ARE YOU WET OR DRY ?

I was recently watching the new TV series BULL, which is actually based on the early career of Dr. Phil McGraw as a trial jury consultant. Basically the story is built around the psychological profiling of potential jurors. Then through that profiling make recommendations to the Defense as to which jurors should be accepted and which should be rejected. It makes for interesting TV drama, but the scary part is, IT IS TRUE! Human reactions, based on the nature of the individual are predictive. Understand a person's nature and you can with reasonable certainty predict how they will react in a given situation, or how they will process specific information in relation to their life experiences. In the particular episode I was watching, a juror was rejected with nothing more said by "Dr. Bull" than "Wet Paint". When asked by his staff what he meant by that, his reply was something to the effect that human nature always wants to do what it is told it can't. The sign says Wet Paint....you gotta touch it to see if it really is. Where have we heard that before!!

Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Gen 3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: Gen 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

You see, God wanted us to known right in the beginning that we had something so unique that it made us in many ways, like God himself. That something is "free will". The lower animal forms are controlled entirely by their nature. It is impossible for an animal to make a choice that is contrary to it's nature. Oh it might be disciplined or trained through the "carrot and stick" method to make programmed choices, but it lacks the capacity to reason out the interconnected consequences of those choices and then act accordingly. Man was given that higher capacity, and with it an eternal soul that would be destined by the exercise of that free will. The problem with free will in man is that when it is exercised independent of the right influence from God himself, it will be excercised selfishly. The heart will want what the heart wants, even if it is forbidden by God for the man's (or woman's) own good. The Bible refers to this in man as " the carnal nature". The carnal nature of man is predictable and is always contrary to the Holy nature of God. Because man in his natural (carnal) state cannot (will not) please God, there must be a change made within the man that will enable him to have a new nature that is not carnal, but instead is "Spiritual". This "Spiritual" nature is imparted to man by God himself on an individual basis when that individual has met God's requirements of Repentence toward Him ( who has been offended) and Believed on the work and Person of His Son Jesus. This direct imparting of Spiritual Life to an individual is referred to as being "Born Again". In this Born Again state you become a possessor of the "divine nature" whereby "your free will" becomes "willing" subject to the Holy Spirit and are through Him enabled to think and act in a right manner. But don't be foolish and think that your carnal nature is no longer present, it is very present. The difference is that now you have a Spiritual nature that is capable of bring the carnal nature into subjection. Peter said it this way: 2Pe 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

If you are interested in better understanding this conflict between the carnal and Spiritual natures, click on the link and listen to my sermon titled ( unoriginally) "Wet Paint" . I would also invite you to listen to the follow up sermon titled Dry Paint. In this sermon I talk about what a Spiritual nature in full control of life looks like, as demonstrated through a "snapshot" of the Apostle Paul when falsely accused and in-prisoned.