By Chijioke Nwauche
(Sunday 31st May, 2009)
[For a printable version click here.]
QUOTABLE NOTES:
When you walk in the Spirit, you receive divine strength to resist sin. We must learn how to use the word, the blood, the strength (i.e counsel, prayers) of the body of Christ. It is very easy to accept the flesh that is obviously bad (stealing, lying etc.) even the seemly good flesh e.g listening to news, must not be given a prominent place in out lives. This was the problem with Saul, who obeyed and slew the Amalekites (which represent flesh) but he kept the good things of Amalek (the king, the goats, sheep, goats etc), despite God’s instruction to slay all. Don’t spare any flesh brethren whether it is good or bad. In your dressing, speaking, eating etc., do not submit to the flesh. Keep your standard high. If you go to the shops and you see a very low neck line dress, do not buy it, go and get material and sew a dress that will not expose your comely parts. Any way flesh comes, resist and overcome it.
INTRODUCTION: IMPORTANT SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLES
- Every thing God created, He created in realms (levels); each with its own barriers. There are laws that govern these realms. You can not cross from one level to the other without breaking through the separating veil.
- God’s principle of sowing and reaping: This is an unchangeable principle we find in the scriptures. (Gen 1 v 11) If you plant mango, you will get mango. This is an illustration of God’s principle of sowing and reaping. A tiny object, a seed is planted, the seed has life in itself (i.e. everything about that entity is compressed and coded into that seed). The mango seed has all the resources, all the information, all the energy in itself to bring forth many more mangoes. According to the law of God, there is a season in which you plant, tending and doing all that is necessary for it to grow. As long as the seed is planted and it grows it will bring forth fruit. There is also a season when the fruit that is hidden in the mango must manifest, germinate or come to fullness and it is only then it can be harvested. (Gen 8 v22) This principle applies to all things; the good and also the bad. The implication being that if you plant good (sow to the Spirit) you must reap good (fruitfulness in the Spirit), if you plant bad (sow to the flesh) you cannot help but reap the flesh (adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness etc). Gal 6 v 8 “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting”. God’s way is not to suppress the evil so good can grow. No, God allows the wheat and the tares to grow side by side until the time of harvest. God will allow the seed of Christ to grow in the soul that makes itself available and Satan’s seed grows likewise. At the time of harvest, God will harvest the wheat and the tares, some unto everlasting damnation and some unto glory.
- The principle of beginning and end. Everything that has a beginning must have an end. Sin (flesh) had a beginning and it must have an end. Glory to God!!. Sin was planted as a seed many years ago in the Garden of Eden, and God has allowed and will allow it to remain and also come to fullness that it might be judged. Sin is about to have an end in you and I. Hallelujah.
- The Law of Sin and Death (Flesh) A law is something that comes with power that backs it up.
Sin came to us by law. Romans 7 v 7 “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet”. Sin came in at the beginning with a law (power) and it yielded its power (law), over the souls of men. It is a principle that is working in our hearts. This sin and its power is what the apostle describes in Rom 7 v 8 -11. “But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. V 9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. V 10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. V 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me”. Every man born into the earth is held by this law. When God created man, he created him a living soul; there was no sin in him. He had the ability to sin but he was free from sin. Sin came and took over his soul and began to force him to do what it wanted. It stopped the programme of God which was for Adam and his offspring’s to remain in fellowship
with God. The Spirit of God was pushed out by sin from man’s soul. The root cause of the manifestation of the flesh is that sin has taken over the realms and dominion of man’s soul; his emotions, will, desires, mind, causing him to bring forth the works of the flesh (darkness).
- The Principle of Marriage
Rom 7 v 2. “For the woman which had a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. The woman represents the Church and more particularly the soul of man. In the natural the woman is a softer, lower or weaker vessel. The man is stronger, so it he that marries the woman. The natural woman has a natural God given ability to receive seed, nurture it in the womb, cause it to grow and brings forth fruit (a child). In the same token, the soul is also a lower or weaker spiritual aspect of us.
The soul has that same attribute as the natural woman. It is able to receive, nurture and bring forth fruit. The soul of man being a lower spiritual being is at a lower dimension; it therefore cannot operate in isolation, it must be joined (married) or influenced by a stronger or higher spirit than itself. This is what is described as being possessed. If the spirit that joins or influences, it is that of the devil, then it will take a more powerful spirit than the devil’s to rescue that soul. The spirit of man which has been hijacked (because sin as been sown in it) can only bring forth sin (remember the principle of sowing and reaping) except it is freed (principle of marriage) by a higher and more powerful spirit. (Roms 7 v 2) We see then that in the natural, when the man dies the woman is free, yet the woman has the freedom to choose if she will remain with the husband or not. She enters into her jubilee as it were. (Jubilee was the year of deliverance declared for the Israelites of old). When the trumpet of Jubilee began to sound every man was given permission (authority) to go back to his inheritance. God has declared our own Jubilee in Christ Jesus. We are delivered from sin in all its ramifications. The time of deliverance is now. God forbid that we will desire to continue to serve the old master (the old man); to continue in the realm of carnality as if we are debtors to the flesh. We are married to another, brethren. Rom 7 v 4 – 6 “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. v 5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death v 6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of Spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter”.
