Category: Romans 8

Posts related to Romans Chapter 8

If Christ Be In You?

December 4, 2016

Romans 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Last time we preached in Romans, we made an emphasis on the fact that the Holy Spirit is indeed the Spirit of Christ; the Spirit of the person Jesus Christ. I want to say it does matter what we believe. Some people don’t believe that the Holy Spirit is a person. They teach that he is God’s force or God’s power. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the person Jesus Christ. I got to thinking about when Jesus was on the cross, and he cried with a loud voice and said with his last breathe, “It is finished!”, the bible says that he gave up the ghost. I want to say that the Holy Ghost was that Ghost. It was Jesus’ ghost. It was Jesus’ Spirit. God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son, Jesus Christ, into our hearts. (Gal 4:6)

But Paul goes one step further in verse ten. It’s not “If the Spirit be in you?” It’s not, “If the Spirit of Christ be in you?” No, he says, “If Christ Be in You?”

If Christ be in you? What a blessed question? If The First and The Last be in you? If the Alpha and Omega be in you? If the Prince of Peace be in you? If the Lamb of God be in you? If the only Potentate be in you? If the only begotten Son of God be in you? If the King of Kings and Lord of Lords be in you?

If Christ be in you? What a blessed thought? If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. This is very similar to Psalm 51.

The first part is the great terrible truth: I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother concieve me. Paul said, I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing. He said SIN dwelleth in me. He said I am carnal, sold under sin. He said evil is present with me, sin is in my members. He said that the wages of sin is death. He said sin entered into the world and DEATH by sin. That’s bad news. He said ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

We’re in bad shape. We’re going down the wrong road. Every imagination of the thoughts and intents of our heart is only evil continually. We’ve gone through the wide gate, and we’re traveling down the broadway to destruction. We are a fallen race. Our bed is in hell. Hell moves for us and opens her mouth for us. Sin that is in us is our surety for the lake of fire. That is the truth. Every born again Christian knows this to be true.

But every born again Christian also knows that God is not willing that anyone should perish, but all should come to the knowledge of the truth. Every born again Christian knows that God HATES sin, but he also so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever beliveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. The first truth is that I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. But the second truth is “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.”

We were born in iniquity and there we would stay but for the desires of God. In sin we were conceived, and there we would stay and wallow, but for the work of God. So in Romans our first truth is that the body is dead because of sin. And death is all we’d have if not for the desire and the work of God. The second truth is that if Christ be in you, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. In this scripture we see, that if you’ve been born again, you’ve passed from death unto life.

And every saved, born-again child of God, washed in the blood of the Lamb has got this testimony. We’ve passed from death unto life. And there’s a difference between life and death. I got to witness to somebody the other day and I was telling him about the day I got saved and he asked me, “Is it better?” Is life better than death? I was a walking dead man. I had a malignant cancer of the soul. I was like those Pharisees

Amen, that what I was. But I got to thinking the other day as they were singing that song Thanks to Calvary. The first verse goes like this:

Today, I went down to the place where I used to go
Today, I saw the same old crowd I knew before
And when they asked me what had happened, I tried to tell them,
Thanks to Calvary, I don’t come here anymore.

And that place, you can’t help think of a bar or a honky tonk or a gambling joint. And usually people that have come out of that can relate to this song. And you know their testimonies and you see them lift up their hands and weep and thank God that they don’t go to those places anymore. But when I hear this song, I never went to those places. I was never into booze and partying, and gambling, and drugs and things like that. But still, something in my heart stirs up when I hear this song, and I find myself there weeping along with them, thanking God for what he’s done in my life.

The other day as they were singing that song, I remembered that whited sepulchre. I remembered the dead men’s bones. I remembered the graveyard. I remembered that Gadarene full of devils. The bible says that when Jesus come out of the ship, there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. The bible says he had his dwelling among the tombs. And always, night and day, he was in the tombs! In the tombs. Oh, but when Jesus came by my way… When Jesus came to the grave, and cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

I didn’t come out of the bar. I didn’t come out of the honky tonk. I came out of the graveyard. I came out of the whited sephulchre. I passed from death unto life. God asked Ezekiel, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

Thank God for the gospel. Thank God for the glad tidings, the good news. We don’t have to live in the bad news. Even though you were shapen in iniquity, conceived in sin, you don’t have to stay that way. God desires different for you. Even though the body is dead because of sin, you don’t have to stay in that condition.

Paul asked, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” IF CHRIST BE IN YOU, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death… God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in  us.” (Rom 8:2-4) The Spirit is life because of righteousness.

I want you to see this. Paul said that he was crucified WITH Christ. He said:

Look, in Adam we all sinned, but in Christ that sin was nailed to a cross. That sin was paid for. The wages of sin is death, and that death took place in the person of Jesus Christ on Calvary. We are no longer under the death sentence of the law. We are no longer under the condemnation of the law. The righteousness of the law is not being good. The righteousness of the law is not the absence of transgression, it’s the payment of that transgression. The righteousness of the law is the blood. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. That righeousness was fulfilled and finished when Christ died on the cross. And it’s fulfilled in you, when you believe in the name of the only begotten of the Father. When you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, when that blood is applied, that righteousness goes to work in your body.

That sin is condemned by the death of Jesus Christ, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Because the law was satisfied. Jesus said that he came that we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly. Every born again child of God can has that life, can live that abundant life, not because he’s good, not because he deserves it, but because Jesus wrought righteousness inside of us. He satisfied the law. We’re free from the law. We’re free to walk in the newness of life.

It is the greatest disappearing acts of all time. Our sin was put on Jesus. The bible says that he was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Our sin was laid upon him and in him. “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him” (Isaiah 53:5) I used to think that all my sins, every single one, was nailed to the cross, but that’s not it. Jesus was nailed to the cross and my sin was in him. He took my sin and wrapped it up in his flesh, and they nailed HIM to the cross of shame. And up there, on that cross, Jesus died for my sins. The bible says “for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” (Gal 3:13)

They pulled that lifeless body down from the cross, and laid it in a tomb. Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead. And when Jesus walked out of that tomb, my sins were gone. The greatest mystery of all time. God said, “Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” (Heb 8:12) The cross is empty and the tomb is empty.

You ask me why I am happy so I’ll just tell you why, Because my sins are gone; And when I meet the scoffers who ask me where they are, I say, my sins are gone. They’re underneath the Blood, on the Cross of Calvary, As far removed as darkness is from dawn; In the sea of God’s forgetfulness, that’s good enough for me, Praise God, my sins are gone.

If Christ be in you, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. When I found that verse about the tree and cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree, Galatians 3:13, there’s more to that verse.

Acts1:15 says that in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples when they were going to replace Judas. The bible says that the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty. I wonder if they were all there on the day of Pentecost. I wonder if there were some that missed Pentecost. How would you have felt if you stayed home that day? What if you forsook the assembling of yourselves on that day of Pentecost when God filled the them with the Spirit and 3000 people got saved?

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Spirit of Christ

November 6, 2016

Romans 8:9 “…Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”

Foreword

Now if you take the positive light of this statement, we are to understand that if any man have the Spirit of Christ, he is His. If you have the Spirit of Christ, then the Spirit of Christ has you. I wanted to entitle this message the If-Then Statement of Mutual Ownership; mutual possession. In the Song of Solomon, the bride says, ‘My beloved is mine, and I am his.” (2:16) Last message, we introduced these next three verses as the If-Then Statements of Romans 8. And we spent the entire message on the The If-The Statement of Mutual Indwelling.  I truly wanted to stay along these lines, however, I believe God has had me study down another path. If we come back to this concept of ownership, then that’s great. But I’m not going to force us that way. I want to be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit. What really stood out to me in this verse was the expression the Spirit of Christ.

Introduction

Now if we stay within the context of Romans chapter 8, there is no doubt that the Spirit of Christ is in fact, the Holy Spirit. Of course we know, the Holy Spirit is known throughout the bible by different names: The Spirit, The Holy Ghost, The Spirit of God, The Spirit of Your Father, The Spirit of Our Father, The Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Truth, The Spirit of Holiness, The Spirit of Life, The Spirit of the Living God, The Holy Spirit of Promise, The Spirit of Glory. We can learn more about the Spirit, by studying the names of the Spirit.

Some of us maybe have seen this done with the Lord God. He is referred to many different ways in the Old Testament. He has many names: El Shaddai, El Elyon, Adonai, Yahweh, Jehovah-Nissi, Raah, Rapha, Shammah, Tsidkenu, Mekoddishkem, Jireh, Shalam, Saboath, Elohim. The names of the God can be studied and much can be learned of the character of God. Many messages have been preached on the names of God. But I want to say that the same things can be done of the God the Spirit. There’s something about the names that gives us insight into the character of the person it’s naming, in this case the Holy Spirit.

In this verse, the holy Spirit of Almighty God, the Spirit of God that moved upon the face of the waters before this world began, He is named the Spirit of Christ. I find this interesting because this is the first time in the Bible that he is named after the person Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the God-man, that walked this earth, born of a virgin, performed many miracles, did the will of the Father, died on the cross, rose the third day; Jesus the person. In this verse, the God the Holy Spirit is named after Jesus Christ himself; the Spirit of Christ.

I find this to be very interesting. There are four verses in your King James Bible that refer to the Holy Spirit in such a manner.

  1. Romans 8:9, He is the Spirit of Christ.
  2. 1 Peter 1:11, He is also the Spirit of Christ.
  3. Galatians 4:6, He is the Spirit of his Son.
  4. Philippians 1:19, He is the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

I want to look at these today. If we are to have, to own, to possess, the Holy Spirit, let it be known the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ is whom we speak of. The Holy Spirit is not a force, a power, or a thing. Let us not be as the sorcerer Simon in the book of Acts. The bible says that he himself believed and was baptized. When he saw the apostles lay their hands on some from Samaria and the Holy Ghost had fallen on them, he was impressed and offered the apostles money. He said, “Give me also this power!” “But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou has neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.” (Act 8:20,21) Simon was very much interested in the power of the Holy Spirit, but had neglected the person of the Holy Spirit. That person is the Lord Jesus Christ, our God and our Savior.

I – Having the Spirit of Christ

Romans 8:9 Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Such a simple verse, yet so clear. I remember when I heard the preacher say, “I’ll tell you in 5 seconds if you’re saved and on your way to heaven, or lost and going to hell!” And he quoted this verse. “…if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” I want to make a distinction at this time, that Paul is not asking if we have a Christ-like Spirit, but do we have the Spirit of Christ. It would have been very easy to go down that road. And there’s nothing wrong with that. We ought to examine our spirit. Is it Christ-like? Do we have a spirit of humility, meekness, forgiveness, compassion, and mercy? We should most definitely desire that our spirits be Christ-like. But there is a difference between a Christ-like spirit, and the Spirit of Christ.

This may be where many have gone astray. We may to some degree have success in emulating the Lord Jesus Christ. We practice humility. We practice meekness, forgiveness, compassion. We try to be merciful. And don’t get me wrong. We should. But just because we do may mean we have the Spirit of Christ, but it may not mean we have the Spirit of Christ. Some naturally have a meek and quiet Spirit. Some have practiced it and have grown good at it. The bible says, “Let a man examine himself…” (1 Cor 11:28) It says “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Cor 13:5) David asked the Lord, “Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.” (Psalm26:2)

Don’t ever think that you are above being played the fool, especially by yourself. Most of the deception that we encounter in our life is brought upon us by our own selves. it’s not the world that deceiving us, it’s us that deceiving us. We want to blame the devil, and the world, and other people when we have no one to blame but ourselves. So I find it a good thing to examine yourself; to check up as some preachers say. You can fool all the people some times. You can fool some people all the time. But you can’t fool all the people all the time. And we certainly can’t fool God. The eyes of the Lord are in everyplace, beholding the good and the bad.

You talk about being fooled, even the anti-Christ will have a Christ-like Spirit. He will fool many. “Oh he won’t fool me!” You’re fooled already. I tell you, I don’t want anything that’s like Christ. I want Christ and Christ alone. Sure I want to be like Jesus, but I’d much rather just have Jesus. You see, being Christ-like, or like Christ does not commend us toward God. What commends us to God is God himself. The positive of this statement is if any man have the Spirit of Christ, he is His. If I possess God, he’ll possess me. The Bible says, “Draw nigh unto God, and he’ll draw nigh unto thee.” Acting like Christ does not make us more desirable to God or more acceptable to God. Acting like Christ is just that; acting.

How are we supposed to know then? Jesus said to his disciples, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” (John 15:4) Jesus said to abide in me; no fruit except ye abide in me. Remember Simon the sorcerer: it’s not the power that we should seek, but the person. We have the Spirit of the person Jesus Christ within us, we need no power. For all power is given unto Him. So if we possess Him, he’ll possess us.

Such a simple verse, yet so clear. I remember when I heard the preacher say, “I’ll tell you in 5 seconds if you’re saved and on your way to heaven, or lost and going to hell!” And he quoted this verse. “…if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” There is nothing on this earth that will commend us toward God, but God himself. The song writer wrote, “In my hands no price I bring, but simply to thy cross I cling.” Or another song, “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” I want to say that there is nothing, no work, no price, no religion, nothing in this world that will commend us towards God. There is nothing that will stand. There is nothing that we can stand upon. It’s Christ and Christ alone. The only reason God has you now is because God has give you Himself. He gave His only begotten Son. He gave us His Holy Spirit. And because we now have that, he has us. Amen.

“Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” If you don’t have the Spirit of the person of Jesus Christ, then God does not have you. We quote that scripture where Jesus said, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:29) I want to say this. If you have not the Spirit of Christ, then you are not in Jesus hand and you’re not in the Father’s hand.

