Gtcotr/ss102322
In
our Bible lesson last week entitled “The Trinity” we established that there is:
·
A Holy Trinity – Matthew 28:19
o
The Father Jehovah
o
The Son Jesus
o
The Holy Spirit
·
An Unholy Trinity – Revelation 20:10
o
The Devil
§ Whose spirit is the
spirit of the antichrist
o
The Antichrist (The Beast of Revelation)
§ Which we know in the
book of Revelation as the Beast.
§ The evil personal
agent of devil during the tribulation period who is filled with the spirit of
the antichrist and all the power of darkness.
§ Many believe it to be
a literal person empowered by the devil while others imagine it to be perhaps
an organization, an entity, or a religion given total authority to rule the
earth in order to bring peace to the chaos.
§ At any rate, the
antichrist promises peace to Israel with seven-year treaty, and all the nations
of the earth submit to him.
o
The False Prophet
§ An image of the beast erected
and brought to life by the beast himself.
§ Some imagine this will
be a false Jesus spoken of in the deceptive pages of other religious books.
§ The job of the False Prophet will be to make war with the saints and to hunt down and destroy all who will not repent of their Christian Faith and their loyalty to the true Jesus of the Bible.
1 John 4:3 And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
The spirit of the antichrist, who is that old dragon, the serpent, who is satan, the fallen arch angel of God who continues to lead a rebellion against Jehovah and all that is holy. This devil is the one who tempted Eve to sin, entered into Judas before he betrayed Jesus, then stirred the mob and religious leaders to crucify Jesus … he deceives nations, divides families, destroys peace, and tells lies about you to others and even to you about yourself. He is an enemy of God and an enemy of your soul. However …
Today we will discover that you have two enemies. Both enemies have been very successful hiding their true nature and their desire to remain in the shadows so as to not be seen for what they are.
The first enemy of your soul is the devil. You know about him but have a hard time getting your hands on him. He works through others and does his best to destroy even the very people who are helping him.
The devil, that spirit of the antichrist, wants you to hate people, have outbursts of anger, commit immoral acts, be selfish, jealous, envious, divide and destroy relationships. But he cannot make you do his will without your consent. So the devil feeds your weakness hoping you will give him control. The devil is a great enemy of your soul … but not the greatest.
The greatest enemy facing each one of us today is not the devil. Rather the greatest enemy of your soul is Your Flesh. It is the carnal nature you were born with. If the devil can find a way to feed your flesh, he can make you sin
This morning we are going to take a revealing look at a spirit which is stronger and more powerful than the Spirit of the Antichrist in your life. I’m not talking about the Holy Spirit, I am referring to the Rebellious Renegade spirit of fallen man, born in sin, destined to die, and contrary to God. This is none other than the Carnal Flesh Man described in the Greek as the:
· Sarkikos - The fleshly, carnal, animalistic appetites of man without God.
Galatians 5
17 For the flesh (sarx) wars
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to
one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
19 Now the works of the flesh
are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred,
contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions,
heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Peter 2:11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly (sarkikos) lusts (cravings) which war against the soul,
Galatians 5:24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Picking up where we left off in our last lesson, let’s now begin to understand where this fleshly carnal man actually came from.
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.
Man
was created a triune being.
·
The Spirit
o
The
spark of God’s life within each human soul.
·
The Soul
o
The
living individual mind, will, and emotional makeup of each person.
o
It
is the soul of man that was lost and must be born-again.
·
The Body
o This earthen tabernacle we occupy as a house for the soul.
The spark of life in Adam and Eve was the Holy Breath of God. God created Adam and Eve in His likeness and image. Man was created holy in the hands of God, a holy triune being, spirit, soul, and body. However, when Adam and Eve sinned, they were born again … born from life unto death. The spark of God’s Spirit went out in them like a flame on a candle.
Adam and Eve no longer had the capacity to pass the Spirit of life or to bestow a relationship with God to their children. The only life they could create was natural human life along with the carnal nature of man, which the Bible calls flesh. Instead of being spiritual beings, man became carnal beings. And the flesh has warred against the spirit ever since. Godless and ungodly souls are subject to great deception.
This
is why Jesus said, “You must be born again!” However once born again a person
becomes responsible to grow spiritually by learning more about the Word, the
Will, and the Way of God and putting those things into practice. The Bible
tells us to:
1.
Crucify our flesh daily.
2.
Renew our minds with the word of God.
3. Bring our bodies into subjection to the will of God.
The carnal nature of man is an open door for the devil into the lives of men and women. There is only one way to remedy the death we are born into and that is to be Born-Again. Born, as Jesus told Nicodemus, by the spirit.
You must be born again! The spirit of the antichrist will tell you differently.
Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Other people may be responsible for your pain and your disappointment. However you are the only one responsible for your sin. The devil wants to feed your carnal appetites and make you hate, lie, cheat, have outbursts of anger, be jealous, divide and destroy lives … the thief, who is that spirit of the antichrist, comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus came that you might have life and have it more abundantly!
Your victory over the devil and your flesh will be the greatest testimony to those godless and ungodly souls around you.
In
order to defeat the devil and that spirit of the antichrist you will need to
close the carnal door to temptation and deception.
·
Say no to sin.
· Refuse to entertain carnal remedies for the problems you face.
This
you can do because you are Born-Again. You have been given a new spiritual
nature; it is the nature of God.
·
Appeal
to God’s Word to show you the path of redemption for yourself and for others
this week.
·
Pray
for a godly resolution that hurts no one and blesses everyone.
·
Don’t lie in wait and hope for judgment … pray for mercy!
o
James
2:13
o
Don’t
fall prey to the spirit of the antichrist!
·
Don’t
allow the devil to push you into a corner or make you think God has lost or
that someone else is underserving of redemption or of your forgiveness.
o
Love,
forgiveness, mercy, kindness are the evidence and the measure of God in your
life, not the measure of God in the sinner’s life.
o Be ye kind! (Ephesians 4:32)
Homework: When you feel you need a reminder of the war going on in your own life and how to defeat the enemies of your soul, read Romans 8. Every time you read flesh and carnal, remember it is the soulish life force born in sin and destined to die.
Romans
8
1
¶ There is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the
flesh, but according to the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus has 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 did by sending His own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 that the righteous requirement of the law
might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according
to the Spirit.
5 For those who live according to the flesh set
their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to
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, nor indeed can be.
8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot
please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the
Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have
the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
10
¶ And if Christ is in you, the
body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus
from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give
life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are
debtors — not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
13 For if you live according to the flesh you
will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will
live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
these are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage
again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out,
“Abba, Father.”
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our
spirit that we are children of God.
17
¶ and if children, then
heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer
with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us.
