Message Eleven The Flesh and the Spirit

Message Eleven

The Flesh and the Spirit

Scripture Reading: Rom. 1:9; 2:28-29; 7:17-18, 20-21; 8:4-6, 9-10, 13, 16; 12:11

Rom. 1:9 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers,

Rom. 2:28-29 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart, in spirit, not in letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God.

Rom. 7:17-18 Now then it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but to work out the good is not.

Rom. 7:20-21 But if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me. I find then the law with me who wills to do the good, that is, the evil is present with me.

Rom. 8:4-6 That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. For those who are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.

Rom. 8:9-10 But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.

Rom. 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.

Rom. 8:16 The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.

Rom. 12:11 Do not be slothful in zeal, but be burning in spirit, serving the Lord.

I. The book of Romans is fully focused on life and is of three sections:

A. The first section is on redemption for justification, the second section is on life for sanctification, and the third section is on building for the Body expressed as the local churches.

B. In the section on life there are two key terms for our Christian life—the flesh and the spirit.

II. In order to live by the mingled spirit, the Spirit with our spirit (8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17), we must see what the flesh is:

Rom. 8:16 The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.

1 Cor. 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

A. The flesh is the corrupted, polluted, and transmuted body:

1. Man’s body was originally pure, but through man’s fall Satan injected himself into man, and man’s body became the flesh—Gen. 3:6; Rom. 7:18a.

Gen. 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make oneself wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.

Rom. 7:18a For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells

2. Our body is “the body of sin” (6:6) and “the body of this death” (7:24); the body of sin is very active and full of strength in sinning against God, and the body of this death is weak and powerless in acting to please God (v. 18).

Rom. 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves;

Rom. 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?

Rom. 7:18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but to work out the good is not.

3. As long as we are still living, until the day of our redemption, the body of sin and death is always with us—cf. 8:23.

Rom. 8:23 And not only so, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan in ourselves, eagerly awaiting sonship, the redemption of our body.

4. The word flesh also refers to our entire fallen being; man is totally flesh because the fallen being today is under the dominion of the fallen flesh—3:20; Gen. 6:3a.

Rom. 3:20 Because out of the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before Him; for through the law is the clear knowledge of sin.

Gen. 6:3a And Jehovah said, My Spirit will not strive with man forever, for he indeed is flesh

B. The flesh is the “meeting hall” and the compound of sin, death, and Satan; the flesh is a hopeless case and can never be improved—Rom. 7:17-18, 21; cf. John 17:15.

Rom. 7:21 I find then the law with me who wills to do the good, that is, the evil is present with me.

John 17:15 I do not ask that You would take them out of the world, but that You would keep them out of the hands of the evil one.

C. The flesh is at enmity with God, not subject to the law of God, and can never please God—Rom. 8:7-8.

Rom. 8:7-8 Because the mind set on the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, for neither can it be. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

D. Sin is Satan himself as “the evil” in our flesh—John 17:15; Rom. 7:21:

John 17:15 I do not ask that You would take them out of the world, but that You would keep them out of the hands of the evil one.

Rom. 7:21 I find then the law with me who wills to do the good, that is, the evil is present with me.

1. “The evil” is the evil life, nature, and character of Satan himself, who is the indwelling sin in us; when sin is dormant within us, it is merely sin, but when it is aroused in us by our willing to do the good, it becomes “the evil.”

2. Sin can deceive us, kill us (v. 11), lord it over us, that is, have dominion over us (6:12, 14), and cause us to do things against our will (7:17, 20); all these activities show that sin is a living person.

Rom. 7:11 For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

Rom. 6:12 Do not let sin therefore reign in your mortal body so that you obey the body’s lusts;

Rom. 6:14 For sin will not lord it over you, for you are not under the law but under grace.

Rom. 7:17 Now then it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me.

Rom. 7:20 But if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me.

3. Sin is the evil nature of Satan, the evil one, who, having injected himself into man through Adam’s fall, has now become the very sinful nature dwelling, acting, and working in fallen man—cf. Matt. 16:22-23.

Matt. 16:22-23 And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You! But He turned and said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.

