WEBVTT 00:00:00.270 --> 00:00:07.269 We can walk through this life of sorrow. This 00:00:07.269 --> 00:00:16.510 veil of tears. Of heartbreak. Knowing that we're 00:00:16.510 --> 00:00:23.149 in your care and your keeping. Overshadowed with 00:00:23.149 --> 00:00:32.380 your love. Knowing to whom we belong. And one 00:00:32.380 --> 00:00:37.340 of these days, when our last day's work will 00:00:37.340 --> 00:00:41.159 have been done, we'll stand in your glorious 00:00:41.159 --> 00:00:50.100 presence of thanks. Now then, I hope you came 00:00:50.100 --> 00:00:55.200 all prepared with your Bibles. The third chapter 00:00:55.200 --> 00:01:00.640 of 1 Corinthians. And... I might just as well 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:02.820 tell you that before I will have left your home 00:01:02.820 --> 00:01:07.079 today, we will have talked about something that 00:01:07.079 --> 00:01:10.959 is vitally important. We will have answered a 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:16.140 question that has been discussed, has been argued, 00:01:16.519 --> 00:01:20.879 more sermons have been preached on it than any 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:24.019 one portion of the Word of God that I know anything 00:01:24.019 --> 00:01:29.599 about. Few can agree. we will see what God's 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:36.359 Word says. And it's the question as to what is 00:01:36.359 --> 00:01:42.319 the difference between the spiritual and the 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:48.120 carnal. What is the difference? There has to 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:55.870 be some difference because Paul clearly... states 00:01:55.870 --> 00:02:01.829 the fact that there is a difference. Let me read 00:02:01.829 --> 00:02:05.390 just the first three verses of the third chapter 00:02:05.390 --> 00:02:10.789 of 1 Corinthians. And I, brethren, could not 00:02:10.789 --> 00:02:15.030 speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto 00:02:15.030 --> 00:02:20.770 carnal. There's a difference. Paul was very frank. 00:02:23.689 --> 00:02:27.830 I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, 00:02:28.110 --> 00:02:34.069 but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 00:02:34.990 --> 00:02:40.370 I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for 00:02:40.370 --> 00:02:45.449 hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither 00:02:45.449 --> 00:02:53.180 yet now are ye able, for ye are yet carnal. For 00:02:53.180 --> 00:02:57.379 whereas there is among you envying and strife 00:02:57.379 --> 00:03:03.500 and decisions, are ye not carnal and walk as 00:03:03.500 --> 00:03:10.039 men? He's asking them a question. Now, what does 00:03:10.039 --> 00:03:13.139 Paul say about the divisions with which he has 00:03:13.139 --> 00:03:15.060 already been dealing in the Corinthian church? 00:03:15.939 --> 00:03:20.819 First, he addresses them as brethren. Get that 00:03:20.819 --> 00:03:26.520 straight. Let's understand that once and for 00:03:26.520 --> 00:03:32.400 all. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:34.939 as unto spiritual, but as unto babes in Christ. 00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:39.340 Whatever he's going to say, whatever he's going 00:03:39.340 --> 00:03:42.879 to write, he is writing, he is saying to them 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:47.960 as brethren. Those who are his fellow believers. 00:03:49.319 --> 00:03:54.050 Those who have been born again. He's not talking. 00:03:54.150 --> 00:03:58.930 He's not writing to those who are dead in trespasses 00:03:58.930 --> 00:04:03.150 and sins. He is not addressing those who are 00:04:03.150 --> 00:04:09.169 unbelievers. He is not talking to those who have 00:04:09.169 --> 00:04:12.930 never been born again. Always in the Word of 00:04:12.930 --> 00:04:20.420 God. When one is addressed as brethren. That 00:04:20.420 --> 00:04:25.720 one is accepted as one being a Christian, born 00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:31.519 again. What was the matter with these people? 00:04:33.300 --> 00:04:39.740 I quote Paul, I could not speak unto you, even 00:04:39.740 --> 00:04:44.279 though you are born again, even though you are 00:04:44.279 --> 00:04:48.540 members of his church, even though you are Christians. 