RESCUE THE PERISHING
    God said in Rev. 3:1 to the church of Sardis, "I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou LIVEST, and ART DEAD."
    Notice that this was a working church! God did not criticize their doings or their doctrine but their deadness. It is amazing that this "deadness" was not perceived by most people, but indeed it had a reputation for being a lively church as the word "livest" is translated elsewhere.
     How could this be? May it be interjected that Rom. 8:6 says, "For to be CARNALLY MINDED IS DEATH; but to be SPIRITUALLY MINDED is LIFE and peace.
    From God's point of view, the only way that the church of Sardis could be a lively church was for its members to be "spiritually minded", and the only way this could occur was if they were living under the control of the Spirit of Christ. Only here can our works be appointed and anointed by the Spirit of God! Only here will our churches have a name that God lives in the lives of those people.
    So what can we do about this? God said in Rev. 3:2, Be watchful, (Be alert to discover and avoid spiritual danger) and STRENGTHEN the things which remain, that are ready to die:. The term "ready to die" implies a spiritual state of being at the point of death.
    The word "watchful" could be expressed in the proclamation, WAKE UP!! There are those all around us, and sometimes we ourselves that are walking and working in a spiritual state of carnal deadness.
    Can we hear the call of God to "strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die"? Their only hope is to come to a sanctifying knowledge of how to walk and LIVE IN THE SPIRIT! Who will tell them? Are we really simply one dimensional when it comes to rescuing the perishing. Is this responsibility reserved only for the lost?
    The word "perishing" depicts those that are wasting away in decay, or losing their life in any manner. Would it be too much of a stretch to say that God is not willing that any of his children should perish, but that all should come unto repentance, putting off the old man with his carnal mind of death, and putting on the life of the New Man where we have the fulness of the Spirit of Christ.
    God tells us in II Cor. 3:6 that he "hath made us ABLE MINISTERS of the new testament". He makes it clear that his ABLE MINISTERS are "ABLE" not because they minister the letter of God's Word, but the Spirit of God that is the source of LIFE in our ministering of his Word.
    If our ministering is to rescue those believers in our midst that are ready to die, we must make much of teaching them how to walk in the Spirit of their God, where they are under the control of the Spirit of his Son!!!
 

 

Part Two - The Nature of The New Man

    I Thess. 5:23 says, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole SPIRIT AND SOUL and BODY be preserved blameless....."
    God reveals in this verse the three parts of man that makes him "WHOLE". In Colossians 2:11-12, we discovered that at the moment of our salvation God performed a supernatural "OPERATION" that he called the "CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST". We find that this operation put off or cut away the "BODY" of the sins of the flesh. A thinking mind would wonder what this "BODY" was cut away from. The obvious answer based on I Thess. 5:23 would be the "SOUL and SPIRIT".
    What we find next in this supernatural salvation is the supernatural creation of the "NEW CREATURE IN CHRIST" by the very Spirit of Christ. It begins in Col. 2:12 with a supernatural SPIRITUAL BAPTISM. It is here that the "SOUL and SPIRIT" which were put off from the "BODY OF THE SINS OF THE FLESH" forever, are supernaturally immersed in the SPIRIT OF CHRIST. From this moment forward, the believer is not only indwelled by the Spirit of Christ, but were "SEALED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE" according to Eph. 1:13.
    II Cor. 5:17 says, "Therefore if any man be "IN CHRIST", he is a NEW CREATURE: old things are passed away; (Our old nature passed away or died on God's operating table) BEHOLD ALL THINGS ARE BECOME NEW."
    The New Creature "IN CHRIST" is also called the NEW MAN"  We MUST UNDERSTAND that the new man is "CHRIST IN US THE HOPE OF GLORY".
Before the "OPERATION OF GOD" which took place at the very moment God granted us repentance and faith, we were part of the "ALL" that "have sinned and come short of the GLORY OF GOD" in Rom.3:23.
    The NEW MAN which is Christ in us, the HOPE OF GLORY, has the same RIGHTEOUSNESS and TRUE HOLINESS as God and his Son. The NEW MAN is not only sinless, but he is filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. The nature and life of the New Man will NEVER CHANGE because his life is ETERNAL LIFE.
    Eph.1:13-14 teaches us that this life finds its SOURCE in the Spirit of Christ
and will be "SEALED WITH THAT HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE" until the DAY OF REDEMPTION. The word "SEALED" means we are "STAMPED WITH GOD'S PRIVATE MARK OR SIGNATURE. GLORY!! It implies ETERNAL SECURITY AND PRESERVATION.
    Perhaps these truths will help us to understand Gal. 5:25 where we find these words, "If we live in the Spirit, LET US (Our Choice) also WALK IN THE SPIRIT. From the moment we are "BORN AGAIN" and become a NEW CREATURE IN CHRIST, the GREATEST DECISION we will ever make is to "WALK IN THE SPIRIT" as consistently as possible.
    Perhaps this understanding of the New Man will help us understand Gal. 5:25-26 where it says, "If we LIVE IN THE SPIRIT, let us also WALK IN THE SPIRIT."
 

 

    The new man is not only the product of a supernatural birth, (being born again) but a creative act of God, producing a New Creature in Christ. This creative act is called The Circumcision Of Christ in Col.2:11. God describes it in this verse as a circumcision made without hands. He also says that this circumcision puts off the body of the sins of the flesh. O the depths of God's forgiveness! Not only were our sins forgiven and forgotten, but the old sinful body that took such pleasure in those sins is circumcised or cut away from what is to become the New Creature or New Man, which by divine design will be incapable of sinning. All GLORY be to the Father that so loved the world of lost sinners that he gave his only begotten Son on the Cross of Calvary to shed his redeeming blood for our creation unto salvation.
    We learn in Col.2:12 that this creation of God took place through the FAITH of the Operation of God, or the Circumcision of Christ. Let us note carefully that these supernatural wonders take place THROUGH FAITH!! Is it not evident that God's salvation is NOT OF WORKS. The Gift of God is ETERNAL LIFE through Jesus Christ our Lord! Even the faith that qualified us for the Operation of God unto salvation is provided as a gift.
    Rm.3:22-24 says, "Even the righteousness of God which is by FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST unto ALL  and upon ALL that believe: for there is no difference:
    For ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified FREELY by HIS GRACE through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ:
    The New Man is born again perfectly righteous, by faith through grace, with the righteousness of God. The New Man is Christ in us, the hope of glory for All those that have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Truly, if any man be in Christ, he is a New Creature: old things are passed away; behold, ALL things are become new. Truly also can all things become new in any man's life that is willing to believe and receive this redeemer and amazing savior!

 

Manna was a supernatural food. It contained every element of nutrition needed to sustain vibrant life in the human body. It was created and ministered by God faithfully EVERY DAY. Yesterday's manna was not designed for, or sufficient for today's physical welfare or nourishment and health.