THE FLESH
What is flesh?
What does it mean to walk in the flesh and what does it mean to work in the spirit. What are the works of the flesh and what are the fruits of the Spirit? We will attempt to answer there questions in our study. We see the two principles, Spirit and flesh (law). When you have the Spirit of God in you, you are no longer in the flesh, it means you have moved to a different realm i.e. you have crossed one barrier of life and entered into a new realm (kingdom) of the Spirit, which is different from the realm of the flesh (where the people do not have the Spirit of God in them). The flesh is weak; it cannot fulfill the law of God. No man can please God without the leading, strengthening and the help of the Spirit of God.
Rom 8 v 8 – 9 “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. v 9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his”. That is why it is imperative that you must be baptized with the Holy Spirit. No Christian can go far without the Spirit’s guidance and help. The Spirit of God is the life, (the energy) of the soul. You need the anointing of the Spirit of God for the flesh to die. No man can do the will of God without the anointing of the Holy Ghost. The bible enjoins us thus: 1Th 5 v 19 “Quench not the Spirit”. If you are in the habit of quenching the Spirit you are in trouble you have the Spirit but you are blocking the channels through which the Spirit flows to influence your soul. (Zec 4). It is only by walking in the Spirit that you will be able to keep away from fulfilling the desires of the flesh. As you walk in the Spirit you will be able to overcome the flesh and all its manifestation.
This is how it works. You have the Spirit (born again experience) so as you walk by the Spirit (obeying its laws, allowing them to influence your actions); only then will you bring forth fruit. The manifestations of the Spirit of God will show in your life and these manifestations are called the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5). A man who does not have the Spirit of God, what do you think he will manifest? Flesh! That means that the operations of his desires, will, emotions and mind, all his actions will be flesh, he will bring forth the works of the flesh. Without the Spirit of God, such a one can never break through the boundary God has set that separates the flesh from the Spirit (principle of sowing and reaping).
The world is walking in the flesh yet inside the world are also men who are walking in the Spirit. It was for these that Jesus prayed for. John 17 v 9 “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine”.
God has purposed that the two principles; the realm of the flesh and the realm of the Spirit (people of God, light) will work side by side until the time of harvest. Remember every realm has its own seed, and the seeds are being planted and are growing. The flesh wars against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. Who do you think will win? That decision will not be forced on us; you and I will have to decide for ourselves. If I allow the Spirit of God to influence me so it wins the battle, so then shall it be and vice versa. There is enough power available to us, should we decide to walk in the Spirit 24 hours a day. For as many as are (ruled, controlled) by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God (Rom 8 v 8). So brethren you can be a son of God starting from this minute, the decision is yours to make, you are already in the Spirit (born again). What you need now is to constantly walk by the Spirit i.e. live your life under the control of the Spirit of God, obeying its instructions. The sad thing is that the man in the Spirit (born again) can allow himself (willingly or by deception) to come down from the Spirit. When he comes, down, sin begins to work. May we find grace to walk to in that place, where the flesh has no more dominion over us. Let us make perpetual war with the flesh (Amalek) from generation to generation. There is authority and ability in God to walk above this earthly realm of sin and death.
Dimensions of the flesh: There are different dimensions (levels, heights) of the flesh and its manifestations are equally diverse. These are the obvious more common manifestations e.g stealing, fornication, lust, anger etc. But we also have more subtle dimensions, this the bible refers to as “filthiness of the flesh and of the Spirit”. These manifestations must also be conquered. Nothing must remain in us “for in Him (Christ Jesus) there is no darkness at all”. There are different pictures God uses to describe flesh in the bible. We have the illustration of the Moabites, Amorites, Canaanites, etc. Each of these tribes have difference attributes which show different dimensions of the flesh. This also means that spiritually speaking in our soul,
there are different aspects or dimensions of the flesh which are ruled by the spirits of darkness and they must bound and cast out. We have the power of the blood of Jesus Christ going before us, to show us that (our souls) can be completely delivered. You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwells in you.
The Valley Experience:
There is a thin barrier between the Spirit and flesh. And if you dwell at the boundary, you will find that you can quickly fall to the flesh and at times you fall on the side of the Spirit. Your Christian life goes hot or cold, up and down. This is the valley experience. You are controlled by the spirit 40% of the time, the remaining 60% of the time you find yourself in the flesh. (This fringe or borderline is called the outer court). Rom 7 v 15 “that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. v 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. v 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. v 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. v 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. v 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: v 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members”.
