Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the distinction between the inner and outer man, explaining that true knowledge of God comes only through the Holy Spirit's revelation. He highlights that the wisdom of God is hidden from the natural man and can only be understood through spiritual discernment. The preacher encourages believers to rely on the Holy Spirit for strength and understanding, asserting that the outer man must be weakened for the inner man to thrive. He stresses the importance of humility and dependence on God, illustrating that spiritual growth comes from communion with the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, Beach calls for a transformation in how Christians live, urging them to embrace their new identity in Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to guide their lives.

We have been ministering for a few services on understanding what the Holy Spirit has done in our life as Christians. I want to invite you to turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians. And we're going to look into a portion of Scripture that is very important for us to understand if we are to be able to receive from the Lord Jesus Christ. Be able to receive from the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Let us begin by reading in verse number 6. Now verses 1 through 5, Paul is explaining to the Corinthian church that the wisdom that he was speaking was not the wisdom from the world. It was not some kind of a philosophy that he had learned. It wasn't some kind of a secret religion that he was preaching. But the actual wisdom that Paul was ministering to the Corinthian church was the wisdom that comes from God which is found in the person of Jesus Christ. The wisdom that comes from God that is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Verse number 6, 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, meaning spiritually mature, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Now I want to bring your attention to verse number 7, because this is a very, very important concept that all of us as Christians need to be able to comprehend in a very, very clear way. Paul says that the wisdom that he spoke of is a hidden wisdom. Now the word hidden there suggests that which is not seen, that which is not visible. One of the elementary truths that we need to learn as Christians is the things of God are hidden to us. They are hidden to the natural man. They are hidden to the carnal man. Now as we go on, we're going to develop this thought. God is hidden from you. He is hidden from me. And even as Christians, we are still cast on the mercy of God in relation to our progressive knowledge of Him. Unless He continues to reveal Himself to us, we cannot know Him by searching. And we will understand this concept in the New Testament, which will bring us right to where the Holy Spirit wants us. Vessels in Christ, waiting patiently for Him, worshiping and loving Him, knowing that only as we lower ourselves in His presence will He come and reveal Himself to us in a greater way. Now let's read on here. Verse number 9, But as it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. Once again, verse number 9 suggests very strongly that man cannot know by imagining anything about God or anything that God has prepared for us. You see, the key to understanding who God is and in growing in an ever-increasing knowledge of Him through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is not found in some inner power that we possess, such as our imagination or our logic or our reason. These things will not lead us to a true knowledge of God. They will lead us to a false knowledge of God. Verse number 10, But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. There it is, right there, beloved. It is only as the Spirit reveals it unto us that we can have any kind of true knowledge of God. So the next question that we want to ask, and then we're going to develop the thought, is this. If only God can reveal Himself to us, then who is it that God reveals Himself to? Who is it that God reveals Himself to? Now, verses number 11 through 14, For what man knoweth the things of a man except the Spirit of man which is in him? Even so, the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Okay, the reason why the Holy Spirit is so desirous to get our attention and to acquaint Himself with us and we become acquainted with Him is because, listen closely, there is not a person here, neither is there a person in all the world who can know, understand, comprehend, or see God apart from the Holy Spirit's revelation. You see what the Bible is saying here in verse number 11, For what man knoweth the things of a man except the Spirit which is in him? In other words, your spirit is only capable of understanding who you are. Your spirit is not capable of understanding who God is. Only God's spirit knows who God is. And only man's spirit knows who man is. So here's the thought now. If I, by my own spirit, am trying to understand who God is apart from receiving a revelation from the Holy Spirit, my efforts are in vain. My labor is in vain. Now these things can only be spiritually discerned as God helps us to understand. But the burden that the Holy Spirit has is that we would comprehend and understand that we are completely and entirely dependent upon the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, for our understanding and our increased knowledge of who God is. In other words, even the Word of God itself, the infallible Bible, is a closed book unless the Holy Spirit illuminates it and enlightens it and makes us to understand it. You see, when we get into the Bible apart from the Holy Spirit, we end up with dead theology and legalism. But when the Holy Spirit begins to come upon our mind and we begin to delve into the Word of God with an illuminated mind filled with the Holy Spirit of God, then the Bible becomes in the hands of the Holy Spirit a book of life revealing the person, the beauty, the majesty, the splendor, the glory, the excellence of God. That's the only time the Bible can truly become an instrument in God's hand to help us grow spiritually. Now Wednesday night we ministered on the fact that as Christians we have become new creations. In 2 Corinthians 5, the Apostle Paul tells us, therefore, verse 17, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Now as Christians, and I'm trusting that I'm addressing Christians this morning, and if you are not a Christian this morning, and when I say Christian, I do not mean a churchgoer. I do not mean someone who pays money to a church. But a Christian is a person who through the Holy Spirit has come to the foot of the cross, has confessed your sins to the Lord Jesus Christ, and have received the gift of salvation. And you know that your life is now in Christ. That's what a Christian is. You're not born a Christian in a family. You have to be born again spiritually. But as Christians, we can learn from the Word of God that we are new creations. Listen, we have to think completely differently now as Christians. The old man versus the new man. The Bible says if you are in Christ, you are a new creation. What does that mean? That means that through the power of the Holy Spirit, and through the power of the blood of Jesus Christ, your spirit has been given the very life of God Himself through the Holy Spirit. You see, prior to our conversion, we were human beings, body, soul, and spirit. But our spirit was dead. Now the spirit within man is that place where God wants to commune with man. You see, we're made as a three-part being. Body, soul, and spirit. That's found in 1 Thessalonians 5.23. Now God wants to commune with you in your spirit. But as sinners, He can't because our spirit's dead. Now we have a spirit, but it's dead. It's numb. It's not alive to God. So consequently, if our spirit is not alive to God, then the old man is simply the life that we used to live, not in accordance to the Holy Spirit and in accordance to the will of God, but rather the life in accordance to the sinful desires of the flesh. That's what the old man is. When the Bible speaks of the old man and the new man, that's all it is. The new man is that new spirit that God has created within you where He Himself dwells. Now see, as Christians, God wants us to become acquainted with that new man and stop being acquainted with the old man. And as we become acquainted with the new man, then we begin to draw strength from God. We begin to draw grace from God. And we find the victory that we need as Christians. Verse 17, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. Now, the all things that are becoming new is our entirely new lifestyle. Remember, we used to live according to what? The spirit of this world. We used to live according to the God of this world. That means our decisions and our actions were based on what? What appealed to the lust of the flesh. What appealed to the pride of life. What appealed to the lust of the eyes. We walked by the heartbeat of this world. Our God was our self. Our interest was self-interest. But now as Christians, all things have become new. Now, we are to walk according to a different heartbeat. And that's the heart of God. Empowered by God. Filled with God's Spirit. Now, as we had mentioned in 1 Corinthians 2, the only way that you and I can have true knowledge of God is if the Holy Spirit reveals Him to our spirit. See, this is where God is. God is not in your body. He's in your spirit. Your soul, your mind is being renewed daily. This is what the Bible teaches. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. So God is in our spirit. Our mind is being renewed. And our bodies will be saved at that last and great day when the trump shall sound. So see, what God is doing to develop the whole spiritual being is He is wanting us to learn to live by His Holy Spirit which lives in our spirit, and that will change the way we think. That will change the way we think. And then as we are changed in our thinking by the renewing of the Holy Ghost and the renewing of the Word of God, then our lives become ordered by God rather than by the old desires of the sinful flesh. Now let's look for a brief time at who we are and what we are. First of all, we have a body. Now with our body, we perceive and contact the physical world. We all know about the five senses. We have touch, taste, hearing, smell, and sight. Okay, these are the things that we do with our physical body. The physical body. Sight, hear, smell, taste, and feeling. We contact the physical world with our body. Now this is us. We are body, soul, and spirit. Now number two. With our soul. With our soul now. Now this is another part of you. We find that we have a mind, a will, and the emotions. Now the mind is the place of logic and reason. The will is the volition. I will, the choice. And then thirdly, the emotions are the feelings. And then lastly, we have a spirit. Now the spirit, the spirit within you, if you're a Christian, is united to God's spirit. And that is what constitutes the new creation. Let's face it. You didn't change physically after you got saved. You look the same, don't you? Sure. We look the same. Now the new man is that new spirit that is now joined to the Holy Spirit. Now that's the man that God is interested in developing and causing to grow, and causing to become strong in you. So that new man outrules the old man, which is the flesh desires and the flesh life. See? Now that new man can be strengthened only one way. Communion with God, and the Word of God, and a daily walking with the Holy Spirit. I say it again. The new man can only be strengthened one way. And that is through a direct relationship and a direct communion with Almighty God through the Holy Spirit. As God unveils the Word of God, the new man becomes strengthened. The new man becomes built up and