Johan Malan, Mossel Bay, South Africa (April 2013)
Every Christian is called to a life of holiness, victory, and unimpeded service to the Lord. However, much perseverance and commitment are needed before this life will become a reality. Paul says that we should enter into a new phase of obedience in our lives, put down every obstacle and, with perseverance, pursue complete sanctification. In his own life he also yearned for the fulfilment of this promise: “I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). He pursued this exalted, victorious life to embrace it with a commitment to never again to return to the precarious existence of the past.
This upward call is nothing less than conformity to Jesus Christ Himself. In the light of Paul’s testimony, as well as the testimonies of many saints throughout the centuries, we should engage in removing stumbling-blocks which stand in our way to fulfil the call towards complete sanctification: “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:1-2).
The stumbling-blocks which should be removed on the way towards our divine calling are described as sin and other unnecessary burdens. These things are standing between us and the fulfilment of the promise of sanctification. There are many of the hindrances, or ‘weights’, which pull us down and deprive us of the Christlike life. The specific problem differs from person to person as not all of us have the same weaknesses and inclinations which are exploited by the evil one. The following are some of the most common stumbling-blocks:
The flesh refers to the old, uncrucified nature of man. As the flesh is inclined to sin and the advancing of own interest, it opposes the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish” (Gal. 5:17). Young converts who have not yet made a complete surrender, find themselves in a situation of being dominated by the flesh, and that will continue for the rest of their lives if they fail to do anything about it.
It often happens that when a person repents and gives his heart to the Lord, he only turns away from certain sins of the past without thoroughly confessing his carnal (fleshly) state and ending its domination. In such cases the flesh remains alive and then seeks more “Christian” and therefore more acceptable ways of getting his own way and building his own image. Such a person still does not have a pure heart, but rather a divided heart in which the Spirit and flesh oppose one another.
The main purpose of the flesh is to make his influence felt, to shun the cross of self-denial, and consistently proceed with the pursuit of own interest. In the process, the flesh lays up stumbling-blocks to avert any progress toward the Spirit-filled life. The following stumbling-blocks commonly occur in people’s lives, and are all indicative of an underlying condition of carnality:
Many people prefer not to be clearly confronted by the demand of rebirth and sanctification, but to rather follow the easy way of securing church membership through rites such as baptism and confirmation. In formalistic churches, the pastor declares members to be saved instead of relying on the Holy Spirit to do so (cf. Rom. 8:16). However, members of such churches only have a form of godliness without the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 3:5). To such believers, church membership is the door to heaven, and faithful church attendance the only way to holiness. They are obtrusively devoted to the doctrines of their denomination, and intolerantly opposed to any other teachings. However, this disposition precludes any possibility of true spiritual awakening and subsequent growth to maturity. Their lives are built on a false foundation as they have never been exposed to the full truth on justification and sanctification.
Even if such a person has truly given his heart to the Lord, he still finds it difficult to gain assurance of salvation since his baptism and church membership are the anchors of his soul, rather than faith in Christ. His lack of sanctification is not blamed on his carnal position but on the fact that he doesn’t attend church regularly enough and don’t make adequate financial contributions. The absence of holiness is, therefore, addressed through human efforts towards an improved life, still oblivious of the need for complete surrender and the mortification of the old, self-centred life. To such a person, sanctification remains an elusive dream. It is tragic that churches and their rituals are often blocking the way between a believer and a life of spiritual fulfilment.
The flesh is not compatible with a life of faith in which one has to fully trust in the completed work of Jesus Christ on the cross. If the “old man” is allowed to survive after repentance he will be looking for ways to make his influence felt in the life of faith. He prefers a form of self-justification before God which is based upon his own efforts and works, and to that end he is strongly inclined towards mixing law and grace.
When a person is deceived into following this way of life, his focus is shifted away from the cross to the law, and that offers the flesh the opportunity to pursue his own form of holiness. He is no longer confronted by the need for complete surrender and mortification on the cross, thereby allowing for the fruit of the Spirit in a sanctified life, but instead practises a deceptive form of sanctification in which the emphasis is placed on own efforts within a legalistic way of life. Such people boast in their impeccable lives in accordance with the law and ever try to observe more laws – also the Sabbath laws. They confine the role of Christ only to forgiveness in cases of contravening the law.
What does Paul say about people whose most important objective is law observance? “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:4). A life of this nature does not build a person’s spiritual life, but rather undermines and eventually destroys it. When the cross is no longer sufficient to you, you are backsliding from the Lord along the way of self-justification. When the love of God has been poured out into our hearts and we hope fully on the grace which has been brought to us by the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:13), we no longer need the law as a guiding principle in our life (Rom. 13:8-10).
During Old Testament times, the law was a tutor to the Messiah – it impelled Israel to trust in Jesus and His cross for salvation and sanctification. In the new dispensation, it is the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin, regenerates and fills us, guides us into all truth, and presents Christ as the ultimate purpose of our lives. The law cannot save, and much less sanctify us, and therefore we should not build a relationship between believers and the law but between believers and Christ. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin if our lives do not conform to Christ’s image of holiness.
