Feeding the Spirit: Overcoming Fleshly Desires
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"I was having this battle between my flesh, and I was having this battle between my spirit. And Paul tells us in Galatians 5, 16, and 17, he says this, he says, I say walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh, for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desire of the spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do." [00:42:37] (30 seconds)
"We've all tasted the fat, we've all tasted this fleshly filling, and we've all filled our bellies with things that we weren't supposed to fill our bellies with. So, we know what it tastes like. I heard from a young Bible college student who was homeschooled and was always in the church, and what he said was he wasn't really exposed to a whole lot of sin in his life as a child, but then when he would see it, he would say, that looks like it tastes good." [00:43:15] (32 seconds)
"And maybe you don't know what I mean when I say flesh, and that's okay because the Greek word for flesh in the New Testament is sarx, which it can refer to your physical body. But it also can refer to our sinful desires, our spiritual desires. For example, Romans 8, 7 says, the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law. So, we have this earthly flesh." [00:44:33] (32 seconds)
"Well, that's what sin is. That's what we do. That's what people are trying to do. They're trying to fill themselves up, and they'll go through anything, whether it's alcohol, or drugs, or porn, or food, or lust of the world, or gambling, or whatever. I mean, whatever it is. They do these things, and they think that that's going to fill them up and satisfy them. And for a moment, it does." [00:46:15] (26 seconds)
"And as Christians, we're kind of designed like that, because we have a mind, and we have a body, and we have a spirit. And when God created us, so He created our mind to seek God's knowledge and wisdom. Our mind, we're supposed to search that knowledge and that wisdom of the Lord through the Scriptures. Proverbs is a great book that talks about searching for the knowledge of God and having that wisdom." [00:47:01] (29 seconds)
"And our spirit was created to draw close to Christ, and to follow the spirit. But the problem is, we've all sinned, and we've all fallen short of the glory of God, Romans 3 .23. So, now our mind is telling us that we need to feed our flesh. Our mind says, that looks good. We should go do that. But our spirit's saying, no, no, no, no. We must seek Christ." [00:47:53] (29 seconds)
"And so, here we are. We got this battle raging inside of this. And I don't know if I've used this analogy before here on a Sunday morning. But there was this Indian chief, and he told this son, he says, there's two wolves that live inside of you, son. There's an evil wolf and a good wolf. And he says, the evil wolf represents all evil, all bad, all murder, all hate, all lies. Everything that represents bad, that wolf represents that." [00:48:33] (26 seconds)
"So, we have this battle inside of us. We got these, and it's whichever one feeds is going to win. So, if you're feeding your flesh, your flesh is always going to win. But if you're feeding your spirit, the spirit's always going to win. And so, we're going to get to the lesson here in a second. And it's going to be the last IM of Jesus." [00:49:16] (24 seconds)
"And Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, are you seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves? And so what Jesus is saying, Are you seeking me not because you saw signs? You're not seeking me because of that miracle. You're not seeking after me because I just fed 10, 20 ,000 people and I filled them up. You're seeking me because you ate your fill of the loaves. You got your physical bellies filled up. I satisfied your hunger." [00:55:09] (36 seconds)
"So Jesus is saying, That bread that your fathers got in the desert wasn't from Moses. It was from God. It was from the Father. And then Jesus says, For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said to him, Sir, give us this bread always. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life." [00:58:02] (33 seconds)
"When Jesus says that he is the bread of life, he is saying to us, we don't need anything else but him. And we need to remember that. That's what the table is all about. That's what communion is all about. That's what church is all about. If Jesus never died on that cross and was never resurrected out of that tomb, why would we even be here today?" [01:01:52] (28 seconds)
"Are you searching to be filled? Are you grabbing the wrong food and filling yourself with the wrong things? If you are, then I ask that you come to the real table and you take the real bread and you eat of that bread and be filled. Jesus says, I am the bread. If that's you, I would ask that you would come forward this morning and then say, you've been a Christian for a while and you've already tasted this bread, but you're struggling with the fighting, the flesh, and the spirit." [01:02:54] (42 seconds)