encouraged. It's sad that the thing that we need the most sometimes we lack the most. Okay. Now the spirit, just like the body contacts the physical world, the soul is the personality of the person, now the spirit is to commune with God. And here's how the spirit communes with God. The spirit communes with God intuitively. How many know here what intuitively means? Intuitively is that knowledge that we have that we didn't get, listen, we didn't get it through our minds. We got it through revelation of the Holy Spirit. How many remember when Jesus looked at Peter and said, who do you think I am? And Peter said, well, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Remember that? What was Jesus' response? Blessed art thou, Simon, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. In other words, listen, you didn't get this revelation through your body. You didn't get it through your soul. In other words, you didn't logically figure this out. No. He got it through intuitive knowledge. In other words, the Holy Spirit went to his spirit and shined the light, and intuitively, through the Holy Spirit, Peter said, I know who you are. You are the Christ. That's the very building blocks that build the church of God. It is that knowledge that comes to a sinner that saves him. When the Holy Spirit reveals that Jesus is the Christ. And then it is that continued knowledge in the Christian's life that enables the Christian to grow in his grace and in the knowledge of God. You see, when we swerve from communion with God and from a relationship with God in the Spirit, by the Spirit, then listen, we become numb and our outer man rules rather than our inner man. Now the outer man is me. All by myself without God's help. How many know that man? That's what the outer man is. Now, Paul said the outer man needs to be what? Needs to be weakened. Why does God allow things to come into our life to weaken our outer man? So that our inner man will begin to stretch a little bit. Well, it's about time you give me some time to breathe. You've been so busy on the run, I haven't had enough time to reveal to you anything about the glories of God. See, the outer man and the inner man. The outer man, and we'll make it real simple. We don't have to have theology. All we have to do is make it simple in agreement with the Word of God. The outer man is the soul life. In other words, I live my Christian life by virtue of my strength and my power and my wit and all the resources within me. But God says, no. You can't do that. You have to learn to live your Christian life by the energizing power of the Holy Spirit that resides within your spirit if you are a born again Christian. Now do you see why all things have to become new? What are we used to doing? We are used to living our life completely independent of God. It's our nature. That's what Adam's sin was, beloved. This is an entirely new sermon. But Adam's sin was this. There's the tree of life and there's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The knowledge of good and evil can represent man's ability to discern what's right and wrong. Well, let me see here. Uh-huh. I think this is all right. See, man's action independent from God. Now the tree of life would be man's attempt to say I cannot do it on my own. I need to partake of God. I need to depend on Him. Now what was Adam's sin? He went to the knowledge of good and evil. In other words, he said, I'm going to do this independent from God. I'm going to do it independent from God. Now, because of that, we have a sin nature. Guess what the sin nature is? That rebellious spirit. Independent from God. So simple, isn't it? Me. I. My resources. I'm going to take care of this without God's help. That's what the sin nature is. Now how many have seen that spirit work in you? How about since you were a Christian? So it's not taken out, is it? No. What's the solution? Jesus. See, He's the solution when we're sinners and He's still the solution when we're Christians. He never stops being the solution. Let me tell you, your outer life, your independent streak will have to come to the foot of the cross and break someday. I don't know if it will happen today. It could happen 20 years from now. But if God privileges you as a Christian to experience any kind of spiritual life in Him while you're on your earthly pilgrimage, I promise you that God will have to bring you to a place where your outer life will be crippled and weakened so that you will become powerless and you will give up. And when you become powerless and give up, God then becomes strong in your life. Now there's some Christians who seemingly never experience the life in Christ. I didn't say they're not Christians. See, the issue here is not forgiveness. If you have belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are pardoned. God has forgiven you. As far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed your transgressions. The issue isn't forgiveness. You are pardoned if God lives in you. And the blood of Jesus Christ is ever cleansing us as we come to Him, confessing and repenting. See, the issue isn't pardon and forgiveness. The issue is now that I am a Christian, am I going to allow the Holy Spirit to make me completely dependent upon living by God and completely weaned from living by my old life? That's the issue. See, maturity, sonship is entering the road and following Jesus and becoming obedient to death. Death to self. Death to self-interest. Death to my way and alive in God. Alive in God. There's no other way. There's no other way. Now we mentioned the body, the soul, and now here's the spirit. The spirit communicates with God intuitively. Number two, the spirit communicates with God through conscience. As the Holy Ghost comes into our spirit, our conscience is made alive. And see, the Holy Spirit speaks to us through our conscience many times. See? I don't know. It don't seem wrong up here, but it sure seems wrong