David Diga Hernandez - Living in the Spirit: 3 Realms

So, what we’re going to discuss today is your identity in Christ. Firstly, I want to read this scripture to you: in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, the Bible says, «Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.» In this scripture, we see the acknowledgment of each aspect of man and each expression of man’s existence. Just as God exists in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—man is also expressed in three ways. Man is not three persons in one; that is reserved for God, as He is the Trinity. But man is expressed in body, soul, and spirit. The body is your flesh; it is referred to as your earth suit. Often, this can get confusing because when Paul the Apostle writes about the flesh, sometimes he is referring to your physical body, and other times he makes a subtle reference to the sin nature. So, especially when reading the New Testament scripture where Paul is writing, you must understand whether, in that context, he’s talking about the flesh, which is the body, or the flesh, which is the sin nature. Second, we have the soul. This is your mind, your will, your emotions, and your personality. This is what makes you unique. The soul is the realm of decision, the place of choice. The soul determines how we make decisions, whether they are good decisions or bad decisions, and many people live in the realm of the soul. Most people don’t realize that if your spirit is dead, you have no connection with God. It is often said that we are all children of God, but Romans makes it perfectly clear that only those who have been brought to life again through the second birth experience are considered children of God. Now, onto the spirit, which is your identity. Picture body, soul, and spirit—the threefold man. The body is the outer man, the soul is inward, but the spirit is the innermost place. Just like the Holy of Holies, there was the outer court, the inner court, and the Holy of Holies. Now we see threes beginning to appear in scripture. Even in reality, you have time, matter, and space. In each of those areas, time is past, present, and future; matter is solid, liquid, and gas; and space has three dimensions. There is something significant about the number three and the existence of three that we must pay attention to in scripture and in everyday life. However, the body is decaying. The body is dying. The body is how you experience the world around you; it is what is most affected by the earth. Your spirit is your identity, and this is what scripture says about your spirit. Listen to this; this is so powerful. This is one of my favorite portions of scripture in the entire New Testament, 1 Corinthians 2:10–12. This is what it says: «But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For His Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.» Verse 11: «No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit, not the world’s spirit, so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.» There is this fellowship that takes place. You know, when the scripture says to pray without ceasing, it doesn’t mean literally every single moment of every single day. Some people have asked the question, «Well, how am I supposed to pray 24/7?» Although that’s not what was meant in that scripture, the reality is that you are actually praying. You’re communing, you’re fellowshipping with God—spirit to spirit—every day. The scripture is talking about how nobody knows God except God’s Holy Spirit. Nobody knows God in the way that the Holy Spirit knows God. The Holy Spirit has the best revelation, the best understanding, and the best wisdom because He is the very depth, the very core, the very essence of God. He is the one who helped God form Christ into flesh. You know, the Word has always existed, but the Holy Spirit took that Word and made Him flesh. The Holy Spirit was the one who raised Christ from the dead. So, the Holy Spirit has many different roles and tasks, which give us an idea of just how powerful He really is. The scripture talks about this connection that happens spirit to spirit. It goes on to say that man’s spirit knows man like nobody else does. Your spirit knows you better than anyone else knows you. The spirit of man communes and fellowships with the spirit of God. This is interesting: when someone doesn’t know Jesus, when someone isn’t saved, before they come to Christ, their spirit is dead. The scripture often describes people who are not serving God and have not been brought to life again through the second birth as «dead.» They are dead in their trespasses, as the scripture describes. Now, why would a man be considered dead when he is still animated, walking around, and making decisions here on earth? The truth is that man is a spirit; that’s your identity. Man is a spirit who has a soul and lives in a body. You are not your body; you are not your soul; you are your spirit. The spirit is the place of identity. Now, when someone doesn’t know Christ, when someone…