Overcoming Self – Part 2

Today’s blog is a continuation of part of a chapter taken from my book, Victory Over Backsliding.  We are discussing “self” and the sinful nature.  We’ll discover more about why it is so difficult, if not impossible, to maintain a life being good and doing good no matter how hard we try.

An In-Depth Look at the Flesh

     The apostle Paul lamented that even when he wants to do good, evil is present with him and that there is a war going on inside of him (Romans 7:21).  The old nature or "flesh" wants to do evil.  Because we all struggle with the old nature, we have an on-going battle with self.  Let’s look at this thing we do battle with every day, self, or as the Bible calls it, the “flesh”.  What exactly is it?  The flesh is the sinful nature we are all born with.  It is the part of us that does the most natural thing, as natural and unconsciously as breathing - it sins.  What does the Bible have to say about it?

          1) The flesh is weak (Mark 14:38).     

          2) The unregenerate person comes under its power and habitually sins because of it (Romans 7:5).

          3) It holds us in bondage and makes us slaves to it (Romans 6:16, 20).

          4) It has the sentence of death upon it (Romans 5:12, 6:21,23).          

          5) The works of the flesh result in adultery, hatred, strife, jealousy, wrath, factions, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings (Galatians 5:19-21).

          How is the flesh dealt with?  Some religions teach that sins can be dealt with by regular confession, but this doesn't stop a person from continuing in their habitual sins.  Humanists believe that man is like a god and there is no sin in him.  Everything can be justified and explained away by blaming it on the environment, heredity or circumstances that cannot be helped.  But this belief holds a person in their prison of sin.  God understands the nature of our sin problem and He knew the only way to free us was to put the sinful nature to death.  It cannot be fixed up, repaired or improved.  It has to die (Romans 8:3,4).  Jesus Himself was offered up as our supreme sacrifice and took our place on the cross (I Peter 3:18).  Jesus was also given power over all flesh since He died for each and every person (John 17:2).  But, what is to be our attitude towards the flesh? 

          1) We are to have no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3).

          2) We are to make no provision for the flesh by walking in the Spirit (Romans 13:14; Galatians 5:16).

Works of the Flesh or of the Spirit?

          In the following, we discover the wicked deeds of the flesh, things we may partake in before we are saved. 

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, rivalry, jealously, outbursts of anger, quarrels, conflicts, factions, envy, murder, drunkenness, wild partying, and things like that. I am telling you now, as I have told you in the past, that people who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.   Galatians 5:19-21 NIV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.  Galatians 5:22-23

When the flesh is at work, we lose all sight of what is morally pure.  The flesh is all that is ungodly; it is the unregenerate person doing as he pleases with no regard for God’s laws.  When we return to these things, we are indeed backsliding.  But, when the Lord is at work in our lives, the fruit we produce will line up with God’s very character and will be consistent with His Word.  This is how we know if we are walking in the flesh or in the spirit – by the fruit it produces. 

Taken from Victory Over Backsliding, by Linda McBurney-Gunhouse, Creative Focus Publishing, p. 63-64, 2007.

NOTE:  If you decide to purchase the entire ebook, and you will gain a much greater insight into this topic.  God bless you as you pursue a closer walk with Him.

In the next blog, we are going to look at a common problem where we may give in to the flesh and this will affect our entire relationship with God.  Over time, we can end up so far from God that we start to believe anything.