The Flesh

welcome everyone another wednesday evening bible study at cornerstone apostolic church online so glad that you have joined with us we are going to pray to get started tonight pray the lord's blessing upon the word upon our time together as we study and i'm so glad you've joined us please pray with me would you lord we are indebted to you and we are thankful for the rising of the sun we're thankful for the blessings of every day blessed lord i pray our time together tonight in the word lead and guide us we want to study and learn and know more about you lord we want to grow we want to have experiences god that you give us trusting and loving you every day i pray god that you would help us those watching online those at home lord wherever they may be bless them touch them god lead us tonight we'll bless you and praise you forever and we'll give you glory and honor because you're god in jesus name we pray amen all right i'm going to tonight go first of all to the book of first peter chapter number two i want to read one verse to begin there during the month of may 2021 we are going to look online here at um several areas of our lives personally and the enemy if you will that wars against us in so many different ways so many different facets tonight we're going to talk about one of the enemies of the soul which is a very powerful enemy if you will and that is our flesh that's that's who we are and flesh and blood that's what we are uh there there's a battle there there's the enemy is constantly trying to discourage and destroy trying to distract us if you will and push us off the left to the right but tonight we're going to begin a few nights a few wednesday nights here in may on this topic of the enemies of the soul uh according to first peter chapter 2 verse number 11 the bible says this you can follow along with me dearly beloved i don't i beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from filthy lust which war against your soul okay here according to what the the letter that peter wrote saying is there has to come a standoff there has to come a push back okay and he's telling the church telling the the followers of the word uh you need to abstain from filthy lust things that are trying to evils that are trying to distract you their enemies against your soul war there's a battle going on all right and your flesh is something that all of us we live with our own flesh right we wake it up we bathe it we feed it we enjoy and we put it to bed and the cycle goes but it's constantly with our flesh now according to the definition of the flesh if you will uh it comes from the greek word of sarks s-a-r-x it indicates the human nature with its frailties and its passions okay it is to carnal the carnal mind carnal thoughts intentions all right um and the origin of this going back if you will into the scripture we find out that there is a law of sin that was given to all of humanity with the sin that happened in the garden of eden the disobedience to the word of god when that transpired in the garden of eden and i'm sure we all know that story in the book of genesis something happened a sin principle was established okay all of humanity generation generation generation doesn't matter what culture doesn't matter what part of the world what part of the hemisphere you're on what time zone you're in what language you speak because we are flesh we are human there is a principle of sin that we have to contend with okay now the bible of course gives us complete instructions on how to deal with the flesh all right that's what we're going to talk about tonight uh we understand that the sin nature the sin principle is automatically pushed into humanity and the carnality of man and it gives all of the offense all the things that that our flesh desires that the mind desires that the heart desires those are things that we have to learn as christians as people we have to learn how to establish ourselves in the ways of god and war against this flesh okay now a few things before we go deeper here um there is a nature of sin all right it is in the inherit it's what it is okay when you fall in love with the lord god when you begin a relationship a journey with him you need to understand something god will not come in and take your flesh away that is what you have to deal with he will give you though his spirit through the holy ghost to help you content war fight push back if you will the nature of sin he gives you a way to overcome the enemy of your soul which would tonight we're talking about our flesh okay knowing that we must understand that the treasure we have been given according to second corinthians 4 and 7 the treasure of the spirit of god is given to us and we carry it in what is referred to to the church there paul wrote earth and vessels okay we have the gift the promise of god in us in an earthen vessel and now we have to learn how to make these two work okay follow with me a little bit paul also wrote to the church of galatians we're going to go there this was a newly established work um a a up and growing work there are things that paul wanted to establish with the galatians notice here in your bible if you'll get it out galatians chapter number five verse number 19 20 and 21 okay i'm going to read this and then we're going to go back and look look a little closer at the details of it okay uh galatians 5 verse 19 the bible says that the works of the flesh okay the works of the flesh are manifest which are these and he begins a list here if you will they are manifest like this and this is what they are adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variants emulations wrath strife seditions heresies envying for 21 says murders drunkenness revelings and such like okay of the which i i tell you before as i was awful as i i have also excused me told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of god there's a list here of things and then he continues in such things okay so there it's not just a specific a b c d check box check box as long as you don't do this such things these things can branch off into various areas let's look at this just a little closer adult adultery that basically is very common sense even in our 2021 vernacular if you will that is a voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone who's not his spouse there it is notice this this is a work of the flesh fornication same thing voluntary intercourse between two people who are not married okay again this is a work of flesh uncleanness that basically not just that that you have a spot on your shirt or that you've spilled the the drink on the table no uncleanness in this application is simply this morally dirty evil thoughts okay you're unclean the things that's going on in your brain and your morals that's leading and guiding you they are unclean lasciviousness is a word you don't use much in our in our culture in our society that is lustfulness lewd sexual desires okay uh idolatry i think we can understand that that is excessive blind adoration to things okay or people or or money or whatever idolatry stuff that you put before your relationship with god witchcraft i think we understand that is the art or the practice of sorcery or black magic okay hatred hatred uh extreme dislike given to hostility against something or someone variance that basically means quarrelsome difficult disagreeable don't want to get along with people emulation is another word you don't use much in our society today that is basically a jealous rivalry i want what you have i don't have what you have and i want it wrath a strong stern fierce anger strife bitter conflict sowing discord uh seditions again we're out of galatians five looking at verse 19 20 21 seditions that is an incitement to rebellion going against anything of authority all right heresies uh being a heretic if you will that is a belief opinion that is contrary to the common doctrines or teachings okay envyings that's discontent with others advantages you don't want other people to succeed you envy them in beings okay another one mentioned here in galatians is murders that's killing another human being pretty common