THE INNER MAN OF THE HEART

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EZRA; THE BELIEVER AS THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Lesson #04
THE INNER MAN OF THE HEART

• Memory Verse: Eph 3:16
• Review and further detail:
  • It is very important that we review what we have already learned about Solomon’s Temple and the nature of the believer as the New Testament temple. We need to have these things in mind so as to build on this knowledge to see how the believer matures in Christ and how he makes his life decisions.
  • The believer in Jesus Christ has a New Spirit when he is born again.
    • This is represented by the Holy of Holies in the temple where the presence of God dwelt.
    • This is the place where the Holy Trinity dwells inside of the New Testament believer.
      • For the non-believer, this part of man is a God-shaped vacuum that man tries to fill with other things or other gods, but the vacuum remains.
      • Nothing can fill this vacuum that fully satisfies man’s deep longing for some purpose to life.
  • The believer in Jesus Christ has a New Heart as the sub-conscious part of his soul.
    • This is represented by the Holy Place in the temple where God’s love, wisdom, and power are manifested in the inner man.
    • The inner man of the heart is represented by the Holy Place in Solomon’s temple. This is where:
      • The believer has the love of God. (The manifestation of God the Father – Joh 3:16)
      • The believer has the mind (wisdom) of Christ. (The manifestation of Christ the Son – 2Cor 2:16)
      • The believer has the power of the Spirit (The manifestation of the Holy Spirit of God – Act 1:8)
    • Read 1Pet 3:4
    • Read Rom 6:6
    • In Solomon’s temple, the Holy Place contained three types of furniture:
      • =1= The ten golden lampstands
        • The tabernacle had only one golden lampstand,
        • Solomon’s temple had ten.

The one golden lampstand in the tabernacle represented Christ as the only light of life.

As we have seen, Solomon’s temple represents the believing Christian. This is why there is a difference in the number.

Remember that the number ten in the Bible represents God’s standard by which man is tested.

The believer’s life is continually tested by the standard of God’s light as revealed to the believer by the indwelling Holy Spirit.

• • • • =2= The ten tables of showbread
        • The tabernacle had only one table of showbread where the bread represented the 12 tribes of Israel.
        • Solomon’s temple from time to time had as many as ten tables of showbread.

The table of showbread in the tabernacle represented Christ and His Word as the bread of life on which the believer must feed.

The ten tables in Solomon’s temple represent the standard by which man’s life is tested by the Word of God.

• • • • =3= The altar of incense
        • Both the tabernacle and Solomon’s temple had only one altar of incense that represents prayer in communication with God.
        • Therefore, the conviction by the Holy Spirit of God that brings the light of God’s wisdom to the believer, and the truth placed in the Word of God on which the believer must feed, the believer partakes of open communication with God through prayer.
        • This is the nature of the spiritually healthy inner man of the heart:

Two-way communication and guidance by the Holy Spirit of God (light)

Renewing of the mind by the Word of God (truth)

An abiding communication and fellowship between the Holy Trinity and the believer. (prayer).

