THE TRAGEDY OF CARNALITY

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286 - THE TRAGEDY OF CARNALITY

Pastor Henry F. Kulp

January 24, 1965

Romans 8: 4 - 9 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. ⁵ 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. ⁶ For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. ⁸ So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. ⁹ But ye are 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 is none of his.

In this Scripture, we have some very important facts—first of all, there is no judgment for the believer—there is no judgment day ahead for him. Then secondly, we are free from the law of sin and death, which is in every individual, and we have been made free by the law of the Spirit of Life that is in Christ Jesus, and this is true because Christ bore our sins in His body. Right at this point, there are three words that I would like to study with you—it is important that you know these words and understand them. The first word is ransom, the second is redeemed, and the third is reconciled. 

First of all turn to I Timothy 2: 6. Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. As I read these Scriptures—there are three Scriptures that I want to read—I want you to keep in mind the three words—ransomed, redeemed, reconciled, and, of course, this is the first one—Who gave Himself a ransom for all, and when we come to redeemed we will find they are different, and when we come to reconciled, we will find that is different form the other two. But now it says He gave Himself a ransom. Who is He? Who is the Son of God? He is Man and God, the Wonderful Being, the One Who left His place in the glory where He created the universe, and came down here and took humanity upon Himself and became God and Man in one Being. The Body in which Christ lived, that Body was human and divine, the most precious thing in the universe, and He gave this a ransom for us. 

Ephesians 1: 7 In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;..  For a ransom He gave Himself, for redemption, He gave His blood. Then it says, He gave Himself a ransom, there is no mention of blood, because He was giving Himself as the price for us to be free. A ransom is given for those who are held in bondage by an enemy, and a ransom must be paid. The ransom necessary for us was so great that only God Himself could pay it, for redemption, and that brings in sin, there has to be blood, so we are redeemed by His blood, and for that reason, He had to go to the Cross. 

The third word, is reconcile. Romans 5: 11 Here you have the word, atonement, but it is really the word, reconciliation, And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Or, reconciliation. Being ransomed is by the gift of Himself, redemption is by the pouring out of His blood, reconciledby His death. So man is reconciled by the death of Christ, and you have to distinguish between these three. Man is at war with God and man needs to be reconciled to God—there is enmity between man and God, and thereby Jesus Christ died, that we might be reconciled.

1.   But now we come to a very important verse, Romans 8: 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. What does this mean? Right away someone will say, if you don’t walk a certain way, you are not saved, but this is not talking about our personal walk. What this verse is actually saying is that we are keeping the law. You say ‘’We are? In days gone by you said we can’t keep the law. We can’t keep it in our own flesh, our own endeavor, but nevertheless, we are keeping the law, and we are keeping the law perfectly. Everyone who is saved is keeping the law and keeping it perfectly. How has this come about? You are not able to keep the law to be saved, and after you are saved, you still can’t keep the law, but the One Who lives in you keeps the law. The being kept in you—maybe you don’t realize it, but if you are saved this is exactly what is taking place. How does God fulfill the law in us? Christ was the only One who ever kept the law, Who ever met the demands of the law, and in Colossians 1: 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Christ in you the hope of glory. In this one instance, He is our Hope of glory. He is fulfilling the law in us. He is keeping the law in us.

2.   The law demands two things: Whenever you have summed up the whole law it demands two things. What are these two things? Let us first of all notice in this law might be fulfilled in us. First of all, it demands righteousness, and we do not have righteousness. Remember, I Corinthians 1: 30 But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: He is righteousness within us.

3.   Galatians 5: 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Where all the law is fulfilled in one word—notice, all the law is fulfilled in one word. What is this one word? Even this, that thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Romans 13: 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Here is the same thing, the law demands righteousness, the law demands love. But you do not have love within yourself. But love is what the law demands. Notice, I Timothy 1: 5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: Do you realize that in John’s Gospel and in John’s epistle he uses the word, love, in different forms 102 times. Paul uses it 109 times, and he says in I Corinthians 13 the greatest of these is love. Christ is our righteousness, and let us notice another Scripture about love now. Romans 5: 5 And this is a good verse to remember. And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. This is not an experience that some people have. I would like to have that experience. You do have it when you are saved. This is what happened when you were saved, and if it didn’t happen, you weren’t saved. The love of God was shed abroad in our hearts and this is what came in when the Holy Spirit came into live in our life. So Christ and the Holy Spirit in us are keeping the law, fulfilling it perfectly.

4.   Let us notice the words, who walk not after the flesh—you say that means a Christian shouldn’t walk in the flesh, no, that isn’t what it means at all—notice verse 9. That ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. This is what it means in II Corinthians 5: 17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. He is a new creation, and he is now spiritual. He wasn’t before, but he is now. This is true of all believers, and then he goes on to say, old thing have passed away. That is the flesh, and behold, all things are become new.

5.   What is the flesh and what is the Spirit? Anyone who is in Adam is fleshly—we said earlier in this study of the Book of Romans, God only recognizes two men—the first Adam and the second Adam—Adam and Christ—if you are in Adam, you are fleshly, if you are in Christ, you are spiritual, and all who are saved are walking after the Spirit. The important word here is, after, after the Spirit.

6.    Now beginning in Romans 8: 5 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. We have a comparison between this new life that is in us and the old life in the flesh. Some people read these verses from verses 5 on as a warning to God’s people. But it isn’t that all—it is a comparison. Some people think this is a warning to us not to live according to the flesh, but to live according to the Spirit. But that 9^th verse shows us how foolish this is. But ye are not in the flesh—you see, that is a definite statement. We have been taken out of it—out of the flesh, and we have a new life for the Holy Spirit has come in. Let us look fully at that verse 9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. If the Holy Spirit didn’t come in and bring the life of God, then you are not saved. The Holy Spirit’s coming in is not a second experience, it is when you are saved. God gives you the Holy Spirit and He does the work of bringing in righteousness and the love of God into your life.

7.   Now look at Romans 8: 7 Because the carnal mind is amenity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. That is a distinction that is one that is not saved. He is showing here what it means to have the Holy Spirit, He is not here warning the Lord’s people, He is showing the difference between the life that we have in the Spirit and the life that is lived without the Spirit.

8.   Romans 8: 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Now, look at the 9^th verse. But ye are not in the flesh. Do you see the difference? It matters now how good a life a man tries to live, if he is still in the flesh and doesn’t have the Holy Spirit, he cannot please God. So he is showing a distinction between a man who is saved, and a man who is unsaved.

9.   I wonder how many folks really realize what a wonderful position we have today. Having salvation and the Holy Spirit dwelling in us—Christ in us. I am sure we don’t realize this as we ought—God couldn’t do it for David. He could not do for David what He has done for you. He could not do for Abraham, Isaac. And Jacob, or Moses or Joseph or any other character in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit was not given as the Holy Spirit is given today. In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit only operated.

10.This came home to my heart very clearly as I was studying the Book of Judges the other day. It says four different times that the Spirit came on Samson. Judges 14: 5, 6 Here, it says, Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand:…

This was the Bible’s Hercules. We don’t understand this the Holy Spirit operating in Samson—not at all—Holy Spirit gave to David the wisdom to rule, and to some others He gave them the wisdom to write poetry, to others to be great leaders of armies—but to Samson, the Holy Spirit was physical power. Did you ever see a picture of Samson? And he had those great muscles like a giant. From studying the Scriptures, he wasn’t anything of the kind. His strength was not in great physical muscles, like a giant. It was in the Holy Spirit coming in his body. Notice, he couldn’t have taken this young lion and rent him like a kid, if the Holy Spirit hadn’t come upon him.

11. And then, Samson had a vow that he made—he was a Nazarite, and when he broke his vow, the Holy Spirit didn’t come upon him, he was as weak as any other man. A Nazarite should never have his hair cut, nor his head shaven, but Samson told his vow, the secret of his power. 

Judges 16: 16 – 19   And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; ¹⁷ That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. ¹⁸ And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. ¹⁹ And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

When they shaved his head, he was just like any other man, and the Holy Spirit did not come upon him to empower him. Verse 20 when she said, (that is Delilah) The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself.—but what happened, the Lord had departed from him. The Holy Spirit was not going to come upon him and empower him this time. And then notice, verse 21 the Philistines took him and put out his eyes. They didn’t even bind him to put out his eyes. It was when they brought him down to Gaza that they bound him with fetters of brass. For he was just like any other man. The Holy Spirit did not come upon him and empower him. His strength was in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit only operated in the Old Testament. But in the New Testament, He dwells and lives in us. This makes the difference.

12. Now notice, Romans 8: 11 But if the Spirit of Him that from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. We, and then He says, therefore, brethren, we are debtors to God for what He did. This Holy Spirit in us also guarantees our resurrection body. Some people read in the 11^th verse to read that He quickens our mortal bodies right now. But the mortal body is the body that dies, mortal means that it must die. And it says here, shall also quicken or raise up your mortal bodies—that is future. When you pass away from this present life and lay your body in the tomb, you are with the Lord, and that is why we keep telling you that we only sow the body of the believer. 

I Corinthians 15: 42, 43 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: ⁴³ It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: The Holy Spirit in us is a guarantee, a foretaste--a down-payment of the fact that even though now we have mortal bodies, one of these days, our bodies will be like the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, that we might understand that.

13. It is wonderful to know that we are not in the FLESH, BUT we are in the Spirit. This is not taking about our everyday walk, but it is talking about our position in Jesus Christ. Again, we must warn you, this is not a warning, this is a comparison; this is a distinction. Rejoice in what you have in Christ Jesus.

14. We have entitled this message, the tragedy of carnality. Carnality is death, to be fleshly is death, you are fleshly if you are in Adam, but not in Christ. Remember, I Corinthians 16: 22 “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.”

It is our prayer that you love Christ, you are no longer fleshly, but now you are spiritual.

Ref: 01/24/1965/ 286 - THE TRAGEDY OF CARNALITY / 2/11/2020