Power Over All Flesh

to have open-heart surgery this week, so everybody remember him. And Mary, when they were bringing him to the hospital, she fell in the parking lot and broke her elbow, so she's going to have a hard time with that, but remember them. And also, tonight we will not have services. Power over all flesh. John 17. As thou, verse two, as thou, this is the son speaking to the father, as thou has given him power over all flesh.

And this great high priestly prayer for his people those given to Him that He gives eternal life to. These people that He gives eternal life to are a part of this all flesh that He speaks of. Thou has given Him power over all flesh. Now, what I want us to consider this morning is What does the Bible mean by flesh? Thou has given him power over all flesh. Now all flesh represents all of humanity. He has authority, he has power over all flesh. Every human being to ever live.

Now what does the Bible mean by this term flesh. It's in there a lot. What is meant by flesh. Well, there are different meanings in the Bible of this one word. Number one, humanity. All flesh. All human beings. Number two, the fleshy part of your body. the epidermis, the skin, the muscles.

Number three, the emphasis sometimes weakness. When you speak of flesh, you speak of weakness. Psalm 7839 says he remembered that they were but flesh. A wind that passeth away and cometh again no more. Weakness. He knoweth our frame. He remembers that we are dust.

Flesh represents weakness. The Lord said to his disciples when he found them sleeping, he told them to watch and pray and they couldn't do it. They fell asleep. And he looked at them and said, the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is what? Weak. Most of the time, it refers to the sinful nature of man. The flesh, the sinful nature of man. Why did you not have to teach your children to lie? Comes natural. Why? Because they have sinful natures.

In Genesis chapter six, verse 12, and God looked upon the earth and behold, it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted himself upon the earth. Paul said, I know that in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Do you know that? Paul knew that. I'd like you to turn for just a second to Romans chapter eight, verse six. For to be carnally minded, and that's actually fleshly minded, carne, flesh, carnivorous, eat flesh, That's fleshly-minded, the way you were born into this world. To be fleshly-minded is death. But to be spiritually-minded is life and peace.

Because the carnal mind, the mind of the flesh, is enmity against God. For it's not subject to the law of God, Neither indeed can be, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Most of the time when the word flesh is used, it's talking about this sinful human nature that you and I were born with. And it's also used as works, the works of the flesh, salvation by the works of the flesh. In his sight, there shall no flesh be justified. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. Having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? The works of the flesh. The Lord said in John 6, verse 63, it's the spirit that quickeneth the flesh. Profits nothing. It benefits nothing. The flesh cannot save you. Your flesh cannot save you. Any works you might perform in the flesh are of no avail before God.

I think of what Paul said in Philippians 3, verse 3, we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit. the spiritual nature produced by the Holy Spirit. A natural man can't worship God. We are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus. He's our rejoicing. We glory in Him. We trust only Him. And the third thing he said is we have no confidence in the flesh. None whatsoever. I don't have any confidence in my flesh. I don't have any confidence in your flesh. No confidence. in the flesh.

Now Adam was made from the dust of the earth. Adam the first man, the man God created. His name means red earth. Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return. And we read with regard to Adam when God breathed life into him. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul."

Adam was created upright. He wasn't created sinful. His flesh was not sinful. He was created upright. That's what the scripture says. Now, that doesn't mean he had a holy nature when he was created, but he had an upright nature. He had an innocent nature.

A holy nature cannot sin. God cannot sin. That which is birthed of God cannot sin. Adam didn't have a holy nature. He was never fallen in the first place, but he had an upright nature. He was created upright without a sinful nature. It was said of the man and woman that they were both naked and were not ashamed because they had an innocent nature.

Now, we know what happened. After the fall, they knew they were naked. And they went and tried to find a covering for their sinful flesh. They now were sinners. They're now sinful fallen flesh, and you and I were born with this sinful fallen flesh. 1 Corinthians 15, 22, in Adam, all die. Romans 5, 12, by one man, sin entered the world, and death by sin, so that death passed upon all men, in that all sinned. Don't miss this. When Adam sinned, you sinned. You were in him. Somebody says, I didn't do it. Yeah, you did. You were in him. And need I remind you that if you didn't have any bearing in Adam, how have you done on your own? It's just as bad anyway, isn't it? Even if you were on your own, you sinned. But the fact of the matter is, in Adam, all die. In Adam, all have sinned.

