The Mind of the Flesh

Apostle Michael Thomas took us back to the Garden of Eden to show us how the workings of the fleshy mind caused Eve to sin. We can see how Satan was and has continued to be successful in creating a mindset that opposes the Word of God.

God had given Adam and Eve dominion over the entire world. Everything in the world belonged to them, except that one tree from which God forbade them to eat. Satan was successful in convincing Eve that the Lord was cheating her out of some experience or knowledge that He held privy only to Himself.

Eve never considered that God was trying to protect her from death and destruction. Her conversation with the devil was very fruitful. He supplied her with just enough information to cause her to doubt God. This was her first sin.

1. She listened to someone other than God.

2. Wantonness was gendered in her heart. This is iniquity.

3. She doubted the integrity of the Word of God.

4. She ate and gave to her husband.

5. She died, he died and the whole human race died.

Satan successfully deceived Eve because he was able to make her believe that God was trying to cheat her out of something. He does the same to us. He makes suggestions concerning the things God has forbidden. He feeds the wantonness of our flesh. The fleshy mind then convinces itself that it is being cheated of a pleasure it wants to experience. Whether it is fornication or retaliation in an offense, the mind feels cheated when commanded to abstain from that which it desires to do.

As Pastor Mike taught, Satan’s objective was to get into the seed of man. In doing so, he was able to bring death to everything that was connected to Eve. This is also his motive today. It has never changed. Satan has read the book. He knows the mind and the law of God. Furthermore, he believes it. Do not confuse his stupidity with ignorance in his warring against God.

Revelation 12:12

Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

Satan knows the outcome of his rebellion against God. He knows the truth. He simply has no respect for it, and will do anything against it to accomplish his wants. Because he walks in disobedience to God, everything he touches is destroyed. He walks in death and destruction. Likewise, those who listen to him walk in the same.

Romans 8:6

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Satan’s intent is to cause us to focus on the things pertaining to the flesh. He knows that the carnal mind is enmity against God. He knows that the child of God who follows after the dictates and appetites of the fleshy mind walks in death.

If Satan can get the New Creature, who is a spiritual being, with the mind of Christ, to follow after the mind of his flesh, or carnal mind, then the mind will gender a desire that will cause the flesh to wax wanton against the Spirit. This is death. But this does not stop with you. Satan’s objective is to bring death to everything connected with you.

When a man or woman of God backslides, many lives are affected. So many people are lost today because someone in the household of faith lived like the world. They have become stumblingblocks to those who might have come to know the Lord. Their end becomes death, hell and destruction.

Any mind other than that of Christ is death. Any thought, action or deed, outside of the Spirit is death. Therefore, we must be led by the Spirit of Christ.

PUT ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

Now that we have learned the teachings of Christ it is time to make a decision as to whether or not we intend to walk in those teachings. The natural man cannot please God, unless he takes on the mind of Christ.

It is the responsibility of the New Man to bring the body into submission to the Word of God. The work God did in us is complete. We are complete in Christ Jesus.We must walk in that completeness. We are the Sons of God. We can manifest that sonship if we would just agree with God. Our souls are at stake here, for it is the soul which is the spirit of the mind that must agree with God. If we choose not to obey the Christ within, we will be damned throughout eternity.

Philippians 2:5-8

5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Here Paul admonishes the Church to allow the mind of Christ to be manifested in the flesh. Note the 6^th verse. Christ thought it not robbery to be equal with God. That word “equal” simply means to agree. Jesus did not think that it was robbery to agree with the Father. Neither did He feel He would be cheated out of anything if He obeyed the Father.

The soul must follow after the mind of Christ. The transformation of the outward man cannot take place until the spirit of its fleshy mind, which is the soul, is renewed by agreeing with the mind of Christ.

Romans 13:14

But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

This is where the church seems to get lost in the revelation. This is where the mystery of godliness remains a mystery to the church. Paul simply says put on the Lord Jesus. The phrase, “put on the Lord,” means to clothe oneself in the mind of Christ. He implies this to be an act of one’s own ability.

He further implies that such an act would enable the Son of God to forbid fulfillment of the desires of the flesh. It is evident, however, that this forbidding of the flesh is impossible without the putting on of Christ.

Colossians 2:6-7

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

7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Once again we are back to the teachings of Christ. It is imperative for the Body to be taught the mind of Christ as a lifestyle that expresses its true nature. We are not rooted and grounded in the faith until we walk in the mind of Christ.

Colossians 2:8

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Anything that is taught to the Body that does not exemplify the life of Christ is considered vain philosophy and deceit. I am afraid that this is indeed what has happened to the Body of Christ as a whole. Leaders are not convinced in, or of the revelation of Jesus Christ. They do not understand that the essence of our salvation experience is to take on the life of Christ in our flesh. It is not yet accepted that we can live perfect because the Christ in us is perfect. Somehow, the teachings in the Body have disassociated us from the thing that apprehended us.

Philippians 3:12-19

12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.

18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:

19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)

This should be the testimony of every born-again believer. We should follow after the examples set before us in the Scriptures, for they are a witness and a testimony against all unrighteousness in the Body.

