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Well, this morning, let's come to the book of 1st Corinthians.

This is our 7th sermon in this epistle. It's a letter written by the Apostle Paul to the church at ancient Corinth, addressing many issues, and the first problem that he wanted to deal with was the problem of church division.

The church was fragmented, was divided, because there was a lot of internal strife and jealousy and infighting. They were trying to have a sense of superiority over one another. And so, there are people in the church who say, "I belong to Paul." Another group who says, "I belong to Apollos." And then there are others who say, "I belong to Cephas." They are kind of competing with each other, with one another and that's not healthy.

So, the church was splitting up because of human pride. Now, in order to deal with the problem of division, Paul had to deal with the problem of human pride, and so he sets out to chop down human pride, wielding the axe of the Gospel.

He preaches, he reminds them about the message of Jesus and Him crucified as the only way to salvation. And he proved that really, man at his very best is foolish, because man could never figure out the only way to salvation. So, in that one fell swoop, God proves the folly of men, and the infinite wisdom of God.

And so he says, "Why do you boast in man? Why would you boast in Paul and Cephas and Apollos, if you should boast, boast in God alone." That's really a summary of the past six weeks, but today we go even deeper because Paul identifies a deeper root to the problem of division. It is not just pride, we don't stop there, but he says, that the pride that you demonstrate is because you're walking in the flesh.

You're not walking according to God. You're not walking in the Spirit, but you're following the impulses and the natural desires of the flesh. You're living as the people of the flesh.
The word here is the word, sarkikos in the Greek, which means someone who comes under the influence of the flesh.

You can translate it, I think, in some of your Bible versions as carnal or fleshly, "But I, brothers could not address you as spiritual people, but as carnal, fleshly people, people of the flesh." [1 Cor 3:1] Again, he repeats this root problem in verse 4, "For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another say, "I follow Apollos," are you not merely human?

The word, 'merely human' really is again, the Greek word, sarkikos, which is to be fleshly, or to be carnal. So, actually, we could go on to verse 9, but I decide to just stop here at verse 4, that's all maybe we could swallow today because I like us to focus on carnal Christianity, or fleshly Christianity.

There's a kind of a Christian living that is not according to the Spirit of God, that is not in obedience to God, but it's fleshly, it's carnal, it's worldly. And that's what we're going to look at.

I like you first of all, however, to take a step back with me and remember last week. Last week, we talked about natural men, Paul talked about the natural man. The natural man is someone who is left to himself, God is not at work in his life. He does not have the work of the Holy Spirit in him.

So he is like a handphone without a SIM card. He ... he cannot quite communicate with God, he does not quite understand God, he does not quite value the things of the Gospel. He is a natural man — a handphone without a SIM card.

Then Paul also talks about a spiritual man. Now, a spiritual man is like a handphone with a SIM card. He can understand, he can communicate, he is someone in whom the Holy Spirit indwells. So, a spiritual man values the things of the Bible, he values the things of the Gospel, he sees its infinite worth.

So there are two kinds of people in this world. But this morning, Paul goes on to tell us that amongst the spiritual people, or what we call spiritual men, you can further subdivide them into two categories. One, you have the mature spiritual man. This is a man in whom the Spirit dwells and this is a man who is following and obeying and walking in the Spirit.

But there is a kind of spiritual man who is not walking according to the Spirit at that phase of his life. And you could call him, the immature spiritual man, as it were. I see that in 1st Corinthians, chapter 3, "The people of the flesh," the sarkikos people are like, infants in Christ. They are like babies, very immature. Babies are immature, isn't it? And then in verse 6 of chapter 2, "Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom."

So there are two categories of spiritual people. Now, I want to emphasize that the spiritual infants, the carnal Christians, they are not unbelievers, but they are Christians, because Paul uses the language of Christians, "But I brothers..." [1 Cor 3:1] He calls them brothers. He calls them people who are in the same family. And he calls them people, immature, but nevertheless in Christ.

