Alright brethren, let's turn
to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. Look at verse 6. The voice said cry. This is the
voice from where John the Baptist got his charge to go forth. the voice, the voice of the Lord
God, the voice of Christ who sent Him to herald His arrival. And He said, what shall I cry?
All flesh is grass. What does the Lord mean when
He says all flesh is grass? All flesh is grass. It means man, in our nature,
in what we are by birth, at our best state, is grass. It's grass. Are there any exceptions? He said all flesh is grass. What's the very best goodness
of our flesh? The very best goodness. All flesh
is grass and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the
field. There's a vast, vast gulf between
goodliness of the flesh and godliness produced by the Spirit. Big,
big difference. But all the goodliness thereof
is as the flower of the field. What happens to it? The grass
withereth, the flower fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The
grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall
stand forever. It's interesting, isn't it, that
the Lord says here, all the goodliness of our flesh. He didn't send
John the Baptist forth to say, now, all the sinfulness of your
flesh and all the evil of your flesh. He sent him forth saying,
all the goodliness of your flesh. Somebody asked Charles Spurgeon
one time, do you think it's our sin that's keeping men from coming
to Christ? And he said, not at all. It's
our righteousnesses. It's our goodliness that's keeping
us from God. But he said all the goodliness
thereof is as the flower that fadeth. Now, he says here that
the grass withereth and the flower fadeth. Does all flesh wither? And does all the best goodness
of men fade? It's true that the flesh is perishing. It's true the flesh physically
will die. And all the goodliness that men
have in their flesh will die with it. But that's not what
this is talking about. That's not what this is talking
about. This is spoken specifically of
those that God has put in Christ before the world began. All their
flesh is going with her. All their goodliness is going
to be made to be to them as the flower that fades away. How do
you know that? Look back at verse 5. The glory
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. That's the flesh we're talking
about. All flesh shall see it together, for all shall be taught
of the Lord. All His people, every one of
them. for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." Do you remember
what happened to Isaiah when he saw the glory of the Lord?
He said, in the year King Uzziah died, I saw the glory of the
Lord. I saw the Lord high and lifted up. And I said, woe is
me, I'm undone. All his goodliness faded when
he saw the Holy One, the Righteous One. It all faded. That's what's
going to happen whenever the Spirit of the Lord blows upon
every one of those that Christ redeemed. The flesh is going
to wither. The goodliness of the flesh is
going to fade as a flower. Every bit of it. We're going
to say, woe is me, I'm undone. I'm undone. But the Word of the
Lord is going to endure forever. Peter is quoting from this in
what we've been seeing in our study through Peter. And Peter
says there, let's look at it. Look over there at 1 Peter. 1
Peter. Verse 23. Chapter 1, verse 23. being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and
all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord
endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. And so Isaiah, he's quoting from
Isaiah, and Isaiah tells us why, because the Spirit of the Lord
blows upon it. But that flesh that withers,
it fades away, but where the Spirit of God is, where the Word
is planted, that living and incorruptible Word, there's life. And the Word,
the Spirit of God, the Spirit of life in Christ, into earth
forever. It's eternal life. And then,
as God continues to give us glimpses of Christ, as we continue to
go through this life, He'll continue to blow up on our flesh. And
anytime that flesh tries to, we try to build again that which
the Spirit of God has destroyed, if we're His, He's going to blow
up on it, and that flesh is going to wither. and we're going to
be renewed in the inward man, and that word is going to be
enduring, it's going to continue. And this is how we're kept, isn't
it? Kept by the Spirit of God. Kept
by His Spirit. Moses, I was talking to Eric
about this the other day, Moses was next in line to be Pharaoh
of Egypt. And we would have thought, well,
you know, let's get him in there and he can pass some laws and
legislate some things and we can deliver the children of Israel
right out of bondage out of Egypt. But the Lord worked it so that
Moses was rejected by Egypt and by Israel. Completely brought
down to see that he wasn't going to be able to deliver them. All
he had to deliver them with was a staff, a picture of the gospel,
a picture of the word of the power, because God's going to
get all the glory, isn't he? He's going to get every bit of
the glory. Remember Peter's fall? Peter began to be puffed up in
the flesh and he said, these all might forsake you, Lord,
but I won't forsake you. The Lord said, it's written,
Peter, you're going to forsake me. They might, but I won't. It wasn't written about me. See,
the goodliness, the goodliness is as a flower that fadeth. And
the Lord said, it's going to fade, Peter. And he blew up on
it, and it faded. It faded. All that goodliness
faded. Peter was made to see his flesh
really did profit him nothing. Really did profit him nothing.
Paul was given a bunch of, carried up into the third heaven, and
he saw things that he said it's not lawful for me to utter what
I saw. And he said, but lest I be Exalted above measure. It was given a thorn in the flesh.
