Will you please turn to the letter to the Galatians? Galatians 5:24.
I hope, as we read it, we will notice every word in that sentence.
But they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts.
We will repeat it:
But they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts.
Dear Lord, we pray that Thy cross will be before each and every one of our eyes so vividly that it may deeply touch our hearts and draw each one of us into that cross which we are seeing. Allow that cross to enter into our very being, that Thy glory may be manifested even in us earthen vessels.
We commit this time totally into Thy hands. With man it is impossible, but with Thee all things are possible. So we expect Thee to do the impossible thing: to plant Thy cross into our very being. We give Thee all the glory. In Thy precious name we pray. Amen.
Yesterday morning, we fellowshipped on the cross and the old man. Now, this morning, we would like to continue with the cross and the flesh.
Now, brothers and sisters, first of all, we need to recognize: what is flesh? What is the difference between the old man and the flesh?
As you read the Bible, you will find that the word flesh is used in many different ways. Sometimes the word flesh refers to our physical body.
For instance, in Galatians 2:20:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me:
and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God,
Who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.
So the word flesh there refers to our physical body. Then you will find that the word flesh can mean one’s physical nature. For instance, 1 Corinthians 15:50 says:
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
We find that flesh is part of the body. The word is also used as an expression of union. In Ephesians 5:31, man and woman are united into one flesh.
Then you find that the same word, flesh, can refer to man himself. Romans 7:18 says:
For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.
Again, you find in the Bible that the word flesh can refer to the unregenerate man. Therefore, sometimes in English it is translated “the natural man.” The natural man refers to the unregenerate man.
Even in the Old Testament, you find the English word flesh used in various ways. It may refer to the body. You remember Genesis 2:21, how God did a surgery on Adam and took something from him. Then God closed up his flesh. That means his body was restored.
After God led Eve to Adam, Adam looked at her and said:
This is now bone of my bones,
and flesh of my flesh.
In other words, it is part of the human body. Then, in Genesis 2:24, they are united into one flesh—unity.
When you come to Genesis 6:3, men had sinned so much that God said His Spirit would not strive with man anymore because man had become flesh. In other words, man’s spirit was dead, and there remained the soul and the body. He did not have the Holy Spirit, and his whole life was governed by his soul and body.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, this morning, when we talk about this matter of the flesh, we limit ourselves to one meaning: the unregenerate man. That is, man motivated by his soul and body without the Holy Spirit. This is the flesh that we will be talking about.
Now, what is the difference between the old man and the flesh?
The old man is a corporate man. In other words, the old man is Adam and all who are in Adam. The flesh refers more or less to the personal, individual being.
When you talk about the old man, we touch the objective truth. That is to say, in the old man, every one of us who was born of Adam was there. But thank God, Christ is the last Adam.
So when He was crucified on the cross and died, you and I, and every one of us who believes in the Lord Jesus, died in Him and with Him.
You did not personally experience that death, because you were already dead before you were born. You were dead in Christ Jesus because He was the last Adam and the second Man.
So this refers to the objective truth. It is something that we must believe. As we believe and receive it, we find that it is ours.
But when you talk about the flesh, you will find that it more or less emphasizes the subjective side—that is to say, something that we experience ourselves.
So you would not say the old man and the flesh are one. But in another sense, you find that these are two sides of one thing.
When we talk about what Christ has done for us on the cross, our old man was crucified with Him. Remember, the old man is always in the singular number. There is only one old man—that is Adam—and all of us are in that Adam.
So when Christ was crucified, that old man, the Adamic race, was terminated in His crucifixion. Therefore, we can reckon that we were dead unto sin in Christ Jesus and alive unto God in Christ Jesus.
There is nothing more simple than this reckoning, because you have an eternal fact that has been completed once and forever. It never changes. You just recognize it as yours, and it is yours. Now, thank God for that.
But when you talk about the flesh, we all have flesh, but your flesh and my flesh are different because the combinations are all different. We all inherit from Adam, but the combinations are so varied. Therefore, your flesh is different from my flesh, and yet it is flesh.
So, brothers and sisters, just remember this: when we come to this matter of the cross and the flesh, we are moving on into the subjective side of experience.
Brothers and sisters, before we were saved, our spirit was dead unto God. We had no contact with God.
But thank God, when we believe in the Lord Jesus as our personal Savior, He not only washes our sins away by His shed blood. The Bible says:
And according to the law, I may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood,
and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.
No matter what you do, you may try to accumulate your merit, but that cannot wash your sins away. It is through the shed blood of our Lord Jesus that all our sins are remitted.
But God does something more than that. When we believe in the Lord Jesus, our dead spirit is quickened into new life. Our Lord Jesus has cleansed our conscience and made our spirit a new spirit, a living spirit, that can communicate with its proper environment—God Himself.
