(Bible Analysis of Man) Man's Body Mortal — Willie Mullan

And for the past five weeks we've been looking at what I've entitled the Bible analysis of man, and we've put the searchlight of the Scriptures upon man. And we looked at created man, and then we looked at the fallen man, and the saved man, and the spiritual man, and the carnal man.

And then we put man on the operating table of the Bible, and we have looked at his conscience, and we looked at his understanding and his memory. Last week we were looking at his imagination, and found that man, even when he knew God, he became vain in his imagination.

And his foolish heart was darkened, and professing himself to be wise, he became a fool. We're moving on another step this evening. We're looking at man's body this evening. That is, we're looking at man's body in its total sense, the whole body.

The Mortal Body and the Hope of Immortality

Of course, in nights to come, we shall be looking at man's body in many particular senses. You see, I want to look at man's eyes, because we are going to learn a lot about this eye-gaping, and how the devil used it on many occasions.

And then we want to look at man's ears, man's lips. We want to look at man's knees. Then we want to look at man's feet, and we're going to look at man's body in many particular senses. But tonight we're just looking at man's body in a total sense.

And when we look at man's body tonight in the total sense, we must look at it in a mortal sense. You see, as you look at this body in its totality, we must never forget that I'm just a mortal, and you're just a mortal.

You see, there's a thing called sin inside, and because of sin comes death. And if Jesus tarries for another hundred years, and I don't think he will, but if Jesus tarried for another hundred years, we would all die.

Yes, we're dying. You see, this outward man that we're thinking about tonight, the body in its total sense, it's just mortal. Some years ago we had an old character in the meeting here, and oh, he was a dear old soul, and yet, you know, when he got a pain at all, it was the most dreadful, horrible pain that ever was.

If he had a toe that was really aching, well, he would really think his leg was coming off. You know, this sort of thing. And I went to see him once in the hospital, and they had been tidying up the ward, and they'd put the screens on him, and I think they frightened him.

And when I went round the screens, he said to me, I'm dying. I said, so am I. And you know, this may be news for you, but you're dying. Not very nice to you, it's not good you are, you know. This outward man is perishing at this moment.

And so we must not forget that this body, it's mortal. This is a mortal body. But we don't only want to look at it in a total sense, and then in a mortal sense, but we want to look at it in an immortal sense.

Because you see, this body, I'll one day assure you on that seat, it shall put on immortality. That'll be a wonderful day. And there'll be no more death for it, and no more pain, and a lot of other things.

Now, this is a very difficult subject, because there are so many angles to it. There's this total sense, there's this particular sense, there's this mortal sense, there's this immortal sense. And then we shall have to differentiate between the saviour's body and the saved man's mortal body, and the unfaithful man's mortal body.

Now, be very careful about what I say. I said the saved man's mortal body, and I said the unsaved man's mortal body, and I only said the saviour's body, I didn't say mortal. I don't think that death had any claim to him at all.

I'm fairly sure about that. You see, as we sit here this evening, we're dying men. He wasn't a dying man, he was a man that was going to die. Did you get the difference between the two? There was a place set apart, and all that sort of thing, and he must set his faith as a friend to go there, and when he goes there, you know, even there death has no claims on him, he must step into death.

Yes, we are dying men, but he was a man who was going to die. And we must try to get the differentiation between all these things, and that's a very big step for us. Now, tonight we just want to look at the saved man's mortal body, and the triune God.

That's what we're trying to do this evening. We'll need an evening or two of this, and I can tell you there are some pretty deep depths in this. Sometimes they straggle me, and I need to just get on my knees, because it is deep.

The well here is very deep, and humanly speaking we have nothing to draw with, and there must be a great dependence on the Spirit of God to lead us into all truth. But I think that when God said, let us make man, the us will tell us that the triune God was in on the job.

Creation of the Body by the Triune God

It was God who was speaking, and this is what he said, let us make man. You see, when God formed man, or at least the material part of man, this total mortal body that we see now, when God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and of course as he formed him out of the dust of the ground, he immediately implanted a spirit within him.

