Richard Ellis Talks

Announcer: Today on Richard Ellis Talks.

Richard Ellis: When you have been with Jesus, the whole world will know that. And when you spend time with his people, the world will know that as well. You say I don't want to get involved in somebody's life. Then it's never going to work. That is where he is going to lead you because that's what he did.

Announcer: You're listening to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. Richard's style is unlike anyone else, where he shares the life-changing message of the gospel in a way that's real, refreshing, focused and fun. We know that life is pretty challenging these days, but these talks will help you meet those challenges head on with biblical truth, encouragement and direction. Now, if you're not able to stick around with us for all of today's talk, you can always listen to, download and even share this entire message with a friend right from our website, richardellis.com. So, let's jump right in with today's talk. Here is Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is in the flesh. Let's start with Genesis chapter one. Genesis chapter one. How did we as human beings end up in the flesh in these bodies? It's pretty simple, although it's very profound. It's interesting to me that God creates a whole bunch of stuff before he makes man. In Genesis 1:26, then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him. Male and female he created them. So, boom, you got this man. You'll see, if you keep reading, that he takes a rib from Adam and makes Eve. So in this verse it says he created male and female. It looks like in chapter one, we only have a male. So how's he saying he made a male and female? Because the female was in that male the whole time. And God took that rib and made her, and now there's them, but they're both made in his image.

It's also fascinating to me that when he made them, and well, let's just go to the next one. Genesis chapter two verse seven. Gets a little more detailed here how he did it. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being." So clearly God can take dirt and form a human being, and when he breathes in it, look at us.

If you had mirrors, I'd say take your mirror out. It's an extraordinary thing. Let's go to the next one. John chapter one. John chapter one. Let's see how far up we're going to go here. It's hard not to read this, so let's read it. So we read Genesis. In Genesis, the first four words, "In the beginning God." And in John chapter one verse one, the first part here is, "In the beginning was the word." So kind of a Genesis in the New Testament here describing what was in the beginning. "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God."

Simply put, I'm not going to explain all this logos. The word is Jesus. Okay? So he is in the beginning, he is there. He is God, with God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it or could not overwhelm it.

"Therefore, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him." This is talking about Jesus. "But as many as received him," now listen to this. This is very simple. Jesus, "as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

So this whole thing we've talked about recently, too, about being born again. You say, well, my wife and I are going to have a kid or my girlfriend and I are going to have a kid, we're going to have a baby. That's a decision you make. That's a physical decision in the flesh. We're going to make a baby. It is not that kind of decision. This is a decision and what happens when you are born not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, where God makes a decision, you're going to be born again, and you respond accordingly, and you're born a second time.

But look at this phrase in verse 12. "But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God." Now, I hear this phrase that we are all God's children. Now, listen really closely, because I'm not trying to be mean, but it's a clarification. That is not true. There's a lot of kids in this room that I love, but they are not my children. There's only one way for you to be one of my children. I'm either going to adopt you, or you're going to have to get born into my family.

You say, well, but I mean that God made us all. I'll give you that. We've already read that. But if you're walking around thinking, we're all children of God, then you're going to die shocked. Because you thought, well, somebody told me we're all God's children. You are God's child if you were begotten by him or adopted by him. And you better have some proof of that, spiritual DNA or some paperwork kind of to go with that. You say, well, how do you get paperwork on that? I got a whole book worth of paperwork right here. This is my paperwork.

Where I know that I was born in the flesh, and the second birth had to take place for the life that I have now to have that life. And how do you get that life again? What does he say here? "As many as received him." "To them he gave the power to become the children of God." Okay? So you say, well, I've never received him. Then you are not his child. And so some people are extremely frustrated because they're trying to be nice, and now maybe they've been trying to be religious, and they meet someone who's nice and religious, but their life seems to be changed, so you start copying what they're doing.

You cannot copy someone's behavior and that make you a Christian. You've got to receive him. You've got to have him living in you to live through you and pull this off. Okay? Now look at verse 14. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Okay, so this is a problem for some people. There's a group called the Gnostics back in the day. They thought that the body was evil, and so Christ could never, God would never come and be in the flesh. He would never come and be a person because the body is evil. Okay?