So the moment we are saved, we cry out, “Abba, Father,” because that connection has been made. The life of Christ comes into our new spirit by the Holy Spirit. We are born again. We receive the life of God. Christ Himself dwells by the Spirit in our new spirit.
Now, that is what we usually call initial salvation. In our spirit, Christ dwells. His life is the life of our spirit, and that begins our spiritual life.
But even so, we find that the old nature, the Adamic nature, is still in us. So far as our spirit is concerned, we have a new life, a new spirit, and the Holy Spirit. But so far as our soul and body are concerned, we find that the life in our soul is still the old Adamic nature.
That can be easily experienced. When you turn to 1 Corinthians 3:1, Paul says:
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual,
but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ.
When the apostle Paul was in Corinth, he preached nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Many turned to the Lord, and Paul continued to minister to these believers. But he said, “I have not been able to speak to you as to spiritual.”
Now, we would think that after we have the new spirit, the new life, and the Holy Spirit dwelling in our spirit, we surely should be spiritual. But strangely, Paul said, “I cannot speak to you as to spiritual, because I can only speak to you as fleshly, as babes in Christ.”
Even though we do have a new life, a new spirit, and the Holy Spirit dwelling in our spirit, so far as our soul is concerned, it is still being animated by that old Adamic life. We are not instantly becoming spiritual.
So far as the rest of our being is concerned, it is still under the life of the old Adam. It is still in a fallen state. Our flesh, our self, is still the very life of our being. We need to gradually grow out of the old life and grow in Christ Jesus. Then we will enter into more of the spiritual condition.
So when we are first saved, do not think that we are instantly spiritual. We are still babes in Christ, and because we are still babes in Christ, we are still fleshly.
Now, in the Greek, this adjective has slight variations. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 3:1, Paul says, “But as unto fleshly.” The word flesh there refers to the substance, the material, of a thing. It does not necessarily include any moral meaning in it.
When you come to verse 3, Paul says, “Ye are yet carnal.” This word carnal is another variation of the adjective. It can mean the material or substance of a thing, or it can refer to the moral sense, or it can be a combination of both.
For the sake of simplifying it, let us use it this way: in 1 Corinthians 3:1, “but as unto fleshly” may be understood as “but as unto flesh.” It is the material there; it does not include any moral charge in it.
In the Bible, you find that sometimes this word is translated “natural man.” For instance, in 1 Corinthians 2, it says that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit. It is the same word. In other words, it refers to a person who is a fleshly man, and that means he is a babe in Christ.
Now, brothers and sisters, we all love babies because they are so natural. There is no pretension. But at the same time, you find they are all terrible because they are so self-centered. Even at midnight, when they are hungry, they will cry. They do not mind who you are. “I am the most important person in the world. Everybody has to serve me.”
Now, that is being fleshly. So when we are babes in Christ, we are very fleshly. Thank God, we do not pretend. Unfortunately, the more we grow, the more we may become untrue.
But as a babe, you find, “This is what I am.” He does not care what you think about him. So he is very natural, but very fleshly.
Now, brothers and sisters, when we first believe in the Lord Jesus, that is what we are in the spiritual world. Paul said that when he was with the Corinthians, in the very beginning of their being saved, he treated them as babes in Christ. He fed them with milk because they could not digest solid food.
But that condition should not last too long. We can understand it because you are a babe. But if you remain a babe too long, then something is terribly wrong.
After such a long time, Paul said, “I still cannot give you solid food, because you are yet carnal.” In other words, you are still fleshly. That old Adamic nature is still dominating your life. You should outgrow it, that Christ may become your life. This is abnormal.
So, brothers and sisters, we will endure brothers and sisters who are newly saved. They are fleshly, but they are also real. Yet such a situation should not last too long.
You remember, not only were the Corinthian believers in that situation; even when you go to the book of Hebrews, you find the same thing. They were still not spiritually exercised. They remained as babes in Christ, had not left the foundation, and had not pressed on to full growth. That would be a tragedy.
Brothers and sisters, if in your family a baby is first born, everybody enjoys him. But if after ten years, after twenty years, he remains the same, that would be a tragedy to the family. Spiritually, it is the same.
So, brothers and sisters, when we are talking about the flesh, actually we are referring to a condition—the condition of being fleshly. Paul said, “Ye are yet carnal.”
The flesh is the natural man. It should refer to unregenerate people. But unfortunately, we find the same term is now being applied to Christians. Why? Because we act as the people of the world. That shows that we are not much different from the people of the world. This is something that should not be.
Now, what are the symptoms of carnal Christians? When you read the first letter to the Corinthians, you find the apostle Paul describing for us the symptoms manifested by the carnal Christian.
