It is not possible to scare people into heaven. It is never wrong to teach about hell, but threats will not get anyone saved. It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance (Rom 2:4), not His severity. So many people seem to think that it is their personal responsibility to charge every sinner with every sin that they can. That is not the job of the one who is bringing the message of reconciliation. It is the Holy Spirit who prepares the soil for the seed to be sown by the evangelist. When a lost person is charged and judged by a Christian, it only builds rebellion in his heart, but when a man is convicted by the Holy Spirit, he immediately seeks relief. Of course, he does not know that he is seeking anything until he finds the relief he is seeking, but he is nevertheless looking for an escape from the conviction and judgment that weighs upon his soul. When a heavily-burdened soul comes to a Christian for answers after the Holy Spirit has convicted him of sin, the Christian witness must respond with the word of reconciliation (see 2 Cor 5:18-21).

Christ dealt compassionately with every sinner who came to Him. But the self-righteous Pharisees were greeted with, “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Brood of vipers...” (Mt 23:13-36). The Christian who has lost sight of his own sin is not capable of ministering the word of reconciliation to anyone, for he will not be compassionate, but judgmental. And such judgment is ever and always fruitless.      

(Gal. 5:16-18)

The opening verse in the “Perspectives” article tells us that we have been called to liberty. What a struggle it is sometimes to discern the difference between liberty and license. Oh, it is not difficult, but the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, so that we sometimes rationalize things and find ourselves in situations that we cannot reconcile in our own minds. What the prophet Jeremiah said of the human heart is of vast significance in this context. He said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (17:9). The devil is wilier than any man, and is able through craftiness to deceive us. No one who is truly born again wants to be wrapped around the axle with the weeds of sinfulness, but each of us endures periods when that is the case. For some, the sin is overt, and everyone sees and knows every bad thing about them. For others, the sins are covert, and others look upon those Christians and think that they are above the rest, that they do not sin to the same extent as those whose sins are overt. “For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Rom 3:22b-23). James said the same thing, but differently: “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (2:10).

There is something about sin that we as human beings find difficult to grasp. We look at sin and judge it by its nature. If we really understood the nature of sin, we would not judge it the way we do. We tend to view one sin as worse than another sin. Adultery is worse than a little white lie. Drunkenness or drug abuse is worse than envying your neighbor. That sort of thing. We grade sins. There are Christian groups that go so far as to declare that some sins are not as bad as others, classifying them as either venial or mortal; the difference being that the former will be purged by temporary fires of judgment after death, whereas the latter will bring about eternal punishment. But the Scriptures say that if you only offend in a single point, not delineating any “degree” of sin, you are guilty of every sin under the law. What is a person to think? What is he to believe? There is wisdom in adhering to the truths as presented in the Scriptures.

M.R. DeHaan once wrote, “The law condemns the best man; grace saves the worst man.” The sin question was settled at Calvary. Every sin must bear its judgment, and every sin has already done so, in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those of us who have believed the gospel and have been reborn understand the monumental impact of that truth. Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (Jn 8:32). Paul tells us what it is that we have been freed from: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom 8:2). There is no condemnation that applies in any way to the child of God (cp Rom 8:1).

The issue for the Christian is not morality or goodness. The real issue that should concern us is fruitful service. God has already seen, forgiven and forgotten even those sins that we have not yet committed, so that we need not be concerned about the issue of sin. When we walk in the Spirit, we do not fulfill the lust of the flesh, and we are not under the Mosaic Law. And when we walk in the flesh, we do those things that are contrary to the will of God. Those who fear licentiousness do not understand the essential nature of the reborn Christian. There is a genuine hunger in the spirit of every Christian for prayer, study and service to God. That reborn nature cannot sin, because it is born of the seed of God, and sin is impossible for it. The old nature can do nothing but sin.

