Barn Logo

Whenever I am about to prepare a message, I endeavour to come before God for guidance for what I am about to bring.
So I spend a little time in special prayer to this end.
And of course that is just what you would expect of anyone about to prepare a Christian message.

I mention this for a specific purpose, not to promote my own spirituality but to share with you something that happened to me as I prayed.

In the past when I have come before the Lord for this reason The Holy Spirit has always reminded me of some aspect of scripture relevant to the particular message that I had in mind to bring.
But as I came before the Lord for guidance for this word today,
The moment that I closed my eyes,
I had an overwhelming sense of the importance of the central theme of the skeleton message that I had been considering in my mind for the few days beforehand.
I would find it difficult to describe the sensation of urgency that I believe the Holy Spirit gave to me.

So much so that I had to stop praying and write down this preliminary statement. Because I was sure that the Holy Spirit wanted me to convey this importance to you.
Whether at the end you too will see this importance or not I must leave with the Lord

********************

I have said here once before if I remember correctly that in the building trade we used to have a saying   (and still do I suppose)   it was.

CONCRETE IS CONCRETE IS CONCRETE

In other words if anything is set in concrete it can't be altered.
To convey that similar idea,
The bible uses the words (The same yesterday today and forever)

With this in mind,
Lets look at John Ch. 3 V. 6 You probably all know it off by heart.

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit"
.
To coin a phrase
Flesh is flesh is flesh,     and the opposite is
Spirit is Spirit is Spirit.       Two statements that Jesus made which if we accept our premise cannot change their meaning.
Flesh is and always will be flesh,
Spirit is Spirit and always will be Spirit.

The Bible makes another statement in the same vain in
Eph. Chap. 2 vs. 8-9 which we might take note of at this point for future reference.

"By grace have you been saved thro faith and this is not your own doing it is a gift of God not of works lest any man should boast"

So what is meant when the Bible speaks of       "The Flesh" ?
It is not talking about our skin.
�Flesh� denotes our old nature.    The person we used to be
Worldly attitudes.
The things we used to do naturally,        and still do.

It isn't simply humanity and all things appertaining to humanity
It isn't just wordly things as opposed to things in the spiritual realm
Flesh is much more personal.

It's subjective rather than objective.

It took me a long time to grasp the concept of subjectivity and objectivity,
So just for those who have the same problem.
Subjectivity is     of a person,   within the individual,   it's to do with that which is within a person,
Objectivity,   deals with external things,   things outside,
Not appertaining to the inner person.

When Scripture speaks of the flesh there is a tendency to think of it as objective      something outside of ourselves
But flesh is subjective it's to do with us in our inner being.
It is of our Flesh (not our skin) Our innermost being in the spiritual sense that needs to change and become spirit.
If our innermost being    is of the Flesh then we are motivated by worldy ideas,
If our innermost being   is born of the Spirit then we are motivated by things of the Spirit.
The question we all need to ask of ourselves is,
How much flesh is there in me that I don't recognise as flesh.

I hope by the end of this message we shall all have realised that there are still areas of flesh left within us.
But also how it is possible to deal with them.
The quick answer of,
"Yes I know I am a sinner and       I'm trying to do better"
Is not the answer to deal with the flesh.
You see whether or not we have any flesh life left in us is to do with how we understand and what we understand about the Gospel of Jesus.
Which is    The Good News   Lets read what Paul said about himself in
Rom. Ch. 7 v.18
      "I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it"

The concept here is
I Know !!        That of MY OWN    Strength    I   Can do nothing to please God
If   "I"    try to do anything because,    "I" , Believe that   "I"   must,
it's useless       "MY"   good deeds are as filthy rags.

The basis for this message is taken from Paul's letter to the Galatians,
but first I want to set the scene a little more.

So if you turn again with me to Eph. Ch. 2 vs. 8 - 9
I mentioned it earlier in the context of the true statement of
Concrete is Concrete is Concrete.
But I do want you to be sure that it is there and I'm not making it up.

"By grace have you been saved thro faith and this is not your own doing it is a gift of God not of works lest any man should boast"

Here we have a classic text on which to build a strong Calvinistic doctrine.

( I say this with no ulterior motive just as a statement of fact)

In passing though I have read somewhere that Calvin was not quite as Calvinistic as some of his followers.

Never the less    the Bible says      "BY GRACE ARE YOU SAVED"
Salvation is a gift of God      This is Gods word.

Now lets turn to James. Ch. 2 vs. 14 - 21;
             "What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says that he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill clad and in lackof daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit?
So faith by itself , if it has no works, is dead. But some one will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believethat God is one;you do well. Even the demons believe--- and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you shallow man, that faith without works is barren? Was not Abraham our father justified by works works when he offered his son Isaac upon the alter? "

And then James Ch. 1 v. 22
"Be doers of the word not hearers only deceiving yourselves"

These verses appear to bring a conflict into our Christian life
A conflict that we sometimes find hard to reconcile in ourselves
This apparent conflict must have an answer
So we ask the question
Where does the doing stop and the relying on God begin?

We hear many very good messages Sunday by Sunday on how we should behave to be good Christians
About what we should or shouldn't be doing
I've preached some myself, and I don't apologise for doing so because we need to hear them.
But we need to hear them in the context of the whole of the word of God.
Todays is a different message but I believe that it is from the Lord
To be a good Christian      A true Disciple
The need to DO   anything should never even start, never mind stop

??????????

