Lesson 031 − God’s Greatest
Enemy − The Subtle Enmity of the Mind
Before the foundation of the world, the
Servant of Jehovah (God) offered Himself the lamb slain. The incorruptible Seed, the Word of God came
in the likeness of man that He might take the first creation into death with
Him. In the crucifixion, the Son of the
covenant put to death the body of sin and the lawlessness of mankind once for all time and for all eternity.
The body of sin – the flesh body of humanity
was put to death; and the lawlessness, the enmity of the pride of man’s
self-will, was put away. The Son of Man
offered Himself without spot to God through the Eternal Spirit that He might
purge [His sons] from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14).
In the
one offering and sacrifice of the body prepared for
Him, God reconciles man to Himself; His body was a living sacrifice unto
God. Sons of God receive Life Eternal
and make an exodus out of the creation in Adam.
They are made alive
unto God. Sons of God are clothed with
“coats of skin” − given a body – that the body
presented might be a living sacrifice.
The body of a son of God has purpose for
God.
The body is the living sacrifice that God uses as a channel to reconcile men unto Himself. The body is a flesh and bone body of Life
Eternal of the Spirit. The body comes from
the Seed of his Father and identifies the man with the family, the creation into
which he is born. Alive unto God from the Seed of the begotten Son, the son of God is
identified with the family of God and subject to the creation of which he now
is. As a new creation, sons of God are
completely severed from the creation in Adam. Death causes a complete severance – the body
of flesh was crucified that the body of sin might be done away with.
The deliverance from the body of sin and the
lawlessness of the pride of man’s self-will – the enmity of the mind − is
final. It is a complete termination not
a partial or temporary stay. A son of
God cannot be other than he is; Life overcomes sin in righteousness and overcomes death in Life. The son of God is
holy; he is perfect – complete without spot or blemish. Now alive
unto God, sons born
of the Seed of the begotten Son are identified
with the family of God and subject to the creation of which they now are. Old things have passed away. He who is has done it; it is finished; it is
done! Both the being in the body and the
body are a creation of God.
The Son of His Love has secured for God a
sanctified people suited to Himself − His sons are set apart in His will and
according to His pleasure from everything that they were naturally; such is the
effectiveness and such is the result of the death of the Son of His Love. On the cross, the life of Jesus was made an
offering for sin. He was the righteous
one, perfectly acceptable to God. In
this righteous one, sin in the flesh was dealt with; in Christ, God delivered
His sons from the penalty, the power and the presence of sin. At the
cross, sons of God died out of the creation of the flesh in Adam and were born His
children − sons, justified – fulfilled. In
the resurrection, sons of God are sanctified and glorified - fulfilled. His sons are set apart unto God. Sanctification is
not “set apart from sin” but “set apart unto God.”
With the redemption of the body (future),
sons of God are adopted as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Dwelling in his mortal body or habitat is the
Holy Spirit who lives with him (soul of spirit being). With the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the
mortal body, the body is sealed for redemption; the sealing of the Holy Spirit
is the guarantee of the redemption of the body (Ephesians 4:30).
Sons of God are now other. Sons of God are identified with the family of
God and subject to the creation of which they now are. Death results in a complete severance – old
things have passed away. Free from the
lawlessness of the enmity of the mind, sons of God can do righteousness; God
can fulfill the righteous demands of the law in them because they are free. Freedom
is the deliverance from sin and self.
Freedom is righteousness lived out.
Freedom is genuine love in practice.
We walk not
after the flesh, but after the
spirit of Life, because we are not in the flesh – (we died out of that creation
− Romans 8:9).
Romans 8:5-8: “For they that are after the flesh mind the
things of the flesh; … for to be carnally [fleshly] minded is death; … Because
the carnal [fleshly] mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be. …”
What does it mean to mind the things of the
flesh? What is the flesh? It is the creation in Adam. They that are after the flesh, the creation
in Adam, mind the things connected with that creation. What is that creation but dead and perishing.
In the mind of the flesh, one will not
admit that he is a creation of God. In
the flesh, one contends to be his own person; that is enmity against God.
The mind of the flesh does not want to look
at what God has done. One wants to think
the way he wants to think and wants God to think like he thinks. In so doing, man chooses to have his will for
himself and his own desires rather than the will of God for him. That is enmity, which is sin. Sin is lawlessness. Man desires to know – to see in his reasoning
mind.
