From Flesh to Spirit

Open your Bibles to First Corinthians. First Corinthians, chapter two. It's good to see you all night. Happy hump day. All right, almost there. I say, almost there.

I can't believe it's almost Christmas, man. This year we say that all the time, don't we? I can't believe it's already, but I never would have believed it when I was Noah's age.

But now that I'm my age, I'm like these. The time just flies. Oh, my soul. So if you're younger, take advantage of it. Amen. Live. First Corinthians, chapter two. Are you there?

All right, I'm going to read verse one through five. The Bible says, and I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or. Or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.

For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.

And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Paul's desire for these believers was that their faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God that was his desire.

If you're familiar with the letters to the Corinthian church, you know that they were a very carnal, a very worldly church. The letter consisted mostly of correction and rebuke. In short, this church was full of Christians.

There was a high percentage of Christians in this church who stood, walked, and served in the power of the flesh rather than in the power of God. The demonstration of the Spirit was not present in their lives. Now, the Corinthian church was full of problems. And we read that over and over.

But before we throw them completely under the bus, we have to remember that God allowed these things to be recorded in an eternal book, not because he wanted us just to have a little story that we could read and compare ourselves. Oh, man, I'm glad we're not like them.

I mean, my life is good. I'm in church tonight. And I mean, I, you know, I. I'm a Christian.

I've been saved since I was a kid, and I don't really see the need to change anything. Well, here's the thing. What's the alternative to a life that stands, a faith that stands in the power of God? What's the alternative?

And so before we look at faith that stands in the power of God, I like to look at the alternative. I want to take a superficial look, just a reminder, and if you will, of six dangers to living in the flesh.

And I mean, I'm going to go through these quickly because the message I want to preach is about living in the power of the spirit. But I want you to look at the contrast first of all, before we get to that. So I'm just going to run through these quickly.

So six dangers of living in the flesh. Now, first of all, the biblical meaning of the flesh.

A lot of times, I think that we preachers will say things, you know, churchy things, Pastor y things, preachy things. And sometimes people out there have no idea. What do you mean, the flesh? How else am I going to live? Of course I'm living in the flesh.

Of course I'm walking in the flesh. How else am I going to do this? So let me just explain then, what the Bible means when it talks about the flesh.

The flesh often refers to human nature corrupted by sin. It's the part of us that resists God and desires to please self.

So when the Bible says we're walking in the flesh, do not walk in the flesh, that's what it's talking about. Don't allow that part of you that wants to reject God and please yourself. Don't let that part of you have its way.

That's what he means when he says, don't walk in the flesh, because that's what the flesh means. So let me give you Six things. Number one. The flesh opposes the Spirit. The flesh opposes the spirit.

Galatians 5, 16, 17 says this, this I say, then walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary the one to the other.

So that you cannot do the things that you would always. Every day the Spirit of God that dwells within us is trying to keep us from giving in to the things that displease God.

And the fact of the matter is just so many Christians, so many. I don't know about how many in this room. Maybe none, but statistically there are a lot of Christians who give in to that all the time.

They don't really stop to consider what God wants throughout the day. Just lives according to the flesh. So living after the flesh creates conflict with the Spirit of God, hindering spiritual growth and obedience.

So the flesh opposes the Spirit. Six dangers of living in the flesh. Number two. The flesh leads to sinful behavior. The flesh leads to sinful behavior.

Galatians 5:19 says, now the works of the flesh are manifest. Which are these? I mean, this is all of us. If we just spend one day and say, God, I'm not going to listen to you. I don't want anything to do with you.

And we won't say that out loud, but our lives will say it. The works of the flesh are manifest. Which are these?

Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, Ra revelings and such like. I like that. He just covered the bases, doesn't he?

And such like of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Does that mean we're not saved? Does that mean we're going to go to hell? Certainly not.

So if we're going to walk in the flesh, if we're going to deny the Spirit of God to have a place in us and to rule over us, we won't have the joy that comes from pleasing God. We won't have the peace that passes. Understanding that you only get through walking in the Spirit, and you will not have a Life of righteousness.

