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  THE UNREGENERATED MAN AND THE FLESH
  by Watchman Nee
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Summary: The sermon emphasizes the sinful nature of man's flesh, which
cannot fulfill the law and leads to death, and contrasts it with the
regenerated who walk according to the spirit.

Topics: "Regeneration", "Human Nature"

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DESCRIPTION
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Watchman Nee discusses the nature of man as unregenerated and bound by
the flesh, emphasizing that humanity is inherently filled with lust and
evil thoughts due to the fall of Adam. He explains that being 'in the
flesh' leads to enmity against God and ultimately results in death, as
those who live according to the flesh cannot fulfill the law or please
God. Nee highlights the necessity of regeneration through the Spirit,
which allows believers to overcome the desires of the flesh and live
according to God's will. He warns that those who remain unregenerated
are debtors to the flesh and will face spiritual death. The sermon calls
for a recognition of the need for transformation through Christ to
escape the bondage of the flesh.

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CONTENT
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Man was born of the flesh. This means that he was born of the will of
man. Hence, man is flesh (John 3:6). To say that man is flesh means that
man is filled inwardly with the lusts and the things of the flesh. All
day long, his thoughts are filled with evil. Man has nothing besides the
flesh. This is why man is called flesh (Gen. 6:3). This means that he is
a living composition of lust. Since man is flesh, he behaves "in the
lusts of [his] flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the
thoughts" (Eph. 2:3). Because of the utter filth of the "different
flesh" (Jude 7) and the defiled flesh (v. 8), Jude charged the believers
to hate "even the inner garment spotted from the flesh" (v. 23).

Because of the sin of Adam, man's flesh cannot fulfill the requirement
of the law (Rom. 8:3).

Moreover, man is according to flesh and he minds the things of the
flesh. As a result, he ends up in death (vv. 5-6). "Because the mind set
on the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of
God, for neither can it be" (v. 7). The minding of the flesh comes from
being according to the flesh. Those who are according to the flesh are
the unregenerated ones. Those who are regenerated will not walk
according to flesh but will walk according to the spirit (v. 4).
Furthermore, those who "live according to the flesh..must die" (v. 13).
They live according to flesh because they have not accepted the
condemnation of sin in the flesh through the Son of God becoming the sin
offering in the likeness of the flesh of sin (v. 3).

This is why they are "debtors...to the flesh to live according to the
flesh" (v. 12). "For when we were in the flesh, the passions for sins,
which acted through the law, operated in our members to bear fruit to
death" (7:5). Hence, "those who are in the flesh cannot please God"
(8:8).

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/watchman-nee/the-unregenerated-man-and-the-flesh/
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