The warfare between the two natures is constant. Unrelenting. Every war is composed of battles won and battles lost. Sometimes we walk in the Spirit and sometimes we walk in the flesh. When we walk in the flesh, we quickly become discouraged, troubled, beset by many worries and fears, and we are completely unable to serve God. When we walk in the Spirit, we find contentment and peace, security, grace to help in time of need. What we find when we walk in the flesh are the works of the flesh, and what we find when we walk in the Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit. Let us turn again to the Apostle Paul and let him tell us what the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit are:

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such there is no law.

(Gal 5:19-23).

It is interesting to note that when we walk in the flesh, it is work, but when we walk in the Spirit, it is fruit. That is, when we walk in the flesh, we are engaged in a constant struggle against all of the ramifications of all the things that we do that get us in trouble. When we walk in the Spirit, we are satisfied and refreshed.

Those who preach a doctrine of salvation by works suggest that if a Christian does the things delineated in the works of the flesh, he either is not saved or is in danger of losing his salvation. Those who adhere to salvation by grace, through faith, understand that Paul is here discussing the two separate natures, as even the context plainly shows. The fact is, every Christian does many of the works of the flesh during the course of his life. But he also bears many of the fruits of the Spirit. Actually, that is not technically correct. Notice that, when describing the works of the flesh, Paul says that “they are…” When he is describing the fruit of the Spirit, it is singular, “is.” That is, there are many different things that one does when he is in the flesh, but when he is in the Spirit, all of the elements of that fruit are his.

Notice also that the works of the flesh are, individually, things that are done by the person walking therein. On the other hand, the fruit of the Spirit are conditions in which we find ourselves. They are not deeds, but attributes. They become elements of our character. The fruit of the Spirit is not a thing which we can somehow apply to ourselves, but it is the character that the Holy Spirit Himself applies to us when our minds and hearts are properly directed Godward. One cannot try to be spiritual. He either is spiritual or he is carnal. It is impossible to be a little bit spiritual. Neither can one do the works of the Spirit when he is himself walking in the flesh.

Oh, it is a struggle. There are times in the life of every Christian when he finds it all but impossible to walk spiritually. One may be walking in a spiritual manner when some crisis arises and he finds himself worried, angry, jealous, resentful or (the worst) self-sufficient. Or perhaps there is some persistent sin that intervenes, some temptation that he simply cannot find the spiritual strength to resist. Or maybe he simply does not seek that strength where it may be found, and he finds himself caught up in the very things that, when he is spiritual, he wants desperately to avoid. We are not sinners because we sin. Rather, we sin because we are sinners.

People who have not known the grace of God but for a short time might have a problem with licentiousness, but those who have some faithful years under their belts, so to speak, do not make the mistake of rationalizing liberty into license. Still, even the most mature Christians find themselves bound in cords of sin from time to time, with no way of reconciling their actions in their own minds. Hear the words of the Apostle Paul:

For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.

If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good (because the law condemns the thing that Paul does not want to do—Ed. note).

But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

(Rom 7:15-25)

The Apostle John said, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 Jn 1:8-10).

The struggle that Paul endured is one that lies heavily upon the heart of every faithful Christian, for what John said is true. We do continue to be sinners after we are saved. Those who say otherwise are deceived themselves. They deceive themselves so that they can sit in judgment of others. But what did Paul say? “Therefore, you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things” (Rom 2:1). Every Christian whose faith is in God and not in himself recognizes the sin that is in him, struggles with it the same way that Paul did, confesses it before God, and is cleansed. Does that mean that he ceases to sin? Hardly. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing? No, he will continue to be a sinner as long as he lives, this side of the rapture.

Is God angry with Christians who sin? Is chastening for the sake of venting God’s anger toward us? The answer to both questions is a resounding, “No!” How can God be angry over that which He has already lovingly forgiven? How can He punish anyone for sins that have been judged and propitiated at Calvary? God is grieved when we fall into sin, but He is not angry. He chastens us, not because He seeks to punish, but because He seeks to get our attention and bring us back into fellowship with Him.

