Ron Dunn Podcast - Bridging The Experience Gap

Episode Date: December 2, 2020

Ron Dunn wraps up his series "Lifestyle Of The Spirit"

Before I read my text, though, I want to tell you how to rob a post office. So that way, if the sermon's not very good, at least you'll learn something profitable. A number of years ago, back in one of the Midwest cities, Midwestern cities, a local post office was burglarized. Of course, they caught the people that did it, or else I wouldn't be able to tell you how they did it. But there were three of them in on it. One of them was an employee in the post office. And close to quitting time, he hid himself in the maintenance room, maintenance closet. And late that night, when everybody was gone, of course, and it was quiet,

nobody was around, he came out of his hiding place, turned off the alarms, and unlocked the door from the inside and let the other two men outside come on inside. And so that's how they burglarized the post office. It was an inside job. Now, when I read about that, it reminded me that you and I, as believers, have three enemies that are constantly trying to invade our life and to rob us of all that God is doing in our hearts. And every time we come to a conference like this, I am keenly aware that we're all planting seed

into our hearts, but the moment we walk out the door, and yea, even before we walk out the door, the devil is there trying to snatch that seed from our hearts. And one of the saddest things about a conference like this is that many of us will hear the Word of God, but before it has time to take root, we allow the devil and his cohorts to snatch that seed away. And so I want to talk to you this morning about these three enemies, these three people that are constantly trying to rob us of the prize that we have in Christ Jesus. The first one, as you've already anticipated, is the devil.

He is the primary and the arch enemy of God and the arch enemy of the Christian. I don't try to prove the existence of the devil to people like you because you're intelligent enough to know there is a devil. I'm a lot like Billy Sunday. Billy Sunday used to say, I know there's a devil for two reasons. Number one, the Bible says so. Number two, I've done business with him. And all of us this morning, whether we want to admit it or not,

we have done business with him. Now, I'm going to call the devil the tempter. He is the tempter. Now, the important thing to remember about the devil is that he is the outside reference to sin. He is the outside reference to sin. In other words, he stands on the outside of our life and tempts us. The devil cannot force us to sin. The devil cannot coerce anybody to sin. He cannot make you sin, else you would not be guilty for your sin.

It is significant that when the devil came to Eve in the Garden of Eden, he came in the form of a serpent, of an animal that God had already given man dominion over, you see. The serpent came, the devil came, what we might say in reduced potential, in reduced form, so that he could not bowl over man against his will and against his force, because God had already given man dominion over everything that creeps and crawls on the face of the earth. The devil can't make anybody sin. He cannot do it. Now, we like to blame him for that. We like to blame the demons for doing this, and it's a pretty good scapegoat. I came to the realization a while ago that God and the devil have something in common. They both get blamed for a lot of things and never did.

And a lot of times it's easy for us to say, well, it was the demon that made me do it, or it was the devil that made me do it. The only thing wrong with that is it's wrong. The devil cannot make anybody sin. The devil cannot force anyone to sin. He is the outside reference to sin. He stands on the outside to tempt us. Now, the second enemy is we'll call what you know as the world. And Sonny talked about this last night. Well, John says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world,

the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Now, when the Bible says to love not the world, as we heard last night, it doesn't mean that we're not to love the world of nature. God made that, and it's a beautiful thing. It doesn't mean we're not to love the world of nature, nor does it mean we're not to love the world of people, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. We are to love the world of people, and we are to love the world of nature. But what he's talking about is the world as mankind organized in opposition to God. It is this world system minus God. And when the Bible talks about the world in that sense, loving not the world, he is talking about this system of mankind that is organized, and it is organized whether

mankind realizes it or not. It has been organized by the devil, and there is a stratum to it and a strategy to it. And when John says, don't love the world, he says, do not to love and embrace this world system of values and of doing things, mankind opposed to the nature of God. And he mentions what they are, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. We'll call the world the temptation. The devil is the tempter, and the world is the temptation. The devil is the tempter and the world is the temptation. The devil stands on the outside of your life and holds up the world and says, look what I've

got. Look what I've got. And the temptation is in one of these three lines, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. That's the way it was in the Garden of Eden. Remember it? She saw that it was good food, pleasant to the eyes, and he said, you will be as God, appealing to the pride of life. When the devil met Jesus in the wilderness, it was the same three, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

