Frightening Facts about the Flesh

OK, well, let me have you guys turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5 for our time. A study in the Word this morning. The, we're doing a verse by verse study through the book of Galatians, and as we continue in our study of this book, we come this morning to Galatians chapter 5, verse 16, we're gonna be looking at verses 16 through 21, and I think we're also going to steal a glimpse into verse 24.

And the title of the message this morning is frightening Facts about the flesh and what you can do about them. Frightening facts about the flesh and what you can do about them. We're going to learn some unsettling things about us and about our flesh. That might end up being a downer, but what guys, when, when you get up in the morning and you look in the mirror and you see flaws that are fixable, aren't you glad that the mirror was there to show you?

Or do you ever get mad at the mirror? Or do you ever say, what, I am never going to look in the mirror again. None of you do that. you're grateful that the mirror showed you those flaws so that you can do something about them.

And that's the effect of the word of God being held up to us as a mirror this morning will show us some things that are not flattering about ourselves, but in knowing them, we are helped extremely in our battle with sin and to live the lives that God wants us to live. let me start off by reading to you an excerpt from Chuck Coulson's book, The Body. That came out a number of years ago. and just listen to this as I read.

In 1960, Israeli undercover agents orchestrated the daring kidnapping of one of the worst of the Holocaust masterminds, Adolf Eichmann. After capturing him in a South American hideout, they transported him to Israel to stand trial. The prosecutors called a string of former concentration camp prisoners as witnesses. One was a small and haggard man named Yehiel Dur, who had miraculously escaped death at Auschwitz.

On the day to testify, Dene entered the courtroom and stared at the man in the bulletproof glass booth. The man who had murdered Danner's friends personally executed a number of Jews and presided over the slaughter of millions more. As the eyes of the two men met, victim and murderous tyrant. The courtroom fell silent, filled with the tension of the confrontation.

But no one was prepared for what happened next. Yehiel Dener began to shout and sob, collapsing to the floor. Was he overcome by hatred? By the horrifying memories.

By the evil incarnate on Eichmann's face. No? As he Danner later explained in a riveting 60 Minutes interview, it was because Eichmann was not the demonic personification of evil that Danner had expected. Rather, Eichmann was an ordinary man just like anyone else.

And in that one instant Dur came to the stunning realization that sin and evil are the human condition. I was afraid about myself, the nurse said. I saw that I am capable to do this exactly like he. Hm.

Dinner's remarkable statements caused Mike Wallace to turn to the camera and ask the audience the most painful of all questions. Here's his question. How was it possible for a man to act as Eichmann acted? Was he a monster?

A madman. Or was he perhaps something even more terrifying? Was he normal? After Mike Wallace asked that question.

Eichmann or Yehiel Dinner expressed his own shocking conclusion that he arrived at that day that caused him to pass out in the courtroom. Expressed in the words of Yahiel. Eichmann. is in all of us.

Eichmann. is in all of us. we learned at the conference yesterday. That we as Christians are of all people the saddest.

And of all people the most celebratory. Both of those combinations. We are the saddest because we understand more than anybody else, the sad truth about ourselves and about our sin, and even as Christians about the ongoing presence of sin. But we are also the most celebratory because understanding that we go to Jesus, who gives us forgiveness for those sins, deliverance from the power of those sins, and experiencing His love, His grace and forgiveness.

That makes us happy. With a happiness and a joy that exceeds anything that anyone outside of Christ can ever experience. But this is one of those truths that make us sad. The truth that Eichmann is in all of us.

Yahiel Dinner never came to know Jesus as far as I know. He died in 2001 of cancer, so all he knew. is to say Eichmann is in all of us. However, the New Testament does not use the word Eichman, it uses the word flesh.

The flesh The sin principle is in all of us, and those of us who know Jesus would say the same, that the flesh is in all of us. In Christ we believed in Him. Our sins were forgiven. We were clothed with the righteousness of Jesus, and we were delivered from the power of sin, but we are not yet delivered from the presence of sin.

