2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Today, I am led to discuss the spirit and human nature. In some ways, this is a review of topics mentioned. But, we must remember that when God takes us back to something, He always does so to give us new insights into how to conduct our own lives. So, we are not wasting our time. Let me reiterate RO 7: 14-25 conversationally. This is that very important passage that lets us understand the conflict that exists within a person going through sanctification. Remember, that sanctification is the process by which God perfects a person in preparation for him to be able to answer the call of the last trumpet (shofar) to that meeting in the air with Christ which we call the rapture [1 THESS 4: 13-17]. Once a person has been baptized in Christ, he receives the gift of the gift of the Holy Spirit [JN 1: 32-33]. The stage is set for a huge conflict within the believer between his outer fleshly self (old self) and his inner spiritual self (new self). This is analogous to a child having to go through adolescence before he can become a fully-functioning adult. 2 COR 5: 17, “When anyone is joined to Christ, he is a new creation; the old one is gone and the new has come.” The process of making that citation a reality is the conflict that is waged between the spirit and the flesh. The sin that is inherent in the flesh makes a person do things that their newly transformed (renewed) mind doesn’t want to do. Before coming to faith, the flesh was in total control, and the person had no choice but to sin and to eventually experience spiritual death. However, now that the person has come to faith, he can choose not to sin, but it isn’t always easy. As RO 7: 22-23 states, “My inner being delights in the law of God. but I see a different law at work in my body-a law that fights against the law of which my mind approves.”
If this conflict were to go on indefinitely, we would be forever trapped in a morass of misery. Obviously, a loving Abba would never allow that when a person desires to be faithful to Him. The escape from this misery comes in the most important gift of His grace that God has ever given us. RO 7: 24-25, “What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death? Thanks be to God, Who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ! This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God’s law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the law of sin.” [Please don’t confuse “Law,” which refers to the Ten Commandments, with “law,” which refers to either God’s teaching, or as used in verse 25, the tenets of sin. The context of the sentence will make it clear which usage is correct].
EZK 36: 27 makes God’s will here very clear. “I will put My Spirit within you and will see to it that you follow My laws and keep all the commands I have given you.” Mentioning something like this from the OT helps us to understand that God’s will has always been consistent, and that He has always had a specific plan [in this case Christ’s Atonement and the giving of His Spirit to believers] to make it so. Anyone who understands this can’t help but see the love He has for us behind it. RO 8: 4, “God did this [condemned sin in human nature by sending His own Son] so that the righteous demands of the Law might be fully satisfied in us who live according to the Spirit, and not according to human nature.”
We are left with a very practical question that needs answering: How do we accomplish God’s will that our inner spiritual self gains dominance over our outer fleshly selves? GA 5: 16-18 lends insight on that. “What I say is this: let the Sprit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature. For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do. If the Spirit leads you, then you are not subject to the Law.” Now, we mustn’t misunderstand that God is telling us, through Paul, not to obey the Ten Commandments. What is clearly meant here is that we must not give into the temptation of the flesh, but must take the narrow, difficult road to travel in letting the Spirit be in leadership in our thoughts, decisions, actions, and inter-relationships. GA 5: 25-26, “The Spirit has given us life; He must also control our lives. We must not be proud or irritate one another or be jealous of one another.” We must examine our own lives, the decisions we make, the actions we take, and our relationships with others against the backdrop of God’s will for us. God commands us to make changes where we see they are necessary to conform to His will. It is my heartfelt belief that even if these changes are difficult for us and break old habit patterns, we will find the road to true freedom and joy from making them. The peace we have really will be beyond human understanding, and we all know Who the only Source for that is.
PRAYER: O Lord, when we examine the citations in today’s message, we see that out of Your compassionate heart, You have allowed us to understand something about the mechanism by which we are sanctified. Because You allow us to know about the conflict between the Spirit and our human nature and because You allow us to now have to have the choice as to whether to sin, we will be better equipped to conform to Your will for us. The frustration that we all experience along the way when our minds tell us to do one thing and our bodies make us want to do the opposite is now something over which we can gain control. Before You gave us this knowledge, we couldn’t effectively make the choice to let the Spirit gain control in our lives. Our sanctification is a joint effort of our participation in the new covenant and Yours. Our part is to do what comes difficult to us and let our inner spiritual selves determine our thoughts and behavior. Your part, which You always do, is to provide us through Christ’s Atonement and the teaching of the Holy Spirit, the choice not to sin and the ability to know Your will. We must be obedient to You and put our trust in You, allowing the Spirit to dictate what we do. You are always there to encourage us, give us faith, guide us, correct us, and remind us that we were created to succeed in Christ. We are truly a blessed people to have You in our lives and to have Christ’s leadership. Today, we confess our sin in humility and offer You the adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, glory, honor, trust, obedience, praise, and thanksgiving You so richly deserve. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
Tomorrow’s message will be the last one in this covenant series. God leads me to conclude by looking over the areas we have covered and bringing You a message from Him upon which we can all focus to keep our eyes on His will in our lives. Your patience in reading all these messages is a privilege for me and honors God. A new series on spiritual warfare will begin the day after tomorrow. We are surrounded every minute of every day of our lives by the love and grace of our Abba. We need never feel like we are ships astray in an ocean of evil without rudders or the source of power to be saved. No matter what suffering or temptation we must endure, our loving Lord is eager to be the Leader of our lives and the power by which we are propelled to eternal life with Him. He protects us from the horrors of spiritual death with the death of His Son. No greater love has ever been available from any other source. Be blessed and know that God loves you and so do Peter and I.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn