God's Spirit and the Human Spirit

We've been given an incredible human potential. And the human potential is to be sons of God in His kingdom with the glory of God. And for that required that man would be created with free moral agency. In other words, capable to learn from mistakes. And boy, do we make mistakes. We all make mistakes. So God creates man physical, but in God's image and likeness, but with this ultimate enormous potential. So my purpose today, brethren, is to discuss about the interaction of God's Holy Spirit with the spirit of man in man, the human spirit. And that interaction involves particularly the process of sanctification. I appreciate the sermonette that showed us that God's Spirit is very clearly not a person, but it's God's power and God's essence and God's mind and capability and many other abilities and talents that the Bible describes in more detail, which today I do not have time to go into. But I will. I like a few. I'll also appreciate the message that Mr. Whitlock sent last night to all of you, because it is exactly about that very topic. And I appreciate the message he sends out, and I want him to continue. Thank you for your service. And indeed, brethren, is a very important point that sometimes we don't fully grasp it. And we need to. And so today I want to specifically focus along the lines of how God's Holy Spirit works with our minds. And if you start by going right to the beginning in Genesis 2, verse 7, which shows when man was created in Genesis 2, verse 7. And then it reads, 5, 3, 9, 7, is sometimes also translated as Spirit, as, for instance, in Proverbs 20, verse 27. And so, quite often, you and I think correctly that the breath of life represents the capability of us living and having physical life. Correct! But it has the duality in it that it also represents the Spirit of man in man that was breathed into Adam and passed on to Eve. So, when God created Adam, think of it as like a corpse. Just a corpse. And then he breathed the breath of life into Adam, and Adam became a living being. He breathed into him obviously the capability of life, physical life, but also the Spirit of man in man. Now, I'm going to take an analogy and understand it's an analogy to help you understand it better. Think about it. And I'm going to use the analogy of a computer. Now, a computer, it's a piece of hardware, and it does nothing unless it's plugged onto a power source. Right? That electricity and kind of makes it run. Right? So, in this analogy, God has given us a power source, which is our heart, and the blood pumping through it.

And that is the life, the physical life, is in the blood. So, you know, that you need the electricity for the computer to run. But if you don't have an operating system or software working on the computer, it actually is useless. I don't know if you ever, you probably never tried to work with a computer which has no software. It actually can do zero. No operating system, nothing. I remember I came from the days I came at IBM, and we had to work with load operating systems and all that stuff. It was very interesting in those days because we got to know how things actually worked. So, this operating system, think of it, is like the spirit of man in man that makes the brain work. You see, because the human being was created with a brain, but unless the heart is pumping for it to be living, and unless it's got the spirit of man in man, it cannot think like a human being.

And we know that when we die, God takes that spirit and saves it in a backup spiritual file. In a backup folder, you know, think of it like an external drive. I'm just using physical analogies for you to comprehend it better. So, God's only... the human spirit is that capability that makes the human physical body function, and God can save it upon death so that when he gives you a brand new computer, a brand new body, you know, more modern, more capable, healthy, not broken down, he can put that operating system that humans put it back into it, and it's working, acting like what it used to be, but just in a faster, better computer.

So, I'm just using analogies for you to understand.

So, in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 7, it says, "...when the dust..." then the dust shall return to the earth. That means the physical body, when we die, it returns to the earth and perishes. But the spirit, that's the spirit of man in man, will return to God who gave it. Why?

Because he's going to store it until the resurrection, and at the resurrection of a new body, he will blow back into it the spirit as you read in Ezekiel 37, and then he becomes a living being again. Now, we understand that we all will resurrect. You read that in 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 22. So, let's look at that. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 22. For as in Adam all die, now let me ask you, which of us does not die? We all, sooner or later, will die. All our antecedents, like 300 years, 400 years ago, etc., they all die. All die. For as in Adam, all die, so all means all, even so in Christ, shall all shall be made alive.

So, even the worst human being, the worst person, the most terrible person, will also resurrect. All will resurrect. Why? Because Christ has redeemed us all, bought our lives back.

That is amazing to think about it. Christ bought the life of every single person that is the most wicked one. He's brought them back to life. That's what it says there.

