2001 Dispensational Conference by Pastor
Message #4 –12-02-01 – Synopsis and Outline
THE IMPACT OF
CARNALITY IN A CHRISTIAN'S LIFE
When Sin Gets Me What I Want" was the message shared in the previous two weeks. This message takes and expands II. C. of that message outline. When a Christian is living in his or her sin nature, there are some very clear results that may occur in life. If that Christian has been spiritual for any length of time, there are some clear contrasts evident to the external observer. If a Christian has been carnal most of his or her life, the differences aren't so obvious because that person functions in the realm of the sin nature most of the time and are "spiritually weird." The Impact of Carnality in a Christian's Life involves the way one thinks, the realm of one's existence, one's view of life in general, what he or she does and his or her relationship to God in several spheres. The purpose of this message is to give a short list of the results of carnality in a believer's life. I would like to think that one would recognize the dangers and misery resulting from his or her carnality as a result of this short study. Most Christians will say that they don't want these results but they continue to live in this condition while denying that these characteristics exist in their lives. Some feel that they are immune to these results and aren't impacted by such things. One of the most interesting things about carnality is the inherent blindness that comes with it concerning the truth of one's condition. Everyone else is wrong and I'm just fine.
Before salvation a person had only one nature -- the sin nature. One of the benefits of one's spiritual birth, the new birth, is the receiving of a new nature that is a quality of the Father's nature (2 Pet. 1:4). The new nature isn't a replacement for the fallen human sin nature but coexists with it. It is a coexistence that doesn't work. Both can't function at the same time. The human person is responsible for the sphere in which he or she is living. The sin nature creates conditions that prevent one's living in the new nature. This material will help one understand this problem. There is no sharing of authority or control and so there is a conflict that is very clearly taught in Romans seven. A Christian is either carnal, living in the sphere of the sin nature, or spiritual, manifesting things of the Spirit and living in the new nature. {There are conditions in between these states that will have to wait for another study.} Carnality, living in the sphere of the sin nature, affects the person through the soul, the center of emotions. It subverts the rationale function of the human spirit in relation to spiritual things. As a result, a believer doesn't function in the only part of his being that is saved and through which his saved person can function (cf. John 3:5, 6). The outline is attached so I am going to give a grocery list of the points in other words with some explanation.
1. A Carnal Christian
is Abiding in or upon (better) the sin nature. Romans 6:1 asks a
rhetorical question, "Shall we abide upon the sin nature, that grace may
abound? Of course not! The AV translation "continue"
conceals the meno root that means to feel at
ease or to be comfortable. The simple
verb is the backbone of the Upper Room discourse. In John 15 Christ speaks to the subject. "Abide in me, and I in you (Jn. 15:4)."
Read down through verse seven (cf. 1 Jn. 2:6,
10, 27, 27; 3:6). Christ anticipated the
day when one could "abide in Christ."
This would not happen until the day of Pentecost when the other
Comforter, the Holy Spirit, was sent.
Then persons could be placed in Christ by the baptizing work of the
Spirit. The result was a place in which
a grace believer could feel at ease -- in Christ. A carnal saint may feel at ease living in the
realm of his or her sin nature. After
all, we have had a great deal of practice.
From the moment of conception to the day we believed the Gospel
concerning Christ it was the only nature we had. We learned to live in it well. At salvation we received the potential to
live in the new nature. By the pervenient grace of God, we were able to live in that
sphere in the early days of our Christian lives until God permitted us to be
attacked by Satan or the world system.
When those enemies defeat us, we move into the sphere of the sin nature
and the works of the flesh. What was
always our comfort zone before salvation may become our comfort zone after salvation. The result
is a perverted perspective on God, life and others. Feeling at ease in the sin nature is an
intentional perversion of the grace of God (
2. A Carnal Christian
lives as a Slave to the Sin Nature and Susceptible to Physical Death (
4. The Carnal Christian's will is manipulated by the sin nature to the extent that he or she actually does the desirous will of the flesh (Eph. 2:3). Ephesians 4 establishes the fact that believers can be in this condition. The will is manipulated by the lusts or strong desires of the flesh and so one actually does what the sin nature desires as a slave. The darkened workings of the mind directly affect what the person does. 5. A Carnal Believer cannot please God even by his or her greatest works of righteousness (Isa. 64:7). All of his or her righteousness is like repulsive, nasty, repugnant rags. God sees every "righteous" act as uncleanness. The last of the verse uses a word describing actions produced by the sin nature in the Old Testament, "perversities" (AV iniquities). As a spiritual believer you can put a dollar in the offering as the sacrifice of a believer-priest and God is pleased and accepts it. You can be living in your sin nature and put $1,000 in the offering and God will not accept it as a sacrifice and only sees it as polluted and perverted.
