Issue 8, May 2008
There Is Nothing Our Sinful Flesh Resists More
Now we come to the really challenging part of our series on why we study the Word of God. Despite all of the great incentives mentioned in the earlier studies, we still don’t want to.
Christ warned us: “Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Next to the grace of God itself, there is probably nothing we underestimate more than our sinful flesh. We Christians need to be exceedingly clear about this truth. For example, one of the biggest myths and false beliefs is that after conversion—after we are born again; made to be Christians who confess the saving Name of Jesus—somehow our flesh/sinful nature changes.
Nothing could be further from the truth. What is true about conversion is that we receive a new nature, a spirit that is alive in Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. All of these things are true, but what of the old Adam, the flesh, the sinful nature? What happens to it? Does it go on extended leave? Does it burn up and turn to spiritual ashes? Does it disappear? Does it get swallowed up by the new creation as we let out a sanctified burp and say, “So long sinful nature?”
I’m sorry to inform you that this is not so.
Yes, as a Christian you have received a new spirit, a new nature, a new creation (
2 Corinthians 5:17), but here’s the bad news: your old Adam, the flesh, your sinful nature, has not gone anywhere! You still have it! It was not reduced in percentage when you became a Christian. It was not at 100% before your faith in Christ and is now down to 45% or 65% now that you are a Christian. Sorry. It is still at 100%.
What you must see is that the receiving of the new nature does not mean the old nature is taken away. Sadly, this has been the assumption of so many people! However, to make this assumption leads to catastrophic spiritual-life results! It may lead people to either despair or delusion. Despair moves in when people expect all sin to disappear, but it doesn’t. Delusion takes charge when folks really think sin has disappeared and think way too much of themselves!
By the way, if you understand this, you’re also able to understand the following words of the Apostle:
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9).
Some people ask the perplexing question, “If a Christian is forgiven, why does he need to keep asking for forgiveness?”
Answer: Because of the sinful flesh that remains!
Therefore we pray for God’s forgiveness every day so that we remain in the forgiveness we have received.
In this matter it would be hard to top Luther’s Small Catechism:
“But what should you do if you are not aware of this need and have no hunger and thirst for the Sacrament? To such a person no better advice can be given than this: first, he should touch his body to see if he still has flesh and blood. Then he should believe what the Scriptures say of it in Galatians 5 and Romans 7.”
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For 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” (Galatians 5:16-17).
“For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7:19-25).
Until we reach heaven, our sinful flesh will never stop serving the law of sin, that is rebellion against the Lord, what is good, and against His gifts, because sin leads to death and away from Life.
So let us now apply these truths to our enterprise of studying the Word of God. The Word of God is good, it is a holy gift, it is intended for your eternal life and your need to be constantly in Christ. So how do you think your sinful flesh responds to this need?
1. According to the flesh, you despise the Word of God.
2. According to the flesh, not only do you not want to study it, you don’t even want to hear it.
3. According to the flesh, anything would be better than being in the Word.
4. According to the flesh, the Word is boring, hard to understand and a waste of time.
5. According to the flesh, there is never enough time to give to the Word.
6. According to the flesh, being in the Word is the last thing you want to do.
Therefore, what I am leading you to today is not that you should pretend that you do not ever feel this way or that your sinful nature isn’t that bad. Instead, I am leading you to stop underestimating just how stinkin’ bad your flesh really is! The truth is, that according to your sinful nature, you don’t want to be in the Word! Nor do I!
This is the first major step to solving the problem. As with any other situation, we first have to identify the problem!
We are again entering into the realm of the work of the Holy Spirit. If the Spirit does not come to our rescue here, we’re toast. We need to ask for God’s help in our desperate condition in dealing with the flesh!
“Immediately the boy’s father cried out and began saying, ‘I do believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).
And thanks be to God, when you cry for help, you are the kind of person our Savior is so ready to serve.
“It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick…for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12-13).
When you acknowledge that you are in the desperate condition of still having your sinful nature, you become the perfect candidate for Christ’s daily, sanctifying work through His powerful Word!
The Holy Spirit’s solution: Crucify! Crucify! Crucify!
Insert what follows in your outline for daily study in the Word. It belongs right after the invocation. The next immediate task is to crucify the sinful flesh. In other words, such confession is part of our oratio, our daily prayers. It applies equally to our meditation on God’s Word and definitely must be how we deal with our tentatio, our trials and temptations.
The answer to the problem now clearly identified is wrapped up in the word “crucify.” Next time we’ll study in more detail what the word crucify means for the believer.
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