But what's the alternative? A life of unrighteousness. And that's what the word of God says. Number two. The flesh leads to sinful behavior. Number three.

The flesh cannot please God. Talking about the alternative to walking in the Spirit, the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8, verse 7 and 8.

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be so. Then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. That's about as plain as it gets.

They that are in the flesh cannot please God. So a person controlled by fleshly desires is at odds with God and cannot live in a way pleases him. Cannot. Cannot. Number four.

The flesh leads to death. Romans 8:13. For if you live after the flesh, ye shall die. I mean, you know, I'm just throwing a paper in the yard.

I'm not writing what's in the paper. Amen. I'm just tossing it in the yard. But if you, through the spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.

Now, life according to the flesh brings spiritual death. Obviously, God's not going to kill you. The fact of the matter is, sometimes it would have been a better thing for us if God had just taken us home.

Because the problem is, when we do something, when we live according to the flesh, and we say, well, God didn't kill me, it's easier the second time. Then when he doesn't kill us the second time, it's even easier the third time. And the fourth time. Can I get an amen? It's easier. It's easier.

The flesh leads to death. Number five. The flesh prevents spiritual discernment. The flesh prevents spiritual discernment when we live according to the flesh.

Romans 12:2 says, Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That you may prove or discern what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So the opposite of that is, if we.

Paul said, in my flesh dwelleth what no good thing. Jesus said, watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Human strength alone is insufficient. The weakness of the flesh leaves us vulnerable to sin and temptation. As a child of God, we have this. We have this amazing.

We have access to this amazing ability called walking in the Spirit. We have access to it, and every day. I've said it before. This is our theme verse in the Bridge to recovery, Galatians 5:16.

Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And I say this every time. Easy to say, easy to read, hard to do, but not impossible.

If God didn't expect us or enable us to do it, he wouldn't have put it in there. We can do it. We can do it. We can walk in the flesh now, if we tr.

I mean, we can walk in the spirit if we truly desire to have our faith stand in the power. Now, I don't believe that anybody in here really. I don't think anybody in here says, well, you know what, Brother Stone?

I kind of like living opposed to the Spirit. I actually like, you know, living a sinful behavior. I actually kind of like living in a way that doesn't please God.

I kind of like that living that, you know, having that. That flesh take over so that I can, you know, die spiritually. I. I'm kind of like that. I. I don't really want spiritual discernment.

I like being weak. I don't think there's anybody in here that would stand up and say, yeah, I like all those. You wouldn't raise your hand to that.

I believe that everybody in here, I truly do, everybody in here that's saved wants to do right. And I believe that everybody really wants to walk in the spirit of God. Everybody wants the power of God in their life. I. I truly do believe that.

I don't believe there's anybody in here that wants to live according to the flesh and live the consequences that come as a result of living in the flesh. So if we truly desire to have our faith stand in the power of God rather than in the power of the flesh. Listen to this.

Now, we need to attempt to live in such a way that would render our own efforts useless or vain. So, in other words, you got to do something that requires God working through you.

We have to live in such a way that it can only be explained by the power of God or by the Spirit of God. So I want to give you five things to do in the course of your daily life that can only be done through the power of the Spirit. Five things that can.

They can only be done through the power of the Spirit, and you can do them. And so if we want God. Now, I can't exhaust this subject, but I want to give you five Things that we're supposed to do anyway.

But I want to give you five things that can only be done through the power of God. All right, here we go. Number one. Reach souls. You can't do that. You cannot do that. I don't care how much Bible you read.

I don't care how much you pray. I don't. You can't do it. It doesn't matter how much Bible you memorize. You cannot reach a soul. Only God can save a soul. Only God can do that.

Acts 18 says, Ye shall receive power after that. The what? After the Holy Ghost has come upon you.

And you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth. Acts 4:33 says, with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Romans 1:16.

Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. To the Jew first and also to the Greek, 1st Corinthians 1:18.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. Brother, I know that. David. David, the guy who led me to Christ, David Lofty, he was really kind of an unassuming, really kind of a timid guy.