He said, look out on all of these kingdoms and I'll give them to you. Command these stones to be made into bread. Bow down and worship me and I'll make you ruler. Whether it's in the desert, in paradise, or the wilderness, the temptation is always the same. The devil has only three bullets in his gun, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. By in his gun the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life by the way the pride of life there is rather interesting it's not the normal word that's used for pride the word means arrogant braggadocious type of thing it is a word that describes a person who exaggerates things to give the impression that he is more than he really is, or that he has more than he really is. I was in that pastor's church just a few weeks ago. The braggadocious of life, the pride of life, is that kind of attitude that likes in some

way to give the impression that we possess more than we do, that we are more than we are. And every temptation the devil levels at you, my friend, it will always fall into one of those three categories. The lust of the flesh, satisfying and indulging the carnal desires of the flesh, or the lust of the eyes, or the pride, the arrogance of life. So we've got the tempter and we've got the temptation. Both of these are on the outside of our lives.

The world is on the outside, the devil is on the outside. He's the tempter and he comes and dangles the world before us, and he says, look what I have. The third enemy is what the Bible calls the flesh. Now, when the Bible talks about the flesh, it is not talking about the physichemical components of our body. It's not talking about the muscle and the tissue and the sinew of our body. It's talking about the physichemical components of our body. I'm not talking about the muscle and the tissue and the sinew of our body. It's talking about the sinful nature, the lower nature, the old Adamic nature. What is the flesh? The flesh is that thing in you, whatever it is, that has a longing to sin, has a propensity

to sin. It has a bent to sin. There is the lower nature, that Adamic nature, that nature that has been ruined by the fall. It is a lower nature. It is the lower nature, not the higher nature. It is a lower nature, a base nature, and that's the flesh. And that's on the inside. You got two on the outside, the devil and the world, and you got one on the inside, the flesh.

Now, we're going to call the flesh the tempted, that which is tempted. The devil is the tempted, the world is the temptation, and the flesh is the tempted, that which is tempted. You say, what do you mean? I mean the devil always appeals to the flesh is the tempted, that which is tempted. You say, what do you mean? I mean the devil always appeals to the flesh. The devil always appeals to the flesh. It always appeals to the lower nature. It is interesting to notice the world always appeals to the lower nature of man. Have you ever noticed that? I'm in a lot of motels, and most motels I'm in, they have bars and lounges and sometimes they're

right next to the restaurants where I'll eat and I've noticed something I wish somebody can explain this to me I've noticed through the years that the waitresses at Baskin-Robbins dress differently than the waitresses at the lounge and at the bars. Have you noticed that? You know what I'm talking about? Now, why do you suppose that's so? The world always appeals to the lower nature of things. I remember some time ago in our city, there was a tire company that had a big billboard advertising tires, but it didn't have a tire up there. there just had a picture of a woman in a bikini and somebody in the newspaper care of the story somebody said why in the world did you put a tire up there and the fellow said the answer is obvious you know because the world

appeals to the lower nature of man now Now, every time the devil tempts you, he's aiming at the flesh. You see, what the devil needs, the devil and the world on the outside, they want to get on the inside of your life, but they need an access. They need an open door. They need to somehow make a beachhead in your life, somehow to get into your life and corrupt you. And you know what that is? It's the flesh. That's the weak point of your life. That's the vulnerable spot. That's where

the devil makes his beachhead. And the devil and the world can only get into your life through the flesh. James 1 says that we all are led astray by what? By the desires of the flesh. Every man, when he is tempted, don't let him say that he is tempted of God, for God tempts no man, but each man is led astray by the desires of the flesh, by the desires of the lower nature. That's where sin begins, right there. So the only way of access that the devil and the world has into your life and my life is through the flesh. So that means then that if I could somehow close down that border, if I could somehow paddle off that door, if I could somehow build a barrier around

