Break Free from Carnality | Saved but Stunted: Escape the Carnal Trap Before It's Too Late

[0:00] 1 Corinthians 3 is where we're going to go. Tonight, talking about carnality and how we can break free from carnality.! 1 Corinthians 3 from verse 1.

[0:12] ! Paul writes to the Corinthians.! 1 Corinthians 3, verse 1. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

[0:27] I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it. Neither yet now are ye able, for ye are yet carnal.

[0:39] For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? Paul writes to the Corinthians.

[0:51] He knew them very well. He knew that they had been saved by grace, God's people. And here he challenges them about this issue of carnality. He's saying he can't talk to them as mature believers.

[1:05] He had to stick to the basics, the milk of the gospel, because they were still too carnal. They were too flesh-driven to handle the meat of deeper truths.

[1:18] And these folk, they were saved by grace, yes, yet they were stuck in baby mode. Carnality. It speaks of a life that's stunted, of potential unrealised, stunted growth.

[1:39] And carnality. You see, carnality, there's much wreckage there, much reproach. And Paul is rebuking the church at Corinth.

[1:51] These Corinthians, they were saved. He calls them brethren. He calls them babes in Christ. They were saved. They had the spirit, yet they lived like the world, and their spiritual growth was stunted.

[2:06] What can we learn about the carnal Corinthians? You see of them, it tells of them, of this envying, strife, division. It tells how they were envying leaders.

[2:18] They were cliquey. They were forming these cliques. They were fighting, splitting. And Paul's grieving here about the Corinthians, where they were at. These are his brothers and sisters in Christ.

[2:29] His spiritual children. He wants to nurture them. He wants to see them to grow. He's sad for them. They're missing out. God wants so much more for us.

[2:41] Paul doesn't question their salvation, but he rebukes their immaturity. What can we learn? Now, the Lord didn't leave us to die crawling on the ground like a baby, crawling on the floor.

[2:55] He redeemed us to run the race, to bear lasting fruit, and to know victory by his strength. Paul says it's time to graduate from kindy class to the spiritual.

[3:07] Time to put the bottle away and the dummy and to dig into the banquet that God is preparing. God wants to give us meat to feast upon.

[3:18] There's a feast waiting for us. It's time to grab the steak. I know that would appeal to some of the meat lovers amongst us. It's time to grab the steak, isn't it? To leave the milk behind. So let's have a look at this carnality that is pictured here.

[3:32] What does it look like? What does it look like in the mirror? And why is carnality so dangerous? How can we break free and walk in the spirit? So thinking of this question, what is carnality?

[3:45] Paul puts it bluntly here, I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. Carnality.

[3:56] It's this fleshly mindset where your old sinful nature is still calling the shots and running the show sometimes, even after salvation. It ought not to be so.

[4:07] But there is this reality of fleshly living where the ego is still rising up, saying, me first, God later. It is possible to be saved, forgiven, headed to heaven, and yet live like nothing's changed.

[4:23] This ought not to be so. It's a reproach. You've got the Holy Spirit living in you, but you ignore his nudge. And it's a reproach. When a Christian is retarded, stunted in his growth, in this way, held back from growing.

[4:41] Carnality. It's not like the big sins, maybe, of greed or adultery, whatever, but it's that daily drift towards the self, to self over the saviour, to chasing the temporary thrills while ignoring internal joys.

[4:57] It's fleshly living and what a tragic place it is to be. Now, scripture tells us of, really, you could put it, of three kinds of people, three types of people.

[5:08] You see the natural man, unsaved. You see that in 1 Corinthians 2, 14. 1 Corinthians 2, 14, it reads, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him.

[5:24] Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. The natural person, unsaved, blind to God's truth, they think it's all foolishness.

[5:36] Then you see the spiritual person, the spiritual person, 1 Corinthians 2, 15, it reads, But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

[5:48] The spiritual person, they're mature, they're led by the Spirit, they view life through God's eyes. And then, it tells of the carnal, the carnal person, saved, but stunted like, a believer who acts like their old self never died.

