The title of the sermon this morning is The Natural, Carnal, and Spiritual Man.
The Natural, Carnal, and Spiritual Man.
Look down at your Bibles at 1 Corinthians chapter number 2 and verse 13 it says, 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.
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.
He that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him, but we have the mind
of Christ.
Now here in this passage of scripture chapter number 2 of 1 Corinthians we see that the
Apostle Paul is talking about his speech and his preaching that it was not with enticing
words of man's wisdom.
And he kind of goes back and forth regarding the wisdom of man and then the wisdom of
God.
And he explains explicitly why is it that the things of God tend to be foolishness
to the world.
You know if you talk to your family members who are unsaved or you've talked
to just any regular Joe Schmoe out in the church, outside of the church, and
you begin to impart unto them biblical wisdom, they kind of look at you like you're
some sort of idiot.
They look at you like you're crazy.
They look at you like you're foolish and you know what, that's what the Bible tells
us that they're going to do.
They see our preaching.
They look at our beliefs.
They look at what we say and the things that we do as foolishness.
Why?
Because they are natural people, the Bible says.
And the Bible tells us that the natural man, they don't receive the things of the
Spirit of God, they're foolishness unto him, neither can they know them.
So this not only tells us that the natural man sees the things of God as being
foolish, it also tells us they won't receive it and it also teaches us that they cannot
discern these things, they cannot know them.
So what does that tell us about the natural man?
It tells us that they can't learn the word of God.
The guy who spends 20 years in a cemetery or a seminary but he's not saved, he can
memorize and learn the Bible all he wants, he's not going to be able to learn it.
Now obviously they can learn the historical facts or the sequence of order of certain
things, just the basic outline of when things take place in the Bible, but as far as
the deep things of God, they can't understand those things because they're natural,
the Bible says.
And here the Apostle Paul places these individuals into two categories, he talks
about the natural man and the spiritual man, and this morning I want to go through
the characteristics of each one, now let's talk about the natural man first.
What is or who is the natural man?
Well, the natural man can be defined basically as the unsaved individual, okay?
This person is unregenerated.
Now why does the Bible refer to him as the natural man?
Well, because of the fact that he lives and behaves in accordance to the only nature
that he possesses, which is the human nature, okay?
He's the natural man because of the fact that he just lives according to the courts
of this world, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, you know,
he does what he knows best, which is the old man, okay?
Human nature.
This is why the Bible tells us, and you had the quickened who were dead in trespasses
and sin, wherein in time past he walked according to the courts of this world, according
to the prince of power of the air, the spirit, that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom we also had our conversation in time past, wherein, the
Bible says, you know, we fulfill the desires of the flesh and of the mind and
were by what?
Nature, the children of wrath, even as others.
So naturally, when we're not saved, we sin, we do wrong, we just live a natural life,
a carnal life, okay?
That's what that's referring to.
And in fact, in 1 Corinthians 15, which is the famous passage of the resurrection,
the Bible tells us that when we die, it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption,
it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory, it is sown in weakness, and it is
raised in power.
It is sown a natural body, the Bible says, and it is raised a spiritual body.
You see, a natural person is basically without the supernatural, right?
The supernatural is when a human being gets saved, they have the Spirit of God living
within them, and their spiritual composition is completely changed and modified, right?
It's altered eternally forever.
They become supernatural in the eyes of God, okay?
You know, they're no longer just earthly, they have become a spiritual person because
of the fact that the new man now exists.
So the natural man is void of the Spirit of God.
He possesses one nature, known as the old man, but let me say this, is that the natural
man, this doesn't mean that the natural man is incapable of doing any good, okay?
Because there's a doctrine out there, and primarily it's taught by Calvinists, those
who believe in Reformed theology, you know, they will say that basically because, you
know, people are unregenerated, they're not saved, they're incapable of obeying the Word
of God, they're incapable of actually, you know, doing what God tells them to do, but
this is false, okay?
You know, they are capable of keeping God's commandments, and in fact, God requires unsafe
people to keep his commandments.
You say, what in the world?
I thought the Bible was for spiritual reasons.
Well, actually, the Bible says that the law is good if a man use it lawfully, knowing
this that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient,
for the ungodly and for sinners, for murderers of fathers or murderers of mothers,
for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them to defile themselves with mankind, for
perjured persons, the Bible says.
Did you know that thou shall not kill is not just for Christians, right?
Thou shall not kill, you know, thou shall not steal, thou shall not bear false witness
are commandments that are found in the Bible that God expects unsafe people to keep, okay?
You know, because there are commandments in the Bible that obviously are spiritually
discerned, there's commandments that Jesus Christ gives specifically to his disciples,
people who are saved, but there are other commandments that God expects humankind
to just keep, okay, which are just basic laws in order for you to just be a law-abiding
citizen, all right, and it doesn't take a spiritual person not to kill someone, right?
It doesn't take a spear-filled person not to steal. It doesn't take a
spear-filled person not to lie. What does it require? It just requires a
law-abiding citizen, okay? It just requires a person to just obey the laws
of the land to not kill someone, okay? To steal from them, to lie to them, etc.