And you know what it means to be in Christ, in 1st Corinthians, chapter 1 and verse 30, "For those who are in Christ, Christ is to us wisdom, righteousness, redemption, glorification." 'So in Christ' is a way of saying, you are part of the family, you are a Christian.

So there are people who have the SIM card, who understand the things of the Bible, who are born again, who are Christians, but they are carnal, at this point of the time of their life.

So let me just refresh, I know it can be confusing. There is first of all, the natural man — not saved, no SIM card, no Holy Spirit in him, like a vast majority of people in the world. But there are people who are truly Christians, but not all are walking with God because some walk with God, they are the maturing ones and the mature ones. And there are those who are immature, or you can call them carnal Christians.

Got that so far? Alright. If you have gotten that, then let me share with you three things, that I think would be helpful for you in this passage.

[1] Diagnosis
Number one, we must learn to diagnose, we must learn to identify and recognize a spiritual infant and a spiritual mature man.

It's important to do that because a lot of times, we don't know how to diagnose. We assume that if someone is new in the faith, he must be a spiritual infant. And if we assume and we assume that someone who has been in church for a long time, he must be a mature Christian. That's not always true! Sometimes it's true, but it's not reliable.

Paul tells us how to identify spiritual babies and spiritual grownups. He says, "The people of the flesh, the sarkikos people are like infants in Christ." So he uses a very useful picture. What is a carnal Christian? He's like a baby! He's like a spiritual baby. The word, 'infants' is the word nēpios in the Greek, which means literally — no speaking. It refers to a child that is so young cannot speak yet.

So, I think quite appropriate to translate it as infants in Christ. So what is a carnal Christian? A carnal Christian is a spiritual baby. How can you tell a baby apart from a grown man? You say, "Very easy what, Jason! Obvious!"

[A] Diet
I say, number one, you can tell them apart from their diet. Babies can only take simple food, babies cannot take solid food. You don't believe you go and try, see what happens to your baby after that, alright.

Babies can only take simple food, you can only give him milk because if you give him wagyu steak, wah, he's ... he's going to be in trouble! (choking sounds). He won't be like that, but he will be blue and he will choke and he will eventually die because he cannot swallow. He cannot process complex solid food, he's only good for milk.

Now, a mature man can drink milk. Correct? But he can also appreciate steak and char siew, and all these wonderful stuff. I mean he enjoys his milk, but he also benefits a lot from his steak and char siew. So that's a mature man, his diet is more complex, he's able to tolerate more.

Now, how else can you tell a baby apart?

[B] Development
Secondly, you can look at his development.

A baby is small and weak. He cannot do a lot of things. He probably can't even turn himself in the cot. He ... he's very weak, but a grown up man, of course, is big and strong and capable of quite a few tasks.

[C] Disposition
And then finally, you can tell a baby apart from his disposition.

What I mean by this is that a baby can only take care or can only think about himself. He doesn't bother about anyone else. Correct? Have you ever seen a baby said, "Mommy, I'm so sorry, you are so tired."

Who cares? You know, a baby never cares about anyone else, he's only concerned about himself. "You don't give me milk, I'll make you suffer." Wah ... he's gonna be a nuisance, because he only cares about himself. But a mature man takes care of others, a father takes care of the family and of the children. That's maturity! The disposition is different.

Now, I think you can understand these things. So you can now better understand why Paul says, " A carnal man, a fleshly man, a sarkikos man is like a baby." Why? Look at his diet, he can only take simple food, but not solid food. "You guys ..." he say, "are carnal." Why? Because after so long, you still cannot accept and digest the solid doctrines and teachings of the Bible. "I can only give you a very simple rudimentary teaching."

That's what Paul is saying. "You can't tolerate, you don't appreciate complex teaching." Now, I'm not saying everything in the Bible is complex, but there are some things, that may be a bit more difficult. And a carnal Christian says, "Tolong, Tolong [Malay], please, don't do this to me." A carnal Christian says, "Just give me the ABCs. I will always remain at the ABCs, that's all I can take."

