Angelic Conflict part 287: Things of the Spirit – Rom 5:12-21; 8:1-11; Spirit references in NT.Title: Angelic Conflict part 287: Things of the Spirit – Rom 5:12-21; 8:1-11; Spirit references in NT.
Worship:
Phi 3:3 for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh
Protection of inner treasure:
2Ti 1:14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.
Regeneration:
Tit 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit
Practical (experiential) sanctification:
1Pe 1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure.
Peace and comfort in testing:
1Pe 4:14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
Certainty of communion with Christ: 1Jo 3:24 And the one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And we know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Recognition of falsehood:
1Jo 4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God
Great rewards for the overcomer:
Rev 2:7 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.'
Rev 2:11 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.'
Rev 2:17 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.'
Rev 2:26-29 'And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'
Rev 3:5-6 'He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels. 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'
Rev 3:12-13 'He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'
Rev 3:21-22 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' "
That list could be quite a bit more extensive, but it at least gives us a sampling of the things that our minds should be set upon every day. Can I think of all of these things at once? I certainly cannot, but one thing I can do is to have an attitude of applying what doctrine I know in partnership with God the Holy Spirit and an attitude of allowing Him to lead me, empower me, and enlighten me as each moment presents itself. I walk in confidence, meaning faith in the fact that God the Holy Spirit is going to accomplish these things as I put my mind upon them and not the things of the flesh.
It is a part of the Spirit's ministry to bring to your remembrance the things that you have learned:
Joh 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
Every moment of every day presents an opportunity to apply doctrine. Are our minds set upon that or the flesh?
When I recognize that I have put my mind on the flesh I will recover in grace and again set my mind on the things of the Spirit without an ounce of guilt or condemnation. This makes every day, no matter how mundane or unique, to be a day of excitement and purpose; an Indiana Jones spiritual life through doctrine and the filling of the Spirit.
My choice to do so is from my own volition and not coerced, but the working of the Spirit and the word are supernatural.
Rom 8:7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so;
Rom 8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom 8:9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
Rom 8:10 And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.
Every believer has received the Holy Spirit to bring sight to their eyes and has perceived Jesus Christ as their light and salvation. But some haven't followed Him and have decided to follow after the flesh and the world.
Believers whose mind is set on the flesh have been born of the Holy Spirit, but they have grieved the Holy Spirit, Eph 4:30.
Book of Ephesians context...
Eph 4:17 This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
Eph 4:18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
Eph 4:19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
Eph 4:20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,
Eph 4:21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
Eph 4:22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self [flesh, OSN], which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
Eph 4:23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
Eph 4:24 and put on the new self [spirit from Christ, new creature, mind set on the things of the Spirit], which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth [a soul separated from the wisdom of the world and to the word of God].
Eph 4:25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another [body of Christ].
Psa 133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity!
Eph 4:26 Be angry [against falsehood and not people], and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger [leave it in God's hands],
Eph 4:27 and do not give the devil an opportunity [mind set on flesh - falsehood].
Eph 4:28 Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need.
Eph 4:29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
"grieve" - lupe,w[lupeo; present active imperative] = to cause pain, grief, distress, sorrow, to grieve.
Matthew uses the word for Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Mat 26:37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed.
Therefore, one can be grieved without sin and so certainly, G/HS can be grieved by the believer, in whom He dwells, who has set his mind on the flesh instead of the Spirit Himself. This is not stated in order to make us morbid with guilt, or that the HS weeps like a broken man or sinner, but that He grieves righteously and so we are to understand that the Spirit truly does righteously desire to rule us, and He has ever right, He is God, divine, Creator, Master, Sovereign, giver of life, and way smarter than us.
Gal 5:17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Eph 4:32 And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
Instead of setting their minds on the things of the Spirit, they have set their minds on the things of the flesh.
The believer who has set his mind on the flesh has set up a condition in his life which is hostile to the surgical work which the Lord must do in all that are His.
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.
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Rom 8:7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so;
Rom 8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
We all know from experience that it is possible for us to fall back under the sway of the flesh, which has been abolished and slain. God does not want us to live thus in hours that are tedious, tasteless, and wasted.
The child of God who has once known the will of God and who has stepped out of it to walk after the flesh immediately loses his fellowship though not his relationship. His life becomes a dead thing, his mind set on the flesh, and none of his thoughts or actions please God.
God's love of this believer does not change. God's love is immutable. God is always seeking the way to bring us back. Like many of the position/experience pairings in the word of God (you are clothed with Christ/put on TLJC; Christ is in you/let him dwell in your heart; you are righteous/be righteous; you are forgiven/be forgiven) God is completely pleased with every believer because every believer is in union with Christ and possesses God's perfect righteousness and yet we are told how we can please Him.
God is pleased and satisfied with every believer, regardless of condition, yet we are told to walk in a manner that pleases Him.
It is again another example of be who you are, live as what you are, and walk as who you are, and without fear of failure under the abundant grace of God.
Heb 2:11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren
2Ti 2:21 Therefore, if a man cleanses himself from these things [worldly empty chatter, wickedness], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.
The flesh and the Spirit war with one another within the believer, which explains instability:
Gal 5:17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
Through the inculcation of sound doctrine the new creature will be chosen more often and in a metaphorical way it will grow stronger. One must know that the flesh can do absolutely nothing to please God - not one thing!
Rom 8:7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so;
Rom 8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
sanctification - to be set apart as sacred or holy, to be consecrated to God. Every believer is holy, a saint, and sanctified forever.
All three of those words come from the same Greek root word. Positional sanctification has nothing to do with the believer’s daily experience. Every believer is holy, a saint, and sanctified forever. God has commanded us to make this an experience through the power of the Spirit and the word of God.
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