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"We've all tasted the fat, we've all tasted this fleshly filling, and we've all filled our bellies with things that we weren't supposed to fill our bellies with. So, we know what it tastes like. I heard from a young Bible college student who was homeschooled and was always in the church, and what he said was he wasn't really exposed to a whole lot of sin in his life as a child, but then when he would see it, he would say, that looks like it tastes good." [00:43:15] (32 seconds)
"And maybe you don't know what I mean when I say flesh, and that's okay because the Greek word for flesh in the New Testament is sarx, which it can refer to your physical body. But it also can refer to our sinful desires, our spiritual desires. For example, Romans 8, 7 says, the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law. So, we have this earthly flesh." [00:44:33] (32 seconds)
"Well, that's what sin is. That's what we do. That's what people are trying to do. They're trying to fill themselves up, and they'll go through anything, whether it's alcohol, or drugs, or porn, or food, or lust of the world, or gambling, or whatever. I mean, whatever it is. They do these things, and they think that that's going to fill them up and satisfy them. And for a moment, it does." [00:46:15] (26 seconds)
"And as Christians, we're kind of designed like that, because we have a mind, and we have a body, and we have a spirit. And when God created us, so He created our mind to seek God's knowledge and wisdom. Our mind, we're supposed to search that knowledge and that wisdom of the Lord through the Scriptures. Proverbs is a great book that talks about searching for the knowledge of God and having that wisdom." [00:47:01] (29 seconds)
"And our spirit was created to draw close to Christ, and to follow the spirit. But the problem is, we've all sinned, and we've all fallen short of the glory of God, Romans 3 .23. So, now our mind is telling us that we need to feed our flesh. Our mind says, that looks good. We should go do that. But our spirit's saying, no, no, no, no. We must seek Christ." [00:47:53] (29 seconds)
"And so, here we are. We got this battle raging inside of this. And I don't know if I've used this analogy before here on a Sunday morning. But there was this Indian chief, and he told this son, he says, there's two wolves that live inside of you, son. There's an evil wolf and a good wolf. And he says, the evil wolf represents all evil, all bad, all murder, all hate, all lies. Everything that represents bad, that wolf represents that." [00:48:33] (26 seconds)
"So, we have this battle inside of us. We got these, and it's whichever one feeds is going to win. So, if you're feeding your flesh, your flesh is always going to win. But if you're feeding your spirit, the spirit's always going to win. And so, we're going to get to the lesson here in a second. And it's going to be the last IM of Jesus." [00:49:16] (24 seconds)
"And Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, are you seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves? And so what Jesus is saying, Are you seeking me not because you saw signs? You're not seeking me because of that miracle. You're not seeking after me because I just fed 10, 20 ,000 people and I filled them up. You're seeking me because you ate your fill of the loaves. You got your physical bellies filled up. I satisfied your hunger." [00:55:09] (36 seconds)
"So Jesus is saying, That bread that your fathers got in the desert wasn't from Moses. It was from God. It was from the Father. And then Jesus says, For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said to him, Sir, give us this bread always. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life." [00:58:02] (33 seconds)
"When Jesus says that he is the bread of life, he is saying to us, we don't need anything else but him. And we need to remember that. That's what the table is all about. That's what communion is all about. That's what church is all about. If Jesus never died on that cross and was never resurrected out of that tomb, why would we even be here today?" [01:01:52] (28 seconds)
"Are you searching to be filled? Are you grabbing the wrong food and filling yourself with the wrong things? If you are, then I ask that you come to the real table and you take the real bread and you eat of that bread and be filled. Jesus says, I am the bread. If that's you, I would ask that you would come forward this morning and then say, you've been a Christian for a while and you've already tasted this bread, but you're struggling with the fighting, the flesh, and the spirit." [01:02:54] (42 seconds)
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