All those people in Matthew Chapter 7, that Jesus said, “I never knew you.”, all those people that prophesied, and cast out devils, and did wonderful works, all those people had one thing in common. Not a one of them had the Spirit of Christ. They had the name of Christ. They were CINOs, Christians in name only. They prophesied in his name. They cast out devils in his name. They did wonderful works in his name. They had the name of Christ, but they didn’t have the Spirit of Christ. And therefore, they didn’t belong to Jesus, and he said, I never knew you.  Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27)

That is why Paul said, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Who walk after the Spirit. They follow me. The Lord, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, is my shepherd. I may not be able to walk side by side in this body by the Lord Jesus Christ, but in spirit, I can clasp his hand in mine. In spirit, he’s the shade upon my right hand. In spirit, he leadeth me, O blessed thought. In spirit, I can lean upon the Lord Jesus Christ. In spirit, I can talk with him and walk with him by the way. The Spirit of the person of Christ is mine as I am his. Like the song says, “Thou who never lost a battle, Stand by me…” It’s not so much that I want to win the battle. I just don’t want to go through battle without Him beside me. It’s the Spirit of the person of Jesus Christ that stands beside me. The Messiah, the God-Man, the Miracle Worker, the Virgin Born, He who is, was, and is to come, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Prince of Peace, he stands beside me.

“Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”

II – Testifying the Suffering and Glory of Christ

1 Peter 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

I want to go back just a little bit so we can see where Peter is coming from in the text. This is the beginning of his letter in which he is trying to encourage the brethren and tell them many wonderful things about themselves in Christ Jesus. He refers to them as strangers or sojourners, in verse 1.  Then the elect in verse 2. Peter talks about them, the church of God, the believers in Jesus Christ.

He tells them that God the Father has begotten us again by his abundant mercy. He’s given us an inheritence that’s incorruptible, undefiled, and reserved in heaven for us. He tells us how we are kept by the power of God through faith. He tells us how we greatly rejoice through manifold temptations. He tells us how our faith will be found unto praise, honour, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. He tells us how, though we don’t wee him, we love him, we believe him, and we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. He tells us how we have recieved the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls.

Then, he writes a little bit about the this salvation, and it’s history. He says in verse10 “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:” Peter said that the prophets inquired of this salvation. He said that the prophets searched diligently of this salvation. And he said that they prophesied of this salvation, this grace that has come to us, his church, his people. So you see, Peter is talking about the prophets. He’s saying that this wonderful salvation; begotten by his mercy; inheritance incorruptible; reserved in heaven; the power of God; and joy unspeakable and full of glory.  This salvation is the one that the prophets had inquired, searched, and prophesied about. So understand that we are on Messianic ground as we come into this text.

Verse 11 “Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” Peter said that the prophets were searching what or what manner of time. They wanted to know who or what and when the Messiah would come. Peter might have had a very keen interest in the Messiah, as many Jews did. His brother, Andrew, was a follower of John the Baptist. And of course John made it very clear that he was preparing the way for the Messiah. And when John pointed out Jesus, and said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!”, two disciples, one of which was Andrew followed Jesus for a day. Then Andrew went and found his brother Peter and said, “We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.” (John 1:41) “Peter, the Messiah, the one, the Christ that the prophets have spoken of, we have found him!”

Remember when Jesus asked his disciples who people said that he was? They said that some said John the Baptist, some said Elias, and some said Jeremias or one of the prophets. And Jesus said, “But whom say ye that I am?” And it was Peter that spoke up. He said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” See, I believe that Peter, and his brother Andrew, had an affinity for the prophets. For he also had searched what and what manner of time salvation would come, grace would come, the Messiah would come. This was a topic of great interest to him; the Messiah, the Christ.

And interestingly, he said, when he spoke of what the prophets were searching for, he states that “the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify…” The answers to the prophet’s inquiries and searchings were signified (evidenced by, marked by, signaled by, showed, proclaimed, declared) by who? Or what? The Spirit of Christ which was in them. The Spirit of Christ. There was someone inside the prophets that spoke. Peter later said in his second letter “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2 Peter 1:21) More specifically, the were moved by the The Spirit of Christ.

Peter, the one who looked Jesus in the eyes, and said, “Thou art the Christ” and saw the miracles he performed, saw him walk on water, calm the sea, saw and heard him pray on the Mount of Olives, saw him crucified, buried, and raised from the dead… Peter, the one who saw the Christ said, “His Spirit, Christ’s Spirit, was in the prophets.” Which was in them. Peter said “The Spirit of my Savior was in the holy men of God, the prophets.” The reason the prophets were able to prophecy about the Christ is because the the Spirit of the Christ was in them.

Peter said, (In 2 Peter) “Look, we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. No, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. I was there on the mount with James and John. We saw his honour and glory when the Father out of heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ We have a more sure word of prophecy. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” And it was His Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of His beloved Son, the Spirit of whom God is pleased with, that signified what and what manner of time. Man did not just come up with this stuff. It was Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. Can I say this: The Spirit of Christ is the author, and the Man of Christ is the finisher. It was Him that wrote these things by the prophets years ago. He was in them, like He is in you today.

The Spirit of Christ which was in them.  The Spirit of Christ signified what and what manner of time. The Spirit of Christ marked, declared, or proclaimed who and when this glorious salvation, this grace that should come, would come. The the Spirit of Christ give the prophets a name, and a date? No. Read on. The bible says, “when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.”

When Isaiah was writing down those words, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows… He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities… the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all…”, the Spirit of Christ was signifying what and what manner of time. When David wrote in that Psalm, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” When he wrote, “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet… they look and stare upon me… They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture…”, those many years ago, as they penned those words, the Spirit of Christ which was in them was saying, “That is me! That is me!”

And again, I want you to see that this is a keen interest to Peter. Remember after Peter had confessed that Jesus was the Christ, and Jesus blessed him and said, “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it…” After that, Jesus began to show his disciples how he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. The bible says, “Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.” But Jesus turned and said unto Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me…”

Peter didn’t understand it all then. He knew that Jesus was the Christ, but he didn’t know what or what manner of time. But when he wrote this letter, he understood. Sometime after Jesus suffered and died, sometimes after that, (I believe that is was sometime after Pentecost, after he was filled with the Spirit) no doubt Peter went back to the old scriptures. He took out Isaiah, chapter 53, and he read those words, “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him… He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities…” And the Spirit of Christ that was in him said, “That’s me. That’s me.”

When Peter wrote this letter, he understood it all. That’s why he said, “The Spirit of Christ signified what and what manner of time when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” I say all this to say this: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” (Heb 13:8) The same Spirit of Christ that testified before hand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, testifies today of the same matter. The Spirit of Christ, which is in me, is still testifying of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. He still speaks to me of the wonderful work of Christ, the amazing grace of Calvary, the thorns upon his head, the nails through his hands and feet. And he still speaks to me of his glorious resurrection in which I share. And he speaks to me of his glorious abode where he prepares for me a place. The Spirit of Christ which was in them is in me, is in his people today.

Peter, knew the Lord Jesus Christ. He had met him, abode with him, walked with him, talked with him. He knew that Jesus was the Christ. He just didn’t understand the work of Christ and what he was sent down here to do. Today, it’s the opposite. Everybody know what Jesus Christ came down to do. Everybody know that he came to give his life a ransom for a lost world. They all know, “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.” But unlike Peter, they don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ. They’ve never met him. They don’t abide with him, They don’t walk with him, They don’t talk with him. They have not the Spirit of Christ.

III – Crying, Abba, Father.

Galatians 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

The Spirit of his Son. First of all, what an amazing love that Father has for us that he would send us the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. I mean, he gave his only begotten Son that we wouldn’t perish. Has not God given us enough? God has done so much for us already. He’s given us mercy in his Son. He’s given us redemption in his Son. He’s given us peace in his Son. He’s given us so much. On top of all that, he sends forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. This is the Son that God parted heaven and called out “This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This is the Son that God has given all power to. This is the Son that God has declared the king of kings and lord of lords. This is the Son that conquered death, hell, and the grave. God says, “I’m gonna put my Son’s Spirit in your heart.” Why? Because we’re sons now. We’re sons now!

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Galatians 4:6)

Look, I understand begin saved. I understand being forgiven. I understand being washed in the blood of the Lamb. I understand God giving me eternal life. I even understand the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. All that was good in Christ is given to me. I’m not judged by my iniquity, but rather by Christ’s righteousness. I can understand much of these things. But I got to admit, I don’t understand this thing of the “adoption of sons.” I mean I know what adoption is. I know that if you adopt a boy that boy is yours now, and you are his Daddy or Mommy from here on out. I understand the concept of adoption. What I don’t understand is how I (me, Rick Alegria) can be called a child of God. I’m not fit to be called a son of God. I mean a doorkeeper is fine with me. I’ll slop the pigs. I’ll clean the horse stables.

I can say like Paul, “There’s no good thing in me.” I can say like Peter, “Depart from me, for I’m a sinful man.” I can say like Isaiah, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips…”  I can say “Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me…” I can say all that, but what he says to me is, “Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.” (Song of Solomon 4:7) John said, “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God..” (1 John 3:1) When I got saved, I didn’t ask God to be my Father. I didn’t ask God that I might be his son. I simply said, “God be merciful to me a sinner!”

And in God’s mercy, he has seen fit to not just save me, not just forgive me and give me everlasting life, but to make me his child. What good is everlasting life, if we can’t be connected to him in someway. In God’s mercy, to as many as received them, gave he power to become the sons of God. I’m so glad that I believed on his name. “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think..” I just wanted the weight removed. I just wanted to lay my burden down. I just wanted mercy. I just didn’t want to go to hell. I just wanted to be rescued.

That day I turned from sin to Him, the precious love of God moved in.

The blood applied and I became a child of God.

Not one thing that i’ve done, all the praise goes to God’s son.

I’m so thankful for the love He’s shown to me.

What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God? “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” (Rev 21:7) “…I will recieve you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” (Ephesians 6:17,18)

“And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts…” Why do we have the Spirit of his Son? Simply because we we are sons. I’ve said before many times that the only thing that’s holy in me, is the Holy Spirit that dwells in me. Likewise, the only thing that commends me to God as his son, is the Spirit of his Son that dwells in my heart. Our text: “…Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” O, how we must have the Spirit of his Son.

The bible says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” I want to say this: Without the Spirit of His Son, it is impossible to please God. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said “Behold the Lamb of God.” and God said, “This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased.” John pointed to the only way to please God, and that is through the Son. Yes, it’s faith that pleases God, but it’s faith in the Son of God. That’s why Paul said, “And the life which i now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

If we are ever going to please God, it’s faith. Remember, we’re preaching about serving in the newness of spirit. We’re preaching about bringing forth fruit unto God, pleasing God. Remember, Paul was saying earlier, “For to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” Paul’s got a will to please God, but he can’t find a way to do it. In chapter 8, Paul introduces that way. That way is the Spirit. That way is the Spirit of his Son. Would you believe that God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts? Is there something inside of you that cries, Abba, Father?

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: (Romans 8:14-16)

We’ll cover this more in depth when we hit these verses. But what I do want to say is that the Sprit of God that leads us is the Spirit of his Son. The Spirit of adoption is the Spirit of his Son. The Spirit that bears witness with our spirit is the Spirit of the his Son. It’s by the Spirit of his Son, that we pray, “Our Father, which art in heaven…” And only by the Spirit of his Son can we come to know the Father. The only Father we’ve truely known are our earthly Fathers; imperfect children with imperfect fathers, and hence an imperfect love between the two. I believe alot of us transfer our knowledge of our earthly fathers to our heavenly fathers. We lean on our own understanding, and miss the perfect love of our Father in heaven; for Spirit of his perfect Son dwells within us. And only in Him we can come to know and love the Father. His ways are above our ways. We are but a sorry excuse for a Father, and a sorry excuse for a son.

Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: (John 14:8-11)

We preached last week of the mutual indwelling of the Holy Spirit, If he’s in me, then I’m in him. It goes even further than that. In the Spirit of his Son, we can be in the Father, and the Father in us. it’s in the Son that the Father’s will is done. It’s in the Son that the work of the Father is done. And it’s in the Son that the Father is glorified. Can we love the Father as Jesus loved the Father? Do we cry Abba, Father? That’s an emphatic name of endearment and love, a filial affection.

“…Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Having the Spirit of Christ, is having the Spirit of his Son in your heart that cries Abba, Father. Knowing that the Spirit of his Son dwells in my heart, brings a new meaning to scripture where John said, “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” Do you have the Spirit of Christ. Remember, we’re not preaching about having a Christ-like spirit. We’re preaching on having the Spirit of his Son dwelling, living, abiding in our hearts. “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”

IV – Supplying the Spirit of Jesus Christ

Philippians 1:19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

This verse somehow I skipped when I was covering the Things of the Spirit. I remember while preaching through, I came across this verse and wondered, “How in the world did I miss this verse.” And I thought it to be such an interesting verse; the supply of the Spirit. So God is the God of second chances. God has allowed us another opportunity to cover this verse.

So here’s a little background. This letter to the Philippians was supposedly written while Paul was in prison. And he explains to the Philippians that what is happening to him has fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. He said, Even though I’m in bonds, I’m able to preach the gospel wherever I go; in the palace and in all other places. And he explains that his imprisonment has also emboldened the brethren, and they are “waxing confident” and “are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” So even though he’s in bonds, he rejoices and will rejoice because Christ is preached.

I believe, judging by what he’s written, that he believed that it was the end of the line for him; that he was most likely going to die. He said, “For I am in a strait betwixt two,having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” He said, “I want to go, but you need me here.” He wrote those wonderful words, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Paul was saying, I have nothing to lose here. They may hang me. They may crucify me. They may burn me at the stake. It may be a little suffering here, but what awaits me is eternal glory. How can I lose?

So it’s in this state that Paul says these words. “For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” So, obviously, Paul is in a difficult situation. He’s in prison. Nobody wants to be in prison. But I think what he’s saying is “There’s two things that are gonna get me through this: your prayers and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” Now the first one, your prayers, I’m not going to cover. We need the prayers of others. Amen. But what I want to look at is in this difficult time is that Paul notes that it’s the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ that’s gonna see him through this.

I want to remind us that Jesus said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” And bible goes on to say that “this spake he of the Spirit…” I just want to point out that Jesus said to come unto me. He said he that believeth on me. The rivers of living water are contigent upon what you do with Jesus Christ. Did you come to Him. did you believe on Him. It is Him that turns on the fountain. It is Him that controls the supply. It is Him that lets it run. It’s is Him that controls the flow. It is Him that pours out his Spirit upon all flesh, as Joel and Peter said. It is Jesus that will baptize you with the Holy Spirit, as John told us.

