History:
Genesis 6:12-13 “And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”
2:23-24 “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
[There is both a strength and a weakness in this.]
The Nature of Flesh
Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
QUESTION: Where does this leave the ladies, if flesh is weak?
ANSWER: The situation is not good.
(1st Peter 3:7 “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.”)
Romans 8:8 “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” (This is a serious problem.)
Luke 21:34 “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.”
Galatians 5:19-21 “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Romans 7:18-25 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing. . . . O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
8:1-23 “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.”
1st Peter 4:1-5 “. . . he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.”
1:24 “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.”
1st Corinthians 9:24-27 “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
QUESTION: Wasn’t Paul born again when he wrote this?
ANSWER: Yes, he was! He himself was born again, but his flesh was not born again!
1st Corinthians 15:50 “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. . . .”
Psalm 34:2 “My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. . . . O magnify the Lord with me. . . .”
Luke 1:46-47 “And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”
Galatians 5:24-25 “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” [example follows:]
6:1-10 “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness: considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”
Flesh Tends to Trust Flesh
Jeremiah 17:5 “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm. . . .”
1st John 2:16-17 “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
There is Hope Only in the Lord
Philippians 3:20-21 “. . . Christ . . . shall change our vile body. . . .”