I Corinthians chapter 3, and
I'm going to read a few verses here. It says, And thy brethren
could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal,
even as unto babes in Christ. Now, keep in mind that the same
people that he's speaking to here, or those whom he was speaking
to in verse 16 when he said, For who hath known the mind of
the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of
Christ. Now, that's who he's talking
to. But then he says, I couldn't speak unto you as unspiritual,
but as uncarnal. Now, he just said they had the
mind of Christ. But then here he says, but you're
carnal. Which is it? Is it one or the other? The answer is it's both. You
know, that's the thing. That's the truth, is that we
are not purely spiritual, and thank God we are not purely carnal.
Now, there are men who are purely carnal, and such is the state
we were in. until such time as we were born
again by the work of the Spirit of God. If so, be that He has
performed that work in us. And such is the case. That's
why the Lord Jesus said that except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. He can't enter it. He can't know
it. He can't comprehend it. It can't
be a thing of his desire except a man be born again. Because
except a man be born again, he is caught up in nothing but the
carnal world in which he is in. And that's the thing that he
delights in. That's the thing that he wants.
It doesn't mean he's a drunkard. It doesn't mean that he's a profligate. It doesn't mean that he is an
outwardly wicked man. But it simply means that his
thought process and his Desires are centered in this world, in
the things of this world. That's what it is to be carnal.
And that's the way we are by nature. Have a man born of atoms
that way. You didn't have to learn to be
carnal. That's just how you are. And so he said, you have the
mind of Christ, but I couldn't speak to you that way, even though
it's a true thing. But as unto Cornel, even as unto
Babes in Christ, you're still babies, he said. You're still
taking baby steps. Now, you know, a baby, he has
to learn everything except his nature. He doesn't have to learn
his nature because that's what he is, isn't it? I mean, a baby
doesn't have to learn to get mad. You don't have to set him
down. You have to kind of help him learn to walk, you know.
You have to teach him words and different things like that, but
you don't have to teach him to get mad. You don't have to teach
him to be selfish. You don't have to teach him any
of those things. You don't have to teach him to be deceptive.
You don't have to do any of those things. That's just the way that
he is by nature. He said, I couldn't speak to
you as unto grown men in Christ, those who have grown up, those
who see and know the things to avoid. Now, you know, every child
has to learn the difference between cold and hot. And the way that
they learn that is not because you tell them, that's hot, don't
touch it. The way they learn that is they
touch it. Don't they? At some point in time, they touch
it. It's not good enough that you
said it was hot, don't touch it. No, they say, well, what's
that? You know, what's hot? Well, pretty
soon they find out. They'll touch something that's
hot. Well, from then on, they know what hot is. And that's
just the way the Lord made us. That's just the way that it is.
That's how we are by nature, but we have to learn those lessons
and realize what those things are. He said, I have fed you
with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able
to bear it, neither are you now able to bear it. Now I think
in essence what he is saying is I thought you were listening
to me. I mean, Paul's kind of backtracking
with them, just like he did with the Galatians when he says, I'm
in doubt about you. He said, you know, you knew these
things. He says, it's not that you haven't
been taught, he said, but you haven't listened very well. He
said, I'm having to go back and feed you with formula. I've got to give you that food
that only babies can eat because you're yet carnal. You're not
able to bear those things. that are deeply spiritual. For ye are yet carnal. Now how
does he know that they are yet carnal? Because it is demonstrably
true. And he says this, he says, you
are acting according to your carnal nature. For ye are yet
carnal. For whereas there is among you
envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as
men? Now when there is strife and
divisions, and selfishness and temperamentalness and those things
among men, when men are seeking their own way and they're causing
conflict with one another, you can be sure that the Spirit of
God did not cause that to come to pass. That was all having
to do with the carnal nature of men. That's what he's saying
here. He said, aren't you carnal? Now, I can imagine some of them
saying, well, we're not carnal. We've been born again. We're
following the Lord. He said, well, aren't there strife
and divisions among you? He said, if there's strife and
divisions among you, aren't you carnal? Now, obviously, they
are carnal. And the point that Paul is making
is you are acting according to your carnal nature rather than
being led by the Spirit of God in that way. Are ye not carnal
and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of
Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Is not that
carnal to take pride in who you will follow? That's what I am. It's the same
thing that men do when they say, well, I'm a Baptist. No, I'm
not like them old Methodists. I'm not like them old Presbyterians,
or I'm a Baptist, or whatever you want to be. Well, I'm not
any of those. I'm of Christ. I mean, isn't
that what he said up there? Oh, no, no, no! I'm too spiritual
to be messed up with them denominations. No, I'm non-denominational. I've reached a higher realm than
that. That's what I am. Are you not
carnal? Isn't that carnal? I mean, what
difference does any of that make? What difference does it make
who it is that you heard the Word from, he said? For while one saith, I am of
Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Who then is
Paul? Who is Apollos? But ministers
by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man."