And I want to remind us that the bible says to be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. That was Paul who wrote that as he wrote to the church in Ephesus. Paul was filled with the Spirit on the Street that was called Straight in the house of Judas. Paul was filled with the Spirit when he confronted Elymus the sorcerer. Paul was filled with the Spirit after the persecution that arose in Antioch. Him and Barnabas were expelled out of the coasts, and the bible says that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote about being filled with the Spirit. It was a very real and present condition in his life, and he knew much about it.

I believe that is what he is referring to when he speaks of the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. What we must see is that when Paul was in prison, when he was going through this difficult time, it wasn’t some great scheme that would see him through this. It wasn’t some great plan that would get him out. It wasn’t some high paid legal counsel. He wasn’t on the phone with David Gibbs from Christian Law Association. And he wasn’t asking and looking for some miracle.

There were only two things that he was interested in, and that was the prayers of God’s people, and the filling of the Holy Ghost. Those are the things that are would get him through. Paul did not even desire life. He was thinking about the gain of death. He did not desire freedom. He wanted the blessed fullness and filling of the Holy Spirit, and more specifically, the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

I can see Paul, as he wrote this, the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, his mind went back to that day when he met the Lord Jesus Christ on the Damascus road. That bright light shown from heaven. He fell down to the ground and said, “Who are thou, Lord?” And the Lord said, “I AM JESUS!” Paul said “I need a more of Him. I need a steady supply of the Spirit of the Jesus Christ. I need the glory of Jesus Christ. I need Jesus high and lifted up. I need Jesus to shine his light before me everyday! I need the supply more than I need anything else”

When you are in custody, you have little to no possessions. Paul had no home to call his own. He had no personal bedroom with all his stuff, his bed, his books, his lamp, his things. He owned no dishes.  He owned no clothes. He had no possessions to enjoy. But I’ll tell you what he did have. He had the infinite, unwavering, inexhaustible supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Jesus told his disciples, “I will be you ALWAY!” That means Jesus will be with you ALL THE WAY! When I’m nearing my time to go. When I get to be like Paul, and I’m in a strait betwixt two places. When I know that my time here on earth is short, and heaven is just ahead… I want to say, Praise God for doctors, I hope I have a good one. But the one thing I want is the supply of the Spirit. When it’s time to go, that what I want. I don’t want to be filled with drugs. I want to be filled with Holy Ghost of Jesus Christ. I want to have the Spirit of Christ, that he might have me.

Conclusion of the Matter

Paul said, “That I may know him…” Sure I’d like to see the power of God in my life. I’d like to see him working in my family, in my church, in my preaching. But I want to know him, the person Jesus Christ. Thank God I have the Spirit of Jesus Christ within me that I might know him.

I hope that some of this was a help to someone here today. I know we talk about the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity, as if he’s someone different from the Father or the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But to me, it’s helpful to know that He’s not. He’s the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of the Son of God. And if you see the Son, you see the Father. If you have the Son, you have the Father.

 

The Computer Logic of Romans

October 17, 2016

Romans 8:9-11 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Recap and Important Things Regarding The Spirit and the Flesh

So last time we covered the carnal mind and we learned more of what that is, and what it leads to. It’s death. It’s the emnity with God. It’s not subject to the law of God. It displeases God. I told you that a carnal mind is the state of every person’s mind until they get saved. Every unsaved person has a carnal mind and the carnal mind is a grave-digging, god-hating, law-breaking, one way ticket to hell. That’s bad news.

But the good news is verse 9. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.” In the context of this passage, to be in the flesh is to be lost and to be condemned without hope, and under the power of the carnal mind. And Paul is saying to the Christian,  “Hey, you are not in the flesh! You are not in this state of death, enmity, and transgression! This is not your end. You are not digging a spiritual grave. There is no enmnity seperating you from God. You are not on your way to hell!” Praise the Lord.

Now, let me explain just a few things. This is why we are Baptists. We believe that once a sinner is saved, he is always saved. Therefore, a saved person cannot have a carnal mind or be in the flesh. Alot of people think they can, but they can’t. They use that expression, “in the flesh” loosely. “Oh, I was just getting in the flesh… Ha Ha Ha!” And that’s fine, I understand what they’re getting at.  But when we’re in Romans, Chapter 8, we’ll say no such thing. Someone in the flesh is lost, and cannot please God. He is ruled, reigned, and bound by the carnal mind. If it was possible to be in that state again, then it is possible to be lost again. And if you think that’s possible, you are living beneath your privileges. You might want to consider getting on board.

Now you are in one of two states. You are either in the flesh and friends with it; or your are out of the flesh and struggling against it. And likewise, you are either in the Spirit and friends with Him, or out of the Spirit struggling against the Sprit of God. The bible says “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh…” (Genesis 6:3) When you are in the flesh, your struggle and fight is against the Spirit of God. When you are in the Spirit, your struggle and fight is against the flesh. The bible says “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other…” (Gal 5:17) So which ever one you are in will determine which one you’re fighting against, and which one you’re fighting with. So when a lost person get’s saved, his struggle with the Holy Spirit has ceased and he’s made peace with God. Now listen carefully, a saved person can never get lost. Therefore his struggle with the flesh will never cease and there will never be peace with the flesh, until that glorious day when we lay it down. Bless the Lord. (Read this entire paragraph again)

When you were lost, in the flesh, with a carnal mind, you followed after the flesh. But when you got saved, God gave you another Comforter and he said he will be in you. The Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God takes up residence in your soul. And with the Holy Spirit comes the mind of the Spirit. Now that doesn’t mean that you immediately were acquainted with following after the Spirit, and were fully capable of ceasing your walk after flesh. No. You’ve followed the flesh all your life. You don’t know how to follow after the Spirit. You might have the mind of Spirit, but that doesn’t mind mean that you necessarily mind the things of the Spirit. Were you able to work trigonomic functions at the age of 2 months? Some of you all are saying, “What’s a trigonomic function?” Right? Well, being born of the Spirit is no different. Sometimes, these things take time.

I want to please God. When this is all said and done, I’d love to hear those words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” But I didn’t want that as much I do now than I did ten years ago. As I grow in the Lord, the desires of God have become more precious to me. I can say more honestly now than before what David said, “I delight to do thy will, O my God.”

When a sinner is saved, he repents of the flesh and the carnal mind. A preacher once said, “Repentance is the vomit of the soul.” But sadly, “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.” (Prov 26:11) Sometimes, it takes some time to gain wisdom. Just because one is not in the flesh does not mean that he hasn’t learned to not walk after it and instead walk after the Spirit. Just because one does not have a carnal mind, does not mean he doesn’t struggle with the tendencies and temptations of the flesh.

It’s much like the Spirit. Paul said, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (Gal 5:25) Paul makes a real clear distinction. Living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit are two different things. Living in the Spirit is where you’re at. Walking after the Spirit is where you’re going. That’s pretty plain, isn’t it? Living in the Spirit is sitting in a brand new F350 dually with 4 wheel drive. It feels good, Amen. But walking after the Spirit, minding the things of the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit, is like putting the key in that ignition, cranking that engine, putting it in gear, stepping on that gas, rolling on, hauling that load and getting the work done. It’s much more satisfying.

Likewise, living in the flesh and walking after the flesh are two different things. Living in the flesh, having a carnal mind, is where you are at. And walking after the flesh, being carnally minded, is where you’re going. So that being said, what exactly is a carnal Christian? What is a Christian that is walking after the flesh. What is a saved person in the Spirit doing walking after the flesh? Isn’t that what Paul asked? He said, “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect in the flesh?” So my question again, what is a a saved person in the Spirit doing walking after the flesh? He’s essentially trying to go somewhere that he cannot go. You’re trying to get somewhere that you’ll never get! You’re spinning your wheels. You’re going in circles. That’s like that little ant on the edge of a glass that goes around and around and around and around.

I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to spin my wheels for Jesus, amen? I want to go somewhere with God. I want to walk with God. I want God to walk with me. The husbandman in the Song of Songs said to his beloved, “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” O that’s where I want to go. Paul said that they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But then he says, “But ye are not in the flesh!” If you are saved today. If God has brought you into his marvelous light, and washed you with his blood, and put you into the family of God, I want to say that ye are not in the flesh!

“Preacher, I got a problem with anger…” Ye are not in the flesh. “Preacher just can’t forgive my brother…” Ye are not in the flesh. “Preacher I got a problem with swearing…” Ye are not in the flesh. “Preacher I just can’t seem to understand this bible…” Ye are not in the flesh. What are you trying to do? Are you trying to go to hell? Well you’re not going. Ye are not in the flesh. “Preacher I don’t think I can do right before God, I can’t please God…” Are you saved? Born again? Well? Ye are not in the flesh, I really don’t understand what you’re talking about, because if your are saved, you are in the Spirit. You are not dead in the flesh, you are living in the Spirit.

The flesh and the Spirit are worlds apart. Jesus said his kingdom is from another world. Can I say this? If you are saved, brother/sister, you are in the Spirit World. “Did you say Spirit World, preacher”? Yes! You are in the Spirit World. You know those Indians? They smoked that pipe, the peace pipe. If they smoked enough of that stuff, before you know it, they were in the Spirit World. You say that sounds crazy. It is crazy! You want to get crazy? Let’s get crazy! I tell you what’s crazy. Trying to go to hell when you can’t ever get there! Ye are not in the flesh, why are you still walking after it?

But ye are in the Spirit! “Preacher, I don’t understand…” Just believe it. Listen, just because we don’t understand it, doesn’t mean it ain’t so. You do not have to understand the doctrine of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost to be saved. You do not have to go off to college and take a course in Pneumatology. What’s that? That’s the study of the Holy Ghost. Receiving the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with our understanding of the Holy Ghost, but it has everything to do with our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Saved folk are in the Spirit. Amen. Believe it. Believe it. Believe it. That’s called faith, faith, faith! “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:4)

Introduction to the If-Then Statements of Romans 8

Amen. So that kinda puts a cap on what we preached about last time, and gets us into what we’re preaching about today. I’d like to preach for a few minutes on If-Then Statements in of Romans Chapter 8. In these three verses we are covering there are four If-Then Statements to consider. You may be asking what is an If-Then Statement? If-then means much to me because of the time I spent doing computer programming. I realize that most people do not have experience with programming languages. So I’m going to spend a lot of time on this to make sure everybody gets it. Just kidding.

Most all programming languages have If-Then Statements. An If-Then Statement has two parts to the statement: the If part and the then part. What an If-Then Statement does is that it analyzes an expression in the If part of the statement. This expression is called a boolean expression, not a booyah expression, a boolean expression. What’s that? It’s what you say when your out trying to scare people on Halloween. Boolean! I’m kidding again. A boolean expression is an expression that can only be one of two things. It’s either true or it’s false. If the boolean expression is true, the program will execute what is declared in the then part of the statement. If the boolean expression is false, then it skips what is in the then part of the statement and moves on. So if the boolean is true then we do the then part says to do, otherwise we do nothing. So that is what an If-Then Statement is. Simply put, if this then that.

So in my meditating on our text, I couldn’t recall another time that I saw so many If-Then Statements together in the Bible. So I wanted to take a look at those four. We’re only gonna be able to cover one today. I really purposed to hit all four today, but once I got into the first one, I couldn’t get out of it.

#1 The If-Then Statement of Mutual Indwelling

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. (9)

So we have covered many times the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We’ve been taught many times that when a person is saved, the Holy Spirit indwells you. And I just had alot to say about not being in the flesh, but being in the Spirit. What I want to point out in all this is the mutual aspect aspect of it. It’s not just Him in me, but it’s also I in Him. It’s not just “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27); but it’s you in Christ.

The text says “if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” There’s our if part of the statement. What is our boolean expression in the if part of the statement? That the Spirit of God dwell in you. This is the expression that you must analyze. That’s the expression you must determine about yourself. Is it true or false. Does the the Spirit of God dwell in you. If it’s true, the then part is to be executed. What’s the then part? “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.” So we must ask ourselves if the boolean question is true? Does the Spirit of God dwell in you. Is that true or false? Well, if you are saved, then it’s true. If you’re not saved, then it’s false. If you are saved, then it’s true, and if it’s true what does that mean? The then part of the statement is executed. That means clearly that you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.

A Mutual Indwelling of Friendship

I’m just trying to make this as plain as I can. Simply put: If He’s in, then you’re in. Amen. You know what that speaks to me of? The bible says that “there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24) I’m in Him, and He’s in me. If He’s in, then you’re in. I want to say this, friends stick together. If one friends goes, the other goes with him. They don’t abandon each other.

Friends are loyal to each other. Nowadays, all you hear on the news and social media out there regarding the Bible is about compromise. These people compromised their principles, compromised the values. Compromise is always talked about in a negative light. It’s always portrayed as such a bad thing to compromise. Be very careful what you hear from the media. Half of it is a lie, and the other half I don’t believe it. But I want to say this. If it wasn’t for compromise, I’d be going to hell. Some people say “God doesn’t compromise when it comes to sin!” Oh Yeah! He offered me a pretty good compromise. He said, “Let’s see here, you give me your sin, and I’ll give you my son.” I’d say that was a pretty good deal he made. Compromise requires grace. A compromise is a settlement. I’m glad that “the record’s clear today, for He washed my sins away, When the old account was settled long ago.” Yes there was a settlement made on an old rugged cross. Bless the Lord.

And now, I’m in Him, and He’s in me. But I’m not Him, and He’s not me. We’re different. That’s the truth about friends. He’s high and holy. And but a I’m a sinner. So because of that, we don’t always see eye to eye. But you see, he doesn’t just bail on me. He’s loyal to me. Therefore, I’ll be loyal to him. When I’m wrong, he gives me the benefit of the doubt. He does not just leave me, but waits for me, and is patient with me. Therefore, when I don’t understand Him, I’ll give Him the benefit of the doubt. I’m not just gonna up and leave, I’m gonna stick around until I understand Him. I’m in Him and He’s in me. It’s a mutual indwelling.