So they can keep God's commandments and God requires them for them to keep it,
and in fact the Bible even tells us, for when the Gentiles, which have not the law,
do by nature the things that are contained in the law, they become a law unto themselves,
the Bible says. So obviously those who are unsaved, they have the law of God written in
their hearts, accusing them or else excusing them, the Bible says. They know that murder
is wrong. They know that stealing is wrong. They know that lying is wrong. They know
that doing good is right, okay? Abiding by these laws is correct. This is the law
of God that is written in their hearts and therefore they can obey it. Now
obviously the saved and the unsaved are not to keep these commandments to
be saved. The Bible says, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by
faith without the deeds of the law, not by works of righteousness which we
have done but according to his mercy he saved us. The law was never meant to
save anybody, okay? It's meant to help us to recognize that we need a savior
because of the fact that a violation of any of these laws merits hell, merits
eternal damnation, and when we recognize we have not kept these laws, when we
recognize that we have violated these commandments, in light of that we
recognize we need a savior, okay? We need the imputation of righteousness
from Jesus Christ in order to be saved, okay? So they don't need, you know, an
unsaved person, an unregenerate natural man doesn't need to get saved in order
to understand just basic laws of the Bible. Now here's the thing, there aren't
a lot of deep and profound things in the Bible, are there not? I mean on
Thursday evenings we're going through a lot of deep and profound truths. This
is like meat, nothing but meat, you know, New York steak thick with fat
around it type meat. It's very deep, okay? The Bible would refer to as dark
saints and parables, things that Jesus Christ would speak about and the vast
majority of the people who were not saved would not understand it. In fact
it was even difficult for those who were saved to understand it. So there
are truths in the Bible and deep truths, dark saints, parables that are
not only foreign to unsaved people, they could actually be foreign to saved
people because they're so deep to understand, okay? Now we're still
talking about the natural man, you know, the natural man cannot understand the
Bible. It's impossible no matter what and this is what I'm referring to. I'm
referring to the deep things of God, okay? Now on Thursday I was out
sowing with one of our church members and we're out in this
neighborhood and it was his turn to talk and he knocked on the door and a
guy answered the door and he began to give him the gospel and this guy
obviously had some background in some Bible. He knew some Bible, he had some
run-ins with Christians and Jehovah's Witnesses and we don't necessarily know
what the entirety of his background entailed but we knew that he knew some
Bible. Obviously he didn't understand it because he was unsaved and we're
trying to explain to him certain things or my partner was trying to
explain to him certain things and one thing that he was struggling with was
that Jesus Christ is God. Obviously he had some Jehovah's Witness type
influence in his life where, you know, the Jehovah's Witnesses placed that
barrier over his mind and he was having trouble overcoming that, okay? So my
partner was giving him all these verses and he's just like wow that's
true, you know, the Bible does say that or yeah that is in the Bible or
wow I didn't know that was in the Bible. So he's giving him all these
truths and then at the end of the day he said, you know, my partner said so do
you believe now that Jesus Christ is God? He says I want to believe it but
I need to search it, I need to search the Bible more and he said what I'm
gonna do, he said, is I'm gonna pray. I'm gonna pray for God to just show me in
the Bible when I study it that this is what the Bible teaches, okay? And my
partner said well here's the answer to the prayer. I'm your answer. He says
I'm here, I'm showing you. He goes oh I get that but I want to pray and I
want God to show me from his word and my friend said this
is it. This is the answer. So he couldn't really and he couldn't wrap his mind
around what my partner was saying and I violated my own principle, okay? I
interrupted. Don't interrupt, okay? And I said look what he's trying to say is
this is that because you're unsaved, God's not going to answer that prayer
directly to you, you reading the Bible and you coming to the knowledge of the
truth because the gospel, the knowledge of the truth, comes through you know
human vessels who are saved. You need a person to come to you and show you
what the Bible says. You know if you're praying for God to illuminate your
understanding and give you understanding of these deep truths, you
actually need someone to come and teach you these things. You're not
gonna learn them on your own. God uses human vessels to save other people, you
know. People just don't get saved on their own. It's not like well I was
reading the Bible and then this light came on and this 50-foot Jesus
appeared and he says believe on me and thou shalt be saved. Wrong, false. Too
many onions on your burger from the previous night. You know either that or
you're on crack or something. You're on drugs if you're seeing things and
you think that you're gonna be saved just by reading the Bible on
your own. That's false. We had a guy a couple months ago come to our church
and say that. You know he came and I said you know I said are you 100% sure
that if you die today you go to heaven? He's like yep I'm saved I believe
I'm the Lord Jesus Christ. I said great who led you to the Lord? He said
me. He said me, God, the Bible. I'm like what do you mean? He's like I was
just reading the Bible and I came across that you know and that's what
it says and that's why I believe it. No one had to teach me. I didn't need
anybody. I'm like oh okay so you're not saved. What do you mean? I just said
I believe. I was like because the Bible tells us that people require people to
get people saved. That's what they need. Okay everyone needs a vessel who has
the gospel within them. You know we have this treasure in earthen vessels
that the excellency of the power of God may be of God and not of us. So
we have this gospel within us but we need to give it out. It's our
responsibility to partake in the ministry of reconciliation. We're the
ones that reconcile a lost and dying world unto God. Okay they don't do it on
their own. Turns out this guy was an idiot too so he ended up getting
thrown out and so on and so forth and he was an expert in Greek by the way.