So what he says is, It would have made a difference if it
was Paul or if it was Apollos or whoever it was that came delivering
to you the pure Word of the Gospel. They would have never come and
been able to deliver that to you had it not been that God
had sent them. So what are they? I mean, what
is a preacher? Is he a real brilliant person
who just is worthy of our accolades? No, he's nothing. He's just a
mouthpiece. He's just somebody that God was
pleased to cause to say these words. And apart from the power
of the Spirit of God, they are just words. That's all that they
would amount to be. Because if the Word of God is
not blessed by the Spirit of God to the hearing of the hearers,
then it doesn't make any difference who said it or what they said,
for that matter. I mean, you can stand up and
teach somebody the soundest doctrine that's found in this book. And
if the Spirit of God doesn't take it and apply it into the
heart, mind, and life of the person that hears it, then it
wouldn't make a difference if it was unsound doctrine. It just doesn't make any difference.
What makes the difference is the power of the one who sends
it. And that's what Paul is trying
to get them to see. And he says to think anything
else is to be what? Carnal. Because if that's how
you look at it, then you are looking at it in a carnal way. If you think that because you
hold some doctrinal truth, this kind of sets you apart, and gives
you some reason to boast, he says you are thinking carnally.
It doesn't make any difference what that doctrine is. Who is Paul? And who is the Paulist? The ministers by whom you believed
even as the Lord gave to every man. How did they get it? He
gave it to them. You know, how does a hearer hear?
The Lord gives it to him. How does a preacher preach? The
Lord gives it to him. That's the only way that it comes. I have planted a pollice-watered,
but God gave the increase. I mean, there are different functions.
There are diversities. There are different gifts that
God gives to people among the saints of God for the benefit
of the body. And it does not make any difference
what those gifts are or how they are administered. The purpose
of them and the power of them, if they are of God, comes from
God. And so the benefit that derives
to the saints of God from the exercise of spiritual gifts is
that which comes from God. It is not something men can boast
of or men can take pride in. I remember one time I knew this
lady and she was quite proud of being spiritual. She said,
I have got eight of the spiritual gifts and I am working on number
nine. Now was that spiritual or was
that carnal? That was carnal. See, some people
have what they call spiritual gifts carnally because they think
that these gifts are something. The gifts are nothing except
manifestations of the Spirit of God as He sees fit to work.
unless they are manifestations of the flesh as men see fit to
work. Now what Brother Al was talking
about there earlier, and you see a lot of times these people
go around and advertise Holy Ghost Meetings. We're going to
have a Holy Ghost Meeting. I mean the Holy Ghost is going
to come. Like he said, we've got him booked up and he'll be
here. You better be careful before you start saying that the Lord's
going to be there because the Lord's going to be where He's
going to be. Now, we trust and hope that He will be in our midst,
and He has promised that where two or more are gathered in His
name, He will be in the midst of them. But the problem is,
because we say we're gathered in His name, that doesn't make
it so, does it? Because you see, sometimes men
just gather in their own name. They gather in their own convenience
and their own way. But see, when men come together
in the Lord's name, He is in their midst. Because to come
together in the Lord's name is to come together in His authority.
And if you come together in His authority, you have to bow to
His authority, do you not? I mean, it would be foolish to
say, we're going to do this under the auspices of the United States
government, but we're going to fly the flag of Cuba. I mean,
people would say, well, you're not any representative of the
United States if you've got a Cuban flag there. Well, dear brother,
to be under the authority The Word of God is to follow the
Word of God. It's not to decide that we're
going to do it our way. So then, neither is he that planteth
anything, neither he that watereth. But it's God who gives the increase. Now, he that planteth and he
that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward
according to his own labor. Now, we are going to get into
something here that I believe is probably one of the most widely
misunderstood and misappropriated passages of Scripture that there
is, because men will take a few verses out of this contextual
passage of Scripture and build a whole doctrine on it that does
not even exist. Now, before we get there, Though
I wanted to read a passage of Scripture that I would call,
in some measures, necessary reading in order to read properly what
Paul is saying here in this chapter. And it's found over in the eighth
chapter of Romans. And I'm going to begin reading
there in verse 8. Now, we're kind of shifting gears and backing
up a little bit to look at this matter of carnality and what
is the difference here. In verse 1 of chapter 8, he said,
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Now, that's pretty straightforward,
is it not? There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. There is no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus. If I could somehow or other take
out a magic pen and write that on your brain, I would do so,
because that is at the heart of an understanding of what it
is that Jesus Christ came into the world to do in the behalf
of His people. There is therefore now no condemnation. No condemnation. None. It has ended. It's over. It's
done with. There's no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus. Now, some people look at this
past description of what He's going to say next and they make
that a condition. This is not a condition. This
is a description. Okay? If, he didn't say, there
is therefore now no condemnation if they walk according to the
Spirit, does he? He doesn't say that. He said,
there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Therefore, a man can't be halfway