6. A Carnal Christian
will make adjustments in his or her conscience because it either accuses or
excuses. When one lives
in the sin nature, conscience may say that your behavior isn't matching up with
what you know thereby accusing you. It
may make excuses for your behavior often adjusting your conscience just as it
did before one's salvation. VI. lists several reasons why conscience should never be a
Christian's guide. a. It may or may not
use wisdom that comes from the flesh (2 Cor.
Carnality produces a perverted Christian who is rejecting the provisions of present tense salvation. At this point in the message, I moved to 1 Corinthians 11:27-30 and the Lordian table. 9. A Carnal Christian takes a risk at the Communion table. Partaking of the bread and the cup in an unworthy manner makes the believer liable of divine discipline. Because of this, a man is to examine himself with the intention of getting rid of that which would put him at risk in his carnality (vs. 28). If he partakes in an unworthy manner, he eats and drinks judgment to himself not discerning the Body (vs. 29). A carnal Christian is walking in jeopardy of divine discipline. God may make one physically ill producing weakness, cripple one or put one to death (vs. 30). When God does this, the believer knows exactly why he or she suffers these things. We concluded the message at the Lordian (pertaining to the Lord) table remembering the divine provisions for present tense salvation as represented by the loaf and the cup that are provided for us until Christ comes for us to meet Him in the air.
Present tense salvation is multi-dimensional and so wonderfully ordered by the Godhead.
Abiding in Christ and rejecting the option of abiding on the sin nature,
DKS
#4 -- Dispensational Conference Message
Valley --
THE IMPACT OF CARNALITY IN A CHRISTIAN'S LIFE
The Potential Conditions That Come with Carnality
Proposition: To give a short list of the results of carnality in the believer's life. These results can easily come in any believer's life when he or she is carnal. The disasters in the carnal believer's life often directly relate to these conditions that result from carnality. These consequences are not worth the risk. They are often very visible when one relates to a carnal saint.
Introduction
A. Consequences if the New Birth
1. A New Nature
2. Two Natures
B. Coexistence Exists but Doesn't Work
1. There Is No Sharing of Authority or Control
2. There Is a Significant Conflict
3. There Is
a. Carnal = Living in the Sin Nature
b. Spiritual = Living in the New Nature
C. Conflict with the Person Is Certain
D. Carnality Affects the Person
1. Through the Soul
2. Against the Spirit
TRANS: The first circumstance that involves the believer's immaterial existence when one is carnal is the potential to find a comfort zone in carnality that is similar to abiding in one's position in Christ.
I. THE ABIDING OR FEELING AT EASE IN THE SIN
NATURE OR FLESH -- A FLESHLY ALTERNATIVE TO ABIDING IN CHRIST -- CONFIDENCE IN
THE FALSE SUPPORT OF THE SIN NATURE -- Romans 6:1
A. A Rhetorical Question Demanding a Strong Negative Answer
1. Shall We Abide Upon or Feel at Ease Upon the Sin Nature
2. That Grace May Superabound?
B. An Expected Recognition of a Kind of Abiding
1. evpime,nw (epimeno) -- here "abide upon"
2. me,nw (meno) -- "feel at ease, abide" (Jn. 15:4-7; 1 Jn. 2:6, 10, 17, 27; 3:6)
3. u`pome,w (hupomeno) --
frequently used derivative "endure, be patient" (ex. Jas.
4. katoike,w (katoikeo) --
"settle down and feel at home" (Col. 1:19;
C. An Easy Identification with the Sin Nature
1. The "Comfort Zone"
2. The "Perverted Perspective"
D. The Intentional Perversion of the Grace of God
TRANS: One of the results of carnality is that the person becomes the slave of his or her sin nature. This means that he or she is living in the sphere that leads to physical death.
II. THE ASSOCIATION WITH THE SPHERE OF PHYSICAL SEPARATION IN DEATH -- A FLESHLY ALTERNATIVE TO LIVING TO THE POTENTIAL IN THIS LIFE -- CONTROL OF SLAVES BY THE SIN NATURE -- Romans 6:16
A. Slavery to the Sin Nature -- Rom. 6:6, 14, 16
B. Members Instruments/Weapons of the Sin Nature
-- Rom.
C. Messing with Spiritual Death -- Romans 6:23
D. Free from Sin nature in Christ -- Romans 6:18
TRANS: A believer who is carnal can be living like he or she did before salvation when there was only one nature. Paul identifies some of the characteristics that can come when one lives as though he or she was in the old position in Adam.
