Allowing God’s Light to Expose the Good Aspects of our Flesh and Not Rebelling against God

We may agree with God to put to death the ugly and evil aspects of our flesh, but we may treasure the good aspects of our flesh and spare them, not wanting to destroy them, but God wants to utterly destroy the flesh; even our doing good according to our own will is an act of rebellion against God’s throne and His economy. Oh, Lord Jesus!

There are so many lessons we can learn from Saul’s life and especially his failure in 1 Sam. 15.

It seems that he had a great victory against the Amalekites, for he overcame them and destroyed everything except the best of sheep, oxen, and cattle (to offer to God!) and also the king of the Amalekites.

But to God, it matters more whether we obey His word and listen to His voice than us offering Him a sacrifice from the best that we have and can offer.

The flesh, typified by Amalek, is an enemy of God and also our enemy, for the flesh rises up to frustrate us and hinder us from loving the Lord and fulfilling His purpose.

The flesh is very subtle; many times we are wondering whether this very good thing that we are doing, is it of the Lord or is it us doing it for Him, without His presence and leading.

We may be involved in something very good in our own eyes and according to others, but the Lord did not initiate it, and He is not with us.

Some people may preach the gospel out of envy and personal desire to make a name for themselves; they may even set up churches for the Lord, but it is all done in the flesh.

Our ambition, our pride, and our sense of competing with others, all are part of the many manifestations of the flesh.

The flesh doesn’t have only an ugly, evil, and hateful side; the flesh has a “spiritual” side, a “religious” side, a side that wants to please God (though it can never please God) and desires to do things for God. Oh, Lord Jesus!

When the Lord has mercy on us and shines on us to expose the flesh, we simply need to contact Him again and again, praying unceasingly, even joining ourselves to the interceding Christ, so that the fighting Spirit within would put the flesh to death.

We cannot defeat the flesh, nor are we willing to do it; however, when we exercise our spirit, when we contact the Lord through prayer and say Amen to His verdict on the flesh, the fighting Spirit (typified by Joshua fighting the battle against Amalek) defeats the flesh and destroys it.

As the Lord exposes aspect after aspect of our flesh, may we turn to our spirit and allow the Spirit with the effectiveness of the killing power to be applied to the flesh.

Hallelujah, the fact is that Christ has crucified the old man on the cross, and we agree with this fact; even more, in our experience, we exercise our spirit and apply the Spirit, and the indwelling, fighting Spirit executes the killing power on the flesh.

The result is that we live in spirit and according to the Spirit, and the flesh is put to death.

Not Treasuring the Good Aspects of our Flesh but being one with God to be Absolute in Destroying the Flesh

In 1 Sam. 15:3-9 God commanded Saul to “strike the Amalekites” and to “utterly destroy all that they have” and not to spare them; however, Saul did not obey God’s command.

Rather, he killed the Amalekites, but he spared Agag the king and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good (vv. 7-9).

The fact that Saul and the people spared the best part of the things they should have utterly destroyed portrays that, in our experience, we treasure the good aspects of our flesh, our natural life, and we don’t really want to destroy them.

It is easy to recognize the ugly things of the flesh, to corrupted and corrupting parts of the flesh; we reject such things, and we condemn them.

But what about the good aspects of our flesh? What about our love, our kindness, our humility, our zeal for God’s work, and our ability to serve God?

They all can be in the realm of the flesh, and we may view them as something good, something we should keep, even as Saul did.

Saul kept the best of the sheep, the oxen, and the other things, under the cloak or pretense of offering them as sacrifices to God. Isn’t this good?

Many times some saints may say, I give myself to the Lord to move here, to do this for God, to go preach the gospel, to read the Bible, to do this and that.

Such a thing is honourable, but is our consecrating ourselves in the flesh or is it initiated of the Lord and in spirit?

Is our sacrificing ourselves, our time, our energy, and our zeal in the flesh, or is it the Lord who operates in us?

This is not so easy to discern, because many times there are some needs in the church or in the work, and we seem to have a certain ability and feeling to respond to it, and we jump on it without any kind of consideration before the Lord or coordination with the saints.

We may not check with the Lord whether something good we do is of Him or is it of the flesh.

Amalek and the children of Israel were cousins; they were relatives, very close to one another.

Many times we cannot differentiate that readily between the good aspects of our flesh and the Lord’s doing in us.

Simply sacrificing something for the Lord’s sake doesn’t mean it is of Him. Whatever we do apart from God’s grace and apart from depending on Him and trusting in Him is of the flesh (see Phil. 3:3-4).

