Aug 16
17
To walk after the flesh
“There is therefore now no condemnation to
those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:1
To walk after the flesh carries with it the idea of
the flesh going before us—as our leader, guide, and
example—and our following close in its footsteps,
so that wherever it drags or draws we move after
it, as the needle after the magnet.
To walk after the flesh, then, is to move
step by step in implicit obedience to . . .
the commands of the flesh,
the lusts of the flesh,
the inclinations of the flesh,
and the desires of the flesh,
whatever shape they assume,
whatever garb they wear,
whatever name they may bear.
To walk after the flesh is to be ever pursuing,
desiring, and doing the things that please the
flesh, whatever aspect that flesh may wear or
whatever dress it may assume—whether molded
and fashioned after the grosser and more flagrant
ways of the profane world—or the more refined
and deceptive religion of the professing church.
But are the grosser and more manifest sinners the
only people who may be said to walk after the flesh?
Does not all human religion, in all its varied forms and
shapes, come under the sweep of this all-devouring
sword? Yes! Every one who is entangled in and led by
a fleshly religion, walks as much after the flesh as
those who are abandoned to its grosser indulgences.
Sad it is, yet not more sad than true, that false
religion has slain its thousands, if open sin has
slain its ten thousands.
To walk after the flesh, whether it be in the
grosser or more refined sense of the term, is
the same in the sight of God. J.C. Philpot.
Some people would have us believe that if we preach pure grace it will lead people to licentious living. They say if we remove the law as a guide or motivation for Christian living, people will have nothing to keep them holy. They say to tell a person to just follow Christ doesn’t provide enough structure and will lead people to careless living. Is that where the gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus leads? Grace preachers have always been, and always will be, falsely accused of this devilish lie. The apostle Paul spent most of his time defending the gospel of grace against this lawmongers view of self-righteousness. “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” Rom 6:15 No, grace does not lead to sin, grace leads to Christ. He is able by the law of love and faith to restrain our flesh and make us His workmanship.
Greg Elmquist
The Governing of Christ
Deuteronomy 34: 8, 9
The children of Israel hearkened unto Moses, and did as the LORD commanded Moses. When the LORD revealed through Moses that Joshua was the only one who would deliver them into the land of promise then the children obeyed the LORD, obeyed the whole word of God, by looking only to Joshua to lead them. They were no longer under the rule of Moses, but under the rule of Joshua. They no longer looked to Moses but only to Joshua.
So it is when the LORD God through the preaching of the gospel reveals Christ in each of his children. Believers obey God and establish every word of the law and the prophets, through faith in Christ Jesus our King, our Life, our Righteousness (1 Cor 9:21.) (Gal 4: 6-7; Rom 3: 21). Those born of the Spirit of God pass from under the rule of the law to the direct leadership of Jesus Christ whose Spirit dwells in us (Gal 3: 23-25). If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law (Gal 5: 18; 4: 7-9). Clay Curtis.
Ignorance Leads To Error
Tom Harding
Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. (Matt. 22:29.
Our blessed Lord answers the question of the Sadducees about the resurrection by telling them their problem. The problem is not with Christ and the truth of the resurrection, it is with the sinner. Here our Lord declares to us the root cause of all error and unbelief, it is ignorance of the scriptures and not knowing the power of God. These two truths are inseparable, there is no way of knowing and understanding the power of God apart from the revelation of holy scripture (Rom. 15:4; John 5:39; 20:31), nor is there any way of knowing and understanding the holy scriptures apart from the power of God revealing them unto us ( John 16:13-15; 1Cor. 2:9-14).
Therefore, it becomes absolutely necessary for each of us to avoid error and ignorance by taking advantage of the inspired word of God, for what the scriptures speak, God speaks (1Tim.3:16; 2Peter 1:20-21). He has promised to bless the truth of His word to the hearts of His people (Isa. 55:11). All who seek salvation by works of self righteousness, do so because of their wicked nature and, “not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God” (Rom. 10:1-4). Surely, all who seek salvation by and through the Lord Jesus do so because of His sovereign grace, knowing what the scriptures do teach, “salvation is of the Lord” (1John 5:21; 2Tim. 1:9; Titus 3:5; John 14:6) and knowing the gospel is the power and the wisdom of God unto salvation (1Co. 1:18-31; Rom. 1:16).
