This is going to be in Galatians chapter 6.
Galatians chapter 6, there's just a couple of thoughts that I want to bring forth from this chapter.
Let's look at verse 15.
Galatians 6, 15, it says,
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
So what's being compared there in verse 15?
What is the circumcision, or the uncircumcision?
It's a mark, and I won't go into all the details right now, but it's something that was marked in the physical flesh.
It was something that God had required Abraham and his descendants to do to be identified, physically at least, as the people of God.
But here in the New Testament, it's telling us being circumcised, or being uncircumcised, profits you nothing. It avails you nothing.
What does profit you though? The new creature. But a new creature.
Now the topic that I want to preach on tonight is my favorite topic.
In fact, I just preached on this just a few weeks ago in my other church.
But it's such an important topic, and I personally find that Christians forget this time and time again.
Honestly, it is such a basic truth.
And I think as a new church, it's good to just get through these basic truths.
And I promise you, even though you know this, even though you'll be like,
Yep, I've heard this before, Kevin. I know all this stuff.
You're going to be reading the Bible one day, and you're going to ask me a question, and I'll be like,
Oh, because you forgot that simple truth. I promise you, that's what's going to happen.
So this is really important. The difference between the flesh and the spirit.
Or the new man and the old man. The new man in the Bible has many names.
That's the part of you that's born again. That's the part of you that's born of the spirit.
It's given the name of the inner man, the new man, the new creature.
What are the names? There's lots of them. The spirit.
And then we've got the old man, the flesh, the carnal mind.
Or when you talk about the carnal Christian, all these names refer to that flesh.
So we're going to talk about the old man and the new man.
And this is something that I did preach in the church in Punchville probably about a year and a half ago.
But I think it's a good topic to go through again.
Now, if you can please turn to 1 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 23.
1 Thessalonians 5, verse 23.
Because if you're born again, if you're a believer, there is a dual nature in you.
There's two of yous. There's the flesh and there's the spirit.
There's the old man and there's the new man.
And guess what? They don't like one another.
This is a battle in your body between these two men
and who's going to be in charge of your life at that moment or during the day.
This is a true battle that takes place in all our lives.
Sometimes we think about the battle with the world
or we think about the battle with the forces of darkness, with the devil and his forces, his kingdom.
But at the same time, when we talk about these things,
we often forget about the battle within our own bodies as believers.
Now, if you look here in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 23,
I just want to pull out this very basic truth here.
It says,
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.
It's talking about the person of your wholeness.
It says there,
And I pray, God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Did you notice there are three parts of us in this chapter?
There's the body, the soul and the spirit.
The body, the soul and the spirit.
And what I'm going to say to you right now, and I'll prove this later on, is that the body is that old man.
The body is that flesh.
The spirit is the new man.
The spirit is that new creature.
And the soul, people sometimes don't know the difference between the soul and the spirit,
but the soul is, I guess, the true you.
The part of you that never changes as a believer.
And we'll look at this very soon.
But the first thing I want you to understand, some people call this a trinity of man,
because a man has that triune nature as well, the body, the soul and the spirit.
Now, the first thing, let's talk about the body, because that's probably the easiest thing to understand.
Your body, this flesh, we know it very well, right?
We all have it. I can see that you all have that body.
It's something that is visible.
And the reason why God has given you a physical body is so that you can interact in a physical world.
If you didn't have the physical body, you wouldn't be able to shake my hand or speak to me or sing praises with your tongue.
The physical body is to interact in this tangible, physical world.
But you know this physical body is not eternal.
Obviously, it's corrupted, it gets sick, it gets diseases, you get older, and at some point, it dies.
At some point, it passes away. It's not eternal.
I'll just read to you very quickly, James 4.14, which says,
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow, for what is your life?
It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Your life is a vapour. This body is here for one moment, and it's gone the next.
When you compare it to all eternity, it is but a vapour.
I mean, you've probably made coffees or teas, and you've seen the vapour, the steam rise up, and then it's gone.
It's there a moment, and it's gone the next.
In reality, that is what our bodies are. They're not here forever.
And I'm now, how old am I? 37? I'm 37 now. I can't believe it.
I just feel like it was yesterday when I was in school, just yesterday when I was a child running around.
I have fun with the kids when they want to play, and I remember the same kind of games they play.
And now I'm like an old man. I'm getting white hairs and stuff like that.
It's here a moment. Maybe I've lived half my life, as long as there's no major accidents,
and I might have another half to go, and that's the end of it.
But then we have all eternity to think about.
The other thing that I want you to be aware of, and you don't need to turn it up, I'll just read some passages to you.
1 Corinthians 15.50 is that this body, and this is very important to understand,
this body, this flesh and blood that I'm in right now and that you're in, cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 15.50 says,
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,
neither of corruption, pay attention to these words,
neither of corruption inherit incorruption.
So the Bible calls this flesh and blood what? Corruption.