And we'll read another verse at the end of the Bible toward the end to even refute that. If Jesus does not come in the flesh and does not live a sinless life, die on the cross, be buried and raised from the dead, you got nothing. You got nothing. Because you have nothing to receive, because there's nothing been purchased and offered for you to receive. So what did he come and do? He came in the flesh and died in the flesh, and reset something, a possibility of something that was intended from the beginning where sin did not exist.

You say, well, so that means once I get Jesus, I'll be sinless. No, but it does mean that you will sin less. John chapter 20. So we've read John chapter one, came in the flesh. By the way, there aren't many people that argue that Jesus did not live. Historical figure that lived, that a man named Jesus, in the flesh, lived on the planet, was a teacher, did some good things. Okay, great. So you believe that Jesus lived. But who is he? And what did he accomplish? And what did he accomplish in your behalf that without him doing that, you're not going to make it?

So this is after his life, he's lived, he's died on the cross, been buried and raised from the dead, and in John chapter 20 verse 19, "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, 'Peace be with you.' When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord." Now this is something very cool to me that in God's providence, you say, well, but he was just trying to prove that he was alive to them.

There is nothing like seeing someone in the flesh. And he knew that if they heard about it, which I'll get to us in a minute. You say, well, I've just heard about it. Yes. And he addressed that. But somewhere back then after he had died, after he was buried, after he was raised from the dead, it is recorded what happened to them, where he keeps coming and going for weeks, appearing, disappearing, appearing, disappearing. But he's not a ghost. He is a person. We are talking about a real person being raised from the dead that can change your life.

And if God can raise him from the dead, he can raise you from the dead. And these are no small things when you're dying. And a lot of people don't think they're dying. And I'm not trying to be morbid. You're dying. If Jesus does not return, you're going to die. And you just better have some answers. You say, well, you harp on this. You'll be glad I harped on it when you hear the harps. So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

"So now Thomas, called the twin, one of the 12, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, 'We've seen the Lord.'" Like, we saw him. So he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and I put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." I'm not believing this. "And after eight days his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, 'Peace to you.'" Then he said to Thomas, "Reach. Okay. I heard what you said eight days ago. I let you stew on it a while. All right. Put your hand in here. Reach your finger here. Look at my hands. Reach your hand here and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing."

"And Thomas answered and said to him, 'My Lord and my God.' Jesus said to him, 'Thomas, because you have seen me, you've believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'" And that's all of us. I have never put my finger in the nail prints of his hands. I've never put my hand in his side, but I believe. I'm betting my whole life on this. My whole eternity on this. So it has to be true. He said, "Well, what if it isn't?" I'll pick my life believing this over anybody's life without him. And I spend a lot of time with a lot of people, and I'm going to tell you what, it's tough with him sometimes, it really goes poorly without him.

Go to Romans chapter eight. Verse one. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

For those, now look at how simple this is. For those who live according to the flesh, so if you live in the flesh in the flesh, for those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. What are you thinking about? Where is your brain? Is my brain on things of the flesh or the things of the Spirit? Is all you think about is here and now and this world and what you can get out of it and how you can succeed and be bigger and better and someone recognize you? Are you thinking about God? Are you thinking about him? His plan, his purposes?

"For to be carnally minded is death. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace." That's what everybody's looking for. But you can't get life and peace in the flesh. "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God." So let me say this slowly. If you are in the flesh in the flesh, you will never please God. Once you are in the Spirit in the flesh, things are going to change. Now what does that mean?

You're still in your body, but who's running your life, who's running my life, who's calling the shots, the power that is unleashed inside of me to say no to sin and yes to God, all of a sudden, boom, it changes everything. And now you're not thinking about things of the flesh. Now you say, but I still am. Let me tell you something about the flesh. This is maybe a terrible picture of this, but if you took a person, let's pick someone in the room, and we're going to lock you in a room, and we are not going to feed you, what is going to happen to you? You are going to die. Why? Because your flesh has to be fed to stay alive.

