843. The Flesh: The Enemy Within

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville South Carolina this semester. We've had a really wonderful series of the theme of what is man in one of our desires and our chapels is to be able to teach sound solid biblical doctrine that will make a difference in sound solid biblical living, because ultimately we live out in our lifestyles. What we believe in our heart, our behavior is affected by our beliefs and so this semester we have dealt with the theme of what is man, understanding man in creation how we relate to God man in the fall, man and salvation and all that. All that is been taking place and we had some really very wonderful messages were going to end up semester next week, which is our final week of chapel services are really dealing with the idea of relationships that we have with one another, and all the aspects of that relationship.

Starting with God in the Trinity and how that there is a relationship of the Trinity and that actually is what happens in our life as we become believers and so it's been hope a hopeful help to you this semester as we covered the subject's today speaker is Dr. Mark Minnick, pastor of Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina, the flesh, it is the enemy within Dr. Pettit's asked that we give our consideration that subject this morning. Solid again with old Greek dictum.

Know yourself and the question is this morning. Do we know our flesh, and I want to begin with the question of what the Scripture actually indicates the flesh is and there are two passages that we will weave together will look at the first one very briefly returned to it.

It's the second chapter of Ephesians and that without calling attention to context this morning, for the sake of time, really dip in. I just want to call your attention to certain expressions in these two passages would you employees in Ephesians chapter 2, first of all, at the third verse where it's talking about us before our conversion and it says in the past. We all had our conversation in our manner of life. Know this wording in the lusts of our flesh. We are asking ourselves what is the flash and here evidently is a component word loss. That's a word for passion or you could even use the word feeling sober and just chalk that down from moment to momentarily and that is my flash. Whatever it is it has feelings, passions, just go on and that verse and also refers to the desires of the flesh, and if you would look in your marginal notes.

If you have a King James version in front of you, I guess, particularly if you have a Cambridge King James version. You'll see in the center reference the center column there's another word there for the word desires. It's the word Will's or wishes. So again, whatever the flesh is it has a volitional aspect a will or a wishing aspect to it. In addition to feelings and with those two things in mind I will ask you to turn now if you would. The eighth chapter of Romans and were to be pretty well camped in Roman 678 for the remainder of our message this morning someone should turn their be located within a need to be, call your attention to the sixth and the seventh verses of Romans eight.

Remember the question before us is what is the flesh and reproaching this by getting its components in Ephesians informed us that it has what we can call feelings and emotional aspect and it has its own will, volitional aspect and now if you would leave the six verse Romans eight where it says to be carnally and what's the next word maybe don't have a King James in front of you, but it's the word minded to be carnally minded of the word that is translated carnally.

There is this word for the flash you have the exact same expression in verse seven, which translated a little differently than I can. James version is translated but carnal mind or if you this morning are looking at a modern language translation.

It probably renders it something like this mind being of the flash or the mind of the flesh, but however you caught it. All of those translations are communicating what actually the underlying tax is informing us about and that is that the flash not only has feelings that are not only has a will, but it has a lot it has a mind now when you put those components together. What it means is that the flash is not just an inclination.

It's not just the kind of adrift inside of us. Those are the three constituent elements of personhood and that's why like to suggest this morning, this word though. It's not a word that occurs in the Scriptures, but it is a handy word and that is the word nature whatever the flesh is.

It is not.

Again, it's not just an inclination, but it actually is something like on nature within me on nature that knows things. What is it now, I would assume it knows everything I know how much money I have in the bank where I'm going to go on vacation. I assume it knows all the people that I know it knows all the Bible that I know you knows what's going to be available when I go to certain places. It knows what I know and it has its own feelings about that knowledge its own passions about those facts and then knowledge and that passion is what turns its wishes of the response. There's an agenda that is running within us about the question is in addition man just exactly what is the character of that nature and this is where Romans seven and eight are very very helpful to us and will ask you to look across the page in your Bibles to chapter 7 of the 18th verse and again apologize for just dipping in that if you and your own devotional life. Go back and read through these chapters carefully with these few bullet points in your mind as you do. I think you'll see that the entirety of the discussion within the chapters confirms what were arriving at by just looking at particular details. Chapter 7. Look at verse 18.

This is very interesting wording. I know that in me that is in my flash that part of me like like this isn't the whole story on me. It's something in me. It's not the entirety of who I am but I can't deny this. This is inseparably me. I know that in me that is my flash want to clarify in that part of EMI/verse 18. Well, this is an amazing statement no good thing in that part of me, not the entirety of me that part of me that nature. There's no good and that may sound to us like that's extreme, we may wonder if that's even just hyperbolic for the sake of making a plaintiff, but I will ask you to look back across the page of chapter 8 in the seventh verse again and there two more statements here that will help us in understanding the character of this nature would at the end of verse seven where it says that part of us. All right, the flash is a controls our minds that part of us is not subject to the law of God. There's no good in it. It's not subject to God's law or God's will that this is really the revelatory statement look at the last thing that set at the end of her sentence just glancing at look at the end of verse seven.