Yeah right. So the natural man cannot understand the Bible. Okay and so I
explained to this guy said hey you can't understand it and so because you
are a natural man I said. That means you're unsaved. You're never gonna
understand the Bible. You know you may be able to memorize the books of the
Bible, get the basic information of the Bible, the chronology, the historical
facts of the Bible, the names but at the end of the day the deep truths
you're not gonna be able to understand it I said. And then I you
know obviously we give them a little one too many admonitions and the Bible
tells us that a person like that who is a heretic and we should reject them
but I feel like there's a little bit of sincerity in him and I told him I
said this we'll finish with this I told him I said look we gave you the truth
this is the truth and I said you don't want to keep putting this off because
God just answered your prayer right now he just sent a pastor to come tell
you these things he sent the pastor and a church member to come tell you
these things and show you from the Word of God you know that's that's God
answering your prayers if you're not willing to believe that what we're
showing you you want to act God's actually gonna do he's actually gonna
take the light from you you know and I didn't go into the reprobate doctrine
with him but that's what I was thinking I was thinking myself this guy
could potentially become a reprobate because he's actually rejecting the
truth you know my partner gave him John 1 1 in the beginning was the
word and the word was with God and the word was God that's the most
basic verse on the deity of Jesus Christ and he still did not receive
and I said look if you didn't receive something as simple and clear as John 1 1 you
know you're probably not gonna receive anything else I said so you better
think about this and not seek to try to get answers on your own because the
Bible says that you are a natural man now what is this how does this
apply to us well it applies to us in this manner we should never try to get
biblical teaching or biblical truths from unsafe pastors unsafe scholars
you know these universities that supposedly teach the Bible and you can get your
degree and divinity you can get your degree and Judaism and you know you could
be a master of Israel no it's not these things type of a thing you know
we should not learn from these people why because the fact of the
matter is it doesn't matter how many degrees a person may have it doesn't
matter what type of title they mean they may have at the end of the day if
they don't have the Spirit of God they know nothing desire to be teachers
of the law understanding either what they say no where they affirm so they
can call themselves whatever they want doctor of Israel they can call
themselves a scribe a Pharisee a Sadducee a professor if they don't
have the Spirit of God they cannot teach us squat did we squat why
because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God they
can't know these things because of the fact that they're unregenerated the
Bible tells us that when we get saved the Bible says that the Spirit of God
comes to dwell within us who is the Spirit of truth he's the one that brings
into remembrance all things whatsoever Christ has commanded us he's the one
that teaches us these things he's the one that enlightens us and if that
element is missing from a person they will not understand the Bible now
given there's people in this world there's people in this church who
are saved and you still can't understand certain things right now you will
understand the basic things salvation by grace through faith you will
understand that the Bible is the Word of God you know you may not understand
the intricacies and the depths of the Word of God but at the end of
the day you will understand something and the Bible says that the reason you
can't understand the deep things of God is because you're just a babe in
Christ what's the solution to that what's the remedy to grow in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the Bible says okay so
people who are natural you know who walk according to the course of this
world there by nature the children of wrath they possess the wisdom of this
world and it's for that reason that they reject the wisdom of God you're in
1st Corinthians chapter 2 look at verse number 4 it says in my speech in
my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men but in the power of God so when we go out and preach the
gospel you know we're not trying to get in a debate with someone and an
intellectual argument with someone to try to show them how wise we are why
because then their faith will stand in our wisdom and not in the power of
God what is the power of God it's the words it's what the Bible tells us
it is the spirit the quickeneth right the flesh profit is nothing my words
that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life the Bible says faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God you know the power of God
is in the words not in our wisdom it says verse 6 how be it we speak
wisdom among them that are perfect yet not the wisdom of this world nor of
the princes of this of this world that come to naught so notice that he
says when we speak wisdom we speak wisdom among them that are perfect so
what this is telling us is that even when we give the wisdom of God to
those who are saved those who receive it amongst those who are saved are those
who are perfect now what does perfect mean well people have defined this as
being sinless this is not true no one is sinless okay we make mistakes
we we sin we fail you know among them that are perfect are those who
are basically mature they've come they're complete they have their
senses exercised to discern both good and evil the Bible says they're
skillful in the word of righteousness you understand and so when we speak
wisdom we speak wisdom among them that are perfect verse 7 says but we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which God ordained
before the world unto our glory which none of the princes of this world knew
for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory but
as it is written I have not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into
heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him so the
natural man has this to overcome okay that when we give them the Word of God
when we give them the gospel they have to overcome their preconceived
ideas of what it takes to be saved right if it's a Catholic they have to
overcome the fact that hey you cannot be worshiping Mary Mary will not save
you okay you cannot keep the commandments you cannot keep the
sacraments you cannot depend on these things for salvation you know to
the Jehovah's Witness hey you have to believe that Jesus Christ is God
manifest in the flesh for the word was manifest and dwelt among us and we
be held as glory as the glory of the only begotten father okay we have
to believe those things these are the things that they must overcome now
what are two false doctrines that are taught about the natural man because
this is what the Bible teaches just the natural man is just an unsaved
person he's a sinner he can't understand the things of God he
depends on his own wisdom he's depending on his own works he has just
a human nature one nature that causes him to live just a normal life
but it's a life that is in disobedience to God obviously but what
are two doctrines that are that are top about this that are false well
number one how about this total depravity because the Calvinist will
teach this well yeah it's a natural man you know the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God they're totally depraved in other
words they are never gonna get saved you know because Calvinist will teach
you this false doctrine of unconditional election which it
basically means according to them that people are predestined for salvation
okay you don't choose God has elected you as a safe person and that
doctrine works in tandem with total depravity because what about everyone