Paul was able to attain the righteousness of Christ in the flesh. He walked in purity of heart. He successfully finished his course. Peter did the same. These all died having fulfilled the righteousness found in the law of God. For what the law written on tables of stone could not accomplish, that same law, written on the tablets of their hearts, was made manifest in the flesh.

Colossians 2:9-12

9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

The body of sin is the flesh before regeneration. Now that Christ has entered the vessel, the believer rises in a body that is circumcised or made clean by the Christ who came to live in it.

This is the work offaith, which is the operation of God. God maintained the responsibility to cleanse and sanctify the flesh of its Adamic sins and nature. The indwelling of the Holy Ghost provided the flesh with the ability to submit to the mind of the Spirit within. Before regeneration, this was impossible. As Paul stated, evil was present with us; even in us.

Nevertheless, the Law of the Spirit of Life supercedes the Law of Sin and Death, which once worked in our members. We are no longer held captive to the workings of the flesh. We are delivered from the motions of sin. We have been made free.

Now the choice is ours. This is where the responsibility of the believer begins. We, the New Creatures, must choose to follow after the flesh or the Spirit who has apprehended us. It is our choice. We have the power to choose. We have an opportunity to walk as Christ in the earth and glorify the Father.

Colossians 2:20-22

20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,

21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not;

22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?

The New Creature can choose to live as if He is in the world, bringing the body into the captivity of man’s doctrines and ordinances. This happens when we simply try to train or suppress the flesh rather than crucify it.

I Corinthians 9:25-27

25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:

27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

“I, the New Creature, beat my body under. I, the New Creature, bring it into subjection. I cause it to agree with God. Otherwise, I could be lost.”

Once again, we see that it is the responsibility of the New Creature to control the thoughts and deeds of the flesh. The faith of the operation of God gave Him the power to do so. The body is not the creature. It is the temple or house in which the creature lives. He is to master His own house. He is the authority. He is the power of the flesh. This is easy, if the New Creature follows the mind of the Spirit and not the mind of His body.

Romans 8:14

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

To be led by the Spirit is life and peace. To walk after the flesh is death. The choice is ours. We are complete in Christ. We live in Him. Then why do we choose death again?

Let us take a closer look at Paul’s teaching on walking in the Spirit.

Romans 6:3-10

3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Romans 6:11-13

11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

This is the part of the message that escapes the belief system of the saints of God. I do not know quite how to explain the failure of the Body of Christ to respond to the cry of this passage.

Because we are born of God, sin no longer has power over us. This is the message, clear and simple. However, the concept of dying, “reckoning” the natural body as dead unto sin, but alive unto God, is not making the trip into the hearts and souls of the saints.

RECKON: NT: 3049

logizomai (log-id'-zom-ahee); to take an inventory,

To conclude, (ac-) count (of); esteem; reason; reckon; suppose; think (on).

(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994.

It is clear here that the intent of the scripture is to make us see ourselves as dead unto sin in the flesh. Because of the baptism into Christ, we should be able to conclude, reason, suppose or think of ourselves as dead to the Law of Sin and Death. But what does that really mean? Let us look a bit closer at Romans 6:3-10.

We were planted together in the likeness of His death: This means that our spirits were actually, physically placed in Christ. Just as He was buried in the tomb for three days and nights, so were we buried in Him. Note here, too, that we were all planted or buried together in Him. In other words, the entire Body of Christ was planted in the same manner (buried) and in the same place (in the same Spirit).

I really need you to see the picture here. Christ was the atoning Lamb of God. He died a physical death in which He experienced all the pain and shame in our stead. His flesh was torn and ripped from His body for our sake. The sins of our flesh, soul and spirit were laid upon Him. He bore our infirmities, and the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. He was chastened for us. He died for us. It was our sins that He carried to the cross, not His own.

Now in order for Him to accomplish this act of propitiation, He had to submit to the penalty or the chastisement for sin. That penalty we know to be death. Therefore, death, because of the sin placed on Christ, had dominion over Him.

Romans 6:14-22

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

We cannot continue to go round and round in that circle trying to train the emotions, the desires or the affections of the flesh. It is time for us to agree with God. We are dead to the dictates of the flesh. We are alive unto God in the Spirit. Unless the fleshy mind is renewed, it will never serve the law of God. It will always war against the New Creature. We are more than a body of sin and death. We are the Sons of the living God. We can walk free from the passions of the flesh and the motions of sin. However, this can only be achieved in the liberty of the Spirit.

Even now I can hear in the Spirit one saying, “But how?” “How do I achieve this walk in the Spirit?” Again the answer is, agree with God. Reckon, conclude that what God has said is true. We are dead to the motions of the flesh. We are dead to the desires and passions of sin. We are alive unto God. We must say it until we believe it.

Talk to the fleshy mind with the mind of the Spirit. This will cause us to begin to see that there is a distinction between our flesh and us. Our body is not who we really are. It is the instrument we use to serve the Lord. However, you, the New Creature are responsible for the deeds done in the body.