing.  They experience a few seconds or a few minutes or maybe an hour or more of bliss.  That is what they call happiness.  But when you get to heaven, you are going to experience bliss for eternity.

I know people don’t believe, so I want to read it from the Word of God and prove it to you.  Psalm 16: 11 says, “You will teach me the path of life; there is fullness [or satisfaction] of joys [or pleasures] in your presence [or literally, before your face].”  When you are in the presence of God, what kind of joy is it?  There is fullness or completeness of joy.  “At your right hand there are pleasures forever.”  Ibid.  There you have it.  Don’t ever say that that isn’t so.  The Bible says that if you are in the presence of God, if you are with Him, you are going to have fullness of joy, and you are going to have pleasure forever.

Whatever sinful pleasure or problem you are struggling with, is it worth it compared to this?  It’s not worth it; you are getting stung.  It’s worth getting in the fight, saying, “Lord, help me to put away every darling indulgence, every sinful pleasure and to follow You and to win the victory.”  If you win the victory, you are going to have pleasure forever.  Actually, even if you were just totally selfish, this is what makes sense.  For your self-interest, this is what makes sense, even if you lost every pleasure, if you forfeited every pleasure in this world.

There have been some people in this world that have lost a lot.  For instance, John the Baptist lived a lonely life.  There are people in this world that you would think really lost out, but if you gain heaven, you gain everything.  To gain heaven, though, you have to be willing to fight the battle and gain the victory.  Everyone that goes to heaven will be an overcomer.

How can you overcome?  The Bible is full of teaching on this subject, and we have talked about it many times before.  We all know that when we get into a battle and we are battling with our carnal nature, that the carnal nature is going to win unless we get help.  Do we all know that?  I hope you know that.  When you get into a battle with the carnal nature, the carnal nature is going to win unless you get help.

The Bible is full of instruction on that point.  I don’t think we need to prove it; we have already proved it from the Bible before.  What we need to do is to know where the help comes from and how we can get the help that will give us the victory.

I will read it to you from the pen of Ellen White first, and then I will read it to you from the Bible.  “To reject the Holy Spirit, through whose power we conquer the forces of evil, is the sin that surpasses all others; for it cuts us off from the source of our power,—from Christ and communion with him.”  Review and Herald, August 25, 1896.  Did you get it?  Where does the help come from that will enable you to overcome?  It says, “through whose power we conquer [that is overcome] the forces of evil.”  Through whose power is this that we can overcome our sinful nature and win the battle?  It is the power of the Holy Spirit.

In fact in The Desire of Ages, 671, Ellen White, talking about the time of the apostles, said, “The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries.”  And she said, “Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power.”  That is the only way.  There is no other way.

If that is the only way, what do you think that you and I should be praying for every morning, noon, and night?  We should be asking for the Holy Spirit, because if we don’t have the Holy Spirit, we are going to fall; we are not going to win.  It is only the Holy Spirit that can enable us to win the battle.

The Bible says the same thing.  The Bible says it in more than one place, but we will just read one text.  Romans 8:13 says, “For if you live according to the flesh you are about to be dying; but if by the Spirit you put to death the works [or the deeds] of the body, you will live.”  Here it is talking about body; if you look at the contest, it’s talking about our sinful nature.  If you, through the power of the Holy Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body—the sinful nature—then you are going to live.  Through whose power is it that you put to death the sinful nature?  The Holy Spirit’s.

As you think about this, remember that even if you are the weakest, God has enough grace for you.  Remember the Lord said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you.”  That was written for every saint—the weakest as well as the strongest.  If you are the weakest person in this room, God has enough grace for you.  You may require more grace than somebody else may in this room, but God has enough for you.  He said, “My grace is sufficient.”  That word that is translated “sufficient” means “plenty.”  He has plenty!

We are approaching the end of time.  “The conflict is not yet ended; and as we draw near the close of time, the battle waxes more intense.”  Review and Herald, April 14, 1896.  That is why you are in the trouble you are in with your sinful nature today, because the battle is waxing more intense.  Don’t give up.  Do what Jacob did.  Say, “Lord, I’m not going to quit.  I’m not going to quit fighting.  I’m not going to quit asking for help.  I have to have the victory or perish.”  That is just the truth with all of us; we have to have the victory or perish.  But the Lord will give us the victory, if we don’t give up, if we keep calling on His name, and if we keep fighting.