HOW TO DEAL WITH Mr. FLESH

 We have looked at the various stages of salvation - justification, consecration, separation from the world, sanctification, and glorification. For you to make any tangible progress in the sanctification exercise, you MUST first of all deal with “Mr. Flesh” in your life.Without sanctification you cannot maintain your holiness. And without holiness you cannot enter Heaven (Heb. 12:14).

 

So, today we want to look at “HOW TO DEAL WITH Mr. FLESH.” Galatians 5:24 says, “And they that are Christ's have crucified THE FLESH with the affections and lusts (its practices).”

 

What is Mr. Flesh? The flesh is a way of reasoning that is contrary to the Word of God. The “flesh” is “Self.” 

 

“Self” 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. His habits are hard to break, hard and unbending. 

 

He is not only stubborn, he is rebellious as well. He does not obey instructions; indeed he cannot. He opposes everything. He rebels against every instruction of the father. He struggles always against the will and wishes of the father. His ways are different from the ways of the father.

 

Chastening and discipline including 40 days dry fasting with prayer cannot help the matter. This description fits the nature of “Self or Mr. Flesh.” 

 

Look at an example of such a stubborn and rebellious son in the Scriptures: Deuteronomy 21:18-21 says, “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: 19 Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; 20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. 21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he dies: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.”

 

Here, we see the case of a hopeless situation. Every corrective measure has failed to yield any positive result. Every disciplinary action has been applied to no avail. The only option remaining is DEATH.

 

These parents came to the conclusion that their son is good for nothing. He is a problem to them, to the family and to the entire community. He were better dead than alive.

 

Even though he is still alive, they have removed him from their hearts, renounced him and have counted him as mere rubbish. He is a menace. Whatever help he has been rendering to them in the past they are willing to forfeit. They may have had some good useful qualities in him; he may have been of help at some point in the family, but his stubborn, untamable nature is so overwhelming that even his positive attributes are better discarded along with him completely.

 

This is the only way you will put evil away from among you. In Deuteronomy 21:21 God said, “…so shall thou put evil away from among you…”

 

Here is the truth: The Flesh and the Spirit are always at war with each other (Gal. 5:17). Both of them are struggling for who will control the mind. Why?

 

This is because whosoever controls the mind at any time, controls the physical body. It is what your mind says that will determine what your physical body will do (manifest).

 

Therefore, if the Holy Spirit is the one in control of your mind, then your physical body will do things in line with God’s Word.

 

But if “Mr. Flesh” is the one in control of your mind, your physical body will do things that contradict the Word of God.

 

How can you kill the deeds of the physical body? Romans 8:13 says, “…if ye live after The Flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body (Gal. 5:19-21), ye shall live” (KJV).

 

“Through the Spirit” means by strictly obeying the instructions of the Holy Spirit (the Word of God).

Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (KJV).

 

Chastisement and discipline cannot change “the flesh” from being a rebel against God, and against His will.

 

Romans 8:7-9 says, “Because the carnal mind (a mind controlled by Mr. Flesh) is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8 So then, they that are in ‘the flesh’ cannot please God.”

 

No matter what you do to “the flesh,” it remains stubborn and rebellious. How then can one deal with Mr. Flesh? You should not attempt to overcome “the Flesh” by making war against it through fasting and sanctions. The only way out is to kill “the Flesh.” And the only way you can kill “Mr. Flesh” is by taking it to the Cross. Once “Mr. flesh” is dead, you will be free from sin (Rom. 6:7).

 

I have good news for us: And the good news is that God the Father Himself has already done this for us in Christ. 

 

Everyone who has believed in Christ and accepted Him as personal Lord and Saviour belongs to Christ. “And they that are Christ’s… (Gal. 5:24)” refers to everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus. 

 

No matter what your present spiritual condition is, whether you are victorious or failing, your Flesh has been “crucified” on the Cross together with Jesus Christ. We were crucified with Christ! And since we were crucified the very moment Christ was crucified on the Cross, our Flesh also was crucified (Rom. 6:6). 

 

Conclusion: If you are firm on this point – that the Flesh has been crucified – you will be able to go on and deal with the practices of the body in your experience.

 

Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit.

 

Your friend, I. I. Madubunyi (Senior Pastor, HOG).