The fact that he is only natural and carnal does not mean he is bad. Because when God made Adam and the rest of creation He said it was "very good". The creation including mankind was exactly as God wanted it to be.

Natural, not spiritual as Paul said in 1Cor.15:45-48. Natural and carnal in that animals, birds, creeping things, and man all related to the world around them with the "very good" natural senses God gave them to relate with.

But, because all was natural and carnal from the beginning the creation could not relate to God in a personal way. Because as Jesus said in John4:24, "God is a Spirit. And those who worship Him", that is those who relate to Him on a personal level, "must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

So Paul was saying that the "very good" natural and carnal man needed to become spiritual for him to be able to relate to God and to know Him in a personal way. And in 1Cor.1:13-16 Paul explains that only when we become spiritual do we have the mind of Christ.

This means that we think as Jesus did. By relating to Him as He related to the Father. Not through dead works as the natural man does. Not considering behavior to be in any way the means by which He showed He was related to God. But, His faith. His trust in the Father. His love that He knew the father also had for Him.

But, we can only think as Jesus did, that is to have the mind of Christ, by allowing our minds to be renewed by the Holy Spirit as Paul says in Rom.12:1,2. Something God recognized was not possible for them before Jesus came when He said through Isaiah the prophet, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

When we are natural and carnal our ways and thoughts will be too. But, when we are born of God we are spiritual so that as we humble ourselves before God we begin to learn to think as God does. No longer focusing on dead works for righteousness. But, righteousness that is our loving and personal relationship with Him. This was and is the mind of Christ.

This is why God gave man free will from the beginning. And why all men are born with free will today. So he could choose whether to believe the message of the gospel or not. So men are justly held to account for their decision.

Being born of God gives us access to the mind of Christ. Because as soon as we are born again we receive the spirit birthed in us so that we have a spirit with a spiritual mind that was never there before. The flesh/water birth made us natural and carnal like Adam was when he was made. But, now we are spiritual with the seed of God, His love, in us so that we can not sin.

John makes these statements in 1John3:6-9. Saying that because we are born of God His seed remains in us so that we can not sin. Here it is in John's own words, "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.

Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."

Here John says 4 times in 4 verses that we who are born of God can not sin. Yet to the natural and carnal man this can not possibly be true. Because he thinks only with his natural and carnal mind he received at the flesh birth. Thinking only in terms of dead works rather than the birth that has joined us to God. Making men children of God.

But, for us who have been born of God it makes perfect sense. Because those who are born of God do not think in terms of dead works for righteousness. We have the mind of Christ that sees our relationship with Him as righteousness. Just as Paul said in Gal.2:16 where he wrote, "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."

This shows us that John's statements in 1John3:6-9 are absolutely true for everyone who has been born again. Which is why Paul wrote in Rom.4:15 "where there is no law there is no transgression". Because as he said in 1Tim.1:9, "The law was not made for a righteous man."

Paul tells us in Rom.7:4 that we who have the mind of Christ are not bound to the law. We are bound to Christ so that instead of bringing forth fruit unto death, we bring forth fruit unto God. And in Eph.4:30 Paul tells us that this bond can not be broken. Because we do not seal ourselves. God seals us to Himself by the Holy Spirit that is within us unto the day of redemption.

This is why he who is born of God can not sin. Because once sealed by God to God he can never be unsealed. Once born of God he can never be unborn. Once born of God he can never unbelieve in God. He will forever after be His child and heir to His kingdom.

So sin is not naughty behavior. It is not knowing and trusting in Jesus. Sin is when we are not born of God and heir to His kingdom. Which is exactly what Jesus said in John16:9. Here Jesus said unbelief is the only sin the Holy Spirit is here to reprove the world of. The sin of "They believe not on me".

Why do you think Jesus said this is the only sin the Holy Spirit will reprove the world of? Because it is the only reason men do not have eternal life. Because in John17:3 Jesus said knowing Him is eternal life. So eternal life has nothing to do with the naughty/nice paradigm the natural and carnal man is stuck in.

Having eternal life has nothing to do with dead works. But, only with in whom we have believed. The naughty/nice paradigm many have come to believe through the false doctrine of original sin and sin nature will help men to know about how to receive gifts from Santa Claus. But, it will not help you to know Jesus.

And since righteousness does not come by dead works the natural and carnal man can not understand it. Because he thinks only of works for righteousness. So that when he does something he has been told is bad he thinks he is a sinner. And those who have been deceived by the doctrine of original sin continue to believe they are sinner because they continue to relate to God by their natural and carnal mind.

But, God has made righteousness for salvation attainable only by the faith of Christ. And not by dead works. So that when we trust in Jesus as He trusted the Father we are righteous just as Jesus was.

And not sinners saved by grace as some have been mistakenly led to believe.

But, we see in Rom.6:1 that when preaching this truth about the righteousness unto salvation the carnal man cries out "Are you saying we can do bad things all we want and still be saved?" "Are you saying we should sin so that grace will abound?" To which Paul answered, "God forbid". Because why would anyone who has been set free from the natural and carnal way of thinking which leaves him dead and unable to relate to spiritual things want to be made captive to it again?

This kind of thinking makes no sense at all to the spiritually minded. To those who have the mind of Christ. To those whose ways are God's ways and whose thoughts are God's thoughts.

But, we also need to be aware that Paul did not say that if you went there you lose your salvation. He simply said it was a ridiculous notion to think that one who knows God would ever want to go back to the way of the natural and carnal minded man. Because those ways do not produce fruit unto God.

And we who love and trust in God will love as He does. And when we love as God does we love others as He loves them. And when we love as God does we fulfill the law. This is why Paul said in Rom.13:8 "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law".

Love then is the mind of Christ. And love is the reason that once born of God we would not desire to be captive again to the thing from which we have been set free. Love is God's ways that are above the natural and carnal man's ways. And love is God's thoughts that are above the natural and carnal man's thoughts. This love is what relates us to God. Not dead works.

This is why John said, "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us." 1John4:7-12

This is the mind of Christ that every believer has been given. Because every believer has seen and has come to know the love of God. So to be spiritually minded we must stop thinking in terms of dead works when defining sin. And have the mind of Christ that defines sin as no relationship with Him. Listen to Hebrews9,10 that says, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?... because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins."

Are you constantly aware of sins?

Then your conscience has not yet been purged by the love of God. And you are yet carnal. Thinking only as the natural man can. Not having the spirit that God gives all who come to Him by faith without works. A faith that only works by love.

Trust in His love so you begin to think as He does. Turn from those dead works to serve the living and true God by faith that works by love. To know that sin is not something you do. It is in whom you have not believed.

Do as Paul said in Rom.10:9,10 to be saved. Confess Jesus is Lord. And believe He has raised from the dead. Know Him and trust in His love for you and you will have eternal life. Do this and you will have immortality. Do this and you will be a child of God. Do this and you will be heir to His kingdom.

Do this... and I will see you there or in the air!

This message can also be heard at: https://rumble.com/v1yoqpw-to-be-spiritually-minded-is-life-and-peace....html