pretty basic there we understand that drunkenness again given to intoxication and then the last one mentioned here in the list is reveling which is a noisy festivity with no regard to others all right he also mentions though and i have to mention this to you the such like is the things that you and i that our society and our culture has the hardest time with and i'll tell you what uh many folk today would say well i don't do the things on the list that's mentioned here but they do things that are stemming from these things that are on the list all right those things are just as bad as others so knowing that this is what wars against the flesh okay this is the enemy of your of your soul is the flesh we have to understand that the flesh has got to be put under subjection to something more powerful all right now let me look just at a couple more verses here and i want you to follow follow along um the flesh according to matthew 26 the flesh is weak the spirit is willing there's the battle okay um the will of the flesh versus the will of god there is a will but our flesh has one and god has one that he's trying to work in us and there's that that battle that's going on um the lusts of the flesh are exposed as we read the word as we get into the scriptures as we pray as we spend time in the altar as we reach out and pray for others okay that are in the body as well the flesh many times reaps corruption because we pursue things that are flesh things that are carnal and because of that the uh what the harvest would be is corruption okay uh there's so many other things jude tells us that we don't need to have our garments spotted with flesh talking of course of our spiritual man all right now a couple of things i want to mention about the flesh today all right in this study number one your body is the temple of the holy ghost okay understanding that where you live your flesh is also a dwelling place for the spirit of god that that's kind of hard to wrap your mind around because we know the challenges and and the the weaknesses of our flesh but yet it is in this earth and vessel where god wants to put his spirit therefore the battle rages on all right let's look at a scripture here galatians chapter 5 17 tells us for the flesh lusteth against the spirit the spirit against the flesh these are contrary one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would there's a battle going on in your flesh and in the spirit okay let me help you with just a few more explanations here in this lesson tonight there are two births of a person man woman child whatever you have the flesh the natural birth and then when you fall in love with jesus you give yourself you repent of your sins and you're baptized you now can take on a second birth that is the born-again experience experience of a relationship with jesus christ okay also there are two natures of man there's a flesh nature which does the works of the flesh wants to do the things of the flesh but because this earth and vessel houses the spirit of god then you've got the nature of the spirit the the divine in you that wants to work and wants to do things that are good and holy and correct there's also two walks you walk in the flesh you walk in the spirit if you mind the things of the flesh and you walk in those things these are the lists that i just mentioned and many others that are going to manifest themselves in you but if you walk after the spirit then you're going to have great things positive things happen in you also there's there's two fathers if you will there's there's the father that was from adam all the way back to creation that flesh adam and then there's jesus christ who came who wants to be that heavenly father for us okay also there's two minds you have the mind of the flesh and you have the mind of christ that's spiritual dwelling the reason i'm mentioning these two oppositions is because we all face these battles we all face these things the old man the carnal man and the new man the spiritual man there's that constant something going against one to another uh as i bring the the lesson tonight down to a close i want to share something with you that i think you have to understand when it comes to the enemy that is fighting inside of you with your flesh okay that the flesh things that are that are rising up and trying to do and trying to take dominion and so forth we have to learn how to crucify the flesh now crucifixion is not a pretty term and basically to you and i the only real application we understand is when jesus was crucified on the cross to cross and to us there's nothing really pretty about that it is bloody messy it's lonely uh it's it's by itself it nobody wants it uh but yet jesus did that he did that as an example for you and i to understand in the flesh we have to learn how to put the flesh away and let the spiritual man grow and prosper okay crucifixion romans paul wrote to the church there and he talked about the old man being crucified put on put on a a cross if you will to to die it's will its desire it's what it wants okay what it runs after daily we have to put that away okay discipleship is how we grow discipleship there's a a word for the lesson today that i want to help us to understand we become followers of christ instead of followers of our flesh all right and when we do that something very powerful transpires within us all right if we're going to be true followers disciples of jesus christ then number one we have to learn how to deny ourselves okay number two we have to take up a cross just like jesus did every day all right and number three is we have to simply follow him we have to understand that his plan the spirit man is to grow and to have joy and peace and to live in the things that god wants us to enjoy and to experience and life and abundant life even more than we could even imagine but it has to be the doing away with the will and the desires of the flesh of man that's the enemy of your soul tonight as as we pray and we bring this to a close basically i want us to understand something there is an enemy and it's our flesh and when we want to grow we want to do the right things according to the scripture according to what god's leading us we have to put on what god wants us to in the spirit so that the flesh can be pushed down put in its place and every day we have to wake up we have to deal with it we have to understand it we have to keep it at bay we have to keep it in check and we follow the things of god holiness righteousness we we do what the scripture teaches us if you'll go on on your own time in galatians five works of the flesh are there but then there are things that happen in the spirit there are fruits will show when you start doing spiritual things i pray tonight in this study that basically it would just illuminate things in your life that you would realize the importance of becoming what god wants you to be understanding the law of the flesh the spirit it's a battle going on but through jesus christ you can be a conqueror more than a conqueror through his power of the cross in your life i want to pray with you right now would you would you join me lord we are thankful that you don't just leave us in our flesh to battle it on our own but that there's a spiritual hand there's a prophetic word there there's an anointing through the scriptures through the spoken word through the preach or through the red word through prayer and fasting and giving ourselves to you that we can be overcomers lord i thank you for that promise we can live victorious lives according to your will fall in love with you every day and have a relationship with you i love you i thank you tonight for our time together let the blessings of the lord be upon the church be upon everyone that's studying your word lord we want to grow to know you and to have fellowship with you daily plead your blood over us lead us lord until we meet again i thank you for our time together in jesus name we pray amen i love you i believe in you and i pray you have a wonderful week in jesus learn to follow him learn to let the flesh go and trust in the things of god until next time god bless you