If you consider yourself to be a ‘believer’ and attend church regularly, I’m pretty sure that if you have never uttered this phrase yourself before, you have certainly heard someone else say it:

“Well...my flesh sure got the best of me again today...you know... the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!’”

Then sheepish chuckles or laughter ensues from those who hear it; as we all understand how that happens and we can all relate.

Or how about this statement: “Man that ‘ole devil has been riding my tail of late and has been after me!”

The irony in that comment is we lean toward concluding, oftentimes, it’s because we’ve done something good or noble to be a blessing and the devil is just 'mad' at us.

Once again, there’s a reason why God likens us to sheep. In fact, there’s a passage in Jeremiah where God said: “My people are foolish, they have not known Me. They are silly children and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil but to do good, they have no knowledge.” (4:22). Several translations use the word ‘stupid’ in place of ‘foolish’.

The sad reality about ‘lacking knowledge’ as He points out there, would not be so serious if it wasn’t for what we learn in Hosea 4:6. God’s people are ‘destroyed’ for a lack of it. And the Hebrew word used there for ‘destroyed’ means...’destroyed’.

What did Jesus warn us would happen if we failed to truly ‘repent’, in Luke 13:3,5?

Maybe it’s time we take a closer look at this ‘flesh nature’ we all seem to struggle with, or as we also refer to it - as the ‘old man’ (Rom. 6:6; Col. 3:9), and see what scripture really has to say about it/him.

Last week, I circled back and began revisiting what I believe are three major foundational truths that have been omitted, or at least watered down, from our basic church teachings that we should all have a solid understanding in if we plan on getting out of this place alive. I know...sounds so dramatic but I won’t dial that back at all. This is that serious.

The first ‘pillar’ (if I can use that term) had to do with ‘the law’. (Feb. 22-23). The second pillar that many of us missed the class on had to do with this ‘old man’ of ours and what really needs to be done with him. We can be guilty of giving a lot of lip service to God and His word regarding such such topics, in the church circles we travel in. But James warns us that if we are not actually ‘doing’ what the word says, we are deceiving ourselves. (James. 1:22). Even Jesus pointed out how we can be guilty of ‘honoring Him with our lips, but our hearts are far elsewhere’. (Matt. 15:8)

Sadly, many, many people have been introduced to ‘other’ false gospels. (2 Cor. 11:3-4; Gal. 1:6-9). Jesus warned of such deception coming around after He left, and how there would be an increase of them prior to His return. (Matt. 24:4-5,11,23-25)

No doubt, some well-meaning deacon, preacher, or Sunday School teacher taught you early on that you will always have this ‘sinful flesh nature’ to deal with until Jesus comes. Hence the reason you will always remain a ‘sinner saved by grace’...and continue to sin. That sounds reasonable and reassuring and should take a load of ‘guilt and condemnation’ off us if it wasn’t for the fact it is not all quite true. Yeah...I said it. So many of us were deceived. And God is trying to awaken us from our slumber before He comes back. (Matt. 25:1-11)

Our ‘old man’ was supposed to have been ‘crucified’ and put to death when we surrendered our lives to Jesus. (Rom. 6:1-8; Gal. 5:24). And yet we are so quick to say...”But we did surrender to Jesus and were baptized into His death and we are a new creation, now washed in His blood.”

To which Samuel might ask of us... the same question he asked of King Saul when he quickly gave praise to God saying he too had done ‘all that’. “Oh really Saul? Then what is the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen I hear in the background?” ( 1 Samuel 15:13-15)

What is this sound of ‘envy and strife and discord I hear among you? And what about that filthy language and coarse joking and sexual immorality that exist in your circles? These things should not even be named among you!” (1 Cor. 3:1-3; Eph. 5:3-6). “Did you not know the wrath of God comes upon those who do such things...or have you been deceived by empty words?”

Can we just be honest here for a moment? Of course we can all ‘relate’ to the struggles so many of us have had, or continue to have despite all the religious activity we immerse ourselves in. And when I say ‘struggles’, it opens the door of discussion as to what is the root of these struggles; is it our ‘flesh nature’, is it ‘sin’...or is it the ‘devil/evil spirits’ that is the source of our ongoing conflict that rages within us? I bet I know one thing that most of us could agree with...if you truly love Jesus...you’d like to be free of this ongoing struggle. And here's the good news: You can be.

But you’ll have to do it His way. I mean, really, how has ‘ your way’ been working out for you all these years?

Let me just lay it all our here for you once again with the hope that you will look these verses up, underline them, maybe write them out and let God confirm and reveal His truths to you so that you might be free...and be free indeed...once and for all. (John 8:32-36; Acts 17:11)

Prior to any of us coming to Christ, we are told we were ‘dead in our sins and trespasses’. (Eph. 2:1-3). If you take your time with that passage, you will see that a demon spirit was actually working IN us, when we ‘once walked’ according to the ways of this world, fulfilling the lusts and desires of our mind and flesh nature.’ Like it or not, that is what the Bible teaches. And since we have ‘all sinned’ (Rom. 3:23) , the ‘wrath of God was on all who did not believe in Jesus’. (John 3:36).

Your ‘old man -carnal flesh nature’ was a ‘feeding ground’ for them (unclean spirits). Guess what Jesus came to do? He came to free us and save us from the wrath of God that was on us because of our sins. (John 3:17; 8:32-36; Rom. 5:9). Please know...He did not come to condemn us...He came to ‘save us’. But in order to experience this new life He comes to offer (John 10:10), it requires you come to Him with your whole heart. He even advises you to ‘count the cost’ before making this commitment. (Luke 14:25-33)

What many people fail to realize is when a person truly comes to Jesus in complete surrender, maybe by a simple prayer in a pick-up truck or walking an aisle at a church meeting, this is just the ‘beginning’...of one’s ‘salvation’. Don’t let that term ‘beginning’, rattle you either. It is the start of something incredibly powerful and transformative as you begin to follow Jesus. And in the same way that Joshua led the Israelites into the promised land of Canaan to be fruitful and multiply, as a nation of people called out by God, so does Jesus begin this process of leading us in to ‘clear the land of our heart’ so that we might be perfected in His love as we are conformed to His image and likeness. (Rom. 8:29; 1 John 4:12,17). But please understand...it is a process; it is a ‘walk’.(Ex. 23:29-30)

And “those who endure to the end will be saved”. (Matt. 24:13). You always have the option of ‘tapping out’ and going your own way if you find something else you love more than Jesus. It has happened before....plenty of times. (John 6:66; Matt. 22:4-5).

When the Israelites crossed over the Jordan river ( a type of baptism) they were fully aware that enemies inhabited the land they were instructed to go in and take possession of. God had already told them these people were stronger than them and that they would need God’s power and strength to subdue them and eradicate them from the land. And there were numerous names for these nations that were to be removed.

And so do we have ‘enemies’ on the land that need to be subdued and removed. What do you think Jesus spent three years doing and then commissioned His church to continue doing? (Acts 10:38). He also warned what might happen if we didn’t follow through and ‘resist’ this enemy after He removes them. (Matt. 12:43-45)

Today, it is not the ‘Hittites and the Amorites that need to ‘come off the land’; it is ‘greed, pride, anger, lust, bitterness, hatred, etc’...that needs do be removed from our hearts.

These...are the things that defile us and continue to be thorns in our sides (Nu. 33:55; Mark 7:21-23). And just as God led His people to overcome these foes on the land, so will Jesus lead you to deal with them one by one, and ... once and for all.

So...how do you truly conquer this ‘enemy’ of pride or anger or lust...and put this flesh to death once and for all? Join me tomorrow...and this time...I will lay it out there step by step.