Holy-Spirit

Old Sin Nature Vs. The Holy Spirit

Before you begin your Bible study, as a believer in the Lord Jesus

Christ, be

sure you have named

your sins

privately to God the

Father.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us

our sins and to

cleanse us from all

unrighteousness.

(Known, Unknown and Forgotten sins) (1Jn1:9)

You will then be in fellowship with God, Filled with the Holy Spirit

and ready to

learn Truth from the

Word of

God.

"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit

and Truth,"

(Jn4:24)

SETTING THE STAGE

God the Father is the Author of a plan of

grace for

mankind. The plan has

three phases.

Phase one is

salvation, which was accomplished

by the Lord

Jesus

Christ. The historical

execution of phase one

began

with the

virgin

birth

Christ, continued

through His

incarnation, and culminated with His

death,

resurrection, ascension, and

session at the

Father’s

right hand. (Heb 1:3)

Because Christ

was

accepted

in heaven as a man, believers are

also

“accepted

the Beloved.” (Eph 1:6)

For the individual, phase one is the moment

salvation, the first instant he

believes in Christ

as his

Savior. In

that moment of faith, he

receives many

permanent grace benefits, which

accompany his

new

position in Christ. Prior

the historical advent

Christ, God presented

the saving work of Christ in

various ways: direct

revelation, the

teachings of

prophets and priests,

dreams,

visions, and rituals. In

every era of

history, however, man enters God’s

plan

only

through faith in Christ.

For what does the Scripture say? "ABRAHAM

BELIEVED GOD, AND IT

WAS CREDITED TO

HIM

RIGHTEOUSNESS." (Rom 4:3)

They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you

will

be saved, you and your

household.”

(Ac 16:31)

Phase two of God’s plan is the period

between

salvation and the believer’s

departure

from this life.

The post-

salvation way of life

differs in various

dispensations. We live in the

Church Age, which

began on Pentecost, A.D.

30,

and will end at the the

signing of the Peace

treaty by the one world ruler.

(Dan

9:27) During

the Church Age, the

Christian

way of life is

executed by God the

Holy Spirit; in and

through

the believer. (Jn 14:26; Jn 16:13; Gal 5:16)

In phase two God has made perfect provision

for

the Christian to live a

supernatural life, to

advance to

Spiritual

maturity and to possess

happiness

and

blessing in prosperity and or

adversity! (Jn 17:13)

The techniques of the

Christian life — including

rebound, the filling of

the Spirit, faith-rest, and living

the Word — are

introduced in other

books. The

Doctrine of

dispensations,

which enables us to orient

to God’

s plan for our post-salvation lives on earth,

also presented in a separate book. Phase three

God’s plan for the believer

eternity. This

phase

commences

at physical death when we

will be face

face

with the Lord. (2Co 5:8)

Believers who

advance

to Spiritual maturity in

time will

receive

rewards in

eternity.

At the point of salvation, the Holy Spirit places

each Church Age believer in

union with Christ. I

to diagram

this by the “top circle,” which

represents

eternal life. We can never get out of

that top circle. At

salvation we are also

placed in

the “bottom circle,”

which represents temporal

fellowship with God.

However, as soon as we sin

we move

outside the

bottom circle into carnality.

There are no Spiritual

dynamics in carnality. The

only way back into that

circle

of fellowship with

God, that state of Spirituality,

is by means of

rebound.

http://thinkingtruth.files.wordpress.

com/2008/03/topandbottomcircles.jpg

If we confess our sins, [Acknowledge our

known

sins, maybe we will and

maybe we won’t]

He [God

the Father] is

faithful and just to forgive

us our sins,

and to cleanse us from all

unrighteousness.

[Unknown sins] (1Jn 1:9)

When we acknowledge to God all our known

sins,

the Holy Spirit is free to

fill and or empower

us.

The filling ministry of God the Holy Spirit

provides

the Divine power that

works invisibly in

the life of the

growing

believer to produce the

“fruit of the

Spirit,”

(Gal 5:22-23) The Holy Spirit

utilizes the inventory of

Truth that the

believer

accumulates in his soul. As

the believer’s

inventory of Truth grows, so

does the

extent of

God the Holy

Spirit’s production in his life.

ELIJAH. THE SPIRITUAL GIANT

While believers in the Old Testament were

never

said to be in union with

Christ, they were;

based on

what HE

would do; as we are on what

He DID do!

Certain believers were filled and or

empowered by

God the Holy Spirit for

special

functions. Spirituality

was applied through the

faith-rest technique

(

s it is written, “A father of many nations have I

made you”) in the presence

Him whom he

believed, even God, who gives life to the dead

and calls into

being that which does not exist.

In hope against hope he believed, so that he might

become a father of many

nations according to that

which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants

be.”

Without becoming weak in faith he

contemplated

his own body, now as

good as dead

since he was

about a hundred years old, and the

deadness of

Sarah’s womb;

yet, with respect to the

promise of

God, he did not waver in

unbelief but

grew strong in

faith, giving glory to God,

and being

fully assured

that what God had promised, He was

able also to

perform.

(Ro 4:17-21)

cf.

(

Jas 5:17-18)

—

BELIEVING GOD'S

PROMISES! Therefore,

the

Principle of

fellowship

versus carnality holds

true for

all believers,

then and

now. (Psa 32:5;

Psa 51:3) In,

(1Ki 19:1) Elijah, who

was filled

with the Spirit of

God,

(2Ki 2:9)

was taught

that

great lesson of

Spirituality.

He had just

concluded the Spiritual

leadership of a

spectacular

revival in Israel.

Now it

happened after

many days

that the word of the Lord

came to Elijah in

the third year, saying, “Go, show

yourself to Ahab,

and I will send rain on the face of

the earth.”

(1Ki 18:

1-46)

As the

servant of the

Lord,

he had

been

instrumental in

reversing

the tide

apostasy

and

turning the

Jews back to their

Messiah. At that

particular

point, the devil began a

subtle

counterattack

through a willing dupe

—

the

heathen

queen,

Jezebel.

Jezebel was the leader of the apostate

ecumenical

religious system of

Palestine, the

worship of Baal,

and she

had been supporting

her

450 false

prophets

with public funds. After

their

infamous failure to

provoke Baal to

action

on their

behalf, Elijah had

ordered the prophets

slain

Then Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of

Baal;

do not let one of them

escape.” So they seized

them;

and Elijah brought them down to the brook

Kishon, and slew them there. (1 Ki 18:40)

Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had

done,

and how he had killed all

the

prophets with

the

sword.

(1Ki 19:1)

King Ahab returned to Jezreel from Mount

Carmel

where the revival was

conducted. Like

the mouse he

was,

Ahab’s First mistake was to

tell his wife

everything! Jezebel, in turn,

immediately took steps

to eliminate Elijah. Since

Satan was too clever to risk

making a martyr out

of one who was now a great

Spiritual hero and

thus further spread

the revival,

"Jezebel"

conceived of a

devious scheme to

dispose

of him.

Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah,

saying,

"So may the gods do to

me and even

more, if I do not

make

your life as the life of one

of them

[Prophets of

Baal] by tomorrow about

this time." (1Ki 19:2)

Under normal conditions, Elijah would not

have

been disturbed by this threat

upon his life.

Until this

time, he had

kept his eyes on the Lord.

As a result,

had been fantastically used as an

instrument to

demonstrate who and

what the

Lord is. Now, weary

and overwrought, the

prophet began to think about

himself

and to

worry about his

situation. A believer is

most

vulnerable to failure after a

great Spiritual

victory! Elijah was no exception, and he was

completely

disarmed by Jezebel’s plan. Having

run

all the way from Mount Carmel to

Jezreel, he

was

exhausted.

Consequently, when he received

the

message, his

perception was dulled. Had he

Spiritually Thought out the

situation, he would

have

realized that if Jezebel had truly intended

to kill him,

she would have sent

an assassin with

a dagger

instead of a servant with a message.

Jezebel’s

objective was simply to frighten Elijah

into running

out on

the revival, which was

threatening her pagan

religion.

ELIJAH, THE CARNAL GIANT

And he was afraid and arose and ran for his

life

and came to Beersheba,

which belongs to

Judah,

and left his

servant there. (1Ki 19:3)

In order for us to understand that the distance

from the palace at Jezreel to

Beer-sheba was

over

one hundred

miles, the Bible clearly

specifies that

this

Beer-sheba belonged to

Judah. The instinct of

self- preservation is strong

every human being. So

dear had Elijah’s life

become to him, that he drove

himself beyond

normal endurance until

considered himself to

be safe from

his enemies. An

entire day had

passed before he stopped to reflect

his

situation.

But he himself went a day's journey into the

wilderness, and came and sat

down under a

juniper

tree; and he

requested for himself that he

might die,

and

said, "It is enough; now, O LORD,

take my life,

for I am not better than

fathers."

(1Ki 19:4)

Instead of realizing that no one was pursuing

him

and that as long as he

was

alive, the Lord

still had a

purpose

for him, the great Spiritual

giant of

Mount

Carmel became a carnal weakling

moping under the

juniper tree, totally

discouraged. He was the victim of

the old

psychological cliché, “I wish I were

dead!” Of

course, people seldom mean

that literally; it is

merely

an expression

of their self-pity. The

inevitable

outcome of focusing our eyes on

things or

people is

that we eventually get our

eyes on self!

Elijah had completely ignored the Principle of

grace. No one ever implied

that he was better

than

his fathers.

Elijah had been used of the

Lord

because

grace, not because he was

anyone

special. You

can always count on

it,

when

you are

out of

fellowship, you will feel sorry

for yourself and

have

the

wrong

perspective of

life.

At the time of, (1Ki 19:2) Elijah had eternal

life; he

was in the top circle, and

he could never

get out. But

when

he sinned against the Lord by

running away,

he moved outside the circle of

fellowship. He had his

eyes on himself

and had

fallen into the trap of self-

pity; he believed he

had failed in every possible way.

It is a soul kink

to feel sorry

for yourself, and it is one

of the worst

expressions

of carnality. Sooner or later

happens to all members of the

human race —

“sitting

under the juniper tree.” We can

understand

and even

sympathize with

Elijah

because we

have

all been in a

place where

everything looked

hopeless,

everything

had

gone wrong, and we felt

that no one

loved us!

He lay down and slept under a juniper tree;

and

behold, there was an angel

touching him,

and he

said

to him,

"Arise, eat." (1Ki 19:5)

Elijah was out of fellowship. He had neither

earned nor deserved the right

have food or

any

other blessing;

but because of His perfect

character,

God

His grace always provides.

Then he looked and behold, there was at his

head

a bread cake baked on

hot stones, and a

jar of

water.

So he

ate and drank and lay down

again. The

angel

of the LORD came again a

second time and

touched

him and said,

"Arise,

eat, because the

journey is too

great for you."

(1Ki 19:6-7)

We now discover that the angel of verse 5

was

the

Lord Jesus Christ, the

Angel of Jehovah.

The

Lord

Jesus

Christ always comes to us in our

hour of

difficulty and trial. Even though we are

totally

unworthy. He is always there.

was the

Lord Jesus

who said:

‘Do not fear, for I am with you;

Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,

Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right

hand.’

“Behold, all those who

are

angered at you will

shamed and dishonored;

Those who contend

with

you

will be as nothing and will perish.

“You will

seek

those who quarrel with

you, but

will not find

them,

Those who war with you will be as nothing and

non-

existent.

“For I am the Lord your God, who

upholds

your right hand,

Who says

to you,

‘Do not

fear, I will

help you.’

(Is 41:10-13)

So he arose and ate and drank, and went in

the

strength of that food forty

days and forty

nights to

Horeb, the

mountain of God. (1Ki 19:8)

I would like to have a meal like that!

Apparently it

contained all the vitamins

and

minerals that were

necessary,

because after this

one meal, Elijah

traveled

forty days — all the

way down to Mount

Horeb in the Sinai

Peninsula.

Point of

Truth: God’s

provision is

always the best — in fact, it is perfect!

HOW DO YOU “DWELL”?

Then he came there to a cave and lodged

there;

and behold, the word of

the LORD came

to him, and

He said

to him, "What are you doing

here, Elijah?"

(1Ki 19:9)

The Hebrew language is a very descriptive

language, and the Jews had at

least six different

words for “lodging.”

It is worthwhile to see exactly

what

these

words look like and what they

actually

mean. I will give the English

spelling

phonetically as

nearly as possible to the sound

of the Hebrew verbs.

(1) GUR

— to lodge

somewhere as a guest.

This

word means “to

come with

the idea of

making a short

visit and to

stay the specified short period.” This is

what

would call a good guest. (2) DUM — to

dwell

lodge in a state of

depression.

(3) DUR — to

dwell

restlessness. This word was used in

connection

with any

kind of a caged animal. (4)

CHANAH — to

dwell in a tent.

(5) JASHAB — to

dwell in peace,

happiness, blessing and

prosperity.

(This is

the one

that should

apply to

every

married

couple.) (6) LUN

— to go, to move

into some spot

with

the idea of

spending the

night and then staying

long time.

LUN

is the

word

used in this passage.

Elijah had moved into the cave just to rest for

one

night; but even though it

was dark, cold and

clammy,

stayed for a long time. He was still

feeling

sorry

for

himself, so he remained in the

cave and sulked.

What a

contrast! The

great

Spiritual giant had

allowed himself to be reduced

to a heap of gloom

and

depression!

Again, the Lord (Jehovah) appeared to teach

him

the lesson of Spirituality

— a lesson that

each of us

must

learn. “Elijah, what are you

doing here?” was

proper question. What was

Elijah doing there? He

was the Spiritual

leader of

the revival of Northern

Israel. God never meant

for Elijah to be a cross-

country

runner; yet that

was what

he had been doing

— running and

sulking. The key

point in his answer

is the

personal pronoun, “I.”

He said, "I have been very zealous for the

LORD,

the God of hosts; for the

sons of Israel

have forsaken

Your

covenant, torn down Your

altars and killed

Your

prophets with the sword.

And I alone am left; and

they

seek my life,

take

it away." (1Ki 19:10)

Because the Lord is omniscient. He knew

billions

of years ago that Elijah

was “jealous,” or

literally,

“zealous for

the Lord.” He also knew that

the children

of Israel had been out of line. Notice

the emphasis: it

is “I, I, I and my.”

Poor,

carnal

Elijah, with his eyes on

himself!

Yet because the Lord is very gracious. He

was

not

willing to put one of his

well-trained

servants on

the

shelf.

Elijah had been trained

both by the brook

Cherith and in the house of the

widow of Zarephath.

(1Ki 17:1-16) He did

marvelous job on Mount

Carmel in taking a

stand for the Lord.

But now he

was

falling apart; he was

in the place of

carnality, out

of the bottom circle.

UNDERSTANDING JEHOVAH

(1Ki 19:10) in the Authorized King James

Version,

uses the word LORD in

capital letters.

This

is the

translators’

method of rendering the

Hebrew

word

JEHOVAH. Notice that JEHOVAH

contains

three

vowels. When you remove

the

vowels, you

have

JHVH. This approximates the

Hebrew word

JHWH,

which is

called the

Tetragrammaton

because

it has

four letters.

Originally, written

Hebrew

contained no

vowels.

The vowels were all

pronounced and

understood,

but the written

language was just a

series of consonants read

from

right to left.

Later,

vowels points

were placed below

the letters. This

particular word,

JHWH, is derived

from the verb

HAJAH, “to be,” with the

connotation of

absolute

existence.

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I

AM”;

and

He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of

Israel, ‘I

AM has sent me to

you.’

(Ex 3:14)

here

the

translation “I Am that I Am” is

the

doubling of the

verb. Therefore, JHWH appears

be a crasis

formed from the doubling of the

verb

HAJAH, “to

be.”

When the Old Testament refers to all three

Members of the Trinity

collectively, the Hebrew

word

is ELOHIM. This

word is rendered “God” in

the

Authorized Version, capital G with lower case

od.

The

IM in ELOHIM is the

plural

suffix,

indicating that

identical Divine essence belongs

to all three

Members of the Trinity. When the Old

Testament

refers to one of the individual

Persons of the

Godhead, the word used is

JEHOVAH or JEHOVAH

ELOHIM.

THE LORD PASSED BY — A STILL SMALL

VOICE

So He said, "Go forth and stand on the

mountain

before the LORD." And

behold, the

LORD was

passing by!

And a great and strong

wind was

rending

the mountains and breaking in

pieces the

rocks

before the LORD; but the

LORD was not in the

wind.

And after the wind an

earthquake, but the

LORD

was

not in the

earthquake. (1Ki 19:11)

Elijah stood at the entrance to the cave and

watched this tremendous wind

tear up the

mountainside and

destroy the rocks. The wind

and

the earthquake

were a great manifestation of

nature:

they represented the power

of human

ability and

naturalistic phenomena. Please

notice, ‘The LORD

was not in the

wind … the

LORD was not in

the

earthquake.” God does not

operate through

the

energy of the flesh ---

through human power; God

operates

through

His

Spirit and Truth! (Jn 4:24)

After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in

the fire; and after the

fire a sound of a gentle

blowing.

(1 Ki 19:12)

Again, the fire was a terrifying representation

natural power, but “the

LORD was not in the

fire.”

The English

phrase, “a sound of a gentle

blowing,”

a weak translation. The Hebrew

says, “a voice of

silence, atomic!” This was

voice that said nothing;

yet it was the most

powerful voice in the universe.

Here

is a title of

God the Holy Spirit.

(Zec 4:6)

summarizes the

lesson: “…Not

might, nor by

power, but by My

Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.”

THE USELESS BELIEVER

1Ki 18:1 did not learn his lesson, and he had

set aside for a time until

he woke up to the

importance of the

power of the Spiritual life; the

control of

the “still small voice.” When God the

Holy

Spirit controls our lives, we are

said

to be

Spiritual.

When the old sin nature controls, we

are said to be

carnal.

(Rom 8:5) At every point,

we are

either carnal

or Spiritual; but we are

never

both at the same time.

There is a continual

struggle between the old sin

nature

and the Holy

Spirit; the soulish mind

ecause

the mind set on the flesh

is hostile toward

God; for it

does not subject itself to the law of God,

for it is

not

even able to do so,

and those who are in

the flesh

cannot please God.

(Ro

8:7-8)

---

ersus

the

Spiritual

Mind; (1Co 2:16) human

reality versus

GOD'S

REALITY.

When the Holy Spirit controls the life. He can

use

any useless or broken

stick; when the Holy

Spirit

does not

control our life, the greatest talent,

ability,

personality and eloquence in the world

are

absolutely

worthless. Elijah

had run

away; he

had

sat under the

juniper tree; he had been

sulking in a

cave. Elijah

was in a carnal state; he

was

out of

fellowship. In

spite of his tremendous

human

abilities, he was

powerless at the

moment. To serve

God, a

believer

must be in a

position to utilize the

power of God the

Holy

Spirit! I have a very

beautiful

gold pen, which

has

been handed down in the family

for several

generations. I cherish it very much. But

you

know, the

little gadget that

takes in

the ink is

worn out. I never

carry that pen around to use for

the

simple reason

that it just won’t hold ink.

Even

though

it is a beautiful

pen on the outside, it is

useless

because it isn’t filled

with ink.

Whatever you may be on the exterior, if God

the

Holy Spirit does not

control

your life, you are

useless as my

gold pen — as useless as

Elijah

was

in the

cave. It is very important to

understand this

concept, because

Spirituality

the

key to

experiential

Christianity.

SPIRITUALITY AS RELATED TO THE

MOSAIC

LAW !!!!

For a general concept of the Principles of

Spirituality, we must begin with

the Person of

Jesus

Christ.

Point 1: Christ fulfilled the Law. This may not

seem to have much to do with

Spirituality, but

actually, it has

everything in the world to do with

our

subject. In,

(Mat 5:17) Jesus said, “Think not

that I

am come to destroy the

Law, or the

prophets: I am

not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”

In view of this

statement, we

need to take a look

at the

Mosaic Law.

We usually think of the Mosaic Law as the

Ten

Commandments’ but these

mandates were

only a

small portion

of the Law. The entire Law

was divided

into three parts or codices:

Codex #1 was the moral Law, which included

the

Ten Commandments as

well as all other

moral and

ethical

Commandments. The purpose

of Codex # 1

was to prove to man that he is a

sinner and needs a

Savior.

Codex # 2 was a complete shadow

Christology. It

is called “shadow”

because Christ

was revealed

symbolically in

many ways.

For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good

things to come and not

the

very form of

things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they

offer

continually year by year, make perfect those

who draw near.

(Heb 10:1)

For example,

the Tabernacle was a

shadow

Christology. Every

article of

furniture in

the

Tabernacle, every activity

inside the

Tabernacle, the

very

materials from which

the

Tabernacle was

constructed —

cloth, metal and

wood

— were

significant. Each article

specifically

taught some

facet

of the

Person

and

work of the

coming Messiah.