A Mutual Indwelling for Eternity

The bible says, “…know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God…” (1 Corinthians 6:19) God dwells in us. He lives here. He resides here. But it’s a mutual indwelling. That means I dwell in Him. I live in God. I reside in God, in the Spirit of God. I know that’s hard to fathom. I’m his temple and He’s my temple.

This mutual dwelling relationship is forever. Jesus said “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, Even the Spirit of truth… for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” (John 14:16,17) My body is the temple of the Holy Ghost now and forever. “Well what about when I die when my body turns to dust?” I don’t know. Do I have to know everything? Job did say, “And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” (Job 19:26) He shall dwell in us forever.

Yet so shall I dwell in him forever. “David said, “I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever.” (Psalm 61:4) I don’t think that David was talking about a tent made with hands. The tabernacle is the body. Peter said, “Know that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle..” (2 Peter 1:14) The tabernacle is the body. Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19) The temple is the body. John said when he got a glimpse of heaven, “And I saw no temple therein:for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” (Rev 21:22) The Lamb will be our temple.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like stay at people’s houses. I’d rather just get a hotel. And people are really gracious you know… at first. After the third day, things change. You have to exercise some prudence about these matters. It can get taxing when someone is living with you for a long period of time. But God can handle it, Amen? God invites us to abide in him forever. And not with him, but in him. The bible says that He “hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians2:6) He said in Christ Jesus. I used to picture myself sitting on some cloud up there swinging my feet back and forth. But I’m not gonna be on some cloud, the Bible says in Christ Jesus! Go ahead and look up the Greek on that one. In means in. I am God’s temple forever and God is my temple forever; a mutual indwelling for eternity.

A Mutual Indwelling of Protection

It’s also an mutual indwelling of protection. David said, “I will trust in the covert of thy wings.” (Psalm 61:4) David said, ‘He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” (Psalm 91:1) In the Spirit is a place of protection. In God it’s safe. Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which aresent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings…” (Matthew 23:337) To be in the Spirit, in Christ, in God is to be sheltered and protected; to have a home, to be protected. There was something my wife said the other day. We were discussing how to enclose our porch, and we were trying to figure out what to enclose it with. How much did we want people to see in? How much were we wanting to see out? She said this, “If I can’t see clearly what’s out there, then I’d just rather be hid.” David said “For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me…” (Psalm 27:5)

And Just as God hides me in Him, I will Hide him in me. Just as I find shelter in God, God can find shelter in me. My heart should be a place of reliability, a place of trust, a place of protection. And it’s not that God needs it, but that God desires it; and that it’s so. You think of the ark of the covenant, where God dwelt between the cherubims. The Jews took great care to protect the ark. The ark was cherished and always kept safe. They fought battles to protect it. Do you remember when they fought the Philistines and they took the ark of God out there to battle, it was stolen from the children of Israel? The bible says that Eli the priest trembled for the ark of God waiting for the news of the battle. He wasn’t worried about Israel. He was worried about that safety of ark of God.

When the messenger came back from the battle and told him that his sons, Hophni and Phineas had fallen in battle, it didn’t phase him. But when they said the ark was gone, Eli fell off his seat backwards, broke his neck, and died. And when his daughter in law, the wife of Phineas who was with child, heard that the ark of God was taken, Eli was dead, and so was her husband, she travailed and gave birth to a son. They told her not to fear because she has a son, but the bible says she regarded them not. She called his name Ichabod. “And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken.” (1 Samuel 4:22) They failed to protect the ark of God, the presence of God. We are to be a place of protection, a place of protection, for God. O can he count on us? Can he trust us?

It’s a mutual indwelling of protection. We can trust him in the time of trouble, when our enemies surround us. David said, “I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.” (Psalm 92:2) Amen, but can he trust us. Will we stand up for Him. Will we build the walls of protection around our heart where God dwells. Will we keep him safe in his temple. Jesus once said, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nest; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20) Does Jesus find refuge in our heart today?

A Mutual Indwelling of Love

IF the Spirit of God dwell in you, THEN you are in the Spirit. It’s a mutual indwelling. I in Him, and Him in me. I want to say also, that it is a mutual indwelling of love. In the Song of Solomon, we see the the love of the bridegroom toward the bride, and the love of the bride toward the bridegroom. The bride says, “My beloved is mine, and I am his.” (2:16) We sing that song, “Jesus love me this I know for the bible tells me so.” Amen, but we also sing that song, “I love Jesus, hallelujah! I love Jesus, yes, i do.” John said, “We love him, because he first loved us.” (1 John 4;19) It’s a mutual indwelling of love. I love Him, and He loves me. Listen carefully to what John said “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1 John 3:16) (That is so good, you ought to read that verse again)

Brethren, God has not hid his love for us. “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) He showed us how much he loved us. He wasn’t embarassed to love us. He wasn’t ashamed for his love. He showed the whole world. He didn’t hold back. He did not conceal his affections. He was lifted up high on the cross that the whole world might see that He loves us. What about us? Paul said “Christ liveth in me: and life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for.” (Galatians 2:20) Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.”  I’m not ashamed of my love for Him. I’ll sing. “My Jesus I love thee. I know thou art mine. For thee all the follies of sin I resign! I love thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow! I’ll love thee in life! I will love thee in death! And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath!” I’m not ashamed that I love Jesus.

God’s love for us compelled him to Calvary. The bible says Jesus set his face to Jerusalem. He told his disciples that he’s going to Jerusalem, He’s going to suffer many things and die. The disciples didn’t like it. They tried to stop him. He said, “No Peter, thou desirest the things of man. You don’t understand. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. I’m on a journey of love, and not even the devil is going to get in my way.” He was compelled by love. Does your love for Christ compel you? Does it move you? The Spiritual mind is a life-driving, self-denying, God-fearing, Christ-serving, soul-satisfying journey to a heavenly kingdom. It’s love that drives us. It,s love for him that constrains us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him. We don’t serve him because we have to. We serve him because we love to. I in Him and Him in me. It’s a mutual dwelling of love.

Conclusion

“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” If the Spirit of God dwells in me, then I dwell in him. I’m in the Spirit as sure as the Spirit is in me. If we have a hard time with the if, we’re gonna have a hard time with the then. (Repeat that) If that boolean expression comes up true one day, and false the next day, that means, we’re going to be skipping over the then part of the If-Then Statement.

The truth is that the boolean is always true for the Christian. How well we grasp and believe the truth of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost will determine how well we live our life in the Spirit, how well we walk after the Spirit. Paul said, if we live in the Spirit, then walk in the Spirit. We will walk in the Spirit as much as we are aware and conscience that we live in the Spirit. We live in the Spirit, just as sure as the Spirit lives in me. Him in me, and I in Him.

To be Carnally Minded

September 25, 2016

enemiesRomans 8:6-8 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, neither indeed can be.So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

We have spent eight messages on the The Things of the Spirit. We figured that if we’re to mind them, we ought to at least know what they are. And we just barely scratched the surface. We didn’t even cover the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, and peace; longsuffering, gentleness, and goodness; faith, meekness, and temperance. Against such, there is no law.  We didn’t cover those. We could have preached nine more messages on The Things of the Spirit. Each of the seven letters to the churches in the book of Revelation covered different things of the Spirit. We could have preached seven more messages on the The Things of the Spirit. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

We preached on Beginning in the Spirit. We preached on the life giving power of the Holy Spirit. We preached that “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6) “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5) If you’re Christianity did not begin in the Spirit, then it has yet to begin. The very beginning of the Bible, God gives a picture of a lost man, and the work of the Holy Spirit on that lost man. “And the earth (you can put the words lost man in there) was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water.” (Genesis 1:2) Nothing begins, nothing gets started, until the Holy Ghost moves.

We preached on Praying in the Holy Ghost.  “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” (Rom 8:26,27) The bible says that we ought to be “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit…” (Eph 6:18) The bible says that God will pour out upon his people the spirit of grace and supplications. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Supplication. (Zech 12:10) No prayer, no cry, no petition ascends to heaven, but on the wings of the Holy Ghost.

We preached on Worshipping in the Spirit, Waiting in the Spirit, Sowing in the Spirit. And we spend much time on being Carried Away in the Spirit. To be spiritually minded is to mind these things of the Spirit, to obey them. However, now that we know them, now that we are acquainted with some of the things of the Spirit, our attention turns back to the flesh, the carnal mind. And it becomes much easier to understand what it means to be carnally minded. It can be simply defined by what it is not. To mind the things of the flesh is to simply not mind the things of the Spirit. It is to have no interest in the things of the Spirit. It is to be oblivious to, or to ignore, or to spurn the things of the Spirit and the things of God. The bible says that “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other…” (Gal 5:17) The Spirit of God and the flesh of man do not agree. They are worlds apart. Jesus said his kingdom is not of this world. We are to choose which world to set our minds upon.

Jesus told his disciples that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Peter rebuked Jesus and said these things shall not be. Jesus said to Peter “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” (Matthew 16:23) What is that we savour? What is that we desire? Let me say this: Peter was trying to protect Jesus. Peter, honestly, in his mind had wanted to help and be a blessing to Jesus. But he set his mind on earthly things and the things of man, the things of the flesh. Unbeknownst to Peter, he war wrong, wrong, wrong. This reminds me of Uzzah from the Old Testament. David went to fetch the ark of the covenant after Saul had died. He recognized that Israel did not inquire of it in the days of Saul. All the people agreed that it should be brought before the congregation again. This was almost an act of repentance. Uzzah was among the men that carried the ark of the covenant. They put it on a new cart, and they were singing. They were strumming their harps. They were crashing the cymbals. They were blowing the trumpets. But along the way, the oxen stumbled, and the ark slipped. Uzzah, thinking that he was helping, thinking he was doing God a service, put forth his hand to hold the ark, and the Lord smote him dead. God put the holy hush on the parade that day. I tell you that put the fear of God in David. The bible says, “And David was afraid of the LORD that day..” (2 Samuel 6:9)

I want to say thank God that the oxen stumbled. I’m glad that one day God tripped up my oxen. I’m glad I hit the brakes. I’m glad that God made a distinction in my life between the things of the flesh and the things of the Spirit. I’m glad that the word of God is quick and powerful, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow; the things of the soul and spirit, and the things of the joints and morrow; the flesh. I’m glad that the word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. I say this because you cannot judge a book by it’s cover. It’s difficult to know sometimes what you’re savouring. Where is your heart? Are the thoughts and intents of your heart on the things of the Spirit or the things of the flesh? That’s why we need the word of God. We need a discerner. We need something that is quick and powerful. We need something to trip up our oxen.

Like Peter and Uzza, we may think that we’ve got it all right in our hearts, but the reality of the matter is that we are a world away. We don’t have it right. We got it wrong, wrong, wrong. We think that we are being spiritual, but in fact, we are being carnal. We think we’re doing alright. We look at other people and think, “If so and so is saved and a Christian, I guess I’m doing okay.” We think that we desire the things of God, but in the heart, thou savourest the things of man. You ask, “How in the world can this be?” That’s the same question many will be asking God in that last day. “How in the world can this be? Have we not prophesied in they name? Have we not cast out devils in thy name? Have we not done many wonderful works in thy name? Oh Lord, how can this be?” They have no discernment in this world, and they’ll have no discernment in the world to come. We need the Word of God, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Verses 2,3,4 are wonderful verses. They speak of the wonder law of the Spirit of life and freedom that it has given us from the law of sin and death. They talk about how God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and condemned sin in the flesh. And all this that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. There is therefore no condemnation. The Holy Spirit is a wonderful person to walk after, to follow, learn from, to trust in. Then we hit verse 5, the Things of the Spirit. And I learned alot about the Holy Ghost. The more I learn, the more I desire Him, and the influence and power of the Spirit of Christ. But now we are on verses 6,7,8. Paul is going to take a step back here and give his reader warning of the carnal mind. I read these three verses and to me they are a stern warning, and admonishment of the danger and absolute ruin of the carnal mind.

The spiritual mind, or to be spiritually minded, is not just a simple acknowledgement that there is a Holy Spirit, and a few facts about him. It is a life-driving, self-denying, God-fearing, Christ-serving, soul-satisfying journey to a heavenly kingdom. Likewise, the carnal mind is not just the normal average state of man, nothing to especially regret. No, it is a grave-digging, god-hating, law-breaking, one-way ticket to a devil’s hell.

I. To be Carnally Minded is Death

Death in the cessation of life. We’ve spoken of this before. Death has absolutely nothing to do with life. They are indeed worlds apart. Physically, when life leaves the body, we are imposed upon to dispose of the body. In some cultures, the body is buried before the sun sets. For immediately, the body in which life has left will begin to decompose. It will begin to rot and stink. The body in death is like any slab of meat and bones. If you don’t refrigerate it, you’ll have a mess on your hands. If you leave it alone, it will be no different than a lifeless animal on the side of the road. Ants, maggots, and bacteria will overcome this body. It will putrify, swell up, and burst asunder.  The dogs and vultures will feast. It will be torn apart, it will stink and be a nuisance to everyone that passes by, and eventually return to the dust from whence it came. A human body is an amazing creation. It can live, and breathe, and move around for a hundred years. But the seconds it dies, absolutely nothing works. Every single organ, cell, and muscle shuts down. It’s useless, lifeless, and immediately begins to breakdown, decompose, and rot.

To be carnally minded is death. Not a physical death, but a spiritual one. Let us be reminded of the difference between the temporal and the spiritual. There are two worlds. There is the one we see, the one we interact with, where we live and breathe. And unless a soul is awakened from it’s slumber, this is all a person will ever know. But there is a spiritual realm, the intangible, that which is seen by the eyes of faith, yet known in the heart and conscience. The temporal world is just that, temporary. It doesn’t last. James asked, “What is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” (James 4:14) Peter said, “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower therof falleth away.” (1 Pter 1:24)

But the spiritual is eternal. The spiritual does not vanish away. The soul and spirit endures. And it will either endure in life, or endures in death. Death, in the spiritual realm, is much like death in the physical, temporal realm; except that it is eternal. The rotting, the putrification, the decomposition, and the stench will last forever. Jesus said that hell was a place, “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus said that when that rich man died, he was indeed buried, but “in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments…” (Luke 16:23) To be carnally minded is to set your mind, your heart, and you will toward hell.