00:04:49.259 --> 00:04:52.860 I could not speak unto you as spiritual, but 00:04:52.860 --> 00:05:02.540 as unto carnal. Now, some place there we have 00:05:02.540 --> 00:05:12.139 an underlying truth. What is it? The trouble 00:05:12.139 --> 00:05:19.579 with them is that they are not spiritual, They 00:05:19.579 --> 00:05:26.019 are carnal. Now comes that question. What is 00:05:26.019 --> 00:05:30.279 the difference between the spiritual and the 00:05:30.279 --> 00:05:37.420 carnal? I want you to turn to a portion of the 00:05:37.420 --> 00:05:42.540 Word of God that gives us the answer. I could 00:05:42.540 --> 00:05:46.480 talk to you for the next five, six hours, and 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:50.629 yet... With all of my talking and all of my explanation, 00:05:50.990 --> 00:05:55.310 I still could not give you a better answer than 00:05:55.310 --> 00:05:59.649 Paul himself gave when he was writing to the 00:05:59.649 --> 00:06:04.389 Thessalonians. Oh, this is wonderful. Believe 00:06:04.389 --> 00:06:07.529 me, he certainly understood men. Paul certainly 00:06:07.529 --> 00:06:11.829 understood human nature. Turn, if you will, please, 00:06:12.050 --> 00:06:16.529 to 1 Thessalonians, the 5th chapter and the 23rd 00:06:16.529 --> 00:06:22.089 verse. And here you have the answer. And the 00:06:22.089 --> 00:06:30.209 very God of peace sanctify you wholly. Every 00:06:30.209 --> 00:06:39.949 word is potent. And I pray God, your whole spirit 00:06:39.949 --> 00:06:46.980 and soul and body. be preserved blameless unto 00:06:46.980 --> 00:06:52.259 the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He prayed 00:06:52.259 --> 00:06:57.779 for their spirit. He prayed for their soul. He 00:06:57.779 --> 00:07:05.300 prayed that their body be preserved entire without 00:07:05.300 --> 00:07:07.699 blame at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:17.740 Man is a trinity. body, soul, and spirit. That's 00:07:17.740 --> 00:07:22.720 the reason he begins by saying, and I pray God 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:30.860 your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved 00:07:30.860 --> 00:07:34.879 blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:07:35.819 --> 00:07:38.000 I want you to see something for just a few minutes. 00:07:39.370 --> 00:07:44.209 The essential thing in human personality is not 00:07:44.209 --> 00:07:47.910 the body. We put so much emphasis on the body. 00:07:51.189 --> 00:07:57.470 But in reality, the essential thing is not the 00:07:57.470 --> 00:08:02.769 body. It is not the mind. We put such emphasis 00:08:02.769 --> 00:08:07.569 on the mind. And yet, when you study the Word 00:08:07.569 --> 00:08:14.079 of God, You'll find that the body, the mind, 00:08:14.180 --> 00:08:19.759 are both secondary when it comes to the things 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:25.800 of God. The important thing is the spirit. God 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:31.360 is a spirit. And man is made in the divine likeness 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:38.080 of his great creator. And man must worship God. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:46.480 In spirit. I know. I have brought a heart -to 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:52.419 -heart talk on the fact that God has a body. 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:59.139 And there's no denying it. We have scriptural 00:08:59.139 --> 00:09:07.470 proof God has a body. For when he said, to Jesus, 00:09:07.490 --> 00:09:13.909 to the Holy Spirit, let us make man in our image 00:09:13.909 --> 00:09:22.370 and after our likeness. When he spoke of his 00:09:22.370 --> 00:09:28.129 image and making man after his image, he was 00:09:28.129 --> 00:09:36.309 talking about the body. God is both body and 00:09:36.309 --> 00:09:44.190 spirit. Man is a combination of body, soul, and 00:09:44.190 --> 00:09:52.370 spirit. But when we worship God, God is also 00:09:52.370 --> 00:09:59.210 a spirit. Man is also a spirit. And we worship 00:09:59.210 --> 00:10:05.299 Him in spirit and in truth. That is the reason 00:10:05.299 --> 00:10:08.500 that the most important part of man is the spirit. 00:10:10.860 --> 00:10:17.600 And God is the spirit. And man is made in the 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:22.139 divine likeness. And man must worship in spirit. 00:10:23.379 --> 00:10:27.320 Of every person, every human being, whether in 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:31.519 the church or outside, the supreme fact is the 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:37.370 spiritual fact. What's wrong with the world today? 00:10:37.549 --> 00:10:40.769 What's the matter with the world today? Why are 00:10:40.769 --> 00:10:45.129 we in the mess that we are in? Why are human 00:10:45.129 --> 00:10:50.029 beings in the mess that they are in this very 00:10:50.029 --> 00:10:54.450 hour? There's just one answer. They have forgotten 00:10:54.450 --> 00:11:00.049 this. They have forgotten the spiritual side 00:11:00.049 --> 00:11:12.500 of their life. Now let's take the body. An equally 00:11:12.500 --> 00:11:18.039 definite fact. But remember something. The body 00:11:18.039 --> 00:11:23.559 is there as the instrument of the spirit. Through 00:11:23.559 --> 00:11:26.559 the body, the spirit receives and makes contact 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:31.059 with others. Through the body, it expresses itself 00:11:31.059 --> 00:11:37.960 to others. When we receive that wonderful experience 00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:44.019 of being born again, I can stand right by the 00:11:44.019 --> 00:11:48.539 side of a man, a woman, who's receiving a wonderful 00:11:48.539 --> 00:11:52.539 experience, that new birth experience. I could 00:11:52.539 --> 00:11:56.320 even be praying for them and with them. My hand 00:11:56.320 --> 00:12:00.639 can be resting upon their shoulder. And yet... 