4. In Galatians 2:20 Paul says, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me”; in Romans 7:17 he says, “It is no longer I…but sin that dwells in me,” showing that sin is another person within us.

Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, thefaith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Rom. 7:17 Now then it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me.

5. In our flesh no good thing dwells, because the flesh is fully possessed, taken over, by Satan as sin—v. 18a.

Rom. 7:18a For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells

III. For the sake of His economy, God in His wisdom and sovereignty uses our sinful, ugly flesh to force us to turn to our spirit so that we may gain more of the Spirit for His building by the growth of God in us—Col. 2:19; Zech. 4:6:

Col. 2:19 And not holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.

Zech. 4:6 And he answered and spoke to me, saying, This is the word of Jehovah to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says Jehovah of hosts.

A. We are either in the spirit or in the flesh; there is no third place for us to be; the believer is a miniature garden of Eden with God as the tree of life in his spirit, Satan as the tree of knowledge in his flesh, and his mind in between—Rom. 8:6.

Rom. 8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.

B. Judicially speaking, both Satan and our flesh were condemned once for all on the cross (v. 3; John 3:14; Heb. 2:14; 2 Cor. 5:21), but God allowed the flesh to remain with us to help us and force us to turn to Christ in our spirit and have no more confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:3).

Rom. 8:3 For that which the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh

John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up

Heb. 2:14 Since therefore the children have shared in blood and flesh, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death He might destroy him who has the might of death, that is, the devil

2 Cor. 5:21 Him who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Phil. 3:3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh

C. Without the help rendered by the sinful, ugly flesh, we would not be as desperate to gain the Lord or to have Him wrought into us—Rom. 8:6, 13.

Rom. 8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.

Rom. 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.

D. Our goal may be holiness or spirituality or victory, but God’s goal is to work Himself into us; often when we are in a difficult situation, we are more open to the Lord and more willing to turn to Him and allow Him to work Himself into us—vv. 28-29.

Rom. 8:28-29 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers

E. If we seek Him, even the sinful compound of the flesh will become a help to us in gaining the Lord; because we fail so often, we are desperate to turn to the spirit, and in this way we gain more of the Spirit—cf. Exo. 23:23, 29-30; Judg. 2:21—3:4.

Exo. 23:23 For My Angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.

Exo. 23:29-30 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the animals of the field multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have become fruitful and inherit the land.

Judg. 2:21-3:4 I for My part will no longer dispossess from before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, In order to test Israel through them as to whether or not they will keep the way of Jehovah by walking in it, as their fathers kept it. So Jehovah left these nations, not dispossessing them quickly, and did not deliver them into the hand of Joshua. And these are the nations that Jehovah left in order that through them he might test Israel (that is, all who had not known all the battles of Canaan), But only so that the generations of the children of Israel might learn to know war, at least those who had not previously known the battles: The five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who dwelt on Mount Lebonon, from Mount Baal-hermon to the entrance of Hamath. And they were for the testing of Israel, to know whether they would listen to the commandments of Jehovah, which He commanded their fathers through Moses.

F.Our hardships, defeats, failures, and disappointments force us to realize that there is no hope in the flesh; the flesh is good only to force us to turn to Christ in our spirit, to press us into the spirit, to make us desperate to get into the spirit, and to keep us watchful to stay in the spirit—Matt. 26:41; Eph. 6:17-18.

Matt. 26:41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Eph. 6:17-18 And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints

G. The Lord does not care for whether or not we have a victory; the Lord cares for only one thing—that we gain Him as the Spirit—Phil. 3:8; 2 Cor. 3:17-18.

Phil. 3:8 But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ

2 Cor. 3:17-18 And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.

IV. Our spirit is a wonderful compound—compounded with Christ, the Spirit, and grace—2 Tim. 4:22; Rom. 8:16; Gal. 6:18:

2 Tim. 4:22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

Rom. 8:16 The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.

Gal. 6:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

A. God wants us to walk according to this wonderful compound spirit (to have our being and our living with all that we say and do according to the spirit)—Rom. 8:4; Phil. 1:19; 1 Cor. 6:17; cf. Exo. 30:23-25.

