We will not enter the kingdom except we are born of the Spirit.

Gal 6:12  As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. 

Gal 6:13  For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. 

Things of the flesh will never save us. Anything we do will not save us.

Gal_2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Gal_3:3  Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

We live though we are crucified WITH Christ.

Christ LIVES IN US.

The LIFE we LIVE in the FLESH- we MUST LIVE BY FAITH - the FAITH of the SON OF GOD- who LOVES US, and GAVE Himself for us!

We CAN'T begin in the SPIRIT, and then think our flesh will perfect us in any way.

Remember this--

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

Joh 3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 

Jesus said we CANNOT enter the kingdom of God UNLESS we are born of the SPIRIT.

Once we are born of the Spirit, we've begun in the Spirit and must continue in the Spirit.  When we say we accept Jesus Christ, and truly do accept Him, through faith- then we are born of the Spirit, it is through the Spirit we are given this NEW LIFE IN CHRIST. Just as we are- we are given the new life through the Spirit of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We come to Him heavy laden with so much sin and we find forgiveness for ALL of that sin, in Him. We are cleansed from our filthiness in that moment. But then… one hour, one day, one week, one month goes by and those sins that so easily beset us fight for us return to them. Temptation doesn't disappear, and often it intensifies. Our flesh is carnal, our flesh is easily tempted and seduced into sin. We MUST live in the Spirit, through the Holy Spirit. We are born again of the Spirit. Christ lives in us. These are truths we can't let ourselves forget.  We didn't do ANYTHING of the flesh to be born again of the Spirit. And we CAN'T do anything to keep ourselves in Christ.  Yet, Satan will wind us up so tight in the belief that we just can't be good enough, we can't do enough good, we can't stop sinning, we'll never stop sinning and disappointing God, we will never obey Him - love Him and Others more than ourselves. Satan will shout these in our ears over and over again steering us away from the Spirit and enticing us to be consumed by the flesh.  Satan wants us to believe we must LIVE by the flesh, getting our flesh to behave. Satan does NOT want us to rely upon the Holy Spirit, he wants us to find any victory over sin in ourselves. He wants us to work at ridding ourselves of sin, and then to take glory in our victories. He wants us by the flesh to tame the flesh because when we do he can take the credit and deceive us.

Excerpt-  The Spiritual Man Pg 116

'Should a believer be so self-confident that he dares to complete the task of the Holy Spirit in the energy of the flesh, he will not come into full spiritual maturity. He will instead drift until the sins he previously had overcome return to him again in power. Do not be surprised by what is said here. It is a spiritual truism that wherever or whenever the flesh is serving God, there and then the power of sin is strengthened. Why did the proud Pharisees become slaves to sin? Was it not because they were too self-righteous and served God too zealously? Why did the apostle chide the Galatians? Why did they manifest the deeds of the flesh? Was it not because they sought to establish their own righteousness by works and to perfect by the flesh the work which the Holy Spirit had begun?

The hazard for young believers is to stop short of the putting to death of the power of the flesh in doing good by only knowing what the cross does for the sinful side of the flesh. In so doing they retreat again into the sins of the flesh. The greatest blunder Christians commit upon experiencing victory over sin lies in not using the way of victory to sustain it; instead they try to perpetuate the victory by their works and determination. It may perhaps succeed for a while. Before long though they shall find

Pg  117

themselves sliding back into their former sins, which may differ in form but not in essence. They then either slump into despair by concluding that constant and persistent triumph is impossible to achieve or they try to camouflage their sins without honestly confessing that they have sinned. Now what is it that causes such failure? Just as the flesh gives you strength to do righteously so it also gives you the power to sin. Whether good acts or evil, all are but the expressions of the same flesh. If the flesh is not furnished  opportunity to sin, it is willing to do good; and if once the opportunity to perform good is provided, the flesh will soon revert to sin.

 Here Satan deceives God’s children. If believers would habitually maintain the attitude of the flesh being crucified Satan could have no chance; for “the flesh is Satan’s workshop.” if the flesh in whole, not just in part, is truly under the power of the death of the Lord, Satan will be totally dis-employed.

He is consequently willing to allow the sinful part of our flesh to be offered unto death if he may only deceive us into retaining the good part.

Satan is quite aware that should the good side remain intact the life of the flesh will continue to be kept alive. He still has a base from which to operate to recover that side which he has lost. He knows very well that the flesh could win and regain its victory in the realm of sin if the flesh succeeded in squeezing the Holy Spirit out in the matter of serving God. This explains why many Christians fall back into the service of sin after they have been set free. Should the spirit not actually be in complete and continuous control in the matter of worship, it will be unable to maintain dominion in daily life. If I have not yet entirely denied myself before God I cannot deny myself before men, and therefore I cannot overcome my hatred, temper and selfishness. These two are inseparable.

Through ignorance of this truth, the believers at Galatia fell into “biting and devouring one another” (Gal. 5.15). They attempted to perfect by the flesh what had been begun by the Holy Spirit, for they desired “to make a good showing in the flesh” in order that “they might glory in (their) flesh”

Pg 118

-(Gal. 6.12,13). Naturally their successes were very scanty in performing good by the flesh, while their failures in overcoming evil became quite numerous. Little did they realize that as long as they would serve God with their strength and ideas they doubtlessly would serve sin in the flesh. If they did not forbid the flesh to do good they could not prevent it from doing evil. The best way to keep from sinning is not to do any good by one’s self. Being unconscious of the utter corruption of the flesh, the Galatian believers in their foolishness wished to make use of it, not recognizing that the same corruption marked the flesh in boasting of doing good as in following lust. They could not do what God wanted them to do because on the one hand they tried to accomplish what the Holy Spirit had begun and on the other they vainly attempted to rid themselves of the passion and lust of the flesh. '