Turn back to Romans 8. Verse one. There is therefore now no condemnation. I love that hymn. No condemnation, now I dread. I am my Lord's and he is mine. Alive in him, my living head, and clothed with righteousness divine. There is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. And here is how these people are described who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Now this is true of every believer, he doesn't walk after the flesh. What's that mean? It means he knows that his flesh can produce nothing in salvation. He knows that. He's convinced of it. Like Paul, he says, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.

Now, the only way you can be convinced of that is if you've been given a new nature, if you've been born of God. That's when you see that. You don't really understand that until you're born of God. But when you're born of God, you understand for the first time the sinfulness of your flesh.

And you see that salvation doesn't come from your flesh. You walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Now, that doesn't mean one day you're walking in the flesh, and one day you're walking in the Spirit, or one minute you're walking in the flesh, and the other minute you're walking in the Spirit.

If you're a believer, you always walk in the Spirit, and here's what that means. You always look to Christ only. That's what that means. That doesn't mean you're up on some higher plane. I'm living above the flesh. No, the flesh is always there. but you look to Christ only as everything in your salvation at all times, at all times. That's what it is to walk in the Spirit. To walk in the flesh is to look to the works of your flesh as to why you would be saved. Now let's go on reading. Verse two, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law, the law of sin and death, the 10 commandments, could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. You see, the problem with the law is not the law, the problem's my flesh. sinful, depraved flesh that cannot keep the law. And there's where the problem with the law is. Not with the law.

The law is holy, just, good, beautiful. But what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. He wasn't sinful flesh. He's perfect flesh, perfect humanity. But he came in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, 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.

How's the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us? We look to Christ as our righteousness before God. He fulfilled the law. I've kept the law in Christ Jesus. I don't have to fear the law because I've kept it in Christ Jesus. When he obeyed it, I obeyed it. When he obeyed it in his flesh, that obedience that he worked out in his flesh is mine. Verse five, four.

They that are after the flesh, that's their origin, do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, that's their origin, the new man. The man produced by the Spirit of God, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. They mind the things of the Spirit.

For to be carnally minded is death, or he read this, but to be spiritually minded is life. and peace, the life of Christ in my soul, He is my life, and the peace that comes from the peace He accomplished on Galbraith's tree, where God's at peace with me. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind, the fleshly mind, is, and notice that is as an italics, Let's read it without it. Because the carnal mind, enmity, hatred with God. Hatred, hostility.

Do you know, I didn't understand this about myself until God brought home to me the truth of His electing grace. Now this is my own experience. When I was confronted with the fact that God elected a people, and I might not be one of them, and there wasn't anything I could do to make myself one of them, my heart rose up in hatred for God. I didn't know I hated Him until then. And when that happened, I found out I hated God. That's when I knew I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble. I could see that rising up out of my heart, but yet that's what the Bible teaches. And here I am hating Him for it. I'm in trouble. I have been guilty of hating God. Now, if you want to know about your hatred of God, go to the cross.

That's where you find out what you really like. The one time men were allowed to do with Jesus Christ what they wanted to do with no restraints. God left them alone. What happened? They nailed Jesus Christ to a cross in hatred and enmity. And my dear friends, that's what you and I are guilty of in the flesh.

The carnal mind is enmity, hostility against God. It's not subject to the law of God. It can't obey the law, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. It can never get any better than that. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Now this is a grim picture. Does that mean that there's no hope? The carnal nine, no hope? Doesn't mean that at all.

I think of when the rich young ruler comes up to the Lord, good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? There's none good but God. I love the way he said that to him. Because what that man was saying was, you're good, I'm good, not as good as you. What can I do to reach your level of goodness? That's what he's asking. What good thing can I do to inherit eternal life? Why callest thou me good? There's none good but one. But if thou will enter life, keep the commandments. You know the commandments.

He named them. And the fellow said, all these have I kept from my youth up. Did he really believe that? I guess he did. All these have I kept from my youth up. You're lacking one thing. Go sell all that you have and give it to the poor. Then you'll have treasures in heaven. Come and follow me. Now what this man didn't realize was he was eaten up with covetousness. He thought he'd never coveted. That's all he did. Covet, covet, covet.