Well, you're spiritual baby, you're not walking according to God. There is no growth in your appetite, you cannot tolerate complex food. So you only want sermonettes, you don't want sermons. You only want Your Daily Bread, I'm not saying, Daily Bread is bad lah ah! But all you do every day is read Daily Bread. That's not really helpful!

So, a carnal man, he is walking according to the impulses of his flesh. He does not appreciate and cannot tolerate too much biblical teaching, but a mature man, very much appreciates solid food. Now, it's not always easy to digest. Like you eat char siew, sometimes very tough ah, but you still enjoy it because you know it's good for you. I'm not sure, if it's that good for you, but okay, I think it's good for you, is good at least for my tummy and for my tongue. You appreciate it, and you don't want to only drink milk, sometimes you drink milk but you don't always want only milk.

So, you hear God's Word and you are appreciative of, of teachings that ... that take you deeper into the Bible. You enjoy that, that's a good sign.

Now, number two, let's look at the development, we say, diet, the second thing is about development. And you see that in this verse, "You are spiritual babies because you did not develop much. You were like this last time and now you are still like this."

By the way, Paul visited Corinth about four years before he wrote this letter. So Paul is understanding their situation four years ago, "I can't teach you a lot, I understand because you're all very new, but four years later, you still like that, something wrong with you, you know." Isn't it true when the baby is born, he's very cute. "Aiyoh, so cute, so chubby, so nice to play." You like to play with babies, I don't! But I know a lot of people like to.

But this baby is not very cute, if after 10 years, he still looks like that! "So cute!" No, so sick! You will say, "How can a baby remain like this after 10 years? Something is wrong! Doctor, please check him out, he's not developing."

So when you are a new Christian, you're immature, it's cute, it's okay. It's quite, quite understandable. But after 10 years in the faith, you're still the same. And you say ... say, you still say, "Pastor, tolong, don't give me too much solid food, I just want simple food." I say, "Something wrong with you. You're sick! There's an illness that has resulted in stagnation in your spiritual life. That's not good!

And then the third thing, diet, development, disposition. This carnal Christian thinks only about himself. That's carnality! That's why there is jealousy and strife because you're only thinking about yourself. Like I said, a baby doesn't care about his daddy or mommy — how tired they are. I mean, babies choose to wake up at 2am, 4am, totally inconsiderate of the parents, right?

I wish I could reason with my baby boys last time. "Eh, please let daddy, mommy sleep lah! You ... you call us at 12 midnight and then 6am still reasonable, don't wake us up at 3am." But he doesn't care, as long as he's hungry, he cries, he whines, he throws a tantrum because he only cares about himself.

How do you know if you're carnal Christian? You only care about yourself. You don't bother about other Christians. You don't care about your brothers and sisters in Christ. You want your wants met right now, otherwise you're going to kick up a fuss. You're going to fight with others, you make sure you exert your rights. That's why there's jealousy and strife.

You know, there's a story told about a fisherman. He caught a lot of crabs and he threw them into a bucket. And as he threw more and more, the crabs are piling up almost to the brim. And then, there's a passer-by who came by, he saw that bucket full of crabs and asked the fisherman, "Sir, why don't you take a lid and put it on top, because soon enough your crabs are going to crawl out and escape."

And the fisherman said to the passer by, "You don't worry, crabs are like this, as long as one of them is crawling out, the rest will go and grab him and pull him back." And many Christians are like crabs, you know you're crabby, I'm crabby because I'm very selfish.

When I see someone go up there, I'm not very happy, I bei song [unhappy in Hokkien dialect], I want to pull him down. But that's human nature, isn't it? You look at social media, someone succeeds in something, you know what happens next? People don't congratulate, people say, "Yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh..." They ... they say all kinds of things to pull you down, because we are self-centered. That's fleshly!

How can you tell a carnal Christian apart? Well, three things not I say, Time ... time is not or duration, is not a reliable gauge, according to Scripture." Three things. First of all, look at his diet. The mature man take solid food, immature Christian takes only simple food he's a baby.

