Man Vs. Flesh
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 2 viewsNotes
Transcript
We are in a fight, wether we know it or not. The enemy wants to snatch the word out of our hearts, coming only to steal, kill and destroy. The world has a demonic agenda, drifting further and further from God and holiness, with the desire to lure us and our children in. But the biggest war of all is battling right inside of us. The war is not one from the outside in, its from the inside out. It’s the war of MAN VS. FLESH.
We know that we are saved by Grace through Faith alone. It is not of works. God has perfectly saved us; So if we are saved, if we are justified by our faith alone, if we are a new creation; why do we still have sinful tendencies? Why do we still struggle to walk in the Spirit? Why must we still put the deeds of the flesh to death if we are dead to sin but alive to God as Romans 6 tells us? That’s what we will discuss this evening. Why do we have a sinful nature, how God saves us despite our sinful nature, and how to walk in our new nature. My hope is to encourage you in your walk tonight, because I know personally how discouraging it can be to continue to fail and fall after coming to Christ, and just feeling the weight of your sin and the guilt and the shame. You are not alone. The apostle Paul summed up this war that wages inwardly within every believer.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.
17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
First, as we read this passage in Romans 7, i believe we must dispel the notion that this passage is about a nonbeliever. Some will say that Paul is comparing his life before and after Christ. But i believe it is clear that this is not a past tense passage. Look what Paul says! He desires to do what is right! He says he delights in the law of God in his inner being! (here making a distinction between his inner being and his flesh!) But think about it. Does the unsaved person delight in the law of God? Did YOU delight in the law of God before salvation? Or did we delight in sin?
Romans 7 is clearly in context a passage about a Christian. And if you’re here tonight and you’re saved, you know all too well the war Paul is describing.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
So here Paul explains, “The law is good! It’s spiritual! But me? I’m just the opposite! I am of the flesh, sold under sin!” Why is that important? It shows us what is wrong with us. The law is not the problem, God’s perfect standard is not the issue, it is ME. It is MY NATURE.
The law is of God, the law is from God. What was the purpose of the law? To show me what is sin, and that i have it.
13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.
The law is perfect and holy, but sin, through the perfect law produced death in me. How? It showed me God’s perfect standard. It shows me that i fall short of His holiness every time. All of those laws about being ceremonially clean? It’s purpose is to show me just how unclean and impure i am. If there was no law, i would never know how sinful i am. I would have no standard to compare myself to.
It’s easy to compare myself to others and think, “Thank God I am not like this sinful tax collector, i fast twice a week and tithe all my dill, mint and cumin”. But the law shows me the standard i must compare myself to, and i always fall short.
So, Paul shows us, WE ARE THE PROBLEM! The problem is our flesh. But for us to really understand the flesh, we need to understand WHY WE ARE THIS WAY! Why is our propensity towards sin? The answer is back in Genesis.
We all know the story. The serpent deceived the woman, the woman gave to the man, Adam ate, and their eyes were opened to their nakedness. Look what Romans says.
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
Notice that sin started with ONE MAN! With Adam. Sin came in through the trespass, death entered through that sin, and death spread to all men because ALL SINNED! What’s my point? Sin was IMPUTED TO US. That means it was given to us, credited to us. Original sin is sin that was given to us, by Adam’s original sin. He fell, and bore offspring in a fallen state. We are all one blood, one race, therefore we are born FALLEN! That’s why Paul says in v14 “I am of the flesh, sold under sin”!
15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
This is the epitome of the Christian struggle. For i do not do what i want, but i do the very thing i hate. Listen, i want to be the perfect husband, i want to be the perfect dad, i want to be the perfect leader and teacher. But there are times where i selfishly do the very thing i hate. At times i find myself consumed with things of this world, when i should be consumed with the things of God.
If you’ve never experienced this feeling as a Christian of, “Why did i do that? Why did i say that?” Where you just hate and despise the sin you just committed, then you are probably not human. This feels like, at times to perfectly describe my walk.
16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.
17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So Paul makes some big theological statements here. He says that, if at times i find myself doing the things i do not want to do, if i get entangled in sin that i hate, then i agree with the law, that it’s good. What this internal war is, it’s truly a confession! The Greek word used for confess in verses such as “if you confess the Lord Jesus” in Romans 10, or “everyone who confesses me before men” in Matthew 10; this word means literally to SAY THE SAME AS SOMEONE OR SOMETHING ELSE!
This internal war of hating the evil that at times i do, is a CONFESSION; it is me SAYING THE SAME AS GOD, declaring that His law, His commandments, His standard is holy and perfect, and we are not.
That is why this passage has to be about the struggle of the believer, because an unbeliever cannot understand the things of God for they are spiritually discerned according to Corinthians, therefore the carnal man will never confess and say the same as God.
This internal war of Man vs. Flesh is in some way an evidence of conversion. The struggle has purpose. It drives us to seek God, to lean on Him more, and to know beyond a doubt that Christ is our ONLY source of righteousness, our only source of forgiveness!