John said, “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God” (1 Jn 3:9). But John said just two chapters earlier that if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. How do we reconcile these seemingly contradictory statements? Oh, it is a simple thing indeed!

The old man, that sinful nature with which we were born, remains in us, active, though it is judicially dead, crucified with Christ. It is dead to God, and when God deals with us at all, it is with that new man, the one born of God’s seed, that cannot sin. When we walk in the flesh, we walk in that old man, the one who can only sin. When we walk in the Spirit, we walk in the new man, the one who cannot sin. When we walk in the flesh, we turn our backs on that new man, and God is grieved because He desires constant fellowship with us. Whether through chastening or through an innate desire to have fellowship with God, when we confess our sin before Him, God always and ever and immediately forgives us and restores us to complete fellowship with Himself. If we sin today and confess it tonight, He forgives and restores immediately. If we do the same thing tomorrow, and confess and seek Him, He again restores us. “Give us today our daily bread.”

The warfare between the two natures is constant. It never ceases. It is not as if the devil is not tempting us, or as if we are not being tempted by our own pride and lusts, even while we are walking in the Spirit. Countless times daily are we tempted, and sometimes we surrender to the temptation and sometimes we find strength in the Lord to resist the temptation. Big things and little things; in many ways daily do we win and lose.

The biggest problem that most Christians have is their reaction to the outcome of the myriad little battles that occur in them daily. That is, when they find themselves in the flesh, they suppose that God must be angry with them. They judge themselves to have failed, and they become discouraged. Oh, what subtlety the devil employs in his shameful trickery! He wants us to be discouraged every time we sin. He wants us to be so ashamed that we cannot turn to God. He wants us to believe that we are worthless sinners, who can be of no practical use to a righteous God who hates sin.

Ah, four times do the Scriptures say, “The just shall live by faith” (Hab 2:4; Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38). In Habakkuk, the issue is the fact that man cannot adjust his mind to the reasonings of God. The prophet could not understand how a just and righteous God could use wicked Babylon to judge His people. God’s response was that there are things that you cannot understand, but you must trust that God knows what He is doing. God was telling Habakkuk that His people must live their lives trusting God’s sovereignty.

In Romans, the issue is eternal life, not temporal life as with Habakkuk. Paul explains that a righteous God imputes righteousness to those who believe the Gospel. The just shall live (eternally) by faith.

In Galatians, the issue is temporal righteousness. Paul is explaining that the works of the law cannot justify anyone, and that all are left with the only alternative of living by faith. The emphasis is on faith versus works in this passage.

In Hebrews, the emphasis is again on faith; however, it is not about the sinner as much as it is about the work that Christ did at Calvary. It is about the sufficiency of that work, as contrasted with the sacrifices made under the law. The context makes clear that we live our lives faithfully awaiting that blessed hope, the rapture of the Church.

Thus, we see that we are to live our lives trusting God to sovereignly order our lives according to His purposes, even though we may not understand all that He does, or even all that we do. We are granted eternal life because we believe the Gospel. We are not to trust in our own goodness, but in the righteousness imputed to us by a gracious God. And we are to trust explicitly in the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary, even as we await the sound of the trumpet and the shout of our Groom to meet Him in the air. The just shall live by faith in every area of his life, acknowledging God therein (see Ps 3:5-6), trusting Him to direct our paths, to supply our righteousness, to forgive our sins on a daily (even continuous) basis (He has already done so, millennia ago), and not being burdened by an evil conscience but having our hearts sprinkled with the blood of the Lamb, looking to the Author of our salvation and not to ourselves.

Sin will have a place in our temporal lives as long as we inhabit this sinful flesh, but we need not become so bedeviled that we fear that we can no longer turn to our heavenly Father with eyes of faith, knowing that He knows precisely why the evil that is in our lives is there. His purposes will be accomplished for our good, though we (and not God) remain responsible for the choices that we make, whether good or bad. When the Bible tells us that the just shall live by faith, what it is saying is that we cannot look to ourselves to be faithful to God, but that He is always faithful to Himself and to His Word, so that we rest in the blessed assurance that His grace is ever and always sufficient for us and for our needs.