[6:03] You're in Christ, you're heaven bound, but you're missing out on so much of his peace and power. The carnal, it's a mind at war.

[6:15] It's war going on in your head. Romans 8, 6 through 7 talks about the carnal mind. It brings death. It's enmity with God, rejecting his ways.

[6:27] And even Paul wrestled with it in Romans 7 from verse 14. If you want to click there, I don't have all these slides on show. Romans 7, 14, it reads, For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.

[6:45] He's saying there's this fight going on from verse 24. He says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of this death?

[6:58] He tells about this wrestling. He tells of this struggle, this wrestling. Yet he found victory through Christ and you can too. It reads there, verse 25, Romans 7, 25, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

[7:21] Paul's talking about carnality, this struggle at times. And carnality is this prolonged infancy. It's like, it's a cute little baby, newborn, being kind of baby stage, that babyhood, but it's sad when someone's in their older years and they're still acting like a baby, just not growing.

[7:43] And Hebrews 5 from verse 12 warns about of some that they ought to be teachers by now, but they're still needing baby food. Carnality, it's this picture of those that are stuck.

[7:54] And they could end up being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine as it talks about in Ephesians 4, 14, missing out on really how they can grow in their faith and they can get stronger through sanctification.

[8:11] Now there is a school of thought that says that Christians can't be carnal, that there is no such thing as a carnal Christian. I don't hold to that view. I think that a Christian can have moments of carnality, can't act very carnal.

[8:25] I think it's in every one of us that we can be as carnal as the Corinthians, still saved, yet struggling with this carnality that's in us, this flesh and the spirit, this war going on.

[8:38] And we can see that as a Christian we can battle with the carnal man. Let's have a look. What does carnality look like then? Paul spots it here in the Corinthians.

[8:50] He says, ye are yet carnal, verse 3, 1 Corinthians 3, 3, for ye are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men.

[9:05] You can see some red flags here, some three things here. He says, you're walking as mere men, you're blending in with the world. These things ought not to be. This carnality, what does he say?

[9:16] There's three things that talks of here of envying. This resentment bubbling up, I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos. There's this kind of infighting, this dividing going on, this envying going on.

[9:31] And we can see, for example, in the life of King Saul, he eyed David with jealousy, 1 Samuel 18, verse 8 through 9. He had this envy that riled him and made him fight and resent David.

[9:47] and it festered and festered. James 3.16 talks about envying as confusion and every evil work. Envying. The second one they see there, the second red flag you could say is strife.

[10:03] See the ego that feels pride and strife and striving. In Proverbs 13.10 it says, only by pride cometh contention. With the Corinthians, they were suing each other in court.

[10:16] Brother was taking brother to court. There was this fighting going on that they elevated to even take it to an unsaved judge. What a reproach that they were so carnal.

[10:29] In Galatians 5.20 there's a whole list of the works of the flesh, the works of the carnal. And then we see the third sign, the third red flag, divisions.

[10:40] There was these factions forming. There was a sowing of discords. It's one thing God really hates. In Proverbs 6.19 discord, we see that divisions, divisiveness is a very carnal thing.

[10:55] Paul warns in Romans 16.17 warn them. He says, mark them and avoid them that cause divisions. You can see that sometimes in churches where there's this fighting going on.

[11:09] Some would think I'm the more spiritual than the other and it's carnality really, divisions. It's really the carnal nature, isn't it? And then you can see 1 John 2 talks about worldliness and it reads, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

[11:27] If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. And what a sad thing to so miss the will of God that we see we're worldly.

[11:37] we're just as carnal as the next man, as our next door neighbour. We're acting just the same. It ought not to be so. The carnality shows up in this worldliness where we love the world's systems, we love the world's lusts, we love the world's thinkings and values and priorities.

[11:59] Carnality. You can see it reflected in worldliness and Christians can at times be just as worldly, sadly. And it's a great reproach. It ought not to be. You see worldliness in the prayerlessness of Peter as he was dozing there in Gethsemane.

[12:16] Matthew 26, 41, the Lord said, pray. And Peter dozed off. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. It's carnality, isn't it?