Remember, not all

of the people

could read;

but they

could learn

Truth from seeing

the various

articles of

furniture

and the

rituals

performed in the Tabernacle.

(Heb 9:1-28)

The Jews observed the slain animal on the

Brazen Altar, and

understood that this

foreshadowed

the Messiah

Who would die for

their

sins. They saw

the priest enter the Holy

Place to accomplish the

service of

God. While

the

congregation could not

enter, they knew that

within was a

Table of

Shewbread that spoke of

Christ as the Bread of

Life.

(And

fellowship with

God in time) (Jn 6:35) They

were aware of the

Lampstand

which furnished the

only light in

that

part of the Tabernacle; and from

this,

they

understood that Christ is the Light of the

world.

(Jn

8:12) (And the

Spiritual life of Christ in us)

There

was a Golden Altar of Incense, which

identified

Christ as the High Priest forever

after

the

order of

Melchizedek.

(A prayer through

Christ)

just as He

says also in another passage,

“You

are a priest

forever

According to the order of

Melchizedek.”

(Heb 5:6) The

veil separating the

Holy

Place from

the Holy

of Holies, the dwelling

place

Christ,

represented

his Incarnation

by a

new and living

way which He

inaugurated for us

through the veil,

that is, His flesh

(Heb 10:20)

In the center of the Holy of Holies was the Ark

the Covenant, which

portrayed Christ as a sin

offering for

mankind. This box, constructed of

acacia

wood and overlaid with gold, symbolized

the

humanity and Deity of Christ,

His

Hypostatic

Union. The Ark contained three

articles as a

reminder

of Israel’s

sin during the

wilderness

wanderings: the

tables of the Law,

the pot of manna

and Aaron’s rod

that budded.

(Heb 9:4) Over the top

of the Ark

of the

Covenant

was the Mercy Seat. Its

very

construction,

with the cherubim on

either side,

presented

propitiation

and depicted how the

justice

and

righteousness

(Holiness) of God the

Father

would be

satisfied with the Spiritual

death

Christ.

(Rom 3:25)

As explained in

For the Law, since it has

only a

shadow

of the good things to come and not

the

very form of things, can never,

by the

same

sacrifices

which they offer continually year by year

(Heb 10:1)

these

Doctrines were communicated

means of

shadow

Christology: “For

the Law

having a shadow of

good

things to come .… .”

What

are these “good

things”?

They refer to the

Lord

Jesus Christ and the

new way

of life for the

believer

the Church Age.

The Tabernacle revealed the Person and

work of

the Messiah, but He was

further made

known

through

the

Levitical offerings. Each of

these

offerings

disclosed some feature of the

work of Christ

on the

Cross. In addition to

the

offerings, the function

of the

Levitical priesthood

also revealed Christ’s

Person

and work. Finally,

the Jews

observed various

Holy

Days. The

Passover, for

example, prefigured

Christ’s

redemptive work. (Salvation) (1Co 5:7)

The

Feast

Unleavened Bread pictured Christ with

imputed

sin, sin nature, personal

sin and no

human

thinking

in the Spiritual life. Each of the

Holy Days

taught

some aspect of God’s Plan,

and the Jews

learned

Truth by

observing the

prescribed rituals. All

ritual

worship was

specified by Codex #2 of the

Mosaic

Law and

was designed

to demonstrate that

Christ is

the

only solution to the

problem of sin and

the old

sin

nature. (Rom 6:17)

Codex #3 was the social and Divine

establishment

code, which provided a

life-style

protect Israel as

custodians of the Word of

God. Its

Laws of

sanitation,

diet, etc., affirmed

that God takes

care of His own.

In His Incarnation, Christ fulfilled all three

codices.

The next question is,

how

did He fulfill

them? First,

under

Codex #1, He observed the

Ten

Commandments perfectly. For hundreds

and

hundreds of years, the Decalogue

had been

begging

for someone to keep its every jot and

tittle; yet no

one

ever

could! The presence of the

old sin

nature in

every member of the human

race

prevents even the

possibility of living a

sinless life. But here is One,

born of a

virgin,

without a sin nature, without imputed

or personal

sin. Who came into the

world as true

humanity

and undiminished deity in one Person, and

lived

perfect life! In so doing. He fulfilled Codex #1.

Second, Christ accomplished Codex #2. He

became the Reality of the

shadows. He actually

achieved in His life

all the precepts previously

taught

about His Person and work.

Third, Christ provided a new way of life for

every

believer of the Church

Age

and fulfilled the

concept

Codex

#3. Prior to the Church Age,

the

universal

indwelling of the Spirit was

unknown. We now have

totally new

situation:

from

the Day of Pentecost, A.

30, to this very

moment, every

person who has

believed in

Jesus Christ as Savior

is immediately

and

permanently indwelt by

the Holy Spirit. Jesus

Christ

said in, (Jn 16:7):

"But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage

that

I go away; for if I do not

go away, the Helper

will not

come to

you; but if I go, I will send Him to

you.

This was a reference to the Holy Spirit. After

Jesus

Christ ascended and

was seated at the

right

hand of

the

Father, He and the Father sent

the Holy

Spirit, (Jn

15:26) and the new Law of

the Spirit of

Life in Christ

Jesus was

instituted.

(Rom 8:2) Our

next point is

extremely important

because it is the

negative

approach to

Spirituality.

Point 2: Christ is the end of the Law for

believers.

“Or Christ is the end of

the Law for

righteousness to

everyone

that believes”

For it is impossible for

the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to

take away sins.

(Heb 10:

4).

“But if you are

led by the

Spirit, you are not

under the Law.”

(Ga 5:18).

“But

the

fruit of the

Spirit is love, joy, peace,

patience,

kindness,

goodness,

faithfulness,

gentleness self-

control;

against such there is

Law.

(Gal 5:22-

23)

The

Law in these passages

refers specifically to the

Mosaic Law.

Once fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ, the

Mosaic

Law was set aside. The

Law was given

only

to Israel

during

the dispensation of the

Jews. It was

instituted

through Moses and

remained in effect until

abolished

by Christ.

During

the Church Age,

believers are not

under

the Law. This Truth may

shock

you.

You may

vibrating because

of all the

Sunday School

teachers and

ministers

who have

convinced you

that

you must live by the Ten

Commandments

— as if

the

Ten Commandments

could

effectively deal with

sin.

The only trouble is

that

you have

never examined the

Word of God to

discover God’s grace method of

handling sin in

the

believer’s life. God provides

solutions; He is

not

shockable.

Point 3: We are not Lawless. When the Bible

states “we are not under the

Law, (Ritual) but

under

grace,”

(Reality) (Rom 6:14) --- it is not a

credit card

for

sinning. If you do not understand

this point, you

might assume this

were

true.

You

would say, “Since I

am not under the Law and I

have eternal life and

eternal security, I am going

out

and live it up.

