Bible Study Every Man's Battle: The Way to Win.

[Tenchi]

Galatians 5:16-18
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of
the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to
each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.​

The Sin Management Industry.

As happens very often around various human problems, an industry has developed around the problem of porn addiction. Especially within the sphere of Christendom, merchandising "cures" for sin is common - and lucrative. Books, video series and podcasts are produced constantly, ostensibly to help Christians conquer their many problems (lust, bad marriages, spiritual apathy, various neuroses, gluttony, bitterness, etc.), but actually to generate profit and notoriety for those who write the books and star in the video series. Certainly, concerning the matter of addiction to porn, the "sin-cure" industry has thrived.

But God, in His word, the Bible, freely offers a "way of escape" from all sin to any who want to take it. And He has laid out this way to victory over all sin very plainly in Scripture, though it has been well-obscured and/or confused by the porn-addiction industry that wants to make merchandise of those bound in this sin (and inevitably in many other sins, too). Like the industry that's grown up around psychological distresses, the goal of the porn-addiction industry isn't really freedom, total and enduring, but mere "management" of this sin. The porn-addict who's freed of his sinful addiction ceases to be a source of revenue, so it's just bad business to relieve him fully of his addiction. No, he must see himself as permanently "ill," his brain chemistry powerfully disordered, his thinking severely twisted, so that he can't ever hope to be liberated from his addiction.

But God has no interest in keeping His children in perennial bondage to any sin, nor in making money off of them. If they are to enjoy Him fully, as He made them to do, and live in the protection, peace and blessing of holiness, they must be made increasingly free of sin. And so, God offers to His children a "way of escape" - not just from porn addiction - but from any and all sin. What is this "way of escape," exactly? Paul the apostle has described it in detail in his various letters to the Early Church, but in a "nutshell," here it is:


16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Sin is a Symptom, not a Root Cause.

Before explanation is made of what Paul wrote, here, it should be clarified that sin is just a symptom of something else, an effect called "sin," rather than the cause of itself. Sins are like sparks rising from a bonfire; they are the result of the bonfire, produced by it, they are not the bonfire itself. Too often, though, approaches to dealing with sin are occupied with the "sparks" rather than with the underlying "bonfire" that is producing them. Christian teachers will talk of "controlling one's eyes," and installing a supervisor over one's net activities, and thinking of the porn star as someone's daughter or sister, and using various distractions to occupy oneself. They'll orient upon these ways of stamping out a "spark" of sin, but never do anything about the "bonfire" of wickedness that's showering their life with such "sparks." There is no effective remedy from sin, however, no real liberty from it, without dealing with the Source of All Sin.

In the verse above, did the apostle Paul write of walking in the Spirit and thus not gratifying the will of the devil? No. He doesn't indicate that it's the devil who is the problem, but the "desires of the flesh." Many Christians, though, assign their sin-problem entirely to the devil, making him the ultimate cause of their wickedness. He tempted Eve, did he not? She would not have sinned, if he'd not enticed her to do so. It's the devil, then, who's at fault for our sin. Well, hang on. Did Satan force Eve to sin? Did he hold her down and stuff the Forbidden Fruit into her mouth? No. Instead, he appealed to something inside of Eve, to something in her very nature that was powerful enough to deny and defy the command of God Himself, whom Eve knew personally and directly. What was that something? Well, it was the same thing, at bottom, that had prompted the devil to rebel against his Maker: Self-will.


The Old Self can't be improved.

We have a problem with the desires of the flesh, these desires produce sin in us, only because we are living according to our own will and way rather than God's. It is from this selfish person, this self-centered, self-willed person, that we all require salvation; for it is this rebellious, self-oriented person who will take us straight into eternal hell, if God doesn't rescue us from his/her control. This self-willed person is irremediable, s/he cannot be improved, even by God, and is incorrigibly fixed upon itself and satisfying inordinately and destructively the impulses of the flesh.

Romans 8:5-8
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the sexual impulse, or the impulse to eat and drink, or the impulse to rest and to be entertained, or to delight in the many good things God has made. But when a person is not "walking in the Spirit," they are "living according to the flesh" and this always leads to an excessive and destructive - a sinful - pursuit of fleshly impulses. The obese pastor standing in the pulpit telling you how to live as a Christian is not walking in the Spirit; the Christian addicted to gambling, or porn, or drugs is not walking in the Spirit; the Christian eagerly filling their days with the World, binging on Netflix, or Amazon Prime t.v., or spending hours reading Twitter posts, or watching Tik Tok and YouTube videos, or playing the narcissist, posting a near-constant stream of video and pics of themselves to the 'net is not walking in the Spirit. Most of them have no idea what "walking the Spirit" is, or that it is basic and essential to the Christian life!


The Church is sick with sin.

The consequence of so few believers knowing of, and understanding, what it is to "walk in the Spirit" is that the Church in the West, the Body of Believers in North America, is filled with the "leaven" of sin that only a little of which, the apostle Paul warned, would "leaven the whole lump" and make the entire community of believers spiritually corrupt and impotent, as the church at Corinth was (1 Corinthians 3, 5, 6, 11). But this "leavened" condition has been the case for so long now within the western Church, many believers so deeply-steeped in a carnal, self-centered version of Christian living and thinking, that they snarl and snap at any who point out the deeply unbiblical nature of their living.

In such circumstances, it's no surprise that various sinful addictions plague the Church. And it's no surprise that those desirous of making merchandise of the "flock of God" have crowded around the Church, offering myriad approaches, and methods, and systems to deal with these addictions. God's "way of escape," however, has not altered since it was delivered to the Church two millennia ago. And it remains as powerfully-effective now as when it was first described in the New Testament.


Walking in the Spirit.

So, then, what is it, exactly, to "walk in the Spirit"? If, as Paul wrote, doing so prevents fulfilling the desires of the flesh in a sinful manner, it must be a vital aspect of Christian living! Well, Paul left a clue:


"But if you are led by the Spirit,"

"Led by the Spirit"? What's this mean? Does the Spirit direct everything I do, indicating to me what socks to wear, what toothpaste to use, how many peas to put on my dinner plate, what direction to take on my daily constitutional? Is this the leading of the Spirit? Well, before this question is addressed, it's necessary to consider what "being led" implies and requires.

Continued below.

 

[Tenchi]

Romans 8:14
14 For all who are being led by the
Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Galatians 5:18
18 But if you are led by the Spirit...

Matthew 4:1
1 Then Jesus was led up by
the Spirit into the wilderness...

​

What is necessary to my being "led of the Spirit"? Can I have my own plans, my own agenda, my own will and be led of the Spirit? How can he lead me when I'm pursuing my own will and way? Well, of course, he can't. Imagine being led by a wilderness guide through a forest. If you decide you want to make your own way through the vast expanse of trees and underbrush all around you and head off down an animal trail that you think is interesting, are you being led by the guide?


Walking in the Spirit: The Bible.

