Jeff Schreve - The Flesh, The Spirit, and the Christian

Watch
Audio
Buy this sermon
Donate
Store

TOPICS: Inner Man, Flesh, Spiritual warfare, Lust, Temptation

Every Christian knows about the internal battle between the flesh and the spirit. If you let the flesh take control of your heart, it will steal, kill, and destroy, but if you, by the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the flesh, you’ll enjoy a life of victory. Hi, I’m Pastor Jeff Schreve, thanks for joining us today as we continue our study of the eighth chapter of the book of Romans. Today, you’ll learn how to understand God’s plan for your life in a message called The Flesh, The Spirit, and The Christian.

Do you understand how the Christian life is designed to work? Because Jesus said I came that you might have life and might have it abundantly, that it would be full and overflowing, and that we would walk in victory. This sermon series is titled More Than Conquerors, from Romans 8:37. But in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. So do you understand the Christian life and how it’s designed to work? I wanna share with you three key discoveries that will help you understand the Christian life and help you to rise above the power of the flesh and grandfather in the bones.

Discovery number one, the Lord came to deliver us from the penalty of sin. He came to deliver us from the penalty of sin. He came in the flesh, Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. He came in the likeness of sinful flesh, he himself was not a sinner, but he came in the likeness of sinful flesh, «And as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit».

Now, 1 John chapter 2 says, my little children, I’m writing these things to you so that you may not sin, and if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins, the satisfaction for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. He died for the whole world, and his death becomes personal to you and is applied to your life when you put your faith and trust in Jesus. You know Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior, but that’s not the key question, is Jesus the Lord and the Savior. Is Jesus your Lord and your savior, is it personal? So he came to deliver us from the penalty of sin, and we have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ. That’s how you get delivered from the penalty of sin, you put your faith in and trust in Jesus Christ.

Romans chapter 5 verse 1, «Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ». And once you come to Christ in repentance of faith, the battle is over between you and God. There’s no longer enmity and distance between you and God. You go from being a child of wrath to a child of God. And so we have this relationship, now, by grace, through faith, with the Lord Jesus Christ. And we’ve been set free from any and all condemnation. As it says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the spirit of life, that’s the Holy Spirit, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. And when it says there’s no condemnation, that is strong in the Greek, that means there’s not a speck, there’s not a shred.

You know, you have somebody who’s a notorious criminal and he gets before the judge, and they start reading out the charges against this guy. It’s not just one charge, it’s typically many charges. You know, if you get pulled over and you’re speeding, and you have a host of other things wrong, the officer, he looks at your license, oh your license is expired, you were going 85 in a 55, that’s a speeding ticket, but your license is expired, that’s another ticket. And your tail lights out, that’s another ticket, and your inspection is past due, that’s another ticket. You get all these tickets and so you have to pay all these things, it starts adding up. Well, when the Bible says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, every single charge has been wiped away. There’s not one skinny little transgression on a Christian’s ledger.

And this is how the scripture puts it, in Colossians chapter 2, verses 13 and 14, «When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross». So all your sins nailed to the cross, and the law that condemned you, nailed to the cross, and you have been set free in Jesus Christ. Free from the penalty of sin. That is good news for sure.

Now, the opposite of condemnation, Romans 5:16, is justification, and justification is God rapping his gavel, and saying not guilty. It’s just as if you’ve never sinned and the not guilty goes on your permanent ledger. And when you stand before God, you stand before God not guilty. So the Lord came to deliver us from the penalty of sin. Now, when we talk in theological terms, that is the theological word: justification. Justification, and that happens, boom, the moment you put your faith and trust in Jesus.

Now, secondly, the second key discovery, not only did the Lord come to deliver us from the penalty of sin, but the Lord came to deliver us from the power of sin. So penalty of sin is justification, power of sin is sanctification. Justification happens in a moment in time. For me, it was January 1980 when I put my faith and trust in Jesus, and I passed out of death into life, and the death of Jesus died upon the cross, and his burial and his resurrection, that was applied to me, and all my sins were nailed to the cross, and God rapped his gavel and says, Jeff Schreve, not guilty. And that was on my permanent file, I’m not guilty for all of eternity. That happened when I was 17 years old. And that’s justification, that’s true for everyone. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

That’s not a process, you know, sometimes you ask a person you say, well, are you a Christian? Well, kind of, I’m working toward that. Oh, what are you some kind of larvae, I mean, it doesn’t work like that. You’re not a caterpillar, right? Yeah, you either are or you’re not. You know, if you ask somebody, hey, are you pregnant? Well, I don’t know, kind of, a little bit. I mean, you either are or you’re not. There’s no kind of, maybe, a little bit. Justification happens, boom, like that. Sanctification, the second part of salvation, see, because we say I have been saved, past tense of salvation is justification, and that’s true. But the Bible also speaks of the present tense of salvation, I’m in the process of being saved, and that is sanctification. The Lord came not only to deliver us from the penalty of sin, no condemnation, but he also came to deliver us from the power of sin.

