Gtcotr/ws082708
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Recap of Part One – The Fall
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
1. Man was created Spirit, Soul and Body, a triune being like God and in God’s image.
Genesis 2:15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
2. Man was placed in the Garden and warned that there was something he needed to be on guard against, something that wanted his garden.
3. In Genesis 3 Eve was tempted. She listened to the wrong voice and made the wrong choice. Adam then listened to Eve instead of listening to what God had said which was catalogued in his heart and his head. He listened to the wrong voice and he made the wrong choice.
4. Man fell from grace and lost rights to eternal life. The flesh was born and now man could live and give life to things that were not born of God.
5. Where man had once been a triune being, Spirit, Soul and Body, he now had died to the spirit and in its place had brought birth to a fourth man, the flesh man. Adam and Eve had in effect been born again … born again from life unto death.
1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening, (life giving), spirit.
6. The only remedy for man was a spiritual rebirth. So God sent His only Son, Jesus, but not the same way He sent Adam.
In part one of this series we established the fall of man and the birth of this fourth man called the flesh man, or ‘sarkikos’ as it is translated from the Greek. Now remember, the flesh we are talking about is not the body but rather the spirit of death which gives limited mortal life to all man born after the fall of Adam and Eve. This spirit of death wants to reign over everyone. Even after a person is born again, the flesh continues to wrestle with the new spirit of the life of God in man trying to regain control.
Just because the spirit of death can no longer lay claim to your soul and body for eternity after you die, does not mean that the spirit of death does not still want to lay claim to your soul and body in this life. The spirit of death is a nasty and selfish, evil and deceiving spirit.
At any rate, we established the fall of man and for more information on that you can access the archived messages at churchonline.tv or through our website at cotr.com. Now, let’s get to the recovery.
The Recovery
We concluded part one with:
Galatians 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
The Spiritual rebirth of man is designed to produce a walk with God while we live on planet earth and not just an appointment with God after we leave planet earth.
This walk with God, being led by the Spirit, is a daily walk weeding through the voices which speak to us, listening for and discerning which voice is the voice of the Spirit of the Life of God directing us to do God’s will.
Being led by the Spirit can be as simple as not falling for those other voices which masquerade as the voice of God through reason, logic, emotion or some other avenue, attempting to deceive us and lead us astray. Once we understand where the pressure is coming from to make a decision, give voice to an opinion, act on an impulse or champion a cause, we can usually determine if the pressure is God.
For example: Imagine that you hear a sermon at church about prayer and are challenged to rise early and pray for 30 minutes for the next seven days. Let’s say that you make that commitment.
Well the next morning, or perhaps by the third morning anyway, you will begin to hear competitive voices as to whether or not you should get up and spend that whole time praying. These voices could come to you with reason, logic, emotion, sharing physical concerns, telling you that there is just not that much to pray about, offering alternatives to the commitment such as praying at a more convenient time of the day or for a shorter period of time, etc. All of these voices create pressure on you to make a decision favorable to them.
Some people experience this after they make a commitment to attend Sunday School, volunteer to help in Children’s Church or make a decision to financially support the vision. Voices ... competitive voices … where do they come from? Glad you asked!
Hey, did you hear about the woman who wanted to lose some weight? After several visits with a counselor she told a friend that she knew that somewhere inside of her was a 125 pound woman screaming to get out … but … she could usually shut her up with a cookie!
Sad to say but that’s the truth. We can usually shut up any voice we want to, even when that voice is the Spirit of God speaking to us. However, for the purposes of recovery, let’s suppose that we don’t want to shut down the voice of the Spirit, but rather just need to know which one of these voices in our head is God. What do we do?
It always best to become familiar with which voice is which. In other words, learn to discern and recognize where the voice is most likely coming from by the way it speaks, what it speaks about and its particular goals. This may require some soul searching. Examples:
The Voice of the Soul
The soul is the seat of the mind, will and emotions. The mind is quick to offer reasonable and logical arguments by putting two and two together and coming up with whatever supports our beliefs. The pattern of the mind is to look for things which validate our belief system. This is one reason why we say ‘love is blind’. There is even a song about … “When you love someone, you’ll do anything, you’ll do all the crazy things that you can’t explain … you’ll deny the truth, believe a lie … when you love someone.”
The voice of the soul will offer emotional arguments as well. All in attempt to protect self, personal preferences and belief system.
The voice of the soul is a great ally when you believe right but when you start believing wrong, you will start thinking wrong and feeling wrong and soon your soul will begin pushing for what is wrong. The mind is a terrible thing to waste, or to be at odds with.
So, what is the remedy for recovering the soul?
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
If we will fill our minds with God’s word, our mind will continue to help us battle our own desires and experiences that aren’t God.
2 Corinthians 10
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. (this mortal existence of man with its base animal nature)
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
If what our mind is telling us to do just does not line up with the word of God, then our reasoning or feelings are faulty. We need to accept it, deal with it and don’t listen to that voice any longer.
The Voice of the Body
The body is simple. The body just wants to be warm, fed and cleaned once in a while. Don’t hurt me, don’t starve me and don’t make me work too hard. I want to eat, sleep and I need exercise. I get tired and I hurt sometimes. Hurt me too much and I will shut down. Other than that, I don’t really care if you are a Buddhist, follow Mohammad, get a black belt in Tai Chi or sit on the couch and watch TV all day. Treat me good and I will work for you long and hard, abuse me and I may quit on you early.
This is the voice that is quick to tell you that your commitment to get up early and pray should have come along with a second and most important commitment to ‘go to bed early!” The body has a way to punish you for abuse whether it’s drinking too much alcohol or doing too much physical labor.
This same body is quick to respond to stimulus and loving care. It is designed to heal itself for the most part and can be made into almost any tool you need to accomplish your vision … we just have to pay attention to its needs.
The Voice of the Flesh
Self-serving, jealous, envying, hateful, sometimes feeds on gossip, prideful, arrogant, filled with lusts, capable of murder and offers a deceptive feeling that we can make it on our own, don’t need anyone’s approval or support and tells us that we can survive anything … so “do whatever you want, you can always change later.”
Read more about the flesh and its goals in Galatians 5.
So, how do we recover from the snare of the flesh?
And by the way, the devil can, will and does use all of these voices, from reason and emotion, to hunger, from jealousy and lust to pain in his attempts to get you to disappoint or disobey God. He most often speaks through you to you. This is why we cannot even trust our own thoughts but must examine them by the Word of God.
Now, how do we recover from the snare of that spirit of death, the flesh?
Let’s turn to:
Romans 7
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,)dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body 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 the law of sin.
Romans 8
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
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.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Commentary about being spiritually minded … filling your minds, renewing your minds with spiritual things instead of carnal things. Feed the spirit and it will be strong enough to defeat the flesh.
