Open your Bibles with me, if you would, to the book of Galatians and also to the book of Romans. We're going to read first from the book of Romans. This is the second part in the series that I am going to walk through with you on understanding the flesh or the flesh that defeats us. I think it's an important study for us to get into. I think it's also something that each one of us should not only learn about, but should learn to conquer. And that is this part of our nature that is prone to sin.

Now, to do this this morning, I need to go through review from our last time together, because there's some that were not here, and some have already forgotten what we talked about. So, I want to read some Scripture, and we'll be reading a lot of Scripture to bring us up to date. Very important that we understand the difference between the world, the flesh, and the devil.

The world speaks of the cosmos, or it's the Greek word cosmos. It's the same word you get cosmetics from. It has to do with the natural realm of life that has to do with air and water and matter and trees and forests. It has nothing to do with sin or sinfulness. It's just the natural element.

And we live in the world, but this world has a system as well that this also depicts. In other words, one meaning, the natural world, and another, the natural system, or the way the world thinks, feels, and its goals and its objectives. You have been saved out of the world and left in the world. In other words, you've been saved out of the world system, but left in the world as a natural human being.

And God has redeemed us from that world system so we no longer have to follow it. The devil, of course, speaking of our adversary, the devil, who like a roaring lion goes about seeking whom he may devour, is the spiritual force or the angelic being that fell and marshals his power against...the work of God and against righteousness.

And when we talk about the devil, we're talking about the demonic, we're talking about the spiritual forces that rule over the ways of men. Man that is unregenerate many times falls unwittingly to the schemes and power of Satan. But when we're talking about the demonic, we're talking about an angelic presence, an evil angelic presence, a fallen angel.

But when we get into the area of the flesh, we're not talking about either, but we're talking about something that is in our human nature. And yet, the flesh means many things. And in your Bible, the term flesh has...probably seven meanings. We'll condense them down to about three or four so that you can understand it better.

For example, he talks about the flesh of a body, just natural meat, like 1 Corinthians 15:39 says, "all flesh is not the same." Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another, and fish another. So he's talking about the various kinds of flesh that make up animal nature.

And then there is also human flesh, what he's talking about when all flesh died. He's talking about men and women. When he says, "for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh." He's not talking about sin. He's talking about two people becoming one new thing.

Then there is the natural flesh that the Bible uses. Jesus partook of flesh and blood, the Bible tells us. The Word became flesh, and obviously he's not talking about sin when he uses it in that context.

And then finally the meaning of flesh comes down to, and that's what we're going to deal with today, is that human nature, the earthly nature of man apart from divine grace. That is prone to sin and oppose God. And it's this latter use that we need to separate from the rest and look closely at.

Now, when you read your Bible, you need to look at the context so you'll know what he's talking about. When he talks about Jesus being made flesh, he's not talking about Jesus being made of a fleshly nature. He's talking about him becoming a human being.

But when he talks about our flesh or our sinful nature as it is interpreted in the NIV and some of the other Bibles, he's talking about that part of us as humans that because we were born in sin has a tendency to continue sinning and to drag us into sin.

Paul gave us some startling things in Romans chapter 7. We're going to read from verse 14 through verse 25. He says, "we know that the law is spiritual." But I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.

And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature or my flesh.

For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. Verse 19, for what I do is not the good I want to do. No, the evil I do not want to do. This I keep on doing.

Now, if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work. When I want to do good, evil is right there or is present with me.

And the King James says, "For in my inner being I delight in God's law, but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members."

What a wretched man I am, who will rescue me from this body of death. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So then I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature or flesh a slave to the law of sin. Now notice with me some of Paul's conclusions from this interpretation of what went on to a man that believed in God, a man that had surrendered to Jesus, whose mind wanted to serve the Lord and agreed with God, but had in him, in his members, this law of sin working against that law of his mind.

The real Paul, he said, is the one who desires righteousness. That one that desires sin is not the real you. That's the old you that you buried in baptism. That you left behind. That you made a decision not to choose.

And the new you has been born from above. The new birth brings in a new person in your life. That is to take prominence and preeminence over the old. But there's a problem with the body. Sin is at work in our bodies. It works against the law of the mind. It works to make him or Paul or us a prisoner again to the sin that we were freed from.

Paul calls this phenomena the sinful nature or many interpretations call it the flesh. He concludes by saying that his mind is a slave to God's law but in the sinful nature or flesh he's a slave to sin. It's almost as if there were two people inside him, yet one is not really him.

Now this is the issue. Satan wants to tell you the old one is really you. When God comes along and says, no, the new one is you. And so now you have a choice whom you're going to believe. Whether the new one is the real you or the old one is the real you, that will depend much on if you believe God's work or not and his word about you.

