UNDERSTANDING THE FOUNDATION FOR SPIRITUAL …old.cornerstonebiblebaptistchurch.com/files/Files/080727… · Web viewWhen God is directing us to make spiritual ... He attacks our

“WE WRESTLE NOT” – LESSON #2

UNDERSTANDING THE FOUNDATION FOR SPIRITUAL WARFARE

DATE:

TEXT: I Thessalonians 5:23

INTRODUCTION:

Isaiah 41:28-29 – “For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.” 29 “Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.”

Notice that there was no man that could give them an answer for the problems they were facing, …

…Nor was there any counselor to give them clear direction.

Their words, or their counsel, was like “wind and confusion.”

As long as the wind blows we feel some sort of relief; but as soon as we leave the counselor, we do not feel relief, but confusion sets in again.

Too often we have “pat answers” for people’s struggles.

“Read your Bible”, “pray”, “tithe”, “attend church faithfully”, “go soul winning” etc.

Understanding The Foundations – I Thessalonians 5:23

The truth is, they would be better if they would do all these things, ….

But at times, there is more to it than these simple answers.

Matthew 17: 14-21

Some people have so much going on in their lives in the area of unresolved conflicts, turmoil, and Satanic attacks, that they cannot “read their Bibles”, “pray”, “go soul-winning”, etc.

We as God’s servants most have a better understanding of the “Foundation for Spiritual Warfare.”

Then these dear people can be set free to do all the above and more. (maybe even our selves)

Romans 8:37 – “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”

I. UNDERSTANDING HOW WE WERE CREATED (Refer to Diagram A)

Genesis 1:26a – “And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness:”

Notice the plural form. The Triune God.

God made man in triune form. The Man, God created us to be is uniquely separate, yet distinctly one.

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I Thessalonians 5:23 – “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole “spirit” and “soul” and “body” be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Man is spirit, soul and body, thus we see the triune parts of man.

Hebrews 4:12 –“For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Notice the “dividing asunder of soul and spirit,”

Why? The reason they are divided is because the soul and the spirit do not always think alike.

I Corinthians 2:14 – “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Once again, we see the Scriptures separating the soul and the spirit.

Unless one is able to recognize this truth, they will not be able to deal properly with spiritual warfare.

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When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, they became spiritually dead.

Their bodies did not die, but, they became spiritually dead.

They were separated from God in their spirit.

That’s why the Bible tells us “ye must be born again.” –John 3:7

And that God hath quickened us, which means “to be made alive.”

John 6:63 – “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

Romans 8:11 – “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

Ephesians 2:1 – “And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;”

I Peter 3:18 – “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:”

So the lost man, with out Christ, cannot understand the things of the Spirit, because Man’s spirit is dead.

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He is dead spiritually.

Here’s the point -

We must be careful that we do not find ourselves making soulish decisions, out of soulish emotions, due to soulish thinking.

When God is directing us to make spiritual decisions, they need to be fueled by faith.

I Corinthians 2:13 – “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”

The things of God are “spiritually discerned” – I Cor. 2:14

Romans 8:16 – “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:”

UNDERSTANDING HOW WE WERE CREATED

II. THE SPIRIT OF MAN IS THE CENTER OF MAN, WHICH IS THE HEART OF MAN

When someone gets saved, it is this very area of a person’s being that the Spirit of God comes and resides.

ILLUSTRATION: Our house and the back apartmentSame house two different living spaces.

The Spirit of God moves into a person at salvation. 5


Our bodies, as we know according to Scripture, become the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

I Corinthians 3:16-17 – “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” 17 “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”

I Corinthians 6:19 – “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?”

So, He lives in us, but in what area does He reside?

It is in the spirit of man where the Spirit of God lives.

It is here that Romans 8:16 is fulfilled.

It does not say the Spirit of God bears witness with our souls.

But when the Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit then we have assurance of our salvation.

I John 3:24b – “And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us.”

I John 4:13 – “Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit.”

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I John 5:10a – “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself:”

I John 2:3 – “And hereby we do know that we knowHim, if we keep His commandments.”

I John 5:13 – “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

It is here in our spirit, after we are “born again”, we enjoy the fellowship of God.

It is here where the Spirit of God communicates with our spirit.

This is genuinely spiritual fellowship.

The “joy unspeakable and full of glory”! – I Peter 1:8

This is the function of our spirit; to hear from, fellowship with and communicate back and forth with the Spirit of God. UNDERSTANDING HOW WE WERE CREATED

THE SPIRIT OF MAN IS THE CENTER OF MAN, WHICH IS THE HEART OF MAN

III. THE SOUL IS MADE UP OF THE MIND, THE EMOTIONS AND THE WILL

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Man in his soul has a mind, emotions and will, but because he is lost, his spirit is dead to spiritual understanding.

He is not able to have the right thoughts in his mind, the right feelings in his emotions, or make the right decisions in his will.