This body is corruptible in the eyes of God.
Why? Because we have that sin nature in us, and when we commit sins, it's in this flesh.
It's in this body, and it says this flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,
because corruption cannot inherit incorruption.
So the kingdom of God, heaven, and eternity, the new heavens and the new earth to come, are incorruptible.
There is no sin in that place.
And so we cannot come in our sinful, corrupted bodies into that place.
I mean, if God allowed that, we'd just mess it up.
We'd just bring our corruption, our sinful nature into that place, and just make things as bad as it is today.
So this is such an important thing, because the religions out there, or so-called Christians,
that say, well, to be saved, you need to turn from your sins, you have to clean up your life.
What are they saying? They're trying to say you have to reform the flesh.
But the Bible says the flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
There's no amount of good you can do.
There's no amount of commandments you can keep that will call you to inherit everlasting life,
because once you've committed that one sin, your body is corrupted.
So you need to understand this.
We cannot go to heaven in this flesh and blood, in this body that we're in.
The other thing that I want you to, I'll just read to you quickly, Hebrews 9.27,
it says, and it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment.
Once to die, and after this, the judgment.
There are no second chances to life.
Sometimes you go, do you know what I mean?
You speak to a Buddhist, or some new age, one of these people with an Eastern mysticism,
and quite often they'll say, well, when I die, I'll come back, I'll be reincarnated.
No. It's appointed for a man who wants to die, and after this the judgment.
This is the only chance we have at life on this earth, as we are.
Now, there's a future millennium, that's a different topic altogether,
but just as things are right now, this is our one chance of life.
And it really makes us think about the people that we need to witness to, this is their one chance.
When we hear about people passing away, or some car crash,
and we think about how many people are on their way to hell,
because they've not received Jesus Christ as their Savior.
So we need to understand these things, that the body is corrupted, and it'll pass away.
It's not eternal.
The next thing that I want to talk to you guys about is the spirit.
We have the body, the spirit, and the soul.
You guys can turn to Romans 7 now.
Romans 7. Turn to Romans 7. This passage is pretty important to understand.
But you might say, well, why do we need a spirit?
What's the point of having a spirit?
Well, think about the body.
If the body allows us to interact in a physical world,
then what does the spirit allow us to do?
If we have a living spirit, it's going to allow us to interact in the spiritual world.
It's going to allow us to fellowship with God himself.
It's going to allow the Holy Spirit to talk to our spirit, right?
And to know what God has laid out for us in the scriptures.
So just as much as the physical body allows us to interact in the physical world,
the spirit allows us to interact in the spiritual world.
In the kingdom of God, spiritually.
Now I can't see your spirit, but you've got one.
If you're saved, it's living.
If you're unsaved, it's dead.
Have a look at Romans 7, verse 9.
Romans 7, verse 9.
What I want to show you here is that unbelievers are spiritually dead.
They've got a spirit, but it's dead.
We all have the body, soul, and spirit,
but the spirit of the unbeliever is dead.
Romans 7, verse 9. This is Paul speaking.
He says,
For I was alive without the law once.
So, I mean, think about these words that he's saying.
He says, I was alive without the law once.
So he's saying, I was once alive.
Does that mean he's dead?
Well, I mean, he's writing this letter,
but somehow he was dead, right? Somehow.
And then he says,
When the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
So what he's saying here is, when I saw the law of God,
when I saw the commandments of God, sin revived,
I realized that I was a sinner on the side of God, and I died.
There comes a point in all our lives,
and I believe it's at a pretty young age,
when we understand, like little children, innocent children, little babies,
they cannot understand these things,
but at some point in our life, we get to a certain place of maturity
where we understand that in the side of God, we're sinners.
We understand that we've come short of his commands and his laws,
we've come short of his glory,
and we know that, hey, the sin revives in us,
and we realize we spiritually die.
Not physically, but spiritually.
He spiritually died. Look at verse number 10, Romans 7, verse 10.
And the commandment, which was ordained to life,
I found out to be unto death,
for sin, taken occasion by the commandment,
deceived me, and by it, it slew me.
So it's saying, he killed me.
When I realized I was a sinner, when I saw the commands of God,
it slew me. It killed me.
But what part of him died?
It was his spirit. Not physically, in all honesty.
He's writing his letter. He died spiritually.
And so everybody goes through this process.
Everybody at some point realizes that they're a sinner on the side of God,
and they spiritually die.
Please turn to Genesis chapter 2.
Genesis chapter 2.
And by the way, this is the reason why, as an attorney there,
this is the reason why, you know, I believe,
and many other people like us, that are like-minded,
believe that little babies, when they die, they go to heaven.
Because they didn't get to a point, a little child,
a child that's been aborted, which is an evil thing anyway,
but if you lose a little baby, a little child,
at an early age, that they're in heaven.