Secondly, look at his development. A mature man is steadfast in growth, he's growing towards Christ-likeness. He does not remain the same four years ago and four years later, he is growing. He's walking with God, you see, but a carnal man is not walking with God, he is stagnant, there's no progress.

And then you can look at his disposition. A carnal man is selfish, self-oriented, self-centered, but a mature man is servant hearted. He thinks about others, he wants to do good, he wants to serve them, he's ... he's acting out in love you see.

So, I suggest to you these are the three tests you may apply for your own self. Are you a mature Christian, or are you a carnal Christian? This has very little to do with how many times you come to church. This has very little to do with how many times you pray in before your meals. This is all to do with your spiritual appetite, with your progress and with your disposition towards others.

Alright, so all that to tell you the diagnosis. I'm a doctor by training in the past, so I like this word a lot.

[2] Danger
Well, number two, I would highlight to you that carnal Christian ... Christianity can be diagnosed and carnal Christianity can be very dangerous.

Now, a spiritual baby is dangerous, that's ... that's the problem here. A normal baby, a human baby that is born physically, not dangerous, just messy. Someone said that, "A baby is an organism with an alimentary canal. It ... it basically is a food passage, is an alimentary canal with a mouth at one end and no responsibility at the other."

So he poos and pees anywhere he wants. That's a baby, alright. It's messy, but you don't call this dangerous lah, alright. But a spiritual baby is not just messy, he's plain dangerous. He's a menace, he can be very destructive. Why? Because Paul says, "This is the problem when you are carnal, you become a cause for church division. And that's dangerous, that's bad!

Many times in the epistles, Paul warns the church against divisions. Many times in the his epistles, whether it's to the Ephesians or the Philippians, his number one concern is that God's people would live in unity. You can go back and check that, the first command he gives is, "Please endeavor to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," Ephesians chapter 4. Please do that.

He writes to the Philippians and says, "Please, it is important that you agree together. Please don't fight anymore." So to Paul, church unity is absolutely vital. I think it makes sense because Jesus did say, "By this, shall all men know you are My disciples if you have loved one for another."

Now, if you don't love one another and you're fighting with one another, it's a terrible testimony before the world. It's a ... it's a dangerous thing!

So carnality, Christian carnality, people of God who are walking not according to the Spirit, but according to the natural desires of the flesh for a season of life is a dangerous thing. Please don't underestimate this.

Now, I've used this example before, but it's been two years, COVID, I've not used it. Many of you are new, even here, right here. So I'm not ashamed of using it again. There are cells in the body that are very useful. You may not think that they are very useful, but they are.

For example, these are adipocytes. What are adipocytes? They are fat cells. I know women don't like them, but you need them. We all need adipocytes, it's all over your body. Why? Because these are like energy stores. God created adipocytes for your survival, for your livelihood ... not livelihood but for your survival.

So they are good thing, please don't despise them, but sometimes adipocytes, because of some genetic aberration, they become disobedient. They don't care about others and they grow by themselves until they become a tumor. Now, this is not a cancerous thing. A tumor is just a growth, a mass. It can become a tumor like this. This is on the shoulder and if you do a surgery and you open it up, you'll see that it's actually a lump of adipocytes that have gone wrong.

So you call this, a lipoma. You all remember, sounds familiar. I can teach you medicine sometimes. You have a lipoma. But you know, a lipoma just grows, but it does not quite attack your body, it just grows. If it has space it grows more, that's all.

But then there are other times where even more genetic aberrations take place, and it now begins to be very aggressive. It does not just grow by itself, but it now looks at other organs around and invades the other organs. It attacks the other parts of the body. This is where it becomes cancerous and we call this, a liposarcoma. Wah! The name sounds scary, already right? Liposarcoma and, and you know, it's bad, bad news.

This ... this lump of fat has turned cancerous and it's attacking the body and if you don't do anything to it, it kills you. It's flat out dangerous!