else oh they're just totally depraved they just will never get saved and
they'll quote Romans chapter 3 when it says you know for there's none
righteous no not one there's none that understandeth there's none that seeketh
after God right and they'll say see an unsafe person is not gonna understand
they're not gonna seek after God yeah of course they're not gonna
understand their natural man they don't receive the things of the Spirit of
God yeah but it says that they won't seek him yeah that's what God
commands us to go to them right the reason we have to go to them is
because we can't expect for them to come to us now will people walk in our
church who are not saved and people who are unregenerated yes of course but
you know what God did not commission us to just sit on our rear ends and
wait for sinners to come to us for us to give them the gospel the Bible
says go ye therefore and teach all nations baptized in them in the name of
the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit you know the Bible tells us to
go and preach the gospel to every creature go what the Bible says we have to
go how say they believe in whom they have not heard how shall they hear
without a preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent the Bible
says so we have to go to them so yeah of course they're not gonna
understand of course they're not gonna seek after God that's where the
element of the safe person comes into play and we give them the gospel
understand so this total depravity nonsense is that it's just that it's
just nonsense totally depraved they just can't seek after God no my friend
you're totally depraved okay you my friend are teaching false doctrine you
are teaching a false gospel and you're teaching Christians to be lazy because
if you believe in unconditional election and total depravity you're
basically saying we don't have to go soul winning you know they're gonna
come to us and they're gonna get saved on their own and they're already
saved and look this doctrine is very wicked why is that because think
about if they believe that people are predestined for salvation that means if
a child dies if a baby dies and that child is not elected they go straight
to hell now Calvin is don't like to talk about that that's their dirty
little secret then they don't want no one to know about and the way they
cover it up is through Calvinistic rhetoric and trying to just you know
lay on the layers of just intellectual talk to try to basically bypass and get
you away from the fact that that's what they believe that's a wicked doctrine
okay so that's one doctrine that is taught falsely in regards to the natural
man they believe in total depravity but here's another doctrine that is
taught and unfortunately it's by safe people who teach this doctrine they'll
teach that the natural man because he's natural can commit abominable acts
you know they'll tell you well you know he's a natural person it's just a
natural person will just commit sodomy they'll just become some sodomite some
fag and you know that's just you know they can do those things well look
obviously people can get involved in sodomy not willingly maybe they were
coaxed into it maybe they were drugged right maybe they were
peer-pressured but that person who commits that act will be just
disgusted by that act why is that because they're natural and sodomy is
that which is against what nature that which is against the natural course of
man okay to the point where even an unsaved person finds it disgusting and
filthy and vile and wicked and poop okay it's just it's filthy so this is
against nature so this doctrine that says well you know Christians and even
unsaved people they'll just do that they'll commit that those acts no they
won't unless there's some sort of reprobate unless there's some sort of
just filthy perverted vile reprobate who's already been getting over to a
reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient which is not
naturally done right at that point they become a what a natural brood beast
according to the Bible because the natural man it just does things there
are common to man sins that are common to man but a man who has been given
over to a reprobate mind does that which is natural to an animal that's
why the Bible calls it a natural brute beast okay so these are false
doctrines that are taught regarding the natural man you know a natural man is
not going to desire another man it's not gonna burn in his lust towards
another man why because that is unnatural according to the Bible you
understand it's not according to nature it is inconvenient it is filthy
it's abominable they're not going to do those things now again people
are sometimes coaxed into doing things such as that they are peer
pressured by their spouse they're peer pressured by their boyfriend or
girlfriend or maybe it's pop culture that has influenced them and caused them
to think that this is okay but once the act is done they feel disgusted by it
they feel ashamed they feel disgusted they're not gonna partake in
those things again you know when we talk about the reprobate the reprobate
just relishes being in that type of filth they enjoy it they burn in
their last one toward another the Bible says okay so that's that is the
natural man the natural man is simply the unsafe person and all of us
started there right now what's the answer the answer to the natural man
well he just needs to get saved he needs a new man and in fact the Bible
tells us whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises
that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature so the natural
man now needs the divine natural man which is the new man okay turn with me
if you would to or you go to 1st Corinthians 3 you're in chapter 2 go
chapter 3 now once they get saved okay so as soon as a person gets saved they
now have a regenerated spirit but here's the thing if they don't get
into church if they don't learn the Bible if they don't get under some
leather lung preaching okay then they're gonna be carnal all right so a
Christian a person who gets saved but does not grow does not get into a
local New Testament Church will become a carnal Christian what is the carnal
Christian in other words it's a person who has the Spirit of God dwelling
within them but they live carnally there are fleshly people they still
live according to the flesh all right so if a person gets saved then
he needs to smoke weed before you know that doesn't go away it's not
like oh man batteries included I no longer desire marijuana I don't desire
ganja I don't desire you know the 40 I don't desire the tall boy God has
completely removed that from my life no it's still there cuz you're still
there your body that esophagus that has been consuming that alcohol still
exists within your throat right the neurons and the desires and the
cravings still stay there oh man before Christ I just used to eat a
bunch of junk food and I love all this candy and chocolate and sugar that
doesn't go away unless you get on keto okay okay I'm kidding okay it doesn't go
away it doesn't go away even on keto all right it does not go away but if
you walk in that you become a carnal person so a carnal man is a saved
individual who is not walking in the spirit okay and here is the long term
goal for every Christian is to not walk in the flesh but to walk in the spirit
so how do I summarize all the goals that I had in my personal life as a
Christian walk in the spirit and fulfill not the lust of the flesh walk
in the spirit be filled with the spirit grieve not the Holy Spirit quench
not the spirit that should be your goal if you're ever wanting goals in
your life and you feel like I don't I'm wandering around aimlessly in my
Christian life here's a good goal walk in the spirit die to the flesh you can
never go wrong with that you will always succeed as a Christian if you
make it your goal and your achievement to walk in the spirit and
not fulfill the lust of the flesh okay the Bible tells us that for the
flesh lust that's against the spirit the spirit against the flesh these are
