I'm Filing For Divorce

I’M FILING FOR DIVORCE

GALATIONS 5:16-17, 19-21

16: THIS I SAY THEN, WALK IN THE SPIRIT, AND YE SHALL NOT FULFIL THE LUST OF FLESH.

17: 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.

19: NOW THE WORKS OF THE FLESH ARE MANIFEST, WHICH ARE THESE; ADULTERY, FORNIFICATION, UNCLEANNESS, LASCIVIOUSNESS,

20: IDOLATRY, WITCHCRAFT, HATRED, VARIANCE, EMULATIONS, WRATH, STRIFE, SEDITIONS, HERESIES,

21: ENVYINGS, MURDERS, DRUNKENESS, REVILLINGS, AND SUCH LIKE: OF THE WHICH I TELL YOU BEFORE, AS I HAVE ALSO TOLD YOU IN THE TIME PAST, THAT THEY WHICH DO SUCH THINGS SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD. (PAUSE)

AS OUTLINED IN THE TEXT, THE ACTS OF THE SINFUL NATURE ARE OBVIOUS…

WE FIND HERE THAT PAUL HAS TAKEN SOMEWHAT OF A MORE SERIOUS TONE WITH THE GALATIANS THAN HE HAS WITH THE OTHER CHURCHES, DUE TO THE FACT THAT THEY HAVE BEGAN TO REGRESS INTO WHAT THEY WERE, AFTER ALL HIS TEACHINGS AND PREACHING.

AND, I WANT TO PUT YOU ON NOTICE THAT THOSE WHO LIVE BY THE STANDARDS OUTLINED IN THE TEXT WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD, SO I STOPPED BY THIS MORNING TO INFORM YOU THAT, I’M FILING FOR DIVORCE.

I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT DIVORCE IN THE SECULAR SENSE, BUT RATHER THE SPIRITUAL, FOR IN THIS 21ST CENTURY WE HAVE TAKEN ON THE IDEOLOGY OF OUR FOREFATHERS AND WE HAVE BEGUN TO EQUIVOCATE, VACILLATE, AND HESITATE WHEN IT COMES TO GOD’S LAW AS SET FORTH IN THE BEGINNING, FOR WE HAVE CONFORMED TO THE CARES OF THIS WORLD

I WANT TO FOCUS THIS MORNING, IF YOU WILL, ON WHAT IT MEANS TO BE LIKE CHRIST, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME THAT WE ARE MADE IN HIS IMAGE AND AFTER HIS LIKENESS SO THERE SHOULD BE SOMETHING IN US THAT RESEMBLES HIM TO LET OTHERS KNOW WE ARE HIS CHILDREN AND THAT HE ABIDES IN US, OR THAT HE AT LEAST DROPS BY EVERY NOWAND THEN.

AND THAT’S A GOOD THING, BUT I HAVE DISCOVERED, THAT THE MAJOR PROBLEM THAT WE HAVE IN BEING LIKE CHRIST IS THAT THING, THE KING JAMES VERSION CALLS THE FLESH,

THAT SELF,

THAT SINFUL NATURE THAT KEEPS ON GETTING IN THE WAY

JESUS SAID IF ANY MAN WOULD COME AFTER ME…MEANING IF ANY MAN WANTS TO BE A DISCIPLE OF MINE, LET HIM FIRST DENY HIMSELF

MEANING HIS FLESH, THAT SINFUL NATURE, AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS AND FOLLOW ME.

SO WHAT IS THIS FLESH?

WE MISTAKENLY BELIEVE THE FLESH HAS TO DO WITH OUR FLESH AND BONES, BUT THAT’S NOT REALLY WHAT THE FLESH IS. THE FLESH IS THAT SINFUL NATURE

THE BIBLE CALLS IT THAT CARNAL MIND OR THE CARNAL MAN, THE WORLDLY MAN

IN OTHER WORDS, YOUR FLESH, OR YOUR SINFUL NATURE IS WHO YOU WERE BEFORE YOU GOT SAVED

NATURE, SIMPLY MEANS WHO YOU ARE, AND WHAT YOU WOULD DO OUTSIDE THE INFLUENCE OF GOD OR SATAN…IN OTHER WORDS, IF SATAN DIDN’T BOTHER YOU AND IF GOD DIDN’T BOTHER YOU – YOU HAVE A NATURE –

A NATURAL TENDENCY THAT RISES TO THE SURFACE WHEN NO ONE IS AROUND OR INFLUENCING YOU…IT’S WHAT YOU WOULD DO ANYHOW.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO TEACH A DOG HOW TO BARK, DOGS BARK BY NATURE.

PIGS LIKE SLOP BY NATURE

BIRDS FLY BY NATURE. IT’S JUST INNATE IN THEM.

SO THE FLESH IS YOUR SINFUL NATURE, AND YOU ARE BORN WITH IT AND NO MATTER HOW PERFECT YOU THINK YOU ARE, THE WORD SAYS WE ALL HAVE SINNED AND COME SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD

NOBODY HAS TO TEACH YOU HOW TO SIN BECAUSE IT COMES NATURAL.

YOUR KIDS DIDN’T GO TO KINDERGARTEN WHERE THEY WERE TAUGHT HOW TO LIE, STEAL AND DISOBEY YOU; IT’S IN THEIR NATURE. TO BORROW A CLICHE, THEY’RE JUST NAUGHTY BY NATURE.

THE APOSTLE PAUL SAYS IN ROMANS 7:18-20…FOR I KNOW THAT IN ME, (THAT’S IN MY FLESH), DWELLS NO GOOD THING: FOR TO WILL IS PRESENT WITH ME; BUT HOW TO PERFORM WHAT IS GOOD I DON’T FIND.

FOR THE GOOD THAT I WILL TO DO, I DON’T DO; BUT THE EVIL WHICH I WOULD NOT, THAT I DO.

NOW IF I DO WHAT I WILL NOT TO DO, IT IS NO LONGER I WHO DO IT, BUT SIN THAT DWELLS IN ME.

AND THAT TELLS ME THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A MORALLY GOOD PERSON FOR WHEN I LOOK AT ME THROUGH THE EYES OF CHRIST I COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT IN MY FLESH DWELLS NO GOOD THING.

AND THAT BRINGS ME TO THE REALIZATION THAT THE FLESH IS CRAZY. MAYBE NOT YOUR’S BUT MINE IS.

THE FLESH WILL DRINK ALL NIGHT LONG

MAKE YOUACT A COMPLETE FOOL