Romans 8:5, 6, 9: “… but they that are after the spirit (sons
of God) [mind] the things of the spirit; …to be spiritually minded is life and
peace. … You are not in the flesh, but
in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ
[Seed of eternal life], he is none of His.”
Born of the Seed of the law of the spirit of
Life, His sons mind the things of the spirit – life and peace. Is that not simple? So what is the problem? Sons of God will not reckon on the
truth and admit that they are a new creation and that death causes a complete
severance.
Sons of God have died out of the creation of
flesh in Adam. Sons of God will say they are a new creation, but do they
think of God as their Creator? Sons of
God will say that they are dependent
upon Him and are responsible to Him
for what they do, say and think. Really?! The truth is that sons of God have changed
creations and are other than they once were; a son of God cannot be other than
he is; he is a son of God; he has changed creations.
So what is the problem? The problem is that sons of God take their thinking with them; they contend to be their
own person; they are at enmity with God. Enmity is sin; sin is lawlessness. If sons of God think the way they want to think and want God to think like they think, they are
at enmity with God.
United to the Son of the covenant in His
death, sons of God have been freed from the deceit of the heart, which causes
them to choose their own will over the will of their Creator and Redeemer. Freed from the deceit of their heart, sons of
God are free to ask to have the eyes of their understanding opened to hear the
voice of the Spirit of God who enlightens the eyes of the understanding.
Unless sons of God in the understanding of
their spirit understand why God sent
the Son, those sons cannot walk in the spirit. Without understanding in the spirit of their
being, there is no power to live in the spirit.
To have understanding in one’s spirit, one must see from where God is coming – God’s mind on the
matter. Unless sons mind the things of
God in their spirit with understanding, nothing changes.
Knowledge or information in the mind without understanding in the spirit makes one ignorant of the truth and
arrogant in the pride of self-will. Transformation
of the person through the renewing of the mind in the understanding of the spirit of one’s being must take place.
If sons of God would desire Him and His thinking rather than gather
information so they can “know,” they
would be satisfied and would experience their freedom in the spirit of Life in
Christ Jesus. They would experience Life
and peace. When
one changes his mind about the way he thinks and sees “how” God thinks, when one sees that God’s
thinking is the way to think, then one “moves” from the earthly – a fleshly way of
thinking (reasoning) to the heavenly, minding the things of the spirit with
understanding.
With the renewing of the mind, there is the transformation of the person. Transformation is not a behavior change. So often one sets out to change the behavior,
thinking a change of behavior is a transformation of the person. A person can change his
behavior – for a while, and the appearance
of the outward man will appear as a transformation of the person, but a
behavior change is not a transformation of the person; behavior change is an attempt to transform the person
without the power or ability to do so.
God has
the power to transform; the transformation of the person is the result of thinking God’s thoughts after Him, “seeing”
God as He really is and not as one sees him according to the flesh through the
reasoning of the facts. Romans
6:1-2: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may
abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any
longer therein?” Made safe from the
condemnation of death, made secure from the wrath to come and sanctified alive
unto God, “how shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Romans
6:2).
This newness of life is the true testimony of a new creation, the true
testimony of a son of God.
Romans 6:6-7:
“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of
sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.”
In verse 6, “Our old man” literally in the
Greek reads “the old man of us” and refers to the first creation, and it is crucified. There is only one old man of all of us. There is not your old man and my old man; the
old man of the first creation is the old man of all of us. Likewise, there is not my new man and your
new man, but the new man of a new creation – the Son of the covenant – Christ
Jesus. Those who believe in Jesus are of
his Seed.
Death causes a complete severance – as a new
creation, we are completely severed from the creation in Adam; the deliverance
from the body of sin and the lawlessness of the pride of man’s self-will is
final. A son of God cannot be other
than he is; he is a son of God. However,
a son of God can be at enmity in his mind against God. A son of God can conduct his manner of living
as though he were a son of humanity.
When a son of God refuses to lay down his own
thinking to have the eyes of his understanding opened to hear the voice of the
Spirit of God who enlightens the eyes of the understanding, that son’s thinking
is at enmity – that thinking is self-willed, selfish, and self-serving; it is
lawlessness, it is sin against God.
God’s greatest enemy is not Satan. God’s greatest enemy is the enmity of the
mind. The subtlety of the mind to reason
within itself and glory in what it knows, rather than to be led into the truth,
is hostility and animosity against thinking God’s thoughts after Him. So subtle and so beguiling is the enmity of
the mind that it takes God to expose the beguiling of one’s own reasoning. God cannot force one to consider being led in
the understanding of his spirit, and God cannot change anyone’s mind.