in Christ, can he? I mean, a man's either in or
he's out. There's no middle ground there. A man is either in Christ or
he's out of Christ. There's no other places to be. And if a man is in Christ, he
walks not after the flesh. Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Now, let's think about this for
a minute. to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit." Now, do we walk after the flesh,
or do we walk after the Spirit? Well, in one way we could say
we do both, but the reality is, if we've been born again, we
walk, that is, the conversation that we have, the trajectory
of our life, is in the Spirit, is it not? I mean now, we don't
cease to be what we've always been, but we do begin to be something
that we never were. You see, if any man be in Christ,
what does it say? He is a new creature. He is a new creation. Old things
are passed away. Behold, all things will become
new. But wait a minute. I've still got plenty of old
things that seem to be hanging around." Well, that's true. But
you see, that's because you're still carnal. It's because you'll
always be carnal and those things will always be with you. But
when he says, all things will become you, what's he talking
about? He's talking about this new trajectory that your life
has taken on because you have been made alive in Christ, which
you never were before. And so you are, if you are in
Christ, you walk after the Spirit. Now obviously, you do not walk
after the Spirit perfectly, as Paul is speaking to these Corinthians. He said, you are yet calm. But
he said, you are walking not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit. Now listen to what he says in
verse 2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, Now
a law is a principle. Now there are laws, you know,
that are written down in books. That's a law, but this is not
specifically what kind of a law he's talking about here. He's
talking about a principle, a law. The law of gravity is a principle,
is it not? I mean, what goes up must come
down. And so the principle, the teaching, that which is a true
thing, The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Now, those who are in Christ
Jesus, there is therefore now no condemnation to them. Is that
right? So they're alive. They've been
made alive. You see, before, when the Lord
said to Adam in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die, that happened. Now, it took 930 years Because Adam lived to be 930
before the full measure of that death caught up with him. But
he died in that day. That is, death entered into him. The death caused by sin came
into him and he became a deterioration in the flesh unto that death
which ultimately caught up with him. But he says here, the law
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the
law of sin and death. Well, we're never going to die. I mean, isn't that what it says?
We've been set free from the law of sin and death. Well, we've
been set free from the principle. of sin and death. You see, the
principle of sin and death is that which abides in the carnal
mind. It abides in the carnal man. It's the principle by which the
carnal man... Every day when you look in the
mirror and you see one more gray hair and one more wrinkle or
three or four more wrinkles or whatever you see that wasn't
there yesterday, you know, that you can tell that the principle
of death has never ceased to work in your carnal body. It's
continuing there because that's what you are by nature. And so
that carnal man is not what he's talking about here. But he's
talking about the man, who we are. See, we're not the carnal
man. spiritual man. We're a new man
in Christ Jesus. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things will become new. And though we still dwell in
the flesh, and that flesh is still just as real as it was
and it's unchanged, then our thought process in that flesh
has not changed at all. Yet by the grace of God, the
work of the Spirit of God, the law, the principle of Life in Christ Jesus has set
me free from the law of sin and death. So even though my body
is inexorably... I'm marching towards the graveyard. I know it every day. Yet by the
grace of God I've been set free from that death. That death is
not the worst thing. Why? Because I know to be absent
from the body is to be present with the Lord. That's a glorious
thing. Now, that doesn't mean that I
wake up every morning and say, well, today's the day I hope
to die. Why? Because this old carnal
man, he's still going on and he likes it. He likes living. I mean, well, sure he does. I
mean, I'm not going to step out in front of a car tomorrow just
to get my life over. Why? Because I've been set free
from the law of sin and death. Death doesn't appear as the monster
to me that it did when I walked in darkness. I see it for what
it is. I see the necessity of it. But
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the principle,
has made me free from the law of sin and death. That is, that
which works in me now operates in me. For what the law could
not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, that is, the law of
sin and death. Now, the law of sin and death
includes the law of Moses and every law which is against the
flesh. You see, that is the law of sin
and death. I've said this before. You know, everything that there
is in the flesh, there is a law against it. Everything that the
flesh wants to do, there is a law against it. That might not be
a legal law, but there is a practical law that is against it. I mean,
if you like to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, there is a law that says if you
only eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and you eat enough
of them, it is going to kill you. I mean, there is a law against
it. And you can't change that. That's just the way that is.
That is a law of sin and death. But we've been set free from
the law of sin and death for what the law could not do in
that it was weak through the flesh. You see, the law couldn't
do anything for us because it had that one weakness. What was
the weakness? We're going to die. And so regardless
of what we do, we're going to die. And the law is going to
contribute to our death. But you see, there is no law.
against the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness, meekness, temperance, peace.