Because they've not been spiritually dead,
they don't have the knowledge enough,
they haven't got enough wisdom, they haven't got enough clarity
to understand what the Lord of God is,
and they haven't gone through that spiritual death process
that everybody else has gone through.
And I think that probably even applies to people that are mentally handicapped.
You know, like Down syndrome, some people are really severe,
and they're like a little child in their mind.
But then there are some people that have Down syndrome,
and they're not so bad, and they can understand the Gospel,
and they can be saved.
So, you know, it comes down to the individual,
it comes down to each person.
But look at Genesis chapter 2.
Genesis chapter 2 verse 16.
So obviously this is the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Okay, the story of Adam and Eve.
Look at verse 16.
And the Lord commanded Adam, saying,
Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day,
pay attention to this phrase,
for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.
So what did God say?
If they ate from this tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
they shall what? Surely die.
When?
Look at it again, verse 17.
For in the day, the very day they eat of that tree,
they will surely die.
Okay?
Now is God a liar?
Of course not.
God is telling us the absolute truth.
But the question I want to ask you is,
when Adam and Eve partook of that fruit,
did they physically die?
No, they were still there, right?
But how did they die?
Because we know that God cannot lie.
That is a true statement of God.
They would surely die on that day.
They died spiritually.
That's the point that Adam and Eve died spiritually,
and that sinful nature was brought into the world.
So again, we can't blame Adam and Eve.
I guess you can to some extent.
But we've all committed our own sins,
and we've all offended God by breaking His commandments and His laws.
That's the spirit.
If you're unsaved, you're spiritually dead.
The third part of man is the soul.
Again, the soul is unseen.
A lot of people get confused between the soul and the spirit,
and I can understand why.
But here's the thing about the soul.
Your soul again is eternal.
It's something that lasts forever.
And you obviously want your soul to be in heaven.
You don't want to spend eternity, your soul, in hell.
There's a reason why we call it soul winning.
When we go out and knock doors, preach the gospel,
we don't call it spirit winning,
we don't call it body winning,
we call it soul winning.
Because it's the soul that needs to be saved.
What I'm going to show you later on is that God gives us a new spirit,
and if you're saved, one day He's going to give you a new body,
but you'll never get a new soul,
because it's the soul that receives salvation.
When we talk about obviously going to heaven,
the soul is what receives salvation.
Now, as soon as you're saved, you receive that new spirit.
You're born of the spirit.
But again, once you have that new spirit,
and your body dies,
then we know that spirit goes to God,
and the soul will go with that spirit to God.
But if your body dies and you're not saved,
you're not born of the spirit, you're spiritually dead,
that soul and spirit will spend eternity in hell,
and then eventually into the lake of fire,
which hell itself will be cast into.
So really, your salvation is determined
on whether you are spiritually dead or spiritually alive.
Now, just to show you a few passages very quickly,
you guys can turn to Psalm 86.
Turn to Psalm 86.
Psalm 86.
And I'm going to read from you in Hebrews 10 39.
You guys go to Psalm 86.
Hebrews 10 39 says,
But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition,
but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
So when we believe on Jesus Christ,
it's the saving of the soul that takes place at that moment.
Okay?
Now, in Psalm 86, look at verse 12.
Psalm 86 verse 12.
It says,
I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart,
and I will glorify thy name forevermore.
Verse 13.
For great is thy mercy toward me,
and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
So you can see there that it's a soul that needs to be saved, right?
It's a soul that needs to be saved because you don't get a new soul.
You get the new spirit, and you'll get a new body.
So God's solution, obviously, is to provide for us
that new spirit that's living and a new body that's not corrupted.
Because right now, again, we are in these corrupted bodies.
So when we think about the unbeliever,
we think about them, they're living in their physical body,
which is corrupted,
they've got a dead spirit,
and we know that this is a one chance of life.
They are actually like a ticking time bomb.
Okay?
They're going by day by day.
Each day they live, they get a little closer
to dying without Jesus Christ and going into hell.
And all it takes is a car crash.
All it takes is some heart attack, some illness,
and that's it.
They're done for.
Which is why it's so important for us as believers
to have the eternal words of God to go out there
and preach the gospel to these people.
Okay?
We ought to have a love for the unsaved
because we were once the unsaved
and someone loved us enough to give us the gospel to be saved.
So that is definitely something we need to do.
Please turn to John chapter 3.
John chapter 3.
John chapter 3, verse 1.
John chapter 3.
It's a very famous chapter.
John chapter 3, verse 1 says,
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus,
a ruler of the Jews.
The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him,
Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God,
for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,
except God be with him.
Isn't it amazing that Nicodemus, a Pharisee,
came and just told the honest truth to Jesus?
We know you're of God,
but how many of the Pharisees rejected Jesus Christ?
Knowing full well he was of God.
That's a scary thought.
Right?
And if they rejected Jesus Christ,
thank God for Nicodemus.
We see later on that he believed in Christ.