To be carnally minded is the extreme utter opposite of being spiritually minded. To be spiritually minded is life and peace. To be carnally minded is to turn the other way and seek death and torment. Jeremiah said, “No man repented him of his wickedness saying, “What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.” To be carnally minded is to pursue death, to seek it, and to follow hard after it.  To be carnally minded is to shake and rattle the gates of hell, and beg to enter in. The bible says, “Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure.” (Isaiah 5:14)

To be carnally minded is death, death of the soul and spirit. We’re not talking about the death of the flesh. That is not in question. “And it is appointed unto man once to die.” (Heb 9:27) But you see, if you set your mind on that man that is bound to die, the flesh that will wither and die, the soul and spirit will surely follow after. If all you care about and mind are the things of this world, the things of man, the things of this flesh, your soul and spirit will soon follow after the world, man, and the flesh. “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7) Death is the expected of end of the soul that sets it’s mind upon it.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. (Rev 21:13,14)

The first death is the death of the body, the temporal, the tangible body. The second death will be the death of the soul, the spiritual, the invisible, the eternal. The mind and heart of man stand at the crossroads. On one side is the broadway. It’s the easy path. It’s the wide path. It’s the popular path. Virtually everbody is traveling this road. But at the end of that road is destruction. (Matthew 7:13)  “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:12) To be carnally minded is to travel down that broadway, is to move closer and closer to destruction. All that travel down this way race to the prize, storing up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, concentrating, contemplating, and capturing the things of man. But at the end of that journey, the carnal mind will reach his goal. The carnal mind will obtain what he has lived in, what he has diligently sought after, what he has patiently sowed.  The carnal mind will plunge into what he has incline to, and what it has aspired for. The carnal mind will finally win his reward. For as he thought all his life in his heart, so is he at the end of it. This is the second death. To be carnally minded is death.

II. To be Carnally Minded is Enmity with God

“Because the carnal mind is enmity with God…” (8:7)

Enmity? We hardly use this word in today’s english.  We use a similar word, enemy. Enmity is what makes an enemy of someone. Enmity lies as a barrier between two people. Enmity caused hostility between two people. Enmity is the hate, the loathing, the bad-blood that separates two people. God is one of those people; the other is you; and the carnal mind is the enmity between God and you.  It’s a carnal mind that will make you an enemy of God.  It’s a carnal mind that separates you from God. That is an important distinction to make. The scripture doesn’t say that the carnal person is enmity against God. The bible says it’s the mind, the carnal mind, that is enmity against God.

This reminds me of Jonah. That whole boat was gonna sink because of that one person on the boat that was against God. They were gonna let that whole boat sink and everybody in it for the sake of one person on there. They finally came to their senses and cast him off the boat. The boat and everybody on that boat would have met the same fate as that of Jonah, if they had not cast him off.  Paul said, “Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me… 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.” (Romans 7:17,23)

The carnal mind is the enmity against God.  If we don’t cast it off the boat, if we don’t abandon it, it will bound us, and drag us into captivity to the law of sin. What makes a person carnal, is the carnal mind. What turns a person against God, to hate God, to oppose God, to resent God, is the carnal mind.  “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7)

Ironically, Paul was also on a boat in that was in peril. The same principle is demonstrated, but the opposite direction. He was in a boat on his way to Rome. They stopped at a city named Lasea.  It was there that Paul warned them that the weather didn’t look good.  But they went anyway.  The sailed off, and sure enough, there was a great tempest that arose against them. They tried to take refuge in an island, but it wasn’t safe, so they set out again into the tempest. and were exceedingly tossed about. The bible says that, “When neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.” But then Paul stood up in the midst of them and said:

Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.   (Acts 27:21-25)

In Johah’s case, that whole ship and everybody in it would have found themselves at the bottom of the sea because that’s where Jonah was going.  Likewise, in Paul’s case, that whole ship and everybody in it, would find themselves delivered from that storm, because Paul, by the desire of God Almighty, must be brought before Cesar. That’s why Paul said, “Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved!” You may think the carnal mind a small thing to regard. But, like that little bit in a horse’s mouth, that whole 1500 pound animal can be turned about by it. If you don’t have it, that horse is going nowhere.

I don’t want to diminish or under estimate the carnal mind. In fact, I want to exalt and bring to light the absolute folly of the carnal mind. Know assuredly that the carnal mind will separate you from God and make you an enemy of God.  The way of the carnal mind is indeed the way of the enemies of God. The devil is the enemy of God, and the enemy of God’s people. If the carnal mind leads to same place and end of the enemies of God, then it leads to the same place and end as the devil himself, which no one doubts is under the crushing foot of Christ. (Gen 3:15) “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” (Psalm 110:1)

Goliath, the Philistine, was the enemy of God. When the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle against the children of Israel, the bible says, “The Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.” (1 Sam 17:3) There was a valley between the children of God and the enemies of God. The carnal mind is the valley that separates the children of God and the enemies of God. If you do not cross that valley now, in this life, on this earth, you will never cross it in eternity. In Luke 16, Abraham with Lazarus in his bosom, said to the rich man that was in hell, in torments, tormented in the flame, “Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.” (Luke 16:26) It will not end well for the enemies of God. David said to Goliath, “This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in israel.” (1 Sam 17:46)

The enmity of the carnal mind will make you an enemy of God and take you to the place and end of the enemies of God. At the end of this world, when the curse comes to full fruition, the enemies of God will take their stand against God.  The enemies of God gather themselves together to wage war against God himself..

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty… And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. (Revelation 16:13,14,16)

Armageddon is the place and the end of the enemies of God, the true desire and intentions of the carnal mind, to oppose God and to fight God. O, the folly and deception of the carnal mind! The bible says “When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever… For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.” (Psalm 92:7,9)

Be careful in what you set your mind on. Follow not after the things of the flesh, and of man, and of the world. James said, “…know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (James 4:4) The bible says that both the carnal mind and friendship of the world are both “enmity with God.” Therefore, these are two of the same thing or of the same nature. The carnal mind is friendship of the world. As stated earlier, the spirit and flesh are worlds apart. The friends of God and the enemies of God are on two different sides of a great gulf or a great valley. The carnal mind is friends with the wrong world. The carnal mind has chosen to identify and fellowship on the wrong side. You can’t be friends with the world to come and with this present world at the same time. You will love one and hate the other. To be a friend of the world, is to hate and despise the world to come. To be a friend of the world, to be carnally-minded, is not to just to hate and despise the world to come, but everything in that world and be the enemy of such. The carnal mind is enmity with God and will thus make you an enemy of all that’s in heaven. It will make you the enemy of all the citizens of heaven: the angels of God, the cherubims and seraphims. It will make you the enemy the saints of God, and Lord Jesus Christ himself. A carnal mind will make you an enemy of and hate even the celestial city: the street of gold, the crystal river, and tree of life. The carnal mind has chosen it’s friends unwisely.

The carnal mind is the mind of a worldly fool. The first thing we covered in regards to things of the Spirit, was beginning in the Spirit. The carnal mind, or the carnally-minded, will have no regard to the life-giving power of the Spirit, will be oblivious and ignorant of it. But to not regard the Spirit, is to regard the flesh. It is to ascribe life-giving power to the flesh. And this is what is abhorrent to God and puts one in the place of his enemy. This is why Paul with such astonishment asks the Galatians, “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3) A fool is ignorant. His reality is defined and his life determined by what he doesn’t know. Ignorance is not bliss concerning the things of the Spirit. Ignorance is a foolish friendship with the world and a stranger to the Spirit of God. “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” (John 16:13) Ignorance is to know not truth, to hear not the voice of God, and see not things to come. Instead, the fool will believe lies, hearken to the voice of man, and will set his sights and hopes on things that will never come to pass. Only the ignorance of a fool would cause him to oppose God, and desire to fight with God, to be the enemy of God.

The carnal mind is enmity with God, and make you the enemy of God, and will take you to the place and end of the enemies of God, and make you a friend to all that is unholy and worldly.

III. To be Carnally Minded is to Break the Law of God

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, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:6,7)

#1 To be carnally minded is death. #2 To be carnally minded is enmity with God. #3 To be carnally minded is to break the law of God. Jesus said this concerning the law:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-19)

The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God. This means that the carnal mind is not likely or prone to be affected by the law of God. The carnal mind is not under subjection of the law of God. Simply said, the carnal mind does not do what God wants it to do. The carnal mind does not care about what God requires. The carnal mind is not interested in walking in the ways of God, or thinking on the things of God, or fulfilling the law of God.

The carnal mind cares nothing for the ten commandments. The carnal mind has other gods. The carnal mind will bow itself to idols and graven images. It takes the name of the Lord in vain. The Sabbath and holiness mean nothing to the carnal mind, and it has no regard for the work of God. It does not honour his father and mother. The carnal mind is a murderer, an adulterer, a thief, a liar, and is consumed in lust and covetousness.  Like I was saying earlier, I don’t want to diminish the seriousness of this condition.  The carnal mind is not just the normal average state of man, nothing to especially regret. No, it is a grave-digging, god-hating, law-breaking, one-way ticket to a devil’s hell. And we must seek to be as far from it that God would allow. We must seek to be as circumspect and fearful of it as much as possible. We must oppose it, reject it, and fight it with whatever holy power is in us. Jesus said:

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment… (Matthew 5:21-22)

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. (Matthew 5:27,28)

You don’t have to murder someone; you just have to be angry with someone to be a murderer and break the law of God. You don’t have to commit adultery; you just have to lust after a woman to be an adulterer and break the law of God. The sin is done on the inside, in the mind and in the heart. You don’t have to do it, you just have to think it. You say that’s pretty harsh? The bible says that the carnal mind is enmity against God: for the mind is not subject to the law of God. The mind, the mind, the mind.

James says, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” (James 1:14,15) It’s the carnal mind that gets drawn away and enticed. It lusts and covets the things of the flesh, the things of man, that which is contrary to God and contrary to the moral laws of God.

From the very beginning we see this. Eve transgressed God’s law in the mind first. The devil said, “For God doth know that in the day that ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” The bible says that Eve saw that the tree was ” a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat…” The mind processed this new information given to it, and convinced itself and justified itself in breaking the law of God.

How much was going on in the mind of Cain before he murdered his brother Abel? He considered, planned, and prepared in his mind the offering that he’d bring the Lord. In his mind he had already transgressed God’s law before any offering was ever made. And then when God had not respect unto Cain’s offering, yet had respect unto Abel’s offering, Cain’s mind again plunged into disobedience, and indulged in anger, hate, jealousy, and murder. And as Cain talked to his brother and walked with him, lust had already conceived in his heart, sin had already been committed in the mind, and now it was to come forth as he slew his brother.

In the days of Noah, the bible says “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” I know this verse does not directly speak of the carnal mind, but look at the words it does use, every imagination of the thoughts.  Those are the workings of the mind. This is not good news for the the carnal mind. The bible demonstrates that the carnal mind is of the heart and is only evil continually. Two things: One, that the carnal mind is but a symptom of a bad heart; and Two, that a carnal mind is in nothing but a constant, uninterrupted violation of God’s laws; a folly of a perpetual sort. It is only evil continually.

The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. To be carnally minded is to break the law of God. A few things regarding such:

  1. The law of God is an expression of the moral nature of God.
  2. Moral law reflects God; God does not make it. We’ve talked about how the law is what reveals to us our sin. When we read the law it’s as if we see our selves in a mirror. But more importantly it also reflects God Almighty. The carnal mind sees the image of God, as in a mirror, and wants nothing to do with what he sees and shatters the mirror, as he shatters the law of God.
  3. The whole law may be summed up in the words: “Be like God.” The carnal mind does not want to be like God.
  4. God’s law is God’s face disclosed to human sight (Like the U.S. Constitution discloses the face of George Washington/Thomas Jefferson). David said “Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.” The carnal mind finds no joy in the face of God; no joy his countenance. The carnal minds desires not God to look upon him.
  5. We should not say that God makes law, nor on the other hand that God is subject to law, but rather that God is law and the source of law. God’s word and God’s will are revelations of his inmost being; and every transgression of the law is a stab at the heart of God. The carnal mind is set on hurting God, grieving God. The carnal mind that breaks the law, tears at the very inside of God.
  6. The ordinances of God are unwritten, but sure. Not one of them is for today or for yesterday alone, but they live forever. Moses might break the tables of stone upon which the law was inscribed, and Jehoikam might cut up the scroll and cast it into the fire, but the law remained eternal as before in the nature of God. The carnal mind sets itself against the power of eternity. That which is from the Ancient of Days; from everlasting to everlasting, the carnal mind seeks to ignore. The carnal mind is aloof to the eternal authority and majesty of the law of God. In breaking it, it seeks to to subvert that which has been forevermore.
  7. God’s law does not change as God himself cannot change. The moral law is immutable, because it is a transcript of the very nature of the immutable God. God doesn’t change. The carnal mind that breaks the law of God, in futility seeks to change that which cannot be changed.
  8. The law IS God. In the beginning was the word and word was with God and the word WAS God. A very serious thing it is indeed to break the law of God. The carnal mind that sets it’s sights and cares on the things of the flesh, and man, and the world is opposed not just to the law, but to God himself.

IV. To Be Carnally Minded is to Displease God.

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, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:6,7,8)

It’s obvious after what we’ve covered why God is not pleased. They that are in the flesh most definitely have a carnal mind or are carnally minded. And the carnally minded is death, it is enmity against God, and it is set on breaking the law of God. They that are in the flesh, this carnal mind is in them. Therefore, God cannot be pleased in this state.

This is why the lost man will suffer eternal punishment. He can never in this state please God. He is in the flesh. All he knows is the flesh. He’s only been born of the flesh. He is steeped in, soaked and saturated, in the flesh. The carnal mind is all he has. No amount of religion or reformation or education can change that mind. It matters not how long he’s been in church, or what sin he’s layed down, or how smart and knowledgeable and wise he may be, unless he’s been born again by the Holy Spirit of God, where that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, (unless he’s been born from above) he will remain in the flesh, and the carnal mind will reign in that soul. Transgression, enmity, and death will be the end of that soul. The flesh has no interest in pleasing God; it couldn’t if it tried. The flesh has one desire and that is to please itself.

