We must always keep it before us that right now we are the sons of God. We are spiritual and must keep it before us that the New Testament is written to the Sons of God.
I Corinthians 2:1
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
Paul told the Corinthian church that what he planned to tell them was not anything that he came up with but that he came declaring the testimony of God. What he was to tell them was God testifying to His people. God is the Father of spirits (Hebrews 12:9) so the testimony of God must be spoken to spirits, otherwise, it will not be understood. God must speak to the spiritual part of us if we are to comprehend what it is that He is saying.
I Corinthians 2:2-4
2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
He, Paul, realized that his natural man knew nothing. He did not plan to give them any of the knowledge or wisdom that he had gained over the years, but only the testimony of God. Therefore, everything that he was going to tell them was God talking. Everything that the Corinthians would hear or gain from him would be only God speaking. He wanted them to look past the flesh and realize that this was God talking to them. He, God, was about to declare His own testimony. God always backs up His testimony and makes sure you know that He is the One talking to you. This is why Paul came with a demonstration of power.
Testimony – 1. A declaration or affirmation of truth or fact as that given before a court.
2. Evidence in support of a fact or assertion: PROOF.
3. The collective written and spoken testimony offered in a legal case.
4. Public declaration regarding a religious experience.
5.a. The law of Moses, inscribed on the tablets of stone. b. The ark containing these tablets.
Webster’s Dictionary
Paul’s words were the wisdom of God. The words that he spoke were God speaking through him, just as He spoke through Jesus. It was God declaring Himself to the people. This is what God is trying to do now.
Paul said he was determined to know nothing. The church’s problem is we know too much. We mix the testimony of the flesh with the testimony of God. This is where we lose our power. We channel the manifestation of what has happened on the inside of us through our own knowledge, that knowledge of ourselves as individuals and also of our circumstances and situations. By the time the world hears from us we have diluted who we are through and by flesh and do not allow the purity of what is in us to come forth.
I. THE FLESHY MIND . . . CHASTENED INTO OBEDIENCE
Paul declared that he was determined to know nothing. In other words, he chastened his own mind. He did not allow his mind to be in competition with his spirit. In his testimony to the Philippian church, he said that if anyone could boast in the flesh, he could especially because of everything he had accomplished in the flesh (Philippians 3:4-10). He was, however, more than willing to count it as dung and trade all he knew, everything that he had attained, and all of the wisdom of this life for the knowledge of God. He wanted to know as God knows so that his mind could be one with God’s mind.
Paul told the Roman church that it is with the mind that we serve Him (Romans 7:25). God is trying to reveal to us that we must put on the mind of Christ that is within us. We must make our fleshy mind (brain) one with God’s mind. The fleshy mind must become one with the mind of the Spirit that is within us. This is what the “Son,” who we really are, is saying to it. There must be no division.
Fleshy Mind = The Brain
We must chasten the fleshy mind into obedience to the Word of God.
Chasten – 1. To chastise: punish.
2. To restrain: moderate.
3. To refine: purify.
Webster’s Dictionary
We do this through discipline. This is the inner man taking charge of the vessel that He is in. He is saying to the vessel that we know nothing and everything that we have learned and accomplished is no good in this walk. The fleshy mind can never accomplish the purpose of God with the knowledge is has already attained. It is affected and moved by its environment and changes with circumstances, situations and relationships. Whenever something goes wrong, the fleshy mind comes up with a solution as to how it can fix it.
This is why Paul is telling us to “stop thinking.” When we think, we stress. We think about how to work things out and make them happen. We try to figure out how to correct and fix things. We do not realize that we cannot do this anyway because many situations we are in were orchestrated by God for our making and cannot be remedied by any natural reasoning. God will always make sure this flesh is placed in situations where our reasoning can do it no good; otherwise, He could not strip away the influences of the flesh. He does this by designing trials in which flesh can do nothing about. This flesh must remember that it is dead (Colossians 3:3). There are times when it wants to act like it is alive, so God must remind it that it cannot do anything about what He has done in our life.
II. WE CONTROL THE FLESHY MIND
The wise Son of God will discipline his own mind and speak to his inner man; the one who is renewed in and is the mind of Christ; the one who is made perfect, pure and holy, and tell it to stop thinking, shut down and let Him walk the body through. We do not want to do this because it is too easy. This takes the stress out of flesh.
The inner man will only do that thing which pleases the Father. He will move in accordance to the will, Word and purpose of God. The things that please the Father will not gratify and just may humiliate the flesh. But the son is saying that is why I offer up my flesh as a sacrifice. I offer up the flesh’s dreams, aspirations, desires and wants.
Discipline – 1. Training expected to produce a specific type or pattern of behavior, esp. training that produces moral or mental improvement.
2. Controlled behavior resulting from disciplinary training.
3. A systematic method to obtain obedience.
4. A state of order based on submission to rules and authority.
5. Punishment intended to train or correct.
Webster’s Dictionary
In order to be a disciple for Christ, one must be submitted to discipline.
Romans 12:1-2
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
The “Son” knows how to present this body a living sacrifice. The fleshy mind must stop warring with Him. We do not have to beg the flesh to do anything—We must demand it to serve God. Paul said that he kept his body under.
I Corinthians 9:27
But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
He demanded that his body come and stay in alignment with the purpose of God. He realized that the vessel (house) had no power, but the power was in the new creature that was on the inside.
We have allowed the fleshy mind to deceive us. We listened to it as it boasted of its power. All of our life this fleshy mind has been getting us in and out of situations and has become cunningly crafty in manipulating its way through life. The fleshy mind has convinced us that it has all the answers. So much so, that we feel we have gotten where we are by the workings of our own mind. Now that we are in God, the fleshy mind wants to maintain that control and leadership.
Romans 8:14 tells us, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” The fleshy mind must now listen to the Spirit and be brought in control of and in subjection to the Son of God.
Tell the fleshy mind to “Be still,” “Listen to my Spirit, because He has the answers.” This is the only way. The fleshy mind must learn to listen to our Spirit and follow Him. God wants the fleshy mind to be melted into God. Melted so much so that nothing can come between it and God. The Son already has the mind of Christ. God is saying, He must now prove His presence in this body not only to the world, but also to “us.”
God allows flesh to get in situations, circumstances and relationships to prove that He is in us. He allows us to move to a state of helplessness where flesh is bound and has no power. There are times when we have found ourselves in situations where we are worried because we could not find our way out. God is saying that these are just opportunities for Him to prove that He is in us. Philippians 4:16 says, “Be careful for nothing…” In other words, do not worry about anything.
We must demand that our fleshy mind be subject to the purpose and will of God.
Subject – 1. Being under the authority, control, or power of another.
2. One under the authority, control, or power of another, esp. one owing allegiance to a government or ruler.
Webster’s Dictionary
I Corinthians 2:14-16
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
As long as we do not realize that the Son and God are one and are living in us, we will continue to worry. If we ever accept the fact that God is really in us, and agree with Him, we will rest. We must come in agreement that many of the situations we find ourselves in, He has designed just for us. He can even take situations wherein we were disobedient to Him, and turn them into glory for Himself. He, therefore, is not moved by any of our situations, whether they are a result of obedience or disobedience to Him. He can use any one to get Himself some glory.
He is God but He makes Himself vulnerable in His forbearance and longsuffering to us. He lets us fall down, fail and even sin over and over. He gets us up, washes us off because He is trying to prove His love to us. He wants us to know that we are not alone. We must realize that everything about us is to glorify Him. Even if we do not believe Him, He cannot deny Himself. We still belong to Him. Even in all of our mess, the real us “the Son” still belongs to Him. He is not looking at the mess. He can get us out of the mess we are in and cause us to redeem the time. He is God! He can even take our mess-ups out of the heart and memory of people. No one can do us like Him. He is not like flesh. He is not looking for retribution. He is a forgiving God who forgets our sin once we repent. He will be glorified, even in the midst of our mistakes.
His name will be glorified. He created us for His glory. We must never forget that every negative situation that has come up in our life, He knew about it because the devil had to check with Him before he could touch us. God has never lost control. He only let the devil do to us the thing that He knew would bring Him (God) some glory. He was not moved, even if we failed.
II Timothy 2:13
If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
God is able to take our sin out of the heart and memory of people.
GOD HAS AN ETERNAL PURPOSE THAT GOES PAST US. We did not volunteer for His work, He chose us to show the devil what He could do through the church. He is the One who said that He would show principalities and powers His manifold wisdom, by the church (Ephesians 3:10). If we fall, God’s eternal purpose and plan are not disturbed nor destroyed. We must hear what the Spirit says to the church (to us).
We must tell our mind to “be still and hear the Word of the Lord.” John, in Revelations 2:7 wrote the words of Jesus that we should “hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” We are not to listen to our own fleshy mind. Our mind will always assess a situation as dark and gloomy, and say that we have no way out. God can always make a way out of what seems to be no way.
III. OUR FAITH IS IN THE TESTIMONY OF GOD
I Corinthians 2:5
That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Paul is admonishing us not to think we can move in God by man’s wisdom, but only by the testimony of God. Our faith will, then, be steadfast in the Spirit because our spirit will never deny nor deceive us like the fleshy mind does. The Spirit will always manifest the will of God. We can always trust the Spirit of God.
God has declared that we would make it if we obey Him. He will perform everything that He has said.
Our faith must be in the testimony of God. It cannot be in what anyone has told us. The Spirit of God within us has borne witness with His Word. “We can trust what God has said.” We cannot trust our mind—it is subject to the emotions and passions of this flesh. Our spirit, which is now one with God by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, is not moved by its environment. It has only one purpose and motive. If we follow it, it will take us to glory: home to be with the Lord. If we deny it and follow our fleshy mind, we will be led into damnation.
God has been proven to be reliable, trustworthy and true to His Word.
The fleshy mind always makes provisions for and protects the flesh. The Spirit never makes provisions for flesh and is always willing to sacrifice (offer up) flesh. We can then know that whenever we are trying to make provision for flesh, it is not God; it is our fleshy mind trying to pacify flesh. The Spirit of God came to present this body as a sacrifice and will always do that.
If we would learn to offer ourselves as a sacrifice for souls, we would see more people, even our loved ones, getting saved. If we do not offer God a sacrifice, offering ourselves as a propitiation, we cannot be true intercessors. We should be true intercessors for the whole world. We should be the guarantee that this world is introduced to Christ. Each of us should be willing to offer ourselves up for our nation. There are many, many souls who do not know God. He is looking for someone to die for the nation: someone willing to die for souls.
Ezekiel 22:30
And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
When we are willing to crucify our flesh and deny ourselves of the things flesh wants, we will see a demonstration of the power of God.
I Corinthians 2:6
Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
When Paul refers to those who are perfect, he is speaking to those who are born of God. The wisdom of this world means nothing to the Son of God. Many people have traveled from church to church looking for something. We would pray and tell God that there had to be more in Him than what we were getting. We would hear messages, but they were not feeding the inner man. Why was this? The messages that we were hearing were mixed with man’s doctrines and the Son cannot digest worldly wisdom. Worldly wisdom does not feed him, nor even move Him. The Son lives by the testimony of God!! If you take that Word, the testimony of God from Him, He will begin to die. Many of us were spiritually dead. Our Spirit was dormant. We were not growing because the Spirit Man was not being fed.
The Holy Ghost is not concerned with pleasing the flesh.
Flesh is expendable!
Romans 12:1-2
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
IV. THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
I Corinthians 2:7
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
Paul says that they were speaking the wisdom of God in a mystery. A mystery is something that causes the mouth to be shut because you do not know it. The wisdom of God is a mystery to man. It surpasses man’s understanding. It makes no sense to him. Man thinks God’s wisdom is ludicrous.
I Corinthians 2:8
Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
God hid the things that He was doing “in Himself.” The knowledge of what God was going to do through Jesus Christ was hid in Him. The only way anyone would know what was going to happen was that we would have to get in God. The knowledge of God is not just of God. The knowledge of God is God. The knowledge of God is His Word. The Word is God (St. John 1:1). In order to comprehend or know that knowledge, you must enter into God. Simply going to church or even being baptized in water is not enough to get that knowledge. The only way to get the knowledge of God, you must come into God.
In order to reach a sinner, a preacher must be anointed. The anointing destroys the yoke that keeps a person who is not saved from understanding what you are saying. That is why when one preaches under the anointing, that Word pierces all those barriers.
Knowledge – 1. The state or fact of knowing.
2. Familiarity, awareness, or comprehension acquired by experience or study.
3. The sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned.
4. To be intimate with.
5. To exchange.
6. To fellowship and to become one with.
Webster’s Dictionary
The Word of God is Spirit.
It goes pass that fleshy mind and speaks directly to the spirit. THE WORD IS SPIRIT; THEREFORE, THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD IS IN HIS SPIRIT.
I Corinthians 2:9-10
9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
The church reads verse 10 and stops right there. But we can see that the Son was apprehended and put in the Spirit of God. Your spirit, your conscience, was put in the Spirit of God. The things that were hid in God, we now have the knowledge of, because we are now in God. We have the knowledge of eternity past, the present and eternity future. All of the things that were hidden in God are now revealed to the Sons. The knowledge that God hid from all of the prophets is now revealed. We have even a better covenant with better promises, because we are in Him (Hebrews 8:6-7). We can now know as He knows. My spirit has His mind, His purpose and His power.
Those things we thought and indeed were a mystery have now been revealed “in the Spirit.” This is the only place where we can know God, in the Spirit.
I Corinthians 2:11
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
The fleshy mind knows nothing about God. We must teach it the things that have been revealed to our spirit. The fleshy mind must be trained and be renewed in the knowledge of God. The only knowledge that it has is of this world. It must learn of a power and God that reaches beyond this world. We must teach Him the mind of God. This can only be done by the Spirit of God. The Spirit demands and provides the power of obedience. The things that the mind thought it could not do, the Spirit says, “You can do it, let me teach you.” This is what Jesus meant when He said He only did those things that He saw the Father do. The fleshy mind needs to only do those things that it sees the Spirit do.
Conscience – 1. The spirit of the mind.
2. Co-perception of both worlds (good and evil, flesh and spirit).
3. Is the judge of all the actions and deeds of the flesh. (Ephesians 4:22-23, Hebrews 9:9-14).
4. The hidden man of the heart.
5. The knower.
Banks’ Expository
Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we now have God’s: mind, purpose and power.
In order to “know” God, one must be in His Spirit.
We must teach the fleshy mind (brain) the things that have been revealed to our spirit.
We cannot do anything on our own, but it is the life of Christ in us who does it. We may not, with the fleshy mind, love our enemy, but the Spirit can. He tells the flesh to be quiet and let Him obey the Father. The Spirit is telling the fleshy mind to follow Him. He knows how to please God. It knows that an offender only attacks flesh and is not moved by offenses like the flesh is. Tell the fleshy mind to stop thinking. Stop looking for other avenues trying to find an alternative to righteousness. Stop feeding the emotions of this flesh. Stop creating negative emotions (iniquity) and let Him, the Spirit, love. The Spirit counts it a blessing for our flesh to be offered since it realizes that in the midst of our offenses, God can be glorified. The Spirit counts it a tribute to God to offer this flesh as a sacrifice to God. We must tell our mind to “BE STILL.”
St. John 5:19
Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
B: A NEW NATURE
Romans 2:13-14
13 For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
The Spirit provides us with a new nature. It is easy to obey God; just follow our nature. The Sons need only to do “by nature” the things they should. Iniquity and any unrighteousness do not feel good to the Son. This is because it is conflicting with our nature. This means that there is or should not be any struggle in the things we should do. Our struggling and stressing because of sin is unnecessary. We need to get up and walk in who we are.
We must close our mind to what this flesh is saying and listen to the Spirit. Do what feels good on the inside. Follow the lead of the Spirit even if it disturbs the outer man. We know we are doing the righteous thing when this outer man (flesh) is losing its influence and dying daily. We cannot say that we do not know what to do. If we say this, we make God a liar, because once we receive the Holy Ghost, we have no need for anyone to teach us what is good and what is evil.
I John 2:27
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
The Holy Ghost, who is living in our conscience (our spirit), will accuse and excuse (Romans 2:15). He will convict us of sin. When our Spirit says “No,” we should say “No.” It is time for the sons to walk in their NEW NATURE.
Now that we are born again it should be natural for us to walk in:
Love
Joy
Peace
Long-suffering
Gentleness
Goodness
Faith
Meekness and
Temperance
which are all fruits of our new nature.
This is so hard for us because this mind has told us things that are not true. It has told us that it would make us somebody. It has promised us that we will never be humiliated because it will try to manipulate us out of every negative situation. We need to tell our mind to BE STILL. Tell yourself, “My body belongs to God and I am going to give it to Him.” This mind must be still, come out of the deception and agree with God. Realize that flesh profiteth nothing unless it is offered to God. If it is not offered up to God, it stands between God and us. This was the veil that Jesus rent.
Hebrews 10:20
By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
Remember, our abode is in the Holy of Holies. In God, in the Holy Ghost is the holy place. In God, we have His mind, His desires, His purpose and His nature. Talk to that mind. Let the fleshy mind know that it will obey God and no longer rob us of what God has for us.
WE CANNOT WIN THE WORLD UNTIL WE WIN OUR OWN SOUL. Once we accept what God is saying and come into agreement with God we secure our soul. We can then take the light of what He is saying and let it shine in our soul.