That will happen in a future day when we die. when we're resurrected, and then we will live forever without even the presence of sin inside of us. But for now, though, we have been delivered from the power of the flesh, we have not been delivered from the presence of the flesh inside of us. And therefore we must do battle with that and reckon with that reality every single day.

And it's a discouraging reality because the flesh is strong and those of us who come to know Jesus, we have a flesh inside of us. That has been used to getting its way for all of our lives, all of the time. Imagine spoiling a child till he's 15 years old. And all throughout his life, he gets everything he wants whenever he wants it.

Just everyone just caters to him. And he gets everything he wants, all the time whenever he wants it. And then one day you say, what, starting today, you're not going to get ever anything you want. How do you think he's going to react to that?

Well, we have that child inside of us that has been spoiled and coddled, has been accustomed to getting its way for many years, and now it's inside of us, always longing for sin. And we've got to reckon with that reality. What I want to do this morning is to give you 5 facts from Galatians 5 about the flesh, 5 facts that we need to understand about the flesh if we want a realistic chance at a life of true victory in Christ, victory over the power of the flesh that is inside of us, all right.

look at the first fact.

The first fact I want us to look at is that the flesh always craves against the spirit. This flesh, remember, we've defined the flesh in past weeks. It is that fallen part of our, of our being that always wants the opposite of what God wants. It is rebellious.

It is defiant. It is hostile against God. So we're going to start with that fact, basically, and that is that in us as believers, no matter how godly any of us are, how long we've walked with the Lord, we have a flesh inside of us that always craves against the Spirit. Look at what he says in verse 17.

For the flesh, this is present tense, sets its desire against the spirit. The flesh is always setting its desire against or in opposition to the spirit. Now this expression sets its desire against means two things. Number one, it means that the flesh always wants the opposite of what the spirit wants.

It's very predictable. Whatever God wants you to do, the flesh wants you. To do the opposite. We've already looked at this in previous weeks, but I want you to notice the literal wording that Paul uses here.

Paul doesn't say that the flesh always wants the opposite of what the spirit wants. He says the flesh sets its desire against the spirit. In other words, the flesh doesn't just coincidentally happen to want the opposite of what the spirit wants. The flesh has an attitude against the spirit, and the flesh.

Because the flesh hates the spirit, and it's hostile against the spirit. It therefore wants the opposite of whatever God and His Spirit want for us. The flesh is against the spirit, the flesh inside of us always wants the spirit to lose. in the world of sports, there are times where two teams are competing against one another and the two teams actually like each other and they have a lot of respect for each other.

the Super Bowl two years ago, Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts, it was basically a love fest between the two teams. It took a lot of the drama out of the Super Bowl. The two coaches were born again believers. They loved each other.

They had nothing but good to say about each other. And the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, they're just all complimenting each other, and the feeling you got was, that both teams felt like, it's too bad someone has to lose. We want to win, but man, we, we, we really respect the other team. It's just too bad someone's got to lose.

We want to win, therefore, we're going to play to win. And we'll accept the fact that someone has to lose. But then there are times in the realm of sports where two teams play each other that just hate each other, right? Like the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots, two organizations that just despise each other.

They have nothing good to say. About the other. And when they play against each other, yes, there's that desire to win, but there is also that hostile desire to see the other team go down and lose. And there is a, a, a feeling of hostility.

That's there and a desire in players in both teams that is expressed in this that they not only want to win but they do not want to see the other team celebrating at the end of the game. That just the thought of that so rubs them wrong. And this is the attitude we have here. The flesh sets its desire against the spirit.

It doesn't just coincidentally want the opposite of what the spirit wants, but the flesh just hates the spirit. And wants the spirit always to lose. The flesh is unhappy when the spirit gets even the slightest victory in our lives. And so there's that opposition there.

Another truth about the flesh that we see in the same verse is the flip side of this, and that is that the flesh is always craved against by the spirit. Not only does the flesh crave against the spirit, but the very attitude that the flesh has against the spirit, that's the attitude that the spirit has against the flesh that is inside of us. if you could see the spirit's countenance and you're communing with the spirit and you use the flesh word, you would see the spirit's countenance darken.

And you would know the spirit does not like my flesh.

The spirit is against my flesh. The spirit has nothing good to say about my flesh. He says in verse 17 that the flesh sets its desire against the spirit and the spirit sets its desire against the flesh. And the result of this is the 3rd fact, and that is that the flesh and the spirit are in constant war against each other.

He says the flesh sets its desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. These are in constant continual opposition to one another. They have set themselves against one another, guys. There will never be a truce between the flesh and the spirit.

There will never be an agreement. There'll never even be a cold war war where, there's just an agreement that, OK, you can have this. I wish you didn't, but you can have this. And at least allow me to have this, and there won't be any open hostilities between us.

That will never happen. It is always a hot war that is raging inside of us where the spirit does not ever want to see the flesh celebrating even the smallest of victories, and the flesh never wants to see the spirit celebrating the smallest of victory in you. The flesh wants to see the spirit grieved. The spirit wants the flesh crucified, as we're going to see, so there is open conflict and hostility between them, and it's not like, the flesh and the spirit.

A lot of times when two people don't get along, they're like, what, we just can't stand each other, so we'll go our separate ways. We got the spirit, the flesh, they hate each other, in constant conflict with one another, and they're living right next to each other inside of your being. so it's not, it's not pretty. It's ugly conflict that is occurring between the spirit and the flesh, and the result is, look what he says at the end of 17, so that you may not do the things that you please, and we've seen this before in the basic.

The idea is that this side of heaven, as long as you have the spirit and the flesh inside of you, you're never going to be 100% pleased with anything you do, whichever way you go. If you give in to the flesh and say, I'm just going to do this, then your flesh is happy and rejoicing. And doing a dance in the end zone, the spirit is grieved, and the spiritual part of you is unhappy about that decision. And sometimes we as believers, we give into the flesh because it seems pleasant and pleasurable, and then after we do that, it's like, oh.

I forgot what this felt like. This really stinks. And we're convicted and we feel guilty and, and we're unhappy with the decision we made. Has that ever happened?

OK. but then, what, if we say no to the flesh, And say I'm not going to give in. I'm going to do the right thing. I'm going to follow the spirit, then what, the spirit and the spiritual part of you is rejoicing.

And dancing in the end zone, but the flesh is kicking and screaming and extremely unhappy. Whatever you do, if you follow the spirit or the flesh, there's a part of you that is going to be extremely unhappy. This is a very passionate war that's going on. In fact, the word that is translated desire, as you saw on the screen a couple screens ago, is eu humeo, epihumeo, and the word thuma speaks of anger or passion.

And an epi is a preposition that intensifies the meaning of that. It's not just a casual desire. It is a passionate desire. There is a lot of passion in the spirit against the flesh and a lot of passion in the flesh against the spirit, and they are in close proximity to one another inside of you.

And there is this open hostility and conflict going on all the time. And so we need to be aware of this fact, and being aware of this fact makes us realize this is normal for the Christians. So when it happens, we're not thinking that we're uniquely evil and disgusting. If you're trying to have your devotions in the morning and your thoughts are following what the Spirit wants and then all of a sudden these fleshly desires come up and start harassing you.

You shouldn't go, Man, I'm the only one who ever struggles with this, who has this evil inside of me. You shouldn't think that. This is the Bible tells us this is true for every believer. This makes you a normal Christian.

So knowing this and listening to God tell us this makes us realize that no temptation takes us but with what is common to man. But it's also something we need to be aware of because if we're not aware of this, we're not going to fight the way that we should fight. Now before we knew Christ, no spirit was in sight of us. There was just flesh, and we just did whatever the flesh wanted us to do.

There was no conflict. But then once we come to know Jesus, suddenly the conflict begins because someone new has moved into the neighborhood, and that is the spirit, and hence the war begins, and it will rage until, until we die physically and until we enter glory. Well, there is a 4th fact, and just for the sake of time, I'm going to skip. Some things here.