So then is what the bible says. So then. The end of the carnally minded is a displeased God, a displeased Savior, a displeased Holy Spirit. To be displeased is not just anger, but disappointment, sorrow and pain. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) The only reason I’m not up in glory right now, walking the street of gold, is because God’s loves sinners and doesn’t want to put an end to this thing just yet. He keeps the doors of heaven open for that prodigal son. He’s still out there looking for that one sheep. There may be some of you on these pews right now that God is holding up all eternity for. God has his hand on that heavenly elevator door right now, holding it open, waiting for you, beckoning you, wooing you to come in.

O the heart of God, that suffers for sinners, that weeps in pain for his creation. Don’t you want to please him, the one that died on the cross for you? Must Christ’s sufferings continue? What amazing grace he’s bestowed upon us! Is there something inside of you that wants to please him. Is there something in you that wants to stop God’s displeasure and sorrow for mankind. Jesus said, “I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” (Luke 15:10) He didn’t say the angels were rejoicing. He said there’s joy in the presence of the angels of God. It’s the Lord Jesus Christ that rejoices in the presence of the angels. We talk about how God is going to wipe away all tears from our eyes in the gloryland; but when one sinner repenteth. When one of those old sinners, those enemies of God, those transgressors… When one of those in the flesh pass from death unto life.. When one of those sinners are crucified with Christ, and born anew by the Holy Spirit… Just like there is joy over a newborn babe on earth, there’s joy in heaven. If there’s any tears in heaven, it’s tears of joy; and the tears of disappointment, sorrow, and pain over that sinner are wiped away by the penitent sinner. And replaced by tears of joy.

Tears of joy, for the desire of God has been fulfilled. Psalm 51 gives us a pictures of the desires of God.

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. (Psalm 51:5,6)

David is saying, “Behold this wretched state!” Like Paul said, “O wretched man that I am!” “Behold my depravity, my contemptuous state of sin and darkness. There would I remain. There would my soul be doomed. There would be the end of me; but for the desires of God!”  O Praise his holy name, for God desires something different for me. He desires truth instead of lies. He desires wisdom instead of folly. God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) It’s God’s desire that you turn to him. O the pleasure and satisfaction and joy that is afforded God when the sinner steps out of darkness into his marvelous light.

When he comes to God, that which was death, and enmity with God, and hate for the law of God, comes into his light and he finds life instead of death, friendship instead of enmity. He hears the beautiful words of Jesus, “Love your enemies!” He finds that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made him free from the law of sin and death. He finds that God sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh to condemn sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in him. God’s desire was not to punish him for his sins, but to pardon him, and nothing more would give God pleasure.  And for this, he stretches forth his hand to us. But the carnal mind shirks from the benevolent hand of God, retracts and withdraws away in the darkness of his sin. To be carnally minded is to disappoint God, and leave Him in sorrow and pain while his wooing goes unanswered. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Final Thoughts

We are Baptists. We believe that once a sinner is saved, he is always saved. A saved person cannot have a carnal mind or be in the flesh. Alot of people think they can, but they can’t. Someone in the flesh is lost, and cannot please God. He is ruled, reigned, and bound by the carnal mind. If it was possible to be in that state again, then it is possible to be lost again. Now you are in one of two states. You are either in the flesh and friends with it; or you are out of the flesh and struggling against it. When you were lost, in the flesh, with a carnal mind, you followed after the flesh. But when you got saved, you were given the Holy Spirit and with it, the mind of the Spirit. Now that doesn’t mean that you immediately were acquainted with following after the Spirit, and were fully capable of ceasing your walk after flesh. No. You’ve followed the flesh all your life. You don’t know how to follow after the Spirit. Sometimes, these things take time.

I want to please God. When this is all said and done, I’d love to hear those words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” But I didn’t want that as much I do now ten years ago. As I grow in the Lord, the desires of God have become more precious to me. I can say now as David said, “I delight to do thy will, O my God.”

When a sinner is saved, he repents of the flesh and the carnal mind. A preacher once said, “Repentance is the vomit of the soul.” But sadly, “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.” (Prov 26:11) Sometimes, it takes some time to gain wisdom. Just because one is not in the flesh does not mean that he hasn’t learned to not walk after the flesh and instead walk after the Spirit. Just because one does not have a carnal mind, does not mean he doesn’t struggle with the tendencies and temptation of being carnally minded. It’s much like the Spirit. Paul said, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (Gal 5:25) Living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit are two different things. Likewise, living in the flesh and walking after the flesh are two different things. Having a carnal mind and being carnally minded are two different things.

 

Things of the Spirit, Part 8

September 4, 2016

IMG_2591Romans 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit

This is probably the final message on being carried away in the Spirit, and probably the last message on the things of the Spirit.  Lord willing we’ll move on down the line in our study of Romans.

I want to stress to you that there a lot of things that we can concern ourselves with.  God told Daniel, “…even to the time of the end: may shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”  (Dan12:4)  There’s a lot of things out there that we can gain knowledge about.  They call this the age of information.  And I know sometimes, there’s things we need to concern ourselves with.  But somehow, someway, we must give the things of God preeminence.  We must set our minds, our hearts, our souls on the things above.  In many places in the bible, we are admonished, “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all they might.” (Deut 6:5). With all our strength, with all our being, we must attend unto the things of God, the things of the Spirit.  O that God would fill us with his Holy Spirit.  That he would pour out his Spirit upon us.  God does not give such blessings to those that don’t want it.  “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:”  (Isaiah 55:6)

We set our hearts upon things of no consequence: fortune, opportunity, ease, toys, and even health… things; things of the flesh.  Yet out hearts must be set and our minds set on the things of the Spirit; the same Spirit that moved upon the face of the waters in the beginning of time; the same Spirit that filled the temple with the glory of God; the same eternal Spirit that raised Christ from the dead; the same Spirit that came down on Pentecost in a rushing mighty wind and filled the upper room, filled the disciples and turned the whole world upside down.  They that are after the Spirit, do mind the things of the Spirit.

John, the beloved apostle, minded the things of the Spirit.  John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.  It says twice in Revelation that he was carried away in the Spirit.  Have you ever heard that expression, carried away?  You reckon where that came from?  Many expression we use in our language come from the bible.  “He’s getting a little carried away.  He’s going a little to far than what we’re comfortable seeing.”  I want to say, that’s where we need to get.  That’s what we need to do.  We need to get carried away with this thing.  We’ve gone about as far as we want to go.  We’ve gone about as far as we can go. It’s time to let the Spirit carry us as far as God wants us to go.  The people around us are too comfortable.  Our religion doesn’t take us much further than those with false religion. They don’t have the truth.  They don’t know if they’re saved.  They don’t believe in heaven, hell, the diety of Christ. Yet, they go as far as we go.  They got church.  They got faith.  They got good times.  They got it all.  But we need to get carried away with this thing.

When God turned Moses staff to a serpent, what happened?  The magicians said, “Oh.  No big deal.  We can do that.”  And they turned their staffs to serpent. (Ex 7:12) What happened when God had Moses smote the waters in the sight of Pharoah and turned the river into blood?  The magicians said, “Oh.  No big deal.  We can do that.”  And the bible says that “the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments.” (Ex 7:22)  What happened when God had frogs come up out of the river and cover the land of Egypt?  The magicians said, “Oh.  No big deal.  We can do that.”  The bible says “And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.”  Oh, but what happened when God had Moses and Aaron smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice throughout all the land of Egypt?  And the lice was in man and in beast?  The bible says that “the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not.”  They said “Wait a second.  Moses and Aaron are going further than we can go.”  Those magicians turned to Pharoah and said, “We can’t do that.  This is the finger of God”  (Ex 8:19).  That’s what we need.  We need the touch of God on our religion.  We need to get carried away with this thing.

Ezekiel was carried away in the Spirit.  The Spirit driveth Jesus into the wilderness.  John was carried away in the Spirit.  Talk about the things of the Spirit;  John got to see alot of things.  Over fifty times in Revelation, the Bible says that John either saw or beheld some things.  God let John see some things.  But God did not just let John see these things for his viewing pleasure.  No, Jesus said to John, “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;” (Rev 1:19)  And all these things are meant to be a blessing to us, for he said, “Blessed is he that readeth, they that hear the words of this prophecy…” (Rev 1:3) So you see, right off the bat, the fullness of the Spirit comes with responsibility and it comes with rewards.  John was charged with the responsibility of writing these things, and also rewarded in the fact that others would be blessed.

Introduction

John saw alot of things.  I don’t want to get into a whole series of the things he saw, all 50 things. So I’m gonna narrow this down a bit.  There’s some things that happen in the first three chapters of Revelation.

It’s after these verses, that the bulk of John’s visions are found.  Chapter 2 & 3 are debatable whether or not they’re actual fortelling, end-time prophecy.  However, from here on out, there’s no doubt that these words are pointing to (what was then) a distant future.  But we know “that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8)  “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)  So, God reserves the right.  He may tell us one year, but it may actually be a thousand years.  Paul thought that in his days the Lord would return.  He said, “we which are alive and remain” shall be caught up.  He thought, “I’m not going to see death.  I’m going up like Elijah!”  But in fact, two thousand years have passed by.  But if you’d ask God, he’d say, “It’s only been two days?”  So as far as we’re concerned it’s not a distant future, but it’s just around the corner.

It’s after these verses that John sees or beholds many (I want to say wonderful, as in wonder, amazement, awe-striking, terrible, glorious, not necessarily pleasant) things.  It’s after these verses the bible declares that John saw or that John beheld something specific over 50 times.  I want us to remember that these are visions that John was given while caught up in the Spirit of Almighty God.  I believe that if we would draw nigh unto God, be filled with the Holy Ghost, listen to voice of God, he will make these same things relevant to us in this day.  John said that he “bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.”  And the bible declares that blessed is he that readeth, and blessed are they that hear the words of this prophecy, and blessed are they that keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.  Blessed is he that reads it, hears it, and keeps it.  Brethren, we will never do that but by the power of the Holy Ghost.  So I want us to look at this (again like we did Ezekiel) as an experience with the Holy Ghost.  We’re not going to figure out all the prophesy.  But we are going to try understand, shed-light on the experience that John had with the Holy Ghost.

It’s after these verses that John sees alot of things.  I want to group them into two different topics:  The good and the bad. You want the good news first or the bad news.  Most say the bad news.  So we’re going to look at what John looked at that was bad.   .

Bad Things (The Day of the Lord)

Jesus said that the Spirit of God will guide you in all truth.  I believe that the Holy Ghost will guide us in the truth concerning the The Day of the Lord.  The Day of the Lord is the single most anticipated day in the entire bible.  The bible has little to say about the rapture.  It has little to say about the judgement seat of Christ.  It has little to say about the white throne judgement.  It has little to say about the judgement of the nations.  But the single most prophesied event in the bible is The Day of the Lord.  You say, “What is the day of the Lord?”  it’s the Day of Wrath.  It’s the End of the World.  It’s Judgement Day. It’s the Day of Reckoning.  Call it what you want, but it will come to pass.

The Holy Ghost will make this relevant to you.  No doubt John had learned what the prophets had prophesied.  He knew it no doubt.  But this Sunday, on the isle of Patmos, the Holy Ghost gave him a direct vision of The Day of the Lord.  I believe as the reality and eminence of this terrible day becomes clear to us by the power of the Holy Ghost, there will be an urgency to see people saved, there will be an urgency to serve God.  What you want to do, you’re want to do it quickly.  The Spirit of God is trying to warn people about this day.  The Spirit of God is trying save people from this day.  Paul said, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…” (2 Cor 5:11)  The Spirit of God is trying to persuade men, and if we’re on board, if we’re walking after him, if we’re filled with that same Spirit, I would think that we’re going want to do some of that persuading.  We’re gonna persuade men that the The Day of the LORD is coming.  And it’s not a good day.  No, it’s a bad day.

And what Jesus reveals to John while in the Spirit about The Day of the Lord is just that.  It’s dark.  It’s cruel.  It’s angry.  It’s terrible.  It’s wrath.  It’s trouble.  It’s distress.  John saw alot ot things.  One thing he saw (Rev 5:1) “in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.”  He saw a book.  In Greek, it’s a biblion.  That sounds alot like bible, Amen?  It was a closed book.  And it was closed up with seven seals.  It was sealed shut by seven seals.  I personally believe that this book is the book of Isaiah.  I don’t see how it can’t be.  The bible says “Forever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.” (Psalm 119:89)  And Jesus is just finishing reading where he left off.

In the book of Luke, when Jesus came up out of the wilderness to Nazareth, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and he stood up for to read.  The bible says that they “delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias.”  The bible says that Jesus opened the book and he found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…”  That is Isaiah, chapter 61:1:2:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD…

Then Jesus closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down.  There will come a day soon that Jesus will take that book up again, and proclaim the next seven words of Isaiah 61:2, “the day of vengeance of our God.”  John got to see Jesus take up that book.  The bible says “behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and loose the seven seals.”  John said he looked, and lo and behold, “in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain…”  I wonder if he thought about John the Baptist.  “Behold, the lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world!”  The bible says, “And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

And when Jesus took up that book, all heaven went nuts!  The four beasts and the twenty four elders fell down and worshipped the Lamb.  Then, they started singing a new song. “Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals…”  Then, ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of angels began to shout, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to recieve power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing!”  Then, every creature in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, in the sea, all together said, “Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.”  Then the four beasts said, “Amen!”  And they just worshipped God.  Why?  Because Jesus picked up the book of Isaiah.  How would you like to be in a service like that?  God can do that in our services today.  Jesus can walk in our midst, and take up the word of God and read it to us. Those two on the road to Emmaus said to each other, “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?”  O yes!  But John was carried away in the spirit.  We need to get carried away.  John got to see Jesus take that book and bust those seals open one by one.

I did some work this weekend at our little ranch.  I took the tractor out there and everything I did was while the tractor was on.  It’s very noisy. (engine)  I took the tractor down off the trailer. (engine)  I moved stuff (engine)  I mowed. (engine)  I got down and opened and closed the gate. (engine)  I put up the tractor. (engine)  When I was finally done, everything locked down ready to go.  I turned off the tractor, and I noticed it was silent. And I just listened for a little while to the silence.  And it was nice.  It was peaceful. It’s not going to be this type of silence.

