Who are we?
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Intro
Intro
Sometimes if may feel that living a godly life is unattainable…
Do you ever feel that:
Having victory over sin is not possible?
Or Hebrews 12:1
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Is not attainable?
The goal after all is for God to be glorified in my life by letting the Lord rule over my life...
But how can we please God if we can’t stop sinning?
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.
Wouldn’t you love to:
Have a thought and immediately cast it down if it’s in opposition to God’s Word? OR
When you make a choice, it’s always the right one? OR
To not hold any unconfessed sin in your heart?
The question is “how?’…
For centuries mankind has spent billions of dollars and countless hours spending time with primates in Africa to determine “Why do people do what they do?”
God gives us the answer in His Word…
Knowing this will help you fight sin, understand why you’re losing the battle and have victory over your sin…
What is a man?
Supreme Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson isn’t able to determine the definition of a woman… scary
This question arises in the Bible, though certainly not for the reasons it’s being asked today...
17 What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him?
And that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?
18 And that thou shouldest visit him every morning,
And try him every moment?
14 What is man, that he should be clean?
And he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
And the son of man, that thou visitest him?
3 Lord, what is man, that thou Takest knowledge of him!
Or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!
Text:
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.
Man is a trichotomy… body, soul and spirit
Let’s look back at the very beginning:
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.
Dust of the ground: body
Breath of life: spirit
Living Soul
Adam was created by God with a living body, soul and spirit
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Well, Adam and Eve did not physically die right away when they ate, so it must not be talking about a physical death…
When they disobeyed God and ate of the tree, they died spiritually…
This was passed down to all mankind and we are born spiritually dead…
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
We are born with a living body, living soul, but a dead spirit
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
We are quickened (made alive) at salvation
Let’s examine each part more closely… illustrate it and determine what we can do…
I. Body - physical
I. Body - physical
a. Adam was created in the image and likeness of the Trinity
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
b.) Seth was made in the image and likeness of Adam
3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:
c.) From Dust to Dust
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
14 If he set his heart upon man,
If he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;
15 All flesh shall perish together,
And man shall turn again unto dust.
29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled:
Thou takest away their breath, they die,
And return to their dust.
d.) The Desires of the Body
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 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.
e.) Sin is a choice
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
Conclusion on the body:
Desires only evil continually of which you have no choice
The material part of our being that connects to the world by site, hearing, smell, touch
Begins in dust, ends in dust
1 birth of which you have no choice
1 death of which you have no choice
II. Spirit; spiritual
II. Spirit; spiritual
The part of me that relates to God…
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
a.) How I am born - dead
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Adam’s spirit died that day he ate of the fruit…
b.) How we’re made alive
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Not another physical birth, but a spiritual birth…
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
c.) How God doesn’t associate us with the flesh - spiritual circumcision
11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Why is our spirit not associated with our flesh? Spiritual circumcision that took place at salvation…
God cut your soul and spirit away from your body…
When I sin, it is not attributed to my spirit and therein tarnishes my spirit requiring constant salvations…
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Conclusions on the spirit:
Spiritual, not physical
The part of me that can never sin
Born dead, made alive at salvation
Hopefully only 1 death (at birth) and 1 birth (at salvation)
III. The Soul
III. The Soul
The soul is a persons mind, emotion and will…
Sometimes called “the heart”…
It’s the part of you that makes choices and decisions…
The important thing to know is that the soul is the thing in which becomes the tipping point for either the flesh or the spirit…
There is nothing wrong with emotions (part of the soulish man) as long as they are not attained going outside of God…
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
a.) Satan doesn’t have access to your soul unless you allow him
28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
If you’re saved, the only thing Satan has access to is your body…
It is from the soul that you exercise godly character into making decisions with the mind to obey the things of God or the things of the flesh…
Illustration:
Teeter totter…
Body one side
Spirit one side
Soul in middle
Depending on what you feed your soul (music, friends, movies, truth or lies, Bible or Facebook, etc.) dictates if you will yield to the flesh or the spirit…
Exercise your mind, emotion and will toward God
How?
Wake up and decide your body, mind, emotions and will are all Gods…
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.
How to have victory?
Realize there is no more dominion
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
2. Identify with the new life
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
3. Practice a Daily Renewal
16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes:
I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.
25 Let thine eyes look right on,
And let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
4. Monitor your diet
Purify your inputs…
What I allow into my life will determine the outcome of the scales…
I choose…