And man at that second became a living soul, and it was the triune God making the triune man. Because man is body and soul and spirit, but we are just looking at the body this evening. But while it was made out of the dust of the ground, and of Jesus that is, unto dust shall it return.

There is never any argument on that side of things. The scientists tried to find so many places where it came from, but there are never any arguments at the other end of the history of some man. It's unto dust.

And dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return. Now while God formed the material part of man out of the dust of the ground, let's not forget that this body was faithfully and wonderfully made. Let's not make any mistakes about that.

You could get the eye specialist to come, and he could talk to you here on this very platform for an hour each evening for a week, and he wouldn't touch the depths of the wonders of the human physical eye.

And of course we know we have brain specialists. And we had one in us, sir, that we lost in the car wreck, Mr. Calvert. And I suppose he was probably noted as the greatest brain specialist in the world.

And I'll tell you he could loss us about the wonders of this computer of ours. They are building computers now that are altogether amazing. And yet it's the computer up here that connects everything in that computer and sets it and puts it to do what it's supposed to do.

And there will never come a day when the tin box down there controls this computer up here. That's very wonderful, you know. Yes, and take your heart, and we don't want to linger on this, but all the wonders of it.

How it goes on for 70, 80, 90, 100 years, night and day, pomp and pomp and pomp, and there it is. Wonderful it is. So I think we can settle this, that when the triune God out of the dust of the ground made this material body, this total body that we're thinking about this evening, you know, it was fearfully and very wonderfully made.

And I want to say this just now, let me get this over. That when the triune God made this very wonderful body of ours, He made it for Himself. Let's get the hold of that little bit now. It wasn't just the thought of placing that loose, you know.

Sin, Disobedience, and the Abuse of the Body

But of course, you see, this man, this body and soul and spirit, this man that was so fearfully and wonderfully made, this man rebelled against his maker. This man disobeyed God. And it was by one man's disobedience to God, of course.

The God that made him. It was through this disobedience that sin entered. And you know, man has gone on with this disobedience against God. And we see men from all classes and creeds and colors, men of all ages, and they rebel against God, they don't care about God.

And you know, man that was so wonderfully made, he takes drink now, and he fills this body with drink. Yes, he does, yes. And sometimes when I go to see some poor old drunkard, and he's lost throat of life, and his liver has cleaned on, and he's lying back in his gospel, he blames God for this.

I'm afraid it wasn't God. He just played the fool, that's all. And wrecked the car that God had given him, as it were. If you bought a Rolls Royce, it'd cost you a lot of money, just know. And you began to drive it night and day without water, and without looking at the oil, and you didn't care.

And I'll tell you, it'll go bust on you one of these days. And you don't need to blame the Rolls Royce folk, it's the boy that's driving that's to blame. So you see, although he was fearfully and wonderfully made, you see he disobeyed God, became vain in his imagination, and his foolish heart was darkened, and professing himself to be wise, he became a fool.

He's playing the fool when he fills this body with drink. And he's playing the fool when he fills this body with drugs. When they're lying in the last throes, you know, they blame God. And you know he's playing the fool when he fills this body with death.

It's this pornographic stuff that's sold in the secret papers, and some people take them into the bedroom and chew them all night long, and do you any good, you know? You're playing the fool, that's what you're doing.

And if you fill this body with drink, and drugs, and dirt, you'll fill it sooner or later with disease. And then death will come. And if you're not saved, you'll be damned. And we'll have something to say about the unsaved body in the lake of fire, you know.

I heard Dr. Ironside talking to a specialist one morning. He just knew it all. He said, you know, it can't be, doctor. You can't take a body that has flesh and bones, and put it into the lake of fire, and it's going to stay there for all eternity.

It can't be done. Remember, doctor, it is only dust. Well, that's right, said the doctor. He said, but you've seen the gas mantle, haven't you? You've seen the gas mantle put on, haven't you? And when you light it, it goes up in the flame.