that flesh, I wouldn't have any trouble with the world and the devil, particularly. My weak point, my weak spot is the flesh. If I could somehow get victory over the flesh, if I could somehow conquer the flesh, then the devil and the world, they'd be easy picking. My problem is the flesh. No matter how strong the temptation of the devil may be, if it wasn't for the flesh, you see, there is something in me that responds to temptation. If I go out here on the parking lot after this service and I unscrew a gas cap on one of these cars and strike a match and drop it into that gas cap, the place is going to get mighty thin and quick. I mean, everybody's going to run for cover. Well, why does that bother

you? Because there's something inside that tank that responds to fire. You wouldn't get the same response if you dropped a lighted match into a tank of water. Why? Because what is in that tank will not respond and react to that fire. But when you drop it in that gasoline tank, you know there is something in there that is volatile and flammable, and it really responds to that fire. It'll explode. And there is something in you, my dear friend, that responds to sin, that responds to the lust of the flesh, that responds to temptation. Now, I don't want to quibble over this. This is not the place to get into this. Some of you may be saying,

well, but I'm a preacher. I don't have a lower nature. I've only got one nature. And there are a great many people today who preach that we have two natures, the old nature, the new nature, some that we don't have the old nature. It's been dead and done away with,

and all we have is the new nature of Christ. And therefore, they say, you ought never to say you're a sinner saved by grace, as Paul said, because you're not a sinner saved by grace. You're a saint, and you ought never to say anything like that because you only have one nature, and that nature is perfect in Christ. And you carry that out to its ridiculous end, and you'll see where it goes. And then some of you say we don't have any natures at all. I sat with one fellow one day, a friend of mine, and I was trying to pin him down on this. I said,

well, I said, do you believe we have two natures? He said, ah, I believe there are two vehicles, spirit and flesh. I said, thank you for answering my question. Listen, I don't care if you call it one nature, two natures, three natures, no natures, vehicles or whatever. Brother, whatever you believe, it doesn't make any difference. But where the rubber hits the road, it's all the same. It's not going to make a bit of difference. You can say, I've only got one nature. Well, that's wonderful.

But that's not going to make a bit of difference when the devil holds up the world to your eyes and says, look what I've got for you. Because there is something, you may not want to call it the sinful nature, the lower nature of the flesh, but I guarantee you, friend, you've got something inside there that is responding to sin. So what I need to do is to somehow get control, get victory over this flesh. Now I'm ready for my text. Galatians chapter 5, verse 16, Galatians 5, verse 16, But I say, walk in the Spirit, and you will not carry out the lust of the flesh. There it is, right there. That's simple, isn't it? That's it, right there. Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. It's just that simple

and yet that profound. Walk in the Spirit. Live your life in the Spirit. Live your life within the confines of the Holy Spirit, walking in obedience to Him, concentrating on Him, loving Jesus through Him. Let your life be controlled by the Holy Spirit, and the flesh will still tempt you. He's not saying you won't find any temptation in the flesh

and the flesh will not try to assert itself. It says you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. You will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. The flesh is always going to be at you. The flesh is always going to be giving you a problem. The difference is you don't have to carry out its desires. It never has to reach its goal. The flesh puts itself at me and it sticks its head into my face

and says, I want this and I want this, but I don't have to let it have what it wants. That's what he's saying. Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Well, let's go on and read. He says in verse 17, For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition one to the other, so that you may not do the

things that you please. Now that's interesting. The language that Paul uses here is almost the language of the boxing ring. There are two combatants, there are two opponents in this ring. One is the Holy Spirit of God, one is the flesh. And they are set in opposition to each other. The flesh is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit is contrary to the flesh. Why? So that you cannot do what you want to do. When the flesh says, you need to do this and I sort of want to do it, the Spirit comes in and opposes that so that I cannot do what the flesh wants me to do. But at the same time, when the Spirit of God is leading me and wanting me and prompting me to do something, the flesh comes in and He opposes that so that I cannot do what I

want to do. This is what Paul meant in Romans chapter 7 when he said, I don't know what to do. He said, the things that I hate, those are the things that I do, and the things that I love, those are the things I don't do. What's going on? He's having a battle there between the flesh and the spirit. And I'll tell you the reason that most of us lose the battle, because there are three people in that ring instead of two. You know who the third one is? You. You climb into that ring and you say, I am going to once and for all finish the flesh.