He was a good Christian. We. Everybody knew he was a Christian. He was basically the only one who actually walked the walk and talked the talk on the job site.

He was the only one. And when they told me that David was going to work with me that day, I was like, oh. Oh, man. I really didn't want David working with me that day.

And it was only through the power of God that David even turned himself loose and allowed God to use him. And he looked over at me and he said, man, we had a good time in church on Sunday. This was on Wednesday night. I mean, Wednesday morning.

And I just, you know, kicked those doors open. What kind of church you go to? Oh, we go to a Baptist church. Well, what does a Baptist believe? We believe a man's got to get saved to go to heaven.

Saved? What in the world does that mean? And he just took. And he just. He just poured his heart out. And it was the power of God that turned my heart.

And at that moment, I said, I want that. I need that. And I got saved right then, that very second when I heard the gospel in its truest form.

And I wanted it and I needed it, and I believed it. I Believe God saved me at that moment. I didn't have. Now, he said he didn't think that I had.

You know, he thought that I had to go to the same barn he went to and get kicked by the same mule. And so he said, you got to go to church. You got to come to church, and you got to come down to the altar and you got to pray a prayer.

But you know what? I didn't have to do that, but I did it because I thought he knew what I was supposed to do.

It wasn't until later that I realized I got saved in that van. But it was God that saved me. It was God that saved me. It wasn't that prayer that took that. When they took me in that other room.

It wasn't that prayer that saved me. It was. It wasn't walking that aisle. It was God. The power of God saved my soul in that van that day. And David. God used David.

And I don't reckon David ever led anybody else to the Lord that I know of. When I started going to the church, I started going to what they called, we call it Soul Winning Outreach Visitation. Back then it was called calling.

How many of y' all have heard that term in church? Going to go calling, calling. And so I went calling. But you know what? David never went.

I started going calling with the church, with the pastor, with the guys. David never went. So there was nothing about David that saved my soul. It was God used David because David had a burden for me, I suppose, that day.

Reaching souls. If we want to live in such a way that the power of God uses us, then try to reach souls.

Because that's the only way it's going to happen, is through the power of God. It's the only way. Number two. Resist Satan. Resist Satan. Submit. This is the order of the verse. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. It didn't say, resist the devil and the power of God will come on you. It said, submit yourselves to God and the devil will flee.

Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Resist Satan. You are not strong enough. I am not strong enough in my flesh to resist Satan.

I have the Holy Spirit dwelling in me, and most of the time I am not strong enough to resist him, even with the Holy Spirit dwelling in me. Why? Because I don't submit myself to the power of God to make it happen. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. If I want to resist, and we have to.

I don't want. I don't want to Live the alternative to. To walking in the spirit. I don't want to walk in the flesh. I don't want to live my days in the flesh.

I find myself doing that as we all do, and immediately I'm like, oh, Lord, I'm sorry. Oh, my goodness. I can't believe I just did that. I can't believe I saw that. I can't believe I said that.

I can't believe I remember that song and sang it all the way through, right? I was walking in the flesh. I didn't even try to resist Satan.

But sometimes, and hopefully most times when I recognize it, I have to just give myself over to God. Lord, help me. Lord, help me. I can't do this. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. The only way you want to walk in the power of God.

Submit yourself to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Ephesians 6 says, finally, my brethren, watch this. We know chapter six.

Ephesians, chapter six talks about the armor of God. I love to read about the armor of God. I love a good sermon on the armor of God. I love a good series on the armor of God. I love to hear it.

And, boy, it strengthens me and it encourages me.

It inspires me to want to pick up those weapons and put them on and walk out and just, you know, punch the devil right in the eye, kick him in the shin, just fight him. Amen. But what comes before that? He says, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the what power of his might.

And then after that, he says, put on the whole armor of God. But you can't put on the whole armor of God until first you are strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

Only in the power of the God can you actually put on that armor and go fight the devil. Only in the power of God. We can't do it in our own strength. Resist Satan. Reach souls. Number three. You want to stand in the power of God?

You want your faith to stand in the power of God? Repudiate sin. Reach souls. Resist Satan. Repudiate sin. Wait a minute now, Brother Stone.

