3rd Spirit, Soul, Body (2)
2004-09-19 | Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee | 1 John 2:24-25, Gal 5:19-21
If you look at people these days, regardless of gender, people are very interested in their appearance. They say that from the foods that make you look prettier and slimmer, there are a myriad of functional cosmetics and diet products, and plastic surgery is a very common trend.
Then, is the life of a person who has been changed to be beautiful by plastic surgery more valuable than before? If you do not believe in the Lord and your soul has not changed, no matter how much you physically change, in God’s eyes, the value of your life has not changed, and it is still nothing but corruptible flesh. Therefore, we should be more concerned with realizing what is truly valuable in life and transforming our inner beauty with the truth.
As you receive God’s love as much as your soul is beautiful, you will live in eternal glory in Heaven in the future, and as much as you have achieved your heart with the truth, you can see that outward beauty will follow as a bonus. When the soul prospers, the ferocious impression is changed to a good and beautiful impression, and the dark and worldly face is illuminated with spiritual light and twinkles (Ecclesiastes 8:1). If you look at the features one by one, even if you have an ordinary face, you will be attracted to others by saying, “That person is very pretty and beautiful.” Therefore, being sanctified in the fear of God and entering the spirit is a truly valuable investment and beneficial work, both physically and spiritually.
1. In order to change your heart into the truth, you must forsake the things of the flesh.
Last time, I said that the ‘body’ is the form of a person from whom the knowledge of the truth escaped after Adam’s transgression, and the ‘deeds of the body’ are behaviors that follow the untruth contained in the body. The flesh is a union of the body from which the truth has been drawn out and the sinful nature, and these ‘flesh’ are called ‘works of the flesh’ if they are said individually. Each of the sinful natures combined with the body, such as hatred, envy, jealousy, lust, greed, pride, and blood, are ‘works of the flesh’, and they are collectively called ‘the flesh’.
However, to do the works of the flesh does not mean that a person commits a sin by doing it, but in the heart. For example, if you see someone else’s jewelry and not actually steal it, but think ‘I want to have it, I want to bring it to the owner’ and greedy, then you have already committed a crime with your heart and committed the work of the flesh. The people of the world do not think that it is a sin to have sinned with the heart, and there is no punishment. However, God looks at the heart, not the outward appearance, and even the enemy the devil can understand the heart of the fleshly man, so he can bring charges against the flesh (Matthew 5:28, 1 John 3:15).
In this way, to sin with the heart has already laid the groundwork for what will come out of action, and a person who sins with the heart is a sinner just like a person who sins through works. The reason that Jesus wore a crown of thorns on his head and shed his blood when he was carrying the cross was to atone for the works of the flesh. must be pulled out.
However, the ‘flesh’ is a combination of the body and the sinful nature, and since the things inherited from the ancestors since the disobedient Adam and the sinful nature that he accepted by himself are instilled in man, it is not just man’s power to extract the sinful nature. . You must not only make efforts on your own, but also have the grace and power of God and the help of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, when we pray and fast, we must remember what kind of heart and heart we act with. “Let us cast away the untruths.” Even if we pray loudly and fast again and again, that is not all, we need to understand God’s heart that hates sin and earnestly hope for God’s help.
When we feel God’s love so desperately and how much God hates sin and evil, we can cast off our sinful natures quickly and easily.
2. About the body and the things of the body
If you transgress the works of the flesh, eventually you will also sin through your deeds. For example, if you hate someone, it is a work of the flesh, but if you hate someone so much that you hit them with one hand, this deed is a work of the flesh. Coveting other people’s things is the work of the flesh, but if it is stolen, it is the work of the flesh.
As it was said before that “the body” refers to “the things of the flesh”, the word that collectively refers to the things of the body is “the body”. Then, which of the works of the flesh or the works of the flesh is more serious? Since the sinful nature in the heart has been clearly revealed, of course, the work of the flesh is more serious. Therefore, it is said that those who practice the works of the flesh will not be saved (Genesis 6:3; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21).
When we receive Jesus Christ and repent of our sins, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is with us. After receiving the Holy Spirit, the body still remains, and even if we have committed the works of the flesh, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is still present on those who strive to forsake it. However, even after receiving the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit cannot be with those who do not forsake the works of the flesh and continue to dwell in the flesh. The fullness of the Holy Spirit gradually disappears, and eventually the Holy Spirit is consumed (1 Thessalonians 5:19).