We think of Paul, the apostle.
He was a Pharisee.
He believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, there are other Pharisees in the book of Acts that get saved.
I think Crispus is one of them.
I can't remember all the names,
but there's quite a few Pharisees that did believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And some of them were so confused that they were believers
and they were trying to get the church to be circumcised
because they thought that was a necessary part.
They still had it in their mind,
understood the differences from the Old Testament to the New Testament.
But for the large part, the Pharisees rejected Jesus.
But they knew he was of God.
They knew that.
Anyway, that's a side thought.
Look at verse number 3.
Jesus answered and said unto him,
Verily, verily, or truly, truly, I say unto thee,
except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.
So remember that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God?
So what do we need to do to inherit the kingdom of God,
or at least in this case see the kingdom of God?
We must be born again.
Okay?
Now look at verse number 4.
Nicodemus saith unto him,
How can a man be born when he is old?
Can he enter the second time until his mother's womb and be born?
So Nicodemus is thinking physical.
He's thinking bodily.
Now I don't know if he's being serious or he's just joking
or having a bit of a laugh at Jesus saying,
Hey, how can I be born again when my mother's old?
Verse number 5.
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
I love that.
He goes, Yep, yep, you're right, Nicodemus.
I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Okay?
So what do we need to do to enter into the kingdom of God?
According to what we've seen so far.
You must be born of water and of the Spirit.
Okay?
Now a lot of people get this really mixed up.
I remember when I was a teenager and I had a knock on the door
and there were these Mexican, I don't know, some church from Mexico,
they had established a new church in the area
and we were talking about salvation.
I was telling them, Hey, no, it's not by works, it's by faith.
And I think they took me over here to this passage
and they were trying to show me that being born of water was baptism.
Now we had two baptisms on Sunday
and obviously I made it very clear then that baptism does not save anybody.
Okay?
Now what's funny about this, a lot of religions teach that.
A lot of religions teach that being born of the water is baptism
but it's so weird because verse number six, Jesus clarifies what he means.
Right?
You must be born of water and of the Spirit.
Then verse number six,
That which is born of the flesh is flesh
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.
So we see that Jesus clarifying in verse number six
that being born of water is being born of the flesh
and that being born of the Spirit, well, is being born of the Spirit.
Okay?
So in order for us to go to heaven, first of all, you must be born of the flesh.
You must be born of water.
Okay, now my wife's heavily pregnant.
That little baby is surrounded by the amniotic fluid
and that is like 99.9% water.
Okay?
And we still use that language today when, you know,
when Christina or any pregnant woman's about to give birth,
you know, the waters break and that's the terminology that we use.
You know, the pregnancy waters.
Okay?
And it's mostly, it is mostly water.
Okay?
And so being born of the flesh or being born of the water is just your natural birth.
Obviously, you have to be born as a human being to ultimately go to the kingdom of God.
Okay?
Ultimately, you must be a human.
Okay?
That's what Jesus is saying, right?
And then, but not only that, you must be born of the Spirit.
So there's a difference between the flesh and the Spirit.
Okay?
There's a difference between those two things.
Now, obviously, John 3 16, John 3 16,
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
So we know what it takes to be born of the Spirit.
It's believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it?
It's His death, burial and resurrection that's going to get us saved,
that's going to give us, give us the, that's going to allow us to be born of the Spirit.
Okay?
So if you're saved today, you've been born of the Spirit.
Okay?
You have a living body, but you also have a living spirit.
And this is how God can speak through you.
The Holy Spirit can interact with your spirit and can teach you the words of God,
and God can empower you through the, through that new life,
that new spirit that you have, the new creature, if you will.
Okay?
The new man.
All these words are the same idea.
This new man that's been born again, that's been born of the Spirit.
And because I said to you that all the sins that we commit,
and the Bible teaches this obviously, are all in our flesh, in this physical body,
that new man, that new spirit never sins.
And we're going to look at this later on.
But that new man is born of God.
Okay?
Never sins.
But you're going to continue to sin because you still have the old man.
You still have the flesh.
And this is the dual nature that you have as a believer.
This is the challenge.
This is the battle that we fight every single day.
And I personally believe as soon as you wake up in the morning,
you're in the old man, and you're not in the new creature.
You're not walking in the Spirit, the Bible talks about, okay?
And you've got to make conscious effort to submit the flesh to the Spirit.
Okay?
When you're tempted to sin, you can either go,
well, I'm going to sin in the flesh, I'm going to walk after the flesh,
or I'm going to walk in the Spirit and overcome that temptation
so that I don't sin.
This is the battle.
This is why when often you commit sin, you get so upset, you get so angry.
You know, the sin was pleasurable for a season, you know, to the body, to the flesh,
but then the inner man, the Spirit, that which is clean and pure,
struggles with that, you know?
And quite often, this is why this is such an important topic,
is because I've met so many Christians that commit some sin,
and they're like, I don't even know if I'm saved anymore.