He went away sad, and the Lord said, as he watched him leave, how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, and that's impossible, than for a rich man to enter into heaven. And the disciples were astonished when he said this. They said, who then can be saved? If this fella can't be saved, who can be saved? This is the most moral, righteous man we've ever come across. And you turn him away, who then can be saved?

And the Lord answered, with men it is impossible. There you have it. My salvation and your salvation, if it has anything to do with me, write this down, impossible. But not with God. With God, all things are possible. It's possible that you be saved because with God, all things are possible. In the flesh.

We read in John chapter one, verse one, here's why it's possible. Here's why it's possible. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, face to face with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God, and we read down in verse 14 of that chapter, The Word was made flesh." Now this is why there's hope for sinful flesh. The Word was made flesh.

The Eternal Son of God had skin and bones. He had organs. He had blood pumping through His body. He breathed just like you and I do. The Word was made flesh. 1 Timothy 3, 16. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Now we've already seen how our flesh is seeing. Now when I'm talking about our flesh being seen, I'm not talking about the epidermis. I'm talking about flesh, man.

Man is sinful. God is just. Because God is just, He must punish sin. Sin must be punished in the flesh. Christ became flesh. Isn't that? We just believe it? God was manifest in the flesh, and in His flesh He never sinned. Perfect humanity. You see, sinfulness is not necessary for humanity because Christ, 100% human nature, never sinned. The perfect man.

He didn't sin, but He came in the flesh, never sinned, and yet He's nailed to a cross. Why? because as Gethsemane's garden represents, when he looked at that cup, he was going to have to drink in his flesh the sins of our flesh. He drank into his own body on the tree when he was made sin. In the flesh, he died. Mystery of mysteries that the God-man could die, but he died. And in the flesh, he was raised from the dead.

I want you to turn with me to 1 John chapter four for a moment. You know, there was an error in the early church called Gnosticism. It's what John is dealing with in this passage of Scripture, and in this sense, I can see where the Lord blesses error, not that He blesses it for saving good, but through this error, we're given this glorious statement with regard to the simplicity of the truth. Now, what Gnosticism was, was the Gnostics.

They didn't get this from the Bible, but they proclaimed everything material, all matter was evil. If it was matter, if it had volume, took up space, you could feel it, touch it, whether molecular, mountains, if it was matter, it was evil. Therefore, Jesus Christ couldn't have become real flesh or he would have been evil. Paris thought that we would ever think that, therefore he only came as an appearance of flesh, but he himself did not possess flesh because that would have made him evil.

Now, look what John says, verse one. 1 John chapter four, beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they're of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world Hereby know ye the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.

Now somebody says, everybody confesses that. Now wait a minute, let's think about what he's saying. Everybody believes Jesus Christ had flesh. What's he saying when he makes this statement? If I said, Aubrey's come in the flesh when she was born, you don't say that. She was born. I mean, your child was born. You don't say, well, they've come in the flesh. Because when you say they've come in the flesh, that means you're saying they were before they came.

Jesus Christ was before he ever came in the flesh. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God, the same was in His wasness, in His isness, before the foundation of the world. We confess in confessing that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, we confess He's eternal God, that He never had a beginning. Before He came in the flesh, He eternally was. Now, notice the simplicity of this. We confess that He's come in the flesh. Although He was before He came in the flesh, He came in the flesh. God manifest in the flesh. The great mystery of godliness. God became flesh.

And whatever He intended to do in the flesh, He did. What did He intend to do? Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. That was His intention. Thou has given Him power over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou has given Him. His intention was to save the elect. I like saying it that way. That was His intention. To save those the Father gave Him.

Now, did he? Yes, he did. When he said it is finished, they were all saved. He was before he came, he came in the flesh, and he did what he came to do. That's my hope, that in the flesh he kept the law for me, that in the flesh he took my sins and his own body on the tree, that he was raised again in glorified flesh because all my sins were put away. God was satisfied with what he did. I'm glorified in him. Now that, that's the gospel. But what about us? I'm saying that I have no sin. I'm saying that I have his righteousness. What about the fact that I still have a sinful nature called the flesh?