Being led of the Spirit, then, requires following his way rather than your own. But how does the person led of the Spirit know what the Spirit's way is? Well, the answer is that such knowledge is obtained from God's word, the Bible.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Deuteronomy 8:6
6 "Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.

1 Kings 2:3
3 "Keep the charge of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn,

Psalm 119:105
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

Psalm 119:130
130 The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.

There is no being led of the Spirit apart from a thorough knowledge of the will and way of God revealed in His word. Scripture is absolutely vital to knowing and following the leading of God, the Holy Spirit, which is always in accord with God's Truth laid out to us in the Bible. If the word of God is a light to one's path, it's absence will mean one's path will grow dark and difficult - if not impossible - to see.


Walking in the Spirit: Constant Submission.

Being led of the Spirit, then, requires knowing and then submitting to his will and way revealed in Scripture. Only in this circumstance is it possible to "walk in the Spirit" and so, not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Thus it is that, in the New Testament, the Christian is repeatedly commanded to put themselves under God's authority and control:

Romans 6:12-13
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,
13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Romans 6:19
19 ...For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

Romans 12:1
1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

James 4:7-10
7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

1 Peter 5:5-6
5 ...Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

Submission to God, then, is the essence, the core, of "walking in/by the Spirit," or "being led of the Spirit"; it is being always under the control of the Holy Spirit.

What happens, though, with many Christians is that they only give partial control to the Holy Spirit. For example, they find their porn addiction embarrassing, and destructive to relationships; it provokes in them much shame and shows them to be very weak; it deadens everything spiritually, making God seem a great way off. And so, they go to God for relief of their addiction, praying that He will take away their desire for porn. Of course, nothing happens. God is entirely unresponsive to their prayers.

Why? Because, as someone has said, "If God is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all." There are no half-measures with God, no partial control of His child; He will never be merely one's "co-pilot"; He will be only Lord of all in one's life. If a Christian person thinks, then, that they can negotiate with God, that they can determine the regions of control God will have over them, they badly misunderstand with whom they are dealing. God will only be who He is in their life: God Almighty, Ruler of Heaven and Earth. He dictates to His creatures when, and what, and how much He will alter in their lives, never the reverse.

And so, when a Christian chooses what area of their life they want God to transform, trying to dictate to Him when and what He should go to work on, yielding only bits and pieces of their life to Him as they see fit, they find God entirely unwilling to respond. They plead strenuously with God to help them with their porn addiction while they have no intention of giving over to Him control of their choice of entertainments, or relationships, or other addictions to, say, food, or gaming, or their cell phones. But God will only be who He is - Lord and Master - never sharing His authority with anyone or anything else.

Exodus 20:3
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

Romans 6:22
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

Matthew 4:10
10 ...For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

So, being "led of the Spirit" which is the key to winning free of the grip of the flesh (including porn addiction), requires two things:

1.) A thorough knowledge of the will and way of God revealed in His word, the Bible.

2.) Submission to God's constant, across-the-board control.

What is it like, though, to live in submission to God all the time? How does doing so overcome an addiction to porn, exactly?

Continued below.

 

[Tenchi]

Galatians 5:22-25
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control;
against such things there is no law.
24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have
crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let
us also walk by the Spirit.
​

Walking in the Spirit: What to Expect.

A few years ago, I was discipling a young man who was having a bitter struggle with pornography. I had guessed this was the case and was glad when he finally admitted to me his addiction to porn. We talked together about God's "way of escape" (1 Corinthians 10:13) and the young man agreed to begin to consciously, explicitly, all throughout each day submit to God. We got together the following week and I asked him how his new spiritual practice had worked out. "It didn't work at all," he said. "When I was tempted, I submitted myself to God and nothing happened. The temptation came right back. It didn't work." He sighed, frustrated and unhappy, and added, "Is there anything else that I can do?"

I responded to the young man's experience with three questions:

- What do you mean by "It didn't work"?
- What are your expectations of God when you submit? Are those expectations biblical?
- What is the primary struggle, the Great Battle, in every moment of temptation?


"It didn't work": Wanting relief from sin, not fellowship with God.

What the young fellow who was addicted to porn meant by "It didn't work," was that the temptation didn't stop the moment he submitted himself to God. He was thinking of submission to God as a sort of "magic spell," an anti-temptation incantation, that he could rattle off whenever he was tempted that would instantly dissolve the temptation. His focus, you see, was upon dealing with the bothersome, shame-inducing issue of pornography, rather than upon the real purpose of submission to God, which is fellowship with Him.

2 Corinthians 13:14
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

1 John 1:3
3 ...our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Revelation 3:20
20 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

The young man just wanted his moral/spiritual problem gone, not a deeper, more God-centered life. What he didn't understand was that victory over temptation, over sin, is the effect, the by-product, of fellowship with God, not an end in itself. It is through enjoying God in daily, intimate communion that the Christian escapes temptation. What else would one expect in relating with the Ground of All Reality, the Maker and Sustainer of Everything?

Romans 11:36
36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

Acts 17:28
28 for in Him we live and move and exist...

Colossians 1:16-17
16 ...by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.


Fellowship With God: Seeing God Clearly.

God will not be anything less than He is when He relates with us. Just as God is Lord and Master of the universe, He will be only our Lord and Master, too. Our fellowship with Him, then, is necessarily shaped by this fact. If we intend to walk with God, who He is demands our submission. It turns out, however, that yielding to God has many benefits, one of which is increasing holiness.

Romans 6:19
19 ...For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

It is as the believer's holiness expands and they are more and more set apart unto God in their thinking, desires and conduct that sinful temptation has less and less power over them.

However, the young man who desired to be free of his porn addiction had no interest in a life that was a "living sacrifice" to his Maker. No, he just wanted "spot removal," not an entire overhaul of his living. And so, the young man's "submission" to God was an instrumental act, a mere mechanical ritual, that he hoped would "activate" God to eradicate his porn problem but leave the rest of his untouched. But, since God is a Person, not a tool for removing sin, trying to use Him as a tool always yields a bad result.

As you can imagine, God doesn't much like being reduced to a spiritual "vending machine," where pushing the "button" of submission yields the "chip bag" of victory over sinful temptation. No, all that God intends to be in, and for, His children is obtained only within fellowship with Him as servant to Master, creature to Creator, sheep to Shepherd, inferior to Superior. He only lifts up those who go low - and stay low - before Him.

1 Peter 5:6
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,

James 4:10
10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

It is in submitted fellowship with God that one "walks in/by the Spirit" rather than merely "lives in the Spirit." Through faith in Christ as Savior, a lost sinner comes into relationship with God as His adopted child. They are, in other words, "living in/by the Spirit" who has washed them clean of the stain of their sin, and given them spiritual life in himself.