contrary the one to the other city you cannot do the things that you
would right now I remember there's a guy who was in our church I forgot I
forgot when he got kicked out all right it was like last year Eric and I
remember this is one main thing that he kept hitting on he says oh you know
you know pastor Bruce says this and this is so stupid you know he doesn't
realize that the carnal person is the natural man they're one in the same and
the reason he said that it was because chapter 2 talks about the
natural man and then it segues right into chapter 3 referring to the carnal
person now let's read chapter 3 verse 1 well this is the same guy who said
you can stop believing in Jesus and still be saved okay which is a false
doctrine by the way okay it says in verse number one and I brethren could
not speak unto you as into spiritual but as unto carnal even as unto babes
in Christ now this is how stupid this way of thinking is because he said
you know the natural man the carnal man they're the same person they're
both unsaved well that's funny because it says as unto carnal even as unto
babes in Christ so that shows us that indicates that this person is saved
but it also shows us that the babe in Christ is also carnal they're still
fleshly they have not exercised themselves rather unto godliness they're
not given attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine they're not
growing and for that reason the old man is very much still strong this is
why the commandment exists be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might
you know the person who gets saved their carnal well as they read the
Bible as they come to church as they get their faces ripped off in
church as they begin to repent of their sins and get right with God they
become strong in the Lord look what it goes on to say I have fed you with
milk and not with me for hitherto you were not able to bear it neither yet
now are ye able so he's saying look because you're carnal which is a babe
in Christ there's certain things you just can't take your spiritual
digestive system cannot consume why because you're a babe in Christ okay
this is not a bad position to be in okay and this basically teaches us
that hey we need to make sure we get the basics down first right we need to
align our spiritual stomachs and fill it with the basics to know the basics
to drink the milk that is given to us you know to consume that allow that
to help us to grow as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word
that ye may grow thereby the Bible says wherefore putting away from you
all malice you know the Bible tells us that when we get saved that we
should add diligence to our virtue to virtue knowledge to knowledge temperance
to temperance brotherly kindness we have to continue to add these things
and then once you've added those things what does God do then he begins
to impart unto you the deep things of God okay he says there in verse
three for ye are yet carnal for whereas there is among you envying
and strife and divisions are ye not carnal and walk as men so look
obviously the carnal man can live like an unsaved person sometimes right
drinking 40 smoking weed fornicating say people can do those things I'm not
saying it's right don't don't clip that little you know sound by and say
yeah say people can do those things they can smoke whatever no I'm saying
you know if they're not walking in the spirit they can continue in those things
some some Christians just live wicked life sometimes that's just it hey get
this some Christians could even kill people no that's not no no I say
personally can't kill anybody well how about David a man after God's own
heart the Lord's anointed the the foreshadowing of Jesus Christ himself in
the Old Testament conspired he hired a hit man good night we're not talking
about he just killed someone out of passion with his bare hands or
something because he was trying to self-defense he conspired to kill
Uriah the husband of Bathsheba excuse me you know he conspired to
kill to kill that man he committed adultery he did wickedly how about
saw who the Bible says was a new man right yet he's going to the witch at
Endor he's delving into witchcraft you know he's consulting with a woman who
had familiar spirits he's involved in you know you're like this is all
foreign to me okay those of you who are Hispanic he's involved in Santeria
voodoo you know he was delving into those things but you know what because
he was a saved man God killed him so because he was a saved man he's a child
of God the Bible says that God chastened him destroyed him and his
sons I thought Saul like fell upon his own sword yeah but God said he was
gonna kill him so in order for him to avoid God killing him he just killed
himself died a dishonorable death okay you know how about Samson a man who
was filled with the spirit the Spirit of God will come upon him he committed
suicide he you know was fornicating he backslid yet we know that he was saved
okay well I don't believe that Saul was saved you know how can he be saved
he did this and that he committed all these sins I don't think he was
saved you know the Bible tells us the Samuel prophesied of him tomorrow
thou and thy son shall be with me and you can't say the Samuel wasn't
saved prophet of the Lord so we see that people can behave carnally when
their babes in Christ okay so that's why you shouldn't you know if a person
comes to our church and they haven't grown in the Lord and by the way
being in church for a length of time does not make you a mature you know
mature in the Lord there's people who go to church for years and just
never grow and they just stay a babe in Christ they get no knowledge they
don't get the sin out of their lives not cleaning up their lives not soul
winning they're not reading the Bible they just go to a congregation just for
the sake of social gatherings okay and they can remain a babe in Christ
throughout the entire time they need to get into a church where the
Bible is being preached where it's being taught where soul winning is
alive and vibrant where people are being saved people are being baptized
the Word of God is being preached you know they need to be somewhere where
they can grow and once the one that big once they begin growing what
happens they cease becoming a babe in Christ they get the envying and the
strife and the division out of their life so when they come into our church
and they're like that don't look down on them don't get mad at them
don't don't don't you know don't condemn them or judge them just give
them time to grow give them time to grow and look definitely don't get on
them if they don't believe the specific doctrines that we hold to in our
church you know if they believe some sodomite can be saved okay yeah
obviously they're wrong oh they need to get that one down though or like or
what like what do you think they're gonna do you think they're just gonna
infiltrate our church and just tell everyone they're just gonna win me over
to their false doctrine or something you know don't panic when someone
comes into our church with the doctrine that we don't adhere to okay
they just need to learn all right and don't be afraid of something like
that either take advantage of a situation like that to teach them the
doctrine with love care compassion patience etc with forbearance says for
a while one saith I am a Paul another I am of Apollos are ye not
carnal now there's a false doctrine that is taught even with this right
we're Calvinists it's always the Calvinists get a bunch of stuff wrong
you know the Calvinists will say you know oh there's no such thing as the
carnal Christian okay yeah Paul washer is mainly the the main culprit of this
false doctrine but they all believe not all of them but the vast majority of
Calvinists I'm speaking generally obviously there's Calvinists out there
they may not believe this but the vast majority of them will believe that
well there's no such thing as a carnal Christian because if a Christian
is saved the Christian is not going to sin okay but you know obviously we