here. See, there's the difference. How many have experienced that? Nuh-uh. Uh-huh. Huh? And then you convince yourself this is right. And then you transgress the Holy Spirit. Right? Sure. But then sometimes you say, Hey, I better stop this. And then the Holy Spirit gets a victory and you feel peace like a river, right? You say, Oh, I'm so glad I obeyed the Lord. Well, see, that's what it's all about. Okay, so we've got intuition. Intuitiveness, I mean. Not intuition. Intuitiveness. We've got conscience. Now here's another aspect. This is another way the spirit communes with God. And I so love to do this. Worship. Worship. Don't you love to worship God? Now listen, John 4, 24. God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him how? In spirit and in truth. Listen, all true worship has to start in the spirit. True worship is a revelation being given by God of His majesty. It starts in the spirit, and then it can go into our minds, and we can praise God, and it can affect us physically, and we can clap our hands and lift our hands up. But unless it's originating in the spirit, God looks at it and says it's just noise. It's just lip service. It's just a format. But when we can commune with God in the spirit and know Him intuitively and know Him through revelation, then God is pleased. And then we can say praise the Lord. Thank You, Jesus. Hallelujah. And it's not just lip service, but it's coming from the deep, deep inner man, the deep you, the spirit that is in union with God. And your spirit is seeing God. Hallelujah! I see Him! I see Him! This is what God's will is for each one of you this morning. That we could know Him by the spirit. Okay. Now, we are new creatures in Christ. Howdy. We are new creatures in Christ. Listen closely. I want to emphasize this one more time, this little illustration. I want to give you a little illustration. Let's make a ladder. Okay? And up here is heaven. That's how to spell heaven, right? Okay, I got confused there. Okay, now listen. Watch this now. This is going to help you understand. Now, let's just say, I'm not an artist, but this is a curtain, alright? Alright, so when you crawl up the ladder here, you have to roll back the curtain before you can see into heaven. Now, this is what we've done as Christians. This ladder represents our spirit. We have supposed that through our spirit and our power and our imagination, we can rise up, get to the top of heaven, roll back the curtain and see God and say, Oh, there He is, I see Him. Or, Oh yes, I understand more of God. Listen, we have believed the devil's lie. This is the exact opposite of the true reality of how to know God. This is why it is so necessary that we realize before we're saved that we're sinners. Totally powerless. We call on the Lord. Listen, God comes to us. We don't go to Him. God comes to us. Jesus said the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. See, He's seeking us. We're not seeking Him. Now as Christians, we enter into God's rest. We are in Christ. Now listen closely. Rather than us trying in our own spirit to get up to heaven, pull back the curtain and see God, we must learn that any knowledge that we get from God must come as a gift from Him to us. So it's the exact opposite. Our pursuit is not in our own spirit. Listen, our pursuit after God is a heart now that rejoices because we're redeemed, we're washed, we're filled, we're in Christ, and now we enter into His rest. And in His rest, we love Him, we worship Him, and we learn through the Word of God intuitively the things that God wants to reveal to us. See, listen, it's no longer our spirit independent from God trying to find God, but it's God who has come, put us in Christ, and now our spirit and Christ's spirit are one. And the Christian life now is living by the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit that comes to us and gives us the understanding. It's the Holy Spirit that comes to us and gives us the knowledge. It's the Holy Spirit. Remember now, who knows God? The Holy Spirit. Who is with God from eternity? The Holy Spirit. Who is the only person that can reveal more of the beauty of Christ? The Holy Spirit. Is it you getting as much as it is God giving? You see? It's God giving. Alright, now here's the question we're going to develop, and then we're going to let you go. Who does God give the knowledge of heaven and Jesus to? Who does He give it to? Isaiah 55.17. Now we're going to learn something. I'm not sure if it's 55.17. It's not. Isaiah 54.17? No. I am the high and lofty One, and I also dwell. 57.15. Alright. Now watch this Scripture. Watch this now. For thus saith the Lord, the high and the lofty One, that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy. I dwell in the high and holy place, but with Him also, that is a contrite and humble spirit. Listen. To revive the spirit of the what? Of the humble. And to revive the heart of the what? Contrite. Okay, watch this now. Watch this. Contrite. Humble. Meek. Watch this. Lowly. Okay, you see these four words? These four words must reflect the condition of our inner heart continually if we are to expect God to reveal by the Holy Spirit more of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen. When you are lowly, contrite, humble, and meek, you are not trying to know God independent from the Holy Spirit. You are abiding in Him, and you are enjoying Him. Listen. And He is daily giving you of Himself. He is giving to you, and you are gratefully receiving. See, the whole force of it changes. And it's us entering into God's rest and finding daily bread, spiritual bread, that He gives us every day. Now look, remember this. Contrite means broken. Listen. It actually comes from a Hebrew word that means grinded and crushed. Now what does God need to grind and crush in our life? The outer man. See, because the outer man dominates us all the time. Listen, the outer man prevents the Spirit and the new man from growing and from revealing the glories of heaven. One more Scripture. One more Scripture. 