No one can be born again by the will of the flesh, insidious in its ability to take the eyes off of Jesus.

Job 34:15, “All flesh would perish together, And man would return to dust.” John 1:13, “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
No one will be born of the will of the flesh. It is impossible. For in the flesh are the senses of man that constantly need feeding. One may think of them as instinct gone amuck. Senses in the body are given attention either by pain or reward, feeding or starving, or consciously avoiding or obsessing on. Either way it is in being activated that they are kept alive and in charge. The greater truth is that the senses want to be activated; the lesser truth is how they are activated, which is by eating from the tree of good and evil. The desire for food (wish fulfillment or fantasy) will keep senses alive just as much as condemnation from eating too much. Look at the anorexic or observe the obese, and both scream “flesh in control.” An overwhelming desire for sex or the condemnation of looking at porno both scream that the flesh has regained control. Thinking of oneself as intelligent or stupid are both still flesh. Again, flesh is simply the senses in control. The east denies the flesh in an attempt to appease it and the west feeds it in an attempt to appease it. Of course, the west doesn’t have a choice in that nothing is enough to satisfy it, nor does the east really choose, since there is ultimately no way to withhold from the flesh. Nevertheless, the flesh is flesh and is hostile to God. Now, why does flesh desire to be in control? It is because flesh desires man to be flesh-centered. If man becomes Christ-centered, the senses of flesh would not be fed but would be sublimated to Christ. The flesh can never be more than a slave, and a rebellious one at that, for by the works of the flesh will no flesh be justified. No one can be born again by the will of the flesh, insidious in its ability to take the eyes off of Jesus. The flesh constantly screams for attention and has a thousand methods at its disposal to get it. Believers and non-believers alike have flesh. The saddest thing is to witness someone who has abandoned his will to flesh. Like a tick, flesh will feed until it explodes and destroys itself. I meet many Christians that struggle with the sin of homosexuality but are not homosexual, and if you were to meet them, you would never guess what their particular deed of the flesh is. However, meet someone who has, by choice, yielded to that area of the flesh, and it is evident in his or her body. Just a few minutes with that person reveal to what they have yielded their flesh. Now, why would God put us in flesh? I am not talking about a physical body, but the desires of the senses that reside in the physical body. Well, it has been said that the greatness of a man is not determined by what he does but rather by what he refuses to do. The man who feeds his flesh through adventure and the procession of praise for victory or the mockery for defeat is not as great a man as he who says, “Not my will but Thy will be done.” Having flesh and its senses allows man the unique opportunity of choice, of living on the earth but not being of the earth, of living to God and not to senses, and the discovery of something higher in this life, spiritual fulfillment. Flesh, or rather the call of the senses to stay alive, is a constant reminder that we must move our eyes to Jesus. It is another stronghold allowing us to stay focused. If God is for us, then who can be against us? Again, the flesh is never a friend; you may buffet it and make it a slave, but it will never be a friend. The flesh is a strange thing in that it cannot live on its own but must live on something that is living. It adapts to resemble the thing on which it lives, but it isn’t really a living thing. When man dies, the fleshly condition of the man dies. It is weird.

“Do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him.” Heb. 12:5 “But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world.” 1Cor11:32

Often after finishing the first few lectures in the Abiding Life seminar, I will be questioned as to whether I am not being too easy on sin. There is an interesting fear among many that unbelievers and believers may think that they are in some way going to get away with sin. They would like to hear me stress that God is going to judge them. However, there are inherent, biblical problems with emphasizing judgment. First, our sin judges us on the spot. Because we are held together by Christ, to invite something that is anti-Christ into our being is to invite immediate judgment; it is too late to warn people after they have sinned, for judgment comes with the sin.

Second, if any believe that the Abiding Life message is easy on sin, then we ask you to look to the cross. God is not easy on sin. His Son died because of sin. The popular term “cheap grace” must never be uttered. Grace is not cheap; it cost the Son. God is not easy on sin or man’s inner life that sins, for He crucified it. The cross proclaims to all that God is concerned with sin. To say that we need His life is an acknowledgment of our concern. I won’t listen to that accusation.

Third, the statement, “People must know that God will judge their sin,” is a statement of unbelief. God has already judged all men in Christ. To wait around for judgment is to wait for something that has already happened. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him” (Rom. 5:8,9.)” . . . that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them ..” (2 Cor. 5:19)

Fourth, the person who worries about sin’s not being preached has forgotten he came to Christ through the good news being preached. All men have sinned and have recognition of that fact. The idea that people are sinning because they are ignorant is not plausible. A woman recently related to me that once she and her boyfriend were converted, they “knew” without anyone telling them that they were sinning living together. Again, God did judge sin in the form of Jesus Christ, and because of this judgment we have received grace and mercy. Therefore, grace and mercy is our message.

What does this passage mean to you? Many are beating themselves up over their sin, so much so that I assume they live under the Law. It is obvious that they believe they are justified by behavior. Abraham understood the secret: without faith, the Law cannot be birthed.

Without first believing in God, Abraham would never have received the commands of God. I wouldn’t listen to any of the commands of the Hindu gods simply because I don’t believe they exist. Law without faith gives birth to sin. For example, if I believe in the love of God, knowing full well that all He tells me is for my good, I will easily and readily keep the command to bless those who curse me. It is simple. However, if I don’t believe in the love of God, I will read the command to bless those who curse, realize that I don’t do that, and not believing that it is for my good, I will find a way around the command. “I don’t have to love them, for they have gone too far.” The Law that was to bless me (if birthed in faith, in the love of God) now becomes the thing by which I am condemned; the Law, without faith, will always give birth to sin.

It is easy to see how Abraham was walking in the greater way of faith; even without the Law he was justified. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Sweeter words were never spoken. I determined long ago to spend my time in the love of God and not in the Law. As I have discovered the love of God, the command has been found to be easy. In fact, I refuse to listen to the Law unless it is in the context of faith in Him and His love.

The Law is good if birthed in faith, and moving deeply into the faith of Jesus brings a higher life than living in the Law, for faith in Jesus will lead to an expression of exactly Jesus. Amazing! Without the Law, sin is dead (Rm. 7:8). Sin counts on man’s boastful pride attempting to keep the Law without faith. This accounts for so much immorality in legalistic churches, where the emphasis is on performance and little or nothing is said of faith. A dating couple comes to the office, they have been sleeping together, and they are under great condemnation. Is the solution to have them stop? If they stop because of the command without believing in the Love of God that gave the command, they will continue to struggle and “slip up.” If they see the Love of God in the command and believe in Him who gives the command, the struggle will cease.

If a child is told that by working he will obtain a bicycle, and the child believes the parent, the work will be a great joy. But what if the child does not believe the parent? Will the work be done grudgingly or with joy? And working grudgingly is sin. If the child were never given the promise, the child wouldn’t be working grudgingly, and there would be no sin. In the end, that child would be better if he had never heard the promise. The problem is simple: the Law was given to men of faith, and men of unbelief have attempted to keep it–which they cannot do, for Law is birthed in faith—and the result is sin and condemnation. Now, Romans 7 becomes quite clear; the battle described is not the battle of the old man against the new man, nor a battle that exists before conversion or after conversion. It is describing an absolute battle between faith and Law, a battle that includes the unbeliever (going to hell) and the unbelieving believer (going to heaven.)

Security only comes in faith

At any time, either the unbeliever or the unbelieving believer can perceive, with the mind, the Law of God and want to keep it, for they know that it is good. Yet, because of lack of belief in God, the entire being cannot keep the Law, the person is divided, and the end result is sin and condemnation. Don’t think that the way out is recommitment, harder work, rededication, vows, knowledge, or strength; the way out is faith in Jesus. “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.” The Gentiles have pursued the promise by faith and gotten it, but the Jews sought by Law and lost it. “For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” Where do you begin in your struggle? Stop fighting the Law and start confessing Jesus with your mouth each day. Before you go to sleep, do not let your thoughts end at the Law you have not kept. Instead, let your thoughts end at Jesus, in whom you believe. This brings us to the final “hiccup!”

Security only comes in faith. Regardless of whether you are a Calvinist or an Armenian, to attempt to find security in works will only bring about insecurity. These two camps become one under the Law. Read Romans 7 and think of it differently. Paul is talking about living in the Law and how impossible it is to live so. The Law reveals what I didn’t know was sin, and then it doesn’t give me the power to obey. After the knowledge, I find myself doing the very thing I don’t want to do. This passage applies to all that live by the Law.