Friday, October 22, 2010

"Walk not after the flesh" Notes from Pastor Len's message

"Walk not after the flesh" Notes from Pastor Len's message


These are notes from a message I listen to that my husband did on Romans 8:1-6. (Partial notes)

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh...

Who walk not after the flesh...

Flesh: Depending on ones personal strength or great religious efforts in order to overcome sin. We don’t try to overcome sin in our own power. We do not have any power in ourselves. This is why Christians are failing today.

2 Corinthians 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)...

The weapon: The Blood of Jesus, the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus, the word of God, the name of Jesus, all of it ties into the Cross.

The weapons of the believer’s warfare comes from the Cross.

Great religious efforts will not overcome sin. Great religious efforts will not pull us back from condemnation. What do you mean by that? Going to church, in and of itself. Reading the bible, in and of itself. Having a prayer life, in and of itself. Giving money to the work of God, in and of itself. None of these things will guarantee you victory over sin. Fasting, as wonderful and needed as it is. Prayer, as wonderful and needed as it is.

All of those things I just mentioned are good things. And as a Christian you should and you will do them. But not to get victory over sin. You will do them because victory has already been won for you by Jesus Christ. And that will bring the Holy Spirit into your life and the Holy Spirit will always lead you to pay your tithes. The Holy Spirit will always lead you to not forsake the assembly of yourselves together with the Body of Believers. The Holy Spirit will lead you into obedience so you will pay your tithes, you will go to church, and you will have a prayer life. The Holy Spirit will birth in you a prayer life. You will be a man and women of the word of God because the Holy Spirit will take you to the word, time and time again. The Holy Spirit will convict you when you don’t put time in the word. He will convict you when you are not doing right.

But we don’t do those things to be over-comers. In Christ we are over-comers.

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

The Holy Spirit will work exclusively within the confines of the Finished work of Christ. Our faith in that finished work, our faith in the Cross of Christ guarantees the help of the Holy Spirit and that guarantees us the victory.

If the believer attempts to live for God by any manner other than faith in Christ and the Cross that person is doomed to failure.

God help us today to heed your warnings. God is Holy and He tells us to be Holy. But how we do that is where we run in to problems. We try to do that so often through the energy and efforts of self. We try to walk after the flesh to become holy and it guarantees us failure every time. We will fail, we will fall short in the efforts of self. Because there is no power. There is only human power, which satan has power over, BUT the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is more powerful than the Law of sin and death.

So when we properly place our faith in what Jesus did for us at Calvary, realizing He alone tread the wine press, Jesus alone is powerful to defeat sin and He did it legally. He hung on the Cross and became our sacrifice, our substitute, we should have been on that Cross. Praise God He was our substitute.

We don’t walk after the flesh... We place our faith in what Jesus did at the Cross and Praise God that gives us the help of the Holy Spirit and that gives us victory.


"Walk not after the flesh" PT 2 Notes from Pastor Len's message


These are notes from a message I listen to that my husband did on Romans 8:1-6. (Partial notes)


Why did Jesus come?


Now there is a question that the modern church needs to ask itself today. Jesus did not come to perform miracles alone. As wonderful and as needed as that is. Jesus came to atone for sin and to destroy the power of sin. And to save and sanctify the victims of sin. The Lamb of God came, the Savor came, not to start a new fad or a new gimmick. He did not say show me the money and I will save your soul. Jesus came to atone for sin and to destroy sins power. And to save and sanctify the victims of sin. And that is You and that is me today. Praise God for Jesus Christ.


Romans 8:3-4 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:...

He destroyed the power of sin by giving His perfect body as a sacrifice for sin. This made it possible for sin to be defeated in our flesh. It was all through the Cross. It was all for us. He condemned sin in the Flesh. Because of what He did in His flesh we can have victory in our flesh.

The work of Christ on the Cross can do what our own efforts and abilities could never do. We could never do it in our strength. But Jesus did it. He did not do it for himself, He did it all for you.

There are many gospels out there today. The church needs to come back to the truth of the bible, Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.

When we understand that all things come by & from God to us by the means of the Cross. We are to make the Cross the object of our faith and then the Holy Spirit works mighty in us. Praise God!!

No true Christian wants to do the wrong thing or to sin.

Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

What is carnally minded? It is thinking that we can achieve apart from the help of the Holy Spirit. When we think that we can accomplish these great victories apart from the help of the Holy Spirit, we are carnally minded. When we think we are strong enough to make it on our own, we are carnally minded. When we think that we have got to perform and jump through hoops to be accepted to God, we are carnally minded. Carnally minded is more than watching too much television or something like that. Carnally minded is when you try to go outside the prescribed order and that is Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.

We are saved because Jesus hung on a Cross.

So As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him...Colossians 2:6


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