thebiblicaltruth

Man in the Garden lived in the realm of the Spirit.  He had perfect fellowship with God.  His spirit dominated him.

          Then sin came and he was driven from the presence of God.  From that moment he lived under the domination of his senses.  These five senses became his master.   

          His spirit lost dominion the moment he became spiritually dead, a partaker of Satan’s nature.

          This happened instantly, when he sinned.

          The real man is a spiritual being, but the moment that spiritual death took possession of his spirit, his senses dominated.

          He lost his approach to God, the moment that he sinned.

          The nature that he received made him antagonistic to God.

          Romans 8:7, because the mind of the senses is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be: so they that are governed by the senses cannot please God.

          The Greek word sarx translated senses instead of flesh, gives us the truth meaning of the word.

          You remember first Corinthians 2:14 declares, now the natural man [the man of the senses] receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually understood.

          So man fell and his Spirit received the nature of the adversary, he really became a stranger to himself.

          He is a spirit being and is no longer dominated by himself [his spirit] but by his body in which he lives.

          It makes him a slave to his body instead of a master over it.

          You understand that when this happened in the Garden, he lost contact with God, lost his ability to approach God, and he went out into the world to live by his senses.

          There is a modern saying that man lives by his wits.

          We know that man cannot contact God through his reasoning facilities; that his only contact with God is with his spirit.

          Having died spiritually, he is unable to make this contact.

          It is difficult for man’s language to convey Gods thought.

          You must remember that man’s thoughts are not always the same as God’s thoughts.

          You must remember that man was God’s love product, created to be His child and companion.

          He was created in God’s class of being, in His image and in His likeness.

          God is eternal.  Man is eternal.

          God is a Spirit.  Man is a Spirit.

          Man was so created that he could partake of God’s nature and become Gods Child.

          Please realize: Man cannot be spiritual unless he is a spirit.

          He cannot partake of God’s nature unless he is in God’s class of being.

          He cannot know spiritual things unless he is a spirit.

          You must understand the calamity that befell man when his spirit lost control over his senses.

          In that moment his senses controlled and governed his spirit.

          All the knowledge that natural man has, has come through these five senses of the body– seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and feeling.

          The brain has no capacity to think independent of sense evidence.

          A child that is born without sight, or hearing, or feeling, would be called an imbecile, though his brain was as perfect as the brain have any child.

          The brain would have no contact with the world because the senses fail to function.

          Now we can understand that man’s physical contact is with the physical.  His mental contact is with the mental.  And his spirit can only contact the spiritual.

          If man’s reasoning facilities cannot contact God, then it is up to his spirit to make that contact.

          Man’s reasoning facilities are utterly dependent upon the senses.

          Sense knowledge is unable to contact your spirit in any intelligent way until after your spirit has been re-created [born-again], receives the nature of God, and your reasoning facilities have been renewed and brought into harmony with the re-created spirit.

          The new creation man finds a new self in Christ, and that new self becomes almost independent of the senses when it comes into the closest fellowship with the Father.

          Wherefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation, a new self.

          The real self has been made anew, re-created.

          That means his spirit has been re-created.

          It is imperative now that the mind which derived all of its impulse, all of its knowledge from the five senses, should come under the dominion of this new re-created spirit or self.

          This can only happen as a man begins to study the Word and begins to practice it and live it.

          It is a fact of great importance that every believer should know that there is no such thing as understanding a word until the mind is renewed.

          The reason for that is that the word is the work of the Holy Spirit and it is a spiritual thing, and sense knowledge cannot understand spiritual things.

          So it is necessary that our mind be renewed and come into fellowship with our spirit.

          It is very important that this new re-created spirit should gain the dominance over his reasoning facilities.

                     Your Spirit Now Can Be Educated

        Your spirit can be educated just like the mind can be educated.

          It can be built up in strength just as the body can be built up.

          That comes by meditating in the word.

          By practicing the word.

          By giving the word first place.

          After awhile you can know the will of the Father in all details of life, because he communicates with your spirit, not with the reasoning facilities.

          Paul speaks of the mind of the Spirit.

          Romans 8:6, for the mind of the senses leads us into the realm of spiritual death, but the mind of the Spirit [the re-created born-again spirit] lead us into the realm of life and peace.

          That life is Zoe– eternal life– the nature of God.

