The flesh has been the cause of tragic happenings of many
celebrated personalities in the world since the Old Testament days. From Eve, to Abraham to David and many more.
What was good
for food, pleasant to the eyes was the undoing of Eve, daughters of men who
were fair were a slippery peel of banana for the sons of God.
A naked woman in the bathroom was the downfall of David, a
man after God’s heart. “Many strange women”, would be the folly of the worlds
most celebrated wise man; Solomon!
Lust for sex, would be the cause of rape and incest of
Absalom, a respected prince.
In our days, the 21st century, those who have
fallen in the ratings of their integrity because of the deeds, lusts, pleasures
and sweetness derived from the flesh are countless.
In Ghana, it is so glaring
that names easily pop out of everyone’s head without verbally mentioning them.
Mighty men of God have not been spared this lethal Satanic
weapon of “capitalizing on the flesh”
Many times, the question is whether the flesh of man itself
is evil, whether there is a demon of lust and more.
This little piece, inspired by tutelage from my late father
in the Spirit, Rev. Oliver DesBordes Acquah and my role models in Spiritual
Warfare and Apologetics, Hall Lindsey and Ravi Zacharias respectively.
It is uncommon to see men attributing the cause of their
actions to “The Devil”. This is to the extent of using it as a defense in the
law courts! This is the issue I intend to settle next at the Central Defense.
Read on and be informed!
DEFINITION OF FLESH
Flesh (Sarx in original Greek) is used many times and in
many ways in the New Testament.
Sometimes it is used to mean simply the matter or material that
covers our bones, as is used in Luke 24:39. “See my hands and my feet, that it
is I myself; touch me and see; for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as
you see that I have”
Flesh is also used to represent the whole body, as you will
see in Acts 2:26 “Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; moreover
my flesh also will abide in hope”
Flesh is further used to mean the sense of our physical
earthly limitations, as you will see in II Cor 10:3 – 4. “For though we walk in
the flesh, we do no war after the flesh….”
As it applies to Spiritual Warfare, the Apostle Paul is
probably the one who has most fully developed the issue. Drs. Arndt and Gingrich comment as following:
“In Paul’s thought especially, the flesh is the willing instrument of sin and
is subject to sin to such a degree that whatever flesh is, all forms of sin are
likewise present, and no good thing can live in the flesh itself” (William
Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament;
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959)
A careful study of the many passages on the “flesh” when
used in this sense reveals the following facts according to Hal Lindsey.
1. It is a basic nature or principle which operates within
us from the time we are born physically. This nature is in rebellion against
God. (Rom 7:14 – 24; 8:5 – 9)
2. It is an inseparable part of our material own body and
cannot be eradicated until we receive our transformed and glorified resurrected
bodies (Rom 7:25; I Jn 1:8, 10)
3. Though it cannot be eradicated, its power to operate in
the life of the Christian has been neutralized by our being united with Christ
in His death to sin.
(Satan is alive and well on planet earth by Hal Lindsey with
C.C. Carlson, Page 68)
The flesh has no right to reign in any Christian’s life any
longer, its power is broken once we yield to Jesus Christ as Saviour and Master
of our lives and when we in recognizing this, count this as being true. (Rom
6:1 – 14)
It is the attitude of believing that God has already broken
sin and the flesh’s power over us that sets the Spirit of God free to make
victory a reality in our experience. (Rom 8:1 – 4). Anything short of this
attitude more or less handcuffs the Spirit of God from making this sweet
victory a reality.
The sad resultant effect is that, the Christian will
question his or her own salvation and will most likely doubt his own place in
Heaven.
Here is just a partial list of what flesh does in our lives
when we don’t consider its power broken and depend on the Holy Spirit for
success: “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality,
impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts
of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envyings, drunkenness, carousings,
and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you
that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” Gal
5:19 – 21)
Most of these words which are used for the deeds of the
flesh need amplification. Briefly, here are some of the specifics:
Immorality: From the word “porneria” It means all sexual
intercourse outside of marriage.
Impurity: Impure thoughts and actions, especially in the
area of sex.
Sensuality: Living primarily to please the senses
(out-of-control appetite for foods, music, sex, creature comforts, etc)
Idolatry: Anything that we place ahead of Christ as an
object of our attention and devotion; This could be a girlfriend or a
boyfriend, our children, a job, an education, a beautiful home, clothes, a
sleek body, or a car.
Sorcery: From the word “pharmakia”; the practice of
witchcraft and occultism sometimes in association with drugs.
Enmities: To be at odds with people; carrying grudges
Disputes: Modern man calls these “personality conflicts” but
“selfishness” is more accurate.
Dissensions: Literally meaning division; causing conflicts
and taking of sides between people.
Factions: Literally meaning heresies; leading astray with
false doctrine and forming sects.
Envyings: Attitudes of dissatisfaction which cause you to
desire what others have.
Drunkenness: Any loss of normal judgment and awareness
through the use of alcohol or drugs. The idea of better living through
chemicals instead of the Spirit of God
Carousings: Seeking
to escape reality through excessive pursuit of entertainment.
