Gtcotr/ss101622
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:
Point 1: There is a Holy Trinity
·
The Father, Jehovah God
o
He is eternal, invisible, all powerful, all knowing, and all
present.
o
The Father is the Creator of all things, seen and unseen.
o
There is no other God but Jehovah.
·
The Son, Jesus
o
He is the Word of God, pre-existent in heaven, who lives forever
as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
·
The Holy Spirit of God
o The very breath of God which carries His nature and covers the earth shining light, giving life, and showing love.
This
Holy Trinity embodies all that we humans understand as good and right and just
and true.
·
God
is love.
·
Jesus
is Emmanuel. He is our Savior, our Brother, and our Friend.
· The Holy Spirit is our Comforter, Teacher, and Guide.
Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Point 2: There is an Unholy Trinity
·
The Devil,
that old dragon and serpent, which is Satan, the fallen archangel of God.
o
He
is the head of the unholy trinity.
o
He
is the prince of darkness, the enemy of our soul, and the father of all lies,
doomed to hell and the lake of fire for eternity.
o
His
spirit is the unholy spirit of the antichrist that is now in the world.
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.
o
The Devil breeds hatred, speaks lies,
deceives individuals, kills dreams, divides families, destroys nations.
o
Satan tempts each person to lie, cheat, lust,
be jealous, envious, murderous, blasphemous, idolatrous, selfish, and
unforgiving.
o
And even if people resist his temptations,
the devil will still accuse them before God and man.
o
Satan is the first person in the unholy
trinity and his spirit is the spirit of the antichrist which stirs the carnal
appetites of man and empowers demons to think, speak, and act against the will
of God.
·
The Antichrist
o
Satan’s
top agent in the earth during the tribulation period.
o
The
word antichrist is never mentioned in the book of Revelation but only 4 times in
the writings of 1st and 2nd John.
o
We
know the antichrist in the book of Revelation as The
Beast.
o
A
perfectly evil person filled with the power of darkness and with hordes of
demons at his command.
o
He
is recognized by his mark, 666, and by the image of himself which he erects so
the world can worship him as God.
·
The False Prophet
o
The
false prophet is the image of the beast once brought to life by the beast to
enforce worship of the beast.
o
Many
may falsely believe him to be the Jesus of the Koran.
o He will hunt down, torture, and kill every Believer who will not deny the Bible, take the mark of the beast, and worship him.
The unholy trinity has a limited time in which they will make war against the saints and deceive the nations. The end has already been written by the hand of God.
Make
no mistake, the Bible clearly teaches us that there is:
·
A
Holy Trinity = The Father; The Son; The Holy Spirit
·
An
Unholy Trinity = The Dragon; The Beast; The False Prophet
· And … thirdly … the Triune Man … who can go either way …
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.
Point 3: The Triune Man
·
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.
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.
God created Adam and Eve in His likeness and image. Mankind was created holy in the hands of God, a holy triune being, spirit, soul, and body. The Bible is very clear and very plain on this matter. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 we know it is God’s desire that every Born-Again Believer in Jesus end this life just as God intended, clean and blameless in spirit, soul, and body. God intends we understand how He created us and what happened to us because of sin.
The challenge each person faces comes from two distinct places. First there is the devil, that serpent who roams the earth with his demon minions wreaking havoc, seeking those whom he might destroy, and tempting people to sin, believe lies and forsake the salvation offered by God. He is a formidable adversary to man only because of one reason …
This is where the second challenge comes into play.
God
created man as a triune being: Spirit, soul, and body. Or we might say:
·
A life force – Spirit = Gk: Pneuma
·
Specific Individuality – Soul = Gk: Psuche
· An earth suit – Body = Gk: Soma
However, when the devil was ultimately successful in tempting Adam and Eve and they chose to disobey God in the Garden of Eden, they immediately died. We know their bodies did not die in the natural way we imagine death. However, the life force, the Spirit, the spark of life given them by God’s breath, went out of them and they were left godless souls, with a limited carnal existence which has neither holiness nor eternal life.
Adam and Eve were born-again. From life unto death. Adam and Eve died spiritually. Their souls lost the sustaining life of God and their godless souls continued to inhabit a body that was destined to decay and leave them homeless and trapped in spiritual death and separation from God for eternity.
The Spirit God gave them died in them and the carnal human spirit took its place. Instead of spirit, soul, body, mankind became flesh, soul, and body. Godless souls in a body destined to die. The carnal nature of man is an open door to the devil and deception. Godless souls subject to deception.
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.
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. This is made possible by the perfect blood sacrifice of Jesus the Son.
You must be born again! The antichrist will tell you different.
Next Sunday I am going to take the clear and undeniable word of God and show you how to recognize that spirit of the antichrist and how to close the door on the devil in your life. You can take dominion over those things God has given you to govern and influence on behalf of your families and in the earth.
In preparation for next Sunday, allow me to leave you with something to consider and a little reading assignment. First, I want you to hear what the Apostle Paul told the Believers in Galatia.
Galatians 5:16 I say then:
Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts 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.
The elder Apostle John clearly identifies the antichrist, and the Apostle Paul gives us step by step instructions on how to defeat him. In preparation for Part 2 of the Trinity next Sunday I want to encourage you to read the 8th Chapter of the Book of Romans.
In
order to defeat the devil between now and then you will need to close the 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 allow the devil to push you into a corner or make you think God has lost.
Your victory over the devil will be the greatest testimony to those godless souls around you.
Next week:
Romans
8 NKJV
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.