I'll tell you, it's only dust. And after it's burned to take the fire from then on, if you touch it with your finger, it'll all go into dust. But as long as you let it sit there, it'll endure the fire forever so long.

And if man can do that with a gas mantle, God will set it on the sea of doubt for the lake of fire for all eternity. But we'll come to that in another lecture. I want you to get settled down for this.

You know, it's not until man surrenders to his God, and bows body and soul and spirit at his feet, that this body begins to come into what God made it for. It was made for the triune God, and that's what I want to try to get round to this evening.

We're looking at the total mortal body this evening, and we're not going into the immortality this evening. We're just wanting to see this mortal body being used as a triune God. Now that was a long introduction to it, but that's how you do things sometimes.

Paul's Imprisonment and the Magnification of Christ

We're at Philippians, chapter 1 please. Paul's letter to the Philippians, and we're at Philippians chapter 1. And there is no discussion whatsoever among the scholars about the writer of this letter to the Philippians.

It was Paul. And he's writing to this little assembly at Philippi, and in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 12 he said this,. But I would that ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the providence of the gospel, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places.

You know, this character Paul, I want to assure you that Paul was the man who realized that the believer's body, first of all, was for the magnification of Christ. This mortal body is for the magnification of Christ.

You know, I'd like you to see this little man, if you could. Everybody's persuaded he was a little man. I don't think there are any doubts about that. You know, the Corinthians, when they wanted to criticize him, they said his bodily presence is weak.

I think he was a very small man, but he wasn't a small, strong man. He was a small, little man. Little, weak, I mean. I suppose if I used the word consumptive, I would be sort of describing the body of this man.

And you see, just a little fellow. I don't know his height. I would love to know. I'd love to know his weight. I'd love to know his chest measurements. And I'll bet you I would surprise this meeting if I could give a little weakling of a feature.

I'm sure he'll forgive me if I say a miserable little Jew. I want you to see him now. Because this is the body we're talking about. And I want you to see where he was at this moment when he's writing this letter.

He's in the prison cell at Rome. And let's keep it quite clear, it's not one of the cells in the Cumberland, you know. Oh, no TV or central heating in here. Oh, no, this is a dark, damp dungeon of a Roman cell.

And can you see this little man? Here he is. He's chained. His little thin wrist is chained to a mouth of soldier that sits at his side every day. And this is what he's saying. But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the prevalence of the gospel, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace.

Ah, yes, you know, although he was in the prison here, it was the prison connected with the palace of Nero. And you know, there was a great talk throughout the palace about this wee man. This wee man didn't cry or anything like that, not as they prefer.

This wee man rejoiced every day. This wee man knew that he could talk to this big soldier about Christ. And that was a great thing for him. He just felt, the Lord has put me in this old dark, damp dungeon of a cell and shaped me to this big fellow.

I'll take you to heaven with me. And many of them were saved, you know. There are no doubts at all that many of these soldiers could say, just flip over to the last chapter of this letter to the Philippians.

Here's how he ends the chapter at verse 22. The saints from the Jews, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household. Ah, there were saints in Caesar's household. Oh, they get there now. Ah, well, they came in here, you know, and they had to sit for maybe four hours with this fellow.

And you know, he was the nicest character in the world, and he was so happy and so gracious and so Christlike. But he led these big men, the trucks, to Caesar, and now they're sending greetings to the other saints.

Well, I want you to go on with this first chapter. We'll go back to it. It says, But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen now rather unto the fervorance of the gospel.

Of course, he was saved because he was imprisoned. So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places. And many of the brethren in the Lord, Wexing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

You know, he was a great inspiration to the other folks. You know, if you had been in the prison next door, you couldn't have cried. Not with this wee fellow singing in here. You'd hear him singing, you'd hear him praying, you'd hear him preaching.

My, the joy of the Lord was on this wee man's face. Isn't it? Now, I want you to get the hold of this. So that they're much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill.

The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my bonds. There were boys that went round about the palace and all, and they started to mutter about Christ thinking that they would get Paul into more hot water.