[12:27] Prayerlessness. We see carnality in fruitlessness. John 15, it tells how we're meant to bear fruit, to be fruitful, and yet many Christians have next to little or no fruit sometimes.

[12:41] It's ought not to be so. Where we have self-centeredness, we take offense, there's unforgiveness, these are fruits of really the carnal nature.

[12:52] And brother, sister, we ought not to have such a fruit, but rather to have a godly fruit. Let's look at some examples of where God's people have strayed into carnality.

[13:05] Let's look at scriptures carnal believers. You see, for example, and I know one of the preachers at the NBF touched on some of these characters, and you could see really the truth of this carnality.

[13:20] You see, for example, Samson, he had strength as the Nazarite with his vow unto God, God. But yet he fell for lust, taking a pagan wife in Judges 14, going astray to harlots, falling for Delilah's trap, and he woke up as the Philistines came upon him.

[13:44] He thought he could shake himself like he used to. Oh, this is just another way that I'm going to prove myself. and yet he was not aware that the Spirit of God had left him, had departed from him.

[14:02] He had this kind of arrogance, this carnal arrogance. It won't happen to me, but it did. Samson acted carnally. Another carnal believer example is Lot.

[14:16] He was righteous, but he was worldly. Lot. He made the foolish choice of Sodom's plains in Genesis 13 10.

[14:29] When he had the choice of where to settle, he settled for Sodom. He overlooked the sin of Sodom and the curse of Sodom, and he took that track of choosing Sodom.

[14:48] Sodom because he weighed it up maybe financially and said, oh, I'll be more rich in Sodom because the land's better that way.

[15:01] But it ended up that his soul was vexed, vexed, tormented. That's 2 Peter 2 7. He was a tormented man in Sodom because he was in the wrong place.

[15:12] He lost his testimony, he lost his family, he lost his influence, he lost his possessions. Carnal Lot. Demas, he was a fellow worker with Paul in Colossians 4.14, yet Demas was a world lover.

[15:31] He deserted Paul in 2 Timothy 4.10. He chose sinful appetites, he chose the carnal route. And then you see the Corinthians themselves.

[15:42] These were gifted people of God. This was a church where there was much that was good, but they were carnal. Their church was at times in chaos, and they tolerated sin.

[15:59] In 1 Corinthians 5, there was outright sin and nothing was done. They abused the Lord's Supper. They misused the gifts that God had given to them.

[16:11] They had power without character. The carnal Corinthians. There's others we could cite as examples of believers out of the will of God, living carnally, contrary to God's will and plan.

[16:27] We see, as we said, Peter, his apathy, sleeping on duty. We see Moses' anger as he struck the rock against God's command, Numbers 20.

[16:40] carnally. We see David, his attraction to Bathsheba. It was carnality that consumed him. You can see carnality in Martha's busyness.

[16:53] She didn't fulfil really that focus upon her Lord, but she was distracted. She was cumbered, even with busyness, with much serving.

[17:07] But there was a carnal side to that. And then we see Diotrephes, his prideful control, in 3 John from verses 9 through 10.

[17:19] Carnal Diotrephes. He wanted to have the preeminence, and it was a carnal way. Think of these carnal things, fleshly living. It ignores the word, it tolerates sin, and it walks worldly.

[17:33] Why does carnality take root? You could say it doesn't just drop from the sky, it sprouts from the soil that we till. There's a soil that is needing the plough.

[17:51] There's weeds we must pull, because they will encroach and choke. What causes carnality? Some thoughts about why carnality can happen, and I put to you it can happen to any one of us.

[18:05] We fail to yield to the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5 16, it says, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.

[18:18] When we ignore the Holy Spirit, his promptings, he tells us to do something, and we don't do it. He tells us not to do something, and what do we do?

[18:29] We do it. And what happens then? We quench the Holy Spirit, 1 Thessalonians 5 19, or we grieve him. Ephesians 4 verse 30, what happens then?