Go to the 4th fact about the flesh that we need to be aware of, and that is that the flesh produces every sinful behavior. Any sinful behavior that ever comes out of you guys, just, you should always know where that came from, and that is from your flesh. All right. Now a lot of times we're not good at realizing that.

All right. Anger comes out of us and someone says, Where did that come from and where do we normally point? Well, it came from these things, from this person, from this spouse, and from these children. They're the reason that this is coming out of me.

No, the Bible teaches us that any manifestation of sin in our lives comes from within, from the flesh that is inside of us, and Paul says this should be an obvious thing. Look what he says in verse 19. He says, Now the deeds of the flesh are evident. or obvious, and then he begins a list of a number of deeds of the flesh.

This is not an exhaustive list, but look at the items that he lists off here. He starts off with sexual sins, immorality, and the Greek word translated immorality is pornea, from which we get pornography. Impurity, which just speaks of any impure thoughts, any impure actions, and this word seems to capture the idea of the, the impure soiling effect of these sins upon us and even upon our bodies. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, when we commit sexual sin, we are committing a sin against.

We're sinning against the body. And then also sensuality that speaks of unrestrained sexual license. One commentator describes sensuality as this It is a love of sexual sin, so reckless and so audacious that a person has ceased to care what God or man thinks of his actions. And so Paul is saying one of the very first manifestations of the flesh that is inside of us is sexual sin.

Pornea is any sexual activity outside of the bounds of the marriage relationship. Anything outside of those bounds is of the flesh, and the spirit hates them and is opposed to them. And by the way, if the spirit is so opposed to all of these expressions of immorality, the spirit is equally opposed to Anything in your life that encourages these things, any television program, any, any song that you might listen to, any video, any movie that you go to, that is basically saying these things are OK, or these things are good, causing you to stumble into these things.

God passionately hates these things.

The list continues. There's idolatry, which just speaks of the fact that man does not like the God of the Bible. And instead creates a god of one's own choosing. See, the flesh is a worshiping entity.

Please understand that the flesh does want a deity, but the flesh wants to create its own deity that happens to fit with whatever the flesh wants to do. You can go to a place in China where they have the temple of 1 1000 Buddhas, and people go there and they, they, they look through all of these small statues of Buddha. And they're told, pick the statue of the Buddha that looks most like yourself. That's the one they purchase and take home and use in their worship, and that's the idolatry of the flesh.

Let's, let's find a god who looks most like me, and I will make that my deity. That is a manifestation of the flesh. And then sorcery is also found. In this list, and the Greek word that is translated sorcery is pharmacaia, from which we get pharmacy.

Anything today that would involve drug abuse would fall under this word that is translated sorcery. I was listening to a sermon this week. by a pastor on the East Coast who was listing off from the ages of 19 to 21, he was listing off all the drugs he did. I couldn't believe all the, the, the list of drugs that he was involved in, and he mentioned that he had sunk so low that he was huffing on Freon gas.

just to get some feeling of a high, and the further into drugs he went, the more guilt he felt because he saw everything around him that he was sacrificing, and so he had to he had to quench that guilt with even more drugs, and he was just in a downward spiral that God miraculously intervened and ended up saving him. That man is right now a pastor on the east coast, but he was involved in pharmakeia, OK. And that is a manifestation of the flesh. The flesh wants to feel good all the time, and it doesn't want to feel good by doing virtue.

The flesh is willing to resort to drugs in order to feel that way. The list continues. There is strife, which is the word for hatred, just. bearing ill will against someone else.

You hate someone because they're an obstacle in the path of what you want to get what you want, or you hate them in the sense of despising them because you feel superior to them. And then there's jealousy that is a manifestation of the flesh. And guys, please notice this. The list starts with sexual immorality.