It is difficult to forsake the works of the flesh only by one’s own will, but to commit a sin by doing the works of the flesh can be controlled by one’s own will. When I saw something, I became covetous in my heart, and I said, ‘Shall I sneak that away?’ When you think about it, you can say ‘no’ and restrain yourself. Even if you raise your fist in anger to hit it, you say, ‘You can’t do this,’ and quickly lower it.
However, if you continue to commit the works of the flesh without restraint even though you know it is a sin, you are committing a sin against God. Of course, if you are a new believer at the first stage of your faith, you may not be able to throw away the things of the flesh at once, but you have to reduce it 10, 9, or 8 times like this and eventually become a person who has nothing to do with the things of the flesh. Moreover, if you are not a novice, but have some faith, you should of course put off the work of the flesh.
Even if you say you have faith, if you do the works of the flesh, eventually this will build up as a great wall of sin and you will not repent even if you try to repent (Hebrews 10:26-27). They do not receive the work of the Holy Spirit, and it seems that God is a fearful God, and even the assurance of salvation is fading. However, there are so many churches among the churches that do not explicitly teach that the works of the flesh are not to be practiced. Revival will stop and things will happen that obscure the glory of God.
3. About fornication among the works of the flesh
Galatians 5:19 says, “The works of the flesh are marked: fornication, uncleanness, and sensuality.” First, fornication is sexual intercourse between a man and a woman who are not married.
Even if you are married in the future, it is no exception. No matter how passionately they love each other and promise for the future, there are many cases in which they change and separate. If you have a spouse and yet commit infidelity and take another person, this is, of course, also fornication.
As a reference to a recent survey conducted by a research institute, 78 percent of men surveyed said that they had had a relationship with a woman other than their spouse. It is said that 15% of married people are currently in an unfaithful relationship.
Moreover, in so many novels, movies, and TV shows, various kinds of fornication are portrayed and glorified as if it were a very natural occurrence. It is to portray the people who have an illegal relationship in a passionate and desperate way so that it is entered as if it were a beautiful love. As people find this interesting and take it to heart, you can see that the discernment of sin weakens and becomes numb.
Moreover, even the negative effects of the Internet, which were not there before, are encouraging people to commit fornication. As a result of the aforementioned survey, 72% of all respondents viewed pornography while connected to the Internet, especially among those in their thirties, where 80 to 90% viewed Internet pornography. Through such Internet pornography, I have been exposed to more materials that cause fornication, and even more dirty and lewd things are more easily pursued.
There are too many warnings against fornication in the Bible (Ephesians 5:5, Hebrews 13:4). No matter how evil the generation is, we who believe in the Lord must never be stained by the evil generation and must keep our body and mind holy as the pure bride of Christ.
But fornication includes spiritual fornication in addition to physical fornication between people. They say “I am a child of God” and “I believe in the Lord” and use magic, such as seeing divination or possessing amulets (1 Corinthians 10:21). This is serving evil spirits and worshiping demons.
In 2 Kings 1, King Ahaziah of Israel became ill and sent messengers to a foreign god to ask if he would be healed. At this time, God was very saddened by this, so he said, “There is no God in Israel, so do you send them to inquire of Bael-zebub, the god of Ekron?” He said to the king, “You cannot come down from the bed on which you have climbed, and you will surely die.” According to the words, Ahaziah did not recover from the sickness and died.
As such, we must remember that today, even though we say we are God’s children and believe in the Lord, we do not rely on God who is in control of life and death, but on idols and demons, which is spiritual fornication and is the same as betraying God.
Dear saints,
Today is a very near to the end, and God the Father is desperately looking for chaste children and people who will be God’s tools in the last days. That is why He surely gives grace and power abundantly to children who seek to cast off their sins and leads them to be sanctified quickly through the fiery work of the Holy Spirit.
God, who has given us grace in this way, has promised that as the end of this year and the coming of the new year come, we will ride the rapid waters of the spirit and many people will come out in spirit and whole spirit. I pray in the name of the Lord that all of us will soon come forth as powerful spiritual generals in spirit and whole spirit, fulfilling a great mission in the work of fulfilling the last days, and dwelling in the glory of New Jerusalem in the future.