I'm going to knock the wind out of that flesh. I'm going to KO him. I'm going to... No, I'm going to tell you something. You can fight the flesh out of that flesh. I'm going to KO him. I'm going to, no, I'm going to tell you something. You can fight the flesh all you want to. You can struggle against the flesh all you want to, but you will never, never, never overcome the power of the flesh in real life. You need to get out of the ring. I want to ask you a question. Who is the one who fights the flesh? Who is the one who opposes the flesh?

Who is it? It's the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God. When I try to oppose the flesh, when I try to fight the flesh, it knocks me down every time. I'll confess to you the truth of the matter is I've been saved ever since I was nine years old. How many years is that? Boy, it's a lot of years. It's been 20 years at least.

I want to confess to you this morning, I am not one whit better than I was nine years ago. As a matter of fact, I'm worse. Because when you're nine, there's a lot you can't do. I've been more since I got saved than I ever did before I was saved. And there have been some times in my life when I thought I was getting better. I thought I was improving. And come to find out the old flesh is still there, just as mean and just as strong and just as crafty as he ever was,

and that the potential for all kinds of evil are still in my life. But the Spirit of God dwells in me, and He's the one that fights the flesh. And I've got news for you. The fight is fixed. You know why? Because you, by your choice and by your will, you determine who's going to win every battle. Every battle you determine by the will of your choice. The Spirit of God is prompting you to do something, wants you to do something, and so you say, I'm going to do this, but the flesh is there opposing that,

fighting that, boxing against that. Now, so it's up in the air. Who's going to win? Who's going to win? Who's going to win? You choose. You decide. I tell you this much, the Spirit of God will not conquer the flesh against your will,

without your permission. He will not do it. He will not do it. It is your responsibility. It is your responsibility. I tell you this, that whatever sin you fall into, whatever kind it is, it is your responsibility.

You cannot blame the devil. You cannot blame demons. You cannot blame your upbringing. You cannot blame your environment. It is your responsibility. You may be weaker than somebody else, but that doesn't make that much difference. It is still your responsibility. You're the one who decides who wins that battle, the spirit or the flesh.

Every time it comes down to the flesh. Every time it comes down to your choice. Every time it does. Every time it does. He is the one who fights the flesh. I cannot fight the flesh. He is the one who fights the flesh. So what do I need to do? Well, I need to walk in the Spirit. I need to live my life in the realm of the Spirit. I need to live my life in the realm of the Spirit. I need to live in the Spirit. I need to walk in the Spirit. We saw the other day, walk in Christ Jesus. It means the same thing. It's all the same thing. Walk in Christ Jesus. As you have therefore received Christ as Lord, so walk in him. Walk in the Spirit. Live in the Spirit.

What's he talking about? He's talking about living your life, controlled, dominated, the atmosphere of your life, the trend of your thoughts, the catalog of the things you say and do are all conducive to walking with Jesus and walking in the presence of the Holy Spirit. I do are all conducive to walking with Jesus and walking in the presence

of the Holy Spirit. Now I want to show you something. Most of the time, most of the time you and I try to overcome the flesh by making a resolve not to yield to temptation. We all have our besetting sins, and I'll tell you something else, We all have our besetting sins, and I'll tell you something else, we all have our besetting temptations. Everyone in this room this morning

has at least one particularly weak spot. It's your besetting temptation. Maybe one thing for you, maybe one thing for another. You had that temptation when you were 10. You've got that temptation when you're 50. It hasn't changed. It's your besetting temptation.

Not a sin unless you yield to it, but it is your besetting temptation. And so that's what I need. I know I'm going to have to watch out for that. Today, when I get up out of bed and I go through the day, I know this much, I've got to watch out for that one thing because that's my besetting temptation. So here's what I do. I concentrate with all my heart on that temptation.