You do too. You do too. What if you were awaiting an execution? within two hours, and you had, in the last stages of a disease, that you were gonna die in two hours. If somebody came up to you and said, you've been pardoned by the president, what good would it do you? You're still gonna die in two hours. What about the fact that I still, in reality, have this sinful nature that I have always had? Well, what's the answer to that? The new birth. Being given a new man. Now, what I thought about when I thought about this was if you turn with me to Leviticus chapter 13. This is the law. of leprosy. Leviticus chapter 13, verse nine.

When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest and the priest shall see him and behold at the rising, that's the bumps that come up from leprosy, be white in the skin and it has turned the hair white and there'll be quick, raw flesh in the rising.

Quick means living, healthy flesh. You have this rising, yet there is also with it healthy flesh, flesh that doesn't look as if it has been affected by leprosy. Verse 10, It is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh. And the priest shall pronounce him unclean and shall not shut him up for he's unclean. So here, if we have some healthy flesh, all you are is unclean.

You're sent back to the leper colony. Verse 12. And if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague, from his head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh, then the priest shall consider and behold, if the leprosy hath covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague. It is all turned white. He's clean. Now, when is it that you see that there's nothing but leprosy in your flesh?

When you're born of God. When you're born of God, that's when you learn to say with Paul, I know that in me, That is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. When you're born again and given this new nature, that's when you find out about yourself, that your old nature is nothing but a sinful nature. And until I'm given the new birth, I just can't see this. And when I'm born of God, I see just like the leopard did, everything about me.

My flesh is sinful. Now, that is when I look to Christ. I have nowhere else to look. That is when I understand that His righteousness is the only righteousness because there cannot be a righteousness produced by my flesh. Faith is impossible without the new birth.

You will continue to have your flesh as having some part in salvation until you're born again. birthed by the Spirit. For the first time you will enter in to this and understand it. To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. But what about this sinful flesh we still have that the Lord recognized?

I love it. when he had told the disciples to watch and pray just for an hour. And he comes back and finds them asleep. Comes back three times and finds them sleeping. They couldn't keep their eyes open for a minute. That's always a comfort to me when I watch people sleep when I preach. Well, they sleep when the Lord was praying. Why should I think that they'd stay awake when I preach?

But at any rate, the Lord made this statement as he looked at them. indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." The Lord recognized this. Here's my hope. When we die, this flesh will be no more. and we will have the endless existence of glorified flesh if we die in the Lord. The same flesh that the risen Christ has, when he appeared to his disciples, he said, a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have. He had glorified flesh, sinless flesh. This is the flesh Job spoke of in Job 19, verses 25 through 27. Let me read this to you.

For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh, and he's talking about his glorified flesh, in my flesh, shall I see God, whom I shall behold for myself, and not another."

This is the spiritual nature that you have right now, but it's not going to go away. It's not going to die. It is eternal. I love that hymn, waiting for my body that will never sin. Rich already read what I chose as my closing scripture. So I guess we need to read it twice. First Corinthians chapter 15, verse 50. Now this I say, brethren, verse 50.

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. That sinful flesh that you and I have, it can't inherit the kingdom of God. It's corrupt. If it was brought into heaven, it would ruin heaven. Heaven would no longer be a holy place. Flesh and blood can't inherit the kingdom of God. Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Behold, I show you a mystery. I love the mystery of scripture. Mystery is something we would never have known had not God made it known. It's not something we can understand. It's mysterious, but we believe because God said it. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. And I love the way the believer's death is called the sleep. This is only the believer that his death can be described as a sleep. Behold, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment.

In the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed for this corruptible." must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

And this one who has power over all flesh, He came in the flesh. In the flesh, He kept the law. In the flesh, He died. In the flesh, He was raised from the dead. And right now, in the flesh, He's seated on a throne, ruling and reigning. And when we see His glorified flesh, we will be just like Him. One glimpse of Him will turn you into perfect likeness to Him. That's how glorious He is. how thankful we are for what he did in the flesh and the salvation that every believer has because of what he did.

Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you that your son came who has power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as thou has given him. Lord, we ask that you take your word and bless it. I've realized that anytime a man is speaking, there's things that could be left out, things that ought not to have been said. Lord, I pray that you would overrule and cause your word to bear fruit and create life in everybody in this room according to your will. And Lord, we ask that as we're in the flesh, you would order our steps in your word and let no iniquity have dominion over us. In Christ's name we pray.

Power Over All Flesh

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