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POWER OVER OUR FLESH
A. Introduction: If you claim to be a Christian, the Bible says the standard for your behavior is that you
walk as Jesus walked: I John 2:6—If we say we are his, we must follow the example of Christ (CEV).
1. This is a startling statement, unless you understand some basic facts about God and His plans for us.
God created human beings to become His sons and daughters who live in loving relationship with
Him. Sin has damaged God’s family and cut us off from our created purpose.
a. Two thousand years ago, Jesus incarnated (took on a human nature) and was born into this world
to die as a sacrifice for sin. By doing this, Jesus opened the way for us to be restored to God
and His family. John 1:1; John 1:14; Heb 2:14; I Pet 3:18
b. But Jesus did something else. Jesus is God become fully man without ceasing to be fully God.
While on earth, He lived as a human being, a man in relationship with, and dependence on, God
the Father. As a man (in His humanity), Jesus showed us what sons and daughters of God look
like in character and behavior. Jesus is the pattern, the standard, for God’s family. Rom 8:29
1. Jesus summed up the character and behavior that God wants all of His family to have: You
must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is
the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: “Love you neighbor as
yourself”. All the other commandments…are based on these two (Matt 22:37-40. NLT).
2. This love is not a feeling. It is an action. To love God means to obey Him—obey His
standard of right and wrong, which is revealed in the Scriptures. To love your neighbor
means to treat fellow human beings as you want to be treated.
2. When you believe on Jesus (acknowledge Him as Savior and Lord), God, by His Spirit and eternal
life, comes into you. God the Holy Spirit indwells you and begins a process of restoration that will
ultimately restore you to all that the Lord created you to be—Christlike in character and behavior.
a. When we come to faith in Christ, our unChristlike traits and behavior are not automatically
eliminated. We still do and say things to people that we wouldn’t want done or said to us. We
still have habits and desires that lead us to violate God’s standard of morality and behavior.
b. Last week we began to talk about why this is and what we are supposed to do about it. We have
more to say in tonight’s lesson.
B. Last week we read something that Paul the apostle wrote to Christians living in Galatia (modern
Turkey). They were fighting with each other over an issue of doctrine: Does a man have to be
circumcised to be saved from sin? Paul told them that Christians are free from the ritual regulations of
the Law of Moses, such as circumcision.
1. He exhorted them: Gal 5:13-16—My brothers and sisters, God called you to be free (from this Law),
but do not use your freedom as an excuse to do what pleases your sinful self. Serve each other with
love (NCV)…Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (NKJV).
a. In other words, your selfish, unChristlike traits can be dealt with by walking in the Spirit and not
the flesh. But what does it mean to walk in the Spirit and not the flesh, and how do we do it?
b. The word flesh is used several ways in the New Testament. It can mean our physical body.
But it is used here to mean human nature, with all its moral and physical frailties and desires.
1. The word nature comes from a Latin word that means to be born. Human nature is what we
are by birth. All human beings are born with a corruption that we inherited from Adam.
2. We are born with an inclination toward selfishness. We are born self-centered. We
automatically put ourselves above God and other people when it suits us. This is the direct
opposite of Christlike character and behavior. Jesus was meek and humble. Matt 11:28-30
c. The Spirit is the Holy Spirit who indwells us when we believe on Jesus. The Holy Spirit wants
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us to do what glorifies Jesus and what glorifies God the Father. This means that there is often
conflict between what the Holy Spirit wants and what we (in our selfishness) want.
1. Paul urged the Galatians to follow the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit, telling them:
If you are guided by the Spirit, you won’t obey your selfish desires (Gal 5:16, CEV).
2. The Holy Spirit leads and guides us primarily through the Bible (the written Word of God),
and He, by His presence in us, empowers us to obey God’s Word when we choose to do so.
2. Paul made a similar statement in a letter written to believers in the city of Rome: Rom 8:12-14—
So then, my brothers, we have an obligation, but not to live as our (selfish) human nature wants us
to. For if you live according to your human nature, you are going to die; but if, by the Spirit, you
kill your sinful actions, you will live (GNB), if by the help of God’s Spirit you say “No” to your
(selfish, sinful) desires. Only those people who are led by God’s Spirit are his children (CEV).
a. The word that is translated actions and desires is the same word Paul used for flesh in Galatians
and is used here to mean human nature, with all its moral and physical frailties and passions.
b. Paul’s point is not: Kill your flesh (all that you are as a human). His point is: Resist sinful
desires and stop your sinful activities by looking to the Holy Spirit to help you obey God.
