Man Versus Animals In Understanding
  1. INTRODUCTION:

    1. SCRIPTURE READING: Psalms 32:8-9 = "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they came near unto thee."
    2. THERE ARE TWO DISCUSSION POSSIBILITIES:
      1. The difficulty in getting animals to understand.
      2. The difficulty in getting man to understand.
    3. HOWEVER, THE STATEMENT: "BE YE NOT AS THE HORSE, OR AS THE MULE", SETS THE DIRECTION OF THIS DISCUSSION.
      1. This phrase indicates something over which man has control in comparison to animals.
      2. The life that I live shouldn’t have to be controlled, or restrained by physical force.

  2. DISCUSSION:

    1. MAN HAS A THREE FOLD NATURE:
      1. Animal – Bodily needs of food and raiment.
      2. Social – Association with kind of creatures.
      3. Spiritual – Made in the image of God [Genesis 1:26-27]; and the need of being taught early in life to love that which God loves and hate that which God hates.

      Ecclesiastes 12:1 = "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;"

      Proverbs 22:6 = "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

      Example: Timothy: 2 Timothy 1:5 = "When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also."

    2. MAN MAY ALSO BE CLASSIFIED IN TWO WAYS:
      1. The inner man:
        1. This is the hidden man of the heart consisting of:
          1. The intellect - The thinking; Reasoning; and Believing.
          2. The emotions – The feelings; Affections; Fears; Anger; Joy; Sorrows; and Etc.
          3. The will – Action; Obedience; Disobedience; Conscience.
        2. Scripture:
          1. Peter writes, 1 Peter 3:3-4 = "Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."
          2. Yet there is a warfare that takes place with this inner man that must be dealt with.
            Romans 7:22-23             = "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members."
      2. The outer man:
        1. Similar to that of man’s animal nature.
        2. More specifically to worldly concerns as they pertain to the body.
        3. 2 Corinthians 4:16 = "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day."
    3. THE CORRECT NATURE OF MAN MUST BE BROUGHT UNDER CONTROL.
      1. We must begin early in life to control the outer (animal) nature of man or will take control of the inner (spiritual) nature of man.

        2. Ecclesiastes 12:1 = "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;"

        Proverbs 22:6 = "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

        1. We dare not put off this action too long.
        2. When the animal pat of man gains control of a person, he becomes a civic liability.

          3. Comment: Just look at:

          1. Those in prison.
          2. Those in mental institutions.
          3. The broken marriages; Suicides; Etc.
          4. I John 2:16 = "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."
      2. A person held in check by bridle and trappings alone is an unsafe person and presents a sad picture of humanity.
      3. We are headed toward the more and more conflicts and the destruction of the world, with more than half of mankind living on the animal nature of man.
        1. Atheism; Agnosticism; Evolution; and the removal of God’s Word as the divine restraint has left man in a state of feeling no responsibility to any higher power.
        2. Governments go down in revolution, anarchy, and confusion.

  3. CONCLUSION: CHRISTIANITY, OUR ONLY HOPE:

    1. CHRISTIANITY CONTROLS THE WHOLE OF MAN INSIDE AND OUT, FROM WITHIN:

      2. Hebrews 10:16 = "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;"

      Proverbs 4:23 = "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life."

    2. CHRISTIANITY CONTROLS A PERSON WITH INFINITE LOVE FOR OURSELVES AND OUR FELLOW MAN:

      3. John 3:16 = "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

      I John 4:11 = "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another."

      Note: Love begets love and desire to do good for one another.

    3. THE CHURCH IS GOD’S MEANS FOR SAVING THE WORLD:
      1. Everyone of us has a part in this great work.
      2. Will you do what you can to make the Church what it ought to be?

Back to the Top