THE COMPLETE CHRISTIAN




Text: I Thess 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.



Introduction: At the time of salvation, we are no more complete than a new-born child. Just as he must grow, acquire hair, teeth and learn to walk and gain strength, so must we.



I. Man as God made him and desires him to be.
A. In God’s image
Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.



1. Supreme in intellect among all created beings, capable of love, fear, wrath etc.
Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.



2. Our bodies
As Christ is the visible manifestation of God, our bodies are the visible manifestations of us.


Col 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.



I Thess 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.



3. Spirit - Can only be comprehended by spirit.
I Cor 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.



Rom 8:9 But ye 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, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

II The image is marred - (From 3D to 2D, and that, distorted)
A. Mind alienated
Eph 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:



Col 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled



Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.



B. Body - Serving sin
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.



21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?



C. Spirit -Dead
Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:



The lost man is motivated in his spirit by the devil, but toward God, he is dead



D. Man, then with mind alienated, body sold under sin and spirit dead, is totally lost.



III Man made new!
II Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.




A. By a new birth from God
Jno 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?


5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
By the Holy Spirit convicting the mind


Jno 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:



2. By granting repentance which must alter the mind until the entire intellect, will and mind, say, “I believe”
Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
12 Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.



3. This results in a birth of the spirit and the Holy Spirit remains forever, but the mind and the body are still not made perfect.



B. The mind must be made new -
1. God’s part in it
Heb 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;



2. Our part -
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.



Phil 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
3. Warfare of the flesh and the spirit takes place in the battleground of the mind



Gal 5::17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.



C. We must present our bodies
Rom 12:12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.



1. This is the RESULT of a renewed mind, activated by a new spirit, but it is a SURE result! Provisions for fleshly lusts, shows of vanity, carnal works, are all the result of a mind unchanged. Therefore, We Should------



2. Glorify God in our bodies
I Cor 6;:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.



3. Be washed in pure water (as were the sacrifices)
Heb 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.



a) the water
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.



4. Your body CAN wear his brand
Gal 6:17 From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.



The complete Christian, then, is one whose;
Spirit is born of God;
Whose mind is renewed daily by the Word and,
Whose body is submitted to Scriptural service