Thorn in the flesh. The thing that we have to be
concerned about, the thing that is where the Lord began when
He came forth was teaching us that our goodliness is nothing. Our very best goodliness of our
flesh is nothing. We need to hear constantly that
all flesh is grass, and the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the
field, and that it's the word of the Lord that endureth forever.
The spirit of God blowing. making alive, killing and making
alive. That's what the Lord does. This
is a two-edged sword. It's a two-edged gospel. And our Lord kills with it and
He makes alive. And He does that in those in
whom He creates life. He kills us, the flesh, and He
makes alive. It's the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profits nothing. Paul said bodily exercise profiteth
little. And he's talking about all this, but godliness, true godliness,
inward godliness, inward, inwrought, spirit wrought godliness. We'll
have some bodily exercise, but it's that in-wrought spirit of
God that's going to create something that's profitable. It's the life,
Christ in you, the life, the hope of glory. It's profitable
now and hereafter. It's enduring. Well, look over
Philippians chapter 3. The Pharisees were, they were
carnal men. They were men who were minding
things of the flesh, minding things of the flesh so much so
that religious as they could be, meticulous as they could
be in the observance of the law of Moses, so much so that they
would make modern-day Pharisees look like out-and-out harlots.
But they were completely undone, completely lawless, completely
All the goodliness thereof was nothing. And Paul was that. Paul
was a Pharisee. Look here what he says, verse
3. He gives us, chapter 3, he gives
us a warning. And he says, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord. Verse 1, to write the same things
to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it's safe. It's safe. You get tired of hearing the
Gospel, this Word over and over? You know, the Lord was saying
it in Isaiah's day. He had Isaiah say this Word.
He had John the Baptist come forth and preach this Word. He
had every one of his apostles come forth and preach this Word.
And Paul said here, I've preached this word to you over and over
and over again, but it's not grievous to me to do it. It's
safe for you, for me to do it. Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision. He must be talking about some
lewd people. He is, he's talking about some
very lewd people. He called them in Galatians,
he said, those that came in privately to spy out our liberty, what
he called it, spy out our liberty. Who's he talking about? He's
talking about those that would bite and devour one another. He's talking about those that
would cut one another, those that would separate one another,
those that would whip and use the worst language
possible here to describe those that try to force a compliance,
force an obedience that God only can do, that God only can work.
And he says here, we are the circumcision which worship God
in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh." Now he was, at one point, he looked at his flesh,
and he looked at the law, and he compared the two. Mosaic law,
the moral law of God. He looked at it, and he looked
at his flesh, and he said, now there's some goodliness here.
There's some goodliness here. There's some goodliness here.
He said, if anybody could have confidence in the flesh, I more.
He said, I was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel,
of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the
law of Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting
the church. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless. That could be said of Paul in
his day. That could be said of Cain in his day. That could be
said of Catholicism in the days of the early reformers. It could be said of reformers
today. You think that's an odd thing
to say? It's not an odd thing to say
if you think about it, because all Satan has to do is convince
us that because of a tradition, because of a banner, other than
Christ and the blood of Christ, that we are something. That's
exactly what, that's exactly, and you know, and I could see
where men today might say, how dare you say a thing like that?
Well, that's what they said about the early reformers. That's what
they said about Paul. That's what they said about Christ. And those very fine, upstanding
law keepers, those who would never, ever, ever be caught breaking
the law of Moses outwardly, murdered Christ. Murdered the Prince of
Life. That's the goodliness of our
flesh. It's the goodliness of it. Verse 7, But what things were
gained of me, those I counted lost for Christ. You mean all
that tradition and all of that zeal and all of that confidence
you had, you counted all that loss for this one Christ. He said, I let it all go for
Christ. Yea, doubtless and I count all
things lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. For whom I've suffered the loss
of all things and do count them but none that I might win Christ. Paul could, he really could say
he had suffered the loss of all things. You know where he was
when he wrote this? He was in prison. He was in prison, put
there because he was rejected by men who made their boast that
they loved God with all their heart, mind and spirit and loved
their neighbor as themselves. He says, but I count all those
things done that I may win Christ. and be found in Him, not having
mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith." That righteousness which indeed was wrought by Christ
the Lord. That righteousness of which the
Gospel declares the righteousness of God. He said that I might know Him
and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings
being made conformable unto His death. If by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already
attained, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that
for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. He said, I forget
all those things that are behind, and I press toward the mark for
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And now look what he says, verse
15. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect. You know how Paul
over in Thessalonians, he said, Sanctify yourselves, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God." And he says here, as many as
us that be perfect. As many of us, he said, that
have come out having these precious promises of God, that in Christ
the work is finished, that in Christ Jesus all has been perfected
by Him, that He is indeed The very wisdom with which God could
be just to a people and yet show that people be just in himself
and yet show mercy to a people. The very righteousness of God. The very redemption that has
brought us out of that bondage. of that sin and corruption we
were out from under the law that had us bound and demanded our
death. He's redeemed us from all our
debts, bought us from all our captivity. And through the Spirit
that has blown upon us, He's withered our flesh and He's made
us to behold. He's made us to rejoice in this
glorious good news that the Word, THE Word, Christ the Word, The
Word that was from the beginning, the Word that was with God, the
Word that is God, the Word that was made flesh and dwelt among
us, the Word in whom we beheld the glory of God, full of grace
and truth. That Word who came forth and
said, don't think that I came to destroy the Law and the Prophets. I came not to destroy the Law
and the Prophets, but to fulfill it. For not one jot or tittle
of this Law shall pass till all be fulfilled. For who? He came to fulfill it for somebody.
