The Spirit in Man

If you're taking notes, I want to give you a simple graph to put down here at the beginning in your notes. And if you're not taking notes, that's fine. You can just make a mental graph. And that simple graph comprises five lines, just like your notebook paper. It's one line on top of the other. Horizontal lines, five horizontal lines, just like your notepaper looks. So you could even number five lines, one, two, three, four, five, whatever, or not number them. Anyway, that's the graph, and we will fill it in through the sermon. In Genesis 1, verses 20 through 22, in your Bible there, in verses 24 through 25, God created all animal life. Then, when He had created all animal life, in Genesis 2, in verse 7, on the sixth day, when He had completed all animal life, there was no more animal life God was creating. He had that created. Then He created man. In Genesis 2, verse 7, the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into His nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul, a living creature. And in Genesis 1, verses 26 and 27, God shows that there is a difference between animal life and mankind. So, here in Genesis 1, in verse 26, God said, let us make man. We've made the animals, we've done them, but let us now make man. And we're going to do something different between the animals and man, between animal life and mankind. Let us make man, mankind, in our image, after our likeness. Interesting. In our image, after our likeness.

Verse 27, so God did. God created man in His own image, an image of God created He Him, and of course, two counterparts, male and female, created He them. It starts with looks. It starts with similitude, in our image, after our likeness. And you know, in all the physical creation of matter, I mean all of it, there was and is only one creation, man, mankind, that looks like God.

You know, James, when James wrote in James 3 verse 9, and their scriptures I'll reference, and maybe quote, but not turn to. But James in James 3 and verse 9 said, men which are made after the similitude of God.

So, it starts with form, it starts with looks, it starts with outline, the difference between animals and humans. But it goes far beyond that. It goes right on into the area of capacity, potential, and functioning.

And this has to do with something that God gave to man that He did not give to the animals. And you may know where I'm going, and specifically that which He gave to man, that He did not give to the animals, is what we call the spirit in man. And that's what I'm going to talk about today, the spirit in man. So, that will serve as a good title, the spirit in man. I want to go over to 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 11. There are fundamentals that I've learned a long, long time ago. They haven't changed because they're part of reality, a reality that is not changeable. 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 11.

Now, think about this statement. For what man, man or woman, it doesn't matter, it's talking about mankind. For what man or woman knows the things of a man or woman except the spirit of man which is in him? And it references here that there is a spirit disconnected with understanding. And again, we will come to more of that as we go along. Back in Job 32 and verse 8, Job 32 and verse 8. Elijah said, but there is a spirit in man. Now, with Protestant programming, most Protestants and Catholics, due to Protestant programming and Catholic programming, when they hear the word spirit, they automatically tend to think of soul or mortal soul. But that's not what it says. And again, we will flesh this out. No, there is a spirit in man, but it is not a mortal soul. And again, we will cover this. 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 1. The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel says the Lord, which stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth, but it formed the spirit of man within him. Job spoke of it, or actually, Elihu, Job knew it, of course. Zechariah was inspired to speak of it. Paul spoke of it, that there is a spirit in man. Scientists, and you might say, in so many different fields of science, but scientists recognized that there is something unique with the human brain that is missing from the animals. There is something there in the human brain that simply is not there. And of course, some of these scientists acknowledge God, some of these scientists don't. But there is a major, major difference. And they physically compare the sizes of the brain. They will look at the sizes, and this major, major, major difference cannot be explained by the quality of the gray matter. It cannot be explained by the size of the gray matter. There is nothing about the gray matter, when they study it, that can explain this major difference. And of course, we know very simply what the difference is and why. Although, sometimes we may not understand it as much as we could understand it, but we do know why the major difference is that it is this essence of spirit. And listen carefully. It's this essence of spirit, this essence of spirit, that combines with physical brain to create mind. That's what creates your mind. It doesn't have a mind. It is created by the essence of spirit combined with the gray matter of the brain. And that generates mind. And again, we'll look at scriptures that have to do with that. It's this capacity of mind that separates us from the animals. And without the spirit in man, as it's called in the Bible, would be just a high-class animal. God could have created Adam exactly the way He created Adam, with brain and everything, but if He had not infused him with the spirit in man, he would have been nothing more than a high-class animal. Do you remember? Sure you do. When God said, Nebuchadnezzar, you're going to be out in the pasture for seven years, and your hair is going to grow, and your nails are going to grow, and you're going to eat grass like a cow. You know, I'm going to change your digestive tract where it can process what the critters process, you know, the cows. And you're going to be out there in the dew of heaven with the weather and all for seven years. Now, there's an interesting Scripture, and you might just want to jot this down, about Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel 4 and verse 34. Daniel 4 and verse 34.