Therefore, because he is not saved his soul is not controlled by God’s Spirit.

After a person is saved, Born Again, the Spirit of God comes to live within us in the area of our spirit.

Ezekiel 36:27; John 14:17; Romans 8:9; I Corinthians 3:16, 6:19; II Timothy 1:14; I John 2:27

From that position, the Spirit begins His work on us to bring us to a place of brokenness (humility) in our spirit.

Psalm 34:18 – “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”

Psalm 51:17 – “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

It is this “broken spirit” that enables God to work in us.

As our spirit is broken, He can then flow through the cracks and invades our soul.

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James 1:21 – “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”

After our spirit is raised from the dead at the point of salvation, God wants to save our souls.

Remember Salvation is progressive in the sense that we were “Saved from the Penalty of Sin”, and we are now being

“Saved from the Power of Sin”, one day we will be “Saved from the very Presents of Sin”.

This why it is imperative that after we get saved, we obey God’s Word (faith) by implanting “engrafting” it into our souls.

A. Our Minds (intelligence)

It is so very important, right after salvation that we start to renew our minds by the Word of God.

Ephesians 4:23 – “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;”

Psalm 119:11 – “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

Romans 12:2; II Corinthians 4:16; Colossians 3:10; Titus 3:5

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We can now begin to have right thoughts and right thoughts will stir up right emotions, and right emotions will motivate us to make right choices.

So, after we are saved, or after our spirit is raised from the dead and the Spirit of God moves into our spirit, we can begin the journey of renewing our minds by the Word of God.

B. Our Emotions (feelings)

As He works in our minds, the Spirit of God begins to work in the area of our emotions –

Colossians 3:2 – “Set your affection (emotions) on things above, not on things on the earth.”

We begin having the right feelings regarding things of eternal value and not temporal.

This is the result of having our minds renewed by the Word of God.

Romans 10:17 – “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

C. Our Wills (To obey or not to obey)

Next, the Spirit of God begins to work in the area of our wills. 10


Once we know how to think as the mind of Christ –

I Corinthians 2:16 – “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that He may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

…Due to the transforming work of God’s Word …

Romans 12:2 – “but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,”

…in our lives, we begin to have spirit filled thoughts that stir up Holy Spirit filled emotions.

That drives us to make Spirit filled choices and decisions.

This is why the Enemy attacks the believer so much in the area of his thinking and his though life.

The Soul of Man becomes the very battleground between God and Satan! IV. UNDERSTANDING OUR ENEMY

Satan cannot touch or have place in our spirit because the Spirit of God possesses it.

The Bible tells us that we are “Sealed” unto the day of Redemption –

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II Corinthians 1:22 – “Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.”

Ephesians 1:13 – “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”

Ephesians 4:30 – “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

…For it is an Eternal work of God.

Our spirit has experienced the eternal, uninterrupted work of justification.

The Enemy cannot do a thing about it.

Since Satan cannot work in our spirit after we are saved, Satan attacks our soul.

He attacks our mind by getting us to think wrong, thinking or living like the old man, then he attacks our emotions, and finally our wills.

Romans 8:7 – “Because the carnal mind is enmity (hostile) against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”

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Ephesians 4:22 – “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;”

Caution! According to the Word of God, even though we are saved, we can “give place” to the Devil –

Ephesians 4:27 – “Neither give place to the devil.”

If he is not allowed in our spirit, then where can we give him place?

It is in the area of our mind, emotion and will.

Remember that the soul is the battlefield.

It is here, so many of God’s children are losing the battle.

Some might say that a Christian can not be demon possessed.

I agree, but the child of God can be oppressed.

Notice who Paul is talking to, saved people in the church at Ephesus.

He is saying that we can give place to the devil in the area of our souls.

The word “place” here means “ground” or “jurisdictional territory”

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So, we can, according to Paul’s warning to the believers in Ephesus, give over jurisdictional territory of ourselves to the Devil.

I repeat, we know that we cannot be demon possessed, Satan cannot own us, but we can give ground over to Satan.

We can experience demonic activity or influences in our lives.

We cannot ignore Biblical truth.

Through several different doors, we can literally choose to open up to the Enemy.

Somewhere, along the course of time, we opened up our mind to things we knew were not right, things that lead us into the wrong way of thinking.

Colossians 2:8 – “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”

The Enemy can torment even Christians in their souls –

Proverbs 17:11 – “An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.”

He is playing havoc with the minds, emotions and wills of many of our people.

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Through his trickery, deceit, lies and deception he is hindering so many believers of being able to reach their potential, due to the bondage they are in.

Many are performing without a clue because there are areas of their lives that have been given over to the Enemy.

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UNDERSTANDING THE FOUNDATION FOR SPIRITUAL …old.cornerstonebiblebaptistchurch.com/files/Files/080727… · Web viewWhen God is directing us to make spiritual ... He attacks our