And if He didn't come and fulfill it, it wouldn't be fulfilled. And if you and I teach the goodliness
of the flesh is by somehow doing as Paul was doing where he looked
at everything the law said and then looked at himself and what
he was doing or not doing and said, okay, there's some goodliness
here. Then brethren, we're not only
bringing the law down to a level that men can entertain the idea
that they're fulfilling. We're not only breaking the law
ourselves, we're teaching others to break the law. Christ is the
only one who came forth and not only did the law at every jot
and tittle, but he taught his people how it is we obey the
law. And what did he say? He said, except your righteousnesses
exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no
wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. How is my righteousness
going to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees?
How am I going to have a righteousness better than those men who... Only by faith in Christ. That's
the only way. Only by faith in Christ. Let
us therefore, as many as be perfect, as many who have had our flesh
withered and have been born of the Spirit of God, be thus minded. And if in anything ye be otherwise
minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." How? How is He going to do it? He's going to do it through the
same way He began the work. He began it by saying, he sent
forth John the Baptist when he had totally, completely withered
the whole nation. He sent forth John the Baptist
with this word and said, now declare, all flesh is grass and
the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. It withers
because the Spirit of God blows upon it. but it's the Word of
the Lord that endures forever. And He came forth through that
Gospel. And so it is that He comes forth
through His Gospel and He withers that which is our flesh. He withers
that wherein we begin to boast. He withers that wherein we begin
to take refuge or wherein we begin to lose assurance because
of our flesh, because of what we've either done We ought to
or haven't done or have done that we ought not to. He makes it to where we can't
boast in this flesh whatsoever. And He withers it away and He
makes us to behold. He is the Word that endureth
forever. And He, by making Himself one in us and us in Him, we have
eternal life. And He's continuing to teach
us and He does it through the Word of grace. And he says, so
as many of you have come to this place where you realize all those
things that we used to count as being so necessary and so
needful and have so much confidence in it, he said, This one thing
I do, I count those things lost for the excellency of Christ
and I press toward Him and Him alone. And as many of you as
have arrived there by His Spirit, by His work of grace in you,
know this, if there's any else among you that don't realize
that, don't understand that, He'll teach them too. Just like He's done it, He'll
teach them too. when it's when it's you want these little ones you
want them to be grown we want them we want to be grown like
that don't we when they don't get something and they're stumbling
and they don't understand it and they keep making the same
mistakes over and over and over we just keep teaching them teach
them teach them teach them He just keeps teaching and teaching
and teaching His people through the same Word, the same Gospel.
That's why Paul starts here and he says, it's not grievous for
me to repeat these things to you. Why? Because we need them repeated
to us. We forget them constantly. We
forget this constantly. What does the Lord do as He's
doing this? He brings us down in the flesh. Well, let me get
you to turn over to Romans 7. That's what Paul said now. He said where he was before and
where he is now. Now look what he said. Even as
an apostle, look what he said. Romans 7, verse 18. I know that
in me, that is in my flesh. You see, even a believer still
has that flesh with us. We still have it with us. In
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For the will is present with
me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good
that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not, that
I do. You know who is saying this? The Apostle Paul who was
used to build or to establish all the Gentile churches. The
Apostle Paul who was used to write three-fourths of the New
Testament. The Apostle, the Apostle Paul. Verse 21, I find then a law that
when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man. That's the man that's born of
the Spirit. That's where that incorruptible seed is. But I
see another law in my members. Warring against the law of my
mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in
my members. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." What happened to him? What was
it that made him... He didn't see this before. He
didn't understand this before. Before he said, I was alive without
the law. Look back there at Romans 6. Romans 7 verse 4, Wherefore,
my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of
Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is
raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto
God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which
were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit
unto death." Now what did Paul say about himself when he was
in the flesh and he had all that confidence in his flesh? When
he's talking about the motions of sin, he wasn't talking about
adultery and fornication and drunkenness and all those things.
He wasn't talking about those things at all. He was talking
about the lasciviousness of thinking he was alive and there was some
goodliness in his flesh by his obedience to the law. But now, we're delivered from
the law that being dead wherein we were held, that we should
serve in the newness of spirit, not in the oldness of the letter.
