Make No Provision for the flesh

Romans 13:11

1. In 354 Augustine was born in Hippo, North Africa, then a stronghold of Christianity. His father was a pagan, and his mother, Monica, was one of the famous mothers of all time. In spite of the deliberate upbringing on the part of his mother, he wrote that in his sixteenth year the 'madness of lust ...took the rule over me, and I resigned myself wholly to it!" His companions had no sense of shame and influenced Augustine so that he even went to the point of saying he had done things when he had not, so that he might not appear chaste to his friends. In the restless life of Augustine there was a search for relief from his lust and the vanity of the life he was living.

At age 19 he took a concubine and had a son by her a year later.
He lived with her a number of years, but gave her up as a hindrance
to a better marriage, but having to wait two years for the marriage, he could not last and procured another mistress. He continued his struggle. He came to see himself as he really was, and as he looked at himself, he was worse than he thought. He had previously prayed to God: "Give me chastity and continency, only not yet. For I fear lest thou shouldest hear me soon, and soon cure me of the disease of concupiscence, which I wished to have satisfied, rather than extinguished." (p.140)

Profoundly disturbed by the contradictions of his existence he retired to a garden to contemplate the issue, how could he cast off his mistresses? Torn by the call of God and the temptations of the presence he cried out, "How long, how long, tomorrow and tomorrow? Why not now? why not is there this hour an end to my uncleanness? So was I speaking and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when, I heard from a neighboring house a voice, as of boy or girl, I know not, chanting, and oft repeating, "Take up and read; take up and read." Instantly, my countenance altered, I began to think most intently whether children were wont in any kind of play to sing such words; nor could I remember ever to have heard the like. So checking the torrent of my tears, I arose, interpreting it to be no other than a command from God to open the book and read the first chapter I should find.... He rushed to whether there was a volume of the Apostle--Romans. "I seized, opened, and in silence read that section on which my eyes first fell: "not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh. No further would I read, nor needed I; for instantly at the end of the sentence, by a light as it were of serenity "infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away.” Thus occurs the conversion of one of the greatest influences in the history of the Christian Church.

2. What is this flesh that is judged? There is a difference between body and flesh. This is not air-tight in distinction but the context shows which is which. The week school was out I played golf on Monday, Wed. Thurs and Fri. Jerry Beltz came to town on Friday and we played ping pong. I was so tired from playing golf that my body reflexes were slow, and the desires of my mind was to beat him, but my body was just too tired. Here the body and the desires I had are distinguished. These desires are headlined "fleshly." Body needs and
fleshly desires are contrasted. I have an adequate salary for my bodily needs, but my desire is for more money. I am trying to find a business to purchase, not because I need the money, nor because I am greedy, but because I want security. Body needs and fleshly desire may be sometimes related, but most frequently, desire (fleshly) is contrary God's command.

3. Thus Paul writes, make no provision for the desires of the
flesh because:

I. these desires are temporary.

A. Life by desire rather than design is a terrible way to live, but it is hard to arrive at this conclusion. There is a little buy around our house who has a lot of guns. We have disagreement about how the allowance should be spent. We have a variety of water guns, cap guns, noise making guns, etc., and I finally came to say: you have bought your last gun." There comes the moment when a plateau is reached and no longer will there be an interest in toy guns. But desire
will not be finished; there will arise a new toy--a car, a boat, a cycle, etc. Boys become men filled with new and more expensive desires and there is no end.

B. Desires gained give the impression of doing well whereas we may be doing damage to ourselves. This can be seen in the expression we sometime smugly use concerning our achievements: "I’m doing well for myself, or I'm not doing too badly for myself." This means, I am getting along in the world, I am accumulating things, and the accumulation of things is not the same as your self-hood doing well. While you accumulate things, or conquer the business world, or fulfill your fleshly desires in sensuality, you are not doing well in-your-self. Your selfhood is being neglected, dragged thru the swamp, and you are swapping your self-hood for desires and desire-fulfillments
that are going to perish.

C. Desires are temporary because Jesus is coming. We spend
all our times on desiring things that will not stand the test of God's presence. Our salvation--is a deliverance from the presence of fleshly desire. Salvation is given because this world is not God's great desire for us. Desire without salvation is like the squirrel in a barrel wheel rolling on and on but going nowhere.

II. Desires lead to death.

1. Charles Williams has a novel, Descent into Hell, in which there is a character named Wentworth who is attracted to a woman named Adela. Competing for her attention is a younger man named Hugh. Wentworth has made a name for himself, he is a military historian of high repute. When he is not successful in his courtship of Adela he possesses her by way of phantasy. He lives within his imagination. Adela becomes almost flesh and blood in his phantasy and is more catering and enjoyable than the real Adela. He drops out of the real world of his friends and becomes a recluse. The more he isolates himself from the world, the more he loses himself in phantasy. The
more he is consumed by phantasy he has less desire to return to the world of reality. Wentworth lost himself complete in the abyss of the desires.

2. Fleshly desire lead to the destruction of the self in
all its dimensions. Look at the short list of what Paul lists:

A. Reveling,  .the term refers to the night processions of half drunk people who paraded thru the streets singing to the god Bacchus as well as stopping at the houses of both male and females friends. Generally the term referred to those who gave themselves to drinking parties until late into the night.

B. drunkenness, Biblical history describes drinking back to the time of Noah. This has been a curse and blight on man's history ever since. Drunkenness has destroyed so many people's lives, homes, families, jobs, etc.

C. Chambering, or debauchery •••sexual relations outside of marriage, or ignoring of marriage.

D. licentiousness ...a-Selge ...city in Pisidia where citizens excelled in strictness of morals; this is neglected to show no control, but unbridled lust, excess.

E. Quarreling contentious, strife, wrangling.

F. Jealousy, an envious and contentious rivalry ...from a word meaning to boil with heat, be hot. to seethe.

3. Our age caters to desires. More than other ages we have been able to fulfill our desires particularly in America. Our decisions have been those between meat loaf and hamburgers, T-bone or Sirloin, ham or pork chops--not those of to eat or not eat today because there will be nothing for tomorrow. Shall I drive a new car another year or not?
The world about us has become so promiscuous that prostitution
has come on difficult times in many areas. Drinking has become an integral part of society and many nation’s economy.

4. God commands that our needs be met but our desires can lead to spiritual death. Paul's warning here is like that Word of God in the O.T. thru Moses: Why will you die'? (Deuteronomy 30 :19.) “ I set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life that you and your descendants may live.”

III. Desires are controllable.

1. The command implies a possibility. God does not command the impossible. Either we can do it, or he will give aid in doing. There are some desires that are easily controlled by man. One's own personality enters the discussion here. I don't have the slightest urge to drink, let alone get drunk. I can control that for the moment, but I need all the force of reason and self-control in other areas of life. I need God's
help when it comes to other desires.

2. The control of fleshly desires is stated in the verse, "let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (12) Let us conduct ourselves as becoming the day .. You are children of light.

This means two things: (1) God is light and our conduct is to be fashioned along the lines of obedience to his will and commands. The verse really says let us use the weapons of light--God has given up a light unto our feet--his word. (2) We have a record of God dealing with his people. That record in the Bible gives us examples of people who followed their own desires an lost their lives. On the other hand,
there are those who are examples of perseverance and faithfulness
and their lives yet speak to us today.

Concl.:
1. Our Scripture verse says, Renounce the works of darkness, make no provision for the desires of the flesh, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ. In Mt. 27:31 after Jesus was beaten, his own clothes were put back upon him. The word for put on relating to garments is a word that sounds like our English word, induce (endusometha) It is suggestive for what is said here: Look at modern medicine. A medicine can control the body and life conforms to the demands of the medicine. When a mother is ready to deliver a baby, medicine can be used to induce labor. When one is sluggish and without strength due to a thyroid deficiency, we induce medicine to return to normalcy.
Insulin gives a good example of medicine designed to bring
a balance to the bodies sugar level.

2. Use this analogy for the inducing of a person into your life. This person is God's son, Jesus Christ, and he has the ability to permeate your life, and help you control your flesh. And I do believe that with the surrender of one’s life to him, there is victory over the desires of the flesh.

3. What about you this morning? Is Jesus Christ in your life? How is it going with your desires? Is your life a desire-filled life, or a design-lead life in Christ? Jesus wants you today. There is no time for fooling around. Every desire of the flesh appears to have some fulfillment, but it may only leads further away from Jesus.