If I'm saved, how can I keep committing these sins?
It's because they forgot about the dual nature.
For some reason, they thought that when I got saved, the old man was gone.
No, it's still there.
That flesh is still there, and it's going to be there for the rest of our lives,
or until the Lord comes and raptures his believers and gives us those resurrected bodies.
So we need to be aware of the flesh and of the Spirit.
These are very simple concepts.
Again, let me repeat that.
Everyone that's alive has been born of the flesh,
but then when you understand the commands and you understand the laws of God,
you die in the Spirit because you realize that you are a sinner in the sight of God, okay?
And so that Spirit needs to be made alive again so the soul can be saved,
and that's when we're born of the Spirit,
when we hear the Gospel and we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But we still have the corrupted bodies, okay?
We still have this corrupted flesh.
We still sin, and we still struggle with sins
until we have those new resurrected bodies that God has promised us at the resurrection.
So let me show you a couple of passages here.
Please turn to 1 John 3.
And let me show you how, when you don't read the Bible with this in mind,
you can get very confused.
And I've seen this.
Again, people that ought to know better such a basic truth
get confused when they read the Bible.
And I've had people say to me,
I can't understand 1 John, but it's so easy, okay?
In fact, a lot of these books touch upon the old man and the new man,
the Spirit and the flesh over and over again.
It's a real major theme in the epistles, okay?
But again, if you forget it, it's going to confuse you.
1 John 3, verse 9.
It says,
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin,
for his seed remaineth in him,
and he cannot sin because he is born of God.
Now, if you've been saved, you've been born of God.
You've been born again, right?
But the Bible says here that if that's happened, you cannot commit sin.
Did you read that?
You cannot commit sin.
And it says, for his or God's seed,
there's a part of God that remains in us that creates that new man,
and he cannot sin because he is born of God.
And so people read a passage like this,
and they're like, oh, but I just sinned today.
I just sinned yesterday or whatever.
I must not even be saved.
I must not even be born of God.
But is it the flesh,
this sinful nature that was born of God?
What part of you does not sin?
For this to be true, there is a part of you that cannot sin.
And if you look at it again, it says,
Whosoever is born of God.
Was your flesh born of God?
No, your body was not born of God, right?
This is born of Adam, of your mother, okay?
So it's not talking about the flesh.
You're going to continue to sin in your flesh.
Now, this is not a license to go around and sin.
Obviously, we should overcome these things,
but this is a reality of our Christian life, okay?
It's the spirit, the new man, that does not commit sin
because it's the new man that was born of God, right?
It's the new man that will inherit the kingdom of God
because as we read earlier, the flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God because it's corrupted, okay?
Now, turn to 1 John 1.
1 John chapter 1.
Same author, same book, alright, said we cannot sin.
1 John chapter 1 verse 8.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us.
Alright, that sounds contradictive, right?
I mean, it said in chapter 3 that we cannot sin,
but now it's saying that if we say we have no sin,
we're deceiving ourselves.
So if you ever meet, and I've met people like this,
you meet someone and they say,
ah, I no longer sin.
I don't commit any sin.
Are they lying to me?
Well, I guess they are lying to me,
but really, they're deceiving themselves, okay?
Because nobody can truly live a life without sin, okay?
Sounds contradictive,
but now that we understand the dual nature of a believer,
what part of you is the part that commits sin?
The flesh.
And what part of you is the part that doesn't commit sin?
The spirit, the new man, okay?
So now what seemed contradictive is perfectly understandable
when we understand the dual nature,
and you'll find as you read through the Bible,
you've got to keep this stuff in mind, okay?
As you live your life,
you're going to have to keep this in mind,
otherwise you're going to start doubting your salvation,
forgetting that the sins you've committed are in the flesh,
not in the new man, not in the inner man.
The inner man stays perfect and pure
because it's born of God.
It's the spirit.
It's got the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ upon it, okay?
Let's keep reading there.
1 John 1 verse 9.
If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
This is not salvation.
This is us as Christians.
As we go through our Christian walk
and we commit sin,
we need to make sure that on a regular basis,
we confess those sins, okay?
And what does it say about God?
That he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, okay?
Something you need to keep in mind as a believer
is yes, the old man and the new man, okay,
but also your position and your walk with God.
The new man positionally is perfect.
When God looks at the new man
through the veil of Jesus Christ and his righteousness,
we are perfect in his sight.
But then we have our daily walk, okay?
And our daily walk sometimes is in the spirit.
Sometimes it's in the flesh.
Every time we sin, it's in the flesh.
Every time we seek to please ourselves, it's in the flesh.
There's that battle.
The new man wants to please God.
The new man wants to keep the commandments.
The new man wants to be in church.
The new man wants to learn all the things of God
and be fed the word of God, okay?
But then the old man wants to please himself.
The old man wants to sin.
