Sermon, Create in me a ...

If you are born again and could look into your spirit man, you would see the likeness of Christ. In fact, you may be able to sense love, joy, peace etc. in your spirit man even while things are not going like that in the natural. Paul goes into much detail in Romans ch. 8 about this struggle between the spirit and the flesh.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if right here and now while we are on the earth our body and our mind could be also be regenerated in the likeness of Christ? That's the goal we should be striving for i.e. to be like him. The term "saved" is used when we really mean the "new birth". We work out that salvation by presenting our bodies a living sacrifice which is our reasonable service, and renewing our mind with the word of God (Rm. 12:1,2), and then go out and put it to practice. (John 13:17).

Actually, if we really believe the word of God, the possibility of our carnal nature (flesh and mind) to be regenerated in a like manner as our spirit man can be a reality. However, for that to happen we have to find scriptures to support it, and then have to have the faith to believe for it.

Let's examine the scriptures for a moment. The Bible says Jesus saves to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25). If we believe that, then we can believe he is able to save our flesh and our mind as well as our spirit, even while we are here in this world. But can this happen now? Paul said in 2 Cor. 6:2 "...now is the day of salvation."

Let's examine an incredible scripture supporting this. Jesus is praying to the Father in John 17:18. "As thou has sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." He is sending us into the world exactly as the Father sent him into the world. He was a perfect man with spirit, mind, and body all righteous, holy, and in agreement.

Just in case you think that was only for the 12 disciples let's go to verses 20-23. "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; (that's you and me) That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may, be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:"

He sends us into the world just as the Father sent him, we are one with God, and he gives us the glory that the Father gave him. That doesn't sound to me like a person who is regenerated spiritually but not also mentally and in the flesh.

If you're with me this far you are beginning to grasp the awesome potential in this as far as carrying out the great commission is concerned. If you think I'm out in left field some place, then you'll continually be limited by having a born again spirit and being crippled with a carnal nature.

The are three places in the book of John where Jesus said we could ask the Father for anything in the name of Jesus and the Father would do it for us. They are John 14:13,14, 15:16, and 16:23. Why not ask him to regenerate you mind (soul) and flesh to complement your born again spirit? Remember he said we could ask anything, but if you can't believe these scriptures you will not be able to believe for your mind and body to be regenerated in this life.

Actually this is not unprecedented to ask for such a thing! Let go to Ps. 51:10. Here is David a unregenerate man, spirit, soul, and body praying and asking the Father: "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Did you get that? He's a man with an unregenerate spirit and is asking the Father to make his spirit like yours and mine? (If you are born again). If David can do that, we certainly can ask for the same thing in our unregenerate areas.

So what's the hook in all this? The hook is that we will have to receive our regenerate mind and body by faith, believe we receive when we pray (Mark 11:24), and start acting as though our mind and body are like our spirit even though in the natural it may not have showed up yet. In James 3:2 we are told: "...If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." He is saying that with our words we can control our entire body. We enforce this by doing as commanded in Mark 11:23 and speak to the mountain (our flesh and mind), telling them what to do and think. We'll keep our confession in accordance with what we prayed for, and in God's timing we will see the actual manifestation.

My wife once had a little Geo Metro car. It had three cylinders. It needed all three working together harmoniously for it to run. Can you imagine how effective it would be if it was running on only one cylinder?