There are times when we walk in the Spirit and there are times when we walk in the flesh. Sometimes those times are brief, and sometimes they are for extended periods. Even when we are caught up in some persistent sin, we may trust that God has allowed us to make the choices that we have made in order to accomplish some purpose in us. Often, it is discovered after the fact that we have chosen to walk in sin and darkness, but that God has used the hard and bitter lessons that sprang from that sin to make us more compassionate toward others, less judgmental, and more effective in our ministries. Shall we then sin that good may come? As Paul said, “God forbid!”

Christians do not have license to sin, but every Christian certainly shall sin. If the eminent Apostle Paul could call himself a wretched sinner, then no Christian may reasonably expect to live a sinless life this side of the grave or the rapture. We have liberty. We are freed from the condemnation of the law. And when we do find ourselves trapped in sin, we can turn to God with every confidence that He will extricate us from it. But we must also remember that God’s eternity is not the same as our temporal existence, and His purposes may be to let us fail in some things so that our faith will be in Him and not in ourselves. If sin in our lives does nothing else, it humbles us and brings us to our heavenly Father with some real appreciation for His righteousness, and for the righteousness that He imputes to us.

The Spirit and the flesh are inimical to one another. We have both natures in us. When we walk in the Spirit, we are able to rejoice and praise our God for the wonderful works He accomplishes in us. When we walk in the flesh, our hearts are burdened and our lives are miserable. Even then, however, we are to live by faith. We are to seek God daily in prayer and in His Word, and He will, in His own time, direct our paths to the back side of the darkness, bringing us at last back into the glorious light of His mercy and His grace. Daily, every morning, every noontime, every evening, may every Christian quietly remind himself that the just shall live by faith!          

Those of us who have been around for a few years probably still remember the saying that was on so many tee shirts and bumper stickers: “The devil made me do it.” And another that became quite popular: “If it feels good, do it.” These sayings and many others are used by some in a joking way. This is no joke. I want to assure you that Satan cannot control the body or the actions of a Christian. But he can influence his actions. 1 John 4:4 says, “Ye are of God, little children and have overcome them, (the antichrists) because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”

We know that, from the time Lucifer (Satan) was cast out of heaven, he has been fighting against God and all that belongs to God. He (Satan) knows he cannot possess or own the believer, but he will do everything in his power to cause the believer to stumble, in hope that it will cause someone else not to become a believer because he sees believers who are just as sinful and live the same as he does. Thus, the battle between the flesh (the Adamic nature) and the Spirit (the divine nature — cp 2 Pet 1: 4 and 1 Jn 3:9 ) rages within us. We who are Christians will fight this war until our Savior calls us to the judgment seat. As in any war, victory does not come easily. The battle is in our faces, to be waged every hour of every day.

The theme of Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians is the Church, Christ’s body (“church” meaning “those belonging to God”). Dr. C. I. Scofield writes, in the introduction to the Epistle to the Ephesians in his study Bible: “Essentially three lines of truth make up this Epistle: (1) The Christian’s exalted position through grace; (2) the truth concerning the body of Christ; and (3) a life lived in accordance with that position.”

This article focuses upon how the Spirit can and does overcome the flesh. Ephesians 4: 11-12 tells us: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfection of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (KJV).

Yes, God gifted men in the Church with these offices “for the perfecting of the Saints.” The NKJV uses the word “equipping” in place of “perfecting.” Both of these words carry the meaning: “a fitting out of, or preparing fully.” The context proves that God gifted the Church with men with these gifts in order to equip us to do the work of our personal ministries, so that we may each do our individual parts to edify, or to build up, the body of Christ. Every Christian has a responsibility to so equip himself, through the teachings of the Church, that he is effectively able to minister the Word of God to a lost world.

