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SPIRITUAL WARFARE-CARNAL, FLESH

The flesh is that tendency within each person to operate independent of God and to center his interests on himself. An unsaved person functions totally in the flesh (Rom. 8:7,8), worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25).

NEIL T. ANDERSON VICTORY OVER DARKNESS p. 79

During the years you spent separated from God, your worldly experiences thoroughly programmed your brain with thought patterns, memory traces, responses and habits which are alien to God. So even though your old skipper is one, your flesh remains in opposition to God as a preprogrammed propensity for sin, which is living independent of God...

There is a difference in Scripture between being in the flesh and walking according to the flesh. As a Christian, you are no longer in the flesh. That phrase described people who are still spiritually dead (Rom. 8:8), those who live independent of God. Everything they do, whether morally good or bad, is in the flesh......

But even though you are not in the flesh, you may still choose to walk according to the flesh (Rom. 8:12,13).

NEIL ANDERSON VICTORY OVER DARKNESS p. 80

Unbelievers can't help but live according to the flesh because they are totally in the flesh. But your old skipper is gone. You are no longer in the flesh and you no longer need to live according to its desires.

Getting rid of the old self was God's responsibility, but rendering the flesh and its deeds inoperative is our responsibility (Rom. 8:12). God has changed your nature, but it's your responsibility to change your behavior by "putting to death the deeds of the body" (Rom. 8:13)....

"Walk in the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16).

NEIL T. ANDERSON VICTORY OVER THE DARKNESS p. 81

Sin is the condition into which all descendents of fallen Adam are born (Rom. 5:12). Sin is living our lives independent of God. It's the result of being deceived by Satan to believe that meaning and purpose in life may be achieved apart from a personal relationship with, and obedience to, the Creator of life (Deut. 30:19,20; 1 John 5:12). In the non-Christian, sin permeates the old nature, dominates the old self and perpetuates the deeds of the flesh. Satan is at the heart of all sin (1 John 3:8). He

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deceives people into believing a lie and counsels them to rebel against God.

When you received Christ the power of sin was not broken, but its power to dominate you was broken through your death, resurrection and righteousness in Christ (Rom. 6:7; 8:10). You no longer have to sin because you are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ (Rom. 6:11). Sin still strongly appeals to your flesh to continue to act independent of God. But you are no longer bound to participate as you were before receiving Christ. It is your responsibility not to let "sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts" (Rom. 6:12)....

Perhaps the most vivid description of the contest with sin which goes on in the life of the believer is found in Romans 7:15-25. In verses 15 and 16, Paul describes the problem: "For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good."...

Verses 17-21 uncover the reason for this behavior problem: "So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one dong it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good."

How many players are involved now? Two: sin and me. But sin is clearly not me; it's only dwelling in me. Sin is preventing me from doing what I want to do, but I am responsible for allowing sin to reign.

Do these verses say that I am no good, that I am evil or that I am sin? Absolutely not. They say that I have something dwelling in me which is no good, evil and sinful. but it's not me. If I have a sliver in my finger, I could say that I have something in me which is no good. But it's not me who's no good. I'm not the sliver. The sliver which is stuck in my finger is no good. I am not sin and I am not a sinner. I am a saint struggling with sin which causes me to do what I don't want to do. NEIL T. ANDERSON VICTORY OVER DARKNESS pp. 82-83

Flesh (Rom. 8:8). Though flesh can mean the body, it is the learned independence which gives sin its opportunity. The natural man who tries to find purpose and meaning in life independent of God is going to struggle with inferiority, insecurity, inadequacy, guilt, worry, and doubts.


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Ephesians 2:1-3 contains a concise description of the natural person Paul identified in 1 Corinthians 2:14.This person is spiritually dead, separated from God. Living completely independent from God, the natural person sins as a matter of course....

The natural person may think he is free to choose his behavior. But since he lives in the flesh, he invariable walks according to the flesh and his choices reflect the "deeds of the flesh" listed in Galatians 5:19-21....

Doctors agree that most physical problems are psychosomatic. Possessing peace of mind and the calm assurance of God's presence in our lives positively affects our physical health (Rom. 8:11).


Flesh (Rom 8:8) The crucifying of the flesh is the believer's responsibility, on a day-by-day basis as he considers himself dead to sin.


The flesh, conditioned to live independently from God under the old self, is still present in the spiritual person. But he responsibly crucifies the flesh and its desires daily as he considers himself dead to sin.


The ingrained habit patterns still appeal to the mind to live independent of God.


Notice that the spirit of the fleshly person is identical to that of the spiritual person. The fleshly person is a Christian, spiritually alive in Christ and declared righteous by God. But that's where the similarity ends, Instead of being directed by the Spirit, this believer chooses to follow the impulses of his flesh. As a result, his mind is occupied by carnal thoughts and his emotions are plagued by negative feelings. And though he is free to choose to walk after the Spirit and produce the fruit of the Spirit, he continues to involve himself in sinful activity by willfully walking after the flesh..

Several years ago I conducted a little personal research to discover how many Christians are still the victims of their flesh. I asked the same question to 50 conservative Christians who came to me to talk about problems in their lives: "How many of the following characteristics describe your life: inferiority, insecurity, inadequacy, guilt, worry and doubt?" Every one of the 50 answered, "All six." Here were 50 born-again, righteous

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children of God who were so bogged down by the flesh that they struggled with the same problems of self-doubt which inundate unbelievers who live in the flesh continually.


First, your flesh still generates humanistic thoughts and ideas. Your flesh is that part of you which was trained to live independent of God before you became a Christian. At that time there was no Plan A in your life; you were separated from God, ignorant of His ways and determined to succeed and survive by your own abilities.

When you were born again, God gave you a new nature and you became a new person, but nobody pressed the "CLEAR" button in your brain. You brought with you into your new faith all the old Plan B habits and thought patterns of the flesh. So while your new self desires to live dependent on God and follow Plan A, your flesh persists in suggesting Plan B ways to live independent of God.


The nature of the battle is clearly presented in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5: "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ."

Strongholds are negative patterns of thought which are burned into our minds either through repetition over time or through one-time traumatic experiences.


The essence of all temptation is the invitation to live independently of God and fulfill legitimate needs in the world, the flesh or the devil instead of the Christ.


It is not the corruptible flesh that makes the soul sinful, but the sinful soul that makes the flesh corruptible.

AUGUSTINE

Now he whose soul does not die to his world and began here to be conformed to the truth, falls when the body dies into a more terrible death, and shall revive, not to change his earthly for a heavenly habitation, but to endure the penalty of his sin.

AUGUSTINE ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE

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Paul speaks of the unregenerate man as the "natural man." As natural man he is incapable of understanding spiritual things, for such truth is spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2;14). Natural man must, therefore, become a "new creature" in Christ by the transforming power of the Spirit. This new spiritual life is not a mere improvement of the natural life...

As for the seat of sin, Paul tends to locate it in the "flesh" (sarx Rom. 7:17-20) By flesh he does not mean body (soma), but the natural man as a whole, the total person without God and the Spirit. Flesh and spirit are in constant conflict in man (Gal. 5:17b). Only by living habitually in the Spirit can man avoid gratifying the carvings of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). This constant struggle helps to explain why man does not always achieve the highest good.

HENLEEE H. BARNETTE INTRODUCING CHRISTIAN ETHICS p. 77

Alas, the contradictory anomaly is, that many of us who in this regenerating sense "live" in the Spirit only partly "walk" in the Spirit. Without sensing the foolish self-delusion of it we secretly assume that we can manage our spiritual life better than the One who imparted it to us!...

But besides engendering spiritual immaturity and deformity, this "taking things into our own hands" and living by self-management (or mis-management) is responsible more than anything else for tricking us into painful situations and inflicting hurtful sorrows upon us. How many examples of this there are in the pages of Holy Writ! I have often said that the most telling illustrations of New Testament doctrine are found in Old Testament story; and it is certainly true in this connection.

J. SIDLOW BAXTER DOES GOD STILL GUIDE? pp. 121-122

The first of these is worldly absorption. Go back to our Lord's time again. The great and mighty men of Judea were too much absorbed with this world's affairs and this world's gains to leave them for the service of One who had so little outwardly to attract them. The Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes and priests, the wise men and doctors of the law, were issues of Judaism, the state religion, to see any beauty in Jesus that they should desire Him-So it has been ever since, in varying circumstances.

A second reason why "not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called," is their proneness to natural conceit....

God's purpose is to "bring to naught" all fleshly wisdom and glorying.

J. SIDLOW BAXTER AWAKE MY HEART p. 234

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This account in Exodus (ex. 1:22) is genuine history; but we sense, also, a latent typical meaning in it. Old-time Egypt is a type of "this world." Pharaoh is a type of Satan. Many things, which happened to Israel, were adapted as types.

J. SIDLOW BAXTER AWAKE MY HEART p. 265

"Without knowing it, there are thousands of Christians who have a weak and questionable measure of influence which belongs to a different dispensation from this, and shows them to be two thousand years behind their privileges, their position is appalling, for they are familiar with the inspiring promises and have no faculty to catch a glimpse of the glorious things proffered in these promises."

GEORGE BOWEN IN ANDREW MURRAY THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST p. 246

There are no happy carnal Christians, and the cause of their unhappiness is their disobedience.

BILL BRIGHT THE HOLY SPIRIT p. 77

The Bible suggests that the believer is to have no confidence in the flesh. He is not to seek more self-confidence.

WILLIAM H. COOK SUCCESS, MOTIVATION, AND SCRIPTURES p. 38

The carnal Christian has four characteristics, we are told.One, a state of protracted infancy in Christ persists.

Although spiritual immaturity is a natural state immediately after conversion, it should not continue. There are two marks of "spiritual babyhood": (1) infant Christians cannot help themselves, and (2) they cannot help others. Some believers have been like this all their believing lives. Secondly, carnality is a state in which sin is supreme. The Corinthian church is a classic example of this with its divisions, envyings, and immorality. (3) Thirdly, the carnal state can coexist with great spiritual gifts. People can serve fervently and effectively and yet be carnal. In a word, one can exercise his gifts of the Spirit and be almost devoid of the fruit of the Spirit. Again, Corinth is pointed out as an example. In the fourth place, immaturity sidetracks the receiving of spiritual truth. Baby believers can easily fall into the trap James urged Christians to avoid, being hearers only and not doers of the word (James 1:22).

All of this, Hopkins points out, makes believers (1) satisfied with partial truth, (2) satisfied with partial consecration, (3) satisfied with partial obedience, and (4) satisfied with partial love. A Christian, content with incomplete spirituality, will soon become an entire worldling. That is tragic-so commonly tragic.

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LEWIS DURMMOND THE AWAKENING THAT MUST COME pp.52-53

I'm afraid many Christians look at the promises of God as I looked at the Sears Catalog as a boy.

RON DUNN ANY CHRISTIAN CAN! p. 22

“Flesh and Spirit are at war with one another. How can we ask the flesh and spirit to cohabit within us at the same time? It’s like a man saying to is new bride, “Honey, I love you and I am so happy to be married to you. Oh, by the way, my mistress will be moving in with us on weekends. You don’t mind, do you?”

TONY EVANS

Our churches are infected with a virus of man's greatness and of man's great organization. Promotion is the order of the day. We sing the praises of our leaders; magnify statistical reports; exalt the numbers in our membership; advertise the great attendance, the size of our buildings, the magnitude of our budgets. God drops out of the picture.

E.F. HALLOCK ALWAYS IN PRAYER p. 98

The flesh is not to be condoned, but crucified. There can be no peace with it; there must be victory over it.

VANCE HAVNER

In short, the devil is completely and utterly corrupt and wicked, so in his kingdom, and so are the subjects of his kingdom. Now it is this flesh, this godless human nature, this which is utterly opposed to God, and with which God can have no dealings. It is this flesh which we seek to make attractive and presentable to God.

Galatians 5:19-21 lists for us the works of the flesh. "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulation’s, wrath, strife, sedition’s, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, raveling's, and such like."

Everything in this list bears the stamp of the devil, yet it is by the flesh we seek to serve God, by improving ourselves, by developing our latent qualities. All is the flesh and all is against God.

There are other names applied to the area of the devil's dominion. Sometimes it is called "the old man" or "the body of death"-the implication being that it is "the old nature" or the "spiritually dead part." It is also called "the carnal mind"-carnal here meaning "of the flesh."

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The great things to realize is that there is a state of perpetual enmity between God and the flesh. "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:8). "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:7).

Notice the last four words in Romans 8:7-neither indeed can be. It is impossible to make the flesh acceptable to God.

"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other" (Galatians 5:17).

JOHN E. HUNTER LIVING THE CHRIST-FILLED LIFE p. 55

The "flesh" is all that a man is without Christ.What religion seeks to do is to somehow make an offering to

God. Being of the world it takes the things of the world. It takes "the flesh" and proceeds to dress it up, to deck it out and make it lovely to look at. It covers "the flesh" with beautiful thoughts, color, impressive music, and ritual. Everything looks good to the eye, sounds good to the ear, so it must be good-but it is flesh, all flesh.

God's Word says, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). Also, "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto Him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14).


But at the back of every man's desire is the devil. Man may be on the throne, but is the devil who is the power behind the throne. The devil has taken all the normal desires and needs of the human heart, and overstressed, and overdeveloped them until the ordinary things of life bear his mark.

One of the greatest shocks that can come to a simple believer in Christ is to realize that "the flesh" still exists after conversion. During the first flush of joy of sins forgiven the new believer sometimes makes the error of imagining that his Christian life will be joy and peace all the way.

JOHN HUNTER LIVING THE CHIRST-FILLED LIFE p. 57

But far from proving that his conversion was a fraud it emphasizes the fact that it was real. Galatians 5:17 says, "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."

The unbeliever is never conscious of such an inward battle. His lusts have long since stifled the voice of his conscience-God's built-in warning system-so that his life is a progression

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of adventure into lusts (i.e. over-desires) as opportunities occur, circumstances arise, and the devil drives.

The correct thing to do is to realize that what is born of the flesh is flesh and always will be flesh. You cannot alter it, improve it or develop it. It will always be opposed to God and God's things. The Word of God teaches us how to handle it. Galatians 5:24 says, "and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."

Paul says in Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ"-meaning the flesh, the area of the devil's control. We are instructed in Romans 6:11, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Our problem is that as fast as we reckon he "self-life," the "flesh" to be dead, the devil seeks to revive it.