Titus 3:5
5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

1 John 4:13
13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

Romans 8:9
9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

But having the Spirit within does not guarantee fellowship with God, or "walking in/by the Spirit." Like the Prodigal Son to his earthly father (Luke 15:11-32), one can be related to their heavenly Father (through the indwelling Holy Spirit), but not enjoying direct, personal communion with Him. And so, Paul urged the believers in the province of Galatia not merely to be "living in/by the Spirit" - to be born-again - but to be "walking in/by the Spirit," too. It is fellowship with God - "walking in/by the Spirit" that is actually the purpose of being born-again, of coming to "live in/by the Spirit."

If submission to God, then, is to have the effect of dissolving an addiction to porn, if it's going to "work" in this way, fellowship with God must be the aim, not mere eradication of a struggle with a particular sin.

Have you been thinking about being a "living sacrifice to God," about being His bond-servant, about living in submission to Him, in the instrumental way the young man addicted to porn had been doing? Hopefully, if you have, you can see now the mistake in doing so and will consider the greater good of submitting to God, which is daily fellowship with Him, not mere victory over sin. Holiness is never an end in itself but merely the doorway to communion with the Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth. Don't settle for anything less than fellowship with Him! It's what He made you for.

Psalm 36:7-9
7 How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
8 They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights.
9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.

Psalm 16:11
11 You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

Continued below.

 

[Tenchi]

Unbiblical expectations of a life of submission to God.

The young man I mentioned, hoping to rid himself of a porn addiction, had expected an instant cessation of temptation when he submitted to God. But he had thought to deal only with a single region of his life that he didn't like, not yield himself wholesale as a "living sacrifice" to God. He had wanted a "quick fix" of his sin, not fellowship with his Maker. He had also expected that, having submitted to God, the temptation would cease immediately and never return. He had heard of "victory over sin" and had assumed that this meant instant and permanent freedom from a sinful temptation. This was what he was expecting when he had submitted to God.

It didn't happen. Though he had submitted himself to God - or, at least, he'd spoken words of submission to God - the temptation continued, unabated. His conclusion was that submitting to God had not been the "way of escape" from sin that I'd showed him from God's word that it was. Does God anywhere in His word promise to instantly remove all temptation and testing the moment His child submits? No. I pointed this out to the young man and then took him in Scripture to the example of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane where Christ famously declared, "Not my will but yours be done."

The Example of Gethsemane.

Luke 22:41-44
41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed,
42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.
44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Though he was the God-Man, Jesus still consciously, explicitly submitted himself to the will and way of God, the Father. Doing so was not an instant remedy for the terrible struggle he was enduring within his humanness that looked with horror on the terrible, brutal sacrifice of himself he was about to make. When he had prayed as he did in the passage above, Jesus wasn't instantly filled with supernatural power so that he leapt to his feet radiant and indomitable, thumping his chest and yelling, "Bring it!" No, instead, he continued in an agony of prayer, "sweating great drops of blood."

God's answer to Christ's awful need for strength to endure, for the courage to resist his human instinct to flee his approaching death, wasn't to remove Christ's inner struggle, or fill him to bursting with fearlessness, or change his external circumstance, but to offer him angelic encouragement and the strength to take one step, and then the next, and the next until his atoning sacrifice was completed. Can we expect more? Ought our submission to God move Him to a greater response than He gave to His Son's submission?

You can be sure that at every step of Jesus's cruel journey toward the fatal misery of the cross, being fully man, he was resisting the intense, natural human impulses for self-preservation and the relief of his suffering. But, if he had yielded to those impulses, in the moment that he did, he would have stepped out of God the Father's will and way. Jesus's battle, then, all throughout his "Passion" was to remain submitted to God's will, no matter what. As he did, Jesus remained in the flow of the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:15, 4:1, 14; Romans 8:11), and was thus able to "endure the cross, despising the shame," and is now seated at God's right hand in his former divine glory and power (Luke 22:69; Acts 7:55; Romans 8:34).

In this, the Great Battle of the Christian life is demonstrated. It isn't a battle to defeat ourselves by self-effort, to use Self to put itself to death. No, the Great Battle is to stay submitted to God and as we do, we are enabled by the "rivers of living water" within us (the Person of the Holy Spirit - John 7:38-39) to work out the will and way of God in our daily living, just as Jesus did.

Acts 1:8
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you...

Ephesians 3:16
16 ... strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,

Ephesians 5:18
18 ...be filled with the Spirit,

Romans 8:13
13 ...if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

2 Corinthians 3:18
18 ...beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Lord, the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace...

Not understanding this, when the young man with the porn addiction had submitted to God and found no immediate relief from the temptation to look at porn, he assumed that God's "way of escape" (1 Corinthians 10:13) hadn't worked. I pointed out to him that if the right response to temptation is always to submit to God, which it is, it is the right response to temptation no matter how many times the temptation occurs. This is the real battle of Christian living: remaining consciously, explicitly under the control of the Holy Spirit, remaining yielded to the will and way of God.

Not being relieved immediately of his temptation to look at porn, the young man had cast about for help from other things - Bible reading, prayer, exercise, gaming, movie watching, etc.. But these things don't properly answer the invitation of every sin to step out from under the Spirit's control and follow one's own will and way. Only the power of God can enable one to take up one's cross and journey into death to Self (Matthew 16:24-25) and come out the other side into the glory and freedom of the crucified life. And that power only works in tandem with our being persistently and consistently under the control of the Holy Spirit. This submission to the Spirit, to God, is the only right answer to the invitation to rebellion within every sinful temptation.

Continued below.

 

[Tenchi]

The Great Battle of Christian Living.

Like so many Christians, the young man with the porn addiction whom I was discipling had a...cockeyed view of what Christian Living was and how it all worked. In the matter of overcoming sin, in particular, his thinking was badly tangled - and very unbiblical. Three false notions had rooted in his mind that were keeping him perennially in the sin-confession-sin-confession cycle:

1.) I can achieve a godly end by fleshly means.
2.) I must do for God.
3.) God intends to improve me.


False Notion #1: I can achieve a godly end by fleshly means.

No, in fact, this is impossible. Like begets like. A cat begets a cat, a dog begets a dog, a duck begets a duck, and so on. You, too, can only beget "in kind," which is to say, you can only beget more of yourself. Anyone who desires to be godly must "tap into" God; for only God can beget godliness.

What happens when a Christian attempts to produce godliness by means of fleshly, human effort?

Galatians 6:7-8
7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption...