So if i do what i do not want, i agree with God, and the law, that it is good. Paul then delivers the bombshell. IT IS NO LONGER I WHO DO IT, BUT SIN THAT DWELLS WITHIN ME!
How? How can Paul say it’s no longer him? Paul is explaining our condition as fallen; he IS NOT shucking responsibility for sin, saying “Hey, it’s not i who do these things, it’s just the sin nature within me. Let sin run it’s course, for we are all saved! Glory!”
NO! What he is explaining is, something has taken place that makes me now disagree with my sin nature. There’s something inside of me that no longer agrees with the things that my flesh craves. We are triune creatures, in the image of a triune God. Spirt, Soul, and Body. This soul and body are still just as corrupt as they ever have been. My spirit, my inner man DELIGHTS in the law of God, my flesh only delights in sin, and my thoughts, they will go wherever i allow them to go. And those thoughts eventually become my actions, for better or for worse.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So Paul here is simply further explaining our dilemma. There’s nothing good in my flesh. I have the desire to do what is right, because of the Spirit within me, but i have no ability to carry out that good WITHIN MYSELF! Listen, i have NO ABILITY TO CARRY OUT THE GOOD I WISH TO DO! And Paul says THAT IS WHY I DO NOT DO THE GOOD I WANT, BUT KEEP ON DOING THE EVIL I DON’T WANT, is because I AM NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO DEFEAT THE FLESH ON MY OWN!
V20 just reiterates the original sin nature within is what drives me to sin and evil. And this is vital to understand. Because we can’t get free if we don’t get to the root of the problem; and if we don’t know the root of the problem we won’t have the proper understanding needed to fix the problem. OUR FLESH IS THE PROBLEM!
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Notice the separation here. Paul says there is a law, or a rule that shows me, when i want to do right, evil lies close at hand. There is something in my sinful nature that will fight me when i wish to do right.
He says we can delight in the law of God, in our INNER BEING, but there’s another law he sees IN HIS MEMBERS and it wages WAR against the law of his mind.
MY Spirit is a new creation, my Spirit is the righteousness of God in Christ; but the law of sin and death is still in my body, and it battles me. Daily. And this is why it is so important that we are aware of the sin that is always crouching at the door. I used to get so surprised when desires and temptations would arise in my flesh. I had no idea how i could be saved and still have these sinful desires. But it makes sense when we see that our flesh is not born again. And with that in mind, we must eradicate ALL PROVISIONS FOR THE FLESH!
I cannot put any faith or any trust in this flesh. I cannot put myself in situation where my flesh is tempted; because my flesh will fail. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
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 the things you want to do.
This verse sums up our entire passage. So, we look at all of these things, and now here we are. Staring at our problem. We are saved, we have been made new, but these tendencies and evil desires are still present in my flesh, and it is an all out war. A knockout drag out type of fight; EVERY DAY!
So, is Paul saying it’s hopeless? Is Paul saying that the believer can just accept a life of sin because we have no power over it? Absolutely not. Paul says how can we who died to sin continue to live in it? What Paul has done is shown us the problem we have, the battle that we face, and He gives us the ONLY ANSWER!
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Jesus has set us free from the penalty of sin already. We have been justified by His blood, and we have peace with God because of His sacrifice. Remember how we talked about original sin and how it was IMPUTED TO US through the one man, Adam? Well JESUS the SECOND ADAM has IMPUTED ALL OF HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS TO ME AND MY ACCOUNT! Therefore, we serve the law of God with our minds.
But we have yet to be totally set free from the flesh. We carry this TREASURE in EARTHEN VESSELS! And this vessel is prone to sin. But one day, Jesus will free us from this body that serves the law of sin. One day we will see Him, and WE WILL BE LIKE HIM! So what do we do with this information? What do we do about this battle?
WE WAGE WAR ON THE FLESH!
There are plenty of answers upcoming about this war with the flesh. But first we have to talk about one of the most beautiful verses Paul ever penned inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is the verse that gets me through this daily battle with the flesh; and it immediately follows the passage we are studying tonight.
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Christ has set us free from condemnation. The law of sin in our bodies will not be held against us. Christ took the judgment of our sins, Christ condemned sin in the flesh, and today we are RIGHTEOUS IN CHRIST!
I am so tempted when i fail to think of all the things i need to do to get back right with God. Like if i just go pray in tongues for 2 hours straight then God will love me again. That is SO WRONG! God demonstrates His love towards us that when we were YET SINNERS CHRIST DIED FOR US! God loves me, there is nothing i can do to earn His love, or to lose His love. The only right standing with God that i have IS CHRIST! And i must remember that, or i will be a casualty of war with the flesh.
Paul says the Spirit of Life has set us free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. He goes on to discuss the differences between being in the flesh and being in the Spirit. He says that the mindset on the flesh is death, and the mind set on the Spirit is life.
And although we war with the flesh, and temptation and sinful tendencies, Paul makes it clear for us so we understand who we really are, is not in our flesh.