[18:43] We lose the joy that he wants for us. Rather, may we surrender moment by moment. Be mindful, what does the Spirit of God want for my life?

[18:53] What would be God's pleasure? What would please him? And hand over the steering wheel of our life to God's Spirit. failing to yield to the Holy Spirit is one of those things to avoid because it leads to carnality.

[19:12] What about feeding the flesh over the Spirit? Sometimes we can choose the carnal input. What could that be?

[19:24] The world's noise, the world's media, the world's chats, and there's manifold channels where we want to feed the flesh over the Spirit and starve the soul.

[19:40] When we feed on the carnal, we'll starve the soul. And these are things we ought not to do, brother, sister, to feed the flesh over the Spirit.

[19:52] Romans 12 talks about how we should not conform to the world but rather be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Carnality. Carnality can happen when we don't address sin and we have unconfessed sin, maybe sin that we cherish even as a believer and we know it's a reproach.

[20:18] Psalm 66 18 says when we regard iniquity in our heart, the Lord will not hear, it will block prayer. But yet 1 John 1 verse 9 tells us if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[20:37] When we face a sin, let's confess it, let's yield to God, let's find God's victory over sin. Another area of carnality is pride.

[20:49] We can get prideful and self sufficient. In Proverbs 16 18 it tells us that pride proceeds of fall. In James 4 verse 6 it tells us that God resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble.

[21:05] So carnality, pride can feed that. Carnality can come through neglected disciplines. Do we skip prayer?

[21:16] Do we skip the word and fellowship? We just opt out. It's not convenient. 1 Timothy 4 tells us that we need to exercise ourselves unto godliness and this word exercise is where we get the English word gymnasium.

[21:37] It could be put literally go into the gym and have a workout of your godliness. It's a sense of we should be building up those spiritual muscles by keeping going as you would keep going to the gym and you would go and exercise yourself.

[21:55] Regularly exercise godliness so you can keep strong. Another area where carnality can encroach is having the wrong company.

[22:10] It tells us that bad friends corrupt. 1 Corinthians 15 33 it reads be not deceived. Evil communications corrupt good manners. Watch carefully the companions that you keep.

[22:24] Brother sister whom we walk with is going to shape us and where we're going. Proverbs 13 20 it says that we ought to walk with the wise as those that are wise.

[22:38] We'll grow wiser when we walk with the wise. And of course 2 Corinthians 6 14 urges us not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Avoid unequal yokes.

[22:49] In other words don't link up with those who are walking a contrary way. Don't ally yourself with those that are unsaved.

[23:04] Don't look for a spouse amongst the unsaved. Avoid unequal yokes because that is a carnality problem. And brother sister if we're all honest here tonight we're all pulled the carnal way.

[23:21] It's a constant magnetism. We need to uproot daily those weeds that would encroach. Uproot those things.

[23:33] Don't let them get their roots down but tear them out. Uproot them because carnality will choke our spiritual growth. Consider also the high cost of carnal living.

[23:48] It's not worth it church. It's not worth it for you to take a chance on taking those carnal choices that are going to hinder your walk with God.

[24:00] Carnality is costly. It'll cost you much and it will hurt you deeply. What happens when we choose the carnal way?

[24:13] We stop growing. We stop growing. That's what happened here with the Corinthians. The carnal they get stuck on milk. They're unable to chew meat.

[24:24] And the carnal they're vulnerable to deception. Ephesians 4.14 tossed like a boat in choppy waves tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. When we carnal we stop growing as a cost.

[24:38] Another cost is we lose our testimony. Our Lord warns in Matthew 5.13 of the salt losing its savour. It's still salt but hey it's pretty much useless.

[24:51] It's not effective. It's not going to do the work. We can become ineffective in our Christian walk when we lose the savour. Our testimony gets lacking.

[25:02] And what a witness that is to the lost. What kind of a testimony what kind of a witness are we when people see our mess and they mock God.

[25:13] It talks about that in Romans 2.24 where it causes a reproach when our witness is damaged. Again think of Lot tormented in Sodom Samson blinded and broken.