Romans 8:6-8
6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 7:18-19
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

Fleshly effort can generate a superficially "spiritual" result, appearing externally to be godly, by which is meant, "nice," or "pleasant," or "kind." Fleshly "spirituality" checks all the boxes of popular thinking on what it is to live "godly in Christ Jesus": attending church on Sunday, praying, participating in a Bible study, singing or playing an instrument on the Worship Team, giving to the church and charities, etc. These are all external things, however, and in the majority of professing Christians run in tandem with addictions, bitterness and resentment, secret sins, worship of other "gods" (career, family, hobbies, wealth, notoriety, etc.), various neuroses (depression, anxiety, obsessiveness, perversion) and so on. This is nothing like the life God produces in those in whom He is truly working.

https://jonathanhay.substack.com/p/conduits-not-copyists

But the life only God can "beget" begins within the inner person, transforming core desires, altering fundamental beliefs and patterns of thinking, engendering in the born-again person holiness, and a hunger for God's Truth, and a deep, self-sacrificing love of the brethren (1 Peter 2:2; Jeremiah 15:16; 1 John 3:14; 1 John 4:7-11). Life in, and by, the Holy Spirit is supernatural, enabling a person to truly love their enemies, to do good to those who use them despitefully, to go the extra mile regardless of the cost and to do so joyfully (Matthew 5:38-48); to separate more and more from the World, the Flesh and the devil unto God as a "vessel sanctified and prepared for every good work" (2 Timothy 2:21; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Ephesians 5:1-13); to endure suffering for the sake of Christ with equanimity and even contentment (Matthew 5:10-11), knowing that the "sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:17).


False Notion #2: I must do for God.

No, God must do for you. If He doesn't, if you try to do what only God can do, the result will ultimately be the corruption and sin the flesh always produces. Instead, the way things actually work spiritually is summarized well by the apostle Paul:

Philippians 2:12-13
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

The fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, etc - is the fruit of THE SPIRIT, not of you. Without Christ, without the Spirit of Christ working in you (Romans 8:9-13), you can do NOTHING to produce the spiritual "fruit" of the Vine (John 15:4-5). You can only work out what God, by His Spirit, has first worked into you.

But so many Christians don't believe this! And, worse, they are taught not to believe it. They are told to "try their hardest," to "labor diligently," to "just do it," to "really work at it," and to "be disciplined." Christians are instructed to exert themselves, their fleshly power, their human determination to the utmost until these things fail (as they must), and then they should turn to God for aid. "God helps those who help themselves," right? Wrong.

Galatians 3:3
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Colossians 2:20-23
23... asceticism and severity to the body... are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is ...
23 ...self-control...

Romans 8:13
13 ...if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Continued below.

 

[Tenchi]

When the Christian ceases to do for God and, by faith, in love and submission, waits upon God, upon His Spirit, to enable the life God has commanded of all of His children, they don't encounter strain, and labor, and exhaustion but the exact opposite:

Isaiah 40:28-31
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Psalm 84:5-7
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.

The naturalness and effortlessness with which the believer walking in the power of the Spirit lives a godly life is always astonishing to them because it is entirely opposite what they are told to expect in their life as a believer and what they've experienced as they've tried in their weak humanness, in their fleshly power, to do for God.

The Great Battle isn't, you see, to make yourself live the life God wants you to live, to produce for Him your best version of a godly life, but to submit to Him, in love and faith waiting upon Him to form in you the life only He can beget in you. And as He does, you will find yourself simply going His way, doing His will easily and joyfully, going from strength to strength, not into regular moral collapse and spiritual exhaustion.


False Notion #3: God intends to improve me.

No, He intends to put you to death and install in you a new life entirely. There is nothing in you apart from God, there is nothing in the old Self, the person that you were prior to being saved, that can be improved. The old Self is thoroughly rotten, incorrigibly rebellious and sinful, and cannot be remediated.

Romans 7:18-19
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

Romans 8:6-8
6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Jeremiah 17:9
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Titus 3:3
3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

And so, God isn't interested in improving you. Instead, He puts to death your old Self and replaces it with new life in Jesus Christ, the life of the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9; Philippians 1:19):

2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Colossians 3:3
3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Romans 6:6
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;

Galatians 2:20
20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

The born-again person who thinks God is in the business of their Self-improvement, of making over the sinful, rebellious person they were before being saved, of polishing up the old Self and making it shine, has not understood at all what the true nature of the Christian life is! No, their old, unsaved Self must DIE so that their new life in Jesus might manifest in them by the work of the Holy Spirit. He does this, though, as has already been explained in earlier posts in this thread, only as the born-again person is walking in daily conscious, explicit submission to his control.

And so, the Great Battle of the Christian life isn't to make our own best version of a Christ-like life but to submit to the Spirit producing in us his life, the life of Jesus Christ, and in his infinite power and wisdom making us who he wants us to be.

Romans 8:29
29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

Philippians 1:6
6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

2 Corinthians 3:18
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

Have you been misunderstanding the basics of Christian living, as the porn-addicted young man I was discipling had done? Until these misunderstandings are corrected and a proper, biblical conception of walking with God is taken up, God's "way of escape" is not available. In the end, His goal is not merely that the Christian come free of some particular sin but that they move into ever-deepening fellowship with Himself. This is, then, at its core, God's "way of escape": Knowing and enjoying Himself. Is this what you want in overcoming your sin?

 

[Tenchi]

Galatians 5:16
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you
will not carry out the desire of the flesh.​

What does "Walking in the Spirit" look like, practically?

So, what does it look like when "walking in the Spirit," when a life of daily, conscious, explicit submission to God, is maintained? Does this life really result in "not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh"? Does God's "way of escape" found in fellowship with Himself truly free a person from sinful addiction?

Sadly, I think many Christians are afraid to find out. Not because they don't want to be free of their sinful addiction(s), not because they believe God can't free them from their sinful addictions (at least, in theory), but because they are afraid to test the truth of God's word, the power of His promises, and find them impotent.

The Israelites at the borders of Canaan (Numbers 13-14), were afraid to step out in faith into the land of plenty and peace that God had promised, putting themselves at risk of hostile giants, and great cities filled with enemy nations. What if they couldn't take the land? What if in the attempt to possess what God had said was theirs, they failed and were defeated and humiliated? What if they died trying? What use in believing God's promise if death is the consequence? And so, all but a handful of Israelites refused to go into the land promised to them by God. For the rest of their lives they wandered in a literal wilderness of dust, and scrub brush, and difficulty.

Christians today make the same choice as the Israelites at the border of Canaan, for various reasons (most of them foolish and evil) refusing to "walk in/by the Spirit" and thereby win free of sin, enjoying, more and more, the spiritual Promised Land of fellowship with God.

https://jonathanhay.substack.com/p/the-homeless-millionaire​

But what happens when they do step out in faith upon God's promises? Does God "come through" for them? Or am I speaking entirely theoretically in what I've laid out from God's word?

Well, let me describe what has happened to me as I've learned (and am still learning) to "walk in/by the Spirit." First, the idea of trying to make myself, by the power of Self - the ultimate source of all my sin - live "godly in Christ Jesus" has grown ridiculous in my thinking. This is no small thing, since, for decades, I operated on this Self-centered, fleshly basis in my Christian living. Despite what God's word says about my utter impotence spiritually, I spent many years trying to control myself, trying to crowd myself into a corner, to suppress, and confine my fleshly impulses. Though I would always eventually collapse, exhausted, into sin, I continued at the project of controlling myself, encouraging myself with the thought that I would do better next time, that I just had to keep at it and I would - somehow - get a different, better result.

