Understanding and Overcoming the Flesh
By Pastor Matt Black
01
July 2006
Men’s Prayer Breakfast/Leadership Paradigms
Romans 8:7-8
Opening Hymn: Trust and Obey
Introduction: Open your Bible to Romans 8:7-8. The title of our study this morning is “Understanding and Overcoming the Flesh.”
One of the reasons we fall into the same sins time and time again is because we do not understand sin. We really do not believe it is as dangerous as it is. “If a cancer is believed to be mere indigestion, the antacid tablets [you take] will not really deal with the problem.”[1] Sin is not dealt with by mysticism. We do not need to “let go and let God.” We need to make a serious minded effort to war against the flesh in the power of the Spirit. As I have said before, in order to defeat your enemy, you must know your enemy. In order to defeat the carnal nature, you must understand how it works.
The first principle we need to understand, is that…
Sin by biblical definition is the “transgression” of God’s Law (1 John 3:4). Every time we sin, our sin is primarily and firstly and mostly against God. “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight” (Psalm 51:4).
Look over at Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”
“If we would obey the Spirit, we must labor, and fight, and apply our utmost energy; and we must begin with self-denial. The compliment paid by our Lord to the natural inclinations of men, amounts to this, —that there is no greater agreement between them and righteousness, than between fire and water. Where, then, shall we find a drop of goodness in man’s free will? unless we pronounce that to be good which is contrary to the Spirit of God; ‘because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be’ (Romans 8:7).”[2]
There are things that, because you have been dealt with by the grace of God, and the “eyes of your understanding” have been “enlightened” (Ephesians 1:18), you have a struggle to do the things that God has revealed to you to be pleasing to Him. The lost man does not have this struggle. He may want to do right according to his conscience, but there is really no real motive to please God. The Bible is clear, “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8).
Now that we have established that the flesh cannot ever be a tool that we utilize to please God, let us go to another principle.
No one, and I mean NO ONE has ever caused you to commit even one sin. Every sin on your account has been agreed to by you and you alone. People may provoke or tempt us to sin, but every time we have sinned, we have done so for sin’s pleasure.
Sin is NOT the result of bad training in the early years. It is not picked up by bad companions or bad examples. No! It is a family disease, which we all inherit from our first parents, Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were created in the image of God, innocent and righteous at first, but then our parents fell from that original righteousness and became sinful and corrupt. And from that day to this, all men and women are born in the image of Adam and Eve, and inherit a heart and nature that loves and is inclined to evil.
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh;
We are born as people who are constantly “fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind” and are “by nature the children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3).
Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Mark 7:21-22 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
The most beautiful baby that is born this year is not as his mother fondly calls it a little “angel,” or “innocent,” but a little “sinner.” Even as that baby lies smiling in the cradle, he carries in its heart the seeds of every kind of wickedness! Watch that baby carefully as he grows into a man, and you will see in it the buds of lying and deceit, an evil temper, selfishness, self-will, obstinacy, greediness, envy, jealousy, and lust. It this is indulged in or left alone, these things will shoot up into the life with awesome momentum. Now who taught the child all these things? Parents tend to make excuses. “My son has a good heart down deep inside. He just has found some bad friends. The schools are bad. The teachers are bad.” The truth is the exact opposite. Sin does not come from external forces, but is living and breathing from within, from the moment we were conceived.
David said in Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
So we have seen that man by nature HATES God, and that this hatred comes not from bad outside forces, but from the very HEART.
Genesis 6:5 “Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart”
is by nature
“only evil continually.”
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Sin is a disease which pervades and runs through every part of our moral constitution and every part of our minds. The understanding, the emotions, the reasoning powers, the will are all touched and infected by sin. Even the conscience that gives us knowledge of God’s Law is so blinded that it cannot be depended on, and is likely to lead us wrong, unless it is enlightened by the Holy Spirit. It is as Isaiah says:
Isaiah 1:6, “From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness…”
The sin nature may be veiled under a thin layer of courtesy, politeness, good manners, and outward self control, but it is attached, sometimes unseen, like a cancer to the very stem of the brainstem, the center of our being.
We must admit that man has many wonderful and noble qualities about him in his achievements in academics and literature and technology. But spiritually in his relation to God he is “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). He has no natural knowledge, or love, or fear of God. His best intentions are so interwoven and mingled with sin and corruption that God says “even the plowing of the wicked is sin” (Proverbs 21:4).
Go to any country in the world, and you will find the same thing. Every part of us is depraved, and every one of us is depraved. Go to the remotest island, and you will find that as Romans 3 says:
Romans 3:10-12 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
You go to that remote island, and though it holds people ignorant of books, money, oil, capitalism—it is uncontaminated by modern civilization, yet every tribe ever discovered has always been found to be the home of the vilest forms of lust, cruelty, deceit, and superstition. If they have not ever known anything else, the inhabitants know how to sin! If you believe the Bible, then the wicked state of human nature is easily accounted for. It is amazing the tenacity that sin cleaves to the man even after he is regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,)dwelleth no good thing:
So deep is depravity that even after we have been “washed, sanctified, and justified” (1 Corinthians 6:11) and made members of Christ’s body, the roots of sin remain quite alive in the very depth of our hearts, and like leprosy is in the walls of the house (as in Leviticus) we will never get rid of this nature until our earthly bodies are dissolved.
Sin of course no longer has dominion in the believers heart. It is checked, controlled, mortified, and crucified by the expulsive power of God’s grace. That brings us to our final point.
How can we overcome this flesh?
So we’ve seen the flesh HATES God, sin does not come from outside, but from the HEART, sin has cause HAVOC in our whole being and in every person, and finally we see the only HOPE we have.
Titus 2: 11-14 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
We think so often that we just need to do better. We need to try harder. No! We need to deny ungodliness!
We come to a sin and say, well I can conquer this, and we end up as Pharisees being our own Saviour!
Listen, if you can do it yourself, then why do you need Christ? No we need God’s grace! God’s grace DENIES ungodliness and worldly ambition. We have this ambition to have it all together, but God’s grace brakes us. It is unmerited favour. It is the exact opposite of worldly lust and ambition. God’s grace ALWAYS yields humility and a broken and contrite heart.
Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Psalm 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Look back at Titus 2.
Titus 2: 11-12 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
It goes on to say that God is going to “redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Denying ungodliness—what is ungodliness? It is self will.
What did Satan say over and over again in Isaiah 14?
Isaiah 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
I will, I will, I will, I will!
No we must deny ourselves. We must take up our cross. We must put our will on the cross! We must deny ungodliness and our worldly lust!
What must we do to be delivered from this?
1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Conclusion: Are you denying that ungodliness in your life? Are you trying to be your own Saviour through self will? Do you recognize that sin is TOTAL through your being and through the human race? Are you yielding to Christ?
Closing Hymn: Amazing Grace