Now Please put out of your mind any idea of the need to DO some kind of external works.
Gal. Ch. 3 vs. 1 - 3
            O foolish Galatians! who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun with the Spirit are you now ending with the Flesh?

         Please note the last word   FLESH.

When you hear a message that suggests to you what you need to do, to be a good Christian .     And it mentions which passages of scripture that you need to concentrate on to achieve this perfection.
Do you struggle to achieve it only to be disappointed time and again?
Let me paraphrase Paul's words.
Did you become a Christian by something you did?
Or by accepting what Jesus Christ had already done for you?

If your Christian life began by what Jesus did for you, why should you now think,    that for it to continue with any degree of success    depends on you
In verse 6 of Galations Ch. 1   Paul says
        "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the Grace of Christ and turning to another gospel"
Note the word "GRACE"      What did we read earlier
"By Grace you are saved."

Paul continues Further along in Chapter 1 to point out that there is no other gospel but the one that they have heard from him, which he had received from Jesus Christ.
If there were such a thing as a Gospel of works it would be another Gospel not the Gospel of Christ.

For clarification for those who are not familiar with the letter to the Galations.
      There were Jews in Galatia who were trying to insist that the Gentile Christians needed to be Circumcised if they wanted to be good Christians.
      And Paul was at pains to point out that the whole of the law of Moses was embodied in Circumcision, and to submit to it,    would make one liable to keeping the whole law, for it to achieve it's purpose.

We can pick up this same question in Rom Ch. 2 vs. 17 - 24
      "But if you call yourself a Jew and rely upon the law and boast of your relation to God and know His will and approve what is exellent, because you are instructed in the law, and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth ---- you then who teach others ,will you not teach yourself?
      While you preach against stealing do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, Do you commit adultery? you who abhor idols , do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, do you dishonour God by breaking the law?
      For, as it is written, "The name of God is blasphemed among the gentiles because of you."

This is our problem when we as members of the Church seek to tell others what they need to do to be good Christians.
We know     what Gods Requires of us.
We know    what is right and wrong. What we should or shouldn't do.
And so we are always able to tell others what God requires of them.

But then we realise with Paul,   that although, we know what it is right to do we don't do it.
Not only do we not do    what we no to be right     but we also realise that of ourselves we can't do it
And so the world calls us hypocrites and turns it's back on God

Lets continue Rom 2 verse 25
      "Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circucision becomes uncircumcision"
    A gospel of works would have merit if only we stood some sort of chance of doing the works. Circumscision here equals works. The law of course is being obedient to Gods word.           Living "THE LIFE"   as it should be lived.
In other words having a righteousness of our own

Verses 26 - 27    Show the folly of this kind of Gospel
       "So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law."
    How often have you heard non Christians say something along these lines.
I never do anybody any harm why should God condemn me.
And also how often do we here people say "I don't need to go to Church to be a Christian."
And they are absolutely right.
Going to Church does not make anyone a Christian.
Or
I know people who never go to Church and live better lives than those who do.
Vs. 28 - 29 Puts this in perspective and brings us back to our original thought
      "For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcisionsomething external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart,
       Spiritual and not literal.   His praise is not from men but from God."
A true disciple is not someone who spends their life seeking to please God by methodically trying to overcome every sin or temptation they read in scripture.
True Christianity is not something external and Physical.
It is a matter of the heart.
Not a case of WANTING   to know what to DO to be right with God.

But Just KNOWING"God" through Jesus.

If you consider yourself to be a better Christian because you obey the word of God       or would be if you could         You're kidding yourself.
The opposite is true      You are becoming what The letter to the Galations describes as a legalist.
Thinking that your standing before God depends on Something you Have to do.
I believe we all make this mistake from time to time very often we get caught out in subtle little ways, which we tend to drift into.
We must endeavour to get this idea out of our system, what we do according to Gods word must always and only be because Gods Holy Spirit dwells in us.
Our need, is to let HIM motivate us.
I must be, A case of
    "For me to live is Christ"
             "It is no longer I that live but Christ lives in me"
                       That is why I do the works I do

Any other reason for doing the works is slavery to works
Gal. Ch. 5 v. 1
          "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery."

Our salvation is thro Gods Grace only and the reason for that was to give us freedom
Freedom from Fear.        Freedom from the anxiety, Which comes with a gospel of works
We should never feel compelled to do any good works out of some mistaken notion that by so doing we enhance our chances of salvation before God.

But only because they are written on our Hearts

But when I say written on our Hearts
I don't mean Knowing the actual word in your head and being able to quote Chapter and Verse.
If the word is written on your heart you instinctively know what is written.
Even written between the lines.

When we fully understand all that is involved in Gods grace.
The apparent paradox of Grace and Works no longer exists.

If we fully accept the word that says

BY GRACE YOU ARE SAVED

You'll find that doing the works is a joy, undertaken voluntarily out of love for Christ

Just to give you the opportunity to open your Bible, I'll leave you to read
Psalm 19 vs. 7 - 11

For the Christian, The reward is DOING the works of the Lord

And doing them for Him