Remember, Paul did not refer to the people of the world. He referred to carnal Christians—Christians who are still living in the flesh instead of living in the Spirit.
Number one: if a Christian remains in a carnal state, he is still a babe in Christ. He cannot take solid food, so he has to be fed with milk.
Now, what is milk? Milk is pre-digested food. Your mother takes food and digests it, and then you drink the milk from your mother. In other words, it has already been digested, so you can just absorb it without exercising yourself. That is one of the signs of being in the flesh.
Now, we find nowadays among Christians, thank God, there are people who really appreciate ministry. They appreciate ministry more than the Lord’s table.
At the Lord’s table, we give to the Lord. What He has given us, we give back to Him. We remember Him, we honor Him, we express our appreciation to Him, and we serve Him.
But when we listen to a message, we receive, we receive, and we receive what has been digested. We do not need to exercise ourselves before the Lord. Because we never exercise ourselves, we never grow. We hear and hear and hear, and nothing happens because we never exercise.
So, brothers and sisters, that is one sign of being in the flesh.
The second sign is found in 1 Corinthians 3:3:
Are ye not carnal, and do ye not walk after the manner of men?
In other words, our walk, our life upon this earth, is according to man. What the people of the world do, we do too. Even what the people of the world think, we think too. What the people of the world seek after, we also seek after.
We are no different from the people of the world, even though we do have eternal life in us. But that eternal life has not been expressed because we are still living according to the flesh.
As you read on, you find there are divisions among God’s people. They follow man instead of following Christ: “I am of Paul,” “I am of Apollos,” “I am of Cephas,” and some said, “I am of Christ.”
Paul said:
Is Christ divided?
Was Paul crucified for you?
Or were ye baptized into the name of Paul?
Christ is not divided. So when we see divisions among God’s people, this is a sure sign that we are walking according to the flesh.
Among the Corinthians, there were people who committed fornication to such an extent that even the world condemned them. Yet the whole church thought nothing about it. They thought they were so liberal that they were able to allow anything and everything. There was no sense of righteousness.
Then you find how they loved the world. They loved social life. They loved to eat and to drink, and because of that, they went to the idol temples. In Corinth, the social life was always in the temple.
They said, “Well, there is only one God. These idols are nothing. So we can go in and enjoy ourselves.”
Then you find how they defrauded one another and even accused one another before worldly courts. They loved themselves and neglected the other brothers. They did not care about the weak brothers and sisters. They said, “We have the truth, so we can do whatever we want to do.” And knowledge puffeth up.
Then you find disorder among them. Even at the Lord’s table, some got drunk and some were hungry. There was no order among them.
Even in the exercise of spiritual gifts, it was a display of themselves. It was not edifying. There was unbelief: they did not believe in resurrection. How can you believe in resurrection if you live such a life?
They were very disobedient. There was no authority, no order. All these are symptoms of men and women of the flesh.
If you turn to Romans 7, you find that those who walk according to the flesh cannot please God. Paul describes himself when he was still in that stage, when the flesh was still dominating his life.
Romans 7:14 says:
For we know that the law is spiritual:
but I am carnal, sold under sin.
In other words, sin is still ruling over the flesh. Then in Romans 7:18:
For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing:
for to will is present with me,
but to do that which is good is not.
Then in Romans 8:
For 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.
For the mind of the flesh is death;
but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace.
Romans 8:7 says:
Because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God;
for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be.
Then verse 8 says:
And they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Do not think that you can live according to the flesh and please God. Do not think that we can serve God according to the mind of the flesh. So far as God is concerned, God has condemned the flesh to death. People who are walking and living according to the flesh can never please God.
Then if you return to Galatians 5:19:
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these:
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, wraths, factions, divisions, parties,
envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like.
The flesh, when it works, is very clear. You can easily recognize it. I think the first three—fornication, uncleanness, and licentiousness—refer to the passions of the flesh, the physical urges of the body.
Then idolatry and sorcery refer to some of the lusts of the flesh. Colossians speaks of will-worship. Because our will is darkened and against God, separated from the life of God, instead of worshiping the true God, people worship idols. Instead of seeking to know God’s will by His Spirit, they go to sorcery. It is the degradation of the human will.
Then hatred, strife, jealousy, anger, and contentions are emotional things. They show that our emotions have become distorted.
Disputes, schools of opinion, and envyings refer to our mind. Our mind is darkened. Murders, drunkenness, and revelings refer to how earthly we are. What is natural is earthly.
The Word says that they who do such things shall not inherit God’s kingdom. So, brothers and sisters, we find that the flesh can be easily detected because its works are manifest.
We need to ask a question. Since we have believed in the Lord Jesus, have we grown out of our babyhood?