Goodbye, God, I’ll see you in

eternity!” That, of

course, is a distortion of Truth.

The Word of God

never gives

you license to sin.

The whole purpose of the study of the

Levitical

priesthood in the Book of

Hebrews is to

demonstrate

that the

Mosaic Law was abolished

when Christ

fulfilled it. The priesthood of the Law

was a

specialized priesthood. In all

Israel,

there

were only a

few priests, all from the family of

Aaron in the tribe of

Levi.

What happened to the

specialized priesthood

when the Law was

removed? It

went, too! If you are

standing on a

rug and someone pulls it

out from

under

you,

what happens to you? Down you go with

the rug!

We no longer operate under a specialized

priesthood because in no sense

of the word are

under the Mosaic

Law. You should be

familiar with,

(1Pe 2:

5; Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10). Every

believer is a

priest! Any religious

organization that

tries to put

believers under the

Law has neutralized

those

believers in phase

two of God’s Plan for

their

lives.

This is

dishonoring to the

entire Principle of

grace, to

God the Father, the Author of that Principle,

and

God the Son,

who executed the Plan of Grace

upon

the Cross!

THE NEW LAW

(Rom 8:2) states the new Law, which is the

routine

for the Christian life:

For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus

has

set you free from the

Law of sin and of death.

“Of” is a genitive of source. The source of this

Law

is the Holy Spirit

and

His

Thinking. For who

among

men knows the thoughts of a man except

the spirit of

the man which is in him? Even so the

thoughts of

God no one

knows except the

Spirit of

God.

Now

we have received, not the spirit of the

world, but the

Spirit

who is from God, so that we may

know the

things freely

given to us by God,

which

things we

also speak, not in words taught by human

wisdom,

but in those

taught by the Spirit, combining

spiritual

thoughts with

spiritual words.

(1 Co 2:11-13) He is the

new Law! Notice that the

Holy

Spirit

has several

titles.

“Holy Spirit” is the

name

which

stresses His personality. “Spirit

of”

emphasizes

His

work and is used as a title to

indicate various

aspects of His

ministry. He is

designated the “Spirit

Truth” in, (1Jn 4:6)

because

He reveals

Truth. He

called the

“Breath of life” in,

(Rev 11:11) because

gives

life.

How does this new Law operate? “In Christ

Jesus.” This means that it is a

function for

believers

only. “Has made

me free” is in the

aorist tense,

where

the

point of time is divorced

from time and

perpetuated forever. “Once and for

all

the Holy Spirit

has made me free from the

Law of sin and death.”

This is a

reference to the

Mosaic Law, called

the

“Law

of sin,” because

Codex #1

revealed the

sinfulness of

man. It is

called the “Law of death”

because the

Mosaic

Law could not produce life, even

in one

person.

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was

through the flesh, God did:

sending His own Son

the likeness

of sinful flesh and as an offering

for sin,

condemned sin in the flesh. (Rom 8:3)

Here was the deficiency of the Mosaic Law. “It

was

weak through [Literally,

because of] the

flesh.”

“Flesh”

is a

reference to the old sin nature

resident in

every

individual. The Law could do

nothing for us;

but God

the Father

could do

something, and He did!

God sent

His own Son

into the world as true

humanity.

“And for

sin” in

the Greek,

is literally “for a

sin offering.”

So that the requirement of the Law might be

fulfilled in us, who do not walk

according to the

flesh

but according

to the Spirit. (Rom 8:4)

What does “the righteousness of the Law

fulfilled

in us” mean? Since the

presence of the

old sin

nature

in every

member of the human

race

precludes

any

possibility of fulfilling Codex

#1--- in

the energy of the

flesh, it is

impossible

keep the

Mosaic Law by

trying to keep the

Mosaic Law. Only

one Member

the human

race ever

kept the Law,

and that was

Jesus

Christ. Yet it says

right here that

the Law can

fulfilled. Is this a contradiction?

Definitely not!

Then how? “ ... Fulfilled in us, who

walk not after

[According to] the flesh, [The

old sin

nature] but

after

[By means of] the Spirit.”

You see, one cannot keep the Law in the

power of

the old sin nature. The

Law can be

fulfilled only by

means of

the filling of the Holy

Spirit. So today, we

can measure up to the

Divine standard in exactly the

same way that

Christ

did

— through the filling of the

Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit sustained Christ during

the

entire period of His

Incarnation. We know this

from, (Isa 42:1) and from

passages throughout

the

New Testament itself. In, (Mat 12:28)

Jesus

said,

“But

if I cast out demons by the Spirit of

God [first-

class condition of “if” — and

I do]

…”

At the same time that Christ was fulfilling the

Law,

He was controlled by the

Spirit, and He

produced the

characteristics of love, peace, etc.,

that are seen

in,

(Gal 5:22-23). When we are

controlled by the Holy

Spirit, He

produces in us

the very character of the

humanity of Jesus

Christ. (2Pe 1:4) This is the only

way in which

we can

fulfill the Law. We are not

Lawless; but

we have a new

Law which was

designed for

believers in the Church Age —

“the

Law

of the

Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you

free

from

the law of sin and of death.”

(Rom 8:2)

“BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT”

The new Law calls for a new Commandment.

For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, And

arise from the dead, And

Christ will shine on

you."

(Eph 5:14)

“Wherefore” is literally “ for this reason,” and

refers

to the tremendous

Divine operating assets

listed in

the first

three chapters of Ephesians.

“Sleeping” is a

picture of the believer out of

fellowship, out of the

bottom circle.

“Awake,” an

aorist active imperative, is

a Command to the

believer to use,

(1Jn

1:9) which is

our rebound

technique.

“Arise from the dead” is also

aorist

imperative. Since no believer can literally

bring

himself up from the dead,

what

does this really

mean?

The Bible teaches

ine

different types of death.

(Spiritual, physical,

temporal, productional,

sexual,

second death,

sin unto death,

experiential death

and

retroactive positional

death) In, (Eph 5:14) we have

temporal death,

the

believer out of fellowship with

God through

carnality. Our Command once again

is:

Get back

into fellowship! If we

do, what happens?

“Christ

shall give thee

light” or animation. A dark

house

on a dark night is just a blur on the

landscape.

But if the house has light on the inside, it takes

beauty. Christianity provides

inner beauty

and inner

power through the light, which is

turned on when the

Holy

Spirit controls the life.

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as

unwise

men but as wise.

(Eph 5:

15)

How can you walk “carefully”? (Gal 5:16)

states

the answer: “This I say

then, walk in [By

means of]

God the Holy

Spirit, [in the filling of the

Spirit] and

you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

[old sin nature]

“Not as unwise.” How can

avoid

being unwise? (1) I

must know and understand

Truth; and (2) I must

Think with It! How do we

know this? The

word “wise”

connotes the

concept of

the application of Truth to

experience,

and this is only possible by means of

the

filling

of the Spirit.

making the most of your time, because the

days

are evil. (Eph 5:16)

The word “exagorazo in the

reek” means “to

purchase.” Remember, this

addressed to

believers;

only

believers can buy time, as the

unbeliever has no

“capital.” He cannot buy even

one

minute! Time is

purchased by

means of the

filling of

the Spirit,

whereby Truth learned and

applied

becomes our

“coin of the

realm.”