Why regeneration is called a new creation?
“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.”
(2 Corinthians 5:17)
Henry Mahan
1. The old creation and the new creature have the same Author. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Paul said in Ephesians 2:10, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.”
2. The first thing in the new creation as well as the old is light! “And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.” 2 Corinthians 4:6, “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give us the knowledge of the glory of God in Christ.”
3. The first creation is out of nothing; so is the new creation! 1 Peter 2:10, “In time past you were not a people, but are now the people of God.” Ephesians 2:1, “And you hath He quickened, who were dead.”
4. The Spirit of God and the Word of God gave the world its being even as we were born again by the Spirit and the Word. Moses wrote, “The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said, Let there be light; and there was light .”
5. The same word and power which created the world now sustains and supports it! 2 Peter 3:7, “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store.” Even so, “we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.”
6. When the Lord God finished the first creation, He surveyed it with satisfaction. Genesis 1:31, “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” Even so, “We are made the very righteousness of God in Christ.”
Philip Doddridge wrote in 1755:
“That spotless robe, which He hath wrought,
Shall cleanse and cover all around;
And by the Holy eye of God
Not one blemish shall be found.”
Righteousness revealed
“…I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ…for therein is the righteousness of God revealed…” Romans 1:16-17
The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ reveals the righteousness of God in the justifying work of Christ which He wrought for the elect and is credited to their account before God, and is imputed to them and imparted in them by the regenerating work of His omnipotent Spirit.
The gospel exalts the righteousness of Christ and condemns man’s self-righteousness. Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed”. God Almighty is just and righteous in accepting sinners clothed with the righteousness of their appointed Substitute. The righteousness of God is not revealed by the light of nature or by the works of man. Only the “good news” of the gospel of Christ reveals and declares this wondrous work and transaction.
Man has naught to accomplish or perform, therefore we glory in Christ and Him alone, and we are not ashamed – “To declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Romans 3:26. In the gospel of Christ is the answer to the unanswerable question in Job 9:2 “I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?”
The glory of His righteousness is revealed to us and in us here by His Spirit by the preaching of the gospel, and will one day be revealed openly and universally for all to behold and wonder – “In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.” Jer 33:16.
This is what the gospel is all about – He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. Isa 53:11. We may rightfully be ashamed of any other so-called gospel. Any messenger with any other message is accursed of God – “As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed”. Galatians 1:9 Tommy Robbins.
Regeneration\ knowledge
“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” Romans 8:9
This is a plain and simple declaration of God that those, who, at this present time, have God given faith in Christ for all their salvation have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them. Although men may, intellectually, have learned some truth, it is not possible to have spiritual life, to love and embrace the truth of God apart from the regenerating work of God the Spirit which indwells the believer upon conversion. This miraculous work of omnipotence is the effectual impartation of the life (Spirit) of Christ to dead sinners, which is – “Christ in you, the hope of glory” Colossians 1:27.
Not taking away from the importance, yea, the necessity of sound doctrine, I believe there is far too much emphasis placed and pressed upon poor sinners as to what we know rather than WHO we know. It is not WHAT we know that is of life giving efficacy, it is vital union with the Son of God, who is our life – “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me” John 17:23. I, for one, by God’s grace, am determined to press upon men to come to Christ, to look to him in whom all truth is revealed, received and embraced by the almighty power of his blessed Spirit. There seems to be great satisfaction by many when men seem to give mental accent to doctrinal truth, however, in the scriptures and in the experience of grace, there is life, hope, joy, peace, and rest only in knowing Christ by his blessed Holy Spirit which he has given us.
What I am saying is this – If the Lord Jesus Christ dwells in me by his Spirit, I have eternal life, which is his life. If Christ does not live in me by his Spirit, I, as of yet, am still dead in trespasses and sin and do not know Him, no matter how much I know. The most evident effect of “Christ in you” is LOVE! – Love for him, love for His gospel, and love for the brethren – “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1John 4:7 -8.
Tommy Robbins