There is no such thing as the eradication of the old nature, or sinless perfection; the Bible teaches that God never removes the old nature, but He does provide the remedy.

JOHN E. HUNTER LIVING THE CHIRST-FILLED LIFE pl 58

"Sin shall not have dominion over you" (Romans 6:14) if you yield yourselves unto God....

God is not shocked at our continual failure, it is no surprise to Him. So long as we try to improve our flesh then so long will we know continued heartache and frustration.

We need to realize how malignant is the cancer of sin in the flesh, yet how perfect is the in-working of the indwelling Holy Spirit of Christ.

Christ never prayed for world peace, instead he called people out of the world system...

"The flesh" is anti-God-"it lusteth against the Spirit"-its works are of the devil-and yet the natural man ever seeks to make it presentable to God.


Carnal mind will always be an enemy at any age, at any level of dedication, at any place of service. It is an enemy of faith, it is an enemy of prayer, it is an enemy of witnessing, and it is an enemy of Bible study; for it is an enemy of God.

JIM HYLTON JUST DYING TO LIVE p. 102

There is much that is wrong and evil and which belongs to the old nature still remaining in us-not the 'old man' but the old nature.

MARTYN LLOYD JONES JOY UNSPEAKABLE p. 214

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The individual who is not anchored in God offer no resistance on his own resources to the physical and moral blandishments of the world. For this he need the evidence of inner, transcendent experience which alone can protect him from the otherwise inevitable submersion in the mass.

CARL JUNG IN CECIL OSBORNE THE ART OF UNDERSTANDING YOURSELF 31-32

Paul in l Cor. 3:3, "And ye are yet carnal." That means they live in the senses; they are ruled by the senses; they are guided by the sense.....

If they happen to be men and women of ability and of standing in the community and the Church gives them office or a place of responsibility, they become a deadly burden to the Church....

But if you see them going to the altar year after year, you know they have become habitual, spiritual cripples.

E.W. KENYON THE CREATION REALITIES p. 14

Our new nature given us the desire to live obediently in the will of God. But our old nature does not go way quietly.

RICK MARSHALL (Director of Crusades and Director of Counseling and Follow-Up for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association).

The flesh still abides in the believer. Otherwise, why is he constantly exhorted to walk in the Spirit and not to walk in the flesh? He should not walk in it, and need not walk in it, but the fact that he may walk in it, and often does walk in it, proves that it is there.

JAMES MCCONKEY THE THREE FOLD SECRET OF THE HOLY SPIRIT p. 89

Day by day, as the Word of God reveals these shortcomings and shows him where his life falls short of the holiness which God requires of him as revealed in His Word, he is to cleanse his life according to that Word. That is, because4 he has given himself in consecration to do the will of God, he is cleanse himself from practice of anything in his life which falls short of that will. Here is where multitudes of believers fail. They have accepted by faith their emancipation from the slave-mastership of sin by the cross of Christ. They have yielded themselves in consecration to God to become His servants. They have wonderful manifestations of the presence and power of god in their innermost souls. But by and by this begins to fade. They begin to talk of a lost experience. They say the joy of Christ and the peace of Christ which once they knew has fled away and

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they do not understand why. Would you know the explanation? They have failed to learn the last great secret of victory over sin. They do not conform their practical daily life to the revealing and cleansing Word of God.

“If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body” is God’s Word in Romans 8:13. Or, as Moule’s fine translation puts it “If ye through the Spirit keep doing to death the practices of the body.”

JAMES H. MCCONKEY THE WAY OF VICTORY pp. 53-54

But what does God mean when He says through Paul “Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh”? He means just what He says. We are to turn over the boards and planks on top of which we have been walking our pathway of life; let the sunshine of God’s Word shine in upon the hideous creeping things of the Flesh which are underneath our life walk; and then we are day by day to “do to death” the whole loathsome brood which has lost us the throne of our spiritual power even as the Flesh with its disobedience lost Saul his.

“Yield your members servants to righteousness” (6:19).Physicians will tell you that if blood-poison gets into the

system it will soon possess all the members of the body, such as ear, nose, throat, etc. which are the outward expressions of the body’s activities. So sin in the Flesh soon spreads through the entire being of the Christian and takes possession of the members of the body. It uses the eye, the ear, the mind, the imagination and becomes a defiling power in everything the believer does.

JAMES H. MCCONKEY THE WAY TO VICTORY p.55

“Having escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust” (11 Peter 1:4).

The word is a strong one. In homely phrase it is “the rottenness” which is in the world through lust. The desires of the flesh dominating a life, veritably rot that life until it is in spiritual decay and ruin at the point of enslavement. “The mind of the flesh is death” (Rom. 8:6)

Steadily through all the passing years does it sap, and decay and corrode his soul until at last the worm-eaten fabric of his character crashes to the ground in appalling ruin while men and women marvel at the sweep and suddenness of the dire catastrophe.

JAMES H. MCCONKEY THE WAY TO VICTORY p. 84-85

The flesh is the realm in which Satan works. Let the Christian remember that. “Get thee behind me, Satan.” That was Jesus Christ’s word to a Christian man; to one of His own disciples.

JAMES MCCONKEY THE WAY TO VICTORY p. 94

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THE FLESH AND THE SIN NATURE from ED MURPHY, The Handbook For Spiritual Warfare, pp. 107-109

"The flesh with which we daily battle is not the same as the old self which once controlled our life but is now permanently crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). Before coming to Christ our life was dominated by our sinful nature inherited from Adam. We were separated from God and spiritually dead. This was the "old man" or "old self."

"Jesus took our old man-self with him to the Cross. It died with him there. The apostle Paul affirms, "Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him…." (Rom. 6:6). Paul could thus exhort the Colossians, "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:2-3)

"The old self is dead. As believers we have a new self that results from the life of Christ who lives in us (Rom. 6:5-8; 8:9; 2 Co. 4:7-11; Gal. 2:20; Col. 1:27; 3:1-4). This helps explain why the apostle John is so emphatic that true believers are no longer slaves to sin. We, as believers, no longer practice sin. Why not? Because we are born of God (1 John 3:4-19).

"To be "of God" (1 John 5:19) and to be "born of God" (1 John 5:18) means that our new nature comes from God. God's nature abides in us. "His seed abides in [us]; and [we] cannot sin [practice sin, vv. 7-8], because [we are] born of God" (1 John 3:9).

"The apostle Peter tells us that through faith in God's promise of salvation in His Son we are "partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust" (2 Pet.1:4b). The apostle Paul, besides teaching this truth in his epistles, gives his own personal testimony: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me" (Gal. 2:20).

"The old "I" (the old self, the natural man) was crucified with Christ, Paul says. A new "I" has taken place. That "I" is Christ who now lives in me. Because Christ lives in me in the person of the Holy Spirit, God lives in me in the person of His Son and the Holy Spirit (John 17:21-23; 1416-18; Rom. 8:1-17; 2 Cor. 13:5; Gal. 2:20; 4:6; Eph.19-22; Col. 1:27; 2:6-12). Therefore I am no longer a slave to sin. My new nature "naturally responds to God."

"As a believer I no longer walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:4). I am no longer "in the flesh but in the Spirit" because the "Spirit of God," "the Spirit of

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Christ dwells in" me (Rom. 8:9). This is true even if I am not aware of it. That is why Paul says that when I become aware of who I am in Christ, I am to accept the fact that I am dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ on my behalf.

"Does this mean that the sin problem is solved for the true believer? Can we no longer sin nor not be tempted to sin? Of course not. This would be contrary to both Scripture and Christian experience. As a child of God I still live in an unredeemed body. Thought the Lord Jesus has purchased my new body with His blood, I do not have it as yet. It will not be mine until the Resurrection at His glorious second coming (Phil.3:20-21;Rom. 8:18-25).

"Until then, as long as I live on the earth, I live in a body which Paul describes as "the body of sin" (Rom. 6:6); "the body of this death" (Rom. 7:24); a "mortal body" (Rom. 8:11). He says I am to learn how, by the Spirit, to put to death the sinful deeds of the body (Rom. 8:13).

"So my sin problem as long as I am in this world is this body. But the apostle Paul informs us that we are now able to put to death the deeds of the flesh since our old self in Adam was crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:1-23). We can receive as ours Paul's exhortation to believers at Rome:

"Do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourself to God s those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God (Rom. 6:12-13).

"When Paul speaks of the members of my body he obviously means more than my material body. He means my mind, my imagination, my emotions, my will, and my physical body. God wants all of me yielded to Him to do His will in my life (Rom. 62-23; 12:1-2). Since I live in my body, if God has my body, He has truly has my body, He has all of me.

"Until the bondage to the flesh is broken, however, effective deliverance is not possible for demonized believers. Where it does occur, it will not usually be lasting. The expulsion of one group of evil spirits from a human life will usually led to the entry of another group if the sin in the life to which the former demonic spirits had attached themselves is not removed. The believer must begin to put to death the works of the flesh to become victorious in the sin war which involves him. If not, he will soon become a war casualty." MURPHYThus, this simple lesson-al the trouble among believers who sometimes receive a blessing and lose it again is because they are carnal; if we want to keep the blessing, we must become spiritual. We must choose which level of Christian life we

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desire-the carnal life or the spiritual. Choose the spiritual and God will be delighted to give it to you.

ANDREW MURRAY THE BELIEVER’S ABSOLUTE SURRENDERp. 31

The first thing is that his carnal state is a state of protracted infancy…

You see, babyhood at the proper time is the most beautiful thing in the world, but baby hood continued too long is a burden and a sorrow, a sign of disease or disorder

Now, what are the marks of a baby? A baby cannot help itself, and cannot help others. That is the life of any believers. The make their ministers into spiritual nursemaids. It is a serious matter when spiritual babies keep their ministers continuously occupied in nursing and feeding them, and they never help themselves. They do not know how to feed on Christ’s Word; the minister must feed them. They do not know what contact with God is; the minister must pray for them. They do not know what it is to live as those who have God to help them; they always want to be nursed. Is that the reason why you go to church-to get your nurses to give you spiritual meat? God be praised for the preaching of the gospel and for the fellowship of believers. But, you know what a baby does. He always occupies somebody. You cannot leave him alone They cannot help themselves, and therefore cannot help others Nothing can keep a child in protracted infancy except disease or disorder.

The second mark of a carnal state is that sin and failure prove master. Every touch of unlovingness is nothing but the flesh.

You cannot bear spiritual fruit while you are in the carnal state. Take worldliness, which someone says has “honeycombed the church”; take the love of money; take the pursuit of business when people sacrifice everything for the increase of riches; take so much of our life, the seeking after luxury and pleasure and position. What is it all but the flesh? It gratifies the flesh; it is exactly what the world thinks desirable and delights in. If you live like the world, it is a proof that the spirit of the world, which is in the flesh, is in you. The carnal state is proven by the power of sin. ANDREW MURRAY THE BELIEVER’S ABSOLUTE SURRENDER pp. 32-34

Someone asked me recently, “How about the lack of love of prayer?” He wanted to know how living fellowship with God could be attained. I said, “My brother, it is impossible until you discover that it must come outside of the carnal state.” The flesh cannot delight in God; that is your difficulty. It is

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meaningless to say or write down a resolution in your journal that “I will pray more.” You cannot force it. But let the axe come to the root of the tree; cut down the carnal mind. How can you cut it down? You cannot, but let the Holy Spirit come with the condemnation of sin and the cross of Christ, and give the flesh over to death, and the Spirit of God will come in. Then you will learn to love prayer and love God and love your neighbor, and you will be controlled by humility and spiritual-mindedness. The carnal state is the root of every sin.

ANDREW MURRAY THE BELIEVER’S ABSOLUTE SURRENDER p. 34

I come to the third point. If we want to know this carnal state thoroughly, we must take very special notice that the carnal state can coexist with the great spiritual gifts.

Remember, there is a great difference between spiritual gifts and spiritual graces, and that is what many people do not understand.

Beloved believer, any person who is exercising spiritual gifts, even the most earnest and successful man, must be brought to his knees before God with the thought, “Am I, even after all that God’s Spirit works in me as a matter of gift, possible giving way to the flesh in lack of humility, or love, or purity, or holiness?” God searches us and tries us for His name’s sake.

The fourth point is that the carnal state renders it impossible for a man to receive spiritual truth.

I am afraid that in our churches we often make a tragic mistake. We preach to carnal believers what is only proper for spiritual men. The only evidence that you have received a teaching is that you are lifted out of the carnal into the spiritual state. God is willing to do it. Let us plead for it and receive it.

ANDREW MURRAY THE BELIEVER’S ABSOLUTE SURRENDER pp.35-36

Now comes the very important and solemn question, is it possible for a man to move out of the carnal into the spiritual state? And how is it possible?

I think the first ting needed is that a man must have some sight of the spiritual life and some faith in it. Some of our hearts are full of unbelief, without our knowing it,

that we do not accept as a settled matter that we can become spiritual men. We do not believe it.

What is that vision? What we need, and what the Bible tells us, is to yield our whole life, with every idea of strength or power, unto Jesus’ death, to become nothing, and receive the

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life of Christ and of the Spirit to do all for us. Believe that it is possible.

You say, “That is so far beyond me, I can never reach it.” No, you cannot, but God will send it down to you. Your reaching up is the great danger; you cannot reach it. But if you believe that God wants in a supernatural way, according to His everlasting love, to give you the power of the Holy Spirit, then God will do for you more than you can ask or think.

I believe it is possible for a man to live every day led by the Holy Spirit. I have read in God’s Word that He sheds abroad His love in the heart by the Holy Spirit. I have read in God’s Word that as many as are led by the Spirit, they are the children of God. I have read in God’s Word that if we are born again, we are to walk by the Spirit or in the Spirit. Dear friends, it is possible; it is the life God calls us to and that Christ redeemed us for. After He shed His blood, He ascended to heaven to send the Spirit to His people. After He was glorified, His first work was to give the Holy Spirit. When you begin to believe in the power of Christ’s blood to cleanse you and in the power of the glorified Christ to give His Spirit in your heart, you have taken the first step in the right direction.