I shake my head at this thinking now, intensely glad to have been delivered from it by God. Over time, He has worked to demonstrate to me - mostly through painful, humiliating and frustrating failure - the utter futility of trying to stop the sinful effects of my old Self by way of the power of my old Self. This is to make a fox the guard of the henhouse; to make an alcoholic the keeper of the key to the booze cabinet; to make a poison its own cure. It doesn't work. It can't work. Like begets like. Self only ever produces itself, however much on the surface of things it appears to be "pious" and "godly." But, for a long time, I believed that I could do for God rather than waiting by faith, in submission and love, on Him to do for me, as He'd promised to do. Thanks be to God that He has delivered me from this foolish and unbiblical thinking!

And what a difference it makes to "wait upon the Lord" and be "renewed in strength" by His Spirit, "mounting up on wings as an eagle," "running the race" without the usual, regular, inevitable exhaustion and collapse of Self-effort! Instead, after years now of learning to "walk in the Spirit," I continue to be astonished by how the Holy Spirit moves me on from a crossroad of temptation with such effortlessness and subtlety. Many times I am hours beyond a moment of temptation before I realize I am, carried along the Narrow Way toward God without any of the past torturous wrestling with myself. At other times, I am very aware of an abrupt, supernatural cooling of sinful desire - always in response to my conscious, explicit submission to God's control - that still surprises me. So long as I continue to agree to the Holy Spirit acting upon me as he wants by remaining yielded to whatever he wishes to do in me, my desire for things that once were powerful instigators of sin in my life have steadily shrunk to proper, God-intended proportion or have dissolved entirely. In their place, God has instilled in me new, godly desires or enlarged formerly shrunken ones.

Perhaps the hardest thing for me to do is to wait upon the Holy Spirit to act in response to my submission and deliver me from temptation. Oh, how hard it can be to just stay submitted and wait for God's deliverance from temptation! I must do something! I must act to control myself! The old, well-established impulse to do as I do in every other instance of personal development is strong! If I want to grow physically strong, I must go to the gym and workout; if I want to learn to play the piano well, I must play the piano; if I wish to be a masterful painter, I must paint, and so on. Outside of the spiritual realm, if I want to do or become something, I must act to make it happen. This was, for me anyway, a big part of why it was very difficult to "let go and let God."

How long it took for me to see that submission and waiting upon God is not puppet-like passivity. It is the most vital, active and necessary thing I can do in resisting temptation; it is, actually, the Real Battle of Christian living.


https://jonathanhay.substack.com/p/conduits-not-copyists


God has taught me that when He doesn't immediately act to relieve me of some temptation, He is not ignoring me but giving me opportunity to "train" my spiritual "muscles" and reflexes, to form and/or reinforce a spiritual habit of submission to Him. It took me some time, though, to realize that when I asked God to mature me spiritually and deepen my fellowship with Him, to make me more like Jesus, God's response would be to put me in a situation where I could "train" my submission reflex (James 4:7; Romans 12:1), exercise my faith "muscle" (2 Corinthians 5:7), and evaluate (and correct) my motive for walking with and serving Him (Matthew 22:36-38). Most importantly, these times of "training" always prompted me to keep God "in focus," to remember, and live in, the truth that being a Christian was about fellowship with Him, not about a creating a "spiritual lifestyle."

Continued below.

 

[Tenchi]

Walking in the Spirit: Practical Action in the Face of Temptation.

So, then, to the nitty-gritty of submission to God. When I'm tempted, what, exactly, is my reaction? Well, first off, if I don't recognize the temptation for what it is, I'm just going to go with it. So, a life of submission is crucially-connected to a knowledge of God's Truth, His will and way revealed in His word. You can't know when you're diverging from God's will if you don't know what His will is, right? There is, then, no "walking in the Spirit" while remaining ignorant of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16-17; Matthew 4:4).

When I'm aware that my attitude, thinking, desire, or action is not of God, I do as Christ did in Gethsemane and consciously, explicitly choose God's will and way over mine. Often, this happens only after I've asked myself the question, "Who is this?" If the answer is "Me," it's time to submit again to my Maker. When I do, I say something like, "Heavenly Father, I submit myself to you. Please control my thoughts, desires and actions. Not my will but yours be done." This isn't some rattled-off incantation, a babble of words that I'm not attending to carefully, as it can become after a time. Always, God is responding to my heart, not merely my words, and if my words have become empty ritual, issuing from a heart distracted from Him, He will respond accordingly. In any case, sometimes the temptation to sin continues, unabated. When this is so, I simply submit again, and again, and again - as often as the invitation of every sinful temptation to follow my own will and way into rebellion and sin persists.

At times, the battle to stay submitted is short-lived, the Holy Spirit acting rapidly to move my inner man into God's will and way; at other times, though, I'm put in the "gym" of spiritual exercise, to develop the habit of submission to God and persistent focus upon Him. In both cases, however, God always fulfills His promise to conform my inner man to His will and way, liberating me from the power of the old Self, which is the ultimate source of all my sin.

In tandem with submission, it's also really helpful to remember who I am in Jesus Christ, to recall to mind what God says is true about me as one of His own. Along with following my own will rather than God's, every sin also always invites me to live in contradiction to my spiritual identity as a "new creature in Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:17) and so, along with yielding myself to God, standing by faith on who God says I am as His child is also very important (Romans 6:11).

As the general character of my life has been what I've described above, spiritual growth has happened but in a way that is often undetectable to me. God has changed my desires, but not just in areas I consider "crisis points." I find, for example, a desire to share Christ with others that is natural and bold rather than the contrived, mechanical way it often was in the past. I find myself increasingly repelled by modern, secular culture, not because of intellectual, philsophical or moral commitments, but in the "fiber of my being." This inner transformation of me by God reveals itself to me in surprising ways. For instance, I went to watch a blu-ray dvd of an old Jackie Chan movie the other day and, though I'd found it quite entertaining in the past, I had to pop it out of the player only ten minutes in, disturbed by elements of the movie I'd never noticed before. I find myself acting in ways I never would have twenty years ago in circumstances I would have avoided like the plague back then. Not because I've set out consciously to do so, developing my leadership skills, honing my public-speaking ability, psychologially strengthening the "weak areas" of my personality. No, it's been a work of the Spirit that, again, is so subtle, natural and effortless, that I am sometimes shocked by what he's done in me.

I dont describe any of this to brag. Not at all. It's all of God and none of me. My intention is to give testimony to the truth of God, to the power of His promises to His children in His word. God is doing in my life what He has said He will do as I walk in His will and way! Sin is not dominating me as it once did. God is not some distant, shadowy, threatening figure a million miles away, but one with whom I'm enjoying greater personal communion as each day passes. And so, to you I can say as I did to the young man struggling with a porn addiction, "It works! God's "way of escape" works!" But it turns out that they way of escape from sin is found in escape into fellowship with one's holy Maker.

Is this what you want?

It's what you were made for.