It's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be you talking a constitutional impossibility. Now I will just pull back from the Bible text in and and let's just combine those features for just a moment before understanding this rightly. There is something in us that is not the entirety of us, but it is there and it has a mind and its own feelings about what it knows and it makes decisions like our wills do and there's no good in it and it never makes a decision that is in keeping with the law of God, and if you try to pressure it to get camped you're talking a constitutional impossibility and folks what that means is you can't cure this part of yourself. I can't remedy it in myself. I can't wicked it isn't even redeemed. It basically is unredeemable. It is not subject and it cannot be subject to the law or the will of God.

You're never going to grow out of it. This is the part of us that is ever going to be more mature.

It is always going to have an agenda that is contrary to God.

And there's simply no possibility of doing anything if somebody asked know I just II that's hard for me to really understand why is it that so you can just think of it this way why this would burn widest sand below and shift. Why does water run and the answer always is because it is their nature, ensnare nature, you know, this is one of the most helpful things that I ever discovered in Scripture when it comes to the matter of my personal sanctification that plain spoken statements of Scripture that help me understand why no matter how old I become, or how much I know of Scripture or how dedicated I am to the will of God for my life. There is a part of me that never changes and it always feels exactly the same way God and about doing anything that is is will and that brings us to this.

Secondly, this morning, just exactly what is the activity of this nature inside of us. Well, we can get at that pretty simply, and I'm a move through this pretty quickly, ask you if you will to compare two statements in Romans six you have to do is maybe turn the page back in your Bible to do this, but if you look at chapter 6, verse 17 Scripture says there that we were the servants. That's the word for slave, that at one time prehistoric conversion, we were the slaves of sin, but now look, if you will, and compare verse 22. You look in verse 17. Look at verse 22 now being made for the from sin. Follow this. This is really important because you get snagged right here if you don't catch the statement in Romans six sitting in Romans seven, the word sin is being used synonymously with the word flash. It's not talking about particular sins.

It's talking about the stateless camped at the inmate in the Bible calls it in some of the passages.

The Bible calls it sin and what it's saying as before we came to Christ. We were if slaves that goes back to the matter of total depravity, which is been discussed here in this series and chapel, but people who have placed their faith in Christ and have been regenerated by God's Holy Spirit verse 22 says have been liberated from that dominion. Let me use this kind of expression. If I'm wondering about this thing in myself and its activity. I need to start with this thought as a believer. It has been use this word, it has been dethroned. It used to rain.

I wasn't slave. It has been dethroned. It does not have that raining position of dominion and folks, this is not just something positional.

This isn't just something in God's mind this is a paper thing.

This is an actual fact it's what explains why our hearts swell. When we sang the numbers that we did this morning that would not be true of the vast majority of people driving by on Wade Hampton Blvd. this morning.

Their hearts don't swell to that kind of content.

How do you explain that yours does. It's this change that this thing that doesn't have any feelings for that kind of content. In fact it's feelings are a poster that kind of content that we sang. This thing is not in the dominant position in my life and it doesn't rain. However, look with me if you will, in chapter 7. I just sorry apologize. I keep turning back and forth between these chapters validity will a chapter 7. I want you to notice there just one statement that we have and it's a very very powerful statement here.

It's verse 21 Paul says I find a law did you know that laws are realists, laws, laws, getting really gnarly and very very difficult to do anything about. And Paul says I find a law that when I would do good, evil is right there present with me in the word evil here is again being used synonymously for the flesh thing with this way, for it works just this way. At the very moment that you're ready to hand out a tract.

At that moment Eva was right there your flash has a completely different feeling about you doing that and that never changes.

You felt that way when you were first saved, and you started thinking about giving a track to your employer something in you that resisted that now you been a believer for I don't know five years or 50 years.

Your flash is always going to oppose giving the gospel.