But secondly, it is not enough that a man should have a vision of the spiritual life which is to be lived; it is also imperative that a man should be fully convinced of his carnality. This is a difficult and serious, but, as I say, needful lesson. There is a great difference-I ask you to notice this-between the sins of the unconverted man and the sins of the believer. As an unconverted man, you had to be convicted of sin and make confession of it. But what were you primarily convicted about? Of the grossness of sin and very much about the guilt and punishment of sin. But there was very little conviction of inward, spiritual sins. You had no knowledge of them. There was very little conviction of inward sinfulness. That does not normally come with conversion. And so, how is a man to get rid of these two things-the more hidden sins and the deep inner sinfulness? IN this way: After he has become a Christian, the Holy Spirit convicts him of the carnal, fleshly life. Then the man begins to mourn over it and is ashamed of it. He cries out like Paul, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of the death?” He begins to seek for it in many ways, by struggling and resolve; but he does not get it until he is brought to cast himself absolutely at the feet of Jesus. Do not forget that if you are to become a spiritual man, if you are to be filled with the Holy Spirit, it must come from God in heaven. God alone can do it.

How different our living and praying and preaching would be if the presence of the Holy One, who fills the universe, were

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revealed to us! To that end, God wants to bring us to a condition of utter brokenness.

ANDREW MURRAY THE BELIEVER’S ASOLUTE SURRENDER pp. 36-38

And then comes the third thing-to believe that one can pass from the carnal to the spiritual condition in one moment of time. People want to grow out of the carnal into the spiritual, and they never can.

Let me clarify that a man who becomes a spiritual man at this moment is not yet a man of spiritual maturity. I cannot expect from a young believer who has received the Holy Spirit in His fullness what I can expect from a mature Christian who has been filled with Him for twenty years. There is a great deal of growth and maturity in the spiritual life. But what I speak of when I speak of one step is this: You can change your place, and, instead of standing in the carnal life, enter the spiritual life in one moment.

ANDREW MURRAY THE BELIEVER’S ABSOLUTE SURRENDER p. 39

This brings me to my last thought. The first was, a man must see the spiritual life; the second, a man must be convicted of and confess his carnal state; the third, a man must see that it is but one step from the one to the other; and then, lastly, he must take the decisive step in the faith that Christ is able to keep him.....We want a life that will last not only until another "revival" but until death....

Oh, God is waiting; Christ is waiting; the Holy Spirit is waiting. Do you see what has been wrong and why you have been wandering in the wilderness? Do you see the good land, the land of promise, in which God is going to keep and bless you?...

Come to Christ and disregard whether there is any new experience, any feeling, any excitement, any light, only apparent darkness. Come and stand upon the Word of God, the everlasting God.

ANDREW MURRAY THE BELIEVER'S ABSOLUTE SURRENDER 41-42

"And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly" (Luke 22:61-62)

I thank God for the story of Peter. I do not know a man in the Bible who gives us greater comfort. When we look at his character, so full of failures, and at what Christ made him by the power of the Holy Spirit, there is hope for each of us. But remember, before Christ could fill Peter with the Holy Spirit and make a new man of him, Peter had to go out and weep bitterly; he

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had to be humbled. To understand this, I think there are four points that we must look at. First, let us look at Peter the devoted disciple of Jesus; second, as he lived the life of self; third, in his repentance; and, fourth, deliverance from self.


Now let us briefly observe the lessons taught here. The first lesson is this: It is possible to be a very earnest, godly, devoted, and to some extent, successful worker in whom the power of the flesh is yet strong.... The second lesson is: It is the work of our blessed Lord Jesus to discover the power of self.


But I am afraid some people think deliverance from the self-life means this: Now I am going to have no more troubles within myself in serving God. And they forget that deliverance from the self-life means to be a vessel overflowing with love to everybody all the day.

Here we have the reason why so many people pray for the power of the Holy Spirit and yet receive so little. They prayed for power for work and for blessing, but they have not prayed for power for full deliverance from self.

ANDREW MURRAY THE BELIEVER'S ABSOLUTE SURRENDER p. 96

So how can I learn to love? I cannot until the Spirit of God fills my heart with God's love and I begin to long for God's love in a very different sense from which I have sought it so selfishly: as a comfort and a joy and a happiness and a pleasure to myself.


All their lack of joy in the Holy Spirit and lack of the liberty He gives is owing to the flesh. The Spirit is within them, but the flesh rules the life.

..And that the work of the Holy Spirit is to enable you every moment to remember Jesus and to trust Him?.

..But the Holy Spirit is necessary for every believer, every moment of the day. Praise God you have Him and that He gives you the full experience of the deliverance in Christ as He makes you free from the power of sin....

What good does it do to attend church or seminars, to study our Bibles and pray, unless our lives are filled with the Holy Spirit? That is what God wants, and nothing else will enable you to live a life of power and peace.

ANDREW MURRAY THE BELEIVER'S ABSOLUTE SURRENDER p. 119

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He tells them in many different ways that the reason they were not living as believers are meant to live is that many of them were under the power of the flesh....Having begun in the Spirit, they tried to perfect the work that the Spirit had begun by their own fleshly effort...

God has called the Church of Christ to live in the power of the Holy Spirit, yet the Church is living for the most part in the power of human flesh, of will and energy and effort apart from the Spirit of God....If the Church will return to acknowledge that the Holy Spirit is her strength and her help, if the Church will return to surrender everything and wait upon god to be filled with the Spirit, her day of beauty and gladness will return and we shall see the glory of God revealed among us. This is my message to every individual believer: Nothing will help you unless you understand that you must live every day under the power of the Holy Spirit...

Now, let us turn our attention to what this word to the Galatians teaches us-some very simple thoughts. It shows us that the beginning of the Christian life is receiving the Holy Spirit. It shows us the great danger of forgetting that we are to live by the Spirit, and not after the flesh. It shows us what the fruits and the proofs are of our seeking perfection in the flesh. And then it suggests to us the way of deliverance from this condition.


What a solemn thought, that man can, without noticing it, be switched from the line of the Holy Spirit onto the line of the flesh; that he can be working hard and making great sacrifices, and yet it is all in the power of the human will!

ANDREW MURRAY THE BELIEVER'S ABSOLUTE SURRENDER p.125

A third thought: What are the proofs or indications that a church like the Galatians or an individual believer is serving God in the power of the flesh-is perfecting in the flesh what was begun in the Spirit? The answer is simple. Religious self effort always ends in sinful flesh.


There is no prospect until there comes a radical change, until the Church of God begins to see that every sin in the believer comes from the flesh, even from the fleshly life involved in striving in self-effort to serve God.

ANDREW MURRAY THE BELEIVER'S ABSOLUTE SURRENDER p. 127

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Let us bow in shame and confess before God how our fleshly religion, our self-effort and self-confidence, have been the cause of every failure.


Oh, this perfecting in the flesh, what was begun in the Spirit runs far deeper through us than we know.

ANDREW MURRAY THE BELIEVER'S ABSOLUTE SURRENDER 129

Scripture teaches us that there are only two conditions possible for the Christian. One is "walk according to the Spirit, the other a walk according to the flesh." "The flesh" cannot be improved or sanctified. "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom. 8:7). There is no means of dealing with "the flesh, "except as Christ dealt with it, bearing it to the cross, "But the old man is crucified with him" (Rom. 6:6); so we by faith also crucify it, and regard and treat it daily as an accursed thing that finds its rightful place on the accursed cross.

ANDREW MURRAY THE BELIEVER'S PRAYER LIFE pp. 24-25

The Christian who walks in the Spirit, and has crucified the flesh, is spiritual (Gal. 5:24). The Christian who walks after the flesh, and wishes to please the flesh, is carnal (Rom 13:14)...

With the carnal Christian, there may be much religion and much zeal for God and for His service. But it is for the most part in human power. With the spiritual, on the other hand, there is a complete subjection to the leading of the Spirit, a deep sense of weakness and entire dependence on the work of Christ-it is a life of abiding fellowship with Christ, brought into being by the Spirit.

How important it is for me to find out and plainly to acknowledge before God whether I am spiritual or carnal! A minister may be very faithful in his orthodoxy, and be most zealous in his service, and yet be so, chiefly, in the power of human wisdom and zeal. And one of the signs of his is that there is little pleasure or perseverance in fellowship with Christ through prayer. Love of prayer is one of the marks of the Spirit.

ANDREW MURRAY THE BELIEVER'S PRAYER LIFE pp. 105-106

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By means of the body, the spirit was tempted, seduced, and became a slave of sense.

ANDREW MURRAY DIVINE HEALING p. 45

First, then, the elder son, being ever with his father, had, if he liked, the privilege of two things: unceasing fellowship and unlimited partnership. While the prodigal was away from home in the far country, his elder brother was far from the enjoyment of home, while he was at home.


These two sons represent two classes of Christians: the prodigal-away backslidden; the elder son-out of full fellowship with God; they were alike poor, and the elder son needed as great a change as did the prodigal; he needed to repent and confess and claim his full privileges; and so ought all low level Christians to repent, confess, and claim full salvation.


Self means that life which is at the root of all our being and doing, the fountain whence it all issues, the power by which it acts. And it is the self-life that is to be denied if the life of Christ, if the Spirit of Love that is to enable us to live like God, and for God, only to bless others, is to possess us.

ANDREW MURRAY FREEDOM FROM SELF-CENTERED LIFE p. 46

There is nothing that darkens the hearts, even of God's children, so universally and so effectively as the spirit of the world or worldly-mindedness-seeking or delighting in the pleasures, the pride, the wisdom of this world.

ANDREW MURRAY FREEDOM FROM A SELF-CENTERED LIFEp. 56

The powers of darkness are the workings of nature or self: for nature, darkness, and self are but three different expressions for the same thing....And thus, all that is called nature, darkness, or self has not only no evil in it, but is the only true ground of all possible good.

WILLIAM LAW (SPEAKING AS THEOPHILUS ABOUT SAVED PERSON) ANDREW MURRAY FREEDOM FROM A SELF-CENTERED LIFE p. 59

Covetousness, envy, pride, and wrath are the four elements of self or nature (or hell)-all of them inseparable from it.

Now covetousness, pride, and envy are not three different things, but three different names for the restless workings of one and the same will or desire, which, as it differently

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torments itself, takes these different names, for nothing is in any of them but the working of a restless desire; and all this because the natural life of the creature can do nothing else but work as a desire. And therefore, when fallen from God, its three first births, and which are quite inseparable from it, are covetousness, envy, and pride; it must covet, because it is a desire proceeding from want; it must envy, because it is a desire turned to self; it must assume and arrogate, because it is a desire founded on a real want of exaltation, or a higher state.

Now wrath, which is a fourth birth from these three, and have no existence till some of all of these three are contradicted, or have something done to them that is contrary to their will; and then it is that wrath is necessarily born, and not till then.

WILLIAM LAW (SPEAKING AS THEOPHILUS) QUOTED IN ANDREW MURRAY FREEDOM FROM A SELF-CENTERED LIFE pp. 62-63

What a list of words there is in our language to express the various workings of this sinful self: selfishness, self-assertion, self-confidence, self-pleasing, self-sufficiency, self-seeking.

ANDREW MURRAY FREEDOM FROM A SELF-CENTERED LIFE p. 70

All our unrest comes from self. When we learn in meekness to bow before what God or man does to us, all our unrest is gone at once. ...Self is proud and refuses to bow to God; to bow in meekness before God with Christ, like Christ, in Christ, is the sure and only way of being delivered from self...the whole blessedness of our salvation consists in our being saved from ourselves and what we are through Adam.

ANDREW MURRAY FREEDOM FROM A SELF-CENTERED LIFE p. 89

It cost them more to be redeemed from the selfish ego within them than to withdraw from the world around them. The self-life is the natural life of sinful man. He can be liberated from it by nothing except death-that is, by first dying to it and then living in the strength of the new life that comes from God....Oh, that we understood better that nothing hampers us as much as secret reliance on ourselves.

ANDREW MURRAY IN SEARCH OF SPIRITUAL EXCELLENCE pp. 36-37

When God created the angels and man, He gave them a separate personality, a power over themselves, with the intention that they should, of their own free will, present and offer up that

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life to Him in order that He in turn might fill them with His life and His glory. this was to be the highest blessedness of the creature. It was to be a vessel filled with the life and the perfection of God. The fall of angels and men alike consisted of nothing but the perversion of their life, their will, and their personality, away from God, in order to please themselves. This self-exaltation was the pride that cast them out of heaven into hell. This pride was the infernal poison that the serpent breathed into the ear and the heart of Eve. Man turned himself away from God to find delight in himself and the world. His life, his whole individuality, was perverted and withdrawn from the control of God that he might seek and serve himself...Self-denial is a requirement that must prevail in every sphere of life and without any exceptions.

ANDREW MURRAY IN SEARCH OF SPIRITUAL EXCELLENCE pp. 54-55

This acknowledgement of our utter impotence, this descent into true self-desire, is indispensable if we would enjoy this supreme blessing.

ANDREW MURRAY IN SEARCH OF SPIRITUAL EXCELLENCE p. 66

What is the difference between self-sacrifice and self-denial? The former is the root from which the latter springs. In self-denial, self-sacrifice is tested, and thus strengthened and prepared each time again to renew its entire surrender.

ANDREW MURRAY LIKE CHRIST p. 55

Self-sacrifice is of the very essence of true love. The very nature and blessedness of love consist in forgetting self, and seeking its happiness in the loved one. Where in the beloved there is a want or need, love is impelled by its very nature to offer up its own happiness for that of the other, to unite itself to the beloved one, and at any sacrifice to make him the sharer of its own blessedness.

ANDREW MURRAY LIKE CHIRST p. 55-56

Christ’s self-sacrifice had a God-ward as well as a man-ward aspect. It was for us, but it was to God that He offered Himself as a sacrifice.


But does God really expect us to deny ourselves so entirely for others? Is it not asking too much? Can any one really sacrifice himself so entirely? Christian! God does expect it. Nothing less than this is the conformity to the image of His Son, to which He

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predestinated you from eternity. This is the path by which Jesus entered into His glory and blessedness, and by no other way can the disciple enter into the joy of His Lord. It is in very deed our calling to become exactly like Jesus in His love and self-sacrifice. "Walk in love, even as Christ loved."


...one thing has continually been becoming clearer, that we cannot speak of unbroken fellowship with our Lord unless we give up ourselves, and that without ceasing, to a world lying in the wicked one, to save in the strength of our Lord what He gives us to save.