If we do things not in oneness with the Lord, not depending on Him, this is the flesh, even the good aspects of our flesh.

We may arrive at a point where we know how to preach the gospel, how to conduct a meeting, how to shepherd the saints, and how to speak in such a way to touch people’s hearts; and this all may be in the flesh, being the good aspects of our flesh, which we are not willing to destroy.

We may be able to do this and that for the Lord without contacting Him and needing Him; we may be confident in doing what we do, for we have done it so many times that we can just take care of it.

And at the end of it, we make a monument for ourselves, like Saul did, for we worked so hard for the Lord.

It’s not that hard to recognize and condemn the negative parts of the flesh, but it is not that easy to see the good aspects of our flesh and condemn them, judge them, and repudiate them.

Whenever we do something apart from enjoying the Lord, whenever we do something for God without depending on Him or trusting in Him, we spontaneously are in the flesh.

Every aspect of the flesh – whether good or evil, positive or negative – is in opposition to the grace of God’s kingdom and keeps us from enjoying Christ; therefore, we must hate every aspect of the flesh and be absolute in destroying the flesh (Rom. 8:13; Gal. 3:3; 5:2-4).

We may read the Bible in the flesh; we may pray in the flesh; we may preach the gospel in the flesh. Wow.

Paul said in Philippians that, while he was in bonds and suffered, some preached the gospel out of rivalry, and some announced Christ out of selfish ambition.

They preached the gospel, such a good thing to do for God, but it was out of selfish ambitions.

The end does not justify the means; if we act altogether in the flesh, no matter what we do, that’s enmity with God.

God didn’t want Saul to use the best of the cattle as a sacrifice to Him (1 Sam. 15:15); anything presented and sacrificed to God that has its source in the flesh is evil in His sight (v. 19). Oh, Lord!

To offer something to God according to our own will is presumptuous and is sinful (Gen. 4:5; Matt. 7:22-23).

Cain presumed that God wanted the fruit of his labor, so he invented religion by not following God’s way of worshipping God through the shedding of blood but offering Him the best of the produce of the land. Oh, Lord!

On that day, in the day of the judgment, many will tell the Lord, Lord, Lord, didn’t I do this and that in Your name? Didn’t I do that for You?

And the Lord will tell them plainly, I never know you; whatever good work you thought you did for Me, I never approved of it, for it was done in the flesh, not by depending on Me – you simply behaved in your flesh and according to the flesh.

May we never be in such a situation before the Son of Man on that day.

May we have the Lord’s mercy to deal even with the good aspects of our flesh by agreeing with Him to destroy the flesh and live only in the spirit, depending on the Lord and trusting in Him.

Lord Jesus, keep us enjoying You and depending on You in everything we do. Save us from trusting in our ability to do things for You. Save us from trying to do good or do things for You without enjoying Christ and apart from trusting in God. Oh Lord, shine on us and expose the good aspects of our flesh; we want to be absolute in destroying the flesh so that we may walk in the spirit and live in spirit! Amen, Lord, save us from offering things to God according to our will and not according to His desire and way. Save us from treasuring and preserving the good aspects of our flesh. Strengthen us into our inner man, dear Lord, and keep us contacting You in spirit so that we may be one with You to put the flesh to death in all its aspects. May we be persons in spirit who walk according to the spirit, depending on the Lord, and doing all things by trusting in Him and not in the flesh.

Disobedience to God’s Word is Rebellion against God, which is as Evil as the worship of idols

God was not just upset with Saul’s disobedience; He spoke through Samuel to say that God doesn’t delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as He delights in our obedience, and our disobedience is rebellion against God, something that is as evil as the worship of idols (1 Sam. 15:22-23).

This shows that doing good according to our own will is actually an act of rebellion against God’s throne and His economy (1 Sam. 15:22-23; Exo. 17:16).

This is really serious, and it is a great lesson we need to learn in our Christian life and service to God; this is something we need to bring to the Lord so that He would imprint this principle in our being.

It is only when the Spirit speaks this into our being that we really have it.

In Christianity today it is easier for Christian workers to start up a church than for people in the world to start a restaurant; there are more licences and certifications that a person has to have to have a restaurant than to set up a church.

To start a church is so easy – you can simply rent a place, set up some chairs, and get some people to come, and you can run your own church.

And in this internet age, you can just have a camera and a nice background, and you can start your own “ministry” and “do something for God”.

It is so convenient and easy. But do we consider what is the source? Is the Spirit the source for all these things? Or do we base our service on the response from others and the need that we perceive?

We may have a lot of people responding to our ministry, and many seem to be helped by it, so we go ahead and do it; we may not check with the Lord nor do we depend on Him, and we may treasure the good aspects of our flesh as we do it.