[25:25] A picture of the carnal believer. What a cost to lose our testimony. You see that with some preachers. People can only remember the sin.

[25:36] Those moments of sin when they fell. For all the ministry for all the decades of ministry they remember the slipper. We lose our testimony.

[25:49] What a reproach. When your light gets dim and your life really is a poor show. We lose our testimony. That would be a great cost.

[26:01] Another cost to carnality is we face God's discipline. The Bible says if we sow to the flesh we are going to reap corruption. Of course it tells how our Lord chastens those that he loves.

[26:14] He doesn't want us to stay there in that camp of the carnal. He doesn't want us there. And he'll deal with us so that we have to hold the fruit that he wants for us to be fruitful and yet we're not fruitful.

[26:58] Of course we know fruit ought to be present and yet sometimes an apple tree is still an apple tree that doesn't bear fruit. It's still an apple tree. Could it be as a Christian we're meant to bear fruit but we're not.

[27:14] We're actually like that apple tree that's actually not doing much good. Still saved but the fruit's not showing. It ought to be but it's not there.

[27:24] ! Another cost is we lose rewards. We can lose rewards such that would be the people in 1 Corinthians 3 where as we come to the judgment scene of Christ we're saved yes and our life is examined there's a review there ought to be a reward but we see this reproach word hey stubble oh that's my life word hey stubble there are some at the judgment scene of Christ 1 Corinthians 3 15 saved as by fire their works burn up at that judgment scene what a tragedy to be saved yet to have wasted our life there's a cost there isn't there we lose rewards and so brother sister there's many warnings here of this sad reality of carnality it can infest the best of us and we need to guard against the flesh it corrupts don't settle for it how to break free and a contrast between the carnal and the spiritual and you could say really as much as we ought not to be on the left side here sometimes we stray over that line and we ought not to be there amen the carnal controlled by the flesh we ought not to be controlled by the flesh rather to be controlled by

[29:01] God's spirit what about on this side characterized by envy strife division these are the Corinthians brethren we ought to be over here love joy peace the fruit of the spirit Galatians 5 the carnal focused on self on worldly things we ought not to be here we ought to be on this side focused on Christ on eternal things over here producing no lasting fruit God wants us to be fruitful he wants us to bear fruit to bear much fruit for his kingdom living for temporal pleasures rather live for God's glory walking by sight by feelings rather let's walk by faith by God's word motivated by selfish desires rather we ought to be motivated for our love for Christ over here it ends in misery a wasted life defeat God doesn't want us to be in defeat he wants us to know victory to have that joy of the

[30:07] Lord to live a fruitful life what a contrast here we can choose the carnal where we want to be desirous and longing and hungering for that which is righteous for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace Romans 8 6 brother sister the concept here is God wants us over here he wants us to be growing ever growing from glory to glory going forward going stronger in our Christian walk and faith he wants maturity he wants us to be here but the Corinthians are like these babes in Christ just stunted Stuck!

[30:56] the good news is we can know the victorious Christian life the spirit empowered life how can we know such a life the Bible talks about examine yourselves whether you're in the faith Psalm 139 the psalmist cried search me oh God try my heart lead me in the way everlasting am I growing spiritually or am I stagnant it's the choice for every believer to make that honest self examination and to come in repentance to come in wanting his work his mind shift his change from the carnal mind to the spiritual mind it's a mind shift isn't it it's a shift of focus it's a shift of thinking of world view where we turn from that which is the old man the flesh nature to turn by his grace to faith to trust to rest to confess our sins to know that grace it's also a total surrender and it's a truth that we overcome carnality not by willpower but by surrender by God's power not by power but by his spirit total surrender really isn't it you know some people it's like

[32:30] I suppose mind over matter you know some people have got the willpower to stop smoking whatever it be or make some change of life to leave something bad and choose something good there's willpower but willpower is not going to cut it to get rid of carnality the good that I would the good that I should I don't do says Paul and that which I ought not to do that I do the willpower can't do it it's got to be God's power surrender to his spirit to yield to him our thoughts our words our actions total surrender it's going to get us on the victory side and it's a moment by moment walk too Galatians 516 that we walk with the spirit we pray and we keep on yielding we keep on knowing and doing his will obeying his prompting trusting his leading it's a moment by moment so it's a daily victory I die daily says