I'm not going to yield to that. I drive down the road. I'm not going to yield to that. I'm not going to yield to that. I know I'm going to be tempted by it. I'm not going to yield to that. I drive down the road. I'm not going to yield to that. I'm not going to yield to that. I know I'm going to be tempted by it. I'm not going to yield to that. You know what you're doing? You are empowering that temptation

because as a man, think of so is he. And the more you're determined that you're not going to yield to that temptation, the more power you are giving to that temptation. Now, what do you do? Oh, instead of worrying about the temptation, you just start praising the Lord and you drive down the road

and you think about Jesus and what He's done for you and how He's delivered you from the domain of darkness and put you in the kingdom of His dear Son. And you just fill your mind and your thoughts with the Lord Jesus Christ and you thank Him for the day.

Thank you, Lord, for the car. Thank you for gas in the car. Thank you for my Bible. Thank you for my wife. You put your mind on things that are above. You concentrate on those things, you see. And what happens? Well, the Spirit of God is down there knocking the devil out of the flesh. That's what you do. That's what you do. That's point number one. But I'm going to finish real quickly. First thing is this.

First thing is this. The Holy Spirit walking in the Spirit overcomes the vices of the old life. Notice what he says in verse 19. Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious. And here they are. Immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, disputes, dissensions, fractions, envying, drunken drunkenness carousing and things like these which i forewarn you just as i forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of god now the minute a person yields to the flesh he'll head for one of those

things in that list right there but when you yield to the spirit notice verse 22 but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindnessness, gentleness, self-control. Against such you don't need any law. You don't have to make laws to people who are filled with the love and joy and peace of the Lord. They don't need rules and restrictions and regulations. You don't have to make a law for those kind of people. You know why? Because they belong to Jesus and they have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

That's right. Walking in the Spirit conquers the flesh. Walking in the Spirit creates a Christ-like life because that's what the fruit of the Spirit is. What you see there are nine statements concerning the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we all have heard this before, the fruit there is singular. It's not saying some people got love and others got peace.

It's producing all of them at the same time. Now, what I want to do more than anything else in the world is I want there to be love and joy and peace in my life. I don't want there to be adultery. I don't want there to be impurity. I don't want there to be adultery. I don't want there to be impurity. I don't want there to be dissension. I don't want all of that stuff. What I want is a Christlike life. So what do I do? Well, as I said a moment ago, I turn my heart towards heaven. I turn my thoughts towards heaven, and I'm thinking of him and praising him and loving him and worshiping him and what happens all of a sudden I discover something I discover I love people and there's a joy in the heart and I don't know there's a peace a calmness a rest over that

what's happening the spirit of God is producing. The Spirit of God is bearing fruit. All right, we've got a place in Arkansas Farm. We call it a farm for lack of a better word. We don't farm it. We got a lake down there. We fish, and Dad built a tennis court for us. It's about 300 acres.

We just kind of play around in it. It's not a farm. I remember one summer I was down there and I was doing some brush hogging and mowing the pasture and stuff. And I noticed there was a tree out in the middle of the field. Strangest thing I'd ever seen in my life. Half of that tree was full of green leaves. The other half was full of dead leaves. One half of that tree was dead, one half of that tree was alive.

Of course, it eventually died altogether, but it presented a very interesting picture. It's almost like somebody took a ruler and drew a straight line in the middle of that tree and said, this part's alive and this part's dead. Over here were green trees and over here were dead leaves, green leaves and dead leaves. Well that was in the summer. I came back around Thanksgiving. I was out walking around and I saw that same tree again. But there was a difference. On the side where the green trees had, where the green leaves had been, the limbs were bare.

All the leaves had fallen off that tree. But on the side of the tree where the dead leaves were, the dead leaves were still there. The dead leaves had not fallen off of that tree. Have you ever noticed that? Have you ever noticed if you cut down a tree or you cut off the branches of a tree and you lay it over there, those leaves will never fall off of that limb?

