5 Reasons Why You Need To Put To Death The Deeds Of The Flesh & Live By The Spirit!
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The Bible admonishes us in Romans 8:13 to put to death the deeds of the sinful flesh by the Holy Spirit so that we might truly live. In other words, true life in the Spirit can only happen when true death happens to the lifestyle of the sinful flesh. Before one can live the other must die.
Jesus put it this way in Luke 9:23,24:
“And he was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.” NASB
Again we see this dying in order to live. Life in Christ and life in the Spirit cannot fully happen until their is a death to self and to the sinful deeds of the flesh. And according to Jesus this dying must be a daily activity. It is not something a Christian does once and he’s all good to go. No! On the contrary. Death to the sinful deeds of the flesh is something that needs to happen on a day by day basis and sometimes on a moment by moment basis.
Today we are going to look at a story of Peter and Jesus that will give us 5 reasons why this daily dying is so very important. This story is found in Matthew 16:13-23. It says,
“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. ‘But what about you?” he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!’. Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (NIV)
From this story we can learn 5 important things about why a Christian should daily put to death the deeds of the sinful flesh and begin to walk in the Spirit of God. Because:
A Christian Can Transition From Walking In The Spirit To Living By The Deeds Of The Sinful Flesh Very Quickly And Without Noticing It.
Did you notice how this story started off? It started off with Jesus asking a couple of questions about who do people says that Jesus is. Then Jesus got very specific and personal with a second question. He ask: “Who do you say I am?”
In that moment Peter filled with the Holy Spirit answered the question, “You are the Christ the Son of the living God.” And it was the corrected answer! And Jesus explained how it was that Peter was able to come up with the right answer. Jesus said it was because God had revealed the answer to Him and that Peter hadn’t learned it from any man.
You see God the Father through the working of the Holy Spirit made known to Peter who Jesus really was. At that very moment Peter was in the Spirit, filled with the Spirit or understanding the identity of Jesus because of the Spirit.
But then Jesus begins to explain all that was going to happen once they get into Jerusalem. He shared that he was necessary for Him (Jesus) to suffer many things, be killed and then be raise back to life again on the third day.
Why was Jesus telling his disciple these things? Maybe it was to prepare them for what was about to happen; maybe Jesus felt that since Peter had to nicely answered the question about His identity that the disciples were ready to hear more or maybe it was a combination of both of these things and others all combined. But is note worthy is how Peter responded to this disturbing news.
Peter takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke Jesus! Really? Did Peter really feel that he had the right or maybe status to rebuke Jesus? Who knows but that’s what Peter did and Jesus quickly and powerfully corrects Peter for doing it.
Here’s the point I’m trying to make. One moment Peter is walking in the Spirit and then minutes later Peter is now walking in the deeds of the sinful flesh. It happened that quick! In just minutes.
The need for being vigilant in daily crucifying the deeds of the flesh because we can move very quickly from walking in the Spirit to walking in the flesh and not even know we made the transition.
Walking In The Deeds Of The Sinful Flesh Can Cause You To Start Rebuking Christ.
Did you noticed that once Peter moved from walking in the Spirit to walking in the deeds of the flesh the first thing he did was to pull Jesus off to the side and “rebuke” Jesus. That’s right the Bible said Peter rebuked Jesus!
Now before you get to far onto you holy horse and proudly declare that you would never do anything like that let me ask you some self examining questions:
A: Have you ever complained to God about the some disappointing experience in your life?
B: Have you ever argued with God about some ministry assignment that He was giving you?
C: Have you ever avoided reading the Bible because you really didn’t want to hear what God had to say?
If you answered “Yes” to any of those questions then you have been guilty of rebuking God. Why? Because, just like Peter, you are telling God that you know better than Him and that God should listen to you.
Instead of rebuking Christ Peter should have taken this disturbing news to Christ and ask him to explain further and to give him more understanding about what He is hearing. Likewise, we too, should go to God is prayer when we hear or sense God telling us something that we really don’t want to hear. Not to argue or rebuke God but to ask for wisdom and understanding.
Walking In The Deeds Of The Sinful Will Make You Into A Tool Of Satan.
When Jesus hears Peter’s rebuke Jesus quickly identify’s what is going on and who is behind all this stuff coming out of Peter’s mouth. Jesus cry’s out, “Get behind me Satan …”
Jesus was making it perfectly clear that he knew exactly who was behind all this and that in a quick moment Peter had, at best, become a tool for Satan. Satan was using Peter to get Jesus off his path of obedience to the Father.
Here we can clearly see why is it of the utmost importance that we daily killed the deeds of the sinful flesh and walk in the Spirit. Because if we fail to do so we can quickly become a tool of Satan to try to obstruct God’s plan and mission.
Now I don’t think that it was Peter’s intention or desire to be a tool of Satan and I don’t think he even knew he was until Jesus identified it. And likewise, I don’t think any of God’s people desire to be used by Satan but that’s exactly what can and will happen if we are not vigilant in putting to death the deeds of the sinful flesh.
Walking In The Deeds of The Sinful Flesh Will Make You Into A Roadblock To God’s Work.
If calling Peter a tool of Satan wasn’t enough Jesus then tells Peter that he had now become a hinderance to Him. He was holding Jesus back, Peter had become a roadblock to Jesus from doing what He was sent to do.
What exactly was Peter hindering Jesus from doing? Well, Jesus had just been explaining that it was “Necessary” for him to go to Jerusalem, suffer many things, die and then be resurrected, so it is only reasonable that Jesus was telling Peter that you are trying to keep me from becoming the sacrificial lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. Unknowingly, Peter was being an obstacle that if successful would prevent Jesus from taking the punishment of God for our sins. This was the reason for Jesus’ birth - it was to die on the cross and Peter was being a hinderance to Jesus fulfilling that purpose.
Did you know that your failure to put to death the deeds of the sinful flesh can actually be used as a hinderance to God in fulfilling His redemptive purposes? Now can you see why it is so imperative for us to daily kill that sinful flesh.
Walking In The Deeds Of The Sinful Flesh Blinds Us To What Concerns God Because We Are To Fixated On Our Concerns.
Read what that last line of verse 23 says,
“because you’re not thinking of God’s concerns but on human concerns.”
I guess that’s what’s been true about all of human history. For the most part mankind, including us, have been fixated upon what is important to us and not really caring about what is important to God.
That was true for the Prophet Jonah. He didn’t want the people of Nineveh to experience God’s forgiveness - Jonah wanted them to experience God’s wrath and judgment. That’s why he didn’t go the first time God called him and even after he went Jonah whined and complained that God did forgive them. You see Jonah knew that it was in God’s nature to forgive those who sincerely repents but Jonah didn’t want them to repent. As a result, Jonah found to joy or happiness in seeing an entire city repent from their sins and experience God’s forgiveness.
Why did Jonah have this negative attitude? Because he was walking in the deeds of the sinful flesh.
To walking in the deeds of the sinful flesh is to be hard hearted to what is important to God and it is to be self-centered instead of God-centered. As Christians we find our true and lasting joy by joining God to accomplish what God’s heart desires. To walk in the deeds of the sinful flesh is to lose all that joy that could and should be our.
There is only one solution and that is to mortify, kill, destroy the works of the sinful flesh from our lives on a day by day basis and sometimes that is on a moment by moment basis during a particular day.
Now that you know 5 reasons why it is so important to do, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to allow the deeds of the sinful flesh live on in your life or are you going to kill them? Do you even know how to kill them?
Let me close with his quick little Bible verse to help you understand how to accomplish that killing? In Galatians 5:16 it says,
“I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desires of the flesh.”
This is a promise! If you learn to live by the Holy Spirit and His control over your life you will naturally not carry out the desire of the sinful flesh. You can’t kill the flesh with flesh. You kill the flesh by the Holy Spirit living in and through you.