"In the world," "Not of the world." In these two expressions we have revealed to us the great mystery of the person and work of the Saviour. "Not of the world," in the power of His divine holiness judging and overcoming it; still in the world, and through His humanity and love seeking and saving all that can be saved.

ANDREW MURRAY LIKE CHRIST P. 63

In it we shall discover the divine secret, that the more entirely one is not of the world, the more fit he is to be in the world. The freer the Church is of the spirit and principles of the world, the more influence she will exert in it.

The life of the world is self-pleasing and self-exaltation. The life of heaven is holy, self-denying love.


With all its blindness, the world knows that selfishness is the curse of sin. It helps but little that God's children tell that they are born again, and that they are happy, that they can do wonders in Jesus' name, or can prove that what the Scriptures teach in the truth. When the world sees a church from which selfishness is banished, then it will acknowledge the divine mission of Christ, because He has wrought such a wonder, a community of men who truly and heartily love one another.


As a redeemed soul, who knows that only through the death of the natural “II” does the way to the new life lie, you find it indispensable.

ANDREW MURRAY THE NEW LIFE p. 88

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"And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ" (l Cor. 3:1).

"I am carnal, sold under sin, to will is present with me, but to do that which is good is not. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you" (Rom. 7:14,18: 8:2,9).

"Having begun in the Spirit, are ye not perfected in the flesh? If ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk" (Gal. 3:8; 5:18,25).

So long as there are still in the Christian strife and envy, the Word of God call him carnal....

The flesh remains under the law and seeks to obey the law. The Christian must not only live by the Spirit but also walk by the Spirit...

There are Christians who begin with the Spirit but end with the flesh. They are converted, born again through the Spirit, but fall unconsciously into a life in which they endeavor to overcome sin and be holy through their own exertion, through doing their best.

ANDREW MURRAY THE NEW LIFE pp. 121-122

Child of God, learn what it is to say of yourself, just as you are, even after the new birth: "I am carnal, sold under sin." Endeavor no longer to be doing your best, and to be praying to God, and to be trusting Him to help you. No, learn to say, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death." Let your work every day be to have the Spirit work in you, to walk by the Spirit, and you shall be redeemed from the life of complaining. "The good that I would I do not," into a life of faith in which it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do.


1. In order to understand the conflict between flesh and Spirit, we must especially seek to have a clear insight into the connection between Romans 7 and 8. In Romans 7:6 Paul had spoken of the twofold way of serving God: the one in the oldness of the letter, the other in the newness of the Spirit. In Romans 7:14-16 he describes the first, in Romans 8:1-16 the second. In Romans 7 we see the regenerate soul just as he is in the flesh, desirous but powerless to fulfill the law, mourning as one whom is "captive under the law of sin." In Romans 8 we hear him say, "The

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law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes me free from the law of sin."...

2. In order to make clear the opposition between the two methods of serving God; let me adduce consecutively in their entirety the passages in which they are expressed with special distinctness.....

The circumcision of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter (Rom. 2:29).

To him that worketh not but believeth, his faith is reckoned for righteousness (Rom. 4:5).

Ye are not under the law but under grace (Rom. 6:14). We have been discharged from the law, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter (Rom. 7:6).

We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin (Rom. 8:4).

Ye received not the Spirit of bondage again to fear but ye received the Spirit of adoption (Rom. 8:15).

The righteousness which is of the law is: "The man that doeth these things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith, saith thus, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend? Who shall descend? But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart" (Rom. 10:5-8).

If it is by grace, it is no more of works (Rom. 11:6).I could not speak unto you unto spiritual, but as unto

carnal, as unto babes in Christ (l Cor. 3:1).I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me (Gal.

2:20).The righteous shall live by faith; yet the law is not of

faith: but the man that doeth these things shall live by them (Gal. 3:11,12).

If the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise (Gal. 3:18).

So that thou art no longer a bondservant, but a son (Gal. 4:7).

Wherefore, brethren, we are not children of a handmaid, but of the free-woman (Gal. 4:31).

Walk by the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16).

Who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:8).

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Another priest, who hath been made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life (Heb. 8:16).

3. Beloved Christian, you have received the Holy Spirit from the Lord Jesus to reveal Him and His life in you and to mortify the working of the body of sin.


Yet another sieve-a very dangerous one-is self-confidence. Under the name of following the Spirit, one may listen to the thoughts of his own heart. He is zealous for the Lord, but with a carnal zeal in which the gentleness of the Lamb of God is not seen. Without being observed, the movements of the flesh mingle with the workings of the Spirit; and while he boasts that he is overcoming Satan, he is being secretly ensnared by him. (See Gal. 3:3; 5:13).


"I beseech you, brethren, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Rom. 12:1,2).

"All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."

The craving for pleasure or the desire to enjoy the world; the craving for property, or the desire to possess the world; the craving for glory, or the desire to be honored in the world-these are the three chief forms of the spirit of the world.

And these three are one in root and essence. The spirit of this world is that man makes himself his own end; he makes himself the central point of the world...The Spirit of Jesus is to live not for oneself and not for the visible but for God and the things that are invisible.


Worldly pleasures. Is dancing sin? What harm is there in playing billiards? Why may a Christian not go to the play? One has sometimes wished that there were in the Scriptures a distinct law to forbid such things. God has intentionally not given this. If there were such a law, it would make men only externally pious. God would put each one upon trial whether his inner disposition is worldly or heavenly. Learn Romans 12:1,2 by heart

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and ask the Spirit of God to make it living in you. The Christian who offers himself up to God and becomes transformed by the renewing of the mind to prove the perfect will of God will speedily learn whether he may dance or play billiards.


The Christian who walks in the Spirit, and has crucified the flesh, is spiritual (Gal. 5:24). The

There is a fleshly wisdom and a spiritual wisdom (l Cor. 2:12; Col. 1:9). There is a service to God, trusting in the flesh and glorying in the flesh, and a service to God by the spirit (Phil. 3:3, 4; Gal 6:13). There is a fleshly mind and a spiritual mind (Col. 2:18, 1:9). There is a will of the flesh and a will of God working by His Spirit (John 1:13; Phil. 2:13). There is worship which is a satisfying of the flesh, because it is in the power of what flesh can do (Col. 2:18, 23), and a worship of God which is in the spirit. It is this worship Jesus came to make possible, and to realize in us, by giving a new spirit in our inmost part, and then, within that, God's Holy Spirit.

ANDREW MURRAY THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST p. 27

The whole dispensation of the law was but a dispensation of the letter and the flesh.


O my glorified Lord! I do even now bow before Thy glory in humble faith. Let all the life of self and the flesh be abased and perish as I worship and wait before Thee. Let the Spirit of glory become my life. Let His presence break down all trust in self, and make room for Thee. Let my whole life be one of faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Amen.


To receive this teaching and this faith, which stands in the life and power of the Spirit, let us above all fear that which hinders Him most-the will and the wisdom of man. We are still surrounded by a life of self-of flesh; in the service of God, even in the effort to exercise faith, the flesh is ever putting itself forward and putting forth its strength. Every thought-not only every evil thought-but every thought, however good, in which our mind runs before the Spirit, must be brought into captivity.


"Knowing Christ after the flesh" must come to an end-we must make way for knowing Him in the power of the Spirit. After the

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flesh means in the power of the external, of words and thoughts, of efforts and feelings, of influences and aids coming from within, from men and means. The believer who has received the Holy Spirit but does not know fully what this implies, and so does not give up entirely to His indwelling and leading, still, to a great extent, has confidence in the flesh. Admitting that he can do nothing without the Spirit, he still labors and struggles vainly to believe and live as he knows he should. Confessing most heartily, and at times experiencing most blessedly, that Christ alone is his and strength, it grieves and almost wearies him to think how often he fails in the maintenance of that attitude of trustful dependence in which Christ can live out His life in him. He tries to believe all there is to be believed of Christ's nearness and keeping and indwelling, and yet, somehow, there are still breaks and interruptions; it is as if faith is not what it should be--the substance of the things we had hoped for. The reason must be that the faith itself was still too much the work of the mind, in the power of the flesh, in the wisdom of man. We must give up and cast away the old way of knowing and believing and having Christ. We must know Christ no more after the flesh.


But what does it mean that the Spirit glorifies Christ? What is this glory of Christ that He reveals, and how does He do it? We learn from Scripture what the glory of Christ is. We read in Hebrews, "We see not yet all things made subject to him. But we see Jesus crowned with glory and honour." To Him all things have been made subject. So our Lord connects His being glorified, in both the passages we have taken as our text, with all things being given to Him. "He shall glorify me, for he shall take of mine. All things, whatsoever the Father hath, are mine; therefore, said I , that he taketh of mine, and shall declare it unto you." "All things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them." In exalting Him above all rule and power and dominion, the Father has put all things in subjection under His feet: He gave unto Him the name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow. The kingdom and the power and the glory are ever one: Unto Him that sits on the throne, and to the Lamb in the midst of the throne, be the glory and the dominion for ever. It is as sitting on the throne of the divine glory, with all things put in subjection under His feet (Eph. 1:20-22), that Jesus has been glorified in heaven.


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It was only when the veil of the flesh was rent, and He died to sin completely and forever, that He could enter the inner sanctuary of the full glory of the Spirit-life in heaven.


Above all, teach us to yield ourselves in ever-increasing dependence and emptiness to wait for the Spirit's teaching and leading. We do desire to have no confidence in the flesh, its wisdom, or its righteousness.

Oh, that God may teach us this lesson: the one great work of the Spirit, as the Spirit of Christ, is to make the glorified Christ always present in us-not in thoughts or memory only but within us, in our innermost being, in our life and experience.


There are three states in which a man may be found. The unregenerate is still the natural man, not having the Spirit of God. The regenerate, who is still a babe in Christ, either lately, converted or standing still is the carnal man, giving way to the power of the flesh. The believer in whom the Spirit has obtained full supremacy is the spiritual man. The whole passage contains rich instruction in regard to the life of the Spirit within us. (1 Cor. 3:1-3; Gal. Gal:25).

The young Christian is still carnal. The kingdom of God is like a seed; the life in Christ is a growth; and it would be against the laws of nature and grace alike if we expected from the babe in Christ the strength that can be found only in men, or the rich experience of the fathers.

Many Christians remain carnal. God has called us to grow, but has provided all the conditions and powers needful for growth.

And yet it is sadly true, that there are many Christians who, like the Corinthians, remain babes in Christ when they ought to be going on to perfection, "attaining unto full-grown man." In some cases the blame is almost more with the Church and its teaching than with the individuals themselves. When the preaching makes salvation seem to consist only in pardon and peace and the hope of heaven, or when, if a holy life is preached, the truth of Christ our sanctification, our sufficient strength to be holy, and the Holy Spirit's indwelling, is not taught clearly and in the power of the Spirit, growth can hardly be expected.....

The Spirit is given only to the obedient. He can do His work only in those who are absolutely willing to yield self to the death.

ANDREW MURRAY THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST p. 152-153

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The carnal Christian cannot appropriate spiritual truth. The teaching and leading of the Spirit is given to the obedient; and is preceded by the dominion of the Spirit in mortifying the deeds of the body (see Rom. 8:13 and 14)...

As long as we are yielding to the flesh, we are incapable of receiving spiritual insight into truth. The carnal life makes the knowledge carnal. And this knowledge again, being thus held in the fleshly mind, strengthens the religion of the flesh, of self-trust and self-effort; the truth so received has no power to renew and make free.

ANDREW MURRAY THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST pp. 154-155

Every Christian is called of God to be a spiritual man. As surely as the natural man can become a regenerate man, so can a regenerate man, who is still carnal, become spiritual?


It is the Holy Spirit who makes the spiritual man. He alone can do it. He does it only where the whole man is yielded to Him. To have the whole being pervaded, influenced, sanctified by the Holy Spirit; to have first our spirit, then the soul, with the will, the feelings, the mind, and so even the body, under His control, moved and guided by Him, this makes and marks the spiritual man.

The first step on the way to this is faith. We must seek the deep, living, absorbing conviction that there is a Holy Spirit in us; that He is the mighty power of God dwelling and working within; that He is the representative of Jesus, making Him present within us as our redeemer king, mighty to save...

As we are filled with faith in what He is and will do, we will seek to know the hindrance if it is not done. But, we find that there is an opposing power-the flesh.


"It is one thing to have the Holy Spirit; it is another to have Him completely possessing us. No one can be regenerated without having Him; but there is the other side of it-when He fills our entire being and has His way with us." KELLY IN ANDREW MURRAY THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST p. 158

The flesh is the name by which Scripture indicates our fallen nature-soul and body. When the soul yielded to the temptation of the sensible, it broke away from the rule of the Spirit and came under the power of the body-it became flesh.

And now the flesh is not only without the Spirit, but even hostile to it: "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit."....

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In yielding to the flesh, the soul sought itself instead of the God to whom the Spirit linked it; selfishness prevailed over God’s will; selfishness became its ruling principle. And now, so subtle and mighty is this spirit of self, that the flesh, not only in sinning against God, but even when the soul learns to serve God, still asserts its power, refuses to let the Spirit alone lead, and, in its efforts to be religious, is still the great enemy that ever hinders and quenches the Spirit.


And the remarkable thing is what at first sight might appear a paradox-as soon as the flesh seeks to serve God it then becomes the strength of sin. Satan has no more crafty device for keeping souls in bondage than inciting them to a religion in the flesh. He knows that the power of the flesh can never please God or conquer sin, and that in due time the flesh that has gained supremacy over the Spirit in the service of God, will assert and maintain that same supremacy in the service of sin. There the soul, the seat of self, must learn to bow to the Spirit, where God dwells.


The confidence in the flesh, along with much glorying in Christ Jesus, is to be seen and felt in so much of the work of the Christian Church in which human arrangement take a much larger place than the waiting on the power that comes from on high. There is no lack of acknowledging Christ, His person and work as our only hope, no lack of giving Him the glory, yet so much confidence in the flesh, rendering it of none effect.


Listen, my brother, to the blessed teaching of God's Word today. It was the confidence in the flesh that spoiled your glorying in Christ Jesus. It was self-doing what the Spirit alone can do; it was the soul taking the lead, in the hope that the Spirit would second its efforts, instead of trusting the Holy Spirit to lead and do all, and then waiting on Him.