Rom. 8:4 That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.

Phil. 1:19 For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

1 Cor. 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

Exo. 30:23-25 You also take the finest spices: of flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, two hundred fifty shekels, and of fragrant calamus two hundred fifty shekels, And of cassia five hundred shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. And you shall make it a holy anointing oil, a fragrant ointment compounded according to the work of a compounder; it shall be a holy anointing oil.

B. Only the persons who walk according to the spirit can be the proper members for the building up of a local church; if we do not have such a walk, sooner or later we will be a trouble to our local church—Gal. 5:16-26.

Gal. 5:16-26 But I say, Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these oppose each other that you would not do the things that you desire. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. And the works of the flesh are manifest, which are such things as fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, divisions, sects, Envyings, bouts of drunkenness, carousings, and things like these, of which I tell you beforehand, even as I have said before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. But they who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its lusts. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

C. Romans reveals that whatever we are, whatever we do, and whatever we have must be in spirit; this will keep us from the vanity of religion—1:9; 7:6; Phil. 3:3:

Rom. 1:9 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers

Rom. 7:6 But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter.

Phil. 3:3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh

1. The reality of all spiritual things depends on the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God is in our spirit; hence, the reality of all spiritual matters depends on our spirit, not on anything apart from our spirit—Rom. 8:5-6, 9-11.

Rom. 8:5-6 For those who are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.

Rom. 8:9-11 But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.

2. Whatever is in us is vanity unless it is “inwardly,” in our spirit, not “outwardly,” in the flesh—2:28-29; 8:4, 10, 13; 12:11.

Rom. 8:4 That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.

Rom. 8:10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.

Rom. 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.

Rom. 12:11 Do not be slothful in zeal, but be burning in spirit, serving the Lord.

3. Everything that God is to us is in our spirit—8:16; 2 Tim. 4:22.

Rom. 8:16 The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.

2 Tim. 4:22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

D. God has reserved the human spirit for His purpose—Zech. 12:1; Prov. 20:27.

Zech. 12:1 The burden of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel. Thus declares Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him,

Prov. 20:27 The spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah, / Searching all the innermost parts of the inner being.

E. Our spirit today is the real Bethel, the house of God and the gate of heaven; when we turn to our spirit, we are in the third heaven—Eph. 2:22; Gen. 28:12,17,19.

Eph. 2:22 In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.

Gen. 28:12 And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

Gen. 28:17 And he was afraid and said, How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

Gen. 28:19 And he called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz previously.

F.When we are in our spirit, we are in the Holy of Holies, touching the throne of grace and being sustained by Christ to live a heavenly life on earth—Heb. 10:22a; 4:16.

Heb. 10:22a Let us come forward to the Holy of Holies with a true heart in full assurance of faith

Heb. 4:16 Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace

G. In our spirit we can overcome the world, and the evil one cannot touch us; the only way to overcome Satan is to stay in the high tower of our regenerated spirit—1 John 5:4, 18; John 3:6; 14:30.

1 John 5:4 For everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory which has overcome the world—our faith.

1 John 5:18 We know that everyone who is begotten of God does not sin, but he who has been begotten of God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him.

John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 14:30 I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and in Me he has nothing

H. Because Christ as the life-giving Spirit has dispensed Himself into our spirit, our spirit is life (Gk. zoe)—Rom. 8:10.

Rom. 8:10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.

I. Our spirit is the place of oneness; we can be one only if we worship God in our spirit, which is today’s Jerusalem—John 4:23-24; Psa. 133.

John 4:23-24 But an hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truthfulness, for the Father also seeks such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.

Psa. 133:1-3 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is / For brothers to dwell in unity! It is like the fine oil upon the head / That ran down upon the beard, / Upon Aaron’s beard, / That ran down upon the hem of his garments; Like the dew of Hermon / That came down upon the mountains of Zion. / For there Jehovah commanded the blessing: / Life forever.

J. Christ, the heavenly and spiritual food, is in our spirit, and we need to eat Him to be His testimony and grow up into Him for the building up of His Body—John 6:57, 63.

John 6:57 As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.