The old man doesn't want to do the things
that God has laid out for us to do,
which is why it's so important that we learn to submit our flesh
to that new man, to the spirit, and walk in the spirit.
Verse number 10.
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar
and his word is not in us.
Again, you can't go around saying you don't sin, okay?
Otherwise, you're making God a liar.
God says, no, you are a sinner, okay?
But in order for us to maintain a clean walk,
yes, we need to walk in the spirit,
but when we fail, when we sin,
we need to confess our sins daily to him.
Otherwise, we create this division between God and ourselves
and God's going to feel distant from us.
And again, that's another reason why people doubt their salvation
because they feel like the presence of God is so far away.
Maybe I'm not even saved.
No, it's probably more likely you've not confessed your sins
and you need to confess your sins
and you need to be made right with God,
just in your walk, not in your position.
You're saved.
Just in your daily walk to maintain sweet fellowship with God.
Think about the heresy of you can lose your salvation.
I mean, so many people believe you can lose your salvation, okay?
And the reason they believe that is because they think,
if you continue, even after you've believed on Jesus,
even though Jesus paid for all your sins,
your past, present and future sins to come,
even though that's happened,
if you don't maintain a clean and holy life,
if you continue in habitual sin,
then you can lose your salvation.
Well, this teaching of the old man and the new man
really makes that heresy look stupid, okay?
Because think about these things.
You know, first of all, let me, again,
just make sure this is well understood.
If you're a believer, you have that dual nature in you, right?
The flesh, the flesh you see here,
that's the sinful nature,
and you have the new man, the spirit,
which is perfect without sin, okay?
And we know the flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God,
which is why God has promised us
those resurrected bodies to come,
which cannot sin, okay?
So let's say I was, I don't know,
a fornicator, okay?
And then someone gives me the gospel
and I continue in fornication,
or I continue in drunkenness, okay?
For the rest of my life, I continue those things,
till I die.
And someone can turn around and say,
well, see, because you lived,
you continued a life of sin,
then you were never saved or you lost your salvation, okay?
But again, what part of you sins?
It's the old man, it's the flesh.
And does the flesh inherit the kingdom of God?
No.
So how can the old man lose something he never had?
The old man was never saved.
The old man's never going to heaven, okay?
We either get to heaven when this old man dies
and we go spiritually,
or if we make the resurrection,
we make the rapture,
then God's gonna give us those new bodies,
and then we'll be able to go to heaven
in those new bodies.
But this old flesh, which sins,
you know, if I continue in fornication and drunkenness,
it's all in this flesh.
It never had salvation.
It was always going to have to die anyway.
So how can you lose something it never had?
Does that make sense?
You cannot lose something you never had.
But then you have the other part of you,
the new man,
which is a spirit,
which is clean,
which is perfect,
without sin, right?
And then when you do sin,
that new man stays perfect.
That new man stays pure.
It's not the new man committing any sin.
So if this new man never commits any sin,
how can it lose salvation if it's perfect?
Right?
Because it's a new man,
which allows us to enter into the kingdom of God.
And so you can see that
just by understanding this dual nature,
that nobody can truly believe
that you can lose your salvation.
Those that believe you can lose your salvation
do not understand this basic truth in the Bible.
Okay?
They think it's your works.
They think it's your lifestyle
that will get you to heaven
rather than being born again through salvation
in Jesus Christ.
Turn to Galatians chapter 5.
Galatians chapter 5.
I know we read from chapter 6.
But let's have a look at this very quickly.
Galatians chapter 5 verse 16.
Because am I saying then that,
you know,
just go ahead and sin all you want.
Now is that really what we want to learn from this?
Of course not.
Of course we should strive to live a holy, clean life.
Of course we should learn to overcome temptations in our life.
Okay?
Galatians 5 verse 16.
So how do we do it?
Galatians 5 verse 16.
It says,
This I say then,
walk in the Spirit,
and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
So how do we overcome the lust of the flesh,
which then brings sin?
We need to walk in the Spirit.
Okay?
Now notice this is a command.
You know,
when you're saved,
you don't automatically walk in the Spirit.
We're commanded to walk in the Spirit.
Okay?
Because walking in the Spirit is not salvation.
But walking in the Spirit is a necessity of our Christian life
to maintain good fellowship with the Lord.
And when we fail,
we confess our sins,
as we saw in 1 John,
to make sure that things are right in our walk with the Lord.
Okay?
And to walk in the Spirit.
Verse 17.
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh.
And these are contrary,
but one to the other,
so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
So the Spirit wants to do certain things.
Like I said,
He wants to please God.
He wants to live that holy life,
and be in church,
and all these things.
But it doesn't get to do the things that it would,
because the flesh is lusting against it.
And when you give in to the flesh,
you're not walking in the Spirit.
Okay?
Again, this battle,
this constant battle that's in your life,
to the day we die.
Verse 18.
But if ye be led of the Spirit,
ye are not under the law.