So if you want to kill something, stop feeding it. And you go, what in the world's going on? I feel like that's gone. Like I used to couldn't even see that or do that or be around that. Now all of a sudden like, I feel like it's just over. I don't even have anything pulling in that direction anymore because you're dead to something that you starve to death. So when you think about carnal things, you feed the flesh, the flesh bows up, gets strong, and says, I'm running this. When you think of spiritual things and you set your mind on things above and you trust God, you follow him, you let him renew your mind and you go that direction, your flesh dies on you and you can't even muster pull in the direction of sin.

You say, well, I'm not interested in that. That sounds terrible. It's called life and peace as opposed to death. What in the world could be wrong with that? Now you say, you're pushing hard again, you know, you're trying so hard to do something. What do you think we're after? We're after you. Well, what are you after? You just want our money. It's not your money. Forget your money. I want all of you. He wants all of you. I want you to know what's possible if you completely yield your life to him and he completely takes over, and then what is possible? It's extraordinary. Extraordinary.

So where were we? Verse nine. "But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, then he's not his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh. You don't owe the flesh anything to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God."

You say, well, I want to know if I'm a son of God. You are someone led by the Spirit of God. If you're not led by the Spirit of God, there's a good chance you're not a son of God. You say, well, I am a Christian, don't say that. Then live like one. Let him run it. Well, I'm not done doing my deal. Then why'd you become a Christian? Well, I just want my ticket to heaven, but I still want to screw up some more. That's what you're saying. I don't want to give up my little sin here, because it's going to do what?

What are you going to prove? How many millions of people have to live and die proving it doesn't work for you to go, oh, maybe it's not going to work. I think I'll ask God for wisdom, do it his way and get on with the life he intended. Okay, go to Romans chapter 15. Now, let me tell you something that will happen when it's working. In Romans chapter 15 verse 22. This is Paul writing this church at Rome, and he says, "For this reason," verse 22, "For this reason, I also have been much hindered from coming to you, but now no longer having a place in these parts and having a great desire these many years to come to you. Whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you, for I hope to see you on my journey and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while."

What is all that about? I want to be with you in the flesh. You say, well, he could accomplish more just writing these letters, mail and letters. Let me tell you something, there are some things you can't get done in a letter. And Paul had a relationship with these people. He missed these people. They were family. He wanted to be with them in spite of their screw-ups, in spite of their challenges. He wanted to be in the flesh, in the Spirit, in the flesh, with these people. So it's a no-brainer indicator. If you find yourself out there right now, somewhere listening, and you say, I have no desire to be a part of a body of believers, a church.

That should tell you something. When you are in the flesh, spiritually, you don't want to be in the flesh with other believers. Unless the believers you have found are all in the flesh. So a whole church might be in the flesh. Don't ask, don't tell, we come, teach our kids the stories, marry us, bury us, don't be pushing, dude, or we'll find somebody else to take your place. We will run you out of town. You leave us the you know what alone. You say, who would say that? They say it every day. We're going to find somebody to scratch our ears with longer nails than you got, who don't care about us. And then leave us alone. And let us die in our sin.

If you are out there and you don't want to be with other believers who are chasing after Jesus, something's not right. Oh, I can worship God alone. Yes, you can, but not indefinitely. That's not what was intended. And if you got verses to back up your argument, I'd be happy to listen to them. You don't have them, so that won't take long. Look it down there in verse 30. "Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, that I may come to you with joy by the will of God and may be refreshed together with you. Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen."

I cannot overemphasize the need for us to be together and have a desire to be together in the flesh. Now, I know as sure as I'm standing here, all you people don't like me. But you better love me. You say, well, I don't like this or that. I can live with that. If you don't love me, you're out of line. And if I don't love you, I'm out of line. And you'd be amazed how people start getting along and unity kind of comes together if you choose to love before you try to decide if you like. Need to add a little hot spot on Facebook where you can say you love someone, you don't just like them.