In great simplicity and restfulness believe in Him as having given His own Spirit within you. Believe in that gift; believe in the Holy Spirit dwelling within you. Accept this as the secret of the life of Christ in you: the Holy Spirit is dwelling in the hidden recesses of your spirit. Meditate on it, believe Jesus and His word concerning it, until your soul bows with holy fear and awe before God under the glory of the truth: the Holy Spirit of God is indeed dwelling in me.

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I begin to understand that my one danger in living by the Spirit is yielding to the flesh or self in its attempt to serve God. These renders the cross of Christ of none effect (l Cor. l:17; Gal. 3:3, 5:12, 13; Phil. 3:3, 4; Col. 2:18-23)..

I begin to understand that the one thing I need is to look upon the flesh as God does; to accept the death-warrant that the cross brings to everything in me that is of the flesh; to look upon it, and all that comes from it, as an accursed thing. As this habit of soul grows on me, I learn to fear nothing so much as myself.


The power of Christ's life cannot work in me apart from the power of His death. His death alone deals effectually with the flesh, with self, with the natural life, to make way for the new life, the Holy Spirit.....

The cross is a curse. The Son of God on the cross "was made a curse." If my flesh is crucified, it can only be because it is accursed....

The flesh and the Spirit are the two powers. Under the rule of either, every act is done. Let our step be a walk after and through the Spirit.


It is only when the original order is restored, when the soul gives the spirit the precedence it claims. The self is denied to make way for God. That selfishness will be conquered and love toward our brother flow from our lives toward God.


We have seen how sin is simply self-assertion-the soul refusing the rule of the spirit in order to gratify itself the lust of the body.


The sign that self is deposed and that God does reign will be love. ANDREW MURRAY THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST p. 194

If miracles could have given you the victory over your sins, you would now be the holiest of men. Since that hour when one of you fell at my feet, exclaiming, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man," how many glorious displays of my power have you witnessed! Yet are you still sadly aware that pride, ambition and worldliness still have authority over you?


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Before we can proceed on this subject, however, we first need to know the three aspects of our flesh, which resist God most. These must be dealt with before we can do the good work of God. What are they? First, there is the wisdom of the flesh; second, the strength of the flesh; and third, the vainglory of the flesh. If these have not been crucified, we will not be able to do any good work.

WATCHMAN NEE A BALANCED CHRISTIAN LIFE p. 116

Before He could deal with the children of Israel, God had first to deal with Moses. Before He could deal with Pharaoh and the Egyptians, He has to deal with Moses.


Oh how men look for wisdom and power, but God seeks out the foolish and the weak For where there is human wisdom, there is also fleshly power

God will only use the might and power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish His work.

What did all this mean? Moses knew only his wisdom and power; he had yet to recognize his foolishness and weakness. God wanted to show him that in relying on himself there were things which he could not do. He sincerely wished to help God in saving the children of Israel, but God had no need of any human help. People who try to help Him with their fleshy wisdom and power will never receive His approval. He has to set them aside and let them cool down. He will wait until their natural fire is extinguished before He will use them.

WATCHMAN NEE A BALANCED CHRISTIAN LIFE pp. 122-3

The rejection of Moses by the children of Israel was of God. The seeking for his life by Pharaoh was also of God. His flight to the lonely wilderness was likewise of God. After having had numerous communications with God in the wilderness for forty years, he was finally taught by God, he at last realizing his total uselessness. He then no longer dreamed of saving the Israelites with his own ability. He at last knew what he could not do. And that was precisely the place, which God had wanted him to arrive at all along.

WATCHMAN NEE A BALANCED CHRISTIAN LIFE p.124

“Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Ex. 3:11). He was

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no longer self-confident and self-conceited. He looked upon himself as a nobody…. He here considered himself to be insignificant and powerless. He recognized at last his own inability. Anyone who has not reckoned himself as such is not fit to work for God.


In God’s work, everything must go through death and be resurrected before it can be used. For the Lord has no use for our wisdom just as He has no use for our foolishness. The wise one should let his wisdom die, even as the foolish one must put his folly to death. Only what emerges in the realm of resurrection can be used by God. Everything belonging to the natural must die, and then shall we receive from God the new and the resurrected.


Unless the Holy Spirit moves people and gives eloquence, wisdom and power, our natural ability is absolutely useless in the work of God. Spiritual power, though, is altogether necessary.


Knowing one’s own uselessness alone is still useless. The important thing is to know the power of God. And that is true resurrection. God had wanted Moses to know that it was He who had made man’s mouth. God tried to encourage Moses. “Oh, Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send” (Ex. 4:13). Moses again excused himself. When God heard this, He was angry with Moses. And why? Because even though it is of great importance and highly acceptable to God that we are brought to the place of no self-confidence and no self-reliance, nevertheless, if we stay there and refuse to go forward by trusting in God, we will greatly displease Him.


Many shrinking backs do not constitute spiritual humility; they instead reflect a fear and laziness that stems from looking within oneself. We should on the positive side trust in the mighty power of God and be strong….

Nowadays God’s work is damaged by many who volunteer, people who are not sent by Him. God does not approve of people who go to work without being sent.

I heard a missionary once say: if we are not able to work for God, we will not be used by Him to save sinners; but if we are able not to work for God’s sake, we will be used by Him to save people.

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Today the church suffers great loss not because of outside opposition nor because of inside unbelief, but because many who confess to have sound faith move presumptuously without being sent or commanded by God.


What is meaning of circumcision? “In whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ” (Col. 2:11). This verse plainly tells us that circumcision has no other meaning but the putting off of the flesh. What is the flesh? It is all that we are naturally endowed with at the time of birth: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). Everything we have before our regeneration is the flesh.

The work of God can only be done by those whom He has slain. The flesh has no place for itself but death in the sight of God. All who follow the flesh are marked by Him for slaughter. The work of God demands the very death of the natural man..

Have you died? Have you forsaken your natural talents? If you have not done so, you are not qualified t do God’s work. Nowadays many are working, but they are not doing god’s work. Because it is not God who is working, then it is men who are doing so. It is not the new creation at work; the old creation is at work. So that the Holy Spirit does not work at all. To work by the power of the Holy Spirit is to work from spirit to spirit-that is to say, from your spirit reaching out to the spirit of other people.

If you preach it was fleshly knowledge, you can only spread its reason. You have not spread its power and life. This is because you preach the cross without having the Spirit of the cross as well as the life of the cross.


Many of God’s children possess a cheap obedience, a cheap cross, and a cheap kingdom.

Poverty without pride is not an absolute obstacle to spiritual process. But poverty which falls into pride creates an impossible situation. Poverty itself is not the problem, and yet Laodicea is a problem because she is not only poor but also proud, not merely poor but also considering herself rich. For they have yet to touch God. When people speak on things they do not experience, they can only deceive themselves and those who are like them.


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Viewing this whole issue from still another angle, poverty can also be said to be shallowness, infantilism, and immaturity. An abundant life is a matured life.

Abundance is not a matter of merely having or having not; it is primarily a matter of what we have, of how much we have, and how deep.


Too many of us are caught acting as Christians. The life of many Christians today is largely a pretense. They live a "spiritual" life, talk a "spiritual" language, adopt "spiritual" attitudes, but they are doing the whole thing themselves. It is the effort involved that should reveal to them that something is wrong.

WATCHMAN NEE SIT WALK STAND pp. 38-39

At this point we must distinguish carefully between man, and the flesh in man-between the limitation that is inherent in our being human at all, and the carnal nature of man with its inveterate tendency to sin, a tendency that leaves us (apart from the help of the Holy Spirit) totally powerless to please God. This distinction is the more important because of the ease with which, even a child of God, the one leads over into the other, and human nature in us give way to carnal nature.

WATCHMAN NEE WHAT SHALL THIS MAN DO? p 56

Viewing this whole issue from still another angle, poverty can also be said to be shallowness, infantilism, and immaturity. An abundant life is a matured life.

What distinguishes God’s own is that their confidence in the flesh is destroyed and they are cast back upon Him. I have known Christians who are so sure they know the will of God that they will not for one moment consider they may be mistaken. I tell you they still lack the supreme sign of the spiritual “circumcision” namely, no confidence in the flesh. The spiritual man walks humbly, always aware he may be wrong. He assents gladly to the apocryphal beatitude: Happy are they who realize they may be mistaken.

WATCHMAN NEE A TABLE IN THE WILDERNESS APRIL 2nd

It is possible that the human race is seen in such a way by God? An art gallery with no paintings!

Each human being was intended to frame an inimitable, individual masterpiece of God’s own reflected glory. But where God should be, there is only emptiness, a bare patch of wall. Since the frames are conscious, however, the fact of emptiness is simply too devastating-too self-destructive-to acknowledge. And

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so humankind becomes obsessed with the only thing left t it: its own flesh. The frame. Life, if it to be found at all, must be found in one’s own frame and the frames around him.

DAVID C. NEEDHAM ALIVE FOR THE FIRST TIME p. 43

Remember our earlier statement, "To say 'No' to the flesh is actually saying 'Yes' to one's deepest being?"

DAVID C. NEEDHAM BIRTHRIGHT p. 130

The Bible tells us that in the stench of a sink and rotting world we are perfume bottles for the fragrance of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:15).


In the broadest sense of you person-hood, you are fully responsible for your flesh-all that is mortal about you. Until that day when you at last experience the redemption of your body, you have the sole responsibility of presenting your members "in slavery to righteousness." (Romans 6:19)--

A Christian can become so weak, so spiritually undernourished, so ignorant that the flesh level of his person-hood, which is supposed to be his slave, rises up to act as his master.

DAVID C. NEEDHAM BIRTHRIGHT p. 138-9

Now for the Christian, the engine is the inner man. The battery is the will. Sadly, it is possible for a Christian to become so involved in all the varied potentialities of his flesh-his mortal being-that he may begin to think that life is right there.in the accessories.


Ruth Paxon characterizes the carnal Christian in this manner: He has a life of unceasing conflict... Have repeated defeat, Have protracted infancy, Of barren fruitlessness, Of adulterous infidelity... and Of dishonoring hypocrisy. PAXON QUOTED IN

JACK TAYLOR THE KEY TO TRIUMPHANT LIVING p. 30

It is possible for a Christian to live on a carnal level instead of on a spiritual level. It is possible to walk after the flesh even though we are converted to walk in the Spirit.

ALAN REDPATH THE ROYAL ROUTE TO HEAVEN p. 13

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It is possible for a Christian to live on a carnal level instead of on a spiritual level. It is possible to walk after the flesh even though we are converted to walk in the Spirit.


You may be rejoicing in the forgiveness of sins, but you find no power over the principle of sin in your life...

Another mark of the carnal Christian is that he is living a life of protracted infancy and retarded growth.


A carnal Christian is a child of God, born again and on his way to heaven, but he is traveling third class.


It takes three generations to backslide. The first generation has the experience and commitment.The second generation has the memory and respect.But the third generation has lost the memory and respect.

DR. E. ROBB

Therefore, it is a greater sin to fail to do what we ought to do than to do what we ought not to do. as a matter of fact, if we are doing what we ought to do, we cannot be dong what we ought not to do.

Now I am not minimizing the sin of drunkenness. But in my estimation, the cause of Christ has been hurt far more by Christian who are carnal and not Spirit-filled than by Christians who were drunk. I have known of churches that have been torn apart by carnal leadership. Many people who are at the forefront of church splits are teetotallers. The devil had rather start a fuss in the body of Christ than to sell a barrel of whiskey any day.

ADRIAN ROGERS THE SECRET OF SUPERNATURAL LIVINGpp. 42-43

Carnal Christians expect a pastor to bottle-feed them on Sundays and then burp them on their way out of the sanctuary.

Like a spoiled brat, the carnal Christian is often the center of division and controversy in the church.

ADRIAN ROGERS THE SECRET OF SUPERNATURAL LIVING p. 62

Too often we have made Christianity into a happiness system, guaranteeing success the easy way with God there in His power to fill the gaps. This damnable lust to titillate, not only makes us miserable with what we have, it causes us to indict Christian worship. We condemn preaching as drab and gray when we compare it

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to the rainbows of drama and art and music we find elsewhere. The strophe and stereo impact of a rock concert interlaced with the sweetness of marijuana haze are evidence that we want to pull all the 'fell' we can into feelings this tendency in lesser extreme forms causes us to walk out of church disgusted because Christian truth in a hyped-up world seems so bland.

Of course the show must get better week by week since we cannot be content with things as they are. Perhaps the great weakness of the happiness movements in Christianity is this unfortunate yen to titillate the sensors of Christians by seeking to put more fireworks into their faith. H.R. ROOKMAKER THE CREATIVE GIFT

That is not the case with all Christians, though. Some start with God’s glorious blessing, then they begin to heap upon themselves honor and glory because of His blessing. In the end their lives become consumed with self-consciousness and fleshly pride.

Saul is an example of this kind of person. His life began in modesty, but it ended in stubborn pride. He stands as a monument of humiliation failure and irretrievable ruin.

A.B. SIMPSON DANGER LINES IN THE DEEPER LIFE p.56

Similarly, the Church has lost her power because the disciples are still disputing who should be the greatest. Christ’s answer is forever unequivocal and plain, “whoever wants to be first among you, must be your servant” (Matthew 20:27).

Nothing is more important today than to guard the Church of God against the preeminence of men.

A.B. SIMPSON DANGER LINES IN THE DEEPER LIFE pp. 56-7

Self in all its forms, however subtle and disguised, is the fruit of the carnal nature, and it is the root and center of the sinful life. We cannot cut off our sinful acts and habits until we strike the heart of evil, our self-life, where self is exalted and made king and everything else made tributary to its will, pleasure and honor.

A.B. SIMPSON DANGER LINES IN THE DEEPER LIFE p. 59

The story of Samson is an illustration of this text. Here we see divine strength mingled with human weakness, supernatural power hindered by the touch of earth and the taint of sin.

A.B. SIMPSON DANGER LINE IS THE DEEPER LIFE p. 74

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God must have separated vessels. He will not drink out of the devil’s cups. We must be His and His alone. We must bear His monogram and be His peculiar people.

If you are claiming to be a Christian but still playing with the world, you are opening the floodgates for a coming judgment. You are contaminating the Body of Christ with the poison of your sin. You are draining the fountains of spiritual life and power and, in effect, repeating the story of Samson. And the end can only be the same as his-blindness, bondage, paralysis and death.