Verse 4 says, «In order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit». So the Lord freed us from the law, we’re not under the law anymore, we’re under grace, but he didn’t free us from the law so we could live lawlessly. He doesn’t save us for sin, he saves us from sin. So some people, «I’m saved so I can sin all I want, I have a get out of jail free card and I have my fire insurance, and so I can just do whatever I want». That’s not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that the moment you put your faith and trust in Christ, you are saved from sin. And now he wants you to live out the Christian life, under grace, but that the requirement of the law, the righteousness of the law would be fulfilled in you, and you are now delivered not only from the penalty of sin, but from the power of sin.

Now you mark it down, the struggle in the Christian life is with the flesh. You struggle with the flesh, I struggle with the flesh, we struggle with the flesh, Paul struggled with the flesh. The part of you that’s been crucified, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone. It’s crucified, Romans 6:6, which means it’s rendered powerless, that the body of sin might be done away with, might be rendered powerless. Doesn’t have any more power over you, and a lost person only has the dominating power of the flesh, but a saved person has the power of the Holy Spirit from the Lord. An easy way to think about the flesh, think about it in computer terms. When you’re born into this world, you have a corrupt operating system.

And so your operating system is never gonna work right, you can work and work and work on your computer and right when you’re ready to print or send, it crashes, and you lose it all. I mean, it’s just never right, it’s a corrupted operating system. And so you need a new operating system. Well, the new operating system comes from the Lord, comes from his Spirit. And the Bible goes on to say about the flesh and the Spirit, in verses 5 through 8, it pits the two because the flesh and the spirit have nothing in common. And Jesus said to Nicodemus, that which is of the flesh is flesh, and that which is of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I say to you, Nicodemus, you must be born again. You must get a new operating system because your operating system is gonna take you to hell. It’s a corrupt operating system.

«For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; and it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God». Impossible to please God in the flesh. Impossible with the old operating system, to ever get it to work right. You can’t tweak it, you can’t put in a patch, no, it just does not work. That which is of the flesh is flesh, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Now, Romans 8:5 through 8 is speaking of in comparing a Christian, in the spirit, versus a non-Christian, according to the flesh. According to the spirit is a Christian, according to the flesh is a non-Christian. How do you know that, verse 9, «However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you, but if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him». So he’s talking in the spirit, according to the spirit, Christian. In the flesh, according to the flesh, non-Christian. The spirit is the new operating system, the flesh is the old operating system. And so the flesh has nothing in common with the spirit.

Here’s some things about the flesh: The flesh is alive physically and dead spiritually. You’re alive, but you’re dead spiritually, and that’s what he is saying. Those who are according to the flesh, they set their minds on the things of the flesh, those who are according to the spirit, the things of the spirit, for the mind set on the flesh is death. That old operating system, death, it’s corrupt, and there’s nothing you can do about it. But the mindset and the spirit is life and peace. So the flesh is alive physically, but dead spiritually. 1 Timothy 5:6, «She who gives herself to wanton pleasure is dead, even while she lives. But also the flesh knows nothing of life and peace».

The mind set on the flesh is death, the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. Flesh doesn’t know anything about life and peace, that old operating system doesn’t have anything to do with life and peace, because it’s just bent toward death and chaos. That’s what you get with the flesh. And thirdly, the flesh is hostile to God, and unable to please God. Hostile to God. That old operating system fights with the new operating system, it doesn’t like the new operating system, it’s hostile to God. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. That’s why there’s no way for a lost person to make himself acceptable to God, it can’t happen.

Hey, the flesh has nothing in common with the spirit, and true Christians, as I mentioned, they’re according to the spirit, they’re not according to the flesh. God doesn’t look at us as being according to the flesh, as believers in Jesus, we’ve been set free from that. And that’s why he says in verse 9, «However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him». What’s the tell tale mark that you are a believer? The Holy Spirit lives inside of you. The Holy Spirit lives inside of every believer.

«In him, you also, after listening the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise. Who has given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory,» Ephesians 1:13 and 14. Hey, when you trust Christ, the Lord, you have a new operating system. Now, the old operating system is still on the computer, but you’re not running that. You’re running the new operating system, and the old operating system is all the time trying to get you back into the programs it has. That’s the battle between the flesh and the spirit.

So the Lord came to deliver us from the power of sin, and key discovery number three, victory in the Christian life comes through the Holy Spirit. That’s how we overcome, is through the Holy Spirit, not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. Here’s what many of us try and do. We become Christians, we put our faith and trust in Jesus, and then we think, okay, now we have to gut out the Christian life, we have to grit our teeth with the Christian life, we have to just try harder. I just gotta try harder, I gotta try not to drink, and try not to cuss, and try not to do this, and try not to do that. Try not to be bitter, try not to lust, and we try, try, try so hard. And we fall into the ditch of legalism.

