Who Is Leading Your Life?
gtcotr/ws043003
Key Scripture: Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Something will be your guide
Something will be your governor
Something will be your god
Who or What is leading you?
Man was initially created in God’s likeness and image.
Genesis 2:7 God formed man of the dust of the ground, breathed into his body the breath of life and man became a living soul.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 ¶ And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When man rebelled against God and sinned, death entered in and now man is born, not of the spirit but of the flesh - born mortal - born to die.
The fleshly nature is prone to sin and serve the god and appetites of this present world.
Jesus paid for sin and made a way for man to be born again of the spirit of God.
Salvation gives new eternal life and sanctification to the spirit - We Are Saved.
Salvation allows a renewing process of sanctification of the soul - We Are Being Saved.
Salvation provides for a new body upon glorification with Christ - We Will Be Saved.
Romans 7 & 8
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body (soma) of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh (Sarx) the law of sin.
1 ¶ There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh (Sarx), but after the Spirit (Pneuma).
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
You Are A Triune Being
Who have you placed in control of your life?
I. The Carnal Man
Sarkikos
The Flesh
* Romans 8:
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
1 Corinthians 3:1-3
2 Corinthians 1:12
* 1 Peter 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
A. Lust
* 1 John 2:
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
* James 1:13-15 tempted - drawn away of his own lust and enticed -
* Mark 4:18 sown among thorns - cares - deceitfulness - lust of other things
1. Self Love
2. Self Worship
3. Selfish
4. The god of self
* it’s all about me
* The flesh attempts to justify & validate itself by good works
* Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
B. Fear
* Isaiah 54:14-15 thou shalt not fear
* Luke 8:50 fear not, only believe and you shall be made whole
* Romans 8:15 you have not received the spirit of fear again unto bondage
* 1 John 4:18 fear has torment - perfect love casts out fear
* Psalms 27:1 The Lord is my Light … whom shall I fear? … afraid?
C. Darkness
1. Sin
* Hebrews 11:25 “… the pleasures of sin for a season.”
2. Evil
3. Wickedness
4. Uncleanness
* The results of a life lived in and led by the Carnal Man is revealed in Galatians 5:19-21
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
II. The Natural Man
Psuchikos
The Soul Man
* 1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
* 1 Corinthians 15
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural (Psuchikos) body (Soma); it is raised a spiritual (pneumatikos) body (Soma). There is a natural (Psuchikos) body (Soma), and there is a spiritual (Pneumatikos) body (Soma).
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul (Psuche); the last Adam was made a quickening spirit (Pneuma).
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
A. The Makeup Of The Soul
1. The Mind
* Thoughts
* Knowledge
* Wisdom/Common Sense (James 3:15 sensual = psuchikos)
* Understanding
* Imagination
* Intellect
* Romans 8:7
* Romans 12:2
* Col 1:21
* Ephesians 2:3
* Ephesians 4:17
* 1 Peter 1:13
2. The Will
* Decisions
* Commitments
* Restraints
* Determination
* Purpose
* John 18:39 will ye that I release unto you
* 1 Corinthians 7:37 … he that hath power over his own will …
* 1 Peter 4:3 … the will of the heathen …
3. The Emotions
* Either fruits of the spirit
* Works of the flesh
Depending upon which man dominates & controls the soul
III. The Spiritual Man
Pneumatikos
The Spirit Man
Ephesians 3:16 The Inner Man
1 Peter 3:4 The Hidden Man of the Heart
* Romans 1:11
* 1 Corinthians 2:13-14
* 1 Corinthians 3:1
* 1 Corinthians 10:3
* 1 Corinthians 14:1 & 37
* 1 Corinthians 15:44-46
* Galatians 6:1
* 1 Peter 2:5
A. Light
* John 1:4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men.
* John 3:19-21
B. Life
* John 3:16 Everlasting Life
* John 6:48 The Bread of Life
* John 14:6 I Am The Life
* Romans 8:2 The Spirit of Life
C. Love
* 1 John 4:7-8 God is Love
By an act of your will, you decide who controls your life and future:
The Old Carnal Nature
motivated by lust, fear and darkness
The Intellectual Imaginations & Emotional Mandates
moved only by what you know or feel at that moment
The Spiritual Revelation
envisioned by eternal truth and godliness
Then the discipleship begins - we feed, support, defend and die for the one we choose.
Conclusion: Don’t be led by the flesh or the soul, but by the spirit.
* 2 Timothy 3:1-7
* Galatians 5:18
* Romans 8:14