A.B. SIMPSON DANGER LINES IN THE DEEPER LIFE pp. 78-79

Samson’s retribution was as terrible as his sin. He lost his strength, and spiritual paralysis always follows surrender to temptation and compromise with evil. Next, he lost his liberty. He was bound and helpless in the hands of his foes. When once we yield to the enemy, we have no power to keep from yielding again. Our defense is departed from us, and we are given over “to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done” (Romans 1:28). Eternal sin is the most terrible part of eternal punishment.

Samson lost his sight. When we yield to sin, our spiritual eyes are blinded, and we cease to know the difference between right and wrong.

A.B. SIMPSON DANGER LINES IN THE DEEPER LIFE p. 83

Delilah, who represents the world’s delights and abandonment to selfish pleasure. A.B. SIMPSON

Thus, we conclude that the position or standing before God if being "in the flesh" no longer exists since its pardon-the old man-had been cut off through death. Contrary to popular belief, this does not support, condone, or teach the doctrine of sinless perfection; the sins committed by the Christian emanate from the condition of flesh-a personality dominated by the power of indwelling sin. Although the agent distributing the power (the old man) has been put out of business through death, the energy force (power of the indwelling sin) yet remains. It merely finds a new channel in the believer and worked directly on and through the personality, or soul, with the permission of the will.

CHARLES R. SOLOMON COUNSELING WITH THE MIND OF CHRISTp. 31

Unless the source, the flesh, is cut off through the operation of the Cross in blocking the power of indwelling sin, the person has not really been done a favor. The flesh is a cauldron from, which emanate many deceptive guises to deal with

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the product without dealing with the source is but to invite disaster.

CHARLES R. SOLOMON COUNSELING WITH THE MIND OF CHRIST p. 94

The counselor is initially and continually to aid the client in putting an end to the tyranny of the flesh and to walk consistently in the Spirit by abiding where he has been placed-in Christ.

CHARLES R. SOLOMON COUNSELING WITH THE MIND OF CHRIST p. 94

The "Supreme Commander", knows the enemy (flesh), the arsenal (the Word of God) and the strategy (cutting off the supply line to the flesh-the power of indwelling sin), and the precise timing required to engineer the demise of self and occupy the enemy-held territory.

CHARLES R. SOLOMON COUNSELING WITH THE MIND OF CHRIST pp. 99-100

The self-centered Christian is abnormal in God’s economy. When the Word speaks of a believer and his resources in Christ, it is assumed that Christ is central in the life. However, the Christian who has appropriated Christ as his life today is the exception rather than the rule.

C.R. SOLOMON THE INS AND OUT OF REJECTION p. 116

…self remains the final (though illegal) authority in most activity involving the individual.

It should be noted that a person with self or flesh controlling his existence is not free to be the unique human being god created him to be. It is as though his mind, will, and emotions are clogged so as to be unable to perform effectively in unison. When a person invites Christ into his life and deliberately (or through ignorance) maintains control, the stage is set for conflict or a power struggle. Some persons who were well-adjusted prior to conversion begin to experience internal conflict afterward. When the right of the Lord Jesus Christ to control the life is disputed, the Romans 7 experience is the result.

C.R. SOLOMON THE INS AND OUT OF REJECTION pp. 118-119

But the well-adjusted fleshly Christian has a more devastating problem because he usually doesn't realize he has a problem. He may not be aware that he is operating in the strength or self or

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that a much better way is available…--Since his love for the Lord and lack of neuroticism permits him unhindered use of his soul strength or natural ability, he is called upon for service and positions of leadership. A greater percentage of Christian service or ministry than most would like to admit is performed by just such persons.

CHARLES SOLOMON THE INS AND OUT OF REJECTION p. 125

The following are some suggestions of areas for consideration by the well-adjusted person as a check-up to see if he is operating is self (after the flesh or in the Spirit

Remember, a person does not need to be a psychological basket case for self to be a controlling menace. The neurotic person may do such damage to himself, but the well-adjusted person in a position of leadership may propagate a malady and do much damage to others thereby affecting many generations.


The deception which has been perpetrated by the Enemy has resulted in a great percentage of persons being launched into a "spiritual" ministry who are well-adjusted psychologically but who are adjusted spiritually to a fleshly model, the educational procedure in too many Bible schools and seminaries emphasizes the training of the mind and assumes that assimilation or spiritual growth has kept pace.


Religious flesh is just as detestable in the sight of God as irreligious flesh, if not more so. Religious flesh tends to self-righteousness and pride which is specifically condemned in the Word.---Anything or any person displacing and replacing God is an idol, so the person who is allowing self or flesh to control is an idolater. And idolatry is specifically named as sin.


The well-adjusted Christian is usually able to function in positions of leadership and ministry for long periods of time before it becomes apparent that spiritual ministry is lacking. This is true since the majority of those evaluating his efforts are also walking after the flesh..—Thus spiritual discernment is disregarded by fleshly attitudes and a carnal majority rules!…

---It is exceedingly popular to borrow from the world system and “Christianize” that which works for the world. This has been true for education and is also true for counseling.

CHARLES SOLOMON THE INS AND OUT OF REJECTIONpp. 128

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True spiritual strength follows hard on the heels of recognition of spiritual bankruptcy. Unless and until such be the case, most of the efforts of the well-adjusted fleshly Christian may be designated as work for the Lord rather than ministry in the Spirit.


Most of the efforts of the well-adjusted, fleshly Christian may be designated as work for the Lord rather than ministry in the Spirit. (Some of these include) 1. Talents Mistaken for Spiritual Gifts --2. Persuasive Argumentation Substituted For the Spirits'

Convincing.-- 3. Gravitation to Position of Leadership --4. Clashing Opinions Rather Than Unity in the Spirit --5. Enthusiasm Mistaken For Spiritual Motivation --6. Multitudinous Ideas Spawned by a Fleshly Mind --7. Self-confidence Fosters Independence --8. Tacit Insistence Upon "Credit" For Success of Ideas,

Programs, or Projects--9. Happiness Mistaken For the Joy of the Lord --10.Courage Mistaken For Boldness in the Spirit --11.Intolerance For Neurotic Persons --12.Railing against Others With Doctrinal Differences --13.Use of Programs, Organization, Promotion, Finances, and

People As a Substitute For Spiritual Power --14.Body Tensions God Unrecognized or Ignored Until a Mental or

Physical Breakdown Occurs. --CHARLES SOLOMON THE INS AND OUT OF REJECTION 129-134

---another term which bears some clarification-self. There is a spiritual use of the term as well as a psychological application. Each of us is a unique self due to the inherent personality traits with which we are end owed by birth and as modified and developed by subsequent interaction with our environment. This self is the same as that possessed by an animal and is neither "good" or "bad" from a moral standpoint.---When we speak of self at the center of the life, we are using the word with a spiritual connotation.


It was Adam's death to God, spiritually, that caused his "old man" to come into existence or come alive toward Satan which rendered him a servant to sin; to reverse the process through redemption it was necessary for the "old man' to die to Satan and

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sin and that man's spirit come alive (be regenerated) to God in order for man to become a servant of righteousness.

On the basis of the above, the old man is synonymous with the dead spirit, the sin nature, the Adamic nature, the old self, etc.

CHARLES SOLOMON THE INS AND OUT OR REJECTION p. 137

The works of the flesh are attributed to both the saved and unsaved; but what is the flesh?


I must first learn to deny self in my relationship with God. There the soul, the seat of self, must learn to bow to the Spirit, where God dwells.

---The Christian has had his "old man" rendered inoperative through the cross but permits through ignorance, deceit, or volitional choice the power of sin to dominate his personality-this latter condition is herein described by the word flesh.

The New International Version (Zondervan) translates this usage as the "sinful nature" and differentiates between this and the "old self". Thus, the "old self" would be the KJV equivalent of the "old man" and would be that entity inherited from Adam which was crucified in and with Christ. The "old man" or "old self" was crucified with Christ whether or not the believer avails himself of the freedom from the power of sin or not. This judicial and positional crucifixion (positional sanctification) can be appropriated by faith (critical sanctification) and based on such appropriation the believer can reckon (or count) himself dead to the control of sin but alive unto (the control of) God through the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 6:11), continuously (progressive sanctification).

Thus, the contradistinction is made between the “old man”, Adamic nature, sin nature, or “old self” and the “flesh”, self, or “sinful nature”. The former might be thought of as the necessity to sin whereas the latter might be a propensity to sin or the capability of responding to sin.

The crucifixion of the “old man does not render the Christian sinless but gives him the freedom of choice to serve sin or to serve righteousness-to walk after the flesh (self or sinful nature) or walk after the Spirit.


Now, it behooves us to make another clarification. The KJV makes a distinction between being in the flesh and walking or living after the flesh. There may not be sufficient warrant from the Greek to build a solid case on prepositions, but this difference is hereby taken as an assumption: The natural man is in the flesh

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and has no other alternative but to walk or live in the flesh and after the flesh. Romans 8:6 states "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." This would seem to be the same thought as that of Hebrews 11:6a, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him.." Romans 8:9 goes on to say, "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." These two passages would seem to make it clear that we are either in the flesh or in the Spirit. The Christian, then, is in the Spirit but he may walk after the flesh or, to put it another way, he may live as though he is dead!

To summarize, the natural or unsaved man is in the flesh and walks or lives in and after the flesh. The Christian is in the Spirit and may walk or live in and after the Spirit, in which case he is termed "spiritual" man; or he may walk or live after the flesh and be known as a carnal or fleshly man.

Another term which is assigned a specific meaning is the word, death. We speak of both physical and spiritual death, and these have one thing in common-separation from the source of life; this general meaning of death will be that utilized in the following discussion.


--the Holy Spirit is outside the natural man convicting of sin until such time as the choice is made by the will-an act of faith which results in regeneration.

Once regeneration takes place the Holy Spirit comes within to regenerate the spirit, and the person fits the description of the carnal or fleshly man…or the spiritual man…


It is to be noted that flesh or self is a condition not an entity; the condition exists at any time the personality is dominated or controlled by the power of sin.


It is though the "Will Switch" is spring loaded; it must stay in one position or the other. Either we choose deliberately to be filled or controlled by the Holy Spirit or sin; or, if we do not consciously make a choice we automatically revert to control by sin which means we are walking "after the flesh."

Romans 8:9a states, "But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." Therefore, the Christian whether fleshly or spiritual, is always "in the Spirit"-but he may walk "after the flesh" or "after the Spirit" (Romans 8;4). Walking "after the flesh" produces a carnal mind

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from which issues "death" or the "works of the flesh" (Romans 8:6; Galatians 5:19-21).


In summary, the natural man is “in the flesh” and can do nothing but walk “in the flesh”. The carnal or fleshly man is “in the Spirit” but walks “after the flesh.” The spiritual man is “in the Spirit” and walks “in the Spirit” or “after the Spirit.”

CHARLES R. SOLOMON THE INS AND OUT OF REJECTIONp. 151

Christians also make the mistake of trying to reason with their minds and act upon the dictates of the Scripture in the strength of their minds and wills rather than relying upon the communion of God through their spirits.


It is only as the soul strength is broken that God can begin to meet a person's real needs. As the person becomes increasingly unable to cope with life, he has no choice but to let go of self and let God bring about His perfect will in his life.


Identification with the Lord Jesus Christ, or the abundant life, is not sinless perfection. The self-life has not been dealt with permanently as has the old man.


It is always good to remind ourselves as counselors and those with whom we share that self never changes from the time we are born until the time we die. Self or flesh is at enmity with God. It can not be changed; it can not be improved. The only proper place for it is death at the cross.


When the Lord Jesus controls the life there is no need for emotional kicks for the flesh.


Satan can only oppress us while we are controlled by self. He cannot defeat the life of Christ in us....At the very worst, Satan can only do that which God permits.

CHARLES R. SOLOMON THE INS AND OUT OF REJECTION 203

The remedy offered is usually not spiritual and has theeffect of strengthening self, thus deferring any chance of the child getting the type of help he really needs.

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CHARLES R. SOLOMON THE INS AND OUT OF REJECTION

A person can profess Christ but continue to live his own life, which leads only to frustration and emptiness.

CHARLES R. SOLOMON THE REJECTION SYNDROME p. 7

Perhaps it is not too great a generalization to state that many, if not most, major accomplishments in the world are, at least in part motivated by a desire for self-aggrandizement.

CHARLES R. SOLOMON THE REJECTION SYNDROME p. 12-13

It is possible for Christians to be deceived into thinking that putting on scriptural behavior results in putting off a carnal or fleshly life. Such a person is really doing in order to be rather than being in order to do.


When the power of the flesh has been forcibly restrained for a long period of time, it is not at all unusual for it to explode in a display of blatant immorality. Trying too hard or not trying at all are both self-effort, but it is the performance that wins the praise of the man.


The flesh, being what it is, keeps trying one revision after another until presented with an insoluble crisis.


The wilderness wandering is largely a self-effort experience, a more or less humanistic approach to the Christian life.


As the new believer, all fired up by his new birth, is ready to get under way on his spiritual journey, some times an old, cold saint has some cold water to dash his hopes and put out the fire of enthusiasm. Or he may be given an erroneous view of how to achieve true holiness. Without solid discipleship training, he is left with all the flippant challenges to "go for God," that he is "saved to serve," that he is to "walk the walk, to talk the talk, to move with the movers, to go with the goers, to make positive confessions, to love the lost, to judge the saved, to sink or swim," until he is dizzy from the exertion of self-effort and getting nowhere spiritually.-- And, at times, a neurotic sinner becomes a neurotic saint and stays that way, or becomes worse, with the passing of time.-- When identity is based on accomplishments, the person must keep doing things, for failure

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to accomplish would result in what he sees as deficiency of being.


Entering into the life of grace promotes them to the front lines, but they need more basic training to prepare them for the hand-to-hand combat.

Not only is the flesh, or self-sufficiency, to be dealt with daily (Luke 9:23) and continually (2 Corinthians 4:11) but also the believer has two other enemies: the world and the devil.


A person living his life in his own resources, and for him self, selfishly wants what he wants when he wants it.--

The inborn and living-enhanced alienation is a natural inclination which rejects anything or anyone who dares to present its unhindered reign. People living close together will dispute boundaries-- personal, social, political, and geographical. Wars between nations are but the extrapolation on a corporate level of selfishness within the individual.