2 Corinthians. I'm going to show you that Paul himself taught this very thing. Not only did he teach it, but it was working in his life, and he thanked God for it because he knew that because this was working in his life, he was a constant recipient of more of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 12. 2 Corinthians 12. He just got done talking about all of the revelations that God gave him. And this is what he says. Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me. Lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. Listen. And he said to me, My grace is sufficient, for my strength is made perfect in what? In weakness. Now what's weakness here? The outer man was broken so that the inner man with lowliness, contriteness, humility, and meekness could reign. See, when the outer man reigns, those things don't reign. They're not the attributes of the outer man. They're only the characteristics of the new man. One or the other reigns. Now watch what Paul says. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. What a revelation, church! We can spend two hours on this one Scripture. Paul glories in his infirmities because he knows that it is through the difficulties and the infirmities that he stays weak. And in staying weak, he stays able to receive more of God because the Holy Spirit won't reveal the things of Christ to a strengthened, arrogant, haughty person. So Paul saw the divine wisdom of God. These things are in my life to keep me weak so that I can keep receiving from the sweet Holy Spirit. And what do we do when things come into our life that make us weak? We grumble and complain. Here's why. Because we haven't understood that only in weakness can the Holy Spirit come and say, Hi, would you like to get acquainted with me? Some of us are bucking up against the very hand of God because we don't understand why. I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure. Not only do we glory, but I'm happy. I'm happy when I'm weak. Are you happy when you're weak? Beloved, if not, I'm asking God to show you a different new light. It's when you're weak that God finally gets an opportunity to reveal Himself to you. You might not like being weak. Well, join the club. Nobody does it first. But listen. After God shows you why weakness has come, that's so the outer man can get down, and that new man in Christ Jesus can begin to dominate your body, begin to dominate your thought life, you're going to find a joy that you've never known. Unspeakable and full of glory. I take pleasure in infirmity, in reproach. Have you been reproached? Have you been misunderstood? Necessities and persecutions and distresses. For Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong. There it is, beloved. When I am weak, I am strong. Now you know what I want to do for closing? I want to read a prayer that the Holy Spirit gave me. I want to share it with you. It fits right in to what we're teaching on. Listen closely. Heavenly Father, may you graciously grant to me, through your unsearchable and divine wisdom, whatever it takes to keep me from ever trusting in myself, looking in myself for any resource to do your work or will, and keep me from ever supposing that by some good thing in me, your work is increasing. Keep me forever dependent upon you, O great God. Make me weak in my outer man, that I may be strong in my inner man. And then number two. Heavenly Father, may you graciously grant to me the ever-present, continuous touch of your Holy Spirit upon my life. O Heavenly Father, would you forever grant me the breath of your power, which in fact is what does the work of God. And Heavenly Father, would you become the very author and sustainer of all the work in and through my life and your church. For without your breath, there is no hope. My gift, my teaching, my preaching, my charisma, all of my giftedness and all the other resources within my soulish life are wholly worthless and fully lifeless, being entirely unable and incapable of adding anything to the spiritual work of God. God, you alone are spirit, you alone are life, and you alone can impart life. Please, God, keep me in life and out of self, I pray. May God help us this morning. Only God can give us eyes to see. Only God can give us eyes to understand. Beloved, you don't have to live the Christian life by your power. You can fall upon the Lord and be energized by Him. Just call upon Him. Listen, come to God today and say, Lord, I don't really see how worthless and how powerless I am. Would you show me? Would you show me, Lord? Would you show me and then, Lord, would you fill me with your power and your life? I'm going to ask Sister Collette if she would come real quick. I'm sorry, it's quarter to one. Some people say I shouldn't apologize. Now listen, if you have to go, go. But listen, let's let the Holy Spirit now minister to you. The message this morning was the outer man or the inner man who will reign in your life. Let's come to the Holy Spirit this morning and ask Him to move in our life. Sister Collette's going to play something. That's why Paul said, I beat my body. You know what he meant when he said that? He said, I don't let my outer man tell me what to do, but I let the new man lead me and guide me. Amen? Let's sing this song. Number two, if you want to come to the altar and let Jesus touch you, you're welcome to. Number two, anybody want prayer, you come forward. Father, help us to be weak. We submit to you, Father. Weaken our outer man that the inner man may become strong. We're just going to continue to sing. The altars are open. If you have to go, you may if you want a fellowship, please go into the vestibule. But we want to have some time for altar work where we pray and minister to people. So you're at liberty to do as you need to do. God bless you. Let's sing this song again. Don't feel rushed at the altars.