Well, I suppose that's why Paul wrote the book of 1st Corinthians. He diagnoses the problem, that it is because of human pride and the human pride is because they are not walking according to God, they are walking according to the flesh, they were a carnal people. And he knows that if he does not arrest this problem, it will pose a tremendous danger to the body of Christ and to the name of God. So, he deals with it.

Now, actually, the sermon should end here, because that's all I can find in 1st Corinthians, chapter 3, verses 1 to 4. But I also know that if I end here, you know, it's only two points, generally I have three points. And moreover, there is that sense of "Eh, you tell us to diagnose carnal Christianity and you tell us the danger, but you don't tell us how to deal with it, that's a bad doctor." You know, have you been to a doctor and he tells you, "You got cancer, it will kill you. Bye ... bye." "What! I came to see you and that's all you can tell me? What!"

So I ... I say, "I'm trained as a doctor, I must offer to you some remedy." And so even though it is not in the text here, it is a question that is begging to be answered, isn't it?

[3] Deliverance
How can I be delivered from carnal Christianity? How can I be saved from this? How can I change from this?

So I want to share with you a few spiritual principles on how we can be delivered from carnality in our lives.
Principle 1 - Remember
First of all, I take this advice from Spurgeon and I want to share it ... share it with you. It's very easy to beat up carnal Christians. You know how it is? The pastor preaches, don't be carnal, you carnal Christians are terrible and, and you know you walk out of the church feeling so lousy about yourself, "I'm useless ..." You cry and you weep and ...

Now, I think there certainly should be a sense of mourning and brokenness about your sin, there should be, but Spurgeon is very helpful here because he says, "Instead of beating up carnal Christians, it's also very important to remind them of who they are in Christ."

So, I share with you some tips. He ... he listed like 10 over, I think I just give you a few lah.

[A] He said, "Remember that in some things, you are equal to the greatest and most full-grown Christian."

He's gonna list them, I'm going to list them later on. But remember one thing, remember your position, remember your status, even though you're not walking quite right with God, hey, there is tremendous blessing in their position that God has called you to!

[B] For example, he says, "You are as much bought with blood as he is."

Yes, you're carnal, you're not living in obedience to God, but you know something, Jesus paid for you, for your salvation with His blood. Just as He did for that full-grown mature Christian right there, you are equally loved. You see, you're precious to God. Don't forget that!

There are ... there are Christians today who are living in sin, struggling is sin. And I ... and I feel for them and I think it's a great thing that they should mourn over their sins. But sometimes it's a mourning without a balance because they have clean forgotten that they are still loved and precious before God. Oh, God looks at us not because we are worthy, but God looks at us because Christ is worthy And ... and may we never forget that!

[C] Spurgeon says, "You are as much an adopted child of God as any other believer."

It's true, we are not saved by our worthiness, we're saved by grace and you are as much an adopted child of God.

[D] An infant is as truly a child of its parents, as is the full-grown man.

[E] "You are as completely justified, for your justification is not the thing of degrees."

[F] And then he says, "Carnal Christian, where do you start? I will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the God of my salvation."

So before anything else, I'd like you to lift up your chin as it were, and look to the grace of God, that's where it begins. Look at the goodness of God upon your life. If you are truly a child of God, even though you may be living a messed-up life at this point of time, let's never forget the Gospel, the grace, the love, that He has called you to.

So number one, remember.

Principle 2 - Realize
Number two, I want you to realize, that the reason why you will struggle in sin is because there is a tug of war happening in your life.

A tug of war describes a struggle within a Christian.
You see, when you came to faith in Jesus Christ, the Bible describes you as someone who is born again. The rest of the Bible describes this as the new covenant, where God gives you a new heart.

He takes away the old heart of stone and puts in you a heart of flesh. He writes His laws in your heart, He sprinkles clean water on that new heart. So, you now have a new heart that truly loves God, loves His Word and desires God. However, God did not take away the body of flesh, and the Bible tells us that this body of flesh is also the body of sin, the sin principle remains in your body.

