Angelic Conflict part 283: Reigning in life – Rom 5:12-21; 8:1-11; 6:13; Eph 2:15-16; Phi 2:2, 4-5; 3:15-16; 4:2, 10.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 283: Reigning in life – Rom 5:12-21; 8:1-11; 6:13; Eph 2:15-16; Phi 2:2, 4-5; 3:15-16; 4:2, 10.  

 

 

 

A mind set on the flesh makes for a spiritual eye that has cataracts. His natural eye sees the things of the world but his spiritual eyes is dull and cannot see clearly the reality of God's work in himself and in the world.

 

We are what we think and so our most valuable asset is our mind, soul, and heart. The natural man is not just an enemy of God but is at enmity with God, meaning there is a hatred of God in every soul. They won't come right out and say that and they will talk nicely about an unknown distant God or that all gods are the same, but when confronted with the true God of love and grace they will at times reveal what is part of their death sentence, a real hatred of God.

 

True hatred cannot be reconciled. Enemies who find a common objective can be reconciled, like Pilate and Herod, but true hatred cannot be reconciled. The only way man can be reconciled to God is if that hatred or enmity is destroyed.

 

Eph 2:11 Therefore remember, that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands

 

Eph 2:12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

 

Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

 

Eph 2:14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,

 

Eph 2:15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,

 

Eph 2:16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.

 

enmity = hatred, hostility, the opposite of agape love. Though sinners, through the cross, the enmity has been slain.

 

1Co 2:12

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God

 

Joh 16:15

"All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you.

 

The things given to us by God as presented in the word of God are revealed by G/HS and fulfilled in our lives through Him.

 

When you set your mind on the things of the Spirit you are like Indiana Jones on a great quest to discover the things freely given to you by God and you find they are within, in the treasures that God has imputed to every believer at salvation and the word of God, but not the words remaining on the page, but written on your heart. What you have learned you still continue to explore that you may gain a deeper understanding of it. Sometimes this means going back to the basics of them and filling in the foundations that were not made secure before. It is the mastery of the basics that leads to effectiveness in advanced techniques. Learning is a cumulative process. The things we learn as fundamentals shape how we inculcate higher-level concepts. Each believer priest does this in partnership with God the Holy Spirit and must come to deep understanding himself and himself decrease his level of uncertainty in all areas of doctrine. As he does this he is delighting himself in the Lord as his mind is set on the Spirit of God.

 

Psa 37:4

Delight yourself in the Lord;

And He will give you the desires of your heart.

 

Delight yourself, and in the CA each of us are believer priests, able to approach the throne of grace and discover the things freely given to us by God.

 

Too often it has been supposed that the Spirit-filled life would cause one to conform to some standardized experience, manner of life, or service. Yet there is nothing related to the believer more vital or more to be cherished than individuality. It is not the Spirit's procedure in and through the believer to disannul individuality, but to work through individuality to the glory of God. The Spirit-filled believer is God's normal; though he may not be God's usual, Christian. [Systematic Theology, L.S. Chafer]

 

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

 

Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death [life and liberty].

 

Rom 8:3 For what the Law could not do [make one righteous], weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

 

Rom 8:4 in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us [living in righteousness], who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit [pursuit of happiness].

 

Rom 8:5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

 

"set their minds" - frone,w[froneo; present active indicative] = to think, to be minded in a certain way, attitude, disposition of mind.

 

The present active indicative makes clear that believers have to actively set their minds on something or have an attitude toward something. Verse 5 shows that God sees believer's in two categories; those who set their minds on the flesh and those who set their minds on God the Holy Spirit. One is defeated by life and one reigns in life.

 

God never talks of degrees of this. Sure there is the talk of maturity or completeness and babes or children, but not in terms of percentages of time spent pursuing one or the other, nor are stages presented. He knows what we would do with that.

 

God is interested in all of your personality [intellect, sensibility, and will] and all of your attitude under the umbrella of grace.

 

Pro 23:26

Give me your heart, my son,

And let your eyes delight in my ways.

 

Pro 3:5

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And do not lean on your own understanding.

 

Jer 29:13

'And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

 

God talks of the fool and the wise man; the influence of wine and the filling of the Spirit, dead and alive, flesh and Spirit, etc. God is not as interested in a moment of time as He is in a lifestyle, an attitude, or as He likes to use most, a walking. What do you set your mind on? And if you recognize that it is set on the flesh, do you recover in grace and set it on the Spirit?

 

Some have taken this to legalistic proportions and have put production before spirituality. And some have called this "yielding" to God, and I assure you that this is not at all what I mean when I say yielding. I happen to like the word while some of my predecessors, whom you all know, hate the term. I use the term as it is used in Rom 6:13 to present ourselves unto God in humility with a willingness to follow orders in grace.

