Being Careful in our Living: Do Not Indulge the Flesh but Walk According to the Spirit!

As believers in Christ, we need to be careful in our living that we would not indulge the flesh but those walking according to the spirit.

We need to see Solomon’s failures under the light of the spiritual life; he became a man of wisdom and a man of understanding because of the God-given gift of wisdom, but because of his unbridled indulgence in sex, he became very foolish and brought in damage to his kingdom.

Such a great king had such a great fall to the extent that ninety per cent of his kingdom was taken and only one tribe remained to his descendants. Oh, Lord Jesus!

This week we come to week 5 in the crystallization study of 1 and 2 Kings, and the title is, Natural Ability versus the Resurrected Ability of the Maturity of Life for the Building up of the Church as the Organic Body of Christ.

Such a word is very timely and necessary because one of the main things that we lack today in the church life is maturity in life and living and serving according to the resurrected ability, not the natural ability.

One of the most damaging factors in the church life is not merely the outward persecution or opinions in the church life but the natural life, the natural man, the natural being.

What is still part of our old creation and is in the process of being renewed to become one, when this is expressed and manifested, it damages the church.

The matter of the natural man must be touched not in an easygoing way or in a light way; we need to see its seriousness and hatefulness.

God hates the natural man and wants to do away with it; He wants us to be absolute in dealing with the natural man.

Yes, the Lord’s recovery is today advancing and we thank Him that He is raising up new churches and many saints to live the church life under the light of God’s eternal economy.

But need to be aware of the natural man and its manifestation.

We need to beware of indulging in lusts and of living according to the flesh, manifesting the flesh, and expressing the flesh, especially in our service to God.

May the Lord be merciful to us to shine His divine light on us and on our service to Him so that we would deal with our natural man in a thorough way.

If we don’t deal with the natural man thoroughly, one with God, it will crop up, just as in the case of Solomon.

Solomon loved God even from when he was young; he had such a good prayer that God would give him wisdom, and he built the temple of God in its glory.

His prayer at the dedication of the temple was an amazing prayer, one that we still learn from today.

As genuine as he was in loving the Lord and praying to receive wisdom, and in his building up the temple for God’s glory to descend upon it, Solomon did not bridle his lust in flesh and amassed seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.

This led to his downfall, for in his old age he worshipped the gods of his wife and built them temples and altars all around the country. Oh, Lord Jesus!

May we heed the warning that we see with the failures of Solomon and may the Lord grant us His mercy that we deal with the natural man in a thorough way so that we would be and continue to be useful in His hands for the fulfilment of His purpose.

Though Solomon was a Man of Wisdom and Understanding, He became Foolish and brought in Damage to his Kingdom because of His Indulgence in Lust

The Bible shows us that Solomon became a man of wisdom and a man of understanding (2 Chron. 1:10; cf. Col. 2:2-3).

However, because he took many pagan women and worshipped their idols and built places for the people to worship idols, he lost his God-given wisdom and his God-given understanding; he became very foolish and brought in damage to his kingdom (1 Kings 3:1; 11:1-8).

We need to deal with our flesh in its desire to indulge in the lust and in sex, and we also need to deal with any idolatry and ambition and pride.

Solomon received wisdom from God, and the whole world was before him, appreciating him and bringing him tribute; this was from God.

But while he possessed this great wisdom and understanding, Solomon did not have a proper spirituality and a life with God, and he did not have any growth and maturity in life.

He was a man of great gift and wisdom but not a man of life.

Solomon’s father David, a man according to God’s heart, failed in the same gross and ugly sin of indulging his lust (2 Sam. 11).

Solomon’s failure in this satanic temptation was much greater than his father’s. His fall was in his indulging his lust by loving many foreign women (1 Kings 11:1-3), in his forsaking God, who appeared to him twice (v. 9b), and in his worshipping the Gentile idols through the seducing by the foreign women whom he loved (vv. 4-8).

When he was a child, Solomon loved Jehovah; while we cannot say that later on he totally turned away from God, his love was not even close to perfect.

He didn’t fully follow Jehovah as his father did; his indulging his lust was not just by amassing many wives but also by living them.

God warned His people to not be joined to foreign women, for they will turn their hearts toward their idols.

We need to realize that there’s no fellowship between light and darkness. There is no concord between believers and unbelievers.