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:07.639 I cannot see that experience take place. It's 00:12:07.639 --> 00:12:12.139 something that's very personal between their 00:12:12.139 --> 00:12:16.600 spirit and his spirit. And when it takes place, 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:20.679 his spirit bears witness with their spirit that 00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:25.500 they have passed from death unto life. But the 00:12:25.500 --> 00:12:32.299 manifestation of that experience takes place 00:12:32.299 --> 00:12:38.080 through the body. That's the reason I state to 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:44.080 you that it's through the body. The spirit receives 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:48.059 and makes contact with others through the body. 00:12:48.259 --> 00:12:57.100 It expresses itself to others. I express what 00:12:57.100 --> 00:13:03.440 I had spiritually. On the inside of me. Through 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:10.200 my body. And so do you. Then we come to the soul. 00:13:10.779 --> 00:13:13.960 What is the soul? The consciousness. The mind. 00:13:14.039 --> 00:13:18.919 The intelligence. I want you to see something. 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:29.169 What does the Bible actually say about man? Because 00:13:29.169 --> 00:13:36.230 we're talking about man as he exists, body, soul, 00:13:36.590 --> 00:13:43.190 and spirit. The Bible says that God formed man 00:13:43.190 --> 00:13:47.409 out of the dust of the ground. That is the body. 00:13:48.529 --> 00:13:53.649 But that is not man. And he breathed into his 00:13:53.649 --> 00:13:58.809 nostrils the breath, the breath of life. That 00:13:58.809 --> 00:14:03.990 is the spirit. And so man became a living conscious 00:14:03.990 --> 00:14:10.309 soul. Now here we have three planes. The spirit, 00:14:10.450 --> 00:14:14.909 the mind, the body. And every man, every woman, 00:14:15.009 --> 00:14:22.730 every person is that is living this hour. I don't 00:14:22.730 --> 00:14:26.990 care who you are. I don't care whether you are 00:14:26.990 --> 00:14:29.919 rich. you're poor, I don't care whether you're 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:33.659 Jew or Gentile, if you are a part of humanity, 00:14:34.120 --> 00:14:41.399 if you have breath in your body, if you are a 00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:52.179 living human being, you are mastered by either 00:14:52.179 --> 00:15:00.389 the body or the spirit. And it's just like that. 00:15:01.690 --> 00:15:07.929 Let me say it again. We have three planes. The 00:15:07.929 --> 00:15:13.330 spirit, the mind, the body. And you are either 00:15:13.330 --> 00:15:16.929 mastered by the body, which is the lower level, 00:15:17.029 --> 00:15:23.169 or by the spirit, which is the higher. And the 00:15:23.169 --> 00:15:26.899 mind is affected by that. part of personality 00:15:26.899 --> 00:15:30.980 to which the mastery of the person gives himself 00:15:30.980 --> 00:15:37.980 over. And it's just as simple as that. If I descend 00:15:37.980 --> 00:15:41.860 to the level of the material, if I consent to 00:15:41.860 --> 00:15:46.200 that, then all of my thinking is fleshly, is 00:15:46.200 --> 00:15:50.200 carnal. On the other hand, if I lift my whole 00:15:50.200 --> 00:15:53.960 personality to the spiritual, then my thinking 00:15:53.960 --> 00:15:58.870 is spiritual. And I'm mastered by the spirit. 00:16:03.470 --> 00:16:11.129 Now, where are you? Are you being mastered by 00:16:11.129 --> 00:16:19.149 the physical? By the body? Then you are living 00:16:19.149 --> 00:16:27.990 on the lower level. But... If you have so surrendered 00:16:27.990 --> 00:16:35.509 your life, you have so given yourself over to 00:16:35.509 --> 00:16:39.529 the spiritual, to the things of God, then you 00:16:39.529 --> 00:16:44.850 are being mastered by the spiritual and you are 00:16:44.850 --> 00:16:52.759 living on the higher level. Your mind then is 00:16:52.759 --> 00:16:58.080 being mastered by the spiritual. If you are living 00:16:58.080 --> 00:17:03.960 on the lower level and allowing the flesh, the 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:11.380 body to control you, then your mind will be controlled 00:17:11.380 --> 00:17:22.539 by the flesh. I pray to God. you shall have his 00:17:22.539 --> 00:17:30.460 best living on the higher plane. Amen.