Buy truth, and do not sell it,

Get wisdom and

instruction and understanding.

(Pr

23:23)

So then do not be foolish, but understand

what

the

will of the Lord is.

(Eph

17)

Our next imperative or Command says, “Stop

being stupid.” Who is the

“stupid” Christian in

this

context? It is the

believer who remains in the

state of

carnality due to his ignorance of the

Truth of

Pneumatology — the ministry of

God

the Holy Spirit.

What can he do about this

status? “Understand the

will of

God.” You cannot

learn all of the

details of the

will of God in one

moment; it is

not even expected of

you. But it is

very clear from this context what the

will

God

is:

And do not get drunk with wine, for that

is dissipation, but be filled with the

Spirit,

(Eph 5:18).

The first part of this verse is prohibition

against

drunkenness, because in a

drunken

state, alcohol

becomes the

adverse controlling

force of the mind.

the other hand, the filling of

the Spirit is the

controlling power of the

Spiritual

life.

This is a

Command from God: the present

passive imperative

of PLEROO

says, “Keep on

being filled

with the

Spirit.” Notice the passive

voice: you

receive the

filling of the Spirit. You

cannot work for it; you cannot

earn

it; you

not

deserve it; it is a grace provision

the Lord.

The state of Spirituality is not attained

because

you “agonized in a closet.”

Perhaps you

think that

because you

fasted you are Spiritual.

Well, you are

not!

You may look better because

you lost weight.

You may feel better

because

your cardiovascular

system is

t under such a

strain; but you are not

Spiritual

because of

fasting. Perhaps

you think that

because you

hustled in a Christian

program and

were

elected

to a church office that you are Spiritual.

Such

activities do not make you Spiritual! Spirituality

the

filling of the Holy Spirit

which we receive

when

God’s Command in, (1Jn 1:9).

So we have

been given a new Law in Romans,

Chapter 8, and

now we have a new

Commandment in Ephesians 5.

YOUR BODY IS A SANCTUARY

The body of the believer contains a soul (The

area

for capacities in life)

composed of self-

consciousness,

mentality, (With two lobes)

volition,

emotion,

and conscience. (Norms and

standards)

The body also houses the old

sin

nature. The human

spirit, received at salvation,

enables the believer to

understand, to store and

to transfer

Truth into the

right lobe. Finally, God

the

Holy Spirit indwells the

body of the believer.

Nowhere is He said to indwell

the

soul, nor are

we ever Commanded to be indwelt

by the Spirit,

for this ministry

to the believer is

automatic and

permanent from the moment of

salvation.

Or do you not know that your body is a

temple of

the Holy Spirit who is in

you, whom

you have from

God, and

that you are not your

own? (1Co 6:19)

Whenever you find the word “Ghost” in your

Bible,

it should be translated

“Spirit.” The Greek

word

PNEUMA

always means “Spirit.” There is

word in

the Greek vocabulary for “ghost.” This

apparent

discrepancy is simply a

matter

preference with one

group of translators partial to

the

use of the English

word “Ghost,” and the

other, to

“Spirit.” In, (Exo 25:8)

the Tabernacle

(Later

on, the

Temple) is referred to

as a

sanctuary. So, to make

our verse a

little

stronger:

“your body is the

sanctuary of the Holy

Spirit.”

A stranger walked into Berachah Church one

day

and asked me where the

sanctuary was. I

said,

“Right

here.”

He said, “I don’t see it.” I

repeated,

“Right

here,” and pointed to myself. He

said, “You

don’t

understand”; whereupon

countered, “You don’

understand!” Then I

added, “If you are looking for

the

auditorium, go

down the hall and turn

to the

right.” He

looked

terribly shocked

and said,

“Auditorium?” So I

explained, “Yes, the last

sanctuary made of

brick

and

mortar was destroyed in

A.D. 70 by the

legions of

Titus when they broke

through the

walls of Jerusalem

and destroyed the

city.”

It’s pretty hard to get rid of old ideas, isn’t it?

the

true sense of the word,

it is impossible for

any

church

have a sanctuary. God no longer

“dwells”

tabernacles made with hands; He

indwells the

body

of every believer.

wherever

you go, you take

your

“sanctuary” right along

with you. Whether you

are

Spiritual or carnal,

mature or

immature, the Holy

Spirit never leaves

your

body during your life on this

earth. The

prayer David prayed in,

Do not cast me

away from Your presence

And do not take Your Holy

Spirit from me.

(Ps 51:

11)

s no longer

legitimate.

When believers in the Old Testament who

temporarily possessed the power of the Spirit

stepped out of line. He could be

removed as the

result of Divine

discipline. (1Sa 16:14) But in the

Church Age,

the Holy Spirit is here to stay —

period!

THE MANIFESTATION OF THE NEW Law

The Holy Spirit indwells the body of the

believer

permanently, but His

ministry of filling

depends on

whether or

not you use, (1Jn 1:9).

The new Law

the Spirit of life, or Spirituality, is

manifested in and

through the believer as

the

Holy Spirit controls his

soul. However, in the

case of a new or immature

believer, the filling of

the Spirit is rarely

apparent.

There are two

reasons for

this. First, the new or

immature

believer is unable to be filled with the Spirit

for

prolonged period. Second, he is minus Truth.

The more Truth he

understands,

the more

consistently he will apply

the rebound technique

and

filled with the

Spirit. The longer he is able

maintain the filling of the Spirit, the

Truth

able to assimilate and apply. The Holy

Spirit uses

the

BIBLE

in the soul!

In order for the believer to mature Spiritually,

there

must be a balance of

residency in his soul

between

the filling

of the Spirit and God's

Thoughts.

The

filling

of the Spirit, plus the

positive volition of

the believer

toward Truth and

his

consequent

consistent intake of

Truth

establish this balance of

residency in his

soul.

each of the passages we

will

examine, the soul

the believer is

connected with

the function of

the Holy

Spirit and Bible Truth.

that He would grant you, according to the riches

of His glory, to

be strengthened with power through

His Spirit in the inner man

(Eph 3:16)

“That” introduces a purpose clause, and the

literal

translation reads: “That

he would, once

and for all,

give you,

according to the riches of

his glory, to be

empowered with Divine power by

means of his Spirit

in the inner man.”

You will

notice the Principle: the

Holy Spirit’s control of

the inner man or soul is the

source of power.

First Christ is

formed in us by Truth.

My children, with whom I am again in labor

until

Christ is formed in you.

(Gal

4:19) 30

percent.

And next by consistency of the Thinking with

Truth;

Christ is at home.

So that Christ may dwell in your hearts

through

faith; (Truth) and that you,

being rooted

and

grounded in love.

(Virtue) (Eph 3:17) 60

percent.

The second purpose is “that Christ may be at

home in your hearts.” Just as

we had several

Hebrew

words for

different aspects of “dwelling,”

this

is the

Greek word for “being at home.” This

means

“to dwell

in relaxation and

ease.”