One small compromise in this opens the way for serious temptation.

We shouldn’t think we’re stronger or better than Solomon; we have the same flesh, the same lusts in our flesh.

Even if we love God, unless we love Him to the uttermost, the flesh can bring us away from God if we indulge in it.

We need to not indulge the flesh with its lusts. In the New Testament, we see Dimas, who was a good co-worker of Paul’s, but he was mentioned in one of his last epistles that he left Paul because of loving the present age.

One may even be a co-worker with Paul in the furtherance of the gospel, but if they love the present age, they can forsake the Lord and His people.

If we do not love the Lord absolutely and we don’t grow in life unto maturity, yet we indulge the flesh even a little, we may love many other things, and these will take us away from the ministry, from the Lord, and from God’s people.

Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines; in order to satisfy their desires, he built up high places.

His wives turned his heart after other gods, and Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable thing of the Ammonites. This is so sad to see.

If our heart is not fully loving the Lord, if we indulge the flesh, our heart may love the Lord less and love other things more, and we may end up in idolatry and away from the Lord.

Solomon built a high place to Chemosh the detestable thing of Moab in the mountain that is before Jerusalem and to Molech the detestable thing of the children of Ammon (2 Kings 11:7).

During the reign of Solomon, the temple was built in Jerusalem, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple; the age of the building of the temple was a golden time in the history of the children of Israel (8:10-11).

After the temple was built, the glory of God filled the temple.

The unique place, Jerusalem, signifies oneness, whereas the high places signify division.

Just as all manner of evil and abominable things were related to the setting up of the high places, so in New Testament terms, all manner of evil is related to division (see 1 Cor. 1:10 and footnote 3 in the RcV Bible).

It is remarkable to see that Solomon, the very one who had built the temple according to God’s desire on the ground of the oneness of God’s people, also took the lead to build up the high places once again (1 Kings 11:6-8).

The same hands and brains that were so useful in building the temple of God also built the high place.

The same person, Solomon, who did such a great thing for God, also built up the high places and led Israel into idolatry.

We need to be warned concerning this. As we look around in Christianity, this is what we see: with the same mouth one praises God and also speaks evil things, and with the same hands they do their best to build the house of God and also bring others into division and idolatry.

We ourselves may help build up the church and at the same time, we may be building up the high places and be led into idolatry and division. Oh, Lord Jesus!

Because of Solomon’s fall, his descendants lost more than ninety per cent of their kingdom and caused the people of God’s elect to suffer division and confusion among themselves throughout many generations.

Eventually, they lost the God-given land and became captives in the foreign lands of idol worship.

The nation of Israel is still suffering because of Solomon’s failure; what a warning and an alarm this should be to us!

We must be careful, for even a little indulgence in lust can damage the church life and kill the splendid aspects of the church life. We need to be before the Lord concerning our daily life and tell the Lord,

Lord Jesus, we love You. Cause us to love You to the uttermost. Save us from loving You with some of our heart. Keep our heart turned to You. Grow in us, Lord, until we reach maturity in life. May we focus not on the outward gifts but on the growth in the divine life. Save us from indulging the flesh with its lusts. Save us from not being careful concerning our living in the flesh and sowing unto the flesh. May we be men after the heart of God who focus on the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. May we be those who reject any high places and any idolatry. Lord, keep us in our mingled spirit, living in spirit and walking according to the spirit so that we may no longer fulfil the lusts of the flesh!

Being Careful in our Living: Do Not Indulge the Flesh but Walk According to the Spirit!

As believers in Christ, we need to not only enjoy the Lord in His word and take in the guileless milk of the word but also heed the warnings in the word of God.

As we read the record of the life of Solomon, a man full of wisdom and understanding, one who was blessed by God and who built the temple of God in its splendour, yet one who indulged the flesh in its lusts, we need to beware.

We must be careful in our living and walk with the Lord.

Even in the smallest thing, we need to exercise our spirit and turn our heart to the Lord. We should walk according to the spirit in everything (Rom. 8:4; Zech. 4:8-10).

God’s people should live together with God, always relying on Him and being one with Him (Josh. 9:14; 2 Cor. 6:1a; 1 Cor. 3:9; Matt. 1:23).

The story of Solomon should be a warning to us, convicting us and exposing us in our daily walk and living before the Lord.

