Three Men

From The Pulpit - by Joe Laughlin, Victory Church, Omaha, NE. For Saturday 3-19-2011

In 1 Corinthians chapters 2 and 3, the apostle Paul addresses three types of individuals.

1. The Natural Man - not born again, and cannot receive the things of God because these things can only be discerned by someone who has received the life of Christ on the inside.

2. The Spiritual Man - born again, and “in Christ” and has the mind of Christ. This man has the Holy Spirit on the inside who will lead him in all truth, according to the word of God. (Jn.16:13)

3. The Carnal Man - born again, has the life of God on the inside, but is not yielding to God, but is instead yielding to fleshly and selfish desires.

Which one of these three individuals are you? The goal of everyone should be to be “the spiritual man“. How do you become what the bible terms “spiritual”? If you have never taken the step to surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, do it today. Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord, and ask Him to forgive your sins. Ask God to reveal Himself to you, and begin to read the Bible. A good place to start is the Gospel of John. This book reveals who Jesus is, and what he accomplished by His death on the cross.

To the person who would identify with the carnal man, God has some good news. Paul says the carnal man is “a babe”, and has only received the milk of God’s word. But if we are a babe in Christ, we don’t have to stay a babe, we can grow. We grow by receiving all of God’s word, not just what we want to hear. We must be willing to hear and receive and apply the whole council of God. Hebrews 5:14 talks about receiving “the meat” of God’s word and growing into a mature believer, able to discern good and evil.

2 Corinthians 5:15 talks about this kind of believer when it says “they live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” The spiritual man has received and fed his or her spirit on the good word of God, and has made that transition from living selfishly, into living for the one who died for our sins, Jesus Christ. That is the kind of man or woman God wants to raise up on the earth in this hour. Will you let Him work that work in you? Will you go to His word and humbly receive and apply the word to your life? (James 1:21) Do it today, and your life will never be the same. Peace to you, in Jesus Name.