Living With A Terminal Illness

Genesis 2:7  And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Genesis 2:16-17  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

What really happened when Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command?       God had warned that disobedience would result in death (Genesis 2:16-17), but did Adam instantly fall dead?  No, he lived to the age of 930 years!  And yet, man DID die the very moment he ate the forbidden fruit.

DEATH IS NOT A STATE OF NON-EXISTENCE, BUT A STATE OF SEPARATION.

There are three kinds of death in Scripture:

·        Physical death  separates man’s spirit and soul from his body

·        Spiritual death  separates man’s spirit from God

·        Second death  eternal separation of man from God (the ultimate spiritual death)

Since man is a spirit-being, it was into man’s spirit that death entered.  This does not mean that his spirit ceased to exist, for spiritual death is not a state of non-existence, but rather a state of separation and alienation from God.

When Adam experienced spiritual death in his spirit, his soul and his body also became subjected to the Enemy.

Spiritual death is SEPARATION from God due to SIN.  Every human being is born with this condition.  Only SALVATION can cure it!

MAN WAS CREATED BY GOD AS A THREE-FOLD BEING …

1 Thessalonians 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.

SPIRIT   the inner man; the part that knows God and will exist eternally in either Heaven or Hell; the part of man that gets saved

SOUL     the mind; the intellect (thoughts and reasoning), the emotions (temperament, feelings, attitudes and moods), and will (choices, decisions and determination) – this is the “middle-man” of our personality that contains our spirit (they are often referred to together as “the soul,” just as the fingers are part of the hand and can be referred to together)

BODY    the outer man; the external or visible house in which man’s invisible spirit and soul reside; the part which operates our five senses; the part that provides an outward witness to our inward salvation

LIFE IS ONE LONG QUEST TO ‘KICK-START’ OUR DEAD SPIRITS!

·        Some try “bad things”

Ezekiel 18:20  The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

1 Peter 2:11  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

o   SIN DOESN’T SATISFY!

o   If sex satisfied, there would be no affairs

o   If drugs satisfied, there would be no junkies

o   If alcohol satisfied, there would be no winos

o   If fame satisfied, there would be no Hollywood suicides

o   If money satisfied, there would be no workaholics

·        Some try “good things”

Matthew 16:26  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Luke 12:16-21  And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

·        Some try “religious things”

Isaiah 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

·        BUT ONLY SALVATION FILLS THE VOID LEFT BY SIN!

John 4:23-24   But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

In a SPIRITUALLY DEAD person, the SPIRIT is alienated from God because of sin.  Unless he makes a choice to change it, this is an eternal condition!  Since the spirit is dead, the SOUL is now in charge.  Led by his intellect, emotions and will, this person cannot understand spiritual concepts, for they are foreign to him.  His BODY becomes merely a tool for acting out his lusts and passions.  This man is truly “mortal,” which means “death-doomed” or “Satan-ruled.”

In a SPIRITUALLY ALIVE person, the SPIRIT is back in fellowship with God because of salvation.  And unless he makes a choice to change it, this also is an eternal condition!  Since the spirit is alive, the SOUL is not allowed to be in charge.  There is an ongoing war to subjugate the natural mind and body to God’s Spirit now dwelling in the redeemed human spirit. (Romans 6:11-13, 7:22-23, 8:13-14)  His BODY is offered as a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1) to do the will of God, and not allowed to fulfill fleshly lusts.  This man is truly “im-mortal,” which means “NOT death-doomed”!

WHEN YOU HEAR THE WORD OF GOD WITH AN OPEN HEART, IT TEMPORARILY MAKES IT POSSIBLE TO “DISTINGUISH” BETWEEN THE SOUL (YOUR CONNECTION TO THE WORLD AROUND YOU) AND THE SPIRIT (YOUR CONNECTION WITH GOD) – AND YOU CAN SENSE THAT YOUR SPIRIT IS DEAD.  THIS IS THE REASON FOR THE FEELING OF EMPTINESS IN YOU!

·        Hebrews 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

THE “LIVING SOUL (SPIRIT)” THAT ADAM AND EVE LOST IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN IS RESTORED WHEN YOU ARE FILLED WITH GOD’S SPIRIT!

·        Romans 8:6-16  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 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. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 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.  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

ONLY JESUS HAS THE POWER TO DO THIS FOR YOU!

·        1 Corinthians 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

YOUR SOUL (MIND) MAKES THE CHOICE!

·        Psalm 42:1-2  As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.   My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?