1. The Holy Spirit is in you to lead you in line with God’s written Word and help you develop
increasing self-control, until the process of restoration to full Christlikeness is finished.
2. II Tim 1:7—God didn’t give us a spirit that makes us weak and fearful. He gave us a spirit
that gives us power and love. It helps us control ourselves (NIRV).
3. To help us understand the relationship we have with the Lord through the Holy Spirit, Jesus said:
John 15:5—I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear
much fruit; for you can do nothing without me (GNB).
a. When we believe on Jesus, God, by His Spirit (the Holy Spirit), indwells us, and we are united to
the Vine. If you are united to Christ through faith in Him, you have God’s life in you and can
bring forth fruit (Christlike character). Fruit is outward evidence of the life within. Gal 5:22-24
b. God created us to be dependent on Him for life. But because of sin we were cut off from God
and the life in Him. Through faith in Jesus, we are joined to, united with Life, the Spirit of Life
so that we can be restored to our created purpose as sons and daughters who are Christlike.
c. Christianity is more than a belief system. It is a living, organic union with Almighty God
through faith in Jesus—God indwells us by the Holy Spirit and His uncreated, eternal life.
Through this union we are progressively restored to sons and daughters who are Christlike.
4. Before we continue, we need to discuss a statement Paul made in his epistle to the Romans. It is
used to say that we can’t be free from sin in this life because we have sin or a sin nature in us.
a. Paul wrote: Rom 7:14-18—I am of the flesh, sold under sin…I do not do what I want, but I do
the very thing I hate…it is (not) I who do it, but sin that dwells within me (ESV).
1. Sin is not a thing in us. Sin is an action either in thought, word, or deed. I John 3:5—
Whoever sins is guilty of breaking God’s law; because sin is a breaking of the law (GNB).
2. Our nature is not a thing in us, or a part or piece in us (a sin nature). Our nature is what we
are by birth—everything that makes us human. My nature is me—everything that make me,
me. However, because of the first man Adam’s sin, I have been born with a corruption that
inclines me toward selfishness, to put my way above God’s will and way when they conflict.
b. Because of Adam’s sin we (the human race) are cut off from God’s life—eternal life. The
problem is not that we have a sin nature in us that we have to put up with. The issue is, what are
we connected to—life or death. Human nature can have either life or death working in it.
1. An apple tree branch cut off from the tree is still an apple tree branch, but it is cut off from
life and will never produce fruit. So it withers and dies.
2. If you are connected to, united to the Vine, through faith in Jesus, you have God by His Spirit
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and His eternal, uncreated life in you. The power of that union with life sets you free from
the power sin and death that worked in you when you were cut off from the Vine.
5. Keep in mind that Paul is the one who wrote the verses we quoted above from Galatians and
Romans. Note also some statements that Paul made just before he wrote the Romans 7 passage:
a. Rom 6:10-12—(Jesus) died once to defeat sin, and now he lives for the glory of God. So you
should consider yourselves able to live above sin and able to live for the glory of God. Do not
let sin control the way you live; do not give into lustful desires (NLT).
b. Rom 6:10-14—The death (Jesus) died was death to sin, once and for all; and the life he now
lives is to God. In the same way you are to think of yourselves as dead to sin, but alive to God
in union with Christ Jesus. Sin must no longer rule in your mortal bodies, so that you obey the
desires of your natural self. Nor must you surrender any part of yourselves to sin, to be used for
wicked purposes…surrender your whole being to him to be used for righteous purposes (GNB).
6. When we examine Paul’s statements in Romans 7 in the context of his entire letter to the Christians
in Rome, we can see clearly that he was referring to himself pre-Christ, when he was cut off from
Jesus—before he became a Christian, before he became a branch united to Christ the Vine.
C. The Epistle to the Romans is Paul’s most systematic presentation of the gospel message that he preached
and taught everywhere he went.
1. In this letter Paul explained how sinful men and woman receive the righteousness of God. Because
of Jesus’ sacrifice at the Cross, through faith in Him, we can be forgiven, cleansed, purified, and
restored to our created purpose as sons and daughters of God who are holy, righteous, and Christlike.
a. In Paul’s world there were two groups of people, Jews and non-Jews. Jews lived according to
the Law of Moses. Non-Jews (Gentiles) served many different gods, but not the God of the
Bible. The church at Rome had Jews and Gentiles in it, so Paul wrote to both groups.
b. The Jews believed that righteousness (right relationship with God, and righteous or moral living)
came by keeping the Law of Moses. But Paul explained that all men (Jew and Gentile) are
guilty of sin and must be made right with God through faith in Jesus (Rom 3-5).