And what is he going to say? Against such there is no law. There is no law against the things
of the Spirit of God. There is no law that says you
cannot love somebody but a certain amount. There is no law that
says you cannot forgive somebody but a certain amount. There is
no law that says you cannot be but so temperate. There's no
law that says you've got to stop being meek. Don't be but just
meek just to a point. No. You see, there's no law against
these things. This is the work of the Spirit
of God in the people of God, and there's nothing against it.
Now, the carnal man, what does he do? He hates that. He fights against it every day.
He says, man, you don't need to be going down that path. You
need to listen to me. You need to walk this way. For
what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the
flesh. What was the problem with Moses' law? Was there something
wrong with Moses' law when it said, Thou shalt not kill? No,
I think that's a pretty good thing, don't you? I'm glad that
that law is on the books. I wouldn't want people just thinking
they can come out and just kill me any time they got ready. They
probably already would have. No, the law, it works in a way
to restrain men in a measure. The Lord uses it in that fashion.
But it can't keep people from murdering people, can it? Why? Because men are men. And sometimes
when the passion of a man rises to a certain place, he doesn't
care what the law says. He's going to kill somebody. Why? Because the law is weak
in the flesh. That's the weakness of the law.
It depends on the men to keep it. God sending his own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemns sin in the
flesh. Now our flesh is the place where
the condemnation of sin had its root and the basis upon which
we could be destroyed in the pit of hell. if left up to the
law. If the law had its perfect work
and we were left to ourselves, then it would surely have destroyed
us. But God, who is rich in mercy,
condemned sin in the flesh in Christ because He came in flesh
and blood, and in flesh and blood He bore our sin where? In His own flesh. See, it was
necessary for Christ to be a man Because it's men that are condemned. It's the flesh. It's the carnality
of man. It's the natural man that is
condemned, and it is the natural man that is redeemed in Jesus
Christ. "...in the likeness of sinful
flesh, and condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit." No conditions there, is it? He
said, this is who you are. He said, this is what has taken
place. Now here's what I wanted to get to, and I've about run
out of time, so I ain't going to have much time to get into
this, but I wanted to get this in your mind. For they that are
after the flesh, that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh,
That is, they that walk after the flesh, they who say, this
is the pathway we desire, this is the avenue which we are walking
in, whether they choose that openly or they just are naturally
going that route, it is all the same thing, it does not make
a difference how you get there, it is still the same thing. And
all men by nature are there. For they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh. But they that are after the Spirit,
the things of the Spirit. The carnal man, he's not concerned
with spiritual things, is he? No. He's not interested in spiritual
things, he's interested in carnal things. But they that are after
the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. I mean, why do you want
to know the Word of God? Why do you want to learn the
way of Christ? I believe those who are born
again, the reason is, is because they want to be like Him. You
see, they mind the things that are after the Spirit. They say,
this is the way I want to go. This is the right way. This is
the good way. This is the way, Lord, lead me
in that way. As David said, Lord, hide Thy
Word in my heart. Let me not sin against You. But
then look at what he says. They that are after the Spirit
and things of the Spirit, For to be carnally minded is death,
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Now listen
to what he says here. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. If you walk in the flesh, you
will die, he says. Because that's the only thing
the flesh has to offer you, is a trip to the graveyard. I mean,
your flesh can't do a thing for you. It can't do it. And if you
walk after that way, then that's what you're going to get. But
look at what he says here. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be. Now here is a condition. It is
not a condition that you have fulfilled, but it is a condition
nonetheless of what the work of God is, if so be that the
Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of His. Isn't that what the Lord Jesus
said? Except the man be born again.
Nicodemus, ye must be born again. How does a man obtain the Spirit
of God? Well, he can't do it by any effort
of his own. It has to be bestowed on him.
And how does it happen? It happens through the work of
the Spirit of God. And that is the fashion in which the Lord
comes to dwell with His people. Now, we've kind of got a bunch
of things running around out there. But that's the things
Paul's touching on as he comes into this chapter, and he's speaking
to these Corinthians as unto carnal and not unto spiritual.
He's not saying that they had not the Spirit of God. He's just
merely saying to them, you're walking not after the Spirit,
but after the flesh in these things. Now, if they are totally
carnal, in the strictest sense of the word and have not the
Spirit of God, then his words are going to fall on deaf ears,
aren't they? I mean, they're not going to listen to him. They're
going to get mad and say, well, we don't want to hear that. But
you see, he's banking on the fact that they're not carnal.
He's saying you're yet carnal because he wants to get their
attention. He wants to show them how they're acting. He wants
them to see that these things that they are pursuing are not
after the Spirit. The Spirit didn't lead them down
this road, but the flesh did.