This is an area where the flesh often arouses itself and makes war with the Spirit, in order to cause confusion among God’s people. For example, God does not give vast diversities of interpretations of His Word. It merely means what it says. Yet, the devil has introduced the leaven of false doctrine everywhere in the professing church. Fleshly men write books and preach sermons from pulpits, on radio and on television, that are as far from the truth as the east is from the west, which is exactly how far God has separated our sins from us by His grace. Uneducated Christians are listening to these charlatans with itching ears. Why do some people stay up at night reading books written by godless man, yet will never crack the Bible and read it? The flesh says that the worldly book is easy to understand, and the Bible is too hard to understand. The Bible is at once both the simplest and the most complicated Book ever written. Only the Spirit of God discerns it.

Because of this, instead of having a church that is mature and equipped, we have a church that is composed of “children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive.” (Eph. 4:24) When we follow after the flesh, strife and confusion pervade the body, and there is no building up of the church but a relentless tearing down. When we walk in the flesh we seek to destroy the work of God.

There are, however, many ways that the Spirit can overpower the flesh in our daily walk. Remember, first of all, that we are God’s dear children (Eph 5:1). We must walk in love, (v.2). We know that “God is Love” and, as we understand it, when one becomes a child of God, the Holy Spirit indwells that person. The Holy Spirit is God in the third Person. That means that the love of God is in us, so should we walk in love toward God and our fellow man.

Ephesians 4: 3-6 tells us things that we must avoid if we are to walk in the Spirit. Verse eight says, “But now are ye light in the Lord; walk as children of light.” We know that Jesus is the Light of the World and that His light shines through us. The flesh says, “O.K. you are saved, a child of God, and that is all that matters.” The Holy Spirit says, “Ye are the light of the world, so ought ye to walk.” Verse eleven tells us that we should have no fellowship with the works of darkness but rather reprove them. We who are children have a responsibility to “reprove” them. The word means to expose or to make known. If we are God’s dear children and we are the light of the world, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we are to make known the works of the flesh. We are to reprove them, but not approve them. This does not mean standing on the street corner with a sign, but individual ministry to the lost. The Holy Spirit convicts, we confirm their guilt, and present the word of reconciliation.

Awake, Christians! Get up and get busy. The excuse, “the devil made me do it,” doesn’t solve the problems that confront the Christian in the performance of his ministry when he is walking in darkness. Here, at the end of the Age, it is time that we let the Spirit of Light control us. Christ gives us that light by which we may see our right paths, and that light which we may share with those whose minds are darkened by the Holy Spirit’s conviction of some sin in their lives. Verse fifteen says that we are to “walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.” Circumspectly means walking very carefully, as one who tests the ground with every step. It means to walk around the pitfalls and pratfalls of the flesh. Verse sixteen says that we are to “redeem the time.” This we do as we serve God as ambassadors in the world. We preach the word of reconciliation to the lost, and we serve God in our own individual ministries, laying up treasure in heaven as our eyes look eagerly toward that blessed hope. Let us redeem what little time may be left! Attend church. Preach the Word. Be diligent till He comes!     

Earth was created to reflect the glory of heaven, the glory of God. Today, and for at least seven more years, the earth is cursed. When Adam and Eve sinned, the whole earth was cursed. Jesus will lift that curse when He returns to establish His kingdom, but for now, the earth remains an accursed place, but dimly reflecting God’s glory through the curse. Every beautiful sunset is God’s glory shining through the curse. The beauty of a flower is the muted glory of God. What glories shall we see in that Day! Thy Kingdom come! Oh! To see the glory of our God!

John says that there is nothing at all in the world except the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1 Jn 2:16). While we are in the world, we are not of the world (Jn 15: 18-19). When our hearts and mind turn from the things of the Spirit to the things of the world, we begin at once to peer into great and deep darkness (Mt 6: 23), and we immediately become unfruitful in our works and fearful in our lives. Our eternal estate is not Earth, but heaven, and there should our minds and hearts find their focus and their rest.

Mike Spitzer