Read Col 1:9

• The work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the inner man:
  • We have already seen that the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God and the light of conviction of the Spirit to bring repentance and change to the believer’s life gradually one step at a time.
    • If the believer does not read the Word of God, the Holy Spirit has nothing to use to bring conviction and change.
    • If the believer does not pray, the Holy Spirit does not manifest to the believer the rewards of repentance:
      • The reward of forgiveness of sin. (1Joh 3:5)
      • The reward of assurance of salvation. (1Joh 5:13
      • The reward of power over temptation.(Jam 1:12)
      • The reward of guidance of the Spirit. (Joh 10:27)
      • The reward of the assurance of God’s constant presence. (Heb 13:5)
  • When the believer is filled with the Holy Spirit, something unique happens in the human heart.
    • The Holy Spirit now has control of the inner man.
    • There is a unity of the Spirit: man’s spirit with the Holy Spirit that brings a singleness of purpose.
    • Paul tells us that man needs to continually keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit.
      • Read Eph 3:18-19
      • Read Eph 5:18
      • Why is it necessary to keep on being filled with the Spirit?
        • As the believer walks in this world of the flesh, he tends to lose his focus so that his decisions become worldly in nature.
        • As the believer walks in this world of the flesh, he has a tendency to give in to the temptation to sin.
        • The believer becomes weak spiritually.
  • The purpose of the filling of the Holy Spirit in the inner man.
    • When Jesus ministered to the woman at the well in Joh 4, he told her that he would give her a drink of living water.
      • Water is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
      • This drink of living water is the drink the believer receives when he is born again and the Holy Spirit enters his spirit to give the believer a new spirit and a new heart.
    • Read Joh 7:38
      • When the Holy Spirit fills the believer, (beyond the initial drink of salvation) the power of the Holy Spirit flows out of the believer like a river of living water.
        • The Holy Spirit gives the believer power to live the Christian life in obedience to Christ.
        • The Holy Spirit gives the believer power to preach the Word of God to others who don’t know Christ. (Rom 1:16)
      • The Holy Spirit flows outward from the believer in power to minister to others.
    • Read Jam 3:11
      • Out of the fountain of the inner man there should only be one kind of water flowing.
      • That sweet water is the power of the Holy Spirit.
        • The sweet water of the Holy Spirit cannot be mixed with the bitter water of the flesh nature. Why?
        • Mixed with bitter water, the Holy Spirit is not given ultimate control to produce spiritual power that gives God the glory. In other words, spiritual power is diluted.
      • When the believer makes decisions based on his flesh rather than on his New Spirit, he grieves and quenches the Holy Spirit.
      • Read Eph 4:30
      • Read 1The 5:19
        • In other words, the believer has just placed a lid on the fountain of the Holy Spirit inside of him.
        • The sweet water of the Holy Spirit does not flow out.
• The importance of the New Heart in the believer:
  • The New Heart is the foundation on which the Holy Spirit builds everything in the Christian life.
  • From this foundation of a New Heart centered in Christ, man has the ability to make wise decisions.
  • The flow of the Holy Spirit through the life of the believer depends on the believer’s free will.
• According to the temple floor plan, working our way outward from the Holy of Holies of Solomon’s temple through the Holy Place, we come to the golden porch of the temple.
  • The tabernacle did not have a porch. That means there is something special about the porch in Solomon’s temple that relates to the believer and his Christian life.
    • When man is born again in Jesus Christ, God gives him a new power of the will.
      • In other words, the non-believer is born a sinner and is a slave to sin.
      • He cannot help but follow his flesh nature and commit all manner of sin.
    • But the believer in Jesus Christ has the ability to make a choice because he now has a new willpower.
      • He can choose to follow his flesh nature. In other words, he can make decisions based on his own desires, thoughts, or feelings.
      • Or he can choose to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit within him. He can make choices based on the truth of God’s word even when he does not feel like it.
        • This is where the Holy Spirit counsels the believer of what is God’s will.
        • This is where the Holy Spirit gives the believer a supernatural strength to do His will.
    • It is this choice that determines how he will walk as a believer and how he will mature in his Christian walk.
      • The believer can make “faith choices” or he can make “flesh choices”:
        • A “faith choice” is to decide to be obedient to the truth of God’s word even when it seems to be contrary to what you would naturally choose. Remember that the believer is to live and walk by faith and not by sight or feelings.
        • A “flesh choice” is to decide against the will of God so as to follow your own desires of what seems right to you at the time. Most of us make choices by feelings.
      • The believer must practice making choices that are not based on emotion or feelings in order to mature as a believer.
      • After the believer has made “faith choices” to follow God’s will, God will change our feelings and desires to match our choices. Therefore, the feelings follow the “faith choices” and do not precede or direct those choices.
  • The golden porch of Solomon’s temple had two bronze pillars.
    • Gold represents the purity and holiness of Deity which tells us that the new willpower that the believer possesses is a gift from God.
    • Bronze represents judgment, or something that still must be judged because sin is still present there. It is something that has not yet been renewed by God.
    • These two bronze pillars had names that are significant to us.
      • One pillar was called Boaz which means = in His counsel.
      • The other pillar was called Jachin = which means in His strength.
    • These two pillars tell us that in making our daily choices, we have the added counsel and strength of God to make “faith choices” instead of “flesh choices”. This is the power of the Holy Spirit operating in the life of the believer.
      • Counsel and might (strength) are names and functions of the Holy Spirit.
      • Read Isa 11:2
  • As we continue our study in Solomon’s temple, we will see more detail in exactly how the believer makes these choices in his life.

HOMEWORK

Choices in the Soul of the Believer

• Application of “The Inner Man of the Heart”
  • Consider your life since you became a Christian….How have you made the majority of the big decisions in your life? Pick the one that best applies.
    • Based on what seemed right at the time.
    • Based on your emotions.
    • Based on your own good sense.
    • Based on the truth in the Bible.
    • Based on hearing the voice of God.
    • Based on your feelings.
    • Based on what another Christian told you.
    • Based on your own desires.
    • Based on guidance you obtained through prayer.
    • Based on faith.
    • Based on the right and wrong you learned as a child.
• Preparation for “Choices in the Soul of the Believer”
  • Read Eph 3:19
    • What do you think it means to be filled with the fullness of God?
  • Read Eph 5:18
    • How do you think the believer is filled with Holy Spirit?
  • Read Gal 2:20
    • Explain in your own words what this verse means?
• Memory Verse: Phil 2:13