These principles God has set in the universe are governed by set laws (a set standard or order that cannot be changed) e.g God has put a law that the heart of man should beat and pump blood. It is a set law, so every heart cannot help but beat. Can the heart say I will stop beating today; I will rather do the work of breathing. Impossible. Know this brethren, the devil cannot be anything but the devil, (a liar from the beginning). He cannot but lie. On the positive side God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. God cannot help but be light, for he is light. So once light is sown, nothing else but light you will get; if evil is sown, corruption you cannot help but reap. Let us endeavour to sow light; it will surely come to fullness. From this we certainly see that there are 2 principles at work; one is the principle of flesh (the law of sin and death) and the other is the principle of life (the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus).
These two principles work side by side, the will to do good and the law that keeps us under the bondage of sin, forcing us to walk contrary to God. This is the principle of sin, the principle of unrighteousness.3
The main difference between these two principles is this:
- The law says for examples “thou shall not steal” but it does not give you power or ability not to steal. The law cannot go into your heart to work in it to change you, so how can you stop stealing? You may suppress it for a while but given the right circumstances you will steal. The end of the law of sin and death is destruction.
- The new covenant, praise God, which is established on better promises brings with it the ability or power to stop sin. This principle walks from inside and out, it changes your heart giving you the ability to overcome the sin. It is the law of the Spirit is life in Christ Jesus. Rom 8 v 2 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”.
THE END RESULT OF WALKING IN THE FLESH: THE ANTI- CHRIST
There are men who have completely blocked out God from their lives. They are anti-Christ their mind’s are not subject to God. The carnal mind is a mind that is a law unto itself, it cannot please God Rom 8 v 8 “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God”.
These different operations of the carnal mind will continue from one degree of carnality to the other and will continue to function to the point that it will be completely turned away from God. This is the highest manifestation of the flesh and is what the bible describes as “666” i.e the fullness of the rebellion of man against God. The people that have such a mind cannot be partakers of the first resurrection.
THE GOOD NEWS
There is good news; the good news is that there is a higher law, the law of God, which is the power of life in Christ Jesus which came to condemn the principle of sin and death. Hallelujah.
Rom 8 v 2 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”. Now if I am free from the law of sin and death, when the law of sin and death (anger, jealousy, lust etc) wants to operate in me, I resist it. Jas 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”.. He will flee because he knows that his power over your soul has been broken, he has no more authority over you. One thing you can be certain of is that when the devil is rebuked; he will try to come back again to see if he can get back into house (your soul). Rebuke and yet rebuke again! Know this; every excuse the devil gives to take control of your soul, Jesus has cancelled.
Rom 8 v 3 – 4 “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. v 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”.. There is therefore now no curse, no speaking, no law against you. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from, that sickness, that sin, that nature that you inherited from Adam. There is a higher law brethren, and our spirits will submit to the higher law, so have we chosen, so let it be written, so let it be done in Jesus name we pray. Amen!!
HOW DO WE WALK IN THE SPIRIT?
You are already in the Spirit (Born again) so continue to submit to the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God has been released for the sole purpose of delivering your soul from the mortal grip of sin. Sin is saying to my desires, emotions, will, mind; you must go in this direction, but God says Ps 132 v 13 “I have chosen Zion ( you and I ) as my dwelling place for ever and ever”. Hallelujah. It is only the Spirit of God that can save us. The apostle asked “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death” (Rom 7 v 24). God is the only way out. Roman 8 v 5 “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit” . The mind that is ruled over by the Spirit of God will bring forth much fruit; it will walk in the way of the Spirit, on the other hand there are men who are operating by their minds. They can not hear or understand the things of God; they cannot comprehend what the will of God is. Their actions are controlled by those thoughts and ideas that proceed from their own selves.
They rely on their senses and reasoning instead. They do not take time out to seek the will of God and to do it. We must beware of being influenced by men who are not controlled by the Spirit of God. Sometimes these operations are so strong that even those who are controlled by the Spirit of God begin to submit to the flesh and they become carnal. Carnal Christians are those Christian who have the Spirit of God, yet they have set aside the ability to be influenced and directed by God’s Spirit. Brethren, walk in the Spirit and do not submit to the flesh. “Rom 8 v 7 “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be”.
THE CONTROL OF THE MIND
The mind is the major component of the soul. The mind has the nature of an eagle. It can soar very very far away or can come very close to God. The first law of walking in the Spirit is to bring the mind under the control of the Spirit of God.