You and I need to know that even though the sinful nature tries to convince me, or you, that this is the real you and me, it is not. Because whenever you do fall into sin, you feel terrible about it, and you wish you hadn't, and you don't like it.

Now this is the difference in a sheep and a pig. The Bible says, "the dog returns to his vomit, the sow to her wallow." And what is the difference? Sheep may fall in the mud, but they don't like it. Pigs love it. What is your nature? You fall into sin, do you just lay there and go, ah. Or do you go, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. Don't like it.

Well, you can tell what nature you have by the reaction you have when you find yourself in sin. The real you, if you're a sheep, doesn't like the sin. Now, you can get yourself psyched into it after a while. But I'm saying the real you, when it falls into sin, is disappointed, is discouraged. It doesn't like it. It wants to shake it. It's like a cat gets in the water. It likes to shake it off.

Because that nature that is in you hates sin. And that's the real you. Praise the Lord for that.

Romans 8 tells us, those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires, verse 5. But those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. Verse 6 says, "the mind of sinful man is death." But the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.

Verse 7 and 8 says, Because the sinful mind is hostile to God, it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit. If the Spirit of God lives in you, and if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, Your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who lives in you.

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the sinful nature to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die. But if by the Spirit... You put to death the misdeeds of the body. You will live because those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.

Now, if there's anything Paul is clear on, it is this. You do not have to live according to the flesh. You have no obligation to sin. Your obligation is to God. You can serve the Lord. You don't have to sin.

So Romans 6 tells us, "do not let sin reign or rule in our mortal bodies, but instead offer our bodies as instruments of righteousness."

You, my brothers, were called to be free. You, my brothers, were called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature. Rather, serve one another in love.

Now, if we would take that backwards, we would understand that the serving of one another in love is the opposite of indulging the sinful nature. Why is it so difficult to get Christians to serve in the church? Why is it so difficult for Christians to serve one another in the home? Why is it so hard for husbands to serve the wives and the wives to serve the husbands?

Why is it we want to come to church and be fed? And if we're not fed to our taste, we're griping about it. Why is it if everything's not like we expect it to be, that we're irritated? You know what the reason is? It's called F-L-E-S-H.

Hello? Flash. I don't want to give, I want to take. I've given enough, I want to receive. It's my turn now. I have my right. You hear this constantly throughout the church.

Indulging the sinful nature in many ways that we don't even understand. Galatians chapter 6, verse 7 through 10. Remember, we're dealing in Galatians chapter 5. Now we get into chapter 6, verse 7. Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked.

A man reaps what he sows. What do we reap? What we sow. Why is a mind filled with lust? People would like to believe Satan just came on them and a demon of lust took them. Because then I don't have any responsibility for it.

And I can come down, and if the pastor doesn't have power to deliver me from this spirit, then I have a right to keep it. Maybe not a right, but at least I'm excused. But why do I have a problem with lust in my mind? Biblically, why?

I sowed it. But I don't remember sowing it. I didn't go out and just decide to sow lust. You see, it's because we don't understand how it works and the process.

Look what he says. He says, "a man reaps what he sows, the one who sows to please his flesh or his sinful nature from where? That nature." From where?

You sow to please your sinful nature and from that nature you will receive, you will reap destruction. The one who sows to please the Spirit, capital S, not my spirit, the Holy Spirit, from the Holy Spirit will reap eternal life.

Let us not become weary in doing good. For at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Now we'll get back into those, if we have time today, how to sow into the Spirit, but mostly tonight. Now notice, the concept of sowing and reaping is a very powerful thing. The whole system of the world is based upon it.

Our food grows from seed that is planted and under the force and power of nature and the blessing of the Lord and the rain from heaven, it multiplies and produces a harvest that allows us to eat of it. And as long as we will hold some seed back for planting, unless we eat the whole harvest, we will be able to plant again.

Now, if we eat the whole harvest, there won't be anything for next year. But smart farmers put the seed aside. So that they can

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A plant for the next year's harvest. And so they keep perpetuating the harvest by continual sowing. Now, those farmers who sow mixed seed get mixed harvest. If I have good barley seed, but I throw in some oats in it, or some cat claw, or some other plant, when I throw it out there, and what comes up shows me what I have sown. Doesn't it? I don't blame God when I sow mixed seed.

But yet Christians wonder where God is when now their minds or their hearts are taken with a lust. And they want to blame the spirit. And they want to blame the devil for coming and overtaking them. When the Bible clearly says in the area of the flesh that the reason destruction comes is because we sowed it ourselves.