Your flesh is always good to say wait a minute. Let's think about. You don't want to do that. You're totally with you and your relationship how I can't believe it went and did you ruin everything by giving them the trap that will never change in you. No matter how mature you are when you want to do good, evil was right there and it has its own agenda and that's why it's always difficult for us to pray. It's why there's always resistance to our really submitting ourselves to preaching. It's why we always find yourself more inclined to read Sports Illustrated or the newspaper than we do to open our Bibles. It's that part of us in recognizing that folks is so liberating because until you do recognize that you end up identifying yourself totally in terms of your flash so the way your flesh feels is who you think you are in the decisions your flesh makes in the way your mind runs under the control of the flesh, you end up identifying yourself like that and when you do that you just walk around in a perpetual state of healing utterly defeated and is so liberating to recognize that there is this thing inside me in the way Peter puts it on the land in another reference Peter says it campaigns against your soul. It wars is the way the translation is the word itself word not just for a single battle, but for a whole extended campaign. Your flash is on a campaign and what that means, of course, is that that explains why so often really dedicated Christians feel utterly battle fatigued. It isn't that they're not mature, it's that there is no are an excess Civil War which is the very worst kind and folks. What you'll discover is that the more mature you are, the more often you will really feel drained and that conflict, you know you can think about it this way if you watch your mother.or you watch a mother rabbit or a mother bear with a whole lot of little ducklings little rabbits were little cubs. If you watch them. The mothers have a completely different disposition than the little ones you you look at even a bear, and she's got cubs, the cubs are into everything there scampering around in utterly oblivious. The mother bear she's huge big claws, teeth, she's totally alert all the time had up eyes around sniffing always cautious why because she's been around the block a lot and you'll find out folks that the more you grow in Christ. The more you will feel the conflict when you go out into the world, there will be a Civil War it will be running all the time inside you and it won't be when when when we were more immature. We just were kind of oblivious but after you have really taken a lot of hits and really gotten scarred up and seeing other people totally ruin their lives to our truly God's people and who do love the Lord. When you see that kind of thing.

The more mature you are.

You go into the venues of the world rather a lot of worldly people and there's a lot of action and a lot of stuff going on and if you really are walking with Christ.

It in spite of the fact you may be enjoying certain things that are innocent unlawful. There will be this aspect of things and it will wear you down and you will be less actually is a mature Christian you find yourself just less and less interested in him being in a situation that does that you and the answer to all of this is in Romans chapter 6 of them a call your attention to closing just to the verbs that would you slip passage back. Just call your attention to these words and I just I just want to do this to tip you off so you can work with that on your own.

Look at the first part of verse three. What is the word when the King James version. It's the word now look at the first word in verse six. If you're using a modern language version. It's probably not the first word in the King James it's were it's the word knowing.

And you probably have the word now if you're looking another translation.

Look at verse nine. Knowing here's the first thing Romans six is teaching us. There are certain things we need to know about ourselves. Number two. Look at verse 11.

The King James uses the word recommend in your modern language translation it's the word consider that actually is the word for compute and it's talking about the exercise of faith that what the passage says I'm supposed to know about myself that I'm supposed to know basically it's gonna teach this that this thing is been dethroned in my life.

It's active it's not destroyed, but it is dethroned now that know that know that the passage talks about that. No economic really counted to be the case that God did something in your life.

That means that you are capable of enlarging the just a moment.

You are capable of resisting this and doing what the next verse says in Romans with verse 12 and not yielding to.

Here's the word it's rain, meaning that I could momentarily and in a certain aspect of my life. I could recede this thing on I could read clown aunt that is not going to be a permanent situation. The spirit of God allow that. But what is saying foxes know certain things that the Bible tells us that we tend to be rather ignorant of. If you look at the passage of C.

Count on it and in the light of that now dog will resume the throne and the one of the thing. I got added. That is what was preached on all last year and that is this matter of walking in the spirit Galatians 5 says you can't keep it. You can't keep it from reasserting itself in your own power you need to yield to the power of the spirit of God. It just means you can't go through your day saying no to the spirit of God. I you know the Spirit of God says get out of bed and read the Bible. I say no I'm too tired spirit of God says be on time for class and I say well it doesn't really matter, spirit of God's is now time to do your homework and and I think now in the spirit of God says that you know now you're in chapel look at your Bible and listen I say no. What thoughts it's no wonder then that at the end of the day when I finally encounter my really besetting temptation.

I have no power. The problem is a resistant spirit of God all day long way to handle that is to train yourself if the train yourself like you do a little child is trained to walk, you have to start saying you may have to say read aloud to yourself the spirit of God says do this and you say yes Lord, and really get about a chaplain on the luncheon spirit of God will nudge you about something needs is yes, Lord, you train yourself to yield and the power is there much about her prayer father gracious, loving Lord, we thank you for giving us an understanding of ourselves and we thank you for all the victory that there is in Christ, help us today to yielding your spirit and enjoy. We pray in his precious name.

Amen. I'm Steve Pettit, president of Bob Jones University. Thank you for listening to The Daily Platform, the Bob Jones University school for continuing online and professional education offers convenient and affordable online programs.

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