The next component of holiness we want to look at is SELF-DENIAL. But before we can understand SELF-DENIAL, we need to understand the meaning of SELF first.So today, we want to understand the meaning of “Mr. SELF.” To make it to Heaven in the life to come, you MUST first of all deny “Self” in this present world.
How often should one deny himself and take up his cross? Daily!
In Luke 9:23 Jesus said, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
That is exactly the point! You must deny “Self” daily if you must walk in holiness.
One of the final instructions given to Christians in Jude is to hate even the garment spotted by “the flesh.”
“…22 And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” (Jude v 20-23).
In John 3 Jesus began to use the word “flesh.” Jesus said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (Jn. 3:6).
What is the flesh? Is it your physical body – the house in which your spirit-man lives? No! The flesh is a life-style.
The flesh is “Self.” The flesh is a way of reasoning that is contrary to the Word of God. It is the nature we inherited from our human parents. The flesh is that way of life handed down to us by our fore-fathers (1 Pet. 1:18).
In 1 Peter 1:18 “self” is described as “the worthless manner of life you received from your ancestors.”
Our flesh is whatever comes from within us – our desire, our opinion, all that aims at developing ourselves so that we may be seen and respected by others – all is of the flesh.
When you hear that a man is flesh, it means that all that a man inherits by birth, whatever it may be (whether good or bad) is of the flesh. Whatever is inherited by him at birth from conception is of the flesh.
The Bible uses the word “flesh” as a designation of man’s corrupted nature or life – the soul and the physical body.
“The Flesh” is like a stubborn and rebellious son. A stubborn and rebellious son means a son that is strong-willed, unyielding, and incorrigible. He delights in insisting on his own way. He is not only stubborn, he is rebellious as well. He vehemently opposes the truth. He rebels against every instruction of the father. He struggles always against the will and wishes of the father. He does not obey them; indeed he cannot. His ways are totally different from the ways of the father. Chastening and discipline including 40 days dry fasting with prayer cannot help the matter. “The flesh” is bent on having things his own way.
In John 3:6 Jesus declared, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
NIV calls the flesh “the sinful nature” or “the empty way of life handed down to you from your fore-fathers” (1 Pet. 1:18).
Good News Bible calls it “the human nature.” Remember that a person is born physically by human parents.
NEB calls it “the lower nature.”
NLT calls it “the human life.” Men can only reproduce human life. But the Holy Spirit gives new life from Heaven above (Jn. 3:6).
Others call the flesh “the carnal man.”
The Living Bible calls it “the impossible road to Heaven.”
Romans 8:3-8 calls it “the one who dwells within and who controls the mind and the physical body of a man to accomplish his own desires. ``
In Romans 6, “the flesh” is referred to as “the old man or the indwelling sin.”
We all inherited “the flesh” by birth: As soon as a child is born, he is born with that nature; he is born with the self-life.
That is why the Bible declares, “The wicked (unbelievers) are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. 4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; 5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely” (Ps. 58:3-5).
In Psalm 51:5 David said, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
The self-life is the nature of every man born of a woman. You don’t have to teach a child how to be wicked, or how to tell lies to cover up sin. It is in-built and it comes up quite naturally. “Self” is like a person that dwells within.
Where does “Self” dwell? “Self” dwells within the soul of man, essentially, in the mind.
What does it do? “The flesh” whispers, dictates, controls, enforces, insists, occupies and actually fights, but all within.
Galatians 5:16-18 reveals that “the flesh” has its own set desires. It ever seeks to lord it over the Holy Spirit that indwells the spirit-man of a believer.
“The flesh” is in constant rivalry and struggle with the Holy Spirit concerning who will control the soul of man, the soul being the battlefield (Gal. 5:17).
Galatians 5:17 says, “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”
What a man does or manifests actually depends on who gains control over his soul, the Holy Spirit or the flesh.
Fasting, praying, giving, preaching notwithstanding, John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh……; and “….they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8).
Why are you what you are? You are “what you are” because of “who you are.”
Why do you do the things you do? You do what you do because of “who you are – you are born of the flesh.”
Therefore, when you see certain actions, certain behaviours, in the life of somebody, you will easily know who is doing them, and it shows who is in control of that person’s life.
“Self, or the flesh,” is like a fruit bearing tree. It brings forth its fruit in season. Even if there is no fruit on it now, when the season comes, it brings forth its fruit without struggles. The fruit of the flesh is seen in Galatians 5:19-21.
The flesh grows naturally and manifests with little or no effort. Contrarily, you need to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit.
“The flesh” is totally different from Christ’s way of life. For instance, someone may talk to you in a very harsh way. Then something says within you that the way that person talked to you is not good. Why should he speak to a person of your caliber like that? That immediately springs up a protest within you. That is “Mr. Self,” reminding you of who you are, your achievements, your personality, and even your position in the society.
Conclusion: “The flesh” or the “self-life” is therefore, an empty way of life, a worthless manner of life, an impossible road to Heaven. It is totally different from Christ’s way of life.
- Your friend, I. I. Madubunyi (Senior Pastor, HOG) 6th June, 2021
No comments:
Post a Comment