Now, this flesh, this sinful flesh is not improved and it is not removed, so it is with you. So, therefore you have a struggle. You have two natures in your life now a new nature born again of God and an old nature that is wrapped up in sin, no wonder there is always this titanic struggle within.

Now, if you have a struggle, I say, "Actually, it's good news, because if you do not have a struggle, it just means you never have the new nature, you're not born again, you just live sin ... or live in sin without any care. But now that there is a struggle, actually, it's a good sign."

So, we can all identify perhaps with stories like, The Incredible Hulk. Bruce Banner, that smart professor, becomes a terrible monster called, The Incredible Hulk, because this is a story of two natures in one.

In 1974, Stan Lee, who is the creator of this character, admitted that he took inspiration from the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You know this story? Not so, not so popular because it's not part of Marvel's Cinematic Universe. But this is what Stan Lee took inspiration from Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde, it seems to be two people, but actually, they are one and the same person.

He's a person who has two characters of personalities within. There's that Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll and the creator of this character is the author, Robert Louis Stevenson. He was asked, "How did you come up with this idea of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?" He answered, "I found it actually in my nature, the inspiration is found in me." He's a Christian, you see! And he says, he was a Christian. "I ... I found this in me," because he was a Christian, "... and learned that there is indeed inside of every child of God, a beast." A sinful, terrible beast!

"Every saved person has a new nature, new heart, and the old nature in a body of sin. I find that there is always a struggle with the beast that lives within me."

No wonder the Apostle Paul say, "So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand." [Rom 7:21] There's a struggle within.

How can you break free from carnal Christianity? I say, "Number one, remember — remember your position in Christ, remember you're blood bought, you're adopted, you're loved of God. But please realize that there is a titanic struggle within. And so, John Stott he says, "Indeed, an honest and humble acknowledgment of the hopeless evil of our flesh, even after the new birth is the first step to holiness."

If you don't realize this, you cannot have victory over sin in your life. 知己知彼，百战百胜 [zhī jǐ zhī bǐ, bǎi zhàn bǎi shèng], you got to know your enemy in order to have victory over your enemy.

He says, "To speak quite plainly, some of us are not leading holy lives for the simple reason that we have too high an opinion of ourselves." Huh, huh, he's speaking of someone who does not realize that there is a struggle with it. He's speaking of someone who assumes that after he becomes a Christian, life will be A okay. He'll be just cruising along. Oh no, it's far from that! There is a tiring, exhausting and unending struggle with sin. Why? A new nature is in me, but the old nature is not improved, and it is not removed, until the day Jesus returns.

Principle 3 - Repent
The third principle, I'd like you to take note off, not just to remember your position in Christ, not just to realize the struggle within, but it's that call for you to repent.

How do I get out of carnal Christianity? You've just got to repent. You just to quit sinning against God. There's a little poem, "Two natures beat within my breast; one is foul, the other blest; the one I love, the one I hate; the one I feed will dominate."

Make sense? Make sense? If you follow the Spirit, if you follow the impulses of the new nature, it will get stronger. But if you allow yourself to indulge in the impulses of the flesh, it will get stronger. No wonder Peter, he says in 1st Peter, chapter 2, "Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions of the flesh."

There's no shortcut here, you've got to say, "No." You've got to choose. You've got to will to obey God and not follow the passions of the flesh. Why? Because, "These passions of the flesh, wage war against you." [1 Peter 2:11] So the tug of war, it's going to win if you feed it. Do you want that? If you don't, the one you feed will one day dominate.

Principle 4 - Rely
Now, I know it's not easy. And I ... the last thing I want for Gospeliters is to think, "Alright pastor, I'm going to grit my teeth and to the best of our ability, fight sin." I hope you have the kind of determination, but I hope you do not have that kind of self-dependence. Because the last thing I want to say is that, if you do that you will be absolutely devastated. There's no way you can do that on your own.

