The Heart of the Gospel - Pt 6

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8 ESV).

Yesterday I mentioned the “flesh.” That brings us to this third foundational truth about our total depravity. We simply are unable to submit to God and do good. Man apart from the grace of God is totally enslaved to rebellion (vv. 7-8). We have come to a place in the modern church where we excuse sin in favor of our “weakness.” It is true that sin is rooted in our spiritual weakness; however, what we have done is to develop a philosophy that declares we can just “get better.” If we read more of the Bible; if we pray more; if we work harder; if we commit ourselves more deeply to a lifestyle of holiness and resist the temptations to sin, then surely we will be able to overcome these weaknesses. Well, that’s simply wrong. We cannot get better apart from Christ. The “mind that is set on the flesh” (literally, “mind of the flesh”) is the mind of man apart from the indwelling Spirit of God (v. 9). The natural man has a mindset that does not and cannot submit to God. Man cannot reform himself. This is the heart of TOTAL depravity. The Apostle Paul says that we Christians were all once “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). The point of deadness is that we were incapable of any spiritual life with God. We had physical life, but our hearts were like a stone toward God (cf. Ephesians 4:18; Ezekiel 36:26). Our hearts were blind and incapable of seeing the glory of God in Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:4-6). We were totally unable to reform ourselves. Understanding and accepting this truth gives us the way to avoid the failure of “doing better.” If we wake up and simply desire to be better, we destine ourselves to failure. We do not have the power of being better within our flesh. It is dead! Knowing that brings us to the only solution. His name if Jesus. Countless thousands have come through the church and heard the message of self-help so often passed as the Gospel and experienced such utter failure that they have given up on God. Our failed efforts to help ourselves never had anything to do with God. God’s solution is a life altering, transformative redemptive experience in His Son, Jesus. No wonder Jesus taught the disciples to pray by saying, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13). Of course it requires our cooperation with the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But it does not begin with our will. Our will is evil; our flesh is wicked. It begins with the will and work of Christ within us. That brings successful living to us. That wins the battle we are engaged in!