I. I kind of like this little one here that I've reserved for me. Mmm, I kind of like that one. I mean, God can have all of it, but this one here. I just. I don't really want him to have this one.

We talked about our house the other day, the house of our body, about being hoarders. Now, Lord, you can go ahead and have, you know, clean out that room. Clean out that room. Clean out that room.

But this one here, just, you know, just stay away. This one's. This one's mine. It's mine. Do we truly, if we want to stand in the power of God, we got to repudiate sin. Not just a little bit of it.

All of it. All of it. The word of God tells in Romans 12, 9, abhor that which is evil. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.

2nd Peter 1:3, according as his divine power hath given us. Hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. I can abhor evil because God has given me the power to do it. He's given me that power.

But when I choose not to access that power, I don't repudiate sin. I mean, after all, feels good. Feels good. Feels good. For a little while, anyway. There is pleasure in sin for a season. Repudiate sin.

If we want to walk in the power of God, if we want our faith to stand in the power of God and the power of the Spirit, if we want to have the demonstration of the power of the Spirit upon us. Repudiate sin, man. Just that word. Be holy from holy. That's still in the Bible. A holy life. Come out from among them. Be separate, saith the Lord.

Touch not the unclean thing, Christians. That's still in the Bible. Amen. We ought to repudiate sin. Live. We were just talking. Who was I just talking to? Brother Vines.

He said he grew up Pentecostal. How many of you grew up Pentecostal? There's probably more than one. There's two. Anybody else?

You know what I called when I first got saved and I started going to that Independent Baptist church? We were driving down the road to go to the pizza place the first Sunday, my first Sunday that I went to that church. And service was over.

And we were going to the pizza place, and I was sitting in the front seat, and I saw a bunch of ladies get out of a van with dresses plumbed down to their ankles, sleeves all the way down to their wrists, hairs up in buns. Couple of them had long. I said, what in the world? And David, the guy who led me to the Lord, he said, oh, them's holy rollers.

Y' all heard them called holy rollers, haven't you? Holy rollers. That's what he called them. Holy rollers.

Would of God, People would call me a Holy Roller, not because of the way I dress, but because of the way I live. Amen. Holy. Holy. But the only way that's going to happen is if we repudiate sin. It's not your embroidered hair. It's not putting up in the bun.

It's not the way you dress. But I can tell you what people will say, boy, they're not holy by the way you dress. Repudiate sin. Resist Satan. Reach souls.

And then number four, rejoice in sorrow. Rejoice in sorrow. Can you do that in the flesh? I mean, if we leave God out of the equation, none of us in here are going to rejoice in our sorrow.

None of us will. We'll get angry at God, mad at God, mad at the world. You know, it's a sad thing, and I've seen it, and I hope. I don't. I don't.

I don't mean to bring open up any wounds.

I really don't mean to do this, but I'm going to say it, because it's been my experience that husbands and wives, typically in their younger years, if they lose a child, they don't know how to reconnect with each other outside of the Lord, if they don't have the Lord, if they don't have a strong relationship with God. That I've seen husbands and wives not make it, marriages fall apart because of sorrow that they couldn't get past. It's a sad thing.

And then, on the other hand, I have seen couples go through the deepest valleys together and come out on top because they did have a strong relationship with God, because they did trust in God.

They asked for the power of God to keep them through those sorrows, and they even rejoiced in them because they realized that God was going to use it for their good and his glory. Second Corinthians 12 says, he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Rejoicing in sorrows. It can only be done by the power of God. It can only be done when your faith is standing in the power of God.

Rejoicing in sorrows. Many of you in here have faced some tremendous sorrows, and you're still here. I praise God for you.

There are some of you that may yet face some sorrows, and you're not going to see any way through it. You're going to wonder how in the world. Could this be of God? How can God allow this to happen? I don't have an answer for that.

The only thing that I can say is God is always good. Even when we don't see it or feel it, he's always good. And when you do go through that dark, dark time, please trust God. Just trust him.

