MORE THAN CONQUERORS
Staying strong in a sinking world!
Part 1
“A Strong Inner Man”
Ephesians 3:14-19 “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
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Want to begin a series today called “More Than Conquerors: Staying Strong in a Sinking World.”
The Apostle Paul predicted: “Remember this: There are some terrible (perilous, stressful) times coming in the last days.”—2 Tim. 3:1
It was very perilous and stressful to be a Christian in Paul’s day.
And all throughout history there have been very difficult, stressful, and trying seasons for Christians.
And we’re living in one right now!
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And yet we see that the early Apostles and tens of thousands of Jesus’s followers in the first century survived and even thrived spiritually!
They knew how to stay spiritually strong while everything around them was tough and vexing.
So I want to focus in the next few weeks on 4 important keys to staying strong in a sinking world.
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And the FIRST KEY is the need to KEEP YOUR INNER MAN STRONG!
In Lk. 1:80 the boyhood of John the Baptist is described this way: “The child grew and became strong in spirit…”
And Luke describes Jesus as a boy, “The child grew and became strong in spirit.”—Lk. 2:40
The word of God points out the most important thing about their growing up years—their spirit man was STRONG!
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Now, we read in our text how Paul identifies a part of you and me as “THE INNER MAN.”
He prayed that the church would be “strengthened with might through the Holy Spirit in the inner man.”
The Bible teaches that we human beings are made up of three parts:
a body (the outer man),
a soul (the inner man),
and a spirit.
1 Thes. 5:23 “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
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The BODY is how we get around and what houses our soul and spirit.
The SOUL consists of your mind, will, and emotions.
And your SPIRIT is the very core of your being.
When God created Adam it says, “Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.”
The “breath of life” is the spirit within a person.
Job 32:8 “But it is the spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.”
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Now the Bible teaches that, before salvation, “…you were dead in your transgressions and sins,” (dead in your spirit man).—Ephesians 2:1
Our body was alive and our mind was functioning, but our inner man was dead.
Sin killed it.
Ro. 6:23 “The wages of sin is death.”
Ro. 5:12 “Sin came into the world…and with sin came death.”
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But the good news is:
Eph 2:4-5 “Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions…”
Where did he make us alive?—In our inner spirit man!
This is why Jesus said to Nicodemus, “I most solemnly say to you, unless a person is reborn from above he cannot [ever] see and experience the kingdom of God.”—John 3:3 AMP
Reborn where? In your INNER MAN!
Rehabilitation changes you from the outside in, but transformation changes you from the inside out!
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Once we experience salvation through Christ our newly alive spirit man is joined to the Lord though his in-dwelling Holy Spirit:
“But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.”—1 Cor. 6:17
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—Once we’re saved it is our inner spirit man that the Holy Spirit communicates with.
For instance, when you feel an inner check about something like (don’t say that, don’t go there, don’t touch that, etc.), that’s the Holy Spirit communicating with your inner man.
As a Christian you may sometimes feel grieved on the inside, and that is the Holy Spirit communicating with your spirit to WARN or CORRECT you.
Just prior to Judas betraying Jesus, it says, “Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”—John 13:21
“While Paul was waiting…in Athens, he was deeply disturbed (grieved) in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols.”—Acts 17:16
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Furthermore, the inner man is that part of us that fellowships and communes with God.
2 Tim 4:22 “May the Lord be with your spirit.”
2 Cor. 13:14 “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
The Holy Spirit fellowships with us through our inner spirit man!
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Now, let me tell you why this matters so much:
AS YOUR INNER MAN GOES, SO GO YOU!
You are only as strong as your inner man is!
Your inner man can be strong or weak, joyful or heavy, alert or sluggish.
ILLUS: Your inner man is like the hub on a stagecoach wheel like we’ve seen in movies in those old westerns.
A wagon wheel has a wooden hub with spokes going out from it attached to the outer wheel.
The hub is the central part of the wheel.
If the hub cracks,
or wears down,
or is somehow set on fire in a battle,
all the spokes are affected,
the entire wheel soon collapses,
Followed by the whole stagecoach.
Likewise, if a Christian’s inner man is neglected and grows weak, all the spokes representing the issues of life…
finances,
relationships,
morality,
walk with God,
spiritual victory—all are affected!
As the hub goes, so goes the entire wheel!
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For instance, in the midst of all kinds of extreme trials and tribulations, Paul testified to the Corinthian church:
2 Cor. 4:16 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”
What kept them from not losing heart when surrounded with heavy trials?
Their inner man was being renewed, (strengthened, replenished, watered, and fed) day by day!
Listen to this verse: “The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, But who can bear a broken spirit?”—Prov 18:14
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So the first key to spiritual strength in sinking times is learning to maintain a healthy inner man!
How is that done?
FIRST:
I. Realize it’s YOUR responsibility
God lights the candle, but we’re called to keep it burning!
Every day we feed our bodies what they need to stay alive and healthy.
It’s likewise our daily responsibility to strengthen our inner man!
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Second, you must:
II. Feed your inner man the right food
Spiritually speaking, YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT!
So is your inner man being fed…
—spiritual junk food?
—Spiritual fast food burgers and fries?
—is your soul feeding on social media?
—Facebook gossip?
—Netflix binging?
—Romance novels, and all kinds of worldly input?
Or is your inner man being fed the rich things of God?
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Listen again to what Paul prayed for the church:
Eph. 3:16 “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.”
It is GOD’S GLORIOUS, UNLIMITED RESOURCES that produce mighty inner strength thru the Holy Spirit!
God’s unlimited resources are supernatural!
I think of Elijah running from Jezebel.
In 1 Kings 19: 7 in Elijah’s darkest hour an angel visits him with the first angel food cake—a cake baked on coals!
“Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.”
He ate the angel’s food and went “in the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights!”
Elijah journeyed 250 miles to Mt. Horeb on one meal!
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God’s Word is our supernatural angel food cake!
Your born again inner man cries out for God’s word:
1 Peter 2:2 “like newborn babies you should long for (strain after, desire greatly, have affection for, crave, get an appetite for) the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may be nurtured and grow…”
It is by spending quality time in God’s word that our inner man becomes strong!
“Faith comes by hearing the words of God!”—Ro. 10:17
Col. 3:16 “Let the [spoken] word of Christ have its home within you [dwelling in your heart and mind—permeating every aspect of your being]”
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IN CLOSING: A strong inner man brings:
• Strength in God’s love
• Strength in spiritual warfare
• Strength to persevere thru trials