The lives of carnal Christians are always characterised by moral sins because “the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be” (Rom. 8:7). A believer who gives in to his sin nature is acting like an unsaved person (1 Cor. 3:1-3). The following immoral acts are unfortunately characteristic of many believers who have not yet trusted the Lord for complete sanctification: pride, love for the world and worldly entertainment, love for money, wealth and the desire to only have the best always, fraudulent financial transactions, various forms of addiction (e.g. to liquor, tobacco, other drugs and even to food), vindictiveness, lies, unclean thoughts, and adulterous relationships. This list could go on and on as there is no end to what the flesh is lusting after for its own gratification.
Do you grieve the Holy Spirit by making yourself guilty to one or more of these things? Know then, that your heart has not yet been cleansed and filled by the Holy Spirit. He must first gain full control over your life before you will turn away from all the wrong and crooked ways which you are still following: “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). The Holy Spirit will exalt the Lord Jesus in your life and enable you to become a partaker of His holiness: “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfil its lusts” (Rom. 13:14).
The solution to fleshliness is not human efforts to try and sin less, but a thorough self-examination and the confessing and immediate forsaking of everything which stands between you and the Lord (Prov. 28:13; 1 John 1:9). According to Hebrews 10:19-22, the Lord Jesus is our High Priest who has prepared a way for us through the torn veil into the sanctuary of God, and has cleansed our hearts from an evil conscience. Christ’s crucifixion does not only ensure our salvation but also our sanctification.
When the Holy Spirit endues us with power from on high, we are convicted of everything that still stands between us and the Lord, and He leads us back to the cross to be cleansed from all sin by the blood of the Lamb. If we are faithful to surrender ourselves like this, the Holy Spirit will gain full control over our lives and will, unhindered by the flesh, be able to guide us into all truth.
Fleshly Christians are convicted of their sin by the Holy Spirit, but they are often not prepared to part from those sins. In this way they grieve the Holy Spirit and resist His ministry in their lives (Eph. 4:30).
It is common practice among fleshly Christians to be self-centred, to always talk about themselves and their own achievements, and to seek full recognition for their work. They want to be highly regarded in their churches and in society and that is the reason they hesitate to take a stand which may offend others, or to talk about people’s sins and thereby embarrass them. They would rather compromise and refrain from exhorting wayward believers.
However, the Lord Jesus seriously admonished His disciples not to seek the praise of men, because the gospel of salvation is of such a nature that it will be rejected by the world and also by unsaved church members who only have a form of godliness. A true disciple of Jesus should be prepared to suffer persecution and to be rejected by the world (Luke 6:22-26; John 15:19-20). A carnal believer cannot endure this kind of treatment as he feels deeply hurt and offended if people do not praise him for what he has done. There is clearly a price to be paid if we wish to completely surrender ourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
A carnal believer is not under the full control of the Holy Spirit, and therefore cannot claim that he is guided into the whole truth. Such a person still listens to various other voices – also those of the false prophets – and easily falls away from the truth. The Lord Jesus often warned His disciples against deception (Matt. 24:4-5, 11, 24), but church history throughout the centuries underscores the tragic fact that carnal believers often heeded the ill-conceived advice of false teachers.
The Galatians were warned that false teachers would sow confusion by distorting the gospel of Christ (Gal.1:6-8). The same warning was addressed to the Ephesians (Acts 20:29-30). The Corinthians were also warned against demonic deception aimed at perverting the gospel by means of false presentations of Jesus (2 Cor. 11:3-4). All these things happen under the direct influence of the devil who comes as an angel of light, as well as false prophets who equally pretend to have noble objectives (2 Cor. 11:13-15).
The Bible warns us that deception of this nature will become a common phenomenon in the end-time: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1). Paul said that there will be many teachers who will turn their ears away from the truth and openly proclaim unbiblical fables (2 Tim. 4:2-4).
Carnal believers are spiritually immature, do not have well developed discernment (Heb. 5:12-14; Eph. 4:14), and therefore find it difficult to remain standing against the strong tide of false doctrine. Seek after the filling of the Holy Spirit, study the Bible under His guidance, and turn your back on anything that is at variance with it.
Two of the inevitable consequences of false teachings are doubt and unbelief. People who adhere to wrong doctrines are becoming followers of men – that is the way in which all cults are formed. When the victims of these movements had enough of strange manifestations such as falling and laughing in the spirit, had been deceived by false, unfulfilled prophecies, dreams and visions for extended periods of time, gave large sums of money to greedy preachers and prophets, and had more than enough of toiling and doubting after being declared saved by presumptuous preachers, then many of them turn away from religion altogether and also reject biblical truths along with the deception that was imposed upon them by the cults.