know the Romans 7 14 tells us Paul said I am carnal so I feel like when
when they say those things like Paul comes in he's just like I'm carnal you
know in other words he's saying like well are you gonna question my salvation
cuz the Apostle Paul obviously we know is saved he's a safe man but yet he
himself says that he is carnal no why why does he say that go to Romans
chapter 8 he says that because of the fact that there is that ongoing battle
between the new nature and the old nature and the Bible tells us for me
that is in my flesh this is what he says for me that is in my flesh
dwelleth no good thing when he does that which he does not want to do
at that point it's the old nature that's doing that and at that point
he's carnal now look what Romans 8 verse 1 says this is carrying over the
doctrine that we see in Romans 7 regarding carnality and walking in the
spirit it says in verse 1 there is therefore now no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the
spirit now this can be cryptic is it not you know what a minute there's no
condemnation to those who walk in the spirit I thought we don't walk in
the spirit all the time well think about this you know this flesh the
Bible tells us that flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God you
know the Bible says that this ink this corruption shall put on in corruption
this will not inherit this is not going to heaven okay this flesh you
know this this face these limbs they're not going to inherit the
kingdom of God because it's corrupt it has already received the condemnation
okay what it's telling us here because condemnation simply means
punishment there is no punishment there's no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus who walked out after the flesh but after the spirit so
if you're walking in the spirit you're not sowing to the flesh because they
that sow to the flesh all of the flesh reap what corruption if you're
walking in the spirit guess what you're not going to receive the
punishment in your flesh that comes with you know sinning so if you cease
drinking alcohol and you're walking in the spirit you're living soberly
you're being vigilant you hate alcohol you're just living a sober life guess
what you will not receive the condemnation that comes upon a person
who is drinking you understand you know you're not gonna get cirrhosis
of the liver you're not gonna you're not gonna die in a car accident okay
you're not going to receive the punishment that comes upon the
unsaved or even the saved when they partake of those sins there's no
condemnation to those people okay so when we live carnal lives when we walk
in the flesh we receive that condemnation this is why this should
strike fear in our hearts this is why we should stay in church this is
why we should live clean lives why because if you're out there you're
backslidden you're not living for God you know something bad might come
upon you which is called God's judgment you know Christians can still
experience the wrath of God did you know that it's just not the wrath in
hell but you can definitely you know partake of God's wrath here on this
world where he takes your life he cuts your limbs off he makes you
completely incapacitated and incapable of just living a normal life
to teach you a lesson Oh God wouldn't you got his love yeah in love that's
what he does okay look at verse 5 it says for day that are after the
flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the
spirit the things of the spirit so this teaches us that if a person is gonna
cease from being carnal or fleshly they need to fill their minds with
spiritual things right what the Word of God etc it says because the carnal
mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God
neither indeed can be so then they that are in the flesh cannot
please God okay this is in stark contrast to what the liberals and the
Joyce Myers of this world will tell you well God's not mad at you you know
live however you want God loves you you know go fornicate and live like
however you want and live in adultery get divorced it's okay God's
not mad at you if you're saved no guess what you're at enmity with God
if you're in the flesh you can't please God and if you're in the
flesh you have God's condemnation upon you God is angry with the wicked
everyday what are you talking about wasn't that unsaved people yeah but you
know what saved people behave wickedly too and God is angry with them God is
mad at them okay look I believe God is love but God you know he's a
strict parent so he spanks his children and he hits where it hurts okay
in order for us to produce the peaceable fruits of righteousness the
Bible says in Hebrews chapter number 12 it says in verse 9 but ye are not in
the flesh but in the spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you
now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his now
here's what people will say well how can you say that there's carnal
Christians the Bible says therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new
creature all things are passed away behold all things have become new how do
you explain that hmm if old things have passed away and all things are
become new how are you saying that a person who is saved can still commit
sins they can still partake in these things if old things are passed away
well passed away doesn't mean they're gone like they're completely
absent what does it mean to pass away it means it's dead you know when
someone dies you say they passed away the person's body is still there and
the Bible tells us knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that
we that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not
serve sin the Bible says so when we get saved it's as if God crucifies
our flesh it's dead it's passed away behold all things are become new okay
for he that is dead is freed from sin the Bible says but here's the thing
we can still have allow sin to have dominion over us this is why the Bible
teaches us likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin
but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord let not sin therefore
reign in your mortal bodies that ye should obey it in the lustre of
neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin
but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and
your members as instruments of righteousness unto God for sin shall
not have dominion over you for you're not under the law but under grace so he
tells us hey the old man is crucified he's dead so you don't have to serve
sin but if you allow sin to have dominion over you yeah at that point
you know it's like you're reviving the old man you're walking in the old
man you know you've been you've been evicted out of that apartment but
once you decide to walk in the flesh it's like you're trying to live
there again you don't belong there but you live there now a good way to
explain this is this it's like between the old man and new man it's as if you're
living in an apartment with a roommate that you just don't like right he has
his own room you have your own room but you're living in the same house
okay now as long as you schedule your time correctly you might not have to
run into him but eventually you will have to run into him right and when
you run into him then there's strife there's there's battling there's you
guys are contrary one to the other right but as long as you remain in your
room you do what you're supposed to do guess what you don't have to deal
with him but guess what if you start spending a lot of time with your
roommate if you're hanging out in the living room with them you're
there's gonna be conflict okay that's the best way I can explain it the
Bible tells us the day that our Christ have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lust now think about this so how do we overcome being carnal
you know because any sincere Christian doesn't want to be carnal we want to
please God you know we want to live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord we
want to succeed as a Christian we want to be children that please the