So you say, well, how are we all going to get along? He can pull it off, can't he? We need each other. Let's skip down to this one. Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, while you're looking for that, let me remind you of this. The mission statement of this church is disciples making disciples. What does that even imply on its face? It means that a disciple is going to end up with another human being or two discipling them, spending time with them. You say, well, I just want to listen out there on the radio or on a podcast, that's all I want to do. It's not enough.

Well, I just want to come into the gathering. I don't want to go to small groups and I certainly don't end up with another human being asking me questions, because that's too personal. That's what Jesus did. He's born of a virgin, spends 30 years preparing for three years, preparing for three days. And the 30 years preparing for what? Getting ready to pick 12 yahoos, one of them's going to kill himself, steal from him and betray him. So he's down to 11 before he even starts and he knows it. And he pours his life, his time, his relationship.

There's actually a verse that they marveled because they talked about the disciples and said that they had been with Jesus. "When you have been with Jesus, the whole world will know that. And when you spend time with his people, the world will know that as well." You say, well, I don't want to get involved in somebody's life, then it's never going to work. "That is where he is going to lead you because that's what he did." And it takes time. It is a pain. People quit. I have one guy I know, I jumped in, discipled him and boom, he disappeared.

A few days ago, my phone rings and it's him. And I thought, well, this is crazy, he's back. And then it's like an echo came back from Claude, the old man that helped me. And I kind of heard Claude saying, he's back, because I would ditch and disappear on Claude for months. Because I didn't want any more. I didn't want him up in my grill, challenging me until I ran all those traps and then I'm screwed it up again, and I go, hey, can I come see you? And what would he say? Let me pray about that. And he'd say, come see me.

Sin will cause you to separate. It happens in marriages, relationships and churches and between Christians. Sin and separation go hand in hand. Hebrews 10:24. "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching." Sometimes just a gathering and a handshake and looking someone in the eyes and saying, you're going to make it. Hang in there, exhorting, challenging, loving, encouraging. He intended for us to be together.

So when the devil tells you, you don't need to be with those people, what people is he telling you that you do need to be with? Think about that. People who get you nowhere, fix nothing. It just gets worse. I wrote this down, "If you are in the flesh, you don't want to be with people in the flesh who are in the Spirit. If you are in the flesh, you don't want to be with people in the flesh who are in the Spirit." It's an interesting little thing with me. Every once in a while, I don't want to listen to his music. I don't want to hear his music. Because I don't want to hear him.

My fleshly ears long for certain kind of music that my spiritual ears don't want to hear. And my spiritual ears want to hear music that my fleshly ears are not interested in. Now, I am not saying throw all your Boston out, because that might be acceptable, but. You say, well, where's the line? Ask him, let him run your life. What if he tells me no about something? Then no is life and peace. Why wouldn't you want that?

Announcer: We'll get back to Richard in a moment to close out today's talk. But first, I want to share something with you about the program. Our mission is actually very simple, to take the planet. So if our prayer that these daily talks from Richard aren't something you only hear and enjoy, but that they inspire you to share with others. Together we can do this. The message of the gospel is something everyone needs to hear, and that's why it's a huge priority to us. And you can join us in this important mission. Call us at 855-6-Richard to say you're in. Or you can get on board with us through our website, richardellis.com. Well, here's Richard with some closing thoughts for us.

Richard Ellis: Last verse, First John chapter four. He puts it very simply here. First John chapter four verse one. "Beloved," so this is written to Christians, "do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God." So you say, well, how can I find out if it's really of God? "By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and now already in the world."

So when I meet someone, and I want to cut through the chase, I will ask this question. One question I'll ask is, who is Lord? The enemy cannot confess that Jesus is Lord. And they will never confess that Jesus the Messiah has come in the flesh. Can't say it. Can you? Is he Lord? Not just savior, is he Lord? And do you believe that he came in the flesh? And have received, not just believed, but received, and he lives in you, and you are interested and maybe even willing to let him live through you. And see not only your world, but the world and his world changed as a result of that.

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