Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
The flesh will go to its grave without ever submitting to God. Your flesh is absolutely and permanently opposed to every good thing that you have from God. Your flesh wars against the holy Spirit that you have received from your heavenly Father, and that holy Spirit of God wars against the will of your flesh. "These are contrary one to the other", Paul told us (Gal. 5:17), and there will never be a reconciliation between them. It is a fight to the death. It is a fight for your soul. Your heart is the battleground. Your flesh is pulling you one way to eternal damnation, and God's Spirit is leading you another, into everlasting life.
Jesus called God's Spirit, "the Spirit of Truth" (Jn. 14:17). John said that "the Spirit is truth" (1Jn. 5:6). Because it is God's Spirit, it communicates God's nature, which is to bring truth and light into our lives. The nature of your flesh is to bring darkness and confusion into our lives. "If you live after the flesh", Paul warned the saints in Rome, "ye shall die. But if you by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh, you shall live" (Rom. 8:13).
Even after a person dies, the nature of the flesh continues to lie. When we see the corpse of a person, the flesh makes it appear that the deceased person is still and quiet. That is a lie. Whether a person is consigned to Hell by God's righteous judgment when he dies or is taken by the angels into the Paradise of God, he is neither quiet nor still. If he is in Hell, he is screaming for Jesus to send someone to warn his family members and friends not to come to that awful place, as did the wicked rich man in Jesus' famous parable ( Luke 15). If he is in Paradise, he is shouting praises to the Most High with great joy.
The nature of the flesh is to deny or to conceal this truth, and all other truth that God has graciously given to us. Every time you see a dead body lying quiet and still in a coffin, think about it. It is a lie that you are seeing instead of hearing, for it is the nature of the flesh to be a lie as well as to speak one. To deceive is its nature; it is not something it has to plan to do. Spiritual darkness and death just happen where the flesh is trusted and followed.
But God is faithful and good. It is His nature to be the truth for you as well as to speak it. He loves you, and everything He says and everything He does is for your blessing. To nurture and to heal is His nature; it is not something that He has to plan to do. Spiritual light and life just happen where Jesus is trusted and followed.