You know why? Because dead leaves don't fall off trees. They're pushed off by the new life that's surging through the branches. Wonderful the way the Lord has made it. Can you imagine what a trial it would be if every fall you had to climb up all your trees and pull the leaves off that thing? Well, why are you pulling the leaves off that? Well, I've got to make room for the green leaves going to come in a few weeks. Oh, I wish the Lord had thought of a different system than this I I've got all these trees to go and I'm just about just about killing myself trying to pull all those

old dead leaves off I'm just exhausted trying to put off the old dead leaf of immorality I'm trying to pull off the old dead leaf of hatred and the old dead leaf of self-indulgence I wish they were a different way look at all listen brother all've got to do is keep that tree alive. Just let the life flow through those branches. And you know what it'll do? It'll push off the old dead leaves to make room for the new leaves. Effortlessly, you see, pushing off the dead leaf of hatred in order to make way for the leaf of love, putting off the dead leaf of bitterness to make way for the fruit of joy and peace. That's the way it works. The Holy Spirit is a tree that

God plants in the believer. Y'all gonna make me forget my sermon over there. But think about that for a moment. He says the fruit of the Spirit. Now what bears fruit except a tree or a vine? The Holy Spirit is like a tree God plants in the believer. And he said, you don't have to go around trying to pull off all the dead leaves of the works of flesh. He said, all you have to do is just make certain the tree is well nourished and the life is flowing through it, and it will of itself put off all those dead leaves

and put in its place the new leaves of Christ's likeness. You just make certain that the tree is healthy and the life has unhindered movement through the branches and it will all work out. Isn't that what he says? So walking in the Spirit overcomes the works of the flesh. Walking in the Spirit produces in us a Christlike character. And finally, walking in the Spirit, though does require continuous cooperation.

You just don't get it settled once and for all in that sense. Now, you make a decision once and for all that this is the way it's going to be, but every day you have to update that decision, that commitment. Notice what he says in verse 25. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit, is the way the King James reads. A little confusing there because the two different words for walk are used. In verse 16, when he says walk in the Spirit, he uses one word.

And when he comes down to verse 25 and he says walk in the Spirit, he uses a different word altogether. The first word in verse 16, walk, indicates the everyday behavior pattern of a person's life but the walk in verse 25 is a military word and it means to keep in step as a matter of fact the niv translates it like this keep in step with the spirit now what he's saying is this you live in the spirit if you in the Spirit, then you need to make certain that you keep in step with the Spirit. Now, I was never a soldier, so I never marched in that. But I played in a band when I was in high school, and we had to march.

And the one thing that we knew, the way that you kept in step was that in our band, you kept your eye on the person to the right, you see, out of the corner of your eye. That's how you knew when you were out of step. And it started with the guy right here on the outside. His was the main responsibility, and everybody lined up with that guy. Everybody lined up with that guy, you see. And as you marched along, you kept an eye, you kept an eye on that. You never lost your concentration. You kept an eye on that. Now, here's what Paul is saying. Every day of your life, you're going to have to crucify afresh your life.

Die to yourself. I'm going to tell you something, folks. You know what my biggest struggle in prayer is? Do you know what I spend 99% of my prayer time doing? Trying to get me out of the way. I'm just going to be honest with you. Trying to get me out of the way. Once I get myself out of the way, it doesn't take any time for me to say what I want to say to God. But I am so self-centered. I am so arrogant. I am so egotistical. I so much want my way.

Even when I'm praying for God's glory, I know that in my heart I want some of it too. And I'm always trying to upstage Jesus, take a little bit of that glory, and in the prayer place I have to wrestle with myself and I have to come to the place where I want only one thing and that's for God to be glorified, for Jesus to be honored, not me. It requires that every time. I tell you every time I come to preach I have to deal with that. And I have for times gone without dealing with that preaching after, after, after, after this, and never dealing

with that. And the Lord has just so convicted me, and I just get so sick because I know what I'm doing is I'm taking this walk. I am 55 years old. I've been preaching since I was 15, and I am no better at it than I was then. I still, every time I step in the pulpit, I still have to fight the flesh. I still have to, you know what I mean, I still have to deal with that part of my life. Just there's no coasting and so you sort of keep your eye on the holy spirit make sure you're in step with the spirit oh it's simple isn't it yes it's simple and it's profound

that's my story the Ron Dunn podcast is available only for personal edification not to be duplicated uploaded to the web or resold without prior written consent it is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church if you would like to listen to additional Ron Dunn messages Thank you.