III. THE AVOIDING OF LIVING LIKE ONE WAS WHEN UNSAVED IN ADAM -- A FLESHLY ALTERNATIVE TO LIFE IN THE CHRIST -- CONDITIONS THAT A CARNAL BELIEVER MAY HAVE BY FUNCTIONING AS ONE DID BEFORE SALVATION -- Ephesians 4:17-20
A. The Expected Change in One's Walk After Salvation -- Vs. 17a
B. The Evidence of Carnality in a Return to Pre-Salvation Conditions -- Vss. 17b-19
1. Walking [Ordering One's Life] in Uselessness of the Mind
2. Workings of the Mind Darkened -- Vs. 18
3. Being Alienated from the Life of God through Ignorance
4. Possessing a Hardness of Heart [Mind, Emotion, Will]
5. Not Caring So May Give Up to
a. Lasciviousness
b. Into Work of All Uncleanness
c. In a Desire to Have More
TRANS: Ultimately a carnal believer will have his or her desirous will manipulated by the sin nature. This also affects the workings of the believer's mind to the degree that the darkened mind cannot process information as it should in order to please God.
IV. THE ACCOMPLISHING OF THE DESIROUS WILL OF THE FLESH AND THE DARKENED WORKINGS OF THE MIND -- A FLESHLY ARRANGEMENT TO CONTROL THE WILL AND THE MIND -- CONDUCT IS CONTROLLED BY THE FLESH -- Ephesians 2:3
A. Past Behavior in Adam
B. Living in the Sphere of the Lusts of the Flesh
C. Doing the Desirous Wills of the Flesh
D. Doing the Workings of the Darkened Mind (cf.
TRANS: A carnal Christian inevitably thinks that he or she is pleasing God when in reality the very activities that were pleasing to God when the believer was spiritual are repugnant to God when one is carnal.
V. THE APPEARANCE OF PLEASING GOD WHE GOD IS
ACTUALLY DISPLEASED -- THE ANTICIPATION THAT ONE'S BEST EFFORTS ARE PLEASING TO
GOD -- CONSIDERATION THAT FLESH ORIGINATED "RIGHTEOUSNESS" IS
PLEASING TO GOD -- Isaiah 64:6
A. Seen by God as an Unclean Thing
B. All Personal Righteousness Is Repugnant to God -- Filthy Rags
C. Perversities of the Sin Nature Lead Astray
TRANS: In order for a carnal believer's conscience to function there must be some adjustment of the elements of conscience in order to avoid conscience from accusing the believer. Instead it excuses the believer for his or her carnality.
VI. THE ADJUSTMENT OF CONSCIENCE TO JUSTIFY RESULTS AND NOT THE SIN -- THE ASSURANCE OF THE INVOLVEMENT OF AN UNRELIABLE CONSCIENCE -- CONSCIENCE IS INCAPABLE OF LIMITING SIN BUT RATHER IS A MECHANISM TO EXCUSE THE ACTION -- Genesis 3:5, 22
A. The Provision of a Knowledge if Good and Evil -- Genesis 3:5, 22
B. Conscience May Accuse or Excuse in the
Reasoning Process -- Rom.
1. Accusing -- kathgorou,ntwn (kategorounton) -- to speak against, harangue
2. Excusing -- avpologoume,nwn (apologoumenon) -- to defend oneself against a charge, a defense, apology
C. Conscience May Not Use Fleshly Wisdom or It May -- 2 Corinthians 1:12
D. Conscience May Be Evil -- ponhro,j (poneros) -- "malignantly evil" -- Hebrews 10:22
E. Conscience May Be Polluted with Dead Works -- Heb. 9:14
F. Mind and Conscience May Be Defiled -- Titus
TRANS: The result of persistent carnality is that a person becomes useless in his or her availability to the Lord. In other words, the person is not needed because he or she does not meet the standard for God to use that one to His glory.
VII. THE ABSENCE OF PRIFITABILITY IN THE LIFE OF THE
BELIEVER -- THE ABILITY TO MANIFEST SPIRITUAL VALUE IS GONE -- THE CONDITION OF
BEING USELESS OR WORTHLESS BECAUSE ONE IS NOT NEEDED BECAUSE OF DEFICIENCIES --
Romans
A. A Willful Departure from God
B. A Witnessed Deprivation That Makes One Useless or Incapable of Meeting a Need
C. A Wicked Direction Away from the Fruit of the Spirit
TRANS: These are some of the possibilities for the life of a saint who is carnal. The longer one lives in his or her sin nature, the more likely these things will occur. These are primarily spiritual results. Some physical results may be evident in the life of the believer from carnality that are beyond the scope of discipline and are merely the results of sin and its product.
Conclusion
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B.
C.
D.
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