The Grass Withers & The Flowers Fall, But The Word Of The Lord Endures Forever
Who Is In Control, You Or Your Flesh?
1 PETER 1:22-25
Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the LORD endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
”I Peter 1:22-25 NKJV
https://www.bible.com/114/1pe.1.22-25.nkj
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My beloved, we human beings are made up of three parts, spirit, soul, and flesh.
Our flesh is destined to fade away like grass, for we “All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.”
Ecclesiastes 3:20 NKJV
Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.”
Ecclesiastes 12:7 NKJV
But my beloved, the battle of our eternal future is over our soul, our mind, will, and emotions, our very consciousness of life.
Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Matthew 16:24-26 NKJV
To deny one’s self, is to let go of the lust of the flesh, it’s sinful cravings that come from a sinful nature that we inherited from Adam; to put our sinful past to death and repent of all sin and turn toward God in total submission to Him, and receive the gift of life justified and paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ.
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)”
Romans 5:12-17 NKJV
Repentance is more than simply saying sorry, it is to turn from our sinful nature, and put on the nature of Christ, that can only come from God, and His living Word (HEBREWS 4:12).
My beloved, we cannot do this in our own strength, nor can we purchase our new life in Christ.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
John 14:6 NKJV
No amount of money can gain salvation, nor one’s status. No other than Christ can offer salvation, not people living or dead, nor any other living thing can give you eternal life. There is no other god, or man, however religious, or object or works that can save you. Only Jesus can, and He did it all on a cross for you.
All you need to do is apply Jesus’ spilled blood to your life by believing in your new life in Christ.
But “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:1-5 NKJV
It all sounds so easy, “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.””
Romans 10:8-13 NKJV
Furthermore, Jesus said, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
John 14:16-18 NKJV
He not only gave up His own life on a cross, but He has sent His holy Spirit to help and guide you all the way and is the seal of your salvation (EPHESIANS 1:13; 2 CORINTHIANS 1:22).
We shall have many battles in our walk with God, for James said “when” trouble comes, not “if” (JAMES 2:2-4). But one of the biggest battles we face shall be from within the soul, the place we make decisions.
For the time has come to put the lust of the flesh to death and walk in Spirit, and flesh that is destined to die, shall not be happy and will put up a fight.
My beloved, who is in control, you or your flesh.
Surely, it is time to make the Spirit king in your life, your soul servant, and your flesh slave, simply as a vehicle to operate from in this physical world.
Therefore, “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”
Philippians 3:17-21 NKJV
My beloved, I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Galatians 5:16-26 NKJV
Now that you walk in the Spirit, learn to operate in the gifts (1 CORINTHIANS 12:8-10).
But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”
Colossians 3:14 NKJV
Love is far more than words or a feeling, it is a sincere decision to care about others without expectation of anything in return.
It is a personal decision to take your eyes off yourself and do your very best to meet the needs of others. Therefore a self-centred person cannot truly love.
“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”
I John 3:16-24 NKJV
All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.