So, what is about this human spirit? Well, Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 2, this human spirit that he saved, he describes a little bit more about this human spirit. And it says in verse 10 and 11 of 1 Corinthians 2, For God has revealed them to us through his spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

God has revealed these truths through his Holy Spirit. And now the important one that I want to focus on at the moment is in verse 11. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of a man which is in him? So, what basically means is, you and I understand the things of man because of the human spirit. Because of the spirit of man in man.

So, the human spirit changes the brain into a mind.

The human spirit changes the brain into a mind.

For instance, a giraffe does not have a human spirit.

You can't teach a giraffe mathematics or the beauty of the musics that we have heard before the sermon.

Or a lot of other things of man.

Appreciation of arts and things like that.

But so a lion can't do that either. Nor can an elephant or not a monkey.

Because they don't have the spirit of man.

You see, the spirit of man has that function of activating the brain into this high level of thinking. So, it's like this operating system that is able to do things that without that operating system it can't do.

But it has, note well, another function.

It is like a wifi.

You know, it picks up the waves around you like an antenna. And picks up spiritual wavelengths.

So, it picks up vibes.

You know how many times you walk into a person and he sees you and he says, there's some bad vibes here. You can sense it. You can feel it. The spirit of man has that extra sense, capability.

That some of us are more attuned to it and others are not as attuned to it.

But it has that. So, the spirit of man has this capability of therefore being an interface, a spiritual interface to receive things of God, which come through God's Holy Spirit.

And that's why reading here in verse 11 of 1 Corinthians chapter 2 says, even so, no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God. So, you as a human being don't know the things of man unless you have the spirit of man. A giraffe or a monkey or a lion or a tiger does not get it.

But likewise, you can't get the things of God unless God's Holy Spirit is working with the spirit of man, is interfacing with the spirit of man to give you that extra perception.

In other words, you and I cannot understand the things of God unless God's Holy Spirit is working with you. It's working with you. It's actually interfacing with the spirit of man in man. It's actually communicating, and you are listening to it.

So God's Holy Spirit, therefore, works with our minds. Because remember, our minds is the brain process of the human spirit. So God's Holy Spirit works with our minds.

Or, in other words, God's Holy Spirit leads us.

Leads us. It does not force us. It leads us. It breaks our conscience. It leads us.

It works with our human spirit.

And as that, it gives us spiritual understanding of His truth.

God's Holy Spirit gives us spiritual understanding of His truth. What the Bible calls it, the blindness is removed. That veil that blinds you is removed. How? Because God's Spirit is working with our human spirit, and you are listening to it, and you get it.

Therefore, back to the analogy. If you go to a lion or to a giraffe, we love giraffes, by the way, so you'll hear me referring to them quite a bit. Lovely animal. So, and you try and talk to them about appreciating a beautiful arched picture.

You can try and do that every day, till you're sick in the face, and they won't get it. Will they get it? No! You can try, try, try. They will not get it. Why? Because they don't have the human spirit.

Likewise, if you go to a person in the world that God is not calling, is not working with, and is not giving them access to work with God's only Spirit, you can try, try, try, try, try, and convert them all in vain, because God is not working with them.

Now, there is a little other side of the coin, because you can listen to, or tune to, God's wavelength, which is spiritual through His Spirit. You can also tune in to Satan's wavelength, which is also Spirit.

Turn in Ephesians, chapter 2. Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 2.

It's talking about that you were made alive, you were dead in your sins, in which you once walked according to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of the air. Satan is the God of this world, and is broadcasting, and is not holding back. And so, it's like you turn on the TV, and you can't find a decent channel. Why? Because it's just junk, and more junk, and more junk, and more junk! Well, in the Spirit's wavelengths, you can't find any other channel, if you're in the world, because you are being flooded with all these millions of spiritual channels, which come from Satan and his demons. So, you've got to be very careful. You've got to be very careful.

We, in God's Church, because God is calling us, have the opportunity of God, through his Spirit, to be with us. That's again step one, God being with us. Look at John chapter 14 verse 17. This is on the night that he was betrayed. Christ was talking to the apostles after the foot washing. And John 14 verse 17, Christ said to them, The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive. God's Holy Spirit, the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, which is God, for he dwells with you.

You know, God dwells in you through how? Through his Spirit. Alright? And will be in you. God will be in us through his Spirit.

So, God's Spirit can be with you, even before you baptize. This is important to understand. That's why, when God calls you, John 6 44 says, No man can come to me unless the Father draws him. Unless the Father puts on his frequency into your brain, so you can tune in. Think about that spiritual frequency, in that analogy that I was talking about.

So, draws him means, calls him, draws him, calls him, and God starts working with him. And brethren, that's why our children, you look at 1 Corinthians 7 verse 14, have the capability of listening to God. God is with them because they are set apart, sanctified. Our children. God's Spirit is not yet in them, but it's with them. That's what it is. God's Spirit can be with us.

Now, God's Spirit, of course, it's God's. John 15 verse 26. John 15 verse 26 says, But when the Helper, in other words, it helps our minds to understand, to grasp, comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father. You see, God's Holy Spirit comes from the Father through Christ. Everything comes to us from the Father through Christ. God's Holy Spirit is such. It's the Father that saves us. How? Through Christ, because Christ our Savior. But Christ has been delegated by the Father to do that task. So, when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father.

God's Holy Spirit proceeds from God the Father, and it is Christ, then, that gives it to us. So, the baptism upon the laying on of hands after the water baptism section part, the laying on of hands and the prayer, the minister asks God through Christ to honor the promise of the Father. And what is the promise of the Father? To give us His Spirit, His mind, His power, His essence, so that we can have His Spirit in us. You see, God's Holy Spirit has many attributes. Oh, yes, it has many attributes.

If you look at Galatians 5, 22, and 23, it talks about the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, etc. There's nine attributes out there. So, it's got many attributes. But I want to focus today, very briefly, on three specific attributes. And there are others, because you read in other scriptures that you have the spirit of wisdom and the spirit of understanding and the spirit of being able to explain and teach.

All these things come through God's Spirit. But I want to show you three important things or characteristics of God's Holy Spirit. The first one is in Romans 8, verse 14. Again, these are not all the characteristics, but are just three that I want to highlight today for the purpose of this sermon. Romans 8, verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God.

These are the sons of God. You see, God's Holy Spirit leads us, works with our mind, and leads us. It breaks our conscience. Like you think about it and say, I'm just going to use my name, but put your own name. I, George, I shouldn't have done this. Or, George, do this. God's Holy Spirit breaks our conscience. And it leads us to do something, but does not control us.

Does not dominate over us. You and I have the free moral agency to listen to that preaching of your conscience. Or not. God's Holy Spirit never forces you. Demons do. Satan does. But not God. So God's Holy Spirit, again, leads our minds. Again, our minds is the brain plus the human spirit. And therefore, works with our human spirit. And as you and I listen to that preaching of our conscience, and as we put it to practice, we learn more. It's what I call a virtuous circle. I play on the word of vicious circle, because vicious is a negative.

But virtuous is a positive. In other words, as you do, and as God's Holy Spirit, God gives His Spirit to those that obey Him, Acts 5.32, and as you obey Him, you practice, and He pricks your mind to do this, as you do it, you understand more, and you understand more, and you have a better perspective of different things.

A virtuous circle. And so this virtual circle, at the first stages of your calling, leads you, because God's Spirit is working with you, it leads you to study the Bible, to study His Word, to understand it, but you're not yet baptized. But God's Spirit is working with you. As you get to the point that you start understanding these things, and you have the faith in God and in Christ, and you repent, and you are prepared to make the commitment, you count the cost, you know, Luke 14, you count the cost, you make the commitment, you are baptized.

At that moment, He has another attribute of God's Holy Spirit. It begets you. At that moment, it begets you. 1 John 3, verse 1 and 2.

1 John 3, verse 1 and 2. Behold, what man of love, the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God. Therefore the world does not know us, because it does not know Him. Beloved, He has the key verse that I want to emphasize. Now we are the children of God. Now, brethren, let's go back to a physical analogy for us to understand better.

When the physical Father, through this act of love that God has given us, in a godly, correct marriage, when that human physical corruptible seed fertilizes the ovum, that child is first begotten. And now it's got nine months to grow in the womb till it's ready to be born.

Spiritually speaking, upon baptism, when you and I receive God's Holy Spirit, it is a spiritual seed, incorruptible seed, and that spiritual seed fertilizes the ovum, which is nothing else, but the spirit of man in man. And now the two merge, and it's a sense. In a sense, it's like now you become a new man, because you have God's DNA, quote-unquote, spiritual DNA, coming through God's Spirit, merging with your physical DNA, and now you're becoming a new person, a new man, a new woman.

You've been begotten again. Yes, begotten a second time, because you were begotten the first time when your physical dad fertilized the ovum in your physical mom, and you became a little embryo growing in the man's womb till birth.

The analogy is that we now have been fertilized by God's Holy Spirit. Our human spirit is being fertilized by God's Holy Spirit in analogies like God's DNA, God's characteristics. God's way of thinking is now that seed is fertilized after baptism, after the lay-on-off ends, on the conditions that you've really repented and really made a commitment to change, and that you trust in God, your faith in Him, and therefore you now are born again.

So God's Spirit is now at that stage in you. Not just with you, but it's in you as well, because you become a new person. Look at 1 Peter 1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again, a second time, to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, He's made this possible. Christ went, and you know, after the foot washing, He said, it's important, and I go, that I might send you to the Spirit. So that's how it happened through the resurrection of Christ from the dead. So God's Holy Spirit joins the Spirit in man, at baptism, and now it's in you. That goes together with Titus, chapter 3. Titus, chapter 3, verse 4 through 6.

Titus, chapter 3, verse 4 through 6. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior, He's talking about God the Father, He's our Savior, He's saving us through Christ. Yes, Christ is our Savior, but God is doing it through Christ. So when the kindness and the love of God the Father, our Savior, towards man appeared. How? When did that appear?

When Christ appeared. Christ appeared. That is the evidence of Christ's love, because He sent His only begotten Son to die for us. That is the kindness and the love of God our Savior towards us.

Not by works of righteousness. Christ did not come because you were so righteous, or I am so righteous as? No. Which we may have done. But according to God's mercy, He saved us. So He is given us the capability of ultimately being saved. Through what? The washing of regeneration. Regeneration. What does regeneration mean? You know, the word for regeneration is... Greek, fereach 24. Palin means the game. Genesias is like from Genesis, the beginning. So a new beginning. A new beginning. Which happens after baptism with the lay of hands when you receive God's Holy Spirit. Now this word is used twice, only twice in the New Testament.

But in this specific instance, you've got to read at the context. We're looking at this context. That's what it is. The washing of regeneration. And also, renewing of the Holy Spirit. What do you mean renewing? You see, because we go through a process of renewing through the Holy Spirit an ongoing process of what we call sanctification. You see, so once you receive God's Holy Spirit, now you go through a process of sanctification during the course of this life, till you die.

For Christ comes, whichever comes first. This is the process of overcoming till the end. Look at 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13 and 14. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God, from the beginning, chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit. It's a sanctification of the Spirit. God's Holy Spirit has another function. He is the function of sanctification. So I mentioned, I wanted to highlight three functions. It leads us, it begets us, and it sanctifies us.

These are three functions. It's the renewing of the Holy Spirit that is the sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth. Belief, which means trusting and doing what's right. The process of sanctification, brethren, is symbolized by the time between Pentecost and trumpets. You see, Pentecost represents when you and I receive God's Holy Spirit.

Obviously, in Acts 2, it was on the Day of Pentecost, but for us, it's when we baptized. The process of sanctification is our life, that we've got to be in the womb of the mother, which is the church. So we've got to be in the church. We have to have fellowship in the church, because what child, what embryo can live and survive if you cut that embryo from the mother's womb? It will die. It will die. So you and I need to be involved in the church. You can't be an independent. There's no such thing as an independent embryo. So you need to be committed and working. So sanctification is symbolized by the time between Pentecost and trumpets.

At trumpets, we have the symbolism, of course, of the time of the end, of the Day of the Lord, but also of the last trumpet, the resurrection. In the meantime, you and I, through these nine months, well, it's not nine months, but I'm using the analogy of the physical baby in a womb for nine months. This time between Pentecost and trumpets is that time of symbolically of us growing and being sanctified, going through the sanctification of the Spirit. And now, if we look at 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17, it says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Of course, he's a new creation, because he's been begotten as a new man, he's a new creation, and now he's living a new man, a new life. All things have done away. He should be putting on the new man. And thus, how does he do that? He does that by using two things. God's Holy Spirit and the Bible. You've got to go back to the Bible to get God's instructions, and God's Holy Spirit. Then, as you read the Bible and study the Bible, you study God's Word, you will prick your conscience to say, Hey, George, put your name there. I've got to do this. I've got to change. I've got to repent. Basically, there are still convicting agents. God's Holy Spirit and God's Word. There again, it shows God's Holy Spirit is not a person. It's God's power. It's that essence from God that it's a living essence, because it's an incorruptible seed. It's like the physical seed. The sperm is living, but it's not a person. It's just a living seed. God's Holy Spirit is a spiritual incorruptible seed. It's like living waters. It's compared, God's Holy Spirit, to living waters. So it's a living essence. That works with the Bible. If you now look at 2 Timothy 3, 2 Timothy 3, verse 16 and 17, 2 Timothy 3, verse 16 and 17 says, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and instruction in righteousness. You see, it's not easy, because, yeah, it gives you the teachings, but there is reproof and correction. With the purpose of we being taught to live in righteousness. It's not easy, forever. Reproof and correction requires tests, requires trials, and you and I know that we've not always acted right. Have we? Oh, yeah, I can look at myself, and we all can look at ourselves, and we have not always done the right thing. We have offended. Which one of us has never offended another person? Oh, yes, unintentionally, but we have. Or, we are easily offended. Or maybe we're super sensitive. Take offense over every little thing. And sometimes, instead of overcoming those weaknesses, whatever they are, we cause division. And we take the easy road, maybe causing division. Go elsewhere, where I can do whatever I feel like, or whatever.

Brethren, no one is perfect. We all have sinned. You know that? No man is righteous. No, not one. And so what we've got to do is we've got to examine ourselves. You know, the scripture from that we always review just before Passover, in 1 Corinthians 11-28, examine ourselves.

It does not say, examine your brother or your sister. You see, that's where we go wrong. We start examining others and criticizing others.

We must not do that. We've got to examine ourselves and change ourselves. Look at 1 John 1. 1 John 1. Look at verse 8. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. Yes, you and I may be converted. Yes, and I, you, are in the church. We are in the church. We have received God's Holy Spirit. And what does it say? If you and I say we have no sin, we are lying. Look at verse 10. If we say we have no sin, we make God a liar. Why? Because He says every man has sinned. We all are sinning.

And so we get to the point that we have to struggle. Don't we have a war in our minds? You just remember what Paul said in Romans 7. Romans 7. Romans 7, what do we find? It's a war in our minds. A spiritual warfare.

It says, reading starting in verse 22, For I delight in the law of God, according to the inward man. Yes, inside, because God's Spirit is working with you and I, and therefore we want God's word.

So it says, I delight in the law of God, according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, in my flesh, warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity the law of sin, which is in my members, in my flesh.

And Paul, yeah, in Romans 7, was already been back in the church and had received God's early Spirit for many years. And he was an apostle. And he says, verse 24, Oh, wretched man that I am.

Do you ever feel like saying, oh, wretched person I am, or man, or woman, I mean, I'm a gang getting, doing this, or thinking this, or whatever it is.

Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with the mind, the mind, I have the Spirit of man working of God's early Spirit in a mind, interfacing through this process of sanctification, I'm becoming, trying to serve. I serve the law of God. But with the flesh, the law of sin. Therefore, chapter 8, verse 1, there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

If you are really trying, if you are really trying and struggling, what happens? We all trip occasionally. We all trip occasionally.

But there's no condemnation. You can go back to God's throne in a new and living way and ask for forgiveness now. So, brethren, look at verse 8 through 11. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. That's Romans 8.

But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. Your mind is thinking about the things of the Spirit. If indeed God's Spirit is with you and you're focusing on that. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, which is the Spirit of God, because there's only one Spirit, it's the same Spirit. Right?

He's not He's. He's not God's. He's not a Christian. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin.

In other words, you are putting away those physical desires and you're dying, you're killing them. But they're still there.

The desires are still there, but you're killing them. You're not practicing. You're not living in a practice of that way.

And verse 11, but if the Spirit of Him will raise you as Christ from the dead, dwells in you, He will raise Christ from the dead, will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

So, brethren, God wants you there. Look at John 14, verse 23. John 14, verse 23. John 14, verse 23.

So, brethren, God wants you there. God wants you there. God wants you there. God wants you there. So, whenever you trip, repent. And whenever somebody else offends, you forgive. Because it says, if you forgive, you'll be forgiven. And mercy triumphs over judgment.

And so, brethren, God has made everything possible for you and I to be there. It's up to you and I not to quit. It's up to you and I to keep going. So, don't neglect this by calling and use God's Holy Spirit to become a better person through the process of sanctification.