Okay?
If ye be led of the Spirit,
ye are not under the law.
What does that mean?
It means if we're walking in the new man,
in the Spirit,
we are not under the law.
Now what does that mean?
Obviously that means that if we walk in the flesh,
we are under the law.
Okay?
Now what that means is,
obviously the new spirit,
that new man cannot sin.
Okay?
And I've used this silly illustration,
but I think it makes the most sense.
Let's say this speaker here.
I'm going to make a law.
I'm going to make a rule
that nobody can touch the speaker
with their hands.
Okay?
Nobody can touch the speaker with their hands.
So if I do this,
if I do this,
I'm breaking the law.
Right?
But even if I don't do it,
I have the ability to break the law.
So because that law exists,
I'm under that law.
Okay?
I can break that law.
Okay?
And remember,
what was that rule?
If ye touch the speaker with your hands.
Okay?
Now what if I had no hands?
What if I was born without hands
or I lost my hands in an accident?
Could I break that law?
No.
I mean,
I could touch it with my elbow
or touch it with my head,
but I wouldn't be able to touch it
with my hands.
Okay?
And so in that case,
because it's impossible
for me to break that law,
I am not under the law.
Okay?
So that new spirit,
which is sinless,
cannot sin.
You're not under the law
in the new man
because that new man cannot sin.
Okay?
Which is why we need to walk
in the spirit
to overcome the sins
that we have in our life.
Galatians chapter 6.
We're almost done here, guys.
Galatians chapter 6, verse 7.
How do we empower ourselves
to walk in the spirit?
You know?
Galatians 6, verse 7.
Be not deceived.
God is not mocked.
For whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap.
Okay?
So if you're a farmer
and you sow seeds of wheat,
what are you going to reap?
Wheat.
If you sow seeds of corn,
what are you going to get?
Corn.
Okay?
Look at verse number 8.
For he that soweth to his flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption.
But he that soweth to the spirit
shall of the spirit
reap life everlasting.
So, you know,
we're using this analogy
of a farmer sowing seed.
You know, your life,
you are a farmer
for either your flesh
or your spirit.
Okay?
You can either sow to the flesh,
you know,
with the world's entertainment,
with the world's music,
with the lust of the eyes
and the pride of life
and the lust of the flesh.
You know, you can seek
your own pleasures in this life.
And if you're doing all those things,
you're sowing to the flesh.
And if you keep sowing to the flesh,
what are you going to reap?
Corruption.
Because your flesh is corrupted.
It's sinful.
Okay?
The more you give in to this world
and your flesh,
the more likely you are to sin.
The less likely you are to overcome those sins.
Okay?
If you're struggling with lust
and you continue looking at women
a certain way
or looking at pornography
or things like that,
it's going to be more difficult
to overcome that temptation.
And that goes for every sin,
whatever it is.
Okay?
And so how should we sow?
We ought to sow to the Spirit.
Okay?
We ought to do things like go sowing in.
Okay?
That's something the Spirit wants to do.
And I've admitted this many times,
but I don't wake up
wanting to go sowing in.
This is why I think
we're always in the flesh
when we wake up.
Right?
But then when you're out there
doing sowing in,
isn't it exciting?
The new man is excited.
The new man wants to do it.
The new man rejoices
when someone gets saved.
I liken it to going to a gym.
I haven't gone to a gym
for many, many years,
as you can tell.
But it's hard to get there.
But once you're doing it,
hey, this feels good.
Right?
It feels good.
It's the same kind of idea.
You know, you have that new man
that loves to be in church.
Again, it's hard.
On a Tuesday night
to be in church after work,
getting the family,
coming out here.
But then when you're here,
the new man loves it.
The new man's been fed.
It's in the presence of the Lord,
worshiping the Lord.
The new man loves it.
Right?
So we need to sow
to that new man.
We need to sow to the Spirit
so that way we can be stronger
in the Spirit
than in the flesh.
One example that I've heard that,
that's a really good example,
is, you know,
if you had two dogs,
you know,
and you loved one dog,
and you, you know,
you sowed to that one dog.
You know, you fed it.
You looked after that dog.
If the dog got sick,
you took it to the vet.
You made sure that
he got it to walk.
You know, you gave it a bath.
He cleaned it.
And then you had another dog
that you didn't like,
and you didn't give that dog food.
It starves.
You know, if you get sick,
you don't take it to the vet.
What's going to happen
if those two dogs fight?
Which one's going to win?
Obviously the dog that's been fed,
that's healthy,
that's strong,
that's the dog that's going
to win the battle, okay?
And so if you're someone
that keeps sowing to the flesh
again and again and again,
seeking after this world
and the pleasures of the world
and the money
and, you know,
the lust of the eyes
and all these things,
guess what?
When you're tempted to sin,
which one's going to win?
The flesh.
The flesh is stronger
because you've not been
sown into that spirit.