I didn't worry him, these fools. But there were other folks who spoke out of love, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. Which is what then? Notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ was preached.

And I then do rejoice, see? I will rejoice. I think you must always rejoice when real gospel preachers come about. You may have quibbles about where they come to, but you should have no quibbles about the Christ.

They're uplifting. Not at all. And this was Paul's idea of things. He says what then? Notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ was preached. And I then do rejoice, see? I will rejoice.

See, he was full of joy. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your bread and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and my hope. That in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also, Christ shall be magnified in my body.

Ha ha, that's the bit we're at. That's the bit he knew about, you see. He says, you see, they've stuck me in this dungeon. Ah, well, while I'm here, standing on this old muddy floor, for there were no tiles on it, while I'm in this dark prison cell, Christ shall be magnified in my body.

Oh, what a character this is. You see, when we talk about magnifying Christ in our bodies, what are we talking about? Oh, I want to forget the whole talking about Baptists or anything like that. You see, this little man, all that we could see, this tiny little body, all that we could see, just this little Jew.

And you know, there was love in this little body for every soul that came into contact with him. Let me tell you, it was the love of Jesus. Let me tell you that night and day, this little man was beaming with joy again and again in this letter.

He says, Rejoice! And again I say, Rejoice! He's on his tiptoes, you know. And it's the joy of the Lord Jesus. I'll tell you, you can't go to this prison cell night or day at any time without finding him in perfect peace.

Oh, yes, he was magnifying Christ because it was the love of Christ. And it was the joy of Christ. And it was the peace of Christ. And when they did things to him that they had no right to do, he never complained.

It was the long-suffering of Christ. And all the time, this man was the gentleman. Yes, it was the gentleness of Christ. It was the goodness of Christ that they were seeing. This little man had faith.

This little man just knew how to be content, whether he was in poverty or whether he had plenty. This little man was filled continually with the Spirit of God that produced Christ in his life. That's magnificent.

You see this, don't you? This is his unchanging ambition. You see, you must get this quite clear. In the middle of verse 20 he says that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness as always.

This was his ambition right from the beginning. So now also, even when I'm in this prison cell and these chains are on my hands, Christ shall be magnified. That was his unchanging ambition. What an ambition to have.

Yes, he knew what this body was for. It was for the magnification of Christ. You know, there's a little bit more there. He says, with all boldness as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body.

You know, that's a sort of unique ambition. He wasn't worried about the party, and he wasn't worried about the name of Paul. He wasn't worried about anything. It was just Christ alone that he wanted to magnify.

Oh, what a unique ambition. Can you see this bit quite clearly? What an uncanny ambition. That with all boldness as always, so now Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.

That's uncanny, isn't it? This is where I must die, and I must leave this spot to go to heaven. This is as good a spot to leave to go to heaven as anyone. He didn't mind. Did you see that? He got this thing right, you know.

He realised that this body was made, first of all, for the magnification of Christ. How did he get that? Now, let's turn over to 1 Corinthians now, and we're at chapter 6. We'll turn back to 1 Corinthians.

Chapter 6, verse 15. And he's saying some wonderful things here, you know, and I don't want to waste with them. Verse 15, Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? And he's talking about your bodies.

Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. It's the way a preacher talks sometimes. Know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body, for to death he shall be one flesh?

But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. And he shouts this, what, again.

And when you see these what's of Paul's, right through the letters, you can write behind it, what a teacher. This is the way the teacher really gets about the job, asking questions. Sometimes I give the boys at the hill a text and I say, now ask a lot of questions.

Who wrote this? When was it written? To whom was it written? Why was it written? What is it teaching? Just ask questions. You'll see how it goes. But here's what he said to you, verse 19,. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?

You know, what a teacher is here. Let me do it this way for you. And then, what a truth is here. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. And then can I say this? What a temple is here. See this body, never mind about the size of it, never mind about anything else about it.

