Spiritual Knowledge
versus Worldly Wisdom
For to be
carnally minded is death; but to
be spiritually minded is life
and peace. – Romans 8: 6
God gives every man and
woman a choice to be spiritually minded or to function by worldly wisdom – by the
five (5) senses alone. You have to make this choice some time in your life.
Worldly wisdom won’t appear to be darkness, but actually will appear as light.
But you will slowly sink down and down until you reach ‘without natural
affection’. That is, if you reject God and His Word, you will head towards
becoming a homosexual or a lesbian. That’s the lowest you can go and if you
choose worldly wisdom, you eventually have no choice in the matter.
On the other hand, you
can have life and peace. That is an abundant life in all its categories and the
peace of God which will pass all your understanding. To accomplish this, you
must study and apply the accurate Word of God in your life each and every day.
But if ye
have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against
the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. – James 3:
14, 15
God tells us clearly
that worldly wisdom is of the devil.
But the
wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and
good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. – James 3: 17
There are basically two
(2) sources of information in this present world – one is from the true God and
Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and the other is from the present
god of this world – the devil. To live by the first source will result in life
to its fullest and the latter will slowly destroy you. We will compare and
contrast both sources from God’s Word and then you can decide by which source
you will choose to live your life. Most people today live by worldly wisdom
because they cannot rightly divide or find a source where God’s Word is rightly
divided and easily understood and therefore easily applied. YOU HAVE
FOUND THAT SOURCE. What will you do about it? Surely you will choose to be
spiritually minded.
One of the main reasons
that most people have chosen to live by worldly wisdom is because they simply
refuse to believe that the devil exists. The adversary (devil) is a master of
deception and is the father of all lies. YOU MUST KNOW THE GENUINE BEFORE YOU
CAN RECOGNIZE THE COUNTERFEIT.
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan
himself is transformed into an angel of light. – II Corinthians 11: 13, 14
Satan’s end is getting
closer and closer and he wants to take as many people with him as possible.
Misery loves company. He can appear so beautiful on the outside, but crawling
with worms on the inside. He is second in power to the true God. Do you
actually think he can’t trick you? I’ve always had a saying I coined myself:
"If you think you can’t be tricked, you already have been."
Do you want to believe
the Word of God or what some man says? Do you choose to live by God’s laws or
man’s? Do you know what we really
deal with every single day?
For we
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places [from
on high]. – Ephesians 6: 12
So what are we supposed
to do? God tells us in the next verse and many of the following verses. Let’s
study verse 13.
Wherefore
take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the
evil day, and having done all, to stand. – Ephesians 6: 13
Let me give you a
literal translation of that verse according to usage:
Wherefore
take unto you, in your renewed mind, all the resources of God, that ye may be
able to withstand the evil one, and having done all, stand. – Ephesians 6: 13
Where are we to put all
the resources of God? In our renewed mind. We all have an old man and we must
replace his thoughts, which are all the result of worldly wisdom, WITH THE
THOUGHTS OF GOD. This is a slow and continuous process, but it gets better day
by day. It is a commandment of the Lord that we renew our mind.
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 [logical] service. 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. – Romans 12: 1, 2
God is saying that he implores
you to present yourselves to him, not to conform to this world (worldly
wisdom), BUT to be transformed or transfigured by replacing the old man
thoughts with God’s thoughts. This is the process of renewing the mind and it
is YOUR KEY TO POWER. This process is continuous which means it will not end
until Jesus Christ returns. We must not only renew the mind but APPLY what we
learn. This is called the transition process and can be very difficult at
times. Example: If you are used to lying all your life, now you renew your mind
to God’s Word and learn the following:
Wherefore
putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members
one of another. – Ephesians 4: 25
Depending on what
weakness you may have in your old man, some areas of the renewed mind may be
difficult than others.
At times the renewed
mind is a very slow process, but you must remember that you are to do your best
and God will do the rest. Every day will get better if you don’t faint in times
of adversity.
And let us
not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
-- Galatians 6: 9
God is exhorting us not
to faint in our minds. The battlefield is between the ears. He assures us that
if we don’t quit, we will eventually reap – we will win. God talks about the
renewed mind in many places in His Word. In Ephesians chapter four (4), God
mentions many renewed mind principles at the end of the chapter. Why should we
renew the mind? God gives the best explanation.
That ye put
off concerning the former conversation [conduct – manner of life] the old man,
which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; -- Ephesians 4: 22
Here we see that we are
to put off the old manner of life, the old man. Why? Because it is corrupt as a
result of living by worldly wisdom which is by deceitful lusts. Lust is
anything above your need. That’s how we live when the world dictates what we
do. In contrast to this, God exhorts us to do the following in the next verse.
And be
renewed in the spirit [life] of your mind; -- Ephesians 4: 23
The word ‘mind’ used
here is the Greek word nous. This
is referring to the entire mind which collects data and makes decisions. You
cannot make correct decisions unless you make them according to the Word of God.
Something has to be old to make it new. All the things we have been taught
before we became born again [ROMANS 10: 9, 10] are old thoughts and need to be
replaced with new thoughts according to God’s blueprint for living.
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye
shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. – Galatians 5: 16
Walk in the Spirit –
this means to live, think and apply the revealed Word and Will of God in every
facet of your life. If we do this we will not fulfil the lust [over-desires] of
the flesh. Remember Romans 8: 6, the first Scripture in this teaching. The next
verse gives a great comparison and contrast of spiritual knowledge versus
worldly wisdom. It illustrates as to how one fights against the other.
For the flesh
lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these
[desires] are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things
that ye would. – Galatians 5: 17
What God is saying is
that the flesh and the Spirit are opposites in what they desire. Once the Word
clears the cobwebs out of your mind, you are then able to do the things that
you truly desire. Otherwise, you just won’t be able to do the things that you
really want to do. The only thing that will defeat the enemy’s hold on you is
an accurate knowledge of God applied in your life. Until then, you will be
under the enemy’s influence and control whether you realize it or not.
If you are not
convinced by now, the next section should be rather persuasive. We are going to
stay in Galatians for the remainder of this teaching. We’ll examine the works
of the flesh in detail – the absolute results of worldly wisdom. Galatians is
also one of the seven (7) church epistles that are written directly to the
Church of the Body of Christ – the born-again believers. Now let’s study what
will be the result of conforming to the world and rejecting God’s matchless
Word.
Now the works
of the flesh are manifest, which are these;
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, -- Galatians 5:
19
Let’s work some of these
terms. You should understand that fornication in the New Testament is
referring to the sin of idolatry. This is putting something before God. If you
place your job before God, it is the same as worshipping an idol. Idolatry
takes many different forms today. We live in an idolatrous society where God is
not first, but sometimes He is last in a person’s life. When you wake up in the
morning, the first thing you should do is to turn your mind to God, study, and
pray.
But seek ye
first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be
added unto you.
– Matthew 6: 33
Seek anything else
first, and everything will be subtracted from you.
Uncleanness in verse 19 of
Galatians chapter 5, refers basically to impurity as opposed to holiness. Being impure is
to live in sin as contrasted to living a holy and blessed life being obedient
and committed to God’s Word and in fellowship with Him.
Lasciviousness is living without moderation or
self-control. It is living in excess and always wanting more. Anything to an
extreme is not from the true God.
That’s not all you’ll
get if you decide to live by worldly wisdom – look at the next verse.
Idolatry,
witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
-- Galatians 5: 20
Idolatry is mentioned
more specifically here. Witchcraft is actually enchantment with drugs.
That’s one you may find interesting. Hatred – really pleasant, isn’t it?
Variance is strife, rivalry and contentions. You see this in the
workplace often. There is actually a devil spirit called ambitious rivalry. Wrath
is anger with a desire to seek revenge. We all know what strife is. Seditions
is referring to dissension where people do not live and work together but they
choose to be divided. Sound like the world today? Heresies is referring
to taking away your options – your choices – your freedom. That’s what the
world will do.
You should read verse
21 to see more of what the world has to offer you. God is always trying to do
as much for you as He can and the devil is trying to steal, kill, and destroy
everything you have. YOUR VOTE DETERMINES THE ELECTION.
Just going over all of
these negative consequences of a worldly lifestyle isn’t very edifying, is it?
Let us now shift gears and return to the blessings of spiritual knowledge.
When a believer
operates the manifestations of Holy Spirit, he receives what God refers to as
the fruit of the spirit. There are nine (9) fruit of the spirit
mentioned in this same chapter in Galatians. This fruit is the result of
spiritual growth.
But the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. – Galatians 5: 22, 23
What an amazing
contrast as compared to walking by the five senses. Love, joy, peace………………… if
there were only three (3) fruit, IT WOULD BE TREMENDOUS! But God allows us nine
fruit or benefits according to our believing (action). It is really beyond our
understanding. I mention action because it is not enough just to believe it, we
must ACT on the Word – renew our mind, and walk with the power of God. God
tells us this in verse 25.
If we live in
the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. – Galatians 5: 25
Don’t just talk the
talk, WALK the talk. Believing without action is worthless.
Finally, I cannot help
but to exhort and encourage you to learn the following Scripture by heart and
never forget it. We went over this Scripture earlier in this teaching. When
you’re trying to walk with God by spiritual knowledge, the world will fight
you. Whatever you do, don’t quit because if you don’t you will win in the end.
God guarantees it.
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall
reap, if we faint not. – Galatians 6: 9
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