Jealousy is on the same list. Which ought to tell you something about how significant even something like jealousy is in the eyes of God. It makes the same list that all of the other heinous sins are on. You ever struggled with jealousy?

there have been times where I've had bouts with jealousy. I was reminded this week, this is a totally true story. I was in college and I went off campus and went to, like a fast food restaurant and, and I don't know the name of it, but I know that they specialized in chicken because that's what I ordered. So I, I order, I get my food and I go sit down, and then another couple came in about a minute behind me and they ordered their food and then they sat down and they were sitting a few tables away.

I'm sitting by myself eating, enjoying the moment and we were the only ones in the restaurant, in the dining area of the restaurant. And as I'm sitting there eating by myself, minding my own business, two very well dressed men came in to the dining area. And asked me, they said, Is that your car out there in the parking lot? And I said, No, I think it's theirs because it's not mine and they're the only ones in here besides me.

They said, Thank you very much. They go over to the couple and I listen in as I heard them say. To this couple, they said, we just want to let that you are the 100,000th customer at this restaurant. And And because of that we have a gift we would like to give you a brand new VCR.

Back then, VCRs were pretty cool, they weren't, they weren't brand new, but it was, cutting edge technology and it would have been, anyone would have wanted that. I know I did in that moment and But here's the weird thing. I, I was enjoying my meal. I didn't, I, I hadn't been thinking in the previous days like, man, I really need a VCR.

I was a student at Bob Jones University. There were no televisions allowed in the room, so I had absolutely no possible use for a VCR. But when I saw them handing this couple that VCR, it ruined my meal, and I'm thinking to myself, man, if I would have come in one minute later, I would have been the 100,000th customer. And then I got feeling a little angry thinking, How do they know that they're the 100,000th customer, on that level, it's got to be something of a guessing game.

So I could have easily been that, and they've miscounted somehow, or they're just guessing and they wanted to give that to them. And here I am. I was minding my own business, enjoying my meal, and the meal was ruined because I saw another couple. Being given something, never mind the fact that I had no use for that.

I didn't want them to get something that could have come to me, and here I am battling now with jealousy. Where does that come from? That's the flesh. That's the flesh that is inside of me.

And then also look at as the list continues, there's outbursts of anger. That's temper tantrums, people. All right, explosions of wrath as you unleash on your children or on your spouse or on other people when you're on the freeway with your windows up or maybe even sometimes down. Just these explosions of wrath.

Where does that come from? They come from Inside of us Please understand that, I, I, I've had people say to me that I never had an anger problem until I got married. Maybe you've even said that, or you've heard somebody say that. I never had an anger problem until I got married.

what they're saying by that? I was fine until I got married. And then this person came along and put this anger inside of me. What I try to gently say to such people is, no, you've always had an anger problem.

That anger has always been inside of you. And now you have a spouse that brings that crud to the surface. I remember one lady saying to us that she said, I never had an anger problem until I had my 3rd child. And that particular child just knew how to push all the right buttons.

Maybe you have a third child like that who just knows the right buttons to push. Fortunately this lady understood. I see a lot of parents speaking to their children right now. Identifying which one is that child, but Fortunately, this lady knew, what, I've always had an anger problem, and, but God in His grace gave me a child who pushes the right buttons that brings that problem to the surface, so that I can see it.

But the anger comes from within. The list continues, guys, we don't have time to spend a lot of time on each of these, but disputes, which speaks of self-promotion. And you'll be able to learn a lot about this concept during the election season, and it's got to be tough. People want to do, to serve the public good and become president, but to do that you've got to spend a couple years of your life doing nothing but campaigning for yourself.

Look at me. Look at what's good about me and these other people that are also running. Look at how they're less than I am and they're different than I am. In a worse way, or maybe, yeah, I'll grant that's good, but that's not as good as what I can do, or my wisdom that I can bring to bear on the office of the presidency.

And what, what must that do to a person, just that process? Well, Paul says that there are people that basically that's their life. They're in a perpetual campaign promoting. Devoting themselves and where does that come from?