Matthew 11:28-30
28 Come to me, all who labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I
am gentle and lowly in heart, and
you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”​

 

[Tenchi]

Romans 11:33-36 - 12:1
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and
knowledge of God! How unsearchable are
his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of
the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift
to him that he might be repaid?”
36 For from him and through him and to him
are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of
God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy
and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
​

Walking in the Spirit: "I just don't want to."

Many times in talking with men in discipleship about "walking in the Spirit," this has been their response. They don't have any desire to submit to God; they enjoy the life they're living, though it is in rebellion to God. In most cases, they've been in this sort of life for a long time, and so, have grown cold and hard toward God, their conscience long ago blunted so that it reacts not at all to things that should prick it sharply. The "god" of Self sits on the throne of their hearts and orders their desires. In this condition, it is impossible for these men to muster up any serious interest in walking with God as a "living sacrifice" to Him.

On a gut-level, I think these guys knew that they would simply follow their strongest desires. It's how God has made us all to be; we pursue pleasure and flee pain, as much as we can. The things that give to us the greatest pleasure, gratification and satisfaction we pursue with the greatest ardour. Likewise, that which causes us the most pain we do all we can to avoid. So, if a person has come to find intense enjoyment in sin, they will migrate toward it with increasing frequency and desire, forming a habit of sin, a pattern of selfish and God-defying thought and action that slowly builds momentum, becoming, in time, so powerful the person is just swept along by it. Typically, it was from such a state that the guys I've discipled would tell me that they just didn't want to live in daily submission to the control of the Holy Spirit, to "walk in the Spirit."

What is to be done with a believer who has grown hard and cold toward God and bound in a powerful habit of stimulating, gratifying sin? How can they be induced to leave off the sin they strongly desire and move toward their distant and uninteresting heavenly Father in repentance, confession and submission? Who in this condition is ever eager to do as the apostle James described?:

James 4:7-10
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Well, in the quotation from the apostle Paul at the top of this post, he offers a very rational response to this question. God is so far above us that His ways are ultimately "inscrutable," His wisdom and knowledge outstripping our own in an incomprehensible degree. God is the Ultimate Source of All Things, to whom, then, nothing can be given; we can only receive from God, our Alpha and Omega, our Beginning and End. And so, Paul wrote, it stands to reason that we should yield ourselves to our Creator and God as “living sacrifices,” regardless of what we may or may not feel about doing so.

We all of us do things, not because we want to, because we have some strong, positive desire to do them, but because it is the sensible, the rational, thing to do: We visit the dentist; we get regular colonoscopies after age 55; we go to the gym and curb our eating; we mow the lawn and weed the flowerbed; we pay car insurance and income tax, and so on. There are a host of things we do simply because it makes good sense to do them, even though they cost us money, time and effort that we'd much rather invest in other things.

We ought to take this same rational approach in regards to living in constant submission to God. If we can see the good sense in visiting the dentist regularly, though we may not want to, can we not do the same with God, who is both our Creator and Sustainer, the vital Source of our very existence? Simple, obvious rationality dictates that we should.

Ah, that simple, sensible reason was sufficient to win out over our Self-will and sin! But the billions of people bound in sinful habits, destructive addictions, and psychological neuroses demonstrate that reason alone rarely orders the human mind and heart. Though humans may acknowledge the great benefits of rationality, as often as not, they ignore reason, pathologically pursuing pleasure instead - even if doing so destroys them.

Typically, only when God's promises concerning sin are fulfilled in their lives are Christians sufficiently provoked to follow His will and way. They must end up in the desperate degradation of the pig-pen of sin, as the Prodigal Son did (Luke 15:11-32), before they can be made to return to their heavenly Father in humility and repentance.

Galatians 6:7-8
7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption...

James 1:14-15
14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death...

2 Peter 2:21-22
21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

Even then, some Christians can become so gripped by sin that they follow it to complete physical destruction. Both the apostle Paul and the apostle John note this in their letters:

1 John 5:16-17
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.
17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.

1 Corinthians 11:28-30
28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

God would much rather we responded to His incredible kindness, to His amazing love, grace and patience, and walked with Him in His way:

Romans 2:4
4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Matthew 11:28-30
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Psalm 36:7-9
7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
9 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.

We who are truly born-again have the Holy Spirit within us, too, who convicts us of "sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8), who shows us the Truth (John 14:26; John 16:13), who will be strong for us (Ephesians 3:16; Romans 8:13; Philippians 2:13) in times of temptation and testing, who responds to our submission to God by going to work on what we want, first of all, and conforming us to the "image of Christ" (Romans 8:29). It isn't all on us to walk with God in His way. Thank God!

These are the things, then, that form my response to Christians who say that they "just don't want to" live in submission to God. I hope and pray that in your life it has been His goodness, the "carrot" of God's kindness and love, not the "stick" of sin's degradation and destruction, that prompts you to "walk in the Spirit" and so not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. There is life, joy and liberty in submission to God. May you find these things in abundance in Him!

 

[JLB]

Galatians 6:7-8
7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption.

This is one of the key scriptures I use when teaching people about a Spirit led lifestyle.


Sowing is “investing” your time towards the desires of the Spirit rather than sowing or “investing” your time and energy towards the things of the flesh.

What your eyes look at, will stimulate a desire for that thing our eyes see.


If we are looking at God’s word and meditating on God’s word then His word will produce a desire in us to do His word.

If we are setting our mind on fleshing things, porn or entertaining lustful thoughts by meditating on those things then we will continue to live our life according to the lustful cravings of our flesh.

Also praying in the Spirit and fasting, quality time spent with the Lord in prayer and private devotion are keys to a daily Spirit led lifestyle.


Spirit led habits lead to a Spirit led lifestyle.


Cultivating quality spiritual habits will result in a quality spiritual lifestyle.


Unfortunately the western mindset is to “go to Church” placing the majority of the emphasis on a weekly sermon to produce in us what only a daily crucified lifestyle can accomplish.




JLB

 

[Tenchi]

If we are looking at God’s word and meditating on God’s word then His word will produce a desire in us to do His word.

I'm guessing you haven't read through the whole series of posts I wrote out. If you had, I wonder if you'd still think this.

The word of Truth is potentially powerful (though, I know folks who've read it and found it utterly uninteresting and confusing) but it cannot do what the Holy Spirit does in convicting, illuminating and strengthening the believer to live in, and live out, God's Truth. Be careful, then, not to substitute Scripture for the Spirit, looking to words on the pages of your Bible to do what only the Person of the Holy Spirit can do.

 

[JLB]

The word of Truth is potentially powerful (though, I know folks who've read it and found it utterly uninteresting and confusing) but it cannot do what the Holy Spirit does in convicting, illuminating and strengthening the believer to live in, and live out, God's Truth.

Why would you assume I believe differently?

The Spirit leads us and guides us into all truth, which of course is the dying to self and crucifying the flesh.

This is a process.

Being transformed is a process; a daily process.

