Old Hardware, New Software Series

We are tripartite beings

Body – “The Flesh, the Old Man”

Soul – “Mind, Emotions, my will”

Spirit

The Soul (my mind) is the bridge between my body and my spirit

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had fellowship with God

But even though they had intimate fellowship with God, they still had free will

When Sin entered the picture, my spirit died.

God said to Adam and Eve, if they ate the fruit of the tree they would die. (Gen 2:17)

This was not a physical death, but the death of their spirit

Sin 1.0

When man fell in to sin in the Garden, man’s mind was “reformatted” with Sin 1.0

At this point I am unaware of my “spirit”

Today’s “new age” society will try to draw you to an awareness of the “human spirit”

This is not the same spirit that is spoken of in the scriptures

This “human spirit” is actually my soul

My soul is where my feelings are

Today’s society wants you to “feel” awakened and renewed

But there is only one thing that can truly awaken your spirit

What happens when I accept Jesus

My spirit is renewed, and made perfectly alive – Since Christ lives within you, even though your body will die because of sin, your spirit is alive because you have been made right with God. - Romans 8:10 NLT

The Holy Spirit “links up” with my spirit

Sin 1.0 is removed

But I still have a problem - The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict. Galatians 5:16-17 NLT

My soul is pulled because the Holy Spirit is taking me one way, and my flesh wants to take me another

But you may ask yourself, I have Jesus in my heart, the Holy Spirit linked up with my spirit, so why do I have so many problems?

I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. But I can’t help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things. I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can’t make myself do right. I want to, but I can’t. When I want to do good, I don’t. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. But if I am doing what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing it; the sin within me is doing it. – Romans 7:15-20 NLT

Although Sin 1.0 has been removed by Jesus Christ, there may still be remnant viruses like:

Pornography.exe

Drug_addiction.exe

Pride.exe

Resentment.com

Gossip.com

The Holy Spirit is telling my spirit to relay to my soul, that we need to get rid of them

By my flesh is telling my soul that those are harmless, and will just go away with time

These viruses can be self replicating

The Melissa virus sent itself to everyone in your email address book when you opened it

Sin issues in the church can spread just as fast (1 Cor 5:6)

It’s time to apply some new software for the old hardware

New software – the Word of God

let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is. – Romans 12:2 NLT

This software doesn’t require a supercomputer to run it

It will run on the old hardware

It doesn’t need any upgrades! – It is a complete package

The same Holy Spirit that has linked up with your spirit is the same Holy Spirit that wrote the software!

You have to apply the new software for it to work

When you apply the Word of God, it will begin a search of your “HEART” drive

The Word will detect and bring you to an awareness of those old remnant viruses

The software will prompt you – “Would you like to remove this virus? Yes or No?”

The more I allow the Spirit to take control, my flesh has no choice but to tag along

So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. – Galatians 5:16