          The spirit mentioned here is the re-created spirit, not the Holy Spirit.

          It’s hard for us to accept the fact that the natural man has been ruled by the five senses.

          His body is the teacher of his mind and he cannot grow in knowledge beyond the reaction of his senses upon his brain.

          The new creation man has an almost unlimited opportunity of growth, because his spirit has received the nature of God

          He is in perfect fellowship with the Father.

          He has an unlimited use of the name of Jesus that the natural man does not have.

          He has the wisdom of God, for Jesus is made unto him wisdom.

          Natural man has nothing but the wisdom that comes to him through the un-re-created spirit.     

          The new creation has the ability of God at his disposal.

          You see, he is lifted out of the natural realm into the spiritual realm, and when he is re-created, he has the privilege of having the Holy Spirit, who raised Jesus from the dead, to come and make his home in his body.

          Now you can understand Romans 12:1, 2, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

          And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

          This shows us why it is imperative to have the body, the University of the Mind, under the control of the recreated spirit.

          This new creation man does not walk under the dominion of the senses but is to be governed by the Word of God.

          It is interesting to note that inventors after hours of experimenting, their minds are worn and tired.  They stop to rest, and suddenly, without any effort, the thing they have been searching for flashes into their minds.

          They know not from whence it came, but it has arrived.

          What did it?  Their spirit spoke as soon as the reasoning facilities were silent and it could be heard.

          Sometimes it comes in a dream or in the early morning when you are first awakening.

          Psychologists have been puzzled by this.  They have no answer for what seems to them a mystery, so they call that something a subconscious mind.

          But we of the new creation know there is no such thing as a subconscious mind; it is the mind of the Spirit.

          It is the spirit expressing itself.

          You may ask, can’t the natural man cultivate his spirit?

          Yes, but it will be the cultivation of a spirit dominated by spiritual death or Satan.

          That has given to us spiritualism with all those dangerous cults from India; giving to us those strange miracles of the occult that often imitates God.

          Here are more facts of vital importance.

          The re-created spirit becomes the fountain of all the beautiful things that Christianity has given to us.

          Galatians 5:22– 25, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such there is no law.  And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the senses [flesh] with the passions and the lusts thereof.

          Notice, it is the fruit of our spirit, not the Holy Spirit.

          The Holy Spirit does not bear fruit anymore than Jesus bears fruit.  Jesus said, I am the vine, ye are the branches.  It is the branch that bears fruit.

          The Holy Spirit has imparted eternal life to our spirits.

          That life is the nature of the Father and He has unveiled Jesus, so the first fruit that is seen in the new creations life, is love.

          We know we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.

          And then a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory fills our whole being.

          Next, peace that passeth understanding, becomes ours.

          The troubled heart is filled with quietness.

          Then when we go out to contact the world, the fruit of the Spirit is seen in us, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control.

          These are the fruits of the re-created spirit.

          You see, the re-created have crucified the senses and brought them into subjection to the Word of God.

          If we live by the Spirit: [that is our re-created spirit]; let us also walk by it, our re-created spirit.

          Now you will notice that this is in perfect harmony with 1^st Cor. 13 where it tells us about that love-law that is to govern the believer.

          Love suffers long, and is kind; envieth not; vaunteth not itself; is not puffed up; does not behave itself unseemingly; seeketh not its own.

          These are the fruits of the re-created spirit.

                   Natural man has only sense knowledge faith.

          Natural man believes in the things he sees and hears the things that have come to him through the five senses.

          Love and faith and courage are the fruits of the re-created human spirit.                                                                                                         The actions that have made Christians outstanding in society, has been the fruit of the re-created spirit.

          You can now see very clearly how the natural man could not know himself.

          We must not forget that the natural human spirit can be cultivated.

          We see this among the occult societies, among spiritualists and others that are in close fellowship with demons.

          James 3:13–18, who is wise and understanding among you?  Let him show by his good life his works and meekness of wisdom.

          But if you have bitter jealousy and envy in your heart, glory not and lie not against the truth.

          This wisdom is not a wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonical

          Then the 17^th verse tells of the wisdom that comes down from above.  It is true and peaceable.

          Wisdom is not the product of the reasoning facilities, but of the human spirit.

          The natural human spirit can contact the demonic forces, just as the re-created human spirit can contact God.

          We should always remember: man is a spirit, he lives in a body, and he has a soul.

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