The Spirit leads us and empowers us to lay down the ways (habits) of self gratification and to sow to the Spirit which involves a process; a process that very much involves our participation.


Peter says it this way -

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:2-8

• But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

These are some of the things the Spirit will lead us and empower us to do.


Also the Spirit empowers us to cleanse ourselves from being vessels of dishonor so we will become vessels of honor. Again this is something each and every person does by the grace and power of the Spirit.


But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:20-22

• Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor

JLB

 

[Tenchi]

The Spirit leads us and guides us into all truth, which of course is the dying to self and crucifying the flesh.

Yes, he does. And much more: The Spirit convicts (John 14:8; Revelation 2-3), teaches (John 14:26; John 16:13; 1 Corinthians 2:10-16), strengthens (Romans 8:13; Philippians 2:13; Ephesians 3:16, etc.), comforts (2 Corinthians 1:3-5), and transforms (Galatians 5:22-23; 2 Corinthians 3:18). He instills a love of the brethren in each child of God (1 John 3:14). He "washes" and regenerates the sinner, "baptizing" them into Jesus Christ (Titus 3:5; Romans 6:1-5). And so on.

This is a process.

Being transformed is a process; a daily process.

Yes, it is.

The Spirit leads us and empowers us to lay down the ways (habits) of self gratification and to sow to the Spirit which involves a process; a process that very much involves our participation.

We work out only what God has first worked in (Philippians 2:12-13). Only the life and work of the Spirit can produce in us true godliness. Read my OP posts.

• But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

These are some of the things the Spirit will lead us and empower us to do.

Yes, we work out what he has first worked into us. There is no other way that doesn't become immediately fleshly.

Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor

Which he does as a result of the life and work of the Spirit within him. See my OPs.

 

[JLB]

Which he does as a result of the life and work of the Spirit within him. See my OPs.

The Spirit within us works in harmony with our will and effort to do according to God’s will in us.

IOW’s we must act in cooperation with the Spirit to cleanse ourselves from being a vessel of dishonor; from all filthiness of flesh and spirit.

So say it another way, it’s not automatic. The Spirit within us does not do the work of transformation all by Himself, but rather the Spirit motivates and leads us in the way of righteousness.

The Spirit may inspire us to pray but doesn’t do our praying for us.

The Spirit may lead us to read and study the scriptures but doesn’t do the reading and studying for us.

The Spirit may motivate us to worship and praise our Lord by doesn’t do it for us.


We must be active not passive in the things that pertain to our new divine nature, which Peter says as “giving all diligence” to add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge….


But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:5-8


Likewise cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit requires for us to put forth the effort to actively to the work of cleansing.


The Holy Spirit isn’t going to take a shower for you in order to cleanse yourself from all filthiness of flesh, or wipe your rear end for you.
You yourself must do these things when you grow up and are able.

Likewise we must actively keep our temple free from unclean spirits that desire to influence and entice us towards the world and the things of the world.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 1 John 2:15-16


Repentance and confession of sin should be a lifestyle as we grow in Christ and overcome youthful lusts and habits that weaken us to sin.


We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. 1 John 5:18

• but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
2 Timothy 2:20-22

• Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master…

We ourselves must cleanse ourselves from being a vessel of dishonor, by the Spirit so that we can be a vessel of honor fit for the Master’s use.

• Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

We ourselves must flee youthful lusts, and we ourselves must pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace… by the Spirit.


Fasting, praying in the Spirit, private devotion of prayer and worship daily, forsaking the world and seeking God in stillness are a few ways we cooperate with the Spirit in order live our lives according to the Spirit rather than living according to the flesh.


Cultivating Spirit led habits, leads to a Spirit led lifestyle.


He leads us in the ways of righteousness.




JLB

 

[Tenchi]

The Spirit within us works in harmony with our will and effort to do according to God’s will in us.

Yes, right. He won't make puppets out of us, forcing us to His will and way.

IOW’s we must act in cooperation with the Spirit to cleanse ourselves from being a vessel of dishonor; from all filthiness of flesh and spirit.

So say it another way, it’s not automatic. The Spirit within us does not do the work of transformation all by Himself, but rather the Spirit motivates and leads us in the way of righteousness.

As Paul wrote, we work out only what God has first worked into us (Philippians 2:12-13). And so, rather than describing how things work spiritually in terms of cooperation, I would say the believer manifests (i.e. "works out") the work of the Spirit, they express what he has done and is doing in the realm of their desires and thinking in how they act. When, then, you say "The Spirit within us does not do the work of transformation all by Himself," I want to clarify what this would mean biblically. It isn't biblical to say that the Holy Spirit merely motivates and leads me to change myself. Here's what I've already written in this thread on this point:

"False Notion #1: I can achieve a godly end by fleshly means.

No, in fact, this is impossible. Like begets like. A cat begets a cat, a dog begets a dog, a duck begets a duck, and so on. You, too, can only beget "in kind," which is to say, you can only beget more of yourself. Anyone who desires to be godly must "tap into" God; for only God can beget godliness.

What happens when a Christian attempts to produce godliness by means of fleshly, human effort?

Galatians 6:7-8
7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption...

Romans 8:6-8
6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 7:18-19
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

Fleshly effort can generate a superficially "spiritual" result, appearing externally to be godly, by which is meant, "nice," or "pleasant," or "kind." Fleshly "spirituality" checks all the boxes of popular thinking on what it is to live "godly in Christ Jesus": attending church on Sunday, praying, participating in a Bible study, singing or playing an instrument on the Worship Team, giving to the church and charities, etc. These are all external things, however, and in the majority of professing Christians run in tandem with addictions, bitterness and resentment, secret sins, worship of other "gods" (career, family, hobbies, wealth, notoriety, etc.), various neuroses (depression, anxiety, obsessiveness, perversion) and so on. This is nothing like the life God produces in those in whom He is truly working.

https://jonathanhay.substack.com/p/conduits-not-copyists

But the life only God can "beget" begins within the inner person, transforming core desires, altering fundamental beliefs and patterns of thinking, engendering in the born-again person holiness, and a hunger for God's Truth, and a deep, self-sacrificing love of the brethren (1 Peter 2:2; Jeremiah 15:16; 1 John 3:14; 1 John 4:7-11). Life in, and by, the Holy Spirit is supernatural, enabling a person to truly love their enemies, to do good to those who use them despitefully, to go the extra mile regardless of the cost and to do so joyfully (Matthew 5:38-48); to separate more and more from the World, the Flesh and the devil unto God as a "vessel sanctified and prepared for every good work" (2 Timothy 2:21; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Ephesians 5:1-13); to endure suffering for the sake of Christ with equanimity and even contentment (Matthew 5:10-11), knowing that the "sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:17)."

In another thread on the Bible Studies forum I also wrote the following:

"The Flesh.

In every other dimension of life, if a Christian wants to achieve some goal - education, physical skill, travel destination, career success, etc. - they must exert themselves in pursuit of that goal. If, for example, the born-again person wants to learn to play the piano, they can't simply pray for the skill and in the next instant be able to play the piano masterfully. No, instead, the Christian has to act, s/he must exert him/herself in accomplishment of this goal for years, playing scales daily, learning to read music, practicing various musical pieces, and so on. Because this is always the case in every area of development the believer adopts outside of the spiritual realm, it's quite natural to think that this is how things work in one's relationship with God, too.

The Bible is, after all, filled with commands to Christians. Seeing these commands, the Christian person typically just assumes that God intends that they should obey them all in the power of their own human resources of determination, and endurance, and self-sacrifice - just as they do in every other area of personal endeavour. They hear fellow Christians talk of "the power of the Holy Spirit," of course, but what they see in practice among their spiritual siblings is fleshly effort that is ascribed to the Spirit. This is revealed in how the Christian person describes their spiritual life: "I'm trying my hardest," "I'm working every day to be who God wants me to be," "I just keep at it," "I just make myself do what I ought to do," and so on.

This is what used to be called "Boot-Strap Theology." Imagine a man who tries to lift himself up off the ground by his own boot-straps. He grips the straps on the back of his boots and heaves upward as hard as he can. Except for turning red in the face, nothing happens. No matter how much the man exerts himself, he will never manage to actually lift himself from the ground. But he can jump as he pulls on his boot-straps and thus appear to have pulled himself off of the ground - at least for a brief moment.

This silly trick deceives no one into thinking the man has actually lifted himself from the ground. Usually, such an antic is a cause for laughter. But, you know, Christians are doing essentially this very sort of thing spiritually when, by the power of their flesh, they "pull on their boot-straps and jump" in an effort to achieve a godly, spiritual end. For a moment, superficially, these believers appear to have succeeded; for they do actually rise into the "air" of proper Christian living. But instead of seeing this as a desperate and silly trick that creates only the illusion of having overcome the impossible, they think that if they do it again, they might jump higher and so remain in the air a bit longer and that this is spiritual growth and success.

And so begins a lifelong pattern of spiritual "pulling and jumping," the constant up-and-down of fleshly effort thought to be the normal Christian life. But the flesh has very finite limits, and the constant "pulling and jumping" of Boot-Strap Theology is quite exhausting, and so, inevitably, the one who tries to walk with God in this way soon collapses."

Continued below.

 

[Tenchi]

The Spirit may inspire us to pray but doesn’t do our praying for us.

The Spirit may lead us to read and study the scriptures but doesn’t do the reading and studying for us.

The Spirit may motivate us to worship and praise our Lord by doesn’t do it for us.


We must be active not passive in the things that pertain to our new divine nature, which Peter says as “giving all diligence” to add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge….


But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:5-8

We constantly, actively choose throughout every day the manner of our living when we choose to submit to the control of the Holy Spirit. This is, in fact, the truly crucial moment of spiritual action/choice in the believer's life; for when the believer is properly under the Spirit's control, they naturally, effortlessly and joyfully pray, study Scripture, worship and separate themselves unto God more and more as time passes. This is because the Holy Spirit is in control of the believer, moving them in a godly direction, as only he can do.

Too often, though, I hear from Christian men especially that submitting to God is "passive," that yielding to the will and way, the control, of the Spirit expects too little of the believer (and too much of God). This response isn't actually reflective of spiritual truth, but of the male propensity for action. See the long quotations from my earlier posts above.

True spiritual diligence is a "fruit" of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9; Philippians 1:19). He is the believer's life, spiritually, not merely their spiritual coach, or guide.

John 15:4-5
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Colossians 3:3-4
3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

There is no properly spiritual action, no truly godly action, that the believer can take that isn't entirely fueled by the spiritual life of Christ within the Christian in the Person of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. As Jesus said to his disciples, there was NOTHING they could do by themselves to bear spiritual fruit. Only when they were abiding in him as branches filled with the life of Christ, the Vine, could they "bear much fruit."

And so, the Spirit doesn't merely walk alongside the believer, urging them onward toward God and pointing the way, but is the very stuff of their spiritual life - including the source of genuinely Christlike diligence.

The Holy Spirit isn’t going to take a shower for you in order to cleanse yourself from all filthiness of flesh, or wipe your rear end for you.
You yourself must do these things when you grow up and are able.

??? You're confusing physical action with spiritual, here. Any atheist can take a shower, etc. Obviously. But no atheist can ever act in a properly godly way, a genuinely spiritual way, since he does not have within himself the Spirit of Christ, without whom he can NOTHING spiritually.

Likewise we must actively keep our temple free from unclean spirits that desire to influence and entice us towards the world and the things of the world.

Of course. But we can do NOTHING properly, truly godly apart from the source of our spiritual life, the Holy Spirit. As Jesus said, we are mere branches in and through whom his life flows and produces fruit. And that life exists in us in the Person of the Holy Spirit through whom we are to "put to death the deeds of the flesh" (Romans 8:13), and by whom we are "strengthened with all might in the inner man" (Ephesians 3:16) and who transforms us into the glorious image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18), and so on (See my OP posts).

Our "temple" is not our temple, by the way:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. 1 John 5:18

• but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.

??? Brother, read the verse again: "he who has been born of God keeps himself." The "keeping" is the consequence, the by-product, of being born of God. More particularly, it is the man who is submitted to the control of God, the Holy Spirit within himself who is kept from the touch of the evil one:

James 4:7
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

1 Peter 5:6-10
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

In both Bible quotations above, getting low before God in humbleness and submission comes before resisting the devil. Only in this yielded, humble condition will the God of all grace in the Person of the Holy Spirit exert Himself to transform the believer, enabling them to resist the evil one, and their own fleshly impulses, and the temptations of the world.

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
2 Timothy 2:20-22

• Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master…

We ourselves must cleanse ourselves from being a vessel of dishonor, by the Spirit so that we can be a vessel of honor fit for the Master’s use.

Again, yes, we do cleanse ourselves of all filthiness of the flesh but as a result of the life and work of the Holy Spirit within, to whom we are submitting ourselves throughout each day. We can, as I've shown from God's word, only work out what God, the Spirit has first worked into us, which he does only as we are submitting to his control throughout every day.

He leads us in the ways of righteousness.

Yes, he does. But because he is our very life, the essential, life-giving substance of our spiritual existence, who enables all the believer's "fruit bearing" but only so long as they're walking in submission to his control and will and way. So, the Holy Spirit does FAR more than merely "lead" the believer.

 

[JLB]

Yes, right. He won't make puppets out of us, forcing us to His will and way.

Amen.

 

[JLB]

Yes, he does. But because he is our very life, the essential, life-giving substance of our spiritual existence, who enables all the believer's "fruit bearing" but only so long as they're walking in submission to his control and will and way. So, the Holy Spirit does FAR more than merely "lead" the believer.

Amen. The Spirit empowers us to do what we can not do without His grace, which is to live our life according to the Spirit rather than being a slave to sin that dwells in our flesh.