You know, in the Christian life, you have the highway of walking with God, and on one side of the road is the ditch of legalism, on the other side of the road is the ditch of license. Legalism sets up a bunch of rules, license says you can do whatever you want, both of them, you end up in the ditch. That’s not the… we walk in the light as he himself is in the light. Victory in the Christian life comes through the Holy Spirit. You can’t defeat the flesh with the flesh. You can’t say, well, you know, I got this corrupt operating system but hey, I have this other program on the corrupt operating system that will help me with the corrupt operating system. The flesh, no, it doesn’t work like that. The flesh can’t defeat the flesh. And if you do bad in the flesh, well, that’s the corrupt operating system.

If you do good in the flesh, you know, there are a lot of people in church work that do good in the flesh. The Pharisees were, Nicodemus, John chapter 3. What was he doing? He was trying to do good in the corrupt operating system. That’s why Jesus said unless you’re born again, unless you get a new operating system, you can’t see the kingdom of heaven, you can’t see the kingdom of God. And you’re not gonna enter the kingdom of God, you must be born again.

And so this is what Paul goes on to say in verse 9 or verse 10, «And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who also raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death, the deeds of the body, you will live».

Such a key passage of scripture. Victory comes through the Holy Spirit. Now remember this, so important because the devil is a liar and the father of lies, and he is all the time working so that we believe this lie, that we don’t have power. But the scripture makes it clear, we have power in the Lord and there is resurrection power living inside of every Christian. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies, Through his spirit who indwells you. Think about this, the greatest challenge, if we could use those terms to talk about the Lord, the greatest challenge the Lord ever faced was when his Son died on the cross, and he is in the tomb and he is dead. And so it’s the Holy Spirit of God who gives life to Jesus, raises him up from the dead.

Well, that’s a serious problem when you’re dead, right? I mean, you can say, well, I have problems, Jeff, you know, I have problems with substance abuse, I have problems with lying, I have problems with bitterness, I have problems with insecurity, I have problems with lust, I have problems with gambling, I have problems with drinking, whatever it is. Oh, it’s such a big problem, I just can’t seem to get victory over this. Well, we’d all have to agree, whatever your problem is, it’s not as big a problem as being dead and needing to come back to life.

And that’s a serious, serious problem. There’s nothing greater than that. And if the spirit of him who raised Christ Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who indwells you. There is tremendous power inside of every Christian, because the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and he lives inside, «…do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you’re not your own, for you’ve been bought with a price, therefore, glorify God in your bodies».

In Ephesians 3, Paul prays that great prayer, and he closes it out and says this, «Now to him who is able to do exceeding, abundantly, beyond all we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to him be the glory». There is power inside of you and me as a believer in Jesus. not our power, it’s his power, that mightily works within us. So we need to remember that, hey, I have power to overcome whatever I face in life, because I’m not according to the flesh, I have a brand new operating system. I’m according to the spirit and I can walk in victory.

So we are under obligation, it say… not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, I don’t have any obligation to the old operating system. I have an obligation to the new operating system. We’re under obligation, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh, for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the spirit, you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. That’s the Christian life in a nutshell. And here’s the problem that we have, you know, the Bible says that we’re dead to sin, we’re alive to God. That’s truth, we are dead to sin. But then it says to consider yourselves dead to sin, you say, why does it tell us that we’re dead to sin and then we consider ourselves dead to sin? Because in truth, you’re dead to sin, but in your feelings, you’re not dead to sin.

Would anybody say that that’s my testimony? I don’t feel very dead to sin, sin sure seems to have an appeal to me. I mean, you know, sin is the kindling ground for the devil to start a fire, and your flesh, it’s still there. It hasn’t gone away, the operating system of the flesh still on the computer, you’re just not running on that. But it’s popping up things all the time, just like it did for Caleb, wanna see, wanna see, wanna go this way, wanna do this, and there’s a part of you that says, yes, but then there’s the spirit saying, no, no.

The flesh sets its desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another so that you may not do the things that you please. Here’s what the scripture says, Romans 6 and I’ll close. «Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God». Your members, that’s your body. «As righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace».

Hey, there’s victory in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, who lives inside. But we have to get ruthless with the flesh, and the last blank on your notes, if you don’t put the flesh to death, the flesh will destroy you. It is no respecter of persons, and the devil will work on the flesh, and you let the flesh take control, and it will steal, and kill, and destroy. But if you, by the spirit, put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live, and you’ll live in victory. And we’re more than conquerors in Jesus Christ.