These are only some of the deeds of the flesh, not all of
them! When the apostle says that those who practice such things “shall not
inherit the kingdom of God” he means that those who habitually indulge in them
are evidencing the fact that they have never received the new nature which hates
sin.
It is impossible for a Christian to regularly practice the
deeds of the flesh without a change of heart before God. It is also impossible
for a Christian to continually practice the deeds of the flesh and not be
conscious of the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Because of the fact that the
Holy Spirit dwells inside of us, we can’t continually be happy in sin. It is
impossible! Sooner or later the Christian will acknowledge his sin and turn
back to trusting Christ to deliver him from its power; and from the standpoint
of his happiness, the sooner the better.
Continuous, unbroken toleration of the deeds of the flesh
should cause a person to question whether he has really been born spiritually.
A true Christian can and does experience these deeds of the flesh, but he will
have a desire to be delivered from them for Christ’s sake, and this desire is
born out of the uncomfortable stance the Holy Spirit will put him whenever he
seems helpless over sin. He will want to be delivered from the consequences of
this sin and the sin itself. A non-Christian just wants to be delivered from
the consequences of sin and not out of the sin itself.
For example, a Christian who seems helpless over the sin of
immorality will want to be delivered from the consequences of this sin and the
sin itself, an unbeliever will want to continue to enjoy sex outside marriage
and not want a pregnancy to result out of it, he will not want to get “caught”
DEEDS OF THE FLESH AND DEMONS
Some well-meaning Christians today have a tendency to go
overboard about demons. I want to be sure no one falls into the trap of
attributing to demons what is actually the work of the flesh.
You may have heard people speak about the “lying demon”, the
“lust demon”, the “envy demon”, “spirit of stoke” “spirit of cancer” and
others. I do not believe that there are specific demons such as these who can
only do one thing.
Consider a fellow who is constantly thinking about sex. He
is consumed by lascivious thoughts every day. If he has heard of such things,
he many begin to think, “maybe, I have a lust demon or a spirit of lust”.
He shares his thoughts with some of his Christian friends,
and they have a lead him to some prophet for deliverance. They will “cast the
demon out” and after the prayer meeting, they will sanctimoniously say, “We’ve
cast out the lust demon. Praise the Lord”.
Our Christian friend, thus assured by his own feelings and
the pronouncements of this man of God, takes his wife to a restaurant, conceited
and arrogant about his victory. Sees a curvaceous waitress in a mini-skirt who comes
to the table, and in a flash the old demon is back.
The danger in this concept is that a deed which is actually
a part of the flesh or the old sin nature is attributed to a demon. It is vital
that we assign thing to their proper cause. There is no “lust demon” per se.
Lust is a sin which comes from the flesh. But there are demons who will use the
lust of flesh to guide us into moral disaster. Satan can take a natural drive
and use it, but he is not the originator of it. He capitalizes on something
which is already going on in our hearts.
Along with many other doctrines which become distorted in
popular usage, the theme of Satan probably has more false clichés attributed to
it than any other.
“The Devil made me do it” is a cop-out.”
When Satan takes the desire which you have and uses it for
his purposes, he doesn’t force you. If you really express the truth when
overtaken by a sin of the flesh, you would say, “I did it because I chose to
follow the desire of my old nature”. Now that is not as easy to say as “The
Devil made me to it”, but it is more honest.
THE PUZZLED APOSTLES
Mark Chapter 7 gives a good description of the flesh. Jesus
had told the disciples a parable, and they questioned Him about it. We can
almost see Him shaking His head when He said, “Are you so uncomprehending?”
Then He explained: “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles
the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts and
fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as
well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these
evil things proceed from within and defile the man” Mark 7:20 – 23
Jesus is talking about the flesh, the source of this sinful
nature. He shows that our major problem is not our environment but our inner
nature of the flesh.
It’s not a sin to have an evil thought flash into the mind;
it is only a sin when we fail to say “no” to it and do not rely upon Christ to
put it down. Temptation and sin are different. The old saying applies, “You
can’t stop a bird from landing on your head, but you can stop it from building
a nest in your hair”
When the Bible speaks of the temptations of the flesh, it is
always in terms of a continued need to overcome them. It is a matter of
moment-by-moment reliance upon the Holy Spirit by deliberate choice to overcome
the lusts of the flesh. Victory is never achieved by freedom from temptation,
but by overcoming temptation through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Galatians 5:16 says: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you
will not carry out the desire of the flesh”
To walk in the Spirit means to have a continuing attitude of
reliance upon the Holy Spirit and not on your own human resources. Note: it
does not say that if you walk in the Spirit you will not have temptations; it
does say that you will not fulfill them. The Spirit-controlled believer will be
tempted, but it is not sin until you stop trusting the Spirit to fight it.
The Bible talks about overcoming the flesh, or going to
battle with it in dependence upon the Holy Spirit who lives in every believer.
However, as the Bible speaks of “the world” it talks of claiming victory which
has already been won.
Christ has won a victory over the world and Christians are
to claim that victory. This is amplified in the weapons of our warfare
scripture in Ephesians chapter 6.
The world and its system is one thing Satan has mastered and
is one deadly weapon achieving great strides for him. I will touch on this in
my next piece.
sgatorwu@yahoo.com