Practical Steps Of Take To Bring The Mind Under The Control Of The Spirit Of God
1) Baptism in the Holy Ghost: It is the Holy ghost that comes into your Spirit to sanctify and cleanse it and it now begins to influence you soul (emotions, desires, will, mind) giving it the ability (power) to obey God. The power and energy of the soul is supplied by the Holy Spirit that quicken our mortality and soul natures of mind, will, emotion and desire
2) Meditating continuously on the word of God. Ps 19 v 7 “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple”. The word can convert the soul when you keep the word in your mind Ps 11 9 v 11 “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee”. You hide the word in your heart by meditating (i.e. thinking on the word and applying it to your situations, etc.). This will necessitate an adjustment of your life style to build in a time to be quiet to read and mediate, (noise distracts). You settle down and read the scriptures for yourself (not for the purpose of preaching to others), you think about what you have read (you may decide to take notes). This quiet time is aside from what you learn or hear in church. As an individual you must have a set time (quiet time), to develop such a personal relationship with God. Read the word, pray ( i.e. speak to God on that what you have read as well as other things, you ask questions, etc.) and He speaks back to you through His word.
3) Acting on the word of God. It’s important that you do not stop at meditating on the word. You must then apply that which you have read practically to your present situation i.e. you begin to do that which you have read, so your actions begin to change to confirm with the will of God. You no longer just act on what you reason out in the natural. E.g if you want to get married, you go to the word of God and find out what God says about marriage with the intention that what you will read will guide your decisions about how your marriage will go. 2Ti 3 v 16 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”
Such a Christian depends upon God, not on what other people think or do. He develops his personal bible study programme for the purpose of allowing it to influence or convert the way he thinks. His constant question when he has a problem is what does the bible say. And as he obeys the instruction that is walking in the Spirit.
4) Bombarding your mind with Christian tapes and literature. As you play Christian tapes and read Christian literature it begins to change the way you reason. Col 3 v16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord”.
5) Crucifying the flesh: The gospel of Christ is not a “cross less” experience. The Spirit of God is moving us up brethren toward the experience of the cross. Paul said 1Col v 23 “I preach Christ and him crucified”
The purpose of the cross (suffering, self denial, preferring others to yourself etc) is to crucify the flesh, to bring the flesh under control. They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with it’s lust (Gal 5 v 22 – 29) You emotions must be crucified e.g when anger is rising you have to resist (crucify it). You cannot just submit to the anger. It is that law of sin that is working. You cannot crucify the flesh by yourself; you need the Spirit of God to give you strength and ability to crucify (not just suppress) but to completely take away every aspect of the flesh, so even when you are sorely provoked (even unto the point of death), you will not react by the flesh.
6) The blood of Jesus is another instrument you can use to overcome the natural carnal mind. The bible says in Le 17 v 11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul”. Atonements means to make peace. The only thing that can make peace between your mind and the mind of God is the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus brings down the wall (boundary) of partition that separates your mind from God’s. It clears from all sin. 1John 1 v 7 – 9 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. v 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. v 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. The blood has a daily ministry of bringing our mind under the control of the Spirit.
- The Spirit: We are made up of body, Spirit and soul. And the Spirit of God working from the dominion of our own human Spirit begins to war against the flesh to convince and redeem our mind. We can help in this war by gradually breaking the power of the flesh. The more the Spirit of God has control over your soul (emotions, will, mind, desires) the more you get victory over the flesh. This can happen up to the point when the flesh does not have anymore control over you. And then shall the saying be proclaimed. 1Co 15 v 54 “Death is swallowed up in victory”.
IT PAYS TO REMEMBER …
FLESH IN OUR PRESENT DAY WORLD
The world has become so sophisticated and the devil (the prince of this world) has built in flesh (sin) in to every aspect of our daily life. You have only to look at the bill board on the street and you find flesh all over the place, in the name of advertising. You go to school, you find flesh in the text books (there are graphic descriptions and pictures (of flesh) going under the name of sex education. Do we need to talk about the T.V? You know too well, that there is specialized flesh (so to speak ) waiting to draw your mind from God. Even the good flesh (news etc) which though seemingly harmless, if you give yourself to it, it can draw you completely away from God by, not only taking up useful time, you would have spent exercising yourself on spiritual things, but it also feeds your mind continuously with carnal images and thoughts. (War, murder, scientific discussions, talks etc).All things are needful but not all things are expedient.
Take your gsm phones for example; you can down load so much, films, music, news etc. What all these aimed at? Your mind of course. When valuable hours of your day are taken up, what time do you have left for God and his word. We must resist the various form of “specialized” flesh Satan brings our way. May God anoint our eyes that we may see and discern the enemies.
THE SOLUTION: Make out time for God no matter the pressures of life. Remember the more you submit to the flesh, the stronger it becomes (and the weaker you are spiritually) the less you submit the weaker it becomes. (And the stronger you are). Let us re-emphasized and re-orient ourselves to walk in the Spirit, that we may not fulfill the desires of the flesh ( Gal 5 v 16 ). No one that walks in the flesh can inherit the kingdom ofGod. Flesh (its operations, and governments) and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God.