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
We were dead, and Christ made us alive together with Him. We have a flesh, that wants to sin, but THAT’S NOT WHO WE ARE! We are not in the flesh, WE WHO HAVE CHRIST, HAVE THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST AND OUR LIFE IS IN THE SPIRIT! And one day, the same way that Christ gave us the Spirit of life, He will bring life to our mortal bodies, through HIS SPIRIT WHO DWELLS IN US!
That is the answer. It is HIS SPIRIT THAT DWELLS IN US!
So we know that the flesh is not who we are, we are new creations. But if we have this war going on with the flesh, and God knows that; why doesn’t the Christian just live in sin? After all, it’s a battle with our sinful nature. “Let us sin so grace may abound”? Let me show you why we do not live in sin.
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
That word debtors, is also translated as under obligation. See, the Christian who has been born again, feels this sense of being indebted to Christ; this sense of OBLIGATION to live free of the flesh. This obligation to put to death the deeds of the flesh. Why? To earn something? NO! Salvation cannot be earned. We feel under obligation to live holy because of the exceedingly great gift that God has given us.
I want nothing more than to live a holy and sin free life. Unfortunately, i won’t be sinless this side of heaven. But there’s something in me that wants to strive for it. And what is that inside of me? Verse 14 tells me it is the SPIRIT OF GOD LEADING ME!
I must rely on the Spirit. I must walk in the Spirit. And when i fail or fall, when i begin to indulge my flesh, if i listen, the Spirit will show me what i must do to put those deeds to death. I know this from experience; but first let me show you in scripture.
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;
4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,
This is the will of God. Our sanctification. That we learn to control our body and live in holiness and honor. There are three things (and I’m sure many more) but three main things i see and know that help us in this war with the flesh. And it’s connected to this verse. The first is:
PRAY
Paul said in Thessalonians that our SANCTIFICATION, OUR LIVING HOLY IS THE WILL OF GOD! So with that in mind, we turn to 1 John.
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
IF WE ASK ACCORDING TO HIS WILL HE HEARS US! AND IF HE HEARS US WE HAVE THE REQUESTS WE HAVE ASKED OF HIM!
Listen, we have got to be intentional about praying and asking God to sanctify us, to cleanse us from the things of this world. To reveal to us the things that need to be cut out of our lives! And what we will see is, God will then begin to bring things to the surface. Things that have us going “Where did that come from?”. God will show us, and empower us to walk away, but we will have to make the decision to do so, every time we are confronted by our flesh with that temptation.
But it is so empowering to know that if i am praying according to God’s will, He will answer. So we need to be praying “God change my desires. Change my heart, change my attitude, change my mind.” Then our job will be to come in agreement by denying our flesh whenever we are carried away by our own sinful desires.
What’s the second thing we must do?
READ THE WORD
Obvious enough, yes. But the word is what feeds our mind, it renews us. Hebrews tells us it judges the very thoughts and intentions of the heart. Without reading the word, i am left to judge my own thoughts and intentions, and my rap sheet will let you know i am not a very good judge of thoughts or intentions.
If you’re not feeding on the word of God, you are feeding on whatever else consumes your time. You cannot neglect prayer and study of God’s word and wonder why your flesh is a monster.
Understand this; how do big guys stay big? (Not steroids, but even on the juice you’ve got to have calories!” It’s what they eat. It’s how they feed! If you indulge your flesh, it feels so incredibly strong it is SCARY!
Indulging in the flesh one time in any one area can affect the rest of your walk. (Sitting and meditating on Andy’s with Tony Rapert long enough in one day, leads to me driving 30 mins out of my way to spend money i don’t have on a large concrete when it’s not even cheat day. Twice. In one week. Back to back days)
And when i feed my flesh in one area, even just food, i can feel my flesh try to rise up in so many other areas.
BUT GOD MAKES PROVISION FOR US TO LIVE HOLY, BECAUSE IT IS HIS WILL! (God moved in my wife, so she could take over social media, so i could retreat from it)
There’s one more thing that i find is HUGE in waging war on the flesh. This is the CHEAT CODE!
FASTING!
One fast i really felt like God spoke to my Spirit and explained to me, “The same way you starve the body of food, is the same way you can starve the flesh of addiction, lust, gluttony, greed, covetousness.”
18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
This is descriptive of the enemies of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things.
But Fasting helps us to master our appetites. To come to God in sincere repentance because of our shame, and to train our minds to bet set on heavenly things.
Are you feeling as if your flesh is strong? Change your perspective; it is actually weak. Empty of any power to do what’s right. Christ has given us the victory. Let us master this flesh, and weaken it even further, through prayer, through the word, and through fasting.
I want to close with this.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
To walk in the Spirit is to yield to His control, to submit to His leading. We have a flesh, and it wants to sin; at times we will find ourselves yielding to that sin. But the true believer will be so grieved with that sin, that it’s nearly unbearable.
When we commit ourselves to prayer, to the word, and to fasting, we put ourselves in the best position possible to yield total control to the Spirit, which always defeats the desires of the flesh.
Yes we still have this flesh, yes we still have temptations and desires, but we are obligated to the spirit, for we are no longer in the flesh. We have the Spirit of God inside of us, and where He leads us is to freedom, if only we will follow.