When the seven years were finished and God restored him, Nebuchadnezzar makes this statement. He said, My understanding returned unto Me.

My understanding, my ability to understand and to know and to weigh and to consider and to think returned unto Me. It was given back to Him. So, is it possible that God just simply removed the spirit in man for seven years and allowed him to be just a high class animal? My understanding returned unto Me. That means His understanding wasn't there for seven years. People sometimes wonder, well, what is mind really? I have a mind, but what is it really? Well, mind is made of two components. Number one, the spirit in man, and number two, the physical brain. It's very simple. We don't understand how it works. I can't explain to you fully how it works, how this, you might say, living miracle occurs, but I do know that mind is the spirit in man coupled with the physical brain. And that mind is something that the animals don't have. They have instinct. They don't have minds. Now, there is such a thing as animal intelligence. We understand that. But they do not have the spirit in man, and they operate more by instinct. It's interesting. There was an incident where ants were moving the queen to a new location, and they were going through a passageway, and they broke her head off.

And they just kept right on going with a headless queen taking care of her, totally unaware, because that's what they do by instinct. It's programmed into them. That's instinct versus mind. See, what does mind do? Mind makes possible reasoning, thinking, hoping, dreaming, planning. It creates what? It creates latitude of choice, latitude of decision.

It's what we call free moral agency, free will, free moral agency.

We can think of what the mind, the wondrous creation of God, by instilling the human being with the spirit in man and the capacities, we can put men on the moon. I mean, look at what we can do, because the reasoning and the thinking and the planning and all of that, it creates latitude of choice, decision, free moral agency. And there is something that the animals do not have.

1 Corinthians 2.11, well, we've been there, I'll just quote it again, 1 Corinthians 2.11, For what man knows the things of a man, that is, that which belongs to a human being. What belongs to a human being? Planning, thinking, dreaming, hoping, building, doing. That belongs to him.

What gives him that? What gives him that opportunity? What gives him that capacity? It's what the spirit in man accomplishes in him, and therefore, that's why it's worded by Paul that way, for what man knows the things of a man. For seven years Nebuchadnezzar did not function with the regular things of a human being.

That's why he said, my understanding was returned to me. With the spirit of man is not there, you become basically a high-class animal, and that's all you are. For what man knows the things that go with being a man, a human being, except the spirit of man which is in him.

Again, when you think about this, the spirit in man which combined with physical brain gives us mind power, it makes possible. It makes us capable of moral and spiritual attitudes.

If you ever tried to explain morals to a cow, you go up to the fence, the cow standing there, munching grass, raises his head, looks over the fence at you, and you start explaining morals to the cow. And if it's already been well fed, it just stands there and chooses its good while it looks at you with those big old brown eyes and all. And when you spend an hour explaining morals to it, you wonder, does this cow really get it? Better yet, teach it algebra. Well, better yet, let's drop the algebra. Go with basic math. Go with basic math. Now, obviously, I'm being facetious in order to really make the point. A cow can neither sin nor be righteous. Have you ever thought about that? Dogs don't sin, cows don't sin, they can neither spin, neither can they be righteous. They just do what the... You ever watch squirrels do what squirrels do? Rabbits do what rabbits do. Birds do what birds do. It's just... It's programmed. It's instinct.

A cow can neither sin nor be righteous, nor can it understand and work mathematics. But you can sin, I can sin, or I can be righteous, I can do right things, or I can do wrong things. I can learn basic math, I can learn algebra, I can do this. You know, the human being is obviously... has a capacity that they don't, and the difference is the spirit in man, which imparts the power of mind. The power of moral decision, and the ability, the ability, the capacity to grow in character. An animal cannot grow in character. I mean, they're just... they're programmed to whatever degree they're programmed, but it's not a growth issue. The power to grow in character.

Basically, the spirit raised this man to a higher dimension above the animals. Now, this fundamental basic truth really gives guidance and direction.

It even helps to cut out a lot of the nonsense that we run into in this day and age, which again, I'll come to a little bit of that in a few moments. But it raises man into a dimension above the animals, and it gives him a superiority over the animals. Which, for one thing, again, is not generally recognized with certain ones who want to get into certain levels of A.D.S.P. But it gives man a superiority over the animals, doesn't it? Remember what it says back in Genesis 1, 26? The rest of the verse.

Genesis 1, 26. The rest of the verse is, And let them have dominion, rulership, over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth, let them have dominion over animals or servants to mankind. That's their purpose. Animals or servants to mankind.

Wouldn't you expect that if animals were created in a more of a serving position to mankind, that as part of their instinct, part of their programming would be a certain, maybe, built-in response factor? Now, that's going to vary from animal to animal. It depends on the level of service the slave animal is to render to humans. Take horses. Horses, just by the way a horse is built, you look at it and tell that it's made for riding. This simply is.

Horses have some of the highest animal intelligence, what's called animal intelligence, in the animal world. Horses are very responsive to human beings. It's part of their makeup. And they're very sensitive animals. And they're very sensitive and they're very responsive.

Dogs are called man's best friend because dogs are so responsive. And there have been cases where dogs would save a little toddler's life. You know, a couple of dogs curl up around the toddler out in a cold place where the toddler would have frozen to death because it wandered off and the dogs went with it and they kept it alive. The built-in response is there. And, of course, dolphins are very responsive and they're called dogs of the sea in part because they're so responsive to human beings.

So we see that. And, of course, again, it's higher in some than others. And their ability with the animal intelligence, their ability to respond is amazing. So God put that capacity there to service. They say a dog can learn about 165 or 160-something words. Now those are phonetic sounds, of course. They're learning the phonetic sounds. But there are certain words that we can't say around our little dog. Her head will come up and she knows exactly what that means.

We spell some things around her. So we know there is animal intelligence, but animals are not self-aware like humans. They are aware of the around, but they're not self-aware. They don't dream and hope and plan and all of that that a human being can.

And, you know, if people understood this difference I'm talking about, again, it would remove the uncommon, unnecessary worry about animals and animals' rights. Think about it. If they understood this basic truth, just about like animals are made to be servants to human beings, it would remove a lot of the junk about animals and animals' rights.

And to be clear, a righteous man cares for his animals, doesn't he? He takes care of his animals. He waters them. He feeds them. He cleans, you know, he's got horses.

He takes care of cleaning the stalls. He does the things that are good for his animals. I know of a case years ago, didn't personally know the people, but two boys who locked a horse into a stall and left it there to the start of death.

Just being cruel, you know, that is totally unrighteous. You know, there's even a proverb that has to do with a righteous caring for his animals. But he keeps things in perspective. I remember what a woman wrote years ago.

She said this, she said, If I had a choice between hitting a human, so I'm not driving on the highway, if I had a choice between hitting a human or an animal with my car, I'd hit the human because someone would help the human and no one would help the animal.

Again, the whole perspective is out of kilter because of a lack of understanding on a number of levels. And I remember when Tree Hugger said, I'd give my life to save a tree. Okay, if that's how cheap your life is, that's your decision. But it would...so many lack of understandings have generated so many problems in our world. See, the spirit in man gives the human a value the animal does not have.

And it separates man from the animals with a barrier they cannot cross. It puts him in a different category, a different dimension. Animals cannot understand human things, there's a barrier they cannot cross. So the lines of that graph that I gave you at the beginning represent uncrossable barriers. Those are uncrossable barriers, as well as dimensions. They are both dimensions and they're uncrossable barriers. We're going to work from the bottom up to the top. The very bottom line, that fifth line at the very bottom, animals. You can put animals there.

