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The Word of God The Word of God
The Word of God The Word of God The Word of
God The Word of God The Word of God
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Know the Old Man
The Carnal Man
The
word of God encourages us to not walk after the flesh, but rather to walk
after the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, in victory. If you don’t know
what the works of the flesh are, then you are incapable of rendering them
crucified with Christ.
Colossians 3:5 says, “so kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil
desire lurking in your members (those animal impulses and all that is earthly
in you that is employed in sin): sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites,
unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the
deifying of self and other created things instead of God).”
1 Peter 2:11 says, “beloved,
I implore you as aliens and strangers and exiles (in the world) to abstain
from sensual urges (the evil desires, the passions of the flesh, your lower
nature) that wage war against the soul.”
1 peter 4:2 says, “so that he can no longer spend the rest of his
natural life living by his human appetites and desires, but (he lives) for
what God wills.”
The word of God is very exact about what the works of the flesh are.
Galatians 5:16-21 says, “Now the doings (practices) of the flesh
are clear (obvious); they are immorality, impurity, indecency, idolatry,
sorcery, enmity, strife, jealously, anger (ill temper), selfishness,
divisions (dissensions), party spirit (factions, sects with particular
opinions, heresies), envy, drunkenness, carousing and the like. I warn
you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who do such things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God.”
James 3:14-16 says, “but if you have bitter jealousy (envy) and
contention (rivalry and selfish ambition) in your hearts, do not pride
yourself on it and thus be in defiance of and false to the truth. This
(superficial) wisdom is not such as comes down from above, but is earthly,
unspiritual (animal), even devilish (demonical). For wherever
there is jealousy (envy) and contention (rivalry and selfish ambition), there
will also be confusion (unrest, disharmony, rebellion) and all sorts of evil
and ill practices.
Paul spoke to the Corinthians about their choices as Christians, and he told
them that he couldn’t teach them much beyond the mild of the word
because they were choosing to allow their carnal nature to dictate there
choices.
1 Corinthian 3:2-3 says, “I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you
were not yet strong enough (to be ready for it) but even yet you were not
strong enough (to be ready for it). For you are still (unspiritual,
having the nature) of the flesh (under the control of ordinary
impulses). For as long as (there are) envying and jealousy and
wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh,
behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men?
If a Christian is EVER to walk in the LIBERTY
and VICTORY that the blood of Jesus Christ bought for them, they must account
the works of the flesh as being dead.
Carnality is not just living according to the flesh, the Bible teaches us
that to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is
life. There are many examples in the Bible that teach us exactly what
it is to be carnal in our walk with God.
As you review the following scriptures, think how the people these scriptures
are talking about were “believers,” they wanted to walk with God,
but they also were not content with ‘just God’ and what He could
and would and did provide. They doubted His goodness toward them and
they mis-trusted His ability to give them all they needed.
They also wanted to apply their own efforts to God’s provision,
laboring in their unbelief to produce something that would satisfy their
‘soul,’ rather than emptying themselves of themselves so He could
fill them up with Himself. They wanted Him as well as the
‘things’ of this world.
Exodus 16:2-3 “And the whole congregation of Israel
murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And said to them,
“would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land
of Egypt, when we sat by the
fleshpots and ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this
wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger”.”
These people had seen God’s mighty hand deliver them, they had seen Him
perform miracles and set them free from their 400 year enslavement.
Still they didn’t trust Him enough to make sure that they would be fed
and they murmured and wanted more than they had. Dissatisfaction in
God’s provision is carnal and will render your spiritual walk with God
ineffective in this world.
Numbers 11:4-6 “And the mixed multitude among them (the rabble who
followed Israel
from Egypt)
began to lust greatly (for familiar and dainty food), and the Israelites wept
again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat?” We remember
the fish we ate freely in Egypt
and without cost, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But
now our soul (our strength) is dried up; there is nothing at all (in the way
of food) to be seen but this manna”.”
In exodus they were hungry and they murmured. Moses prayed for them and
God fed them with food from Heaven. How gracious God was. They
quickly tired of this heavenly food and longed for dainty food. Notice
that they said it was their “souls” which were faint and
weak. When you feed upon spiritual food, the WORD of GOD, your soul
(the carnal man) will cry and murmur and want to be fed. The Word feeds
your spirit man; the things of this world will feed your soul (the carnal
man). Whichever one you feed the most will be the strongest influence
in your life as a Christian.
Psalms 78:18 “And they tempted God in their hearts by asking for food
according to their (selfish) desire and appetite.”
Take the time to read the entire 78th psalm and take heed to the principle
David was attempting to implore God’s people to learn. To walk in
rebellion (a work of the flesh), against God’s promised provision, will
render you nothing but death and defeat in this world.
Even the disciples of Jesus and those who walked with Him, and who watched
Him perform miracles in their presence didn’t want HIM for Himself, or
for what He could do to set them free in their lives, but rather because He
met their physical needs.
John 6:26 Jesus answered them, “I assure you, most solemnly I tell you,
you have been searching for Me, not because you saw the miracles and signs
but because you were fed with the loaves and were filled and
satisfied.”
In verse 27 Jesus has something very important to say to everyone who would
follow Him.
“Stop toiling and doing and producing for the food that perishes and
decomposes (in the using), but strive and work and produce rather for the
(lasting) food which endures (continually) unto life eternal; the son of man
will give (furnish) you that, for God the Father has authorized and certified
Him and put His seal of endorsement upon Him.”
The carnal mind is actually the enemy of God.
Romans 8:7 “(that is) because the mind of the flesh (with its carnal
thoughts and purposes) is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to
God’s law; indeed it cannot.”
Romans 8:8 “So to those who are living the life of the flesh (catering
to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature) cannot please or
satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.”
When YOU are brought by the Holy Spirit to recognize that you have been
allowing your carnal nature to ‘rule’ your thoughts or actions,
He is revealing this to you so that YOU can agree (in your spirit) with the
Word of God and account those behaviors as dead to God. You have the
AUTHORITY in the NAME of JESUS to speak to your carnal man, the old nature,
and command it to BE STILL.
The Word of God says that the ‘old man’ is crucified. If it is
CRUCIFIED then it’s a dead thing, and you have no need to listen to a
dead old man stinking in the grave.
However, if you do not KNOW what the old man is, and how deceitful he can be
within your members, then you can be deceived by the enemy of your soul to
give way to that old man.
I want to encourage you to take this next week and listen carefully to the
thoughts in your head, to watch the things that you do, to listen to the
words that come out of your mouth, and to ask the Holy Spirit to show you the
difference between the thoughts, words, and deeds of the old man, and the
thoughts, words and deed of God that he would do through you. As you
discipline yourself in this manner you will quickly learn to lay that old man
in his grave and walk in the newness of the Life of God in Christ Jesus
within you.
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