---We tend to value ourselves as others value us and we see ourselves as others see us-or, at least, as we perceive their evaluation and assessment of us.--

Those suffering alienation from themselves or self rejection will foster such attitudes in their children. It is easy to see why the sins of the fathers can be passed on to the children and to the third and fourth generations.--

Alienation from God, others, and ourselves can only be bridged through the finished work of Calvary-redemption, reconciliation, and acceptance found in Christ.

CHARLES R. SOLOMON THE REJECTION SYNDROME pp. 78-79

What we possess is meaningful only when compared to the possessions of others. What we do can be evaluated only in terms of similar efforts by others. Power which elevates us in our own thinking must be exercised toward other persons.


In preaching and in personal work, a legalistic church teaches the believer clearly and scripturally that he is saved by grace through faith, but immediately the believer is put under the law and told to perform. Without the instruction as to how he may be empowered to perform or to keep these standards through the experienced Cross, the knowledge of the Spirit's indwelling power and controlling influence, the believer begins to experience not the acceptance he seeks but further rejection.--- Only those who are able to knuckle down and keep the rules are considered to be

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"good Christians." In such a scheme, the fruit of the Spirit is often considered to be another soul led to Christ, rather than what the Holy Spirit would produce in us, as defined in Galatians 5:22,23.

When the believer has dedicated and rededicated himself to the Lord until he re aches the desperation point, he may seek counseling to find the way of victory he hasn't been able, through self-effort, to find. The counseling he receives may tell him to substitute a scriptural behavior or thought pattern for an unscriptural one. A person working in the flesh could be taught to do so and may seek the Holy Spirit's aid to strengthen his own self-efforts. The Bible used in such a fashion is unwittingly used as a manual for behavior modification. When legalistic teaching such as this has failed to provide victory, a counselor trained in the fine art of applied legalism may be employed to enhance the flesh to cry out the commands of the Scriptures. Legalism has often been referred to as a form of Pharisaism, since it gives so much attention to the letter of the law but little to the spirit of the law.--

The Pharisees of old denied the incarnation of Jesus, God with them, whereas modern-day Pharisees deny the reality of the Son of God in them as they live day by day. The former were s laves to the law while the latter are slaves to the dictates of self and the flesh.-- The self-help approach to Christianity has always been in vogue.--- Programs to enhance motivation and self-image are numerous and many are targeted toward Christian audiences. Promises of success in finances, public speaking, self-confidence, programmed goals, feminism, advancement in career, and many others lure Christians and others to expand great amounts of time and money to find satisfaction for the flesh.--

Scriptures sprinkled around through the materials change the flavor but not the essence of the materials such programs use. When the same basic approach presented in these programs will work as well for the non-Christian as for the Christian, it would seem obvious that the Holy Spirit is not the author nor the empowering agent of such materials.---

When the results can be predicted and explained, it is likely that the Spirit had little to do with it. Programs can be spawned by the flesh, carried out by the flesh, and see mostly fleshly results.

CHARLES R. SOLOMON THE REJECTION SYNDROME pp. 92-94

Going to the world in our own strength and methods is going out to fail. We read much today of the strategy for missions but very little of the power necessary to carrying out the strategy itself

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may be only a self-effort program, perpetuated by good men and women with good intentions, but without resurrection power and Holy Spirit direction.

CHARLES SOLOMON THE REJECTION SYNDROME p. 126

Those believers who have not come to grips with the rottenness of the flesh are living out of a false identity.

CHARLES R. SOLOMON FULNESS MARCH/APRIL 1984, p. 6

Religious flesh is just as detestable in the sight of God as irreligious flesh. CHARLES R. SOLOMON

The next concept to be established is that of self (later to be clarified as synonymous with flesh). CHARLES R. SOLOMON

The self-centered Christian is abnormal in God's economy. CHARLES SOLOMON

Some people are far too well informed to live. Some peoples' heads are the great obstruction to their spiritual enlargement. It is noticeable today that the Lord is not particularly active amongst the people who know such a lot, and He is not seeming to be working to lay hold of the clever people, the well informed people, the people who are recognized as the authorities. The Lord is moving in a wonderfully blessed way amongst people whose hearts are open, whose spirits are simple, and who have little to throw off in order to go after Him.

T. AUSTIN-SPARKS (THE INCENSE-BEARER) REFINERS FIRE VOL. 1 pp. 7-8

Inbred corruption is the worst corruption. "Lord," said Augustine, "deliver me from my worst enemy, that wicked man-myself.

CHARLES H. SPURGEON AT HIS BEST p. 28

I daresay the devil finds himself at home in hades. But if he could be converted into a seraph, he would not stop in hell for an hour. He would never want to go there again for pleasure. Of that I am certain. And when a man who professes to be converted says that he goes into the world and into sin for pleasure it is as if an angel went to hell for enjoyment.

CHARLES H. SPURGEON AT HIS BEST pp. 28-29

All the sea outside a ship cannot do it's damage till the water enters within and fills the hole. Hence, it is clear; our greatest danger is from within. All the devils in hell and

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tempters on earth could do no injury if there were no corruption in our nature. Atlas, our heart is our greatest enemy; this is the little home-born thief.

CHARLES H. SPURGEON DAY BY DAY WITH p. 242

To be selfish is to be wicked. God forbid that any of us should follow the ungenerous and destructive policy of living unto ourselves.

CHARLES H. SPURGEON DAY TO DAY WITH p. 274

Brethren, do not heap up to yourselves sorrow, as some do in these days, by expecting that which the Lord has not promised. I earnestly warn you against those who have been led by a fevered imagination to expect, first perfection in the flesh, and then perfection of the flesh,-and then an actual immortality for the flesh. God will fulfill His promise, but He will not fulfil our misreading of it. SPURGEON

The world, on the other hand, is the corporate expression of all the flesh-centered individuals who make up the human race.--

The flesh "is a term which describes the urge to self-centeredness within us, that distortion of human nature which makes us want to be our own god-that proud ego, that uncrucified self which is the seat of willful defiance and rebellion against authority.

RAY C. STEDMAN SPIRITUAL WARFARE p. 48

The "world" is human society, blindly and universally accepting false values, shallow concepts and insights, and deluded ideas of reality...The flesh is that urge within us toward total independence toward being our own little gods and running our world to suit ourselves. It is that continual drift within us toward self-centeredness and selfishness that keeps us from being completely His.


In this temporary state before the resurrection, the body is the seat of sin or the flesh-this evil principle of self-centeredness in each of us. Therefore the flesh is going to be with us for life.


This means that the Devil can influence us in the body, in the soul, and in the spirit. He has access to the whole man through the channel of the flesh. Put another way: We are subject to the influence of these world rulers of present darkness through our

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mind, our feelings, and our deeds-through our intelligence, our emotions, and our will.


Billy Sunday said that "worldly Christians" was a misnomer."You might as well talk about a heavenly devil."

SUNDAY

That can happen so easily in this generation of superficiality. We can run with religious people, pick up the language, learn the ropes, and never miss a lick-publicly, that is. We can even defend our lifestyle by a rather slick system of theological accommodation. The better we get at it, the easier it is to convince ourselves we are on target. All it takes is a little Scripture twisting and fairly well oiled system of rationalization and we are off and running. Two results begin to transpire (1) all our desires (no matter how wrong) are fulfilled, and (2) all our guilt (no matter how justified) is erased. And it anybody attempts to call us into account, label them a legalist and plow right on! It also helps to talk a lot about grace, forgiveness, mercy, and the old nobody's-perfect song.

CHARLES R. SWINDOLL STRENGTHENING YOUR GRIP p. 198

In a Christian church where a strong pulpit becomes commonplace, where saints easily get spoiled and occasionally become sour. Even in a missionary enterprise or a Christian conference ministry, it can occur. We can slump into a tired routine if we don't stay alert to the danger of erosion.

CHARLES R. SWINDOLL STRENGTHENING YOU GRIP p. 201

But there is the "illegitimate" wilderness experience, which always comes after the crises of Kadesh-Barnea. The Christian refuses full surrender and turn from Canaan's victory. He walks back into the wilderness into living death.

This illegitimate wilderness gives us a picture of the most common kind of Christian today, the carnal Christian. He is saved from sin but not saved from self.

JACK TAYLOR KEY TO TRIUMPHANT LIVING p. 30

Don't forget that in the unfolding of the story of the Book of Esther, Haman represents for us the flesh and Mordecai the Holy Spirit, and we understand from the epistle to the Romans that "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."

W. IAN THOMAS, IF I PERISH I PERISH, p. 30

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As Esther had to die to her own ability to hang Haman, so you, too, must die to your own ability to deal with the flesh, for you cannot crucify yourself. That is God's business. To walk in the Spirit is to have such utter confidence in Him t hat you first seek His instructions, then ask no further questions, but just do as you are told.


Willingness to die is the price that you must pay if you want to be raised from the dead and live and work and walk in the power if the third morning, sharing the resurrection life of Jesus Christ on earth.

W. IAN THOMAS, IF I PERISH I PERISH, pp.58-59

Dead men cannot die, nor can they be frightened, and responsibility does not rest too heavily upon their shoulders!

MAJOR W. IAN THOMAS IF I PERISH I PERISH p. 61

There is then that other part of you represented by Haman, described by Paul as-"The sin [principle] which dwells within me [fixed and operating in my soul]" (Romans 7:20, Amplified Bible). The moment of truth will come for you when, together with Esther, you quit exchanging courtesies with the flesh and repudiate it to its face, naming it for the treacherous, wicked, worthless thing it is-without any salvageable content and fit only for the gallows!

At this climatic stage in your Christian life you realize that there can be no compromise with the flesh, and that peaceful coexistence with a principle satanically hostile to the law of God and to the re-establishment of His sovereignty within your soul, is now beyond the bounds of possibility.

You realize that it was never God's purpose to improve the flesh, to re-educate or tame it-let alone Christianize it. It has always been God's purpose that the flesh, condemned, sentenced and crucified with Jesus Christ, might be left buried in the tomb and replaced by the resurrection life of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He must wear the ring upon His finger, and once more exercise control in the area of your mind, your emotions and your will, expressing Himself through your personality.


Appropriation of the victory of Christ demands more than just one act of faith-it requires and attitude of faith. It is moment-by-moment reckoning, and your reckoning for this moment is never adequate for the next. "Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not

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fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh" (Galatians 5:16,17).


This is exactly what God has to say about that old Adamic nature within you, called the flesh, and this was Paul's persuasion-"I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned" (Romans 7:18, Living Letters). It is absolutely imperative for your own spiritual well-being that you recognize the fact that this old nature will never change its character. All the wickedness of which it is capable today, it will be capable of tomorrow-or for that matter fifty years from now. The flesh within you then will be wicked as the flesh within you today, and there is absolutely no salvageable content within it.---

The Galatians in the Galatian church had made the same mistake, for they had been trying to achieve holiness in their own strength. They tried to submit themselves to rules and regulations imposed upon them by Jewish legalist, who gloried in their conformity to Jewish custom.


Imagine, if you will, that I have come to the conclusion that the pig as a species has been grossly misjudged; that the idea that a pig wallows in the muck by choice, and that by nature it loves the dirt, is wholly unfounded. I have become fully persuaded that it is a question purely of environment, education and upbringing!

I decide, therefore, to adopt a little baby pig into the family, and in this way prove my point by offering to it those amenities of life which will enable the best side of its character to be developed. Of course I explain my plans to my wife, and calling my sons to a family conference, say to them-"Now, boys, I want to have your co-operation in a little experiment in which I am engaging. We are adopting this little pig, and I want you to treat it with great kindness and to receive it into the family just like one of yourselves."

We give the little pig a pink satin shirt and some little blue velvet pants, with ivory buttons down the sides. We teach it to wipe its feet when it comes into the house, to sit up at the table, to bow its head when we say grace, and to sleep at night between the sheets and the blankets with which we provide it, in its own little bed.

Mind you, I can't say that the pig shows any particular enthusiasm about the experiment, and it appears to be somewhat bewildered at all the strange things that are happening.---

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It becomes quite obvious to us that it is only a matter of time before our endeavors are crowned with success. Unfortunately, it is just at this juncture, when our hopes are running high, that we make one fatal blunder.

Somebody leaves the door open that leads into the grounds!Fresh breezes blow into the room where the little pig is

playing. Sensing the fragrance of new-mown hay, the little pig's nose begins to twitch. Stopping halfway across the room it gazes out into the park-it curly tail unwinds and shoots straight up, stiff as a rod-like an aerial! There is a moment of hesitation, and then suddenly-like a bullet from a gun-the little pig races out through the open door and across the park, moving at increKdible speed!

Reaching the muddiest bog it can find, the little pig plunges in, and after rolling over and over, it lies on its back in the mud, little blue pants and all. With a delightful grin on its faced, and with its feet sticking up in the air, it cries at the top of its voice-"Home, sweet home!"

You see, change its environment as you will, and train it as you may-little pink pants or blue, satin shirt or clean straw-Pig Is Pig!

Given half a chance, the nature of the beast is to get back to where it belongs, and this you have found to be true in your own experience. The flesh within you has never ceased to love sin, and never will. Given half a chance it, too, will want to get back to where it belongs and wallow in the muck.

W. IAN THOMAS, IF I PERISH I PERISH, pp. 117-119

SPIRITUAL NEW BIRTH INVOLVES THE PRINCIPLE FO DIVINE substitution, and though you are to be persuaded of your inherent wickedness, you are to be equally persuaded of Christ's inherent righteousness. If that which is born of the flesh is flesh-and pig is pig-you can be equally certain that that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit-and God is God!

What is so completely amazing is that God is prepared to be God in you; not figuratively, but factually! You can share His life and he transformed into His likeness. (II Peter 1:3,4)


The bitter school of self-discovery-that finally you graduate into usefulness, when at last you discover the total bankruptcy of what you are apart from what God is!

MAJOR IAN THOMAS THE SAVING LIFE OF CHRIST pp. 68-69

The Lord Jesus claims the use of your body, your whole being, your complete personality, so that as you give yourself to him through the eternal Spirit, he may give himself to you through

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the eternal Spirit, that all your activity in and through you; that every step you take, every word you speak, everything you do, everything you are, may be an expression of the Son of God, in you as man.