Continue to love him and call out on Him. Rejoice in sorrows, repudiate sin, resist Satan, reach souls. And then finally, you can only do this in the power of God as well.

Every time you feel like throwing in the towel, anytime you feel like just giving up. Reenlist for service. Reenlist for service. What in the world are you doing? What are you doing? Listen to what? Second Timothy.

Listen what Paul said to Timothy. He said, for God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me as prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Sign up for affliction. Sign up for persecution. Reenlist for persecution. Reenlist to be hated by the world. Reenlist to go on for the crucified one.

Amen. It takes the power of God to continue on when the rest of the world can't stand you.

And brother, we are living in a day where you are less and less liked by the world. If you stand on this book and. And if you raise the banner of Jesus Christ, you are less and less liked by the world. But you know what?

When they cuss you out at work, when they call you deacon, when they call you preacher, when they call you, whatever, reenlist. Just reenlist for service. Just keep on going for the Lord. Amen. First Corinthians 15. What does he say? This is one of my.

In fact, when I sign, if anyone asks me to sign a Bible or if I'm signing something, I always put this verse underneath it. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. 1st Peter 1:5. We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Continue. Continue.

Just reenlist for service. We are kept, all of us are kept by the what? By the power of God. By the power of God.

Live your life in such a way that it can only be explained as being done, done by or through the power of God and the only way. Listen, these are the things you reach souls. No one's going to brag on you. Boy, you should have seen that Mark Vines. You should have seen him.

Boy, he was really at work out there, witnessing to that guy. He waxed eloquent. Boy, I tell you, you should have heard his presentation. Don't let anybody ever say that of us. Don't let anybody ever brag on.

Boy, he is a soul winner. I mean, that's fine if you want to say, you know, he's zealous, but it's God who saves souls. It's the power of God that saves souls.

Live your way in such a way. Live your life in such a way. Reach souls. Resist Satan. Every one of us has to do that every day.

Every day you're going to get up in the morning and have to resist him. You may have to resist him before you get home. Repudiate sin. I mean, just hate it. Just hate it.

You know, I got saved when I was 20, and there was a whole lot of. There was a. There's a truckload of baggage and there were a lot of habits. And I'm not talking about just.

I'm not talking about just the other, you know, the bad stuff, the drugs. Now, I'm not talking about just that. I'm about talking. Talking about just daily habits that went with living as a lost person.

And I can tell you this, that while I didn't give all of them up immediately, I tried. And especially cussing was probably one of the hardest ones for me to give up. And every time I did, I just have to slap my mouth.

But there were other things, and I can't understand it. I honestly, I cannot understand. I can't explain it to you.

All I know is that when I got saved, the Holy Spirit of God gave me just a hatred, a hatred for the things I used to do, for the things I used to really like and love and enjoy doing. The Holy Spirit of God just changed it. Repudiates. And I didn't fight against that. There was a couple of things I fought against, but most of it.

And eventually. Eventually, right. Repudiate sin, rejoice in sorrows. That's the hard one. But I'm begging you to do it. When hard times come, rejoice in sorrows.

And then reenlist for service. Five ways that your faith can stand in the power of God. Amen. The alternative is walking in the flesh.

And nobody in here is going to raise their hand said, let that be me. I don't believe that. Let's all stand together. We'll have an invitation. If the spirit of God spoke to your heart tonight.

Now, I know I'm preaching to Christians. I know Wednesday night is typically that, but I certainly don't want to take that for granted.

You may be in here tonight and you're not 100% sure that Jesus is your savior and that if you died, you'd go to heaven. You're not 100% sure if that's you. If you're not 100% certain that you're going to heaven when you die.

We've got folks down here who want to take the Bible and show you how you can know, if you're interested in knowing. If you're concerned about your eternal state, we can show you tonight if you're willing to come.

For the rest of us who know that we're going to heaven, why don't we determine tonight that we're going to live a life that is demonstrated by the power of the Spirit, the power of God. Father, tonight I pray that you would help us to take this message and apply it to our own hearts, to our lives, and for our good and for your glory.

Please have your way in our heart and in this invitation. In Jesus name I pray.