It comes from the flesh. Dissentions and factions that speak of two believers, for example, that have a conflict with one another and they begin to tell other people about that conflict and then people began taking sides and pretty soon you have a faction. That are jealous against one another have nothing good to say about the other and even envying the other. They don't want the other side to in any way get their way in anything.

And this is how church splits happen. And where do church splits come from? They come from the flesh. They come from the flesh.

The last two items on this list are drunkenness and carousing. The word drunkenness we know speaks of drinking to the point of intoxication. Drinking in order to experience a high from the drinking or to hide the pain, to take away pain that one is feeling, it is turning to that as a deity rather than to God and one's Heavenly Father, and then carousing speaks of wild parties. Wild drunken parties.

Carousing is what people do when they're drunk at a party. That's, that's basically what that word means. And then Paul says after this, he says, and things like these. So he's saying, I want you to know the list I'm giving.

Don't, don't breathe a sigh of relief because I didn't mention your pet fleshly sin. He then says, and things like these, this is not an exhaustive list, but it's, it's all the things I've mentioned and anything like it. When we sin, these sins come from the flesh that is inside of us. We are the source of the evil that comes out of us.

Jesus says in Mark 7, that which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within out of the heart of man proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man. There's a 5th fact about the flesh that we need to hasten onto, and that is that the flesh keeps many people from eternal life.

The flesh keeps many people from eternal life. Look what he says in verse 21. Envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have already forewarned you that those who habitually practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. He's not saying anyone who ever commits any of these things won't inherit the kingdom of God.

The idea is those that habitually practice such things. That is the characteristic pattern of their life. They practice these things without any remorse, without repentance. Such people will not inherit eternal life.

As harsh as it is to say, the teaching of the Bible is that people who follow their flesh. With abandon, and just do the bidding of their flesh without repentance, go to hell. That's the teaching of the Bible. That's how dangerous the flesh is that is inside of you.

The flesh leads many people to hell. Those who do the bidding of their flesh without repentance do not inherit eternal life. It robs people of eternal life. You say, Well, does this mean that a Christian can lose his salvation?

Can you, what if a true believer is living in holiness and then he starts habitually practicing these things and gives himself over to obeying the flesh without repentance? Can they lose their salvation? Well, the teaching of the Bible is actually that a true believer would not. Though true believers stumble into these things, the true believer will not plunge himself into these things without remorse, without repentance.

A true believer will look at a warning such as this and say, what, I'm going to follow the spirit. I'm going to follow the spirit. I won't follow the flesh, and someone who does give themselves over to the flesh without repentance thereby manifests that they were never children of God in the first place. One writer says those who do such things without repentance thereby show themselves to be without the transforming gift of faith which leads to the gift of the promised Spirit.

So these are the facts that we see about the flesh as we look in the mirror of God's word. These are not pretty facts, but they're facts that we do well to keep in mind as we just wrap this up. What I want to do is take just a moment or two to ask what to do about these facts about the flesh. We'll learn more about this next week, but let me give you just three things to do real quick by way of application.

First of all, believe in Jesus. You say, Well, I've done that. I did that 10 years ago. It doesn't matter.

Believe in Jesus. I already did that, Milton. Believe in Jesus today, every single day, put your trust in Jesus to be your deliverance. Do what Paul does, and expresses in Galatians 2:20 when he says, I Live by faith.

I didn't just believe in Jesus, but I live daily by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. If you're believing in this one, and you're seeing the love that He has for you, that He died for you. It's going to change your heart. Your flesh doesn't want to die for you.

Your flesh never died for you. Your flesh does not love you, but Jesus loved you so much that he was willing to die for you. And so believe in Him. And when I say believe, look to Him and believe in this love so that you understand the heart of Jesus Christ and the spirit of Christ that is within you that wants you to do what is right.

A second thing to do is not only believe in Christ but crucify your flesh. Kill it. Kill it. Crucify it.

Look what it says in verse 24. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. This is actually past tense. That's what's strange about verse 24.

They have crucified the flesh. In other words, the crucifixion has already happened, and we're the ones, those who belong to Christ, they are the ones who've crucified. The flesh. So it's something that we do and it's something that can be said to have already happened in a sense.

