TEXT: Romans 7:1-25
INTRODUCTION: Many Christians have big problems with their bodies: what they do not want to do is what they keep doing and; what they would have loved to do, they just fail to do them. This is not a new problem (Rom 7: 19). How can this problem be solved? How do we deal with the flesh? May the Lord grant us victory as we study today in Jesus’ name Amen.
1. COOPERATING WITH THE FLESH WILL SPELL DISASTER.
Rom 7:18, 25; Rom 8:8, 13; Rom. 6:23; Rom 8:6; Gal. 6:8; Jam. 1:15, 5:20; Rom. 13:4.
There is no good thing in the flesh; all it wants to do is sin. Yet the wages of (result of, payment for) sin is death. Moreover, anyone who cooperates with the flesh will reap the fruits of corruption i.e. curses, sorrows, and problems. That is why he, who converts a sinner, saves a soul from death and many serious troubles.
2. DON’T TAKE IT EASY WITH THE FLESH: IT IS YOUR ENEMY!
Gal. 5:16; Col. 3:5; I Cor. 9:27; I Pet. 2:11; Rom. 13:14; Rom. 6:6; Gal. 5:24; II Tim. 2:22; I Thess. 4:3-5; Matt. 5:28; 18:8-9; John 15:5.
There are several advices the Bible gives us on how to deal with the flesh. These include (i) saying “no” to the demands of the flesh (ii) mortifying it (iii) keeping it under (iv) abstaining from its lusts, (v) making no provision to satisfy its lusts (vi) flee from dangerous zones and (vii) amputating offending members of the body.
3. REVIEW QUESTIONS:
- What is the mean of the word, “Flesh”?
- Why is there a constant conflict between what we don’t want to do and what the flesh wants to do?
- What does the Bible mean when it says, “mortify or kill the flesh”?
- What are the way(s) that the Bible prescribes to us, in which we can “kill” the flesh?
- What are the practical day-to-day ways we can “kill” the flesh?
Date: 10 Noverber 2010