If we are measured by what we have read, whether it is in 1 Corinthians, Romans, or Galatians, do we still walk according to the flesh? Or are we now walking according to the Spirit? Do we serve God in our spirit?
I think it would be a very practical question. We have to ask ourselves. We must come to the Lord and let His light shine upon us, that in His light we may see light, that we may repent and abhor ourselves, and then turn to the Lord to seek for deliverance.
So the question now is: how can we be delivered from our flesh? This is a very personal question, and it is a very subjective one.
It is not like the old man. The old man is objective; it is something that Christ has done for us. All we need to do is reckon it. But now we come to our personal experience. How can we be delivered from our flesh?
You will find that the way is the cross. But it is more than the cross that was erected on Calvary. It is that cross that has to be implanted into our very soul.
The objective cross has to become the subjective cross. The cross of Christ has to become my cross, your cross.
Now, how do we experience it? In Galatians 5:24, it says:
But they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts.
First of all, we need to remember that we are in Christ. Oftentimes we forget it. Experientially speaking, oftentimes we come out of Christ.
When we live in the flesh, we do not live in Christ. So often we come out of Christ—that is, from the experiential point of view. From the standpoint of truth, it cannot happen. We are in Christ and always in Christ.
So first of all, we need to remember that we are of Christ. In other words, we need to take our new position in Christ Jesus.
Today, we are in Christ. In Christ, the old man was crucified.
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me.
So first of all, we have to take this stand. We have to take the stand in Christ Jesus.
You know, when temptation comes, what is temptation? Temptation is leading you out of Christ and getting you back into Adam, because Satan cannot touch Christ. He only has that living relationship with Adam. Outside of Adam, he has no power. In Christ, he is finished.
So temptation is drawing us away out of Christ. Then we find ourselves in Adam, and if we are in Adam, sin has dominion over us.
So first of all, we have to, by faith, take our stand in Christ Jesus, declaring that the old Adam was crucified. We were dead unto sin in Christ Jesus, and we are alive unto God in Christ Jesus.
When you take that position, when you take the stand, then how does it work? Galatians 5:16 says:
But I say, walk by the Spirit,
and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Brothers and sisters, here you find the subjective work of the Holy Spirit. Two thousand years ago, Christ died on Calvary’s cross, and God put the whole Adamic race in Christ. So when Christ died, the whole Adamic race was terminated. That is an eternal truth.
Then the Holy Spirit begins to work. He brings that cross—the finished work of Christ on the cross—into your experience. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. He will bring us into all truth.
After we have taken the stand in Christ Jesus, we learn to walk in the Spirit. Then you find what happens:
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh;
for these are contrary the one to the other;
that ye may not do the things that ye would.
You know, the fight is not done by you or me. If we try to fight against the flesh, we will fail, no matter how determined we are. Let the Holy Spirit strive against the flesh.
It is a battle between the Holy Spirit and the flesh, not between you and the flesh, because you are the flesh. So let the Holy Spirit work against the flesh.
When the Holy Spirit strives against the flesh, you are not able to do what your flesh wants to do, because the Holy Spirit will put to death the deeds of the body. Then you will be delivered from the flesh.
Romans 8:13 says:
For if ye live after the flesh, ye must die;
but if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Let me use an illustration. It is the illustration of grafting. Suppose you have a peach tree, and the nature of that peach tree is very bad. All the peaches that are produced are sour.
Now, how are you going to improve that peach tree? You use this matter of grafting. Near the root of that peach tree, you cut it off, and then you make another incision.
You take a twig out of a good peach tree, a tree that bears sweet fruit, and you graft this twig into the old tree. Then the tree begins to grow, and when it grows up, you find that all the branches will bear sweet fruit because it has taken up the new nature.
You have to be very careful. Underneath the cut, below that incision, branches will also come out. When these branches come out, they will bear sour peaches.
Above the incision, you have sweet peaches. Below that incision, you have the old sour peaches. So what will the farmer do? He will watch. Whenever there are branches coming out underneath, below that incision, he will cut them off. Then you will find the whole peach tree will bear sweet fruit.
So that is our story. The cross cuts into our life, and Christ is grafted into us. Naturally—supernaturally naturally—you find that it will bear the fruit of the Spirit.
But unfortunately, underneath the cut, you find branches are still coming out. So the Holy Spirit will do this work. He will put the deeds of the body to death, that you may live.
So, dear brothers and sisters:
They that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts.
This is how the Spirit of God will work. This is how we experience the cross in our daily life. We believe in what the Lord Jesus has done for us, and let us obey the Holy Spirit as He works the cross into our daily life. Thank God.
Dear Lord, we just lay these words at Thy feet. If they are of Thee, use them. If anything is not of Thee, put it to death.