Text: Jn 3:6
- Intro:
- Your flesh and your spirit are two entirely different and distinct parts of your being.
- Your flesh had its natural birth from your biological mother and father.
- Your spirit had its supernatural birth from the Spirit of God.
- When you die, your flesh is headed for the grave; your spirit is headed to God.
- Christians get into real trouble when they blur the lines of distinction between the flesh and the spirit.
- They are inclined to put a spiritual twist on the flesh to make you think that they are spiritual when, in fact, they are carnal.
- This is carnal spirituality.
- The trouble is exacerbated when they can’t tell that they are pretending to be more spiritual than they are.
- It’s a deep-rooted problem when you can see it and they can’t.
- Here’s how you can tell when you are dealing with carnal spirituality:
- You accept visible “gods” as an aid to worship – Ex 32:1-6 –
- Notice that Aaron made an image, built an altar, they held a feast, they made mention of the LORD and they offered offerings.
- This is the flesh’s way of expressing its feigned spirituality.
- The spirit doesn’t require or accept or do any of this stuff.
- God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
- You regard noisy singing and dancing as godly worship – Ex 32:17-19 –
- The worship service out in the wilderness became more like a festival or a concert.
- It included loud, semi-intelligible music and dancing; and by the time the party was over, Aaron had made some of the people naked [v.25].
- Suffice it to say that as this form of worship continued, more and more flesh was displayed.
- Likewise in the contemporary services of churches today we are seeing the same trends.
- That’s how you know that this kind of worship is of the flesh and not of the Spirit.
- Though you feel something that you mistakenly believe is the Spirit of God.
- It’s just the flesh pretending to be spiritual.
- You give to ease your conscience before God and men – Acts 5:1-5 –
- Ananias and Sapphira gave a portion of the sale of some land to the apostles but they pretended that they were giving the total sale proceeds.
- They lied to the Holy Ghost and they lied to the church.
- Thus, their fleshly motive was revealed while they pretended to be as spiritual as Barnabas was [Acts 4:36-37].
- Often, giving is used as an expression of spirituality to impress God and men; and giving may not be spiritual at all.
- Just look how much money is given to charity by many people who aren’t even saved.
- You submit to a religious doctrine for righteousness – Gal 6:12-13 –
- There were preachers who came behind Paul in Galatia that constrained the people to be circumcised.
- They were trying to make a fair shew in their flesh to demonstrate their righteousness.
- This is just the flesh pretending to be spiritual.
- A typical scenario is the lofty spiritual claims of those who are members of cult religions.
- They attach an exclusive significance to baptism in their waters.
- Theirs is just a spiritual twist on the flesh.
- Sometimes there are those who point to their style of dress as a tribute to their spirituality.
- You apply spiritual reasons to justify fleshly pursuits – 1 Sam 15:3, 1 Sam 15:20-21 –
- Saul was commanded by the Lord to destroy Amalek and all of their possessions.
- They killed all the people, saved the king alive and saved the best of the spoil.
- When Samuel confronted Saul concerning their disobedience, Saul answered that they kept the best of the spoil “to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God.”
- That was a lie to make their disobedience appear to have been motivated by a higher spiritual desire.
- You hear this kind of excuse from young singles who date the lost or who are driven by lust contrary to the will of God.
- They’ll say things like, “I am bringing him/her to church” or “I’m just trying to get him/her saved.”
- That’s the spiritual twist on the flesh.
- You want the person; you use the spiritual jargon to simply justify your fleshly involvement.
- Another good example is the excuse modern rock church organizers use for their entertainment that they call worship.
- They say that they are doing this to win lost souls to Jesus and to reach the unchurched [of course].
- Conclusion:
- You know what you should do.
- You should get alone with God and become content with him.
- Then you should become so honest with him that you can see in yourself what he sees [Heb 4:12-13].
- And then you should check yourself every time your flesh pretends to be spiritual in its fig leaves of Adam’s righteousness [Gen 3:7-8].
- The only one you are fooling is yourself and anyone who is foolish enough to believe you.