Lord how do we do that well he gives us commands in regards to the spirit
in order for us to do he says quench not the spirit grieve not the spirit
walk in the spirit and be filled with the spirit now what does it mean to
quench not the spirit well let me talk about that for a minute because there's
a false teaching that says this and so how many of you ever heard something
like this where people will say well you know the spear prompted me to go
talk to this person about the gospel let me heard something like that right
it's like the spirit moved me what kind of spirit you know they they have
this like emotional feeling where it's just like they're standing on the
corner and then they see this guy walk and he's just like and it's just like
this possession takes place where it's just like I was just moved excuse me I
was just moved to come talk to you to give you the gospel it's weird
stuff you know a very very charismatic Pentecostal demonic you
know fleshly earthly sensual devilish this wisdom to descendeth not from
above kind of thing right but it's from below and they'll say this well you
know when God prompts you to go talk to someone don't quench the spirit if
you don't do if you don't obey that that that prompting if you don't obey
when the spirit is moving you to go do that you're quenching the spirit
okay now look I used to believe that okay so don't be so hard on people
like that and the reason I believe this because that's what I was taught
okay no one ever questioned it and that's what I that's what I was like well you
know if the spirit prompts you to do something to prompt you to go witness
to people but here's the problem with that the problem with that is that
this is the Holy Spirit is not a respect our people the Holy Spirit is
always always bearing witness it's always given the truth it wants
everyone to be saved so it's not like you know the spirit is just you
know docile and just dormant and all of a sudden you see this person going to
that guy right there what about everyone else forget everyone that's the
one I want right there because that's what they kind of teach right but
that's not how he behaves okay now what does it mean to quench what to
quench means to basically extinguish you know where the when it talks about
hell this is where the fire is not quenched in other words it's not
doused it's not extinguished it's not quenched right but the Holy Spirit is
the Holy Spirit all the time right the Holy Spirit is always promoting truth
it's always delighting in the law of God the Bible says I delight in the law
of God after the inward man the Bible says so the Holy Spirit always
desires to do the things of God it always wants to witness to everyone it
always wants to read the Bible it wants to pray it wants to keep sin out
of the temple it wants to do those things which are pleasing unto the Lord
it doesn't take like a vacation it's not like okay now this is this is
your calling in life and this is where all this is kind of mixed in when
people talk about their calling in life or like you know they're they
were called to the mission field the Holy Spirit prompted them to go to this
specific area you know it's just like oh this is the area that God wants me
to go God wants you to go everywhere going to all the world everywhere okay
what you're referring what people are referring to when they say that is just
basically they have this emotional you know tie or something you know they
watch a video of the missionaries and the poor little African kids you
know and they're just like oh man it's the spirit is moving me no it's
called compassion is what it is you have compassion your move with
compassion etc now when a Christian is walking in the spirit he's gonna read
his Bible right and in fact he's gonna delight in reading the Bible I mean
everyone here who's saved will testify to the fact that there's times when you
read the Bible you're just like eating it up like honey and cornflakes
or maybe not cornflakes honey and you know it's just like peaches just
delicious it's sweet you're just like enjoying everything that you're
reading right because it's the inward man is delighting in the law of God
okay there's times when you're in church and you're preaching and you
delight in what's being preached there's times when you pray when you
win souls and you're just delighting in this that's when you're walking in
the spirit all right you know to be bold in the Lord when you're bold in
the Lord when you're bold to preach the Word of God when you're bold to
take a right stance for the things of God you're in the spirit when
you're afraid and you're a sissy and you're a coward you're in the flesh
because the Bible says that the flesh is weak he's a weakling he's a sissy
he's a wuss he's always afraid whereas the Spirit of God God did not give us
a spirit of fear but of power and love and of a sound mind so when we
have a sound mind when we have power when we have these things when we
have love we can say we're in the spirit oh no you're being bold you're
just being angry and aggressive and yeah yeah I'm in the spirit you got it
the spirit is aggressive the spirit gets angry okay oh no when you when
you talk like that about the about the holos that's when I'm really filled
with the spirit that's that's that's when the the spirit is flowing out of
you know like rivers of living water out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water okay so the the spirit does these things on a
perpetual basis it doesn't stop now when we decide not to do those things then
we're quenching the spirit you understand so the spirit always desires
to read the Bible to go so when you decide now I'm not gonna do that
okay you just quench the spirit because the spirit you think of
quenching is like fire well the Bible says that God is a what consuming
fire he's like the bush that is that is that is on fire but is not
quenched it's not put out so there's a fire that is always burning within us
moving us to do things that the Bible tells us to do and then when we
decide not to do it it's basically we're extinguishing that flame we're
trying to cover that flame up we're quenching the Holy Spirit of God okay
and I would liken this to basically be like someone when when we're moved
when we don't do what we're supposed to do because grieving the spirit is
when we do what God tells us not to do you know because the Bible says let no
corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to
the use of edifying and it says grieve not the Holy Spirit of God
whereby ye are sealed until the day of redemption so when we partake in sin
iniquity transgression we're grieving the Holy Spirit of God because that's
not what he wants for our lives we are disappointing God okay we become
carnal now go to Ephesians 4 if you would Ephesians chapter number 4 now
what's the goal of the carnal Christian stop being so carnal stop it okay and
what helps with that you know it's hard to obey God when you're just by
yourself just be honest with you it's hard it's hard to live a godly life
when it's when you're just on your own you need people to exhort you daily to
confirm you and to encourage you to continue in the grace of God you know
we are people who are easily influenced are we not we're easily
influenced for the bad but we're also easily influenced for the good if you
are a lukewarm just Christian who just doesn't read his Bible you're just not
zealous for the things of God you're just struggling you come to our church
for for any period of time that'll that'll go away okay and I don't mean
like come and just take off this is like coming and as we're praying you
just like come on kids you know I'm talking about you stay fellowship you
learn it's gonna rub off on you okay and it's gonna encourage you to get on
fire for God you see what we want is when the fire is already inside of us
we want that fire to come out right we want to be clothed with zeal the Bible
says okay but that happens as when you when you're in a church when you
make friends when you surround yourself with zealous Christians who are like you