As a man thinks, so is he. The lusts of deceit of the pride of
self-will are very subtle and very deceitful.
So how is
the problem of the enmity of the mind to be remedied − resolved for a son of
God?
Three things
are required; first, there must be the reckoning on the truth that death
causes a complete severance. A son of
God cannot be other than he is; he is
a son of God.
Next, a
son of God must be willing for the
exposing of the heart to see the beguiling of the deceit of the sin of self-will.
This
exposure provides the opportunity to be enlightened by God in the understanding
of one’s spirit. Once
enlightened with understanding, then
he sees.
Finally, a son of God must renew his mind to think
God’s thoughts after Him, to see God as He really is and not as one sees Him according to the flesh through the reasoning of the facts.
A transformation of thinking is the result of
love. A heart at leisure from itself is a heart that
is free indeed. Light without understanding is knowledge without glory. The
fulfillment of God’s requirements for His sons can come only from a heart set
free from the values of this world − a heart dramatically changed by God to
place first importance upon the qualities of God and His eternal kingdom of
righteousness and life, of humility and closeness to God.
The next
stellar sign Sagittarius shows that man is
responsible to God for the way he thinks and he is responsible to God for upon what
he thinks.
During the thousand-year reign, all
enemies of the kingdom will be restricted. The man of lawlessness with his false prophet
will be cast into the lake of fire. The
Dragon is cast into the pit; the outward manifestation of the enmity of the
pride of self-will has been restrained, and the only power of rule enforced in
the kingdom will be the rule of Love.
God
will provide everything; there will be no needs. All the inhabitants of the kingdom will be
taught the truth concerning the Son of the covenant in the signs of the
luminaires and all will celebrate the Festivals of Unleavened Bread and
Tabernacles.
There
will be no crime, no violence, and no war for a thousand years. By outward appearances, all is well; however,
division will exist in the kingdom. The
enmity of man’s mind and the lawlessness of man’s heart will still exist. This enmity and lawlessness will prove that
given a freedom of choice, man in the flesh will have his own will sourced in
his own thinking and in the desires of the imagination of his own heart. Man in the flesh will have his own will above
the will of his Creator God for him, and he will go his own way.
However, a son of God is not in the flesh,
but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in him. On the cross, the life of Jesus was made an
offering for sin. He, the righteous one,
is perfectly acceptable to God. In this
righteous one, sin in the flesh was dealt with; God’s sons are in Christ and
perfectly acceptable to God because of the Son of His Love. God delivered His sons from the penalty, the power and the presence of
sin.
At the cross, sons of God died out of the
creation of the flesh in Adam, which means they were freed from the beguiling
deceit of the enmity of the mind, the pride of self-will. Our freedom in Christ is not dependent upon
the redemption of the mortal body for a body of glory. No, right now,
present tense, we are the sons of
God (1John
3:1-3). Right now, we are free!
However, our experience of freedom from the enmity of the mind is dependent upon reckoning on the
truth that death causes a complete severance from the old creation in the
flesh. Our experience of freedom is dependent upon our willingness for the heart
to be exposed to see the beguiling of the deceit of self-will; our experience of freedom is dependent upon
the transformation that God does when we change our minds and let His “light”
shine into the very spirit of our being.
Children of God inherit everything that
belongs to God; sons of God are His heirs − adopted as sons through the Seed of
the Son of His Love. Sons of God are
joint-heirs with Christ. Everything pertaining to Life and godliness belongs to His sons; they are the successors and beneficiaries of
all that God has done; it is finished; it is done!
Sons of
God must learn to think God’s thoughts
after Him and “see” Him, as He really is, with the
eyes of their understanding in the
very spirit of their being and not according to the reasoning of the facts.
Unless sons of God in the understanding of
their spirit understand why God sent
the Son, that son of God cannot walk in the spirit. Without the understanding of the union of
the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus in the spirit of our being, sons of God have no power to live in the spirit.
The purpose
of union is for the purpose of communion – for the purpose of partaking
of and entering into His holiness. What does that mean?
What
does it mean to partake and enter into His holiness?
Freedom! Entering into His holiness is freedom from the beguiling deceit of the enmity of the pride of self-will, which does so easily
beset us (Hebrews 12:1). Freedom to Love!