We need the Lord’s light to shine on our flesh; no one can tell us – no one can come to us and tell us that we’re in the flesh as we do this or that for God.

It is only the Spirit who can shine and expose the flesh in all its manifestations. We don’t want to be ignorant about this, because it is too serious a matter.

Doing good, especially according to our own will, is an act of rebellion against God.

Saul’s disobedience exposed him as being a rebel against God and an enemy of God (1 Sam. 22:17); he was utterly rebellious against God, having no subordination to God and not taking God as his King and Head.

And when Samuel came to confront him, Saul seemed to apologize to Samuel, but it was not genuine; rather, Saul asked Samuel if he can go with him to worship his God, for Jehovah was Samuel’s God, not Saul’s God.

Saul was doing something for someone else’s God; he was actually in rebellion against God, carrying out what he thought it was necessary to be done, according to his way.

Saul was constituted with rebellion, which is as evil as the worship of idols (1 Sam. 15:23). Wow. When we are rebellious against God, this is as evil as the worship of idols.

We need to be constituted with the truth and filled with the divine life, not with rebellion.

Our constitution is something automatic, spontaneous, something that is built up over time.

We don’t determine to rebel; our constitution causes us to rebel.

Even when we act in a nice way, our constitution may still be one of rebellion, which is as evil as the worship of idols.

God doesn’t delight in sacrifices and burnt offerings – He delights in obedience to His word.

Rebellion is like the sin of divination, witchcraft, and insubordination is like idolatry and teraphim. Oh, Lord Jesus!

Saul seemed to have repented to Samuel, but it was just a quick apology to save face, not like David, who apologized from the depths of his being.

What Saul did was as evil as contacting an evil spirit for the purpose of carrying out the intention of that spirit, not God’s intention.

Our rebellion causes us to be in contact with demons. If we look at our history in the church life, when there are turmoils with so many opinions and fiery darts, what the opposers say is not logical.

How can our brothers and sisters who serve together with us, say certain things with such hatred and poison, and how can they speak with such boldness such evil things against the brothers and sisters? Oh, Lord.

Whenever someone rebels, he is in touch with demons, and the demons energize them; they are able to say, speak, write, and even do great things, being energized by the evil one.

They used to be so quiet and pleasant, but suddenly they are so vocal and with a great capacity to say and write things. Oh, Lord Jesus.

When we are disobedient to God’s charge, we open the door for idolatry and for demons to come in. All rebellion is a matter of presumption, a matter of daring to do things without God.

Presumption is an unwarranted, unbecoming, or impertinent boldness; it is not just assuming something but a kind of boldness that is impertinent and unwarranted. Oh, Lord.

May the Lord shine on us in these matters, and may the Spirit speak to us much more than these words can; may we open to His light so that we have many conversations with Him and many dealing with Him concerning the matter of disobeying God’s charge, which leads to idolatry.

May we open to the Lord in prayer and allow Him to shine and expose rebellion in us.

Lord Jesus, we love You. We depend on You. We want to do nothing apart from You. Save us from doing things for You without being one with You. Save us from being rebellious against God by disobeying God’s charge. Save us from doing things for God without God telling us to do them. Save us from compromising in dealing with the flesh, especially in dealing with the good aspects of our flesh. We take You as our King, our Lord, our Head, and our Husband, and we submit ourselves to You. Oh Lord, shine on us and expose what we are in the flesh. We do not want to be constituted with rebellion against God, which is as evil as idol worship; we want to be filled with God’s life and constituted with the truth. Fill our being with Yourself. Expose and eliminate any ground of the enemy. Oh, Lord, we give ourselves to You for Your purpose today!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee, and portions from, Life-study of 1&2 Samuel (pp. 73-75), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of 1 and 2 Samuel (2021 winter training), week 5, entitled, War with the Amalekites.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Remove my covering, Lord, / That I may see Thy light, / And be deceived no more, / But all things see aright. / Oh, may Thy living light, Lord, / Scatter all my night, Lord, / And everything make bright, Lord, / For this I pray to Thee. (Hymns #426)
  – Minding just the spirit, we the cross will know, / And His resurrection pow’r thru us will flow; / Minding just the spirit, Christ will live thru me, / And His life within will reach maturity. (Hymns #593)
  – By the cross discern the spirit; / Passing thru the riven veil, / Flesh and soul are wholly broken, / And the spirit doth prevail. / By the cross discern the spirit, / ’Tis the holiest place divine; / There commune with God in spirit / And His presence will be thine. (Hymns #748)