W. IAN THOMAS THE SAVING LIFE OF CHRIST p. 151

When God's light first shines into our heart our one cry is for forgiveness, for we realize that we have committed sins before Him; but once we have known forgiveness of sins, we make a new discovery-the discovery of sin, and we realize that we have the nature of a sinner. There is an inward inclination to sin. There is a power within that draws us to sin, and when that power breaks out we commit sins. We may seek and receive forgiveness, but then we sin again; and life goes on in a vicious circle-sinning and being forgiven, but then sinning again. We appreciate God's forgiveness, but we want something more than that, we want deliverance. We need forgiveness for what we have done, but we need deliverance from what we are."

Our Reckoning on the finished work of our death to sin, in Christ at Calvary, is God's one way of deliverance-there is no other way because that is the way He did it. We learned not to add to a finished work in the matter of justification, and now we must learn not to add to the finished work of emancipation. We will be freed when we enter His prepared freedom-there is no other.

"The believer can never overcome the old man even by the power of the new apart from the death of Christ, and therefore the death of Christ unto sin is indispensable, and unless the cross is made the basis upon which he overcomes the old man, he only drops into another form of morality; in other words, he is seeking by self-effort to overcome self, and the struggle is a hopeless one" (C. USHER)....

"I must recognize that the enemy within the camp-the flesh, the old nature, self, I, the old Adam, is a usurper. By faith I must reckon him to be in the place that God put him-crucified with Christ. I must realize that now my life is hid with Christ in God; that He is my life"

IAN THOMAS) .MILES J. STANFORD PRINCIPLES OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH p. 71-72

The Bible is the easiest book in the world to understand-one of the easiest for the spiritual mind but one of the hardest for the carnal mind.

A.W. TOZER LITTLE INSTRUCTION BOOK p. 10

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The Lord isn’t angry with your body, because your body is just a poor horse you ride until it crumbles under you and you go off to heaven.

A.W. TOZER LITTLE INSTURCTION BOOK p. 11

There is within the human heart a tough fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess….

There can be no doubt that this possessive clinging to things is one of the most harmful habits in the life. Because it is so natural it is rarely recognized for the evil that it is; but its outworkings are tragic.

A.W. TOZER REVEWED DAY BY DAY VOL 1 JUNE 18

Man is a trichotomy (made up of three parts)Somatikos man-soma=body 1 Tim.4:8Psukikos man (psuche=sensuous, volitional man. Self as seat of affection & will) 1 Corinthians 2:14)Pneumatikos man (pneuma=breath, air, spirit) 1 Corinthians 2:15The Pneumatikos man (the Christian Believer) can also be a Sarkikos man (sarx=carnal, flesh)

It is not hard to tell the difference between a stinking swamp and a clear rushing mountain stream. You can even smell the difference. It's not hard to tell a stagnant carnal Christian life from a spring of a spiritual filled life.

It is vain for a person to argue he has been born again so long as his heart is in the world. It is foolish to pretend he is a changed person when he still has no love for the things of God (1 John 2:15-17)

Carnal Christian is a person who wants inner democracy. What he really needs is Christocracy; when the residing Christ becomes the presiding Christ.

Carnal Christians fail to grow: Little babies are precious. However 30 or 40 year old babies are not very attractive.

Today, it's "if it feels good, do it!-this speaks of worldly freedom and total unaccountable.

The carnal Christian can be the most miserable of all people, and usually is.

The carnal Christian is trying to make the best of two worlds.

There is no room in the Spiritual man for permanent carnality.

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Carnal Christians are trying to make the best of two worlds.

The carnal Christian is saved from sin but not from self.

The Lusts of the Flesh Corrupt the Life Yielded to Them

When growth stops-Old things begin to come back.

Epicureanism is a Greek term for "hell at home!"

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NATURAL MAN

NATURAL MAN IS TOTALLY CONTROLLED BY THE FLESH BECAUSE HE IS COMPLETELY CONTROLLED BY SATAN.

THE SOUL IS NEUTRAL—IT IS CONTROLLED BY WHATEVER POWER IT CHOOSES.

MAN’S GREATEST POWER IS HIS POWER TO CHOOSE.

THE SOUL IS ALLOWED TO CHOOSE SATAN ORTO CHOOSE GOD.

MAN INTENTIONALLY CHOOSES WHOM HE WILL SERVE.

ADAM CHOOSE TO SERVE SATAN.

WHEN ADAM CHOOSE TO BELIEVE SATAN INSTEAD OF GOD—THE SPIRIT OF GOD LEFT MAN AND MAN WAS LEFT TO HIS OWN CHOICES. MAN’S NATURE WAS A “SIN NATURE”.

WHEN MAN IS BORN HE IS BORN WITH AN “OLD NATURE” OR “SIN NATURE” THAT IS TOTALLY UNDER THE CONTROL OF SATAN.

WHEN A MAN IS BORN AGAIN (REGENERATED) HE RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD. HE IS NOW ALIVE TO GOD AND DEAD TO SATAN. THIS NEW MAN IS A PARTAKER OF A DIVINE NATURE DUE TO THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

AT THE NEW BIRTH THE “OLD NATURE” DIES AND MAN RECEIVES A “NEW NATURE”.

HOWEVER THE FLESH REMAINS AS A PART OF MANS ORIGINAL NATURE DUE TO INDELLING SIN AS PART OF THE FALL.

A CHRISTIAN MUST THEN CHOOSE WHOM HE WILL SERVE. BUT HE NOW HAS A CHOICE BETWEEN GOD AND SATAN.

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SPIRITUAL DISEASE OF CARNALITY

FOUR TYPES OF PEOPLE IN THE WORLD

NATURAL MAN SPIRITUAL BABY CARNALMAN CHRISTIANS CHRISTIANS

1 Cor. 2:14 1 Cor.2:15-16 1 Cor. 3:1 1 Cor. 3:23

DEAD TO GOD ALIVE TO GOD ALIVE TO GOD ALIVE TO GOD

ALIVE TO SATAN DEAD TO SATAN DEAD TO SATAN YIELD TO SATAN

“OLD MAN” NEW CREATION NEW CREATION NEW CREATION

NON-CHRISTIAN MATURE IMMATURE IMMATURE(NATURAL STATE) CHRISTIAN CHRISTIAN (BY CHOICE)

LOST MAN REGENERATED REGENERATED REGENERATED(BY CHOICE) (BY CHOICE) (BY CHOICE) (LOST-BY CHOICE)

WITHOUT FILLED WITH OPEN TO DEAD TOHOLY SPIRIT HOLY SPIRIT HOLY SPIRIT HOLY SPIRIT

LOST SAVED FROM SIN SAVED FROM SIN SAVED FROM SINSPIRITUALLY DEAD SAVED FROM SELF OPEN TO SPIRIT LOST TO SELF

MIND OF SATAN MIND OF CHRIST OPEN TO CHRIST MIND OF WORLD

SLAVE OF SIN SLAVE TO CHRIST BOUGHT BY CHRIST SLAVE TO SELF

DEFEAT VICTORY OVER BEGINNING NO VICTORYTHE DEVIL VICTORY

DEMONIZED SPIRITUALIZED SPIRITUALIZED HUMANIZED

DARKNESS LIGHT BEGINNING LIGHT BLURRED

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CARNALITY

The FLESH is the name by which scripture indicated our FALLEN NATURE-SOUL AND BODY…When the soul yielded to the temptation of the sensible, it broke away from the rule of the SPIRIT and came under the power of the BODY

--it became FLESH. And now the flesh is not only without the SPIRIT, but even hostile to it: “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit.”

In yielding to the flesh, the soul sought itself instead of the God to whom the spirit linked it; selfishness prevailed over God’s will; selfishness became its ruling principle. And now, so subtle and mighty is this spirit of self, that the flesh, not only is sinning against God, but even when the soul learns to serve God, still asserts its power, refuses to let the spirit alone lead, and, in its efforts to be religious, is still the great enemy that ever hinders and quenches the spirit.”

ANDREW MURRAY THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST

And the remarkable thing is, what at first sight might appear a paradox—as soon as the FLESH seeks to serve God it then becomes the strength of sin—Satan has no more crafty device for keeping souls in bondage than inciting them to a religion in the flesh. He knows that the power of the flesh can never please God or conquer sin, and that in due time the flesh that has gained supremacy over the spirit in the service of God, will assert and maintain the same supremacy in the service of sin---There the soul, the seat of self, must learn to bow to the Spirit, where God dwells.

ANDREW MURRAY THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST

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CARNAL CHRISTIANITY

DEFINITION: Carnality is a spiritual condition in which a born-

again Believer “Knowingly, Willingly, intentionally and persistently” lives to please and serve self rather than Jesus.

CARNAL CHRISTIANS ARE CAUGHT BETWEEN TWO WORLDS:*****THEY ARE SAVED FROM SIN---

***BUT LOST TO SELF!***

A LIFE OF CONSTANT CONFLICTCHARACTERIZED BY DIVISION AND IMMORALITY.

SPIRITUALLY DEFEATED—REPEATED DEFEAT---SPIRITUAL VICTORY TODAY AND

SPIRITUAL DEFEAT TOMORROW.

PROTRACTED INFANCYOVERGROWN INFANT (INFANTILE PARALYSIS)

TWO MARKS OF INFANTS***THEY CANNOT HELP THEMSELVS******AND THEY CANNOT HELP OTHERS***

HUMANITY IS WORSHIPPED UNDER THE BANNER OF *****HUMANISM”

MORE CONCERNED ABOUT NATURE THAN PEOPLE.

A COMMITTED CHRISTIAN MAY FALL INTO SIN---BUT CARNAL CHRISTIANS BATHE IN SIN---****SIN IS SUPREME****

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***BARREN OF FRUITFULNESS***

SELF-EFFORT CHRISTIAN—***“I” FORMATION—ME FIRST AND OFTEN SECOND

AND ALWAYS.***

WORLDLY (FLESHLY) CHRISTIANS ARE—***OFTEN MISUSE SPIRITUAL GIFTS******OFTEN LACKE SPIRITUAL FRUIT******FAIL TO RECEIVE SPIRITUAL TRUTH***

CARNAL CHRISTIAN MAY HEAR THE WORD BUT—***THEY ARE HEARERS ONLY AND NOT DOERS***

CARNALITY IS AN ENEMY OF FAITH, PRAYER, WITNESS, ETC.

CARNAL CHRISTIANS OFTEN FAIL TO HAVE THE SPIRITUAL FRUIT OF JOY.

***THEY OFTEN LIVE A LIFE OF BITTERNESS**

A CARNAL CHRISTIAN IS TRYING TO MAKE THE BEST TWO WORLDS AND HE CAN BE THE MOST MISERABLE OF ALL PEOPLE AND USUALLY IS.

***A CARNAL CHRISTIAN IS SAVED FROM SIN******BUT NOT SAVED FROM SELF***

A CARNAL CHRISTIAN OFTEN FALLS INTO SPIRITUAL ADULTRY!***HE MAY LOVE THE WORLD MORE THAN HE LOVES JESUS**

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FOUR CHARACTERISTICS OF CARNALITYFOUND IN HEBREWS

1. HE NEGLECTS SPIRITUAL MATTERS HEB. 2:3***NEGLECT-DISINTEREST, PASSIVE DISOBEDIENCE***A PERSON DOESN’T PLAN TO DO WRONG—BUT DOESN’T DO RIGHT ***A STUDENT DOESN’T HAVE TO CHEAT OR CURSE THE ***TEACHER TO FAIL A TEST---ALL HE HAS TO DO IS NOT STUDY!***

2. YOU HAVE BECOME SPIRITUALLY INSENSITIVEHEB. 3:12-13

***DECEITFULLNESS OF SIN***

3. YOU WITHDRAW FROM THE FELLOWSHIP OF OTHER CHRISTIANS. HEB. 10:24

4. YOU REJECT THE CHRISTIAN FAITH HEB. 10:26-27, 32

SOME CONSEQUENCES OF CARNALITY

1. DIVINE DISCIPLINE

2. THE LOST OF ASSURANCE OF SALVATION

3. LOSS OF PHYSICAL HEALTH

4. LOSS OF MENTAL HEALTH

5. LOSS OF ETERNAL REWARDS

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CARNAL OR FLESHLY MAN

WORLDLY PRESSURES WORLDLY PRESSURESBODY

(DOOMED TO DEATHDUE TO INDWELLING SIN)

TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT(1 Corinthians 6:19)

SENSES SOUL SENSES(PERSONALITY)(UNDER DOMINION OF

INDWELLING SIN-FLESH CONDITION

SPIRITCONFLICT (ALIVE TO GOD CONFLICT

TENSION DEAD TO SATAN) TENSIONMIND NEW MAN EMOTIONS(DECEIVED) PARTAKER OF DIVINE (VACILATING)

NATURE DUE TO INWELLINGHOLY SPIRIT)

WILL(FREED CONFLICTBUT

INDWELLING YIELDED TO SIN) (FERTILE CONDITIONSIN Romans 6:13a) FOR PRODUCING

PSYCHOSOMATIC AILMENTS

TENSION

SATAN-THE POWER BEHINDINDWELLING SIN

OUTCOME:DEFEAT

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This isrepugnant SOUL SPIRITto God

Mind IntuitionEmotion ConscienceWill Communion

Self

CHRISTBODY

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SOUL SPIRIT

1.Inferiority 2.Insecurity 1. Salvation 3. Inadequacy 2. Assurance

4. Guilt-Real (sin 3. Security Imaginary 4. Acceptance

5. Worry, doubts, fears 5. TotalCommitment

Family,Work, etc.

FrustrationHostility

SMind Emotions1. Fantasy 1. Depression2. Schizophrenia 2.Anxiety C3. Paranoia4. Obsessive BODY

thoughts

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CURE OF CARNALITY

1. BRING YOURSELF TO REPENTANCE

2. BRING OTHERS TO REPENTANCE

3. SATAN’S JUDGEMENT BRINGS ONE TO REPENTENCE.

4. STUDY THE WORDSIN WILL KEEP YOU FROM THE WORD OF GOD BUT THE WORD

OF GOD WILL KEEP YOU FROM SIN.

5. PRAYERCONSECRATED PRAYER.

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APPENDIX-FLESH, CARNAL, ETC.

My old self, I am in Adam, was an utter slave to sin. That self has gone. I have a new self, I am a new man….i am not doing this or that, it is this sin that remains in my members that does so. Sin is no longer in me [in my new self in Christ] it is in my members only. This is the most liberating thing you have ever heard. LLOYD-JONES, Exposition of Ephesians 1:74

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