And I don't know if you've been,
I've been here where I've not
picked up my Bible for weeks,
days and weeks,
especially when I was
a younger believer,
and then all of a sudden,
it's like a part of you starving.
And then I was like,
when that soul,
that spirit realises,
man, I need to hear, preach,
and I need to be in church,
I need to read the Bible.
And then you get excited
and you read the Bible
and you're like,
Genesis, Exodus,
you keep going, you keep going.
And then at some point,
again, the flesh says,
hey, you know,
not so fast, you know?
I mean, there's this battle
in you all the time, you know?
And if you neglect the spirit,
the spirit at some point
will fight back, okay?
But again, you know,
you've probably reaped
a lot of corruption
in your life
during that process, okay?
So there's great merit, guys,
in your Bible reading,
your daily devotions with God,
confessing your sins to God,
being in church,
going sowing,
singing praises to God
in your house
or in the church, whatever.
All these spiritual acts
is not a waste of time.
You're sowing to the spirit.
The more we do it,
the more likely you are
to walk in the spirit
and when those temptations come,
the spirit will be stronger
and be able to overcome
that flesh, okay?
So that's the principle, guys.
Sow to the spirit
and not to the flesh.
Please turn to Matthew 26.
Matthew 26.
Again, I told you guys
that I know a lot of Christians
and I can think of some examples
of people that I've known
that get really discouraged
in their Christian walk
because they know
they should be doing better
but they've sinned.
They don't want to be
in church anymore.
They get discouraged.
They're low.
They're down.
And you know why?
Because they've forgotten
this principle.
They've forgotten that
there's a dual nature of man.
Again, they keep thinking,
how can I be so sinful?
How can I keep committing
the same sins over and over again?
And they get so down
and so depressed
and it's hard to be around
these Christians.
It's hard to motivate them.
It's hard to encourage them
because they've been failing
in their flesh
and they keep thinking,
am I even saved?
Am I, what's going on?
And they get so discouraged, okay?
But I want to say to you,
and by the way,
1 John,
confess your sins daily.
If you don't do that,
you're going to get
into that state
because the presence of the Lord
will be so far away for you
that you're going to feel like,
man, where is the Lord?
He's even listening
to me anymore, okay?
But Matthew 26, verse 40,
Matthew 26, verse 40,
and this is shortly before
Jesus Christ was arrested
and crucified,
and remember when he went
to the Garden of Gethsemane,
he went with some of his disciples
and he asked them to watch
and pray.
I mean, this was a time
that Jesus needed his friends
more than ever, okay?
He was about to be crucified,
taken, arrested and beaten
and lied about
and whipped
and crown of thorns
and all that kind of stuff.
He didn't know what to do.
He needed his friends
at this point in time
and he asked them,
can you please watch
and pray?
Can you try to encourage
me as well?
And you guys know the story.
He finds them sleeping.
Not once, twice at least.
Look at verse 40.
Matthew 26, verse 40,
and he cometh unto the disciples
and findeth them asleep
and saith unto Peter,
What?
Could you not watch
with me one hour?
Peter, just one hour.
Couldn't you do that?
Verse 41,
Watch and pray,
that ye enter not into temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak.
That's such an important principle.
Jesus knows that your spirit
indeed is willing,
but he also knows
that your flesh is weak.
Okay?
And when you fail,
when you sin and you fail,
listen,
you don't need to hide
your face from God.
Jesus knows.
Remember, he came as a man.
He suffered every point
as we did in the temptations.
He knows how hard it is.
He knows that our flesh is weak,
but he knows your spirit
is willing.
And so please,
don't get down in the press
and in the dumps
when you fail,
and you fail and you fail.
You're going to fail
for the rest of your life.
Please get used to it.
Okay?
Now, I don't want you to fail
for the rest of your life,
but that's a reality.
You're going to continue sin
but Jesus understands
is my point.
He understands
that your flesh is weak.
And so you need to go to him
because again,
I'll tell you
and I'm sure
you can relate to this.
There's been times
that I've committed a sin.
God, I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Help me not to do it again.
Next day, again, the same one.
It's like,
God, please forgive me.
And then again,
it's like,
oh man, I'm not,
God's not going to hear me
again, right?
Is it really,
I mean,
surely he's sick of me
by now
that I haven't been able
to overcome this sin
in my life.
Jesus knows.
Look, they fell asleep
more than once.
He understood
that the flesh was weak,
that the spirit was willing.
And let me say to you,
when you get down
in the dumps, please,
don't get so down
and depressed
because the spirit
is willing
and Jesus knows.
Just go to him,
ask for forgiveness,
start that fellowship
once again,
start the bothering again,
get in church again,
go out sowing again,
whatever it takes
to make sure
that you're sowing
into that spirit
rather than having
a pity party for yourself.
So let's pray.
Heavenly father,
the Lord, if you would
like to pray.
Amen.