A for animals or animals. That's what goes in there. The one right above it, and again, animals cannot cross into that next level. That next level is man, mankind. M for man or mankind. And again, we're going to fill in this graph of barriers and dimensions, but first, let's look more closely at the spirit in man. The spirit in man is not a being. If it's a being, you're dealing with an immortal soul, which there's no such thing. It is not a being and is not a personality. It is not a being or a personality. Of itself, the spirit in man, of itself, separated from and aside from the brain, it does not see or know or think.

Now, if you know where to go in Scripture and we'll go there, that's easily provable. The spirit in man, of itself, aside from the brain, it does not see or know or think. It is simply spirit-essence. And whether we understand that or not, it's just like God can build with spirit. Spirit is indestructible. Heavenly Jerusalem, that's described in Revelation, that's going to come down here some day, that is a city not made of matter. It is the actual city with specific dimensions that is made of spirit.

And whether we understand it fully or not, spirit is also a building material, but it's an indestructible building material. It's not like matter. Matter is temporary and destructible. Anyway, it is simply spirit-essence, which when combined with the physical brain, it causes or imparts mind power. And when we talk about mind capacity, the capacity of a mind or to have a mind, that is simply this coupling, spirit-essence, organic brain, physical brain, coupled together, that together.

And with that coupling, there is a mind. When that coupling is broken, there's no mind. Now think about what a miracle, what a marvel of God this is to somehow couple spirit-essence and matter together. The spirit in man, and this is an important point, the spirit in man imparts mind, makes it possible not immortal life. It doesn't impart immortal life. It simply imparts mind. And so God formed Adam from the dust to the ground and breathed into him the breath of life. And Adam and Eve sinned, and after they sinned, God said, okay, the dust to the ground, which you are made of, to the dust you will return.

That's in Genesis 3, verse 19, as we know, man's composition. What we're made of is dust. And what does the Scripture say? It says, when a man dies, his very consciousness, his thought, his awareness ceases. The dead don't know they're dead because they don't know anything. They're not thinking. There's no consciousness. Now, there have been, who knows how many people who knew they were in the process of dying, who knew they were dying, knew they were going to die. It's kind of like lying there in bed and knowing, well, I'm getting so sleepy, I'm going to fall off to sleep here in a minute.

I'm going to fall off to sleep here in a minute. And I know I'm going to fall off to sleep, and all of a sudden you blink your eyes. Oh, and I have a watch that's indigle. I can check it to see what time it is. Oh, I was asleep for three hours, or whatever.

Look at Psalm 6 and verse 5. Now, here is not only what has given me a great deal of comfort over the years, but security of foundation, authority for thoughts and plans, and that is sound, solid, black and white, clear Scripture. It's not dependent on what I want things to be or not be, or anybody else wants or doesn't want. Sound, solid, foundational Scripture. Notice what David said. I said, when a man dies, his very consciousness, his thought, his awareness, that all ceases.

Psalm 6 verse 5. For in death there is no remembrance of you. Now, so far, I've lived for 71 years. And I don't know exactly the exact age as a little child that I first became aware of God, but at some point as a little child, that became a part of me. And once that became a part of me, awareness of God, I've lived from that point forward all these years with an awareness of God. And that is a constant and continuous awareness with me. It's part of my life and my thinking and my lifestyle, all of it. Yet, at the point that I die, if this age goes on and comes to a time where I die, when I die, there won't be any more awareness of God until I'm resurrected.

And when I'm resurrected, I'll have that awareness again and be in a glorified body, too, for that matter. But while dead, there's no remembrance of God, there's no awareness because there's nothing going on. There's no mind, there's no thinking, there's none of that. That's clear from this. And David said, in the grave, who shall give you thanks? Nobody, because there is no awareness at all. But I'll go to David's words also in Psalm 146, verse 4.

Now, again, in the King James, you have the best translation. It matches with Psalm 6.5 and it matches with one in Ecclesiastes we're going to. It changes it a bit in the New King James and it changes it in some others. But it shouldn't have been changed because it should have been left like it was in the King James. Psalm 146, verse 4, David said, his breath goes forth, obviously talking about when he dies. He returns to his earth. Adam, you're composed of dust. To dust shall you return. He returns to his earth that he's made of.

In that very day, the day of his death, the instant of his death, his thoughts perish. His thoughts perish because the thought generator, the mind, the coupling is broken and the mind is not there. The thought generator is now broken and so there's no more thoughts produced at that point. His thoughts perish. And the son of King David Solomon, in his words, in Ecclesiastes 9.5, he says, For the living know that they shall die.

As I stand here before you, I know for an absolute fact that if time goes on long enough, that the time will come when I will die. That's just simple reality. It's not morbid. I'm not discouraged, oppressed, or any of that. I hope to live as long as possible. The simple fact is, I'm thinking and I know and I'm aware that the day will come that I'll die. Because I'm alive and I can think. But the dead know not anything. All thoughts have ceased because the coupling that generates the mind is broken. The mind is an equation. Animals don't have minds because they don't have the equation.

They do have what was called, again, animal intelligence. They definitely have instinct. There's programming. And there's a lot of latitude that God has built into that, again, with response capacity and all of that. They don't have a mind. The mind is an equation. Just for point of illustration, and to make the point, let's play, half of the equation is matter. And the other half is spirit essence. Now, I want you to think about something for a moment. If the thinking and the awareness, if the being, the thinking, the awareness, the ability to generate thoughts were strictly in the spirit in man, then when you die, your thinking would continue right on.

Because the spirit in man doesn't die. It's spirit essence. Think about that for a moment. If the thinking was strictly in and only in the spirit in man, which continues to exist after you die, you would continue to think and be aware, give God thanks and all of that. But that's not what happens. The scripture is plain. Your thoughts cease. Why? Because the mind is an equation that's made up of spirit essence and matter coupled together.

What does death affect? Death affects the matter. The matter goes back to dust. The gray matter of the brain goes back to dust. That's what's affected by death. The equation is broken. The spirit in man is not destroyed or affected by death. It does not go back to dust because it is not made of dust. It's spirit essence. It's a spirit element. So it remains, but no longer is there a coupling.

The coupling is broken. The equation is broken because the gray matter of the brain is matter. Death affects the matter. It goes to dust, but it does not. It cannot affect the spirit essence because it is spirit. But the coupling of the two together has been broken by death, so all thought and awareness and consciousness thesis because the equation is broken. Death breaks the coupling. And that's one reason why death is referred to as, you know the term, giving up the spirit, giving up the breath, but also giving up the spirit.

It speaks to a place of light. In Genesis 49 verse 33, just again as a reference, death is spoken of as yielded up the spirit. Genesis 49 verse 33, yielded up the spirit. And it has to go somewhere because it is spirit essence and it's indestructible. Ecclesiastes 12 verse 7. It's interesting, Solomon wrote this in Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 7. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was.

Again, we go back to dust. And the spirit, that spirit in man shall return to God who gave it. And that's a wonderful thing. You remember Christ's words in Luke 23 46? Luke 23, as he hung there on the cross, the stake, dying. Luke 23 46. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. You know, at gravesides, when we do what's called a committal prayer, we'll usually maybe read a scripture or two. This is, you know, after the chapel service and we're out there at the graveside and we're doing what's called a committal prayer.

God, into your hands we commit His spirit or her spirit for safekeeping to the time of resurrection. Now, again, obviously because of Protestant programming, Catholic programming, people hear the word spirit, they may think, oh, He is referencing the immortal soul. Of course, I'm not. And I'm not going to try to give them a crash course regarding their misunderstanding and straighten their understanding out. It's not time and place or even possible to do in that kind of setting. But it is interesting. Into your hands I commend my spirit, and having said this, He gave up the spirit. And death is referred to that way. Look at Acts 7, verse 59.

And this is something God's people have always understood. It's part of the foundational understanding, which again gives guidance and direction on our beliefs and doctrines. This is the stoning of Stephen. You know, there in Acts 7 and in verse 59, and they've stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying, you know, as they're stoning Stephen, He is saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

Let's go to one more, Hebrews 12. And this touches upon part of the blessing, in addition to having mind power capacity due to the spirit in man being there with the brain. Also, something additional that is really wonderful. Hebrews 12, verses 22 through 24. Paul writes, But you are coming to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, which of course you're going to come to earth someday, and to an innumerable company, an unnumbered company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to guide the judge of all, and notice what it says, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, the spirits of righteous people made complete, made mature, the spirit in man that was there with Abraham, where did it go when he died?

David, Joseph, who went to God.

Our day and time, people that we have known of the faith who have died faithful, and the spirit in man that was there with them, where did it go? It went back to God, and God is safekeeping that. The spirits of just men made perfect. Because, see, although this spirit essence is not a consciousness or awareness, since it is the only indestructible component of the human being, it serves as a complete record of the human being.

This becomes the complete, exact record of that unique human being. And it's indestructible. It becomes a perfect, complete, exact record of the human being. Everything of that human being is somehow imprinted or recorded on this record. Again, we don't have to understand how it can be that way, but it is that way. That everything of that human being is somehow imprinted upon that record. This is the record or identity that God will use to resurrect every human being someday.

You know, we have moved from the days of cassettes, videos, you know, we get to videos, and of course we have CDs and DVDs and even the far more advanced stuff. You download a recording of a sermon, and you're sitting there in your living room listening to this download of this sermon that so-and-so gave. And it may be a sermon they gave a week ago or five years ago. And they're not actively speaking. They're not actively doing it at the moment. This is a recording. But it is an exact recording of what they said.

And somebody says, well, you were listening to such and such, and he says, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. He said this and he said that. Well, you mean you actually heard him? Yeah, I did. It's all recorded. And we speak of it as, you know, well, he said this and he said that.

Because he did. He said this and he said that, and it's an accurate recording. We have that with the Spirit in man, which serves as an accurate recording of every human being. And here's the comfort in that. Nothing and no means of death can destroy this record. But so-and-so was vaporized. There was nothing left. Their shadows were burned into the concrete, like in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There's nothing left. I mean, even their shadows were burned into the concrete.

They were just totally vaporized. Or they were eaten by sharks. Or they were burned up like, I believe, it was Tyndale. First of all, he was murdered. Then, if I remember, if he was on I'm thinking of, they dug his bones up later, burnt them, crushed them, sprinkled them in the waters.

They hated him so much. How's God going to resurrect him someday? There's nothing left. There's nothing to bury. Doesn't matter. God's got the spirit in man that was a component of him, and everything is recorded on it, and God can do an exact reproduction, exactly of that person, to where it will be that person. Military. Why do they wear dog tags? You know, the main reason for a dog tag, as they call them, is for identification. And I don't want to get graphic and gruesome, so I shall not. But those dog tags, that medal, you know, is one of the, probably about the best way on the battlefield that they can guarantee having sufficient identification.

But God's got a much better way, and it's foolproof. And there's something else this spirit in man makes possible. It makes possible the ability to connect with another spirit, the spirit of God. Go back to 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians 2. In 1 Corinthians 2, beginning in verse 9, But as it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him, but God has revealed them unto us by...

Now we're dealing with different spirits here. His spirit, His Holy Spirit. For the Spirit, God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit, searches all things. What is His church? The deep things of God. Now I will go back to Job 32. And this time, I believe it's the same verse, Job 32 and verse 8.

Yes, Elijah says, But there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding. And Paul mentions how that God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit, makes it possible to begin to understand the deep things of God. And here with Elijah saying this, but there is a spirit in man. Yes. And the inspiration of the Almighty, which is through His Holy Spirit, gives them understanding. One other scripture before I take it a little further. Romans 8-16. Romans 8. And verse 16. The Spirit itself bears witness with our Spirit.

Interesting. The Spirit, God's Holy Spirit, itself bears witness or testimony with our Spirit. And many times, because it takes the Spirit in man to be able to cause there to be a mind and ability to think, that sometimes Spirit is used synonymously with mind. Same as heart is used synonymously with attitude or motivation many times. See, the Holy Spirit connects with our human spirit.

The human spirit makes possible a connection with God's Holy Spirit. The capacity for connection is there. And when God comes to dwell with a person, as He very clearly does with those He calls and who respond to Him, when He does, where does He do that? Does He connect with your little finger? No. He connects where the thinking takes place. Spirit joins the Spirit, and this is where God connects His most important gift to us, His Holy Spirit.

And when this connection is made, guess what? It raises you to a higher level to place you in a new dimension. You are taken across a barrier that you cannot cross without God inter-feeding to give you His Holy Spirit. It places you in a new dimension. It puts you up on that third line, converted man. C.M. or converted man. Because natural man cannot automatically say, I'm going to go up to the converted line.

He can think He's doing it, but He's not. He can want to do it, but He's not. God has to, through God's calling and working with Him with the Holy Spirit, to begin to bring Him to being able to understand the deep things of God, which requires God's Spirit working with Him, and eventually to be in Him. That's what takes Him above natural man and puts Him on that third line, converted man. And again, those lines are uncrossable barriers.

You cannot cross those barriers. Animals cannot cross into natural man or mankind. Natural man or mankind cannot cross into converted man. Cannot. Has to be placed there by God. The deep things of God, as Paul said, back in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 10, are now opened up to you. God's Spirit takes us across a barrier that we naturally, as natural, carnal man, simply cannot cross. Now, the natural man can know certain things. Great Romans 1. Natural man can know certain things, but he doesn't have access to the deep things.

And why in the Bible do you find it speaks to things of God? It speaks of basics, but it also speaks of the deep things of God. You cannot go into the deep things without God's Spirit. That is only accessible through the Holy Spirit. Now, we know that currently the angels are in a higher dimension than we are. We understand that, don't we? Look at Hebrews 2, verse 7. Hebrews 2 and verse 7. It says, you made Him a little lower than the angels. And in the Greek, it could have been rendered just as easily.

You made Him a little while inferior to the angels. The angels currently are in a higher dimension than you or I are, and we understand that. And that certainly God is higher than all, absolutely higher than all. So we can complete the graph. The next line up is angels. Angels. And the very last one, it says, converted man cannot cross that barrier into the dimension that angels live in.

They live in a spirit dimension, and we can't cross into that. No. Because we're mortal. Even converted man, that natural man can't cross into, but he converted man also cannot cross into the next dimension, which is the realm of spirit. And then at the very top is God. But now let me draw attention to a couple of interesting points as we wrap this up. Hebrews 2 here in verse 7, You made him a little lower than the angels. It doesn't say tremendously lower. It says a little lower. And even if it had been translated, you made him a little while inferior too. It doesn't say tremendously inferior too. This statement is made in part due to the fact that although we are currently made of matter, we too have a mind.

We too have a mind. Mind power is the one thing that God, angels, and human beings have in common. Nothing else in the creation has. Only God and angels and humans have minds. That is one thing we have in common. And the other interesting point is that God, through His Holy Spirit, may give us view into some things that even the angels aren't given to see into at this time.

You wonder. Peter made this statement in 1 Peter 1.12. 1 Peter 1 and verse 12. It says, That's interesting. It may be that God, through His Holy Spirit, may give us, sometimes, His people view into some things that even the angels aren't given to see into at this time. It's just an interesting thought, especially based on what Peter says here. But basically, what God does and is doing is He shares some of His plane and His dimension with us.

He shares some from His plane and His dimension with us. The Spirit in man makes possible mind power. And where there's mind power, that's free moral agency. That's choice. That's decision. It provides a complete and exact indestructible. Now, apparently, I'll put numbers on these. Number one, mind power. Free moral agency, choice, decision. And it provides, number two, a complete, exact, indestructible. It's not that God can't destroy that record someday if God has to, because in the second death, He can. But it's no physical forces in the realm of matter that can destroy that record.

It provides a complete, exact, indestructible record of a person. And number three, it makes possible a coupling capability with God's Holy Spirit. These are foundational, and this is a foundational, fundamental truth that has never changed.