1. Rom 3:20—For no one can be made right in God’s sight by doing what his law commands.
For the more we know God’s law the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying it (NLT).
2. Rom 3:23-24—All men have sinned and are far away from God’s saving presence. But by
the free gift of God’s grace they are all put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets
them free (GNB).
c. Paul then addressed two questions that might come up: If we are saved from sin by faith, does it
mean we can forget about obeying the Law? Should we keep sinning so that grace increases?
1. Rom 3:31—If we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of
course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law (NLT)
2. Rom 6:1-3—Shall we continue in sin since we are under grace? For surely you know this:
When we were baptized (immersed) into union with Christ Jesus, we were baptized
(immersed) into union with his death. By our baptism (immersion into Christ), then, we
were buried with him and shared in his death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from
death by the glorious power of the Father, so we also must live a new life (GNB).
3. Rom 6:11-14—You should consider yourselves dead to sin and able to live for the glory of
God through Christ Jesus. Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to lustful
desires. Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for
sinning. Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life
(NLT).
2. Now, what about Romans 7? In this chapter Paul addressed people who like himself, were born and
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raised as Jews under Law of Moses. He pointed out that the Law has power over them until death.
But through faith in Jesus, we have died with Him and are now raised to a to new life. Rom 7:1-3
a. Rom 7:4-6—The law no longer holds you in its power, because you died with Christ on the
cross. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, you
can produce good fruit…—Now we can really serve God, not in the old ways by obeying the
letter of the law, but in the new way, by the Spirit (NLT).
b. Paul recognized that the Law is good but, before Christ, found he had no power to obey it—I
don’t understand why I act the way I do. I don’t do what I know is right. I do the things I hate.
1. Rom 7:15-16—Although I don’t do what I know is right, I agree that the Law is good. So I
am not the one doing these evil things. The sin that lives in me is what does them (CEV).
2. Then, to show his powerlessness against sin, Paul represented sin as a thing in him, a power
he couldn’t overcome—sin is my master; sin fooled me; sin took advantage of the Law.
c. Then Paul wrote: Rom 7:24-25—What a miserable person I am. Who will rescue me from this
body that is doomed to die? Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me (CEV).
1. Rom 8:1-2—There is no condemnation now (no adjudging guilty of wrong, Amp) for those
who live in union with Christ Jesus. For the law (power) of the Spirit, which brings us life
in union with Christ Jesus, has set me free from the law (power) of sin and death (GNB).
A. Rom 8:3—The Law never succeeded in producing righteousness—the failure was always
in the weakness of human nature. But God has met this by sending his own Son (J. B.
Phillips)…to do away with sin (GNB).
B. Rom 8:4—Therefore we are able to meet the Law’s requirements, for we are no longer
living by the dictates of our sinful (selfish) nature, but in obedience to the prompting of
the spirit (J. B. Phillips).
2. The requirements of the Law are summed up in two commands: Love God with all your
heart, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:37-40). By the power of the Holy Spirit
in us we can potentially and progressively live, love, and walk as Jesus did.
3. In Romans 8 Paul gave a clear statement of the big picture—why God created us and what He is
working to accomplish in us. God wants sons and daughters who like Jesus in character and
behavior: God planned that those he had chosen would become like his Son (Rom 8:29, NIRV).
a. We were meant to live in dependence on God our Creator for everything. Sin cut us off from
Him, His Spirit and life. Jesus sacrificed Himself to pay for sin so that we could be reunited
with our Creator—attached to the Vine and the life in the Vine.
b. Now, the power law of the Spirit of life (the Holy Spirit in us) enables us to produce fruit.
God’s promise to us is that if you recognize and live in dependence on me, you will bear much
fruit. You will develop Christlike character.
D. Conclusion: None of us are yet all that we are meant to be. Therefore, as we work through this series,
it’s important to keep in mind that right now, we are finished works in progress—fully God’s sons and
daughters, but not yet fully like Jesus in character and behavior. I John 3:2
1. But He who has begun a good work in you sees the end result (the finished product, you fully
Christlike), and He will complete his work in you, as you stay faithful to Him. Phil 1:6
2. Remember that the desire to be Christlike comes before the full performance, and that your desire
and intent to be Christlike is as important as your performance. It’s better to aim for the stars and
get halfway there than to aim for the lamp post and hit it.
3. And remember this about the Lord: Ps 103:13-14—Just as parents are kind to their children, the
Lord is kind to all who worship him (recognize the power and position of the being you are revering,
and give Him proper respect), because he knows we are made of dust (CEV). More next week!!