It’s a deathly silence.  It’s a silence of great anticipation.  It’s a silence mingled with dread.  And in this silence, John saw seven angels with seven trumpets prepare themselves. They were preparing themselves to sound.  Joel the prophet said, “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand.”

I want to take the opportunity to say something.  Even though John is going to see these bad things (the wrath of God, the judgment of God, death, starvations…) we have to keep this in perspective.  It’s angels with trumpets that are preparing themselves.  The trumpet is the instrument of warning.  These seven trumpets, though they come with judgment, they are still warning.  To blow a trumpet is to give the call of warning.  You might think that God’s not being very merciful.  I want to remind you he’s blowing a trumpet.  He could have skipped over to Revelation 20 and just wiped away the heaven and the earth; but instead he blows the trumpets one last time.  One last call to repentance.  One last chance to receive mercy.   God is good, make no mistake about that.  John hears the trumpets.

What’s next is chapter 12, and some of you might be familiar with this.  It’s about the woman clothed with the sun, the child that is birthed, the great red dragon.  If you’ve never read it.  I suggest you read it.  It’s another vision that John sees.  I’m not going to get into it as to what it all represents, but I do want to bring your attention to one thing.  when the seventh trumpet sounds I want you to see an important things that happens.  Verse 9:  “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”  See the devil still has access to heaven.  He still goes up there and accuses us. That’s why we need an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous.   In the book of  Job, it says, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.”  Satan still has access to the throne of God.  But thank God, when that seventh trumpet sounds, things are gonna change.  When that seventh trumpet sounds, God is going to kick that devil out of heaven.  He will lose his admitting privileges in heaven.  He will lose his license to practice law in the bar of heaven.  So heaven will rejoice.  But earth won’t.

Revelation 12:12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

The devil persecuted the remaining Jews on the earth.  John saw a beast rise up out of the sea.  He saw a beast rise up out of the earth.  These beasts blasphemed God and caused all that dwell on the earth to worship them, and deceived them.  They worshipped the dragon and the beast.

After that seventh trumpet sounded, John “saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angles having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.  The seven angels came out of the temple, clothed in pure and white linen, girded with golden girdles.  The bible says that one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God.  (16:1)  “And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.”

Seven Seals, Seven Trumpets, and Seven Vials.  John saw all these things.  John saw the wrath of God.  Let me say this though.  Paul said (Rom 5:8,9) “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”  John, while in the spirit, was showed alot of things.  He was showed what we were saved from: seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven vials.  He saw just about every living soul on earth die.  He saw alot of bad things.  But he did see some good things too.

Good things

John saw just about every living soul on earth die.  He saw them thirsty and starving. He saw them die of famine.  Yet they didn’t repent.  He saw them burned.  Yet they didn’t repent.  He saw them suffer with sores.  Yet they didn’t repent.  He saw them stung by horse-sized locusts with a tail of scorpion.  Yet they didn’t repent.  He saw them killed by fire.  Killed by smoke.  Killed by brimstone.  Yet they didn’t repent.  He saw them killed by hail.  Killed by stones.  Yet they didn’t repent.  He saw them kill each other.  Yet they didn’t repent.  He saw the devil cast down.  Instead of repenting and seeking God, they worshipped the beast.  They received his mark.  They made war with the saints.  They blasphemed God.  John saw the wickedness of man, the utter depravity and contempt of man.  But in the midst of all that, the bible says (14:1)  “And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.”  Even though all hell broke loose.  Even though the world is crumbling apart, there’s the Lamb on mount Sion.  And there is his people with him.  The eternal question that Isaac asked his daddy Abraham, as they headed up the mount to do a sacrifice.  “Where is the lamb?”  O The Lamb is still on mount Sion. Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.

The day of the Lord is coming.  John saw all these bad things.  One bad thing after another.  But praise God, after that last vial, after THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS and the armies of the earth gathered to make war with the Lamb, even though things are about as bad as they could be, the bible says that John heard a voice of much people in heaven, saying “Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God.”  The bible says John “heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.”  And then…

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.  (Rev 19:11-16)

John saw Jesus coming out of heaven.  He wasn’t on a donkey, he was on a white horse. He didn’t have a crown of thorns, he had the royal diadem.  He didn’t come meek and lowly.  He came with authority and power.  The beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies made war with the Lord Jesus Christ. But John got to see the end.  John saw the beast taken and the false prophet taken.  And John saw Jesus cast them alive into a lake of fire buring with brimstone.  And then he saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.  That angel laid hold on the dragon that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pit.

Amen.  I want to say that John saw some good things.  There were a few more bad things:  He saw Satan will be loosed for a season. He saw the white throne judgment and he saw all those sould cast into the lake of fire.  But I want to take you to Revelation 21. The bible says, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and first earth were passed away…  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven..”

John saw probably the greatest sight, the holy city.  The day of the Lord is probably the most anticipated events in the entire bible.  But I want to say that one of most anticipated promises of God is the holy city.  The celestial city.  The great city, the holy Jerusalem. The bible says that one of the seven angels with the vials came over to John and said, “Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”

The bible says that he carried John away in the spirit.  He carried him away to a great and high mountain, and shewed him that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.  John saw it all, the celestial city that many have longed to see.

John saw it all!  That angel gave John a personal tour of the Holy City.  He saw the twelve gates that are made of pearl.  He saw on each gate the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.  He saw the twelve foundations of the city.  He saw the names of the apostles of Lamb on each foundation.  I wonder what he though when he looked real close and saw his name on one of those foundations?  “Hey that’s my name on there!”

He saw it all!  He saw the throne of God.  And on that throne, he saw the Lord God Almighty.  He saw the Lamb in that city.  He saw the light and the glory coming from the Lord and the Lamb.  He saw the pure crystal river proceeding out of the throne.  he saw the tree of life straddling that river.  He saw the fruit growing and coming forth from the tree of life.  He saw the street of gold.  He saw it all.  He saw the Holy City coming from above.

And the best thing he saw when he looked in that city, the bible says he saw the nations of them which are saved.  Hey!  That’s me.  He saw me walking around in the light and in the glory.  He saw me walking up and down the street of gold.  He saw me eating that fruit off the tree of life.  He saw me drinking from the the crystal river.  I know he saw me because I’m saved, saved, saved!

Oh would the Holy Ghost grant us a vision of the glory which would soon be revealed.  Every time we drive the streets, and we hit the pot holes, and we go over the railroad track, and through the mud, let the Holy Ghost remind us we wont have to travel these old roads for long and one glorious day we tread the street gold.  Every time you fret when the clock don’t stop, you can never catch up with all the work that has to get done, it seems like there’s just not enough hours in the day, let the Holy Ghost remind us that God is making us a place where there will be no more night, the Son will always shine,  the glorious day will never end, and time shall be no more.  When your house is falling apart, the kids are stacked like sardines in their room, you don’t have a dining room, you don’t have a living room, you move from one home repair to the next home repair, the water line is always busting, the yard floods, and rats can get in, let the Holy Ghost remind us “This world is not my home.  I’m just a passing through.  My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue!”

The other day something came to me.  I was thinking about when Patty and I first got married.  We lived in an apartment, but when Franky was born we moved into a house that was on street called Southland.  It used to be my grandma’s house.  This house was an old house, built in the 1940’s or 50’s.  It was built on pillars, the beams were rotten, you could see the ground through little cracks in the floor.  But the floor was never straight.  The doors wouldn’t close, the windows wouldn’t open.  I remember if you dropped anything on the floor, it would always roll to one side of the house.  Then we moved out of there and moved into a house in Sandia.  And if you’re familiar with Sandia, you’ll know that the soil our there is sandy loam.  And that house was literally on bricks. You talk about building your house on sinking sand.  The floor in the middle of the house was about a foot higher than the floor on the edges of the house.  And then we moved out to Sinton, to a trailer that is set once again on bricks.  And we got the same problems. And I’ve complained to my wife, “Why can’t we just have a house that has a concrete foundation?  Why do we have to always live on pillars and bricks?  And have the floor floating around all over the place?”  Then it came to me the other day.  I’m going to place that has TWELVE FOUNDATIONS!  Praise God.  I won’t have to worry about that anymore.

John saw it all.  He saw the Holy City.  He saw some good things.  Even though he saw some bad things… He saw alot of bad things.  But even though he saw all that bad, he saw some good, and I believe that’s why he was able to say, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Come!”  O, if we would let the Spirit carry us away and give us a vision of the things to come, maybe we’d say along with the Spirit, “Come, Lord Jesus.  Come.”

I know that in Revelation 21:17 it says “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come.” Together, the Spirit and the bride say “Come.”  This is a joint operation.  They that walk after the Spirit do mind the things of the Spirit.  I want to go where the Spirit goes.  I want to walk where the Spirit walks.  O, that God would give us a holy hunger and heart for the things of God, and the things of the Spirit.

The Things of the Spirit, Part 7 (incomplete)

July 18, 2016

desertIntroduction

So we meet again.  And you are full aware of the topic we are preaching about.  We have spent the last 3 messages investigating this thing of being “carried away in the Spirit.”  We’ve been trying to acquaint ourselves with the “Things of the Spirit”; the things of the Holy Ghost.  I’m interested in the things of the Spirit.  Paul said that they that walk after the Spirit do mind the things of the Spirit.  I want to set my mind on those things.  That’s one way to get to know someone and have fellowship with someone; to take an interest in the things that interest that person?

John 14:16,17  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

YE KNOW HIM… Let me ask you this:  Do you know him?  Do you know the Holy Spirit of truth?  Or are we like those disciples in Ephesus when Paul asked them about the Holy Spirit?  Do you remember what they said?  “We have not heard whether there be any Holy Ghost!”  That’s where most Christians are today.  Oprah Whinfrey and Pentecostals have ripped off the doctrine of the Holy Ghost.  They have hijacked the Holy Spirit.  No, the world does not know the Spirit.  The world cannot receive him.  The world cannot see him.  But, YE KNOW HIM.  God’s people know the Holy Ghost; or at least they should…

I want to say this:  We ought to desire to be carried away in the Spirit like Ezekiel.  We ought to desire to be driven by the Spirit like Jesus Was.  John the apostle said, “And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain; and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.”

Song of Songs 2:10  My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

Song of Songs 2:13  …Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

I want to linger here in our study.  I don’t want to miss what god has for us.  Ah!  Must we be carried away in the Spirit?  Brother Wayne Henderson said, “Don’t ever let anyone tell you that there isn’t more!”  There is more.  There was more for Ezekiel.  There was more for John.  There was more for Paul.  Paul said, “That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. NOT as though I had already attained, either were already perfect:”  Do you know what Paul is saying?  He’s saying, “Don’t let anyone tell you that there isn’t more!”  Paul, in his admission that he’s not there yet, is declaring loud and clear that there’s more!  “But I follow after, if that  may apprehend that which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus…”  Paul is saying that God has apprehended me so that I may apprehend what God has for me.  I’m telling you God has MORE for us!

God did not save us…  Jesus did not die on a cross for us to just remain the same, and sit on a church pew and rot; to learn a few Christian doctrines and say a few prayers. No, he came that we might have LIFE and have it more more more more more MORE abundantly.  When I got save, God opened my eyes and let me see that I had EVERYTHING wrong.  Everything about me was wrong.  Everything inside me was wrong.  Everything we wrong.  And God, in his amazing grace, wants to change every bit of that. God wants to dramatically change your life, so much that he died on a cross, he took our sin upon him, and paid the wages of sin in order to achieve that in us.

God has MORE for us!  The world is saying that there isn’t more.  The devil is telling you that there isn’t more.  The flesh is telling you that there isn’t more.  Even the brethren, in the way they live their life, are telling you that there isn’t more.  Your own sluggish heart and mind are telling you that there isn’t more.  But I want to tell you today as an ambassador to the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the authority of the Word of God, that God has more for you!  Who told you that he didn’t?  What right do we have to limit the power and ability of God?  What right do we have to put God in in a little box and restrict him from doing his work?  Death couldn’t hold him.  The gates of hell did not prevail against him.  The grave couldn’t hold him.  Who has bewitched us into thinking and believing that there’s not MORE for God’s people.

God has more for you, that’s a fact.  The question is:  Do we want more of God?  The bible says, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they SHALL be filled…”  Filled with what?  With God.  On that great day of Pentecost, Peter stood up and said, “This is that which is spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days saith God, I will pour out of MY spirit upon all flesh…”

Ephesians 5:17,18  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 

God has more for us!  He said they SHALL be filled!  Filled with God!  He told Abraham, “I am thy exceeding great reward!”  In Paul’s letter to the Colossians talked about the “mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations.”  He says it’s “NOW made manifest to his saints:  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; WHICH IS Christ in you, the hope of glory:”

I want to linger here in the “things of the Spirit.” What more God has for you will not be found outside these things of the Spirit.  What more God has for you will not be found apart from his Holy Spirit.  Don’t ever let anyone one tell you that there’s not MORE to this thing.  Don’t ever be content in your walk with God.  You are what you believe.  If you believe that can’t go any further with God, guess what?  You won’t go any further with God.  If you believe that you’ve had enough of God, then guess what?  You’ve had enough of God.  But if you believe there’s more, it’s because it’s so.  He that believeth God must believe that he is and is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.  How many of you can honestly say that your are not where you were in your understanding of God when you first got saved?  When you 1st got save, your condition, your faith, your understanding..  Are you at the same point today?  What about 5 years ago?  What about 2 years ago?  What about 1?  If what you have is more, more powerful, more amazing, more intimate, more trustworthy, more beautiful, more sweet that it was before, then what makes us think that God is not capable of giving us more and more and more of himself in the days to come?

Ephesians 3:20  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

Philippians 1:6   Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

God has more for his people… Paul said:

Philippians 3:13,14  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 12:1,2  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;…

That’s what I want us to do now.  Let’s look unto Jesus in this matter of being carried away in the Spirit. We looked unto Ezekiel for three messages.  Let’s look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.

