Ye Shall Not Fulfil The Lusts of The Flesh

I Corinthians 6:9-11

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." (I Corinthians 6:9-11)

The Corinthians, in trying to defraud others by lawsuits, were in effect extorting others. Their behaviour was a result of their unspiritual state. They were doing this and other things that were typical of those who were not saved. People who live in such a manner are not saved. Galatians 5: 19-21 reinforces this. "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

When a person becomes a Christian, these things are taken out of our lives, we are pure before God. We become a new person, according to II Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." It is not just our standing before God that is changed, but our attitude, our desires, and our understanding according to Ephesians 4:24, and Colossians 3:10.

Galatians 2:20 states that we are dead with Christ, so that Our life now is to be controlled by Christ by faith. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Romans 6:6-14 re-iterates this, and says that we need to recognize it as a truth, that sin no longer has power over us. We do not need to allow sin to control our lives. "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."

We must simply yield ourselves to God, letting him take control. Faith that does not enable this is dead faith, and cannot save, as James 2 tells us. As Galatians 5:25 tells us, "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."

Recognizing what we have and acting on it will prevent falling into sin. Paul says "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." We are no longer those adulterers, or drunks , or other things, and should not continue in them, if we have recieved the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:8-10 sums it up, "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." If the Holy spirit is not there, the person is not a Christian, not saved.