Paul says, "I'm a miserable man, I've been struggling with sin. It's so difficult, it's so tiring, I'm miserable!" But then, he goes on from chapter 7 to chapter 8 to reveal to us, how we can truly succeed in, if I may say, mortifying or killing sin in life.

He says, "For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." [Rom 8:13] In other words, Paul is saying, the only way you can really defeat sin and quench for a while at least, the natural impulses of the flesh, is if you do so by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is not unique here because Paul likewise says in Galatians 5:16, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."

Christian living is a dependent living. It is never about my grit, my willpower, my strength because we are weak. Power belongs unto God. Walk by the Spirit. In other words, obey Him in His Word, and depend upon Him to resist the temptations of life. He lives in you and you pray and you call upon Him to resist these temptations.

Fighting sin is not sheer willpower. Fighting sin is calling upon God on your knees, in the place of prayer. I think that's how you can deliver yourself from carnal Christianity.

So I just summarize it. Number one, Remember your position in Christ. Remember grace. In fact, it is your sinfulness that highlights even more, the amazing grace of God. Don't forget that! Don't mourn without a balance, without an insight, without an appreciation of His love for you.

Realize today that even though you're born again, there will be a titanic struggle for all the days of your life here, because of the flesh.

Be determined to turn from sin, to repent of sin and to abstain from the passions of the flesh, because whatever you feed will dominate.

And then do so clearly in dependence and reliance upon the power of the Holy Spirit, without whom there can be no victory!

So I think that's a simple look at carnal Christianity. In short, Paul identifies the problem in the church at Corinth. It's a problem of pride, but more than that, it's a problem of the flesh. And even more than that, it's a problem that resulted in because they were not walking in the Spirit, not walking with God.

We're gonna look more in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. Let's come to God in a word of prayer, together.

I'd like you to maybe pause for a while and think for yourself. I've given a diagnostic test for you. There can be three categories of people today — natural men, carnal men, mature men. Which category best describes you?

Maybe today all these teachings, all these things about Jesus and how He died to save us from our sins, how He sacrificed Himself to pay for our sins, to you it is worthless, to you it is silly, to you it is absurd, it is folly. Then maybe according to the Bible, you are what it describes to be a natural man. You don't understand these things because you don't have the SIM card to your spiritual life. You don't know God, you don't value these things.

And it is my sincere prayer that God would turn on the lights and grant you the SIM card, that you might see the infinite wisdom of Jesus and Him crucified to save us from our sins. I pray you too, maybe today as you hear God's Word, maybe stirred to pray this for yourself.

Some of you today may be mature Christians, I thank God for that. And I pray that you will live out that maturity in not just living for yourself, but living for others. Thinking about others, praying for others, serving others. That's maturity! And that's what God wants us to be ... to be a blessing to others.

And perhaps there are those today who are living in sin. You're not reading your Bible much. You ... you, in fact, have not had a healthy appetite for God's Word. You just are reading to maintain, but not really benefiting, not digesting much. You have been stagnating in your spiritual life. There has been no growth in the past year, past two years. And you have been jealous and temperamental and prideful and you have frankly had run-ins with people. Perhaps these are signs that you're living in spiritual infancy.

Then I encourage you once again, to remember the love of God, to realize that there is a battle within you, with the flesh and I pray that you will turn from sin and look to His Spirit to live out that godly life, because frankly, carnal Christian Christianity is deadly, is dangerous.

Father, this morning, we are thankful that in Your Word we can have insight into our lives. At the end of the day, this is our prayer — that the natural man will be blessed with the gift of sight, that he will be able to see and value the worth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that people who are living in spiritual infancy today may endeavor by Your grace, to turn from sin and to look to Your Spirit to live a godly life.

And I pray that You help Gospeliters, all of us to grow up in faith. And that we may be a blessing to many more in this town, in this nation and in this world. Thank You for Your love for us. Thank You for the power of the Spirit who lives within us.
Thank You even for this morning, we can worship You. We pray all this in Jesus' Name, Amen.

 

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