I want you to take Mark’s words to heart in the message: “the spirit DRIVETH him into the wilderness.”  I know others say “led”, but Mark gives us a better understanding:  DRIVETH HIM.  Let me ask it this way:  What is driving you?  Some are driven by money.  Some are driven by survival; driven by hunger and want.  Some are driven by greed.  Some are driven by their career; by success.  Some are driven by drugs; by beer.  Some are driven by fear; by anxiety.  What is it, that’s driving you?  I tell you this:  It was the Holy Ghost that drove Jesus into the wilderness.  They didn’t have cars back then to drive, but a car is a pretty good example.  If you were a car, then who’s driving that car?  Listen, a car CANNOT drive itself!  It needs a driver.  It needs someone who knows how to drive; someone who’s got eyes to see the road; someone who can get us safely from point A to point B; one that can swerve around all the dangers on the road; one that know where we’re going; one that knows the law and obeys it.  Amen?

You say, I don’t like the sound of that: “the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness…”  You say, I don’t want anybody driving me!  It sound like the Spirit is a slave driver.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t get very far trying to drive myself… Most people don’t.  And you know I’m telling the truth.  Why does everybody scatter when the boss comes around?  Everybody at work is having a great conversation, but when the boss comes around and wants to get in on it, suddenly nobody wants to talk anymore.  Why is it we find it a lot harder to day dream when the supervisor comes into the room?  Most people don’t DRIVE themselves.  It’ll get done when it gets done.  They may DRIVE to work, but I guarantee if anything is going to be accomplished, somebody better get in the driver’s seat!

So I want to look at this experience that Jesus had in the wilderness under the understanding that it’s the SPIRIT that driveth him into that wilderness.  Jesus didn’t just wander into the wilderness by accident.  He was driven there.  He was piloted there by the Holy Ghost.  He was led there by the Spirit. Jesus was walking AFTER the Spirit.  Jesus was filled with the Spirit and then walked after the Spirit and this wilderness is where Almighty God in the person of the Holy Ghost had Jesus to come.  Why is this so important?  Because whatever happens in this wilderness we must remember it was the Holy Spirit’s idea to bring Jesus in there.  Whatever happens and whatever is accomplished is the purpose and design of the Holy Ghost.  That’s a lesson that God taught Ezekiel when he was carried away in the Spirit.  He said:

Ezekiel 14:23 And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord GOD.

The Spirit may drive us into a wilderness someday, but it’s not without cause.  If the Spirit brings us to a place or a time, whatever is accomplished is of the Spirit’s cause; of his design and his purpose.  So I want to go over a few lessons that the Holy Ghost gives in the wilderness.

#1 The Difference Between the Word of God and Your Necessary Food

Matthew 4:3,4  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

I want to say this:  Some things are just more important than others.  Jesus made that very clear to Martha.

Luke 10:38-42  Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Mary chose that good part, to hear his word.  Something are just more important than others.  I believe Jesus was telling Martha the same thing that he told the old devil in the wilderness, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.  That’s a lesson Job learned for he said, “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food…”  I cannot live on bread alone!  There’s more to life than food.  Man SHALL NOT LIVE by bread alone, but by every word of that proceedeth from the mouth of God SHALL HE LIVE!  That word live…  I want to remind us where we’re at in Roman’s: chapter 8.  “For the law of the Spirit OF LIFE in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death…”  Remember the bible says that to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is what?  Life.  Life and peace.  Can I say this:  The life giving power of the Holy Ghost no doubt comes from or IS the word of God.  The life giving power of the Holy Ghost IS the word of God!

Hebrews 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart

Ephesians 6:13-17  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

You notice the very last thing that Paul speaks about is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  The life giving power of the Holy Ghost is his sword, the word of God.  That’s is the Spirit’s instrument of life and liberty.  If we want life, we are going to have to have the word of God.

Psalm 19:7-10  The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.  The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.  More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

The word of God is more to be desired than gold, and sweeter than honey.  Some things are just more important than others.

Psalm 1:1-3  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.  Jesus said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.  He believeth on me, as the scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water…”  Rivers of living water!  The bible says, “But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given…”  I’m just going to say this: The rivers of water in Psalm 1 is the power of the Holy Ghost.  We want to live for God.  We want to serve God.  We want the Holy Ghost to use us for the glory of God.  We’re going to have to put our delight in the Word of God.  Some things are just more important than others.  Jesus was filled with the Spirit of God, and was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness and fasted 40 days and 40 night and said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God…”

You can trust God’s word.  You can live by the word of God.  I love the word of god.  It’s a comfort to my soul.  It’s a lamp unto my fee, a light unto my path.  It’s my hope for the future.  It’s my history teacher of the lessons of the past.  The word of God is the thrill of my soul.  The word of God is the mind and heart of God and in it he demonstrates his love and care for me.  In it, he tells me of his thoughts toward me.  “Jesus love me, this I know, for the bible tells me so.”

John 1:1-2  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God…

John 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 

The Word of God, it tells me of his grace:  God’s riches at Christ’s expense.  It tells me the truth.  The Word of God is honest with me.  Let God be true and every man a liar.  The Berean Christians:  They received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.  The word of God is truth, or trustworth.  You can trust the word of God.  We got a lot on the line.  Our lives, our children’s lives, our souls, our loved ones… We can trust the word of God.  Some things are just more important than others.

Fitbit? (explain)

How about my bible reading?  My spiritual health is more necessary than my physical health.

Jude 1:20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

Lester Roloff said, “There’s only one thing that sheep eat.  And that’s sheep food.  Nothing will satisfy us like the word of God.  Nothing will sustain us like the word of God.  Nothing will nourish us like the word of God.  Nothing will strengthen us like the word of God.  Nothing will heal us like the word of God.  Nothing will restore us like the word of God.  I love the word of God.  It’s been a friend and companion these many years already.  Paul said to Timothy, “The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments..”  Timothy, bring the old scriptures.  Bring the old bible.

Prepping?  (explain)

Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of god.

Psalm 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

#2 The Difference Between Tempting God and Trusting God

I don’t think this would be recorded if it wasn’t important; if it wasn’t necessary..  And I think this applies well to the “once saved always saved” crowd.  That’s us, Baptists!

 

 

 

 

The Things of the Spirit, Part 5

May 22, 2016

Gebhard_Fugel_An_den_Wassern_BabylonsIntroduction

We are in the middle of our study of the book of Romans.  We’ve hit Chapter 8, where we’ve been introduced to the Holy Ghost.  We’re studying this matter of walking after the Spirit, and we’ve come to verse 5, that tells us that those that are after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit.  So we’ve been investigating the things of the Spirit.  We’ve covered beginning, praying, worshipping, waiting, sowing, reaping, speaking, preaching, and last time we met, being carried away in the Spirit.  And this brought us to Ezekiel and the valley of the dry bones.  And there we found an expression “the hand of the LORD was upon me” and went through the book of Ezekiel examining the experiences Ezekiel had associated with the hand of LORD being upon him.  We learned:

  1. The Word of the Lord comes expressly
  2. The Spirit of the Lord is strong
  3. The Glory of the Lord is remembered
  4. The Work of the Lord is uncomfortable
  5. The Servant of the Lord is vindicated

The Whereabouts of Ezekiel

“The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones…”  Ezekiel 37:1

We’re preaching about being carried away in the Spirit.  In Ezekiel, in Chapter 37, I want us to concentrate on this passage “…down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones…”  Do you see how this answers the question of where Ezekiel was carried away.  Where is it that the Spirit of God carries his servant?  Where can you expect to go being carried away in the Spirit?  I don’t know about you, but I want to go places with God.  I mean we have preaching for weeks about walking after the Spirit.  Well if we’re going to walk, where are we going?  Are we on some spiritual tread mill, or does the Holy Ghost take us places?  Did God not say, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” (Jeremiah 33:3)  Did the word of God not say, “…they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)  All I’m asking Ezekiel is, “When you were carried away in the Spirit, when the hand of the LORD was upon you, where did he take you?

So we are going to look at something particular:  Location, location, location.  I wanted to do this like last time and go through the experiences of Ezekiel and glean.  We’re actually going to focus on the his initial experience with God; we won’t have time to get into all of them.  And there were many locations.  He was by the river, in the plain, shut within his house, between heaven and earth, at Jerusalem, the gate of the Lord’s house, the inner court of the Lord’s house, the east gate of the Lord’s house, and in the valley.  He was set upon his feet, taken up, lifted up, taken away, set upon his feet, entered into, fell upon, carried out, and set down.  So Ezekiel and the Holy Ghost were very active.  And I wanted to hit all those, but alas I have to go where I believe I’m led.

The River of Chebar

So we want to go back at the experiences of Ezekiel and inquire as to the whereabouts of Ezekiel; see if we can glean some truth or help from the scriptures.  We want to go back to the beginning of Ezekiel where he had his first experience with God.  While he was among the captives by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and he saw visions from God.  This is a very amazing description of Ezekiel’s experience.  This is where he meets these four living creatures, supposedly cherubims.  They have four sets of wings, four faces, just amazing looking creatures.  And with these creatures are the wheels inside of wheels.  The bible says that they were “high and dreadful” and were “full of eyes”.  We’re going to get into that a little bit, but the first things I want to look at in this experience as far as the whereabouts of Ezekiel, is where he was when he got the vision from God.

The bible says that he was by the river Chebar.  Chebar is a large river that runs north into the Euphrates River.  It lies between the Tigris and the Euphrates in the heart of the modern day country Iraq.  They were in captivity nearly 500 miles from their homeland.  The Tigris and Euphrates were natural barriers to their location.  There was no getting out of that area.  The only way out was north around the wide deep parts of the Euphrates, up through Syria and down back to Israel.  Or straight over the river and through 500 miles of desert.  They were deep in the heart of the Babylonian Empire.  There was really no getting out.  How did they get there?

Ezekiel says that this first vision came in the fifth year of Jehoiachin’s captivity.  Now, I want you to get some perspective on this.  Who is Jehoiachin?  He’s Josiah’s grandchild.  Josiah was the last good king of the southern kingdom, the last good king of all Israel.  Most all, if not all, the kings of the northern kingdom were bad; they did evil in the sight of the Lord.  When Josiah came to power, the northern kingdom had already fallen.  The first wave of captives were taken away.  Josiah was rebuilding the house of God when the book of the Law was found.  Hilkiah the priest had found it, and had Shaphan the scribe bring it to Josiah.  When he read it aloud, Josiah rent his clothes and lamented, because it was now clear to him how far Israel had strayed from God and from everything God had commanded them to do, namely follow the book of the Law.

So Josiah killed the false priests and burned their bones on their own altars.  He broke down the altars to false gods.  He restored the Passover and the worship of the true God.  The bible says that “And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might…” The bible says, “…there was no Passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept…”  So there was something very special about Josiah and the Passover that he kept.  No doubt it captured the true spirit of worship that God had longed to see from his people.  I believe God gave them this worship.  Josiah had inquired of God, and Huldah, the prophetess, had told Josiah the imminent doom that awaited the kingdom of Judah.  However, because Josiah inquired and humbled himself before God, because he rent his clothes and wept before God, he would be spared and would not live to the see the judgment of God.  After that God let them have that last Passover, that wonderful Passover that no other Passover compared to.  He had that last Passover and after that, he would die.

Necho king of Egypt was coming up through Israel to wage war with Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.  Necho warned Josiah not to meddle, but to get out of the way.  Josiah refused and engaged Necho there in the valley of Megiddo.  He was shot by Necho’s archers and brought back to Jerusalem where he died.  His son Jehoahaz took over and ruled for only three months.  Necho marched into Israel all the way into Jerusalem and forced the nation to pay tribute of silver and gold.  He captured Jehoahaz, carried him back to Egypt, and made his brother king in his stead.  His name was Eliakim, but his name was changed to Jehoakim.  He reigned 10 to 11 year and during that time, Babylon rose to power over the Assyrians.  Nebuchadnezzar king of Bablyon came up against Judah and bound Jehoakim in fetters and carried him off to Babylon, and left Jehoiachin, Josiah’s grandchild, in charge.  So Josiah did good and was spared, but upon his sons the wrath of God fell.  Jehoahaz was carried off to Egypt.  Joehoiakim was carried off to Babylon.

So when Jehoiachin came to power, things were not looking good.  The northern kingdom was desolate, conquered by Assyria and carried off into captivity.  Necho of Egypt had killed his grandpa and carried away his uncle.  Nebuchadnezzar had came in and conquered the land and carried off the vessels of the house of the Lord and put them in the temple at Babylon, and carried off his dad.  So half the nation is gone, his family is gone, the Passover and worship is gone.  The bible says that Jehoiachin reigned only three months and ten days in Jerusalem.  I wonder what those three months were like?  Everything that was important or meant something was gone.  The days of David were over.  Instead of conquering, they were now the conquered.  The days of Solomon had passed.  There was no riches, no gold, and they paid tribute to other nations.  When Jehoiachin came to power, they were one king away from complete and utter desolation.

Nebuchadnezzar comes a second time against Jerusalem, and Jehoiachin did not fair any better than his father Jehoiakim.  2 Kings 24:10-16

At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it. And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said. And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.

And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

It was this deportation that Ezekiel was part of.  It was a very sad time and a very poor condition the children of Israel were in.  This was the second trail of tears for the children of Israel.  This was the condition that Ezekiel is found in.  It was this condition that Psalm 137 was wrote:

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.  We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.  For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the LORD’S song in a strange land?

It was there by the river Chebar.  It was there in their captivity, in their defeat, and in their sorrow that God revealed himself to Ezekiel.  We’re talking about being carried away in the Spirit.  Can I say this?  Spiritually, we aren’t going anywhere with pride.  Isaiah 57:14 says, “Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.”  We’ll never get anywhere with God with a proud and haughty spirit.  Pride is the greatest stumbling block before God’s people.  That spirit and the Holy Spirit, don’t walk together.  So before we look at where Ezekiel was carried away to, we get a glimpse of where the Spirit carried him from.

Before Ezekiel was given probably the greatest experience of his life, he had to go through some tough times.  He experienced king after king turning from God, and seeing his nation fall to it’s knees (not in prayer, but in defeat).  He experienced being captured, enslaved, and dragged across 1000 miles to a strange land.  He experