The Vital Connection With Our Spirits

10/11/1998

“For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God” (1Cor. 2:11). Who knows the things of man? Who knows the self? Who knows the rottenness of fallen man? Who knows that there is nothing good in himself? Who knows that this self is not to be trusted? Who knows that his opinions and reasoning are untrustworthy? Who knows himself? According to Paul’s word, it is only the spirit of man that knows the things of man. This shows us that unless we are vitally joined to the most objective part of our being, our spirit, we are going to be ignorant concerning ourselves. When you are in the realm of the spirit, you become wise concerning your real state. You discover that there is nothing good in you, and you can admit it, confess it, and humble yourself. You can repent without strain. You can admit your fallen state. You can say, “I’m stubborn, I’m rebellious, I’m jealous, I’m bitter.” You can confess your state with ease, because when you are in your spirit, you know that in your flesh dwells no good thing. You are not trying to defend or excuse yourself. You are objective about yourself. And that objectivity makes it easy for you to always agree with God’s diagnosis of the flesh (Rom. 7:14, 18).

Paul is saying that if a person lives superficially and does not turn inward to understand their spirit and their conscience, they can dance their way straight to hell without any repulsion towards the inner man they have ignored. “Eat drink and be merry” does not turn inward to see the garbage dump rotting. A person has to be, we will call it introspective, to comprehend the underlying universe of who they are. They have to test the spirit inside of themselves.

11:54 a.m.