I think this is the reason why Paul wrote:
I think this is the reason why Paul wrote:
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? (Romans 7:24—NIV)
Paul was not speaking of being free from the cravings in his body by dying, but of the time when his body is made alive by the introduction of the resurrection Life of Christ.
Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:23—NIV)
From my point of view, the Apostle Paul was not a covetous man. I would assume that Paul was not known among his acquaintances as being a covetous person. His personality likely was not covetous. He carried on his journeys money collected for the poor saints. Yet there is no record Paul ever stole any of it or used it for his own ends.
But when Paul read in the Law of Moses about covetousness, the craving of covetousness that was in his flesh became prominent and emphasized such that Paul became wretched.
Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. (Romans 7:9—NIV)
The sinful cravings of covetousness were residing in Paul's flesh. The Law did not cause coveting, the coveting already was present.
Covetousness is a craving that dwells in the flesh of numerous people, Christian or not. It is an example of the sins of the flesh. Perhaps this is why the unscriptural "prosperity" teaching is accepted so readily or the "gold dust" that sometimes appears in certain assemblings.
It may be noticed that Paul's personality, his mind and heart, were scandalized to discover that there were cravings in him that were against the moral law of God.
For this reason, I see a difference between our personality, and the cravings resident in our flesh. Our personality may be law-abiding, but our sin-ridden body is a "ball and chain" we wrestle against constantly. And this probably is why God permits it to plague us, so we, perhaps being destined to be a ruler in the future ages, may develop the strength to govern in righteousness.
The fact that we hate such cravings shows that there is a "we," an "I" in us that is in the image of God, and there are many noble qualities in our fallen soul. There also are what I term "sins of personality" in our soul that vary from person to person, and characterize us as an individual.
"Faithlessness" might be one such unclean characteristic of an individual. while another person might be known by their faithfulness. As I see it, these two characteristics are what the people are, rather than attitudes and practices that proceed from alien spirits dwelling in the body.
However, even the righteous dimensions of our mind and heart are of Adam, and must be transformed by the life-giving Spirit of our Lord Jesus. More about this later.
Since the Scripture speaks of the unclean cravings as dwelling in our flesh, we might possibly think of them as spirits. If they were minerals or chemical compounds, the Bible might not use the term "dwelling." Where they come from I do not know.
Concerning the man from the community of the Gerasenes, if that which was dwelling in him was a mineral or chemical compound, the head spirit would not have answered Jesus as it did. Also, when Jesus commanded them to go into the pigs, an inert ingredient would not have obeyed.
Dr. Ritchie, in his book, Return From Tomorrow , tells how when he was dead temporarily, the Lord Jesus took him on a journey. One stop they made was at a tavern. Inside there were a number of service people drinking at the bar.
There was a marked difference among the persons at the bar. Some apparently were living human beings. But also among them were people who were deceased.
The living were different from the deceased in that the living were protected by some sort of spiritual covering, as I recall. The deceased did not have this protection. The deceased were grabbing at the glasses of liquor, but were unable to grasp them.
A man at the bar apparently had too much to drink and fell backward on the floor. When this happened, there was a tear in his protective covering. Instantly a man who obviously was deceased entered through the tear until he was inside the drunken person.
I hold this account to be a true incident, and it tells us how some of these cravings enter us.
Numerous believers of our day are living in the sins of the flesh. They are being taught that they are without condemnation, and soon will be "raptured" to their mansion in Heaven. "All this and Heaven too!"
It may be true that one of the punishments that the Lord administers to a person who lives in the sins of the flesh and then dies, is to return to earth minus a physical body. Then they cannot satisfy whatever cravings are left with them, and go about hoping to find an individual who for one reason or another has a tear in their protective covering. Then they enter that person and satisfy their appetites through him or her.
This might answer the question of how God deals with a person who dies while living in the sins of the flesh.
The man of the region of the Gerasenes had a legion of personalities dwelling in him. Well, one might think, how would a large group of people fit in one human being?
It is because the spirit world is not bound by physical dimensions, like size, for instance. One human being can be a home for thousands of spirits. The Lord Jesus Christ holds all the true Christians in Himself. These spirits are not bodies that enter us, but spirits. So they take up little or no space!
Today the spiritual atmosphere of the earth is filled with unclean spirits, particularly those of sexual lust. Perhaps at one time they were human beings. In any case, if we do not keep looking to Jesus constantly we may pick up a visitor or two.
We may not realize it when an unclean spirit enters us. But under the proper circumstances it may come raging out of its hiding place in our body and we will commit a crime of one sort or another.
It happens every day to average people who are not living under the protection of Christ.
In the present hour we are entering the Third Day of Redemption. To this point our sins have been forgiven when we placed our trust in the Lord Jesus. Now it is time for the atonement to be completed, meaning we will be set free from the cravings of unclean spirits.
If you will look to the Lord Jesus continually, the Spirit of God will point out to you the sins that are in your flesh. Lying, stealing, lust, and so forth. You suddenly will realize that urges dormant in your body must be dealt with.
Brother Elmer Fullerton, a godly minister of many years ago, told how he opened his front door and discovered a neighbor's dog had torn up his newly planted lawn, even though it was marked off by string.
Brother Fullerton said he felt like murdering the owner of the dog.
Then he regained control of himself and prayed. He said, "Thank you Lord for showing me the spirit of hate and murder that is dwelling in me."
This is what we absolutely must do today if we plan on being resurrected and going to Jesus when He appears. When we discover that there is an unclean spirit dwelling in us, such as gossip or meanness, we must confess it to Jesus. Then we must ask the Lord to help us so we never again, not for eternity, give way to that spirit again.
If we take this action firmly, Jesus will take the fire and life out of the spirit. The next time we are tempted with that behavior, we will find that through Christ we are able to overcome it.
Now you are eligible for the receiving of resurrection Life when Jesus appears in the clouds.
Do not be careless. Remember the foolish virgins! The Lord Jesus takes no pleasure in the typical casual Christians of our day. They think they are secure because at one point in their life they "accepted Christ."
They do not understand that the Day of Salvation always is today. You might have been serving Christ yesterday, but today is another battle. Your adversary, Satan is watching you carefully to see if there is a weak place in your armor.
We are safe only as long as we are abiding in Christ, looking to Him and obeying Him at every moment. All it requires is one moment of foolishness or prayerlessness, and we will say or do something that will cause us five years of grief and agony of heart and mind.
I have been getting emails lately from Christians who have been drifting away and now are terrified that they have insulted Christ to a point of no return.
You do not want to slip into that position!
I believe I have explained as well as I can how to deal with the various lusts and temptations that the Spirit points out you. Such are the sins of the flesh.
Now let's turn to the sins of personality.
Some of the sinful aspects of our personality are inherited. Others took hold of us as we continually yielded to the sinful spirits dwelling in our flesh.
The sins of personality are those characteristics that distinguish us as an individual. They may be sullenness, or a romantic spirit, or always seeking to be preeminent, to take the place of the current leadership.
When we think of Absalom, we see a man consumed with the desire to replace King David. Absalom might have had any number of cravings dwelling in his flesh, but Absalom was characterized by an unclean ambition.
It took a while before the compulsion to replace David finally brought Absalom to the place of actually warring against David.
That is the way the sins of personality operate. They may begin as a small desire in our personality. God may warn us about them. But we ignore the warning and permit the desire to grow. It seems delicious every time we think about it.
It reminds us of the baby alligators people bring back as souvenirs from Florida. Baby alligators grow until you have to keep them in the bathtub. Pretty soon you cannot enter your bathroom or swimming pool.
So it is with the sins of personality.
When you discover that you are selfish, or cowardly, or double-minded, or excessively ambitious, you must ask God vigorously and diligently to make you a better person.
God then will begin the process.
As in the case of the Apostle Paul, who apparently was a headstrong personality, God had to keep bringing him down to death. Paul exclaimed that he was under the "sentence of death" that he should not trust in himself but in God who raises the dead.
You can read about Paul's afflictions in the Book of Second Corinthians.
Paul discovered that God's strength came forth in Paul's weakness.
But there is more to it than this.
If God's hand is on us, we will die daily. There will be some occurrence that brings us down to weakness and helplessness; to confusion and the edge of despair.
This is the ordinary life of the truly dedicated Christian.
But each day the resurrection Life of Jesus raises us. When it does, a part of our soul, the adamic person, dies. In its place is the resurrection Life of the Lord Jesus. This is how we become a life-giving spirit , in that other people share in the life that raises us. (II Corinthians 4:12 —NIV )
Line upon line. Line upon line. Precept upon precept. Precept upon precept. The heavenly Sculptor chisels away a portion of the old man. When He does, the body and blood of the Lord Jesus fill that gap. The new creation thus comes into being. It will be unveiled at the revealing of the sons of God.
This is the new covenant. It is the writing of the eternal moral law of God in our mind and heart. We no longer are body, soul, and spirit. We are a new creation. We are becoming a life-giving spirit, in an incorruptible body pervaded by the Spirit of God.
The nations of the earth include multitudes of people who are not brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed. They are decent people. But they do not have the Life of Christ in them. Thus they are restricted to being intelligent animals.
But they are more important and desirable as an inheritance than any mansion, no matter how ornate. They are the inheritance of the Lord Jesus Christ and His co-heirs.
But how will these darlings ever receive the eternal life of God?
Next Part The answer is reading these words—you!