[33:32] Paul I die daily to that carnal he talks about crucifying his flesh the carnal and it's a renewing of our mind too that our mind would be transformed Romans 12 2 it's the word of God too as we read it as we meditate on it as we memorize and apply it Psalm 119 11 it will lead our way as we transform our mind by his word and again that crucifying of the flesh we mortify put to death is the sense of it because we know that when you pass away your body will go to the mortician it's dead it's the one who looks after you when you're dead and the Bible says mortify put to death put to death that fleshly nature mortify sin make no provision for it Romans 13 14 cut the temptations deny yourself take up your cross say no to self and yes to the spirit it's a crucifying of the flesh isn't it and that's a daily decision it's not a one-off thing it's not a once and for all thing it's day by day by moment by moment as we crucify the flesh another source of victory again is those disciplines to exercise disciplines to pray to worship to witness to fellowship there's a discipline that we engage in that helps us to not have the fleshly mind and occupation but rather have that which is spiritual another help is to seek accountability as well iron sharpens iron find someone trusted that you can share your heart someone you can be truthful with and serve together with a trusted brother or sister for the sisters and we can set those boundaries on bad influences accountability is going to help us to be spiritual and to steer from the carnal accountability and serve too when we serve we'll be more occupied with God's things than with the world and its things and how can we again grow in that which is spiritual and leave that which is carnal feed the spirit and starve the flesh if there's something that is drawing you choose rather that which is spiritual go to the word of

[36:29] God if you're tempted to watch something or engage in something or take some track to occupy yourself with something that's doubtful rather choose that which is spiritual to open the word of God to take that time that you might have been scrolling or just frittering away time to that which is meditating on that which is right just and good as feeding your spirit rather than feeding the flesh that you starve the flesh and feed the spirit and surround yourself with godly input so godly friends find godly believers that you can hang with and get together with spend time with God's people rather than the world and its toys and the entertainment the worldly amusements so easy to get drawn into that lifestyle where hey it's almost like we've never left the world it ought not to occupy our thinking and yet you might still have that hankering as it were for the garlic and the leeks and the onions of

[37:35] Egypt hey that tasted so good and it was that appetite! was still there in the people of God and when we're honest about it brothers and sisters sometimes those carnal appetites are still deep down inside of us and we want to reject that and rather have the spiritual life that thrives on scripture on worship on godly fellowship and serving God and these are not burdens they're blessings to be so minded here's another chart that pictures this contrast again of the carnal way and the spiritual way the carnal way where the flesh dictates the flesh controls it ought not to be so brother sister but rather that the spirit leads us that will be led by his spirit we see of the carnal way of the heart there's this self focus it's all about me me me what I want rather than actually what does our Lord want his focus on that which is heavenly set our affections on things above no which is righteous our heart the carnal way you see these marks of envy strife division as the

[38:48] Corinthians had as Galatians 5 talks about and then we see the marks of the spirit are the fruit of the spirit as we mentioned before the carnal way you see that they're stagnant they're stuck saved but like spiritual babies babies in Christ not growing I know we were talking earlier today of some that make a profession of faith and yet they don't fellowship how are they're going to grow they're just going to be in babyhood bound in this babyhood stage rather God wants us to be mature to be ready for meat to be feasting feeding on the deeper truths of God we see of the carnal what is their witness blending in with the world what kind of an example what kind of a testimony to be just as worldly as the world no we should move from the world and its loves and have that love for our

[39:54] Lord not blend in with the world just act like them what a reproach rather we should shine as lights in the world and then we see of the loss of the carnal word pay stubble poof my life's work a pile of ashes that's my life rather that we'll have gold silver precious stones we'll see our life has been lived for his glory that will see a reward a joy so there's a real amazing contrast here it's a very serious contrast isn't it that we should consider carnality brother sister as Paul's heart's cry was for the Corinthians we ought not to be so minded so what ought we to do about the carnality that encroaches it's an urgent call to hear the spirit of