And you might say, well, how can it be that my flesh is crucified and yet it's still alive and so active inside of me? Well, understand that when you crucify something, it doesn't die instantly. Right? Did Jesus die the second he was hung on the cross?

No, in fact, he lived for 6 hours before he died. During that 6 hours, he was able to speak, he was able to listen. And even the two thieves that were one to his right and one to his left, they lived for six hours and went even beyond that and would have lived even longer on the cross that they were on if someone didn't come and break their legs from underneath them. OK, there are stories of people that live for even longer than a day in a state of crucifixion.

So crucifixion does not mean instantaneous death. But Paul is wanting us to see the fact that our flesh, by virtue of believing in Jesus, our flesh was put on the cross. But what we do many times is we bring the flesh down from the cross. And we pamper it and we take care of it.

Paul says, I want you to see your flesh on the cross, and I want, I want you to get an attitude against your flesh. Just listen to Paul as he says that, because that's the spirit of it. The spirit has an attitude against your flesh. He hates your flesh, and he wants it ultimately to be destroyed.

You need to imbibe that same attitude and seek for the ultimate killing, mortification, and crucifixion. Of your flesh. Now none of us will reach a point where we can say, I just want to share a word of testimony. By the grace of God, I killed my flesh decisively 5 years ago, and I've not battled with it since.

No, it's going to be a daily battle this side of glory all the way to the day that we die or we are. Raptured away, but it is to be a daily process of crucifixion and mortification. John Stott in his book The Cross of Christ says it is an astonishing metaphor that we would be told to crucify the flesh, for crucifixion was a horrible, brutal form of execution. Yet it illustrates graphically what our attitude to our fallen nature is to be.

We are not to coddle or cuddle it. Not to pamper or spoil it, not to give it any encouragement or even toleration. Instead we are to be ruthlessly fierce in rejecting it together with its desires. We need to have the same attitude against it.

As the spirit. And then lastly, we talked about this a couple of weeks ago. What to do about your flesh, walk in the spirit, be ever listening to the gospel with faith. We saw two weeks ago what this means to walk in the Spirit, means to be ever listening to the gospel with faith, ever enjoying the spirit mediated blessings of your salvation.

And enjoying the fullness of the desire of the Spirit of God for you. The Spirit is not just saying, No, no, no, you can't do that, you can't do that, can't do that. The Spirit's heart is so large towards you, all that God wants you to enjoy, be ever enjoying that, and then always seek to satisfy the Spirit's desires within you. And Paul says in verse 16.

Walk in the spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. Let me ask you to bow your heads this morning. We're reminded afresh of the battle that is within. We're reminded afresh of the strength of that battle and the strength of the flesh that is inside of us.

But we are also reminded in God's word of the power of the Spirit. That is also in us precisely so that we could do what is right and be free from what is wrong. Let's just pray together and ask God to help us. To walk in the spirit.

Lord, next week we're going to be focusing on the spirit. Almost entirely, so the balance is going to be there at the end of next Sunday's sermon. For now we focus mostly on the ugly truth about the reality of the flesh and ongoing sin, the presence of sin and the sin principle within us. May we be saddened by this, but may we be motivated.

Lord, if we didn't know these things, we wouldn't be looking to You, Jesus, every day the way we should. So may these truths cause us to look to Jesus. To walk by faith, to walk in the Spirit. And to give the spirit much cause for rejoicing this week, to give the flesh no cause for rejoicing.

And may our attitude towards our flesh be that of the spirit. May our goal be to crucify it. To see it mortified. And to not coddle it or pamper it.

But to follow your spirit at the expense of our flesh. Thank you, Lord, for your salvation. And for the revelation of your word that teaches us how to make this salvation a practical, abiding reality in our lives as we live in the here and now with sin around us, outside of us, and inside of us, that we might walk in victory. We thank you for these things, Lord, and we offer these requests to you in the name of Jesus.

And all God's people said,