Is the law sin? No, I had known sin, but by the
law. For I had known lust, except the Lord said, Thou shalt not
covet. But sin, taken occasion by the commandment, wrought in
me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law, sin was
dead." That is, he had it. He was trying to live by it.
He was trying to come to God in righteousness by it. But he
said, and he thought he was alive with it. But when the commandment
came, sin revived and I died. And then he says in Romans 8,
look there, The spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free
from the law of sin and death. Well, let me show you this. I want to show you this one thing
here. Look down at verse 8, Romans
8. When he says there, verse 7,
about the carnal mind as enmity against God, not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be, that's the motions of sin
Paul was in when he was a Pharisee of Pharisee. Sacrificed the eighth
day. Had all that confidence in the
flesh. So then they that are in the
flesh can't please God. But now look at verse 9. But
you're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that
the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of his. And if the Christ be in you,
now watch this, the body is dead because of sin. He said, in my flesh dwells nothing
good. It's still a body of death. But the Spirit's life because
of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by His Spirit to dwell within you. What do we say to that then?
Therefore brethren, we're debtors not to the flesh to live after
the flesh. For if you live after the flesh,
you shall die, but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds
of the body, you shall live. I want to mortify the deeds of
the body. Don't you? I want to mortify the deeds of
the body. I don't want to get any assurance
from anything I do in my flesh. And I don't want to lose any
assurance because of anything I do in my flesh. In other words, I want to be zealous for those
works that are good and honorable to our God. But I don't want
to look at my flesh at all. Because the goodliness of it
is still as the flower fades. What are you saying, Clay? What
do you mean by all that? We don't want to think sinful
thoughts. We don't want to perform sinful
deeds. But when we do, we mourn our
sin. The believer mourns his sin. But the Spirit mortifies the
flesh, that fleshy, grassy thought that makes us to think that our
sins make us less perfect than we are in Christ. That's mortification of the deeds
of the flesh. He makes us to remember we're
not less perfect than we are in Christ, even though we've
sinned against Him. And likewise, when we do that
which is right and honorable, when our fleshy, grassy pride
begins to bloom like a flower and think, oh, we've really got
some goodliness in us, the Spirit of God makes us to realize we
hadn't added anything and we're not more perfect than we are
in Christ. In other words, He really brings us to behold
that the flesh profits nothing. It's the Spirit that quickens.
It's the Spirit that mortifies. It's the Spirit by which the
Word is renewed in our hearts. It's the Spirit by which we walk.
It's the Spirit by which we are guided. If you be led of the
Spirit, we're led of the Spirit. Look there, look there at the
end. Verse 14, for as many as are
led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, for you've
not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear. No bondage, isn't that wonderful? Got no reason to fear anymore. No bondage, no reason to fear
God. But look, but ye have received
the Spirit of adoption. Whereby we cry, Abba Father.
He's our Father. And this is the Word that He's
promised us that will endure forever. I want to end with this. I want to show you something.
1 Corinthians 15 9. This is growing in grace. 1 Corinthians
15 9. This is growing in grace right
here. 1 Corinthians 15, 9. This is Paul speaking. I am the
least of the apostles. Just the apostles is all he said.
I'm the least of the apostles. That I'm not made to be called
an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. Look at Ephesians
chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 8. Unto me, this is Paul, who am
less than the least of all saints. Not just the apostles. Ephesians
3 verse 8. Unto me who am less than the
least of all saints. Is this grace given that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ?
Not just the apostles, I'm the least of all saints. Now look
over at 1 Timothy 1.15. This was when Paul was old and
he was writing to Timothy. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came in the world
to save sinners. That includes everybody in this
world of whom I am chief. That's growing in grace. That's
growing in grace. The more we're made to cry out,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body
of death? The more we're made to thank God, that is through
Christ Jesus. You know where we're coming to?
We're coming to a day if we live long enough, if we don't die
suddenly, if the Lord doesn't return, if we die of old age,
we're coming to a time when we're going to lay there and these
bodies are not going to be able to do one thing. Not one thing,
but gurgle. If you've ever been by a loved
one that died, you've seen it. Well, that really meant that
they had conquered sin completely, didn't it? No, it meant they
couldn't do anything because this old shipwreck called flesh
just wore out. Sin was there as real as it ever
was. But we're going to be made to
see then. Just like David said, this is
all my hope. God has made with me an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things and sure. Christ has finished
everything in him. I'm accepted of God, complete
and perfect. That's where we're coming. We'll
come if we live long enough. And then we're going to be made
to see this flesh. Really, that's just what this
flesh has profited us from our first hour that we begin to be
withered by the spirit. Pray He'd make it wither and
plant the seed of the Word in our hearts and make us grow.
Amen.