It is

possible to be

in a house,

even to live there, yet

not be at home.

Some of

you

may have had such

experience.

This phrase says,

in effect, that

when

the Holy Spirit

controls the soul,

Christ is

at home in your life.

Experiential

Christianity

what you Think;

For as

he thinks within himself, so

he is.

He says

to you,

“Eat and drink!” (Pr 23:7) —

not the facade

you can

produce on the

outside.

The

last

part of,

(Eph 3:17)

defines manifestations of

the

filling of

the

Spirit when

the believer has a

foundation

Truth,

(“Rooted”)

and is growing

Spiritually,

(“Grounded”).

According to my earnest expectation

(Concentration and Truth) and hope,

(Certain of

rewards in eternity) that I

will not be put to shame

anything, but

that with all boldness, (And or

openness) Christ will even now, as always,

exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

(Php 1:20) 100 percent cf. (Mark 4:20)

“With all boldness,” is literally, “with all

openness.”

In our last passage,

Christ was at

home

in our hearts.

now have a little different

phrase:

“Christ

exalted

in my body.” The means

accomplishing this is the

same as

before —

the

filling of God the Holy Spirit

and maximum

Truth

resident in the soul!

My children, with whom I am again in labor

until

Christ is formed in you.

(Gal 4:19)

Paul is using the title, “my little children,” to

rebuke

the Galatians.

Occasionally, when adults

start

scrapping,

you tell them to “stop acting like

children”

or “stop being childish.” With this

phrase,

Paul

immediately gained the

attention of

those

“fighting

Irishmen” from Asia Minor. The

Galatians

were the

three Celtic tribes that turned

back,

instead

crossing the English Channel

with

the rest of the

Irish, and finally settled in the

province of Galatia.

They

had

been

conducting

themselves in a rather

childish way by biting and

devouring

each

other with

words. Actually,

they

had been fighting among

themselves

because

they had been “suckers” for

false Truth. So Paul

used the term

“my

little

children”

as rebuke, not

as affection.

“Of whom I travail in birth again,” might be

translated, “I am sweating you

out.” The phrase,

“until

Christ be

formed in you,” is simply another

manifestation

of the application of the new Law

which the believer in the

Church

Age

reaches

Spiritual maturity.

THE GLORIFICATION OF JESUS CHRIST

Who glorifies Jesus Christ on earth? If you

said,

“believers,” you are wrong!

The answer is

the Holy

Spirit. Jesus

had promised the Holy

Spirit in

“But I

tell

you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go

away; for if I do not go away,

the Helper will not come

to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

(Jn 16:7)

Then in, (Jn 16:14)

Jesus said, “He [the Holy

Spirit]

shall glorify me .

. . .” The

primary ministry of

the

Holy

Spirit is to

glorify Christ!

But this He spoke of

the

Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to

receive; for the Spirit was not

yet given, because

Jesus was not yet glorified.

(Jn 7:39)

After Christ

ascended

and

sat

down at the right hand of the

Father in

glorification,

the Holy Spirit

came

to glorify

Christ

on earth

THROUGH

believers. Christ must be

absent

from

the

earth before the Holy Spirit

could

begin His

ministry of glorification.

No member of the human race has within

himself

any ability to glorify

Christ.

Human

talent, physical

assets,

mental capacity — none

of these

apparent

advantages can glorify Christ.

This is a vital point: it

exposes the

worthlessness

of any human

righteousness that we can

produce; (Rom 7:18)

Only

One Person

glorifies

the Lord

Jesus Christ. That

Person is God the

Holy

Spirit, who indwells

and

controls the

believer.

For you have been bought with

price: therefore

glorify God in your body.

(1 Co 6:20)

o “glorify

God in your body” can be

fulfilled only

through

the

balance of residency in the

soul between

the

filling

of the Spirit and Bible Truth.

THE STRUGGLE FOR CONTROL

As long as you live in your present body, the

old

sin nature will coexist with

the indwelling

Holy Spirit

as a

permanent resident of the body.

This results in

great struggle for dominance in

the life of every

believer: the old

sin nature

versus the Holy Spirit.

Paul stated it this way:

For I know that nothing good dwells in me,

that

is,

in my flesh; for the

willing

is present in

me, but the

doing of

the good (Divine

righteousness) is not.

(Rom

7:15)

He is simply saying that we can not live a

supernatural Spiritual life, when

the old sin

nature

controls the soul.

(Gal 3:2-3) When the

Holy Spirit

controls

our soul, we are Spiritual.

Your volition

determines which one will control.

Any

sin in your life

allows the old sin nature to

dictate to your soul; but it

is quickly

dethroned by

the application of,

(1Jn 1:9).

When your sins are

confessed, the

Holy Spirit is

again in control.

Some believers are like yo-yo’s.

They

constantly

jump back and forth between the

dictatorship of

the Holy Spirit and the old sin

nature.

Only the

consistent intake and the Thinking with

Truth

can overcome

this

instability!

Since you have in obedience to the Truth

purified

your souls for a sincere

love of the

brethren, fervently

love

one another from the

heart, (1Pe 1:22)

What happens to the Holy Spirit when we

allow

the old sin nature to control

the life? The

Holy Spirit

does not

leave us, but He is said to

be “quenched”

in,

(1Th 5:19) or “grieved” in,

(Eph 4:30). Both of

these

terms describe

activities

the old sin nature.

Before

examine these in detail, let us note the six

sins

listed in the Bible as sins

against the Holy Spirit.

Four

of them are committed

believers; two, by

unbelievers. The sins committed by

unbelievers

are

actually

two sides of the same coin, so we

will look at

these first.

SINNING AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT

(1) Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This

sin is

found in, (Mat 12:14-32)

and is simply the

rejection

of Jesus

Christ as Savior. The religious

crowd was

guilty of this during our Lord’s

Incarnation, and this

sin could can be

committed

by an unbeliever during

his time on earth.

(2) Resistance to the Holy Spirit. This is also

the

rejection of Christ during

the Church Age

“You men

who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart

and

ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are

doing just as your fathers

did.

(Ac 7:51)

(3) Lying to the Holy Spirit. From the analysis

the context in, (Ac 5:1-10)

lying to the Holy

Spirit is

sin of

false motivation, committed by a

believer.

This

is performing a good deed, but

with the wrong

motivation. Giving

money to the

church is generally

considered to be good.

However, if you do it as a

result of

pressure, of

approbation lust, or of any false

motivation, this

is lying to the Holy

Spirit.

Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, were jealous

of a

man named Barnabas,

who apparently

owned a

tremendous

amount of real estate on

the island of

Cyprus. He sold his land and gave

all the proceeds

the sale to the apostles

for

distribution to other

believers. For this reason, it

seems that everyone

thought well of him. When

Ananias and

Sapphira

heard about this, they

evidently decided they wanted

approbation too:

they lusted for praise. So,

what

did

they do?

