How The Christian DOES NOT Wrestle With Flesh And Blood

How The Christian Does Not Wrestle With Flesh And Blood

           First.  How meanly doth the Spirit of God speak of man, calling him flesh and blood!  Man hath a heaven-born soul, which makes him akin to angels, yea, to the God of them, who is the Father of spirits; but this is passed by in silence, as if God would not own that which is tainted with sin, and not the crea­ture God at first made it; or because the soul, though of such noble extraction, yet being so immersed in sensuality, deserves no other name than flesh, which part of man levels him with the beast, and is here in­tended to express the weakness and frailty of man's nature.  It is the phrase [by] which the Holy Ghost expresseth the weakness and impotency of a creature by.  ‘They are men, and their horses are flesh’, Isa. 31:3, that is, weak; as on the contrary, when he would set out the power and strength of a thing, he opposeth it to flesh—‘Our weapons are not carnal, but mighty,’ II Cor. 10:4.  And so in the text, not flesh and blood, but powers.  As if he should say, ‘Had you no other to fear but a weak sorry man, it were not worth the providing arms or ammunition; but you have enemies that neither are flesh, nor are resisted with flesh.’  So that here we see what a weak creature man is, not only weaker than angels, as they are spirit and he flesh—put in some sense beneath the beasts, as the flesh of man is frailer than the flesh of beasts; therefore the Spirit of God compares man to the grass, which soon withers, and his goodliness to the flower of the field, Isa. 40:6.  Yea, he is called vanity. ‘Men of low degree are vanity, and men of high de­gree are a lie,’ Ps. 62:9.  Both alike vain; only the rich and the great man's vanity is covered with honour, wealth, &c., which are here called a lie, because they are not what they seem, and so worse than plain vanity, which is known to be so, and deceives not.

           Use First. Is man but frail flesh?  Let this hum­ble thee, O man, in all thy excellency; flesh is but one remove from filth and corruption.  Thy soul is the salt that keeps thee sweet, or else thou wouldst stink above ground.  Is it thy beauty thou pridest in?  Flesh is grass, but beauty is the vanity of this vanity.  This goodliness is like the flower, which lasts not so long as the grass, appears in its mouth and is gone; yea, like the beauty of the flower, which fades while the flower stands.  How soon will time's plough make fur­rows in thy face, yea, one fit of an ague so change thy countenance, as shall make thy doting lovers afraid to look on thee?  Is it strength?  Alas, it is an arm of flesh, which withers oft in the stretching forth.  Ere long thy blood, which is now warm, will freeze in thy veins; thy spring crowned with May-buds will tread on December's heel; thy marrow dry in thy bones, thy sinews shrink, thy legs bow under the weight of thy body; thy eye-strings crack; thy tongue [be] not able to call for help; yea, thy heart with thy flesh shall fail. And now thou who art such a giant, take a turn of thou canst in thy chamber, yea, raise but thy head from thy pillow if thou art able, or call back thy breath, which is making haste to be gone out of thy nostrils, never to return more; and darest thou glory in that which so soon may be prostrate?

           Is it wisdom?  The same grave that covers thy body, shall bury all that—the wisdom of thy flesh I mean—all thy thoughts shall perish, and [thy] goodly plots come to nothing.  Indeed, if a Christian, thy thoughts as such shall ascend with thee, not one holy breathing of thy soul lost.  Is it thy blood and birth? Whoever thou art, thou art base-born till born again; the same blood runs in thy veins with the beggar in the street, Acts 17:26.  All nations there we find made of the same blood; in two things all are alike, we come in and go out of the world alike; as one is not made of finer earth, so not resolved into purer dust.

           Use Second.  Is man flesh?  Trust not in man; ‘cursed be he that makes flesh his arm!’ not the mighty man; robes may hide and garnish, they cannot change flesh.  Put not your trust in princes, Ps. 146:3; alas, they cannot keep their crowns on their own heads, their heads on their own shoulders; and look­est thou for that which they cannot give themselves? Not in wise men, whose designs recoil oft upon them­selves, that they cannot perform their enterprise. Man’s carnal wisdom intends one thing, but God turns the wheel and brings forth another.  Trust not in holy men, they have flesh, and so their judgment [is] not infallible, yea, their way [is] sometimes doubtful.  His mistake may lead thee aside, and though he returns, thou mayest go on and perish. Trust not in any man, in all man, no not in thyself, thou art flesh.  He is a fool, saith the wise man, that trusts his heart.  Not in the best thou art or doest; the garment of thy righteousness is spotted with the flesh; all is counted by St. Paul confidence in the flesh, besides our rejoicing in Christ, Php. 3:3.