 

Rom 6:13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

 

"present" - pari,sthmi[paristemi] = to place yourself under the command of someone or to present yourself to legitimate authority to receive orders.

 

Combined with Rom 8:5,6 we see that this presenting is accomplished by having our minds set on the things of the Spirit. Naturally, we need to ask ourselves, "What are the things of the Spirit?" We will get to that.

 

A believer can hear doctrine all the time and still have his mind habitually on the flesh. He will claim that this is grace, but he will always be walking dead. Yet God gave us grace through His love so that we could pursue the things of the Spirit and lack any fear of our failures, flaws, or weaknesses. Grace is God's way of saying go for it, I will always supply your needs, no matter what, the supply lines will remain open and I will never guilt you or condemn you for failing. When you're dirty I will cleanse you, when you're weary I will empower you, when you're going the wrong way I will correct you, and if you fall I will pick you up. So go for it believer.

 

We make good decisions from the standpoint of spirituality or being filled with the Spirit. It takes a whole person to make a decision; intellect, sensibility, and will.

 

Formulas for consistent bad decision making: The intellect has knowledge of doctrine, but the sensibility and will are focused on the flesh; the sensibility has God as top priority but the intellect has no sound doctrine; the will to follow God is present but there is either ignorance or a wrong set of priorities, etc. Mathematically, with three variables there are eight possibilities. In other words, if any part of your person is negative then there is walking death and not life and bad decisions are consistently made. Naturally I mean the important decisions and not what to order for lunch.

 

Looked at in a Rom 6 light it would seem impossible for all of me to be positive, for I am a sinner, but the good news is that I am a sinner under an abundance of grace and God is going to freely give me everything that I need to be transformed. As doctrine transforms the believer, his personality is transformed into what God desires him to be by means of grace.

 

Mat 19:25-26

"Then who can be saved?" And looking upon them Jesus said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

 

It's not let go and let God, but rather it is go for it with God.

 

God wants your intellect to be filled with His wisdom:

 

Eph 1:17

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

 

God wants your sensibility to match up with His:

 

2Co 1:12

For our proud confidence is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you.

 

God wants your will to match up with His:

 

Heb 10:34

For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

 

God the Holy Spirit teaches the believer doctrine and empowers him to understand doctrines as they connect one to another and gives him the ability to apply doctrine to his own life. This unfelt process occurs by means of faith and it increases capacity as it transforms the personality, opening up more opportunities, more free will choices in which to walk by means of the Spirit and doctrine. It is the Spirit and doctrine from within that makes for production without. There is no spirituality by production, for that is putting the cart before the horse. There is production from spirituality. The Spirit teaches the believer doctrine and gives power to apply, and the believer must make the free will decision, in partnership with the Spirit to apply those doctrines. These are divine good and powerful decisions.

 

Making good decisions now opens up more opportunities for good decisions in the future. [and vice versa]

 

Rom 8:5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

 

"set their minds" - frone,w[froneo; present active indicative] = to think, to be minded in a certain way, attitude, disposition of mind.

 

Out of the 30 times phroneo is used in the NT, 28 are in the active voice.

 

The HS doesn't force us to set our minds on His teaching, leading, and empowering. We actively pursue His mentorship and when we find that we're not, we recover in grace.

 

Recovery is a supernatural act of grace by God based on the finished work of Christ. It is the momentary process of leaving death and walking in life. The believer's choice when he recognizes the sin is natural. He acknowledges his sin, willful or in ignorance, Christ died for them all and all have been forgiven in Him. That's his choice and choice for all mankind is natural. God's supernatural work of transformation from walking death to walking life is through the work of Christ who satisfied the Father's justice completely.

 

Procedures are not given in the NT, but results are. I use the word procedure as I would as a chemist. A procedure has a numbered, ordered list of steps in order to produce a certain reaction. The Law has these, but the mystery doctrine doesn't. Certainly there is doctrine first under the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit and then growth and then production and then maturity and bringing tremendous glory to God, but these are not procedures in themselves.

 

The working of the Spirit and the word of God in the believer's life are supernatural, but the choice the believer makes for them is quite natural.

 

Jer 21:8

'Thus says the Lord, "Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

 

The fruit of the Spirit can be clearly seen in the believer's own life, and in that, and only that, is the life beyond dreams, beyond what natural eye, ear, and mind function can reveal. Life is not a step by step function, but a harmonic flow of billions of decisions, motivations, actions, thoughts, emotions, and adaptations.

 

 


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