Body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. What a temple is here. What a truth is here. What a teacher is here. And if I were going through the Scriptures and I was proving to you that when the Holy Ghost comes in its dispensation, He comes to indwell and He comes to stay with you forever, Yes, you know, we're sealed with the Spirit until the day of redemption.

What a tenancy it is. He's not just going to be a tenant for a week or two. That's for the end of time and then forever. So I think you're grasping this, aren't you? What a teacher is here and what a truth is here and what a temple is here and what a tenancy is here and what a tenant is here.

Holy Ghost, what a spot is here. You know, the temple of the Holy Ghost is your body and you are not your own. You are bought with a price. I think that sometimes we forget this thing, you know, that this is not ours anymore.

And you know, when we come to look at different parts of the body, the particular parts, and we look at the eyes and we look at the lips and we look at the ears and we look at the hair and we look at a whole lot of things about it, remember it is not your own.

That's the bit we'll have to get around to. Oh, I know that some folk think they can do with the life. They're afraid they can't. I'm afraid you're bought with a price. I'm afraid the great thought is you're not your own at all.

Yes. Now, he's preaching well. He's a great teacher. What a teacher. What a truth. What a temple. What a tenant. What a tenancy. What a spot this is. Now, I want you to get this bit. What a task this is.

You see, therefore glorify God in your body. That's the bit. You see, I think you can see what I'm getting at, that Paul realized, this little man realized, when he was born again, that this body, it was for the magnification of Christ.

It was for the habitation of the Spirit. The effect of the third person. It was for the glorification of God. It was made for the triune God, by the triune God. It was made to magnify the time. It was made to be a temple of the Spirit.

It was made to glorify God. And that's the mighty thing, because that's the task, you see. You see, as we go through this, we're going to find out that these all sort of work in together. Because when the Holy Ghost gets us just the way he wants us, oh, it's perfectly true that we've got the Holy Ghost.

The Spirit's Indwelling and the Corinthians' Spiritual Immaturity

I know all about that. You see, this is where I come to sometimes, when I argue with these people, and I hear them chatting all the time, and they say, you know, you get saved one day, and then you wait for months, and then there comes a time when you get so surrendered, and you're so wonderful, and you're so holy, and you're so nice, that the Holy Ghost enters into you.

No, I don't believe that. I'll tell you why I don't believe it. Because we are talking about the Corinthians, and Paul's talking about the Corinthians. They will say it, there's no question. If you go to 1 Corinthians 1, he's writing on to the saints at Corinth, who are sanctified in Christ Jesus.

Paul's saints, they were born again believers. Oh, but when you go to the 3rd chapter, Paul says, I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual. Here ye are crowned on your walk as men, with stripes and divisions among you.

They weren't holy. You're not trying to tell me they were holy, are you? Oh, this is the crowd that the Holy Ghost is enthroning. They've got the Holy Ghost. Oh, but the Holy Ghost hasn't got them. That's the bit we've got to settle just before we leave tonight, haven't we?

Because if this is going to be the habitation of the Spirit, and for the magnification of the Son, and the glorification of God, we just have to know a little bit more. Let's go to John 15 for a moment.

Christ the True Vine and the Believer's Dependence

John's Gospel, chapter 15. And I want you to get this very neatly, and I'll try to just be easy and quickly with this. Lord Jesus is walking towards Gethsemane. And if I'm right, where the upper room was, if he left that upper room that I believe is in a certain spot, then he came down those stone steps and on through a little cobbled street.

And it runs right up to the temple. Then you can go through one of the gates into the temple, and you can cross the courtyard, and the beautiful gate of the temple is on the other side, and you go out through it, you go down the valley of Jehoshaphat, and you cross the Cedan River, and you're into Gethsemane.

And I have sought to measure that out, and walked along it, and tried to visualize a lot of things. You see, our Lord Jesus is walking, and I believe he has come to this gate into the temple. And I'm told in those days that there was some sort of gold and work on the gate.

It was a vine. And it may well have been salt. You can argue with me about that. I believe it appears he stopped and he looked around at these followers of his, and he said, I am the true vine. I'm the true vine.