 Use Third.  Is man but flesh?  Fear him not.  This was David's resolve: ‘I will not fear what flesh can do unto me,’ Ps. 56:4.  Thou needest not, thou oughtest not to fear.  Thou needest not.  What, not such a great man, not such a number of men, who have the keys of all the prisons at their girdle, who can kill or save alive! no, not these.  Only look they be thy enemies for righteousness’ sake.  Take heed thou makest not the least child thine enemy by of­fering wrong to him; God will right the wicked even upon the saint.  If he offends, he shall find no shelter under God's wing for his sin.  This made Jerome com­plain that the Christians’ sins made the arms of those barbarous nations which invaded Christendom vic­torious.  But if man's wrath finds thee in God's way, and his fury take fire at thy holiness, thou needest not fear, though thy life be the prey he hunts for. Flesh can only wound flesh; he may kill thee, but not hurt thee.  Why shouldst thou fear to be stripped of that which thou hast resigned already to Christ?  It is the first lesson thou learnest, if a Christian, to deny thyself, to take up thy cross, and follow thy Master; so that the enemy comes too late.  Thou hast no life to lose, because thou hast given it already to Christ, nor can man take away that without God's leave.  All thou hast is insured; and though God hath not prom­ised thee immunity from suffering in this kind, yet he hath undertaken to bear thy loss, yea, to pay thee a hundredfold; and thou shalt not stay for it till another world.  Again, thou oughtest not to fear flesh. Our Saviour Matt. 10, thrice in the compass of six verses, commands us not to fear man.  If thy heart quail at him, how wilt thou behave thyself in the list against Satan, whose little finger is heavier than man's loins?  The Romans had weapons rebated or cudgels, which they were tried at before they came to the sharp.  If thou canst not bear a bruise in thy flesh from man’s cudgel and blunt weapon, what wilt thou do when thou shalt have Satan's sword in thy side? God counts himself reproached when his children fear a sorry man; therefore we are bid, Sanctify the Lord, and not to fear the fear.  Now if thou wouldst not fear man who is but flesh, labour [to do these two things],

1. Mortify thy own flesh.  Flesh only fears flesh; when the soul degenerates into carnal desires and delights, no wonder he falls into carnal fears.  Have a care, Christian, thou bringest not thyself into bond­age.  Perhaps thy heart feeds on the applause of men, this will make thee afraid to be evil spoken of, as those who shuffled with Christ, John 12:42; owning him in private when they durst not confess him open­ly, for they loved the praise of men.  David saith the mouth of the wicked is an open sepulchre; and in this grave hath many a saint's name been buried.  But if this fleshly desire were mortified, thou wouldst not pass to be judged by man; and so of all carnal af­fections.  Some meat you observe is aguish; if thou settest thy heart on anything that is carnal—wife, child, estate, &c.—these will incline thee to a base fear of man, who may be God's messenger to afflict thee in these.
2. Set faith against flesh.  Faith fixeth the heart, and a fixed heart is not readily afraid.  Physicians tell us we are never so subject to receive infection as when the spirits are low, and therefore the antidotes they give are all cordials.  When the spirit is low through unbelief, every threatening from man makes sad im­pression.  Let thy faith take but a deep draught of the promises, and thy courage will rise.

           Use Fourth.  Is man but flesh?  Comfort thyself, Christian, with this, that as thou art flesh, so thy heavenly Father knows it, and considers thee for it.

1. In point of affliction; Ps. 103:14, ‘He knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.’  Not like some unskilful empiric, who hath but one receipt for all, strong or weak, young or old; but as a wise physician considers his patient, and then writes his bill.  Men and devils are but God's apothecaries, they make not our physic, but give what God prescribes. Balaam loved Balak's fee well enough, but could not go an hair's breadth beyond God's commission. In­deed God is not so choice with the wicked; ‘Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him?’ Isa. 27:7.  In a saint’s cup the poison of affliction is cor­rected, not so in the wicked's; and therefore what is medicine to the one is ruin to the other.
2. In duty.  He knows you are but flesh, and therefore pities and accepts thy weak service, yea, he makes apologies for thee.  The spirit is willing, saith Christ, but the flesh is weak.
3. In temptations.  He considers thou art flesh and, and proportions the temptations to so weak a nature.  It is called such a temptation as is common to man; a moderate temptation, as in the margin, fit­ted for so frail a creature.  Whenever the Christian begins to faint under the weight of it, God makes as much haste to his succour, as a tender mother would to her swooning child; there­fore he is said to be nigh, to revive such, lest their spirit should fail.