Introduction : When God created Adam, He made his inward person-his spiritual person- in His image and in His likeness. The Bible says that God is Spirit, so human beings were made spiritual, and they live clothed with flesh-the outward person. However, when Adam committed sin against God, his spiritual person- his inward person-died, and he became a fleshly person-an outward person.
1. Fallen humankind 1) Human beings are dead spiritually (1) Being dead doesn´t mean "disappear" but "disconnected" (Isa 59:2) (2) Human beings are disconnected from God, the Spirit, and heaven, and they are destined not to have spiritual knowledge or experience. (1Co 2:14) (3) Since being dead is like decaying, human beings were decaying spiritually and have become a dwelling place for the evil spirit. (Ps 14:1, Jn 8:34, Ro 7:14) 2) The real image of the outward person (1) Lives hard pressed by sin, evil, disease, trouble, and death (Ps 38:4-6) (2) Lives perplexed by various oppressions such as worry, anxiety, despondency, despair, sorrow, hatred, anger, envy, and jealousy (Ps 38:8, Job 17:7) (3) Lives in continual discord such as conflicts in human relationships, oppression, estrangement, and confrontation. (Ps 38:11-12) (4) Getting old without hope in losing one´s identity, sick, and dying lonely.
2. The salvation of Jesus and the resurrection of the inward person 1) God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son (1) The inward person in absolute despair is saved by the grace of Jesus (Eph 2:1-6, Mt 9:13) 2) Behold! He is a new creation (2Co 5:17) (1) a righteous person (Ro 6:6-7) (2) a godly person (Tit 3:5) (3) a healthy person mentally and physically (4) a person who received the blessing of Abraham (5) a heavenly person of eternal life (Jn 3:5-6) 3) Recognizing a new self-image (1) A spiritual inward person dwells in a physical outward person. (Eph 4:22-24) (2) We must not live in the outward person but in the inward person (Ro 8:5-10)
3. The inward person who is being renewed day by day 1) Be renewed by the Word - the awareness of a spiritual self (Ro 12:2) 2) My righteous one will live by faith - He does not live according to the information from the physical senses but from the Word (Ro 1:17, Ps 119:105, 130) 3) The inward person lives by the grace of the Holy Spirit - The grace of the Holy Spirit by helping, guiding, and encouraging (Ro 8:14, Gal 5:16) 4) The inward person lives by the power of prayer - trusts and depends on God through prayer and lives in peace, joy, and hope. (Ps 37:4-5, Ro 15:13)
Conclusion : As time goes by, the outward person gets older and powerless, but the inward person is renewed and powerful, becomes abundantly filled with spiritual life, lives with God, and goes to heaven.
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