and look you may think well I'm already zealous okay then let's keep
you from being carnal and divisive and being a know-it-all right being some
sort of know-it-all you think you just know all doctrines you don't need Church
you got YouTube you got all these things you know actually what you need
to do is actually come to a local New Testament Church to keep those things
in check you know because he's given some apostles some prophets some pastors
some teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the edifying of the
body of Christ that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and
carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and
cunning craft of this whereby they lie in wait to deceive and it's often the
babes in Christ who think they know everything the ones that don't know
anything they're not skillful in the word of righteousness they're still
babes in Christ they're dull of hearing they're the ones that think
they know it all but they know nothing at times okay so that's why
they need a local New Testament Church to grow out of that look there's
people in the Corinthian Church who Paul says you guys are carnal some of you
are saying you're a Paul some of Apollos are you not yet carnal and walk
as men this is a carnal attribute okay now the last one and I'm not gonna
spend a lot of time on this one because it's very self-explanatory is a
spiritual man the spiritual man is saved he's the person who's walking in
the spirit this is also known as the new man but I will say this is
that a spiritual man obviously at its at its surface level it's just the
person who is saved but the Bible says in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 it does
give the implication that a spiritual man is also someone who is just growing
because people who are spiritual people saved are not gonna understand
everything right right off the bat they're not even though they're saved
they need to grow in those areas the Spirit search with all things yea the
deep things of God and the Bible says that the natural man yes receive it
not that the things of the Spirit of God their foolishness unto him
neither can he known for their spiritually discerned but he that is
spiritual judgeth all things now let me say this there's Christians even in our
church that don't know how to judge anything they just have bad discernment
bad judgment bad spirituality it doesn't mean they're not saved it's
just a babe in Christ okay and look if I were you okay you know I would
refrain from giving advice to anybody in our church if you if you yourself are
still a babe in Christ okay are you trying to say I'm not spiritual yeah
you got it you're a smart cookie that's exactly what I mean refrain from
giving any type of counsel if you yourself are not spiritual there's
nothing wrong with if someone comes to you for advice or counsel to say
you know what I don't really know in that area I'm not well versed in the
Bible or I just don't have a whole lot of life experience let me let me direct
you to someone who does it doesn't have to be me it could be someone else
okay it could be to someone else and there's nothing wrong with taking
someone and giving someone giving them someone who knows and has judgment
okay who is spiritual right you know we don't want to take advice from
babes in Christ what if I took advice for my son it would not go well
this three-year-old has nothing to teach me right my three-year-old son
cannot impart wisdom unto me I'm not gonna go to him and say hey so what
do you think I should preach on today what do you think he's gonna
look at me like and whatever he says preach on you know he actually he
might have some good stuff because he'll say like false prophets or something
that's a good idea actually son but what I'm saying is is you know we
cannot give advice and act like we have discernment if we haven't been
saved for very long now obviously I'm not saying that a person who is newly
saved or is a babe in Christ can't give any advice obviously they can
advise people in areas that they have succeeded in right areas that they've
succeeded in but let me say this years do matter at times okay years do matter
and if you've only been saved for a certain amount of years two years
well it's still two years yeah but it's not enough for you to know what
life is all about and especially what the Bible is all about and what God
says you know and don't feel like well if I don't give this person
advice they're not gonna respect me well here's what's even worse is if you
give advice and they humor you humor you by basically telling you okay yeah
that was good but they just don't follow your advice because they know
that it was bad advice then you look like an idiot okay so rather be wise
and push that person to someone who's actually spiritual okay look come talk
to me all right and look there's times when people have come talk to me
and I'll tell them I don't know sorry I don't know look there's nothing
wrong with saying I don't know you don't have to act like you know
everything don't act like a normal don't act like you got all the answers to all
of life's problems you know all Bible you know you have all mysteries
and have all knowledge you have the gift of prophecy you don't know you
probably don't know much that okay because the person who is humble
enough to say I don't know is the person who will know eventually because
they're humble right they say I don't know but I want to know this is
what I need to know but the person who feels like they know everything they
just they just kind of spew out how much they don't know you understand so
obviously the spiritual man is referring to a safe person but it's also
referring to someone who is mature in the Lord I'm gonna skip this last
verse so what's the sermon all about the sermon is basically this you know
there's three categories two of these men are both saved but one of them
still behaves like the natural man because you have the natural man you
have the carnal man and then you have the spiritual man natural man does that
which is according to human nature the carnal man is saved but it's still
living carnally they just they're fleshly they're still involved in sin
the spiritual man is not only a safe person absolutely but it's also the
person who has discernment judgment is capable of making spiritual
decisions that will affect themselves and other people in a positive manner
okay let's seek to be the spiritual man all right or spiritual woman you
understand and try as much as possible to minimize carnality in our church we
don't want to have a carnal church we don't want to be like the church at
Corinth okay where there's just all kinds of carnal people they don't even
have the discernment to kick someone out when someone's involved in
fornication it's like hello these people are involved in fornication this
is commonly reported you know they're involved in all these things and
they're taking their brother to court and the most the most mature person in
the church can't even discern and say hey we need to kick these people out
of the church you know we don't want to be that type of a church okay
we want to be spiritual mature growing in the Lord let's pray father we
thank you so much for your word and I know it was a basic truth today but
it's the basics that we need at times and to be reminded of these things I
pray God that you'd help us to not behave carnally help us to be
spiritual Lord and throughout our day we become carnal sometimes we slip we
just slip in and out of walking in the spirit and Lord but as we behold our
natural face in a glass we actually begin to do what we're hearing we can
still walk in the spirit and and do what's pleasing in your sight and I
pray that as the years go by we would walk in the spirit so much the
more and part of that what helps with that is just being in church
consistently that helps us to walk in the spirit that reminds us to walk in
the spirit and I pray God that you'd help us to do so help us to be a
church that pleases you in Jesus name we pray amen