1 Corinthians 6:19. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

A New Sheriff in Town

Br. Jonathan Marshall preached an excellent message this year at Common Ground Baptist Camp on the old man / new man when he used this illustration of the Christian being deputized to watch over the new man. When you got saved, the Lord Jesus Christ took possession of your soul. He is now the owner of your body, soul and spirit.  You were deputized as sheriff of Mansoul (reference to Bunyan’s Holy War) when you got saved. You are now responsible to patrol and watch out for sin in your own life. If there is an evil thought, you are to bring it into captivity. You are to arrest them, book them and take them down to the jail. You are the new sheriff in town that needs to rule over your body and make sure that it obeys, not your own rules, but the rules of Him who deputized you, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Patrolling Your New Beat

We need to control the thoughts that go into the heart and mind.  We need to arrest them before they commit a crime against the King of Kings. As the new sheriff in town, we need to prevent crime in Mansoul. It is important that we realize after we are saved we do not belong to ourselves. Instead, we are enforcing someone else’s laws in our life. Like any good sheriff, you need to know the laws you are enforcing. You need to also be able to quickly recognize a crime. That means you have knowledge of the law and understand it enough to recognize when it is being broken. A good sheriff has a watchful eye. You are the new sheriff in town. How are you doing in patrolling the beat of Mansoul and rustling up criminals of bad thoughts the devil puts in your heart and mind and preventing crime?

Photo by Ruin Raider