They sold a piece of their real estate and

gave

part of the

proceeds to the church. Now, this

was

perfectly

in order: if they had given only

Five

cents on the dollar, it wouldn’t have made any

difference. But they said

that

their monetary gift

was

all they had collected from the property sale.

other

words, they banked part of it and gave

part of it; then

they dropped a

little word here

and there: We gave

all

of it, so admire us as you

do Barnabas.

For

that

sin of

lying to the Holy

Spirit, they were severely

disciplined

— they

died the sin unto death.

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not

leading to death, he shall ask

and God will for him

give life to those who commit sin not leading to

death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say

that he should make

request

for this.

If anyone sees

his brother committing a sin not leading to

death, he

shall ask and God will for him give life to those who

commit sin not

leading to

death. There is a sin

leading to death; I do not say that he should

make

request

for this.(1 Jn 5:16)

Principle: a

good deed

done with false

motivation

is wrong.

(4) Insulting the Spirit of grace. (Heb 10:29)

(5) Quenching the Holy Spirit. (1Th 5:19)

(6) Grieving the Holy Spirit. (Eph 4:30)

We must distinguish between “quenching”

and

“grieving” the Spirit. Both are

committed by

the

believer only and

put him out of fellowship,

but they

are

different categories of failure. This

difference is

related to the areas of the old

sin

nature. By

definition, the old sin nature is the

source of human

sin, good,

and evil. Formed as

a direct result of

Adam’

s first sin, the sin nature

resides in

the cell

structure

of the human body

(Rom 6:6; Rom 7:5;

Rom 7:18)

and is

transmitted genetically by the male

procreation. (Gen 5:3) At the moment an

individual is

born physically, his old

sin nature

becomes the target

for the

imputation of Adam’s

sin,

(Rom 5:12) causing

Spiritual death and the

sovereignty of the sin nature

over human life.

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so

that you obey its lusts

(Ro

6:12) The sin nature is

the

center of man’s

rebellion

toward

God. Variously

designated in

Scripture as

“sin”, (Singular noun —

Rom 7:13)

“flesh” (Gal 5:16)

and “old man

”

---

hat,

in reference to your former manner of life, you lay

aside

the old self, which is being corrupted in

accordance with the lusts of

deceit,

(Eph 4:22)

old sin nature also has

essence: an area of

weakness,

which

produces

personal sins

ixing our

eyes on Jesus, the author and

perfecter of

faith, who

for the joy set before Him endured the

cross, despising

the shame,

and has sat down at the

right hand of the throne of God.

(Heb 12:

n area

strength, which

generates

human morality;

(Isa 64:6) and a trend

toward

asceticism,

(2Co 11:13; 2Ti 3:5) or

lasciviousness; (Gal 5:19-21)

and a lust pattern

(The

motivator — Eph 2:3).

“Quenching the

Spirit” is

sinning:

“grieving the Spirit”

sining

and staying in

sin; (Reversionism).

GROWTH AND MATURITY

A basic concept of experiential Christianity is

that

Spirituality and carnality

are absolutes.

Do not grieve

the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed

for

the day of redemption. (Eph 4:30)

cf. But if we walk

the Light as He

Himself is in the Light, we have

fellowship with one another, and the blood of

Jesus

His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 Jn 1:7) And,

(

1Th 5:19; 1Jn 2:10;

1Jn 3:4-10)

At any

given

moment you will be either 100%

Spiritual or

100%

carnal. You cannot be

partially

Spiritual or

partially

carnal. Nor can you be both

Spiritual and

carnal at

the same time. You can,

however,

rapidly

switch

from

one to the other.

There is a second concept of experiential

Christianity: Spiritual growth is

relative. A

believer

gradually matures

just as a child

gradually becomes

adult. The moment you

accept Christ as Savior,

you become a son of

God.

(Gal 4:4-7) The Greek

word HUIOS means

“an adult son.” This is your

position

in Christ.

However, experientially you

are

called a

BREPHOS. (1Pe 2:2) This

Greek word

refers to

a “baby at the mother’s breast.” A person

may be

fifty

years old when he believes in Christ as

Savior. While physically an adult,

Spiritually he

is a

brand new baby. If he

grows Spiritually by

assimilating and

metabolizing Bible Truth, he

will

soon become a Spiritual adolescent.

But He

answered and said,

It is written, ‘Man shall not live

on bread alone, but on

every word that proceeds out

of the mouth of God.

(Mt 4:4)

If he

continues to

grow,

he will eventually

emerge a

mature Christian.

The relative progression of Spiritual growth is

closely related to the

absolute

status of

Spirituality

versus

carnality. A baby believer is

either

Spiritual or

carnal

at any moment,

depending on who controls

his

soul: God the

Holy Spirit or the

old sin nature. An

adolescent

believer is also either Spiritual

or carnal

any

particular time.

Likewise, a mature believer

may

be Spiritual or

carnal. A

temporary lapse into

carnality

demands the rebound

technique but

does

not

immediately erode the believer’s level

of growth.

The

believer greatly

benefits

keeping

short

accounts

with God, by promptly

rebounding to

restore the

filling of the Spirit. The

more time the

believer is

filled

with the

Spirit, the

greater

his

opportunity to learn and

apply Truth,

and the quicker

his

Spiritual growth.

We have a new Commandment in place of

the

Mosaic Law: “Keep on being

filled with the

Spirit.”

(Eph 5:18; cf.

Mat 22:36-40; Gal 5:22-23)

Obedience

this new mandate is necessary in

order to fulfill our

second basic

Commandment:

“Grow in the grace and

Knowledge (Thinking) of

our

Lord and

Savior Jesus

Christ.”

(2Pe 3:18; cf

“I have

many more things to

say to you,

but

you cannot bear

them now.

“But when

He, the Spirit of truth, comes,

will guide you into

all the truth; for He will not

speak on His own

initiative, but

whatever He hears,

He will speak; and

He will disclose to you what is to

come.

“He

will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and

will

disclose it to you. “All things

that the Father has

are

Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and

will

disclose it to you.

(Jn 16:12-15) When you

accurately

understand

these two

imperatives, you

are on your

way in

the Christian life.

Until

you

understand

them,

your Christian life is

frustrated.

Many Christians are eternally saved from the

Lake of

Fire; but do not know it.

They feel they

have lost their

salvation. There are also carnal

Christians who

not understand carnality, and

Christians who

confess

their sins

but do not

understand Spirituality.

The

question is: How do

you know you are saved?

How

do you know you

are

carnal or Spiritual? The

answer

is: by faith.

This is a

matter of believing the

Truth of

the

Word of God. (Rom 4:20)

Your

awareness

of the

filling of the Holy Spirit comes by

means of faith,

does your

awareness of salvation.

This

is why

the

basic techniques of faith-rest and

rebound

are among

the first Truths the believer

needs to

learn.

Rebound

provides the filling of the

Spirit;

the faith-rest

technique makes it a reality in

your

Thinking.

In the realm of Spiritual phenomena, reality is

not

what you feel, not what

you assume, not

what

tradition has

taught you, but what the

Scripture says.

“For we walk by faith, (God's

Thinking) not by sight”

(2Co 5:7)