By sowing toward our sinful nature. Now, how do you do that? Well, we're going to look at that. If you want your flesh to grow in power, how many want to get your flesh really strong so that you just fall into sin? Okay. All right. If you want your flesh, I had to say that because some of you are already wanting to get strong.

Okay. I'm talking about your sinful nature. How do you make a strong sinful nature? I want to tell you how to do that today. Okay. How do you get a real strong flesh? Some of you are doing it. You didn't know you were doing it. That's why I want to tell you how to do it.

Okay. So you won't. If you want your flesh to get strong and your lust to increase, how do you do that? Feed it. Sow towards it. What do you sow towards it? Actions, thoughts, time, whatever.

For example, we have a tremendous amount of rape going on in our community. And nobody thinks there's any reason to believe that pornography has anything to do with it. And yet in every case, the policeman will tell us that in almost every case they find somebody involved in rape, they will find magazines of filth and pornography and pictures in their bedroom or wherever they sleep or wherever they are.

And nobody catches the connection of the seed and the harvest. There's all kinds of Christians that think that they can enjoy filth, they can read the magazines, they can go to the R and X rated movies, and that it has no consequence. Because nobody notices that seed. And yet later, when they can't control their mind and they can't hear God, they don't know why.

You want a strong, filthy nature? Just sow a little filth. That's how it happens. And that isn't God or the devil. That's you. Now these are called works of the flesh. Immorality is not a work of the devil. Immorality is a work of the flesh.

Boy, it's quiet in here. I can hear myself. It's just echoing around here. It's coming right back at me, too, sometimes. Now, the same thing holds true in the area of the Spirit of God. If you sow towards the Spirit, how do you become strong in Spirit and strong in the Lord? By sowing.

Sowing what? Obedience. Sowing the Word in your heart. Sowing prayer time in your heart. If you want to be strong in the Spirit, you sow it. You don't just one day become Superman in the Spirit and be all great and follow God and all of that. No, sir.

You sow it in the little things that you do. Now, the problem, most of us are doing both. We're sowing to the flesh and to the Spirit. And we're running just into flat conflict. As one area of the Spirit will be strong, one area of the flesh will be strong. And we don't even realize that what we're doing is we're sowing to both.

Now the issue is to stop that, and the issue is to sow to the Spirit. It's the seed actions then that we need to detect and recognize. Time and time again I tell young people, the more you fool around with sex, You kids that are dating, you kids that are going out with each other, holding these girls, kissing them, making love to them like they show you on the movie, and then you wonder why kids in their 14, 15, 16, 17 years old are all caught in immorality. Why? They planted it. It was sown.

The seeds were what the Bible calls inordinate affection. Affection is just out of place, out of time. Nothing wrong with it, it's just out of time. And the problem with that is it grows up and it doesn't take too long, but it doesn't happen immediately. Seeds don't immediately become fruit, but there is a time span.

It takes a couple of years for a young boy or a young girl to seed their flesh into sinful actions. But don't kid yourself, they're coming. You seed it and it'll come. It'll grow up. It'll be there. And it'll be stronger than you because you fed it.

The same thing with adults. There's so much problem among marriages today of dissatisfaction with marital sexual relationships. The problem is, see, is you can never satisfy lust. Lust, whether you're married or not, will not be satisfied by a normal relationship.

Lust needs lust and more lust and more lust. And you don't get rid of it by feeding it or playing with it or coddling it or protecting it. You get rid of it by putting it to death and by dealing with it. By dealing with it in honesty and frankness and by depriving it its lifeline.

When someone is overcome by strong flesh, it simply tells me that he or she has fed their sinful nature by indulging it some way. I use this litmus test on me. I read in Galatians chapter 5 where it tells me what the works of the flesh are. And when I'm driving down the road during the day thinking about my day and realize that I've been irritating and angry all day, I don't blame God for that.

I realize that someplace I've put my tap roots down into selfishness. And now it is growing up into actions. Now it's foolish for me to try to pluck the fruit off the tree. I ought to cut the root of the tree. I ought to stop, go back, ask God's forgiveness for selfishness that will produce the anger.

Don't deal with the anger. The anger will fall off by itself once the tree's dead. How does sin work in our bodies? James 1, 13 through 15 tells us simply how it works. When tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.

But each one is tempted when by his own evil desire. You want to quote that with me? By his own evil desire. He is dragged away and enticed. What is it that causes me to be tempted? Is it God? No, it is not God. It is when my own evil desire has grown.

Then Satan comes along and presents me an opportunity. Then after desire has conceived, look at this word, desire conceiving. It gives birth to sin. Sin doesn't happen immediately. Sin happens when desire grows, temptation comes along, and desire has conception.