Now, he paints the picture here. He says, I am the true vine, and my father is the husband vine. And in verse 5 he said, I am the vine, ye are the branches. And all I want you to get is just to see the vine, and see the branches, and see the husband vine, just looking up for the fruit.

And if you've got that, I think you can get this quite quickly. You see, when he says, I am the true vine, he's talking about all the sufficiency that's in him to meet every need. And when he talks about the branches, he's talking about our responsibility to apprehend this need, this sufficiency for our need.

And when he talks about the father, he's talking about the expectancy of the father. So if you've got this quickly, you can see the sufficiency of the saviour in the vine, you can see the responsibility of the branches in the branches, and you can see the expectancy of the father, because he's expecting something from this vine, these branches.

But when he goes on talking about the branches, you'll see this. At verse 2 he says, every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away, and we're not lingering with that, every branch that beareth fruit.

Now there were branches that were bearing fruit. And that's a great thing, you know, when the branches begin to bear fruit. And then of course he just pruned it, because the word purges it is just the word for pruning, and we all know something about that, more or less.

He purges it that it may bring forth more fruit. So he talks about fruit, and then he's talking about more fruit. And it's great to see the branches bearing fruit, and then it's great to see them bearing more fruit.

Now he said this to them, therefore abide in me, and I in you, as the branch come up, bear fruit of itself. If you're going to work away on your own, and try to work your own brains, and lean on your own understanding, and think that your own everything will do, then it won't do.

Jesus said, the branch come up, bear fruit of itself. Accept it, abide in the vine, no more can you. I am the vine, ye are the branches, he that abides in me, and I in him the same. I've always loved that word, the same.

Because it doesn't make a matter what your name is, and it doesn't make a matter what your academic standard is, and it doesn't make a matter what your intelligence is. If you can just abide in the vine, then it doesn't make a matter who you are, the same.

You may be an old lady from the hills, and you can't read or write, if you can only learn to abide in the all sufficient one. You're going to bear. Now I want you to see this. I am the vine, ye are the branches, he that abides in me, and I in him the same.

Now let's change it again, much fruit this time. Because it talked about fruit, and then it talked about more fruit, and it talked about much fruit. Now when you go down to verse 8, it says, Herein, herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.

That's the way. Yes, you see this old body? You see, I've trusted Christ, I've got faith in Christ. And I'm learning, and I'm still learning, that everything I'm going to need right to the last step of the journey, everything is found in its totality in Christ.

And if I can just abide there, You know about the vine and the branches. You know the branch has to depend, that's a great word, has to depend on the vine in spring and summer and autumn and winter. It has to depend all the time.

Abiding in Christ Through Trust and Obedience

Yes, that's a great thing, you know. But there's a little bit more about that, because it says, he that keepeth his commandments abideth in him. I've almost got it, haven't I? Because this whole big thing about abiding is just trust and obey.

I've never learned any other thing. I know this book from Genesis, the Revelation. You can come and talk to me about holiness or higher life, or super sanctification, or whatever you like, and I will tackle you.

And I will tell you, you can't live for God except you trust. And most of the boys that talk about holiness never obey. They don't believe believers, baptism is a command. If it's not, I can find it for you.

I'll tell you this, you've got to obey. And if you obey, you know, obey promptly. And if you trust continually, then there'll be much fruit. The old preacher came to me last Thursday night and says, you want to talk to me, boy.

Everywhere you go, people are saying, what's the secret? And he says, there's no secret. I'm a bigger fool than you are. I'm weaker than you are. I'm nothing. You seem to think there's something in me.

Well, I have a better sense. Weigh you and learn to trust the Lord and obey Him. That's all. There's no secret about it. It belongs to you, too. If you trust the Lord, you should. And if you obey Him in every detail, in every command, this came and bringeth forth much fruit.

And herein is my Father glorified. Paul had learned this. This body was for the magnification of Christ. By life or by death. Somebody said to me, you've cursed the IRA. You're going to get shot one of these days.