Everything we do and say is a sowing of a seed; these seeds grow and develop, and they will bear fruit.

We need to walk according to the spirit in everything. If we see what the flesh is, if we realize that in ourselves we cannot overcome the flesh, we will flee to our spirit.

We should not try to overcome the youthful lusts but flee them and pursue Christ together with those who call on Him out of a pure heart (2 Tim. 2:22).

Just like Joseph did in Egypt, we need to flee youthful lusts and co-live with God, always relying on Him and being one with Him.

Every moment we need to depend on the Lord.

It only takes a moment to be seduced. It only takes one little failure in indulging the flesh, and we can lose the great and excellent aspects of Christ we enjoy in the church life.

May we be one with Him and may we learn to walk according to our spirit.

Solomon’s decease was in gloomy disappointment (1 Kings 11:41-43); his glory fell off like the flower of grass (Matt. 6:29; 1 Pet. 1:24), and his splendid career became “vanity of vanities,” as he had preached (Eccl. 1:2).

He was so smart, so intelligent, and so wise, humanly speaking, but he lacked the growth in life and his spiritual life with the Lord lacked very much.

We must see Solomon’s failure under the light of the spiritual life.

Solomon’s history indicates that God’s dealing with His people is very strict and very detailed.

We shouldn’t forget that, in everything we do and say, we are sowing seeds, and even a little negligence will produce a result.

We need to learn to fear God for, though He is loving, kind, full of grace, and full of forgiveness, He is also a righteous God, and He is righteous in a detailed way.

If we don’t cooperate with God but indulge the flesh, if we don’t walk according to the spirit but are negligent in living in the flesh, Christ cannot make His home in our hearts.

We need to learn the lesson of not speaking a wrong word or an idle word; we need to learn to be careful even in the small things.

We are kings, reigning with Christ, and our intentions, desires, characters, habits, and behaviour affect our enjoyment of Christ.

If we indulge the flesh even a little bit, we may be cut off from the enjoyment of Christ. Oh, Lord Jesus!

May we be careful and walk according to the spirit in everything, so that the flesh may be starved and we would not fulfil its lusts.

Our enjoyment of Christ today may be so high, so rich, and so sweet, but even a little indulgence in flesh and especially in sex can cut us off from the enjoyment of Christ and can damage the church and kill the splendid aspects of the church life.

The story of Solomon is a warning to us, an alarm to our Christian life and living, for even a little failure in the indulgence of lust can damage the church and kill the splendid aspects of the church life.

Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to love You to the uttermost and to live according to the spirit. May our daily living be in spirit and according to the spirit. Save us from having a little indulgence of the flesh today. Keep us in the enjoyment of Christ, even the top enjoyment of Christ in the church life with all the saints. We want to flee youthful lusts and pursue Christ with all those who love and seek Him out of a pure heart! Amen, Lord, we treasure the top enjoyment of Christ and we treasure the church life. We want to be careful in our daily living, not being negligent even a little when it comes to indulging in the lusts of the flesh. May we realize that we are kings, reigning with Christ, and may we be before You concerning our intentions, desires, character, habits, and behavior. Oh Lord, may we remain close to You, even co-live with You, as we walk according to the spirit, so that we may remain in the enjoyment of Christ in the splendid church life today!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chen in the message, and portions from, Life-study of 1&2 Kings, msgs. 3-4, 7, 18-23 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings (2022 summer training), week 5, entitled, Natural Ability versus the Resurrected Ability of the Maturity of Life for the Building up of the Church as the Organic Body of Christ.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Through the Cross, O Lord, I pray, / Put my soul-life all away; / Make me any price to pay, / Full anointing to receive. (Hymns #279, chorus)
  – If therefore anyone cleanses himself from these, / He will be a vessel unto honor sanctified, / Useful to the master, / Prepared unto every good work, unto every good work. / A vessel unto honor, sanctified, useful to the master. / But flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, / Faith, love, peace with those who / Call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (Scripture song)
  – O Lord, Thou art the Spirit now / Who in my spirit makes His home; / He mingles with my spirit too, / And both one spirit thus become. / Lord, teach me how to exercise / My spirit now to contact Thee, / That in Thy Spirit I may walk / And live by Thy reality. (Hymns #493, stanzas 4-5)