Then it brings sin to birth. And this is simply a process of how it works. And now when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death. The result of sin is to separate you from God. And sooner or later, your sin will cause there to be a barrier and a division, and you'll feel less and less of the presence of God.

The problem is, many times we don't feel that until after the committed act. We don't feel it during the lust. We think we're okay. But the problem is not the sin. The problem is the lust. Now, the King James Version here uses lust. Lust is a natural desire that is increased and stroked, if you please, and stimulated and coddled or, as the NIV says, indulged in until it becomes out of control.

For example, gluttony is a natural appetite for food, which is a very good thing. If you don't have an appetite for food, there's something incorrect in you. But if I keep indulging and pushing that and thinking that and reading about it and giving myself to it, it will become gluttony.

And it becomes out of control by feeding the lust. I find with myself that I have to be careful what I handle and pursue. It doesn't matter what it is. If I go look at houses a lot, I'll be having this trouble wanting a better house. If I really pay attention to the car market, really heavy, and I go and I try them out and try them out pretty soon, bang, I bought one.

Isn't that true? Why? Because I fed it until it conceived. Now how does sin conceive? How does lust conceive? It conceives as it gets stronger and stronger because the mind works by the heart.

See, the Bible says, with the heart man believes. Because lust is so treacherous and our hearts are so deceitful, when we reach a certain level of desire, our mind will look for a way to justify it. And as soon as our mind can concoct a way to justify it, there is conception.

The will surrenders when the mind can justify. And as soon as that conception happens, bam, there is sin. Now in a little while, the sin will separate me from God and from the Holy Spirit.

Now, I can get free from this by a divine act of righteousness where by His Holy Spirit, God will come and zap that lust and free me from it. And He's done that many times in my life. But sometimes He doesn't free me from it. He says, John, you promoted this thing. You kill it. How do you kill it? Cut its lifeline.

Pull the plug out of it. What do you think fasting is so important for? What do you think happens when you fast? If you fast, if your fasting is like mine, my fasting is terrible. It's agony. All my problems come before me. All of the difficulties of life that I'm having. All the arguments and fights and people bothering me.

And all of the things that I want come before me. And I try to just be holy in those times and seek God and I can't keep my mind on God. What's happening? Oh, that old flesh. Is coming up with all of its fury against that spirit desire that says, cut its lifeline.

This is the wonderful thing about giving. That when you give, you're telling your flesh, God's work is more important than my desires. When you take your money that could have gone to a vacation or a new suit or something else new that you really didn't need, but you wanted, and you say, no, God's work is more important, something goes on in your spirit.

Just like fasting when you say no, just like getting up and praying when your body says no, there's a time when you need to put your old self to death. And let your spirit control you to the things of God. And let it tell you what to do.

Now that's sowing to the spirit as opposed to sowing to the flesh. Your flesh will deflate the same way it has inflated. It will subside in power and prominence the same way it grew. It all depends on the time and place that you give its desires.

Now this holds true no matter how long you've been a Christian. There are many old Christians that still are ruled by their flesh. Their problem is that now they are totally convinced that this flesh is their, quote, cross. Oh, if you ever want to hear almost a blasphemous use of the cross, it's that one.

That my flesh is my cross. Garbage. The cross is given to deal with your flesh. The cross is given to put to death the old man and his ways. The problem with our flesh is not its power, but its feeding process. And this convincing that it's their cross, that deliverance will never come their way, allows them to tolerate it.

Jesus said, if the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness. Christians that put together theology to condone their sin are in such gross darkness that deliverance hardly ever comes their way. Probably the greatest example of what I'm talking about we've seen on television the last two weeks as this problem with the media evangelist keeps going on.

People that have grossly sinned and that scripturally have lost their ministry are now attacking each other again publicly. And the confusion of it is, is a lot that people say like that is true and right, but underneath it there's a whole bunch that isn't. You can sense it. You don't know what to believe. You say, good Lord, what's right and what's wrong in this? It's very important that we don't judge.

Don't judge people, but look at what's happening when Christians indulge themselves, they become blind and form new ideas and new opinions. I don't think we should be sympathetic to the flesh. I think we shouldn't coddle it. I don't think we should encourage it. I think we should deal with it.

Incidentally, I believe, I want to go on record with this, I believe that when a pastor or a minister commits adultery, he should be immediately taken out of ministry. Immediately. I believe that's biblical and right. And it's the conclusion that most of the major denominations that follow God have taken.

That whenever there is adultery in this office of pastor, that means that that person didn't just fall. There is no such thing as just falling into adultery. That's a garbage lie from hell. It's the development of sinful flesh. And when it reaches the place that it will violate the primary vow between God and another woman, That has gone to such an extreme that there is no way for that person to really be in ministry.

What are they ministering? They have to minister of broken vows. When David sinned, he wasn't a pastor, he wasn't a prophet, he was a king, a ruler in the world, and God said to him through the prophet, you have caused the enemies of God to rejoice, and you've given occasion for Satan to attack the people of God.

And thousands of people died of a plague because of David's sin. And David himself lost four sons because of his sin. And so I'm telling you that I believe that when immorality gets involved into the ministry, It has to be dealt with quickly and cleanly and completely.

Whether that person can come back again is a matter of the process of time and to find out how they learned their lessons. What did they learn from it? And it needs to be guided. It's not a light thing. Don't take it a light thing. Nobody stands up and says, well, I just made a mistake. Don't believe that lie. Satan wants immorality in the church.

He wants it there and he can get it there best if it comes in the leadership. Religious flesh can do so much sinning. Why? Because as we go for power and greed and covetousness or just love our position, our position becomes an idol. And as we feed it, as we do it through the flesh, as we coerce and move, whatever we do, it feeds other areas of the flesh.

And then the problem with it is that I'm giving myself to this area of the flesh and all of a sudden I find I'm falling over here too. Why? Because flesh is flesh. And that's why James said, where envy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil work, every evil practice.

Why? Because the flesh is like that. That's why it's so important that in this day and age, you and I learn to walk in the Spirit. Now, do a simple test on yourself. This message isn't meant to condemn. This is not a condemning message. This is, look, here's how this works.

So that we can get free from it. I want to be free from my flesh. I want to overcome it. I want to do like Paul said. Do you know how Paul treated his flesh? Listen to what he said. Colossians 3, 5, put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature.

He says, take it out and kill it. In natural language. Anything that belongs to your earthly nature, get rid of it, kill it. Verse 8, he says, but now you must get rid of all such things as these. You must get rid of them.

In verses 1 through 3, he explained how. Since then you have been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above. Where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.

For you died and your life is not hidden with Christ in God. One of the problems with the motivation process of the world is our businessmen are hitting it all the time. Our people that work in the world is the world sets a natural motivation for you. The motivation is to get, to make, to become.

And if you don't watch out, you'll be twisting God into that. And you'll doctrinalize God into the success idea. Until now you're doing it for God. And the deception has happened. And pretty soon you'll find yourself in temptations.

That's why Paul said, they that would be rich fall into temptations. And many hurtful lusts that drown men in perdition and sorrow. Why? The love of money. Not money. But it's that motivation towards it. The motivation needs to be on God. The motivation needs to be on the kingdom.

And then what God gives you is brought to the kingdom. But those whose motivation is on those things have difficulty giving to the kingdom. Why do they have difficulty giving and bringing their resources to the kingdom? Because the motivation is not the kingdom. No matter what they say to themselves, if they have difficulty giving and bringing their resources to the kingdom, the motivation was not the kingdom.

There has been... An ambush at the path. Listen to what Paul says. In a race, all the runners run, he said, but only one gets the prize. Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly. I do not fight like a man beating the air. No. Verse 27. Listen to this. No, I beat my body. I can just see Paul say, down you, down you, down you, down, down, down.

That hand wants to get a drink? Stop it. That heart wants an evil affection? Cut it out, you. He says, I beat my body. Now I'm using extreme. He says, but I go after it. I beat my body and make it my slave. Rather than me being a slave to it, I make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

This is what Paul is talking about. Great men of God have become disqualified because they did not deal with their

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To hear, but it's one we need to hear. I want to make a decision, a greater decision I've ever made, to stop honoring my flesh. And stop feeding it, and stop planting it, and stop sowing towards it, because I want to sow to the Spirit. How about you? Let's stand and let's tell the Lord that together.

In the name of Jesus. And if some of you have an increased problem with your flesh, so that now you feel that Satan has come and made it worse, why don't you come down and let the pastor, let the community leaders, and the pastors, and those who are going to minister, let them pray for you.

Father, in the name of Jesus. We take the wraps off of this sinful nature, and we recognize that in me dwelleth no good thing. Yet, Lord, you have placed within me the treasure of heaven. I want to reverse the process of feeding. I want to feed my spirit, Lord, and not my flesh. And I repent from feeding the flesh. I repent from indulging the flesh.

Say it with me. I repent from indulging my flesh. And I surrender my body to you, Lord, in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus, deliver us, O God, from sin and from lust and from desires and purposes that are not of thee. In the name of Jesus, we give you praise.

Note: I made minor changes to improve readability and grammar, while keeping the original words and phrases intact.