[41:04] God to not linger in carnality because delay is deadly Lot's wife why did she look back why did she hanker don't look back life is a vapor James 4 14 we know that our Lord is assuredly closer his coming Romans 13 11 the theme of the NBF it's time to wake up awake we think of souls to hanging in the balance and God deserves our best that will do all things to the glory of God there won't be any shadow of question that the glory of God will be our motivator because our Lord deserves our best and souls are at stake our carnality affects more than just us it damages your testimony and it hinders others from coming to

[42:17] Christ if you're a professing Christian and you walk carnally then it's a reproach and you can hinder others from trusting the Saviour brother sister this is not to condemn but just to urge that we ought to have a heart and a mind that's motivated to love our Lord more that once that victory that he promises in Romans 8 2 we can have a victory we can have peace we can have power we can have intimacy with God we can have rewards we see on the carnal side lots loss Samson's blindness Saul's strife Demas' desertion we see the Corinthian chaos the carnal way is disaster let's learn from them and choose better choose the righteous the spiritual way and this is a choice we all face and we're leaving a legacy when our life's journey is done will it be that you finished well that you've run the race that you've crossed the line running well

[43:30] Paul's cry is still one that we ought to hear today to be no more babes there's meat to eat there's a feast God's banquet and carnal chains by God's grace Christ can break them help us be free now sometimes when we save there's habits there's ways there's attitudes that we've got to break off and shake off and sometimes it can take a while for our language to change for our thinking to change for our love to change God helping us it'll happen straight away but we know in reality sometimes it's a stage by stage thing that Christ can free us so let's be encouraged today it tells us grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord how can we grow so spiritually grow that hey that carnal way that was the old man that's the old me

[44:38] I'm not that man anymore by God's grace I'm not going to go back there but I want to walk in the spirit and it tells us a promise from God's word James 4 verse 8 draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you!

[44:55] that's a promise! I'm feeling really like I've had a hard message here tonight but the grace of God helps us with such a thing doesn't it?

[45:08] the grace of God helps us yeah that's what I'm prone to prone to wander Lord I feel it prone to leave the God I love draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you when you deal with carnality that closeness to God you can regain it there's times when we back slide it ought not to be so that we go back to the carnal God helping us as we draw nigh to God he will draw nigh to you that closeness we can regain it it tells thou wilt show me the path of life in thy presence is fullness of joy at thy right hand are pleasures forever more what a contrast what would we want that which is carnal which is going to damage and harm us and hurt us and retard us and stunt us from growing rather let's seek after the things above let's seek to please our

[46:13] Lord of course I'm addressing really tonight believers we can be the natural man that knows nothing about the spirit of God get saved number one and then as the saved the question is are we going to still hanker and hang on to the carnal and be drawn that way and have those carnal leanings no we must leave that behind leave that babyhood stage behind and by God's grace grow in grace and in the knowledge of your savior let us pray lord lord we thank you that your holy spirit guides us into all truth help us lord to be mindful of that carnal nature that we must constantly put to death mortify kill it off lord by your spirit that you'll nail it crucify it we pray and we can know that exchanged life that our unrighteousness you exchange for your righteousness lord it's only by your mercy and grace that we can be so saved help us lord to truly value that not to be drawn back to the world and its ways and those doubtful things lord help us to be a good testimony and not to fall into the errors of lot of samson lord help us we pray pray if there's any present here!

[47:43] had some prompting of your spirit lord do a work in us help us lord we know that it's not by our willpower that we can overcome the flesh it's only by your power of course you want our willpower too i think lord you want us to have that right intention that godly heart that obedience of will yet lord we know it's not by our manufacturing some obedience it's only by your spirit as we really just yield to your power help us so lord if the sin that we've come to address lord in some measure tonight if there's any question of our consecration lord speak to us help us not to grieve your spirit or quench your spirit but rather yield to your spirit in Jesus name amen to Thank you.