The Winning Life: Living by Your Spirit                                  Restoration Fellowship

Proverbs 20:27                                                                                              April 15, 2012

TEXT  Proverbs 20:27(NKJV)  ²⁷ The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, Searching all the ^£inner depths of his heart.

Proverbs 1:23(NKJV)  ²³ Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.

1 Corinthians 2:11(NKJV)  ¹¹For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

John the Baptist lived this way...  Luke 1:80 (NKJV)  So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.

Jesus lived this way...  Luke 2:40 (NKJV)  And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

Background...  God made man and breathed into him the breath of life...

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 being. (Genesis 2:7 NKJV)

But  there is  a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. (Job 32:8 NKJV)

And when He had said this, He breathed on  them,  and said to them,  Receive the Holy Spirit. (John 20:22 NKJV)

    

Benefits...

Proverbs 16:32(NKJV)  ³² He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

Proverbs 25:28(NKJV)  ²⁸ Whoever has no rule over his own spirit Is like a city broken down, without walls.

Proverbs 18:14(NKJV)  ¹⁴ The  spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness...

We can live this way... 

Romans 8:1-17 (NKJV)  There is  therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God  did  by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those  who live  according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 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, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ  is  in you, the body  is  dead because of sin, but the Spirit  is  life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with  Him,  that we may also be glorified together.

Galatians 5:16-18(NKJV)  ¹⁶I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

¹⁷For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Galatians 6:7-9(NKJV)  ⁷Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

⁸For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

⁹And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

What if we have lost heart?  Let's go back to a previous passage...

Proverbs 18:14(NKJV)  ¹⁴ The  spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, But who can bear a broken spirit?

How does our spirit get broken?

Sin... Proverbs 15:4(NKJV)  ⁴ A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, But perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

Sorrow... Proverbs 15:13(NKJV)  ¹³ A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

Pride... Proverbs 16:18(NKJV)  ¹⁸ Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.

Stress... Proverbs 17:27(NKJV)  ²⁷ He who has knowledge spares his words, And a man of understanding is of a calm spirit.

There is some good news for those who are broken in spirit...

Proverbs 29:23(NKJV)  ²³ A man’s pride will bring him low, But the humble in spirit will retain honor.

(Psalm 34:18 NKJV)  The Lord  is  near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Psalms 51:17(NKJV)  ¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.

1 Samuel 2:8 (NKJV)  He raises the poor from the dust  And  lifts the beggar from the ash heap, To set  them  among princes And make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth  are  the Lords, And He has set the world upon them.

Ephesians 3:16(NKJV)  ¹⁶that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,