The disciples of Jesus also doubted on certain occasions and were described as people of little faith, but they realised their problem and prayed to the Lord: “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5; cf. Matt. 8:26). When people’s faith starts faltering they should have a time of reflection during which they search their hearts as well as the Scriptures, and again surrender themselves to the Lord.
One of the characteristics of fleshly Christians is that they are not vigilant enough against the temptations and attacks of the Evil One – neither are they strongly committed to prayer: “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41). A fleshly Christian relies more on his own abilities than on the power of the Holy Spirit, and that is precisely the reason why he so often fails in his efforts to prevail over temptations. He is attacked when he least expects it and easily succumbs.
People in this frame of mind do not offer timely resistance against sin, and usually wait until it is too late before taking a stand against evil. However, a Spirit-filled person is immediately alerted against wrong thoughts and intentions, thus enabling him to avoid problems before yielding to evil suggestions.
When the Holy Spirit is not blocked by a carnal disposition in our lives, He will continue to minister to us and also instil in us a strong expectation on Christ’s second coming (John 16:13). He came to the earth to gather a bridal congregation for Jesus Christ. We are daily prepared to appear before the Lord Jesus at the end of our lives. After a person has been born again, he is also sanctified and enabled to do works which are worthy of repentance (Matt. 3:8). These works are not human efforts to please God but the fruit of the Holy Spirit in the life of a fully surrendered believer, and are described as the fabric of his wedding garment: “And to her [the bride] it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints” (Rev. 19:8; cf. Eph. 5:25-27).
The foolish virgins in Matthew 25:1-13 depict fleshly believers who maintain a very low standard by wrongly assuming that they are ready for the coming of the Bridegroom. They do have lamps that were initially burning but they don’t have extra oil with them. The extra oil refers to the filling of the Holy Spirit, which is neglected by many Christians. That is the reason why they run dry spiritually, don’t have a wedding garment, and fall asleep when they should have watched and prayed.
Many of these fleshly believers will only discover their shortcoming after the rapture when it will be too late to prepare for the Bridegroom’s secret coming. They will still be able to restore their broken relationship with the Lord, but will have to pass through the tribulation period and consequently have to pay en expensive price for their fleshliness. They allow the uncrucified flesh to block and choke them spiritually, and thus deprive them of a life of victory.
Those who only rely on their own wisdom are always in conflict with the Bible. They refuse to accept the fact that in the end-time the world increasingly deteriorates as it heads towards the great tribulation. Instead of this scenario they engage in human efforts to reform the world spiritually and morally and to promote great revivals by way of transformation rallies, thereby establishing their own Utopia.
These are exactly the same arguments which the Antichrist will also use to unite and transform the world. He will say: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent; also I have removed the boundaries of the people, and have robbed their treasuries; so I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man” (Isa. 10:13).
The wisdom of God is completely different to that of man. His Holy Spirit instils in us the conviction that the world is deteriorating to the point where the Antichrist will gain control over it in the tribulation period. During this time, God will also judge the sinners as part of the process to remove wickedness from the earth. Our command is to watch and pray to be worthy to escape the coming tribulation and to stand before the Son of Man (Luke 21:36).
It is only the Holy Spirit who can give us the correct understanding of God’s Word, and also enables us to react to it in an appropriate way: “For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Cor. 2:10). Without Him we will be completely wrong in our evaluation of the world, entertain a wrong future expectation, and also keep ourselves busy with irrelevant activities.
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit and do you serve the Lord in the power of the Spirit, or is your religion confined to persuasive words of human wisdom which only leads to fleshly efforts to please God? (1 Cor. 2:4). Everything which emerges from man’s natural insights and abilities will be consumed like wood, hay and straw before the judgement seat of Christ. Even if such a person has a testimony of salvation, his fleshy religious acts will be rejected and he will stand before the Lord empty-handed: “If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:15). Rewards will only be given for works which have been done under the guidance and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The only way to a successful spiritual life is to surrender the flesh with all its manifestations to be crucified, thereby cleansing our hearts and lives completely from its influence. Only then, the Spirit of God will be able to fill us and guide us into all truth. This is the first and major problem which should be addressed when we surrender ourselves to the Lord to be sanctified. Paul admonished a Christian congregation, “that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24).
We cannot fully put on the new life in Christ before we have made a complete surrender to put off and crucify the old life (cf. Col. 3:8-10). The stumbling-blocks in the way of sanctification must be removed. If we fail to do that, we will confine ourselves to an extended nursery school of fleshliness and spiritual immaturity (1 Cor. 3:1-3).
Are you experiencing the life of victory, or is the Spirit of God still resisted and even quenched by long-established stumbling-blocks in your life? (cf. 1 Thess. 5:19). The solution to this problem is complete sanctification as a further work of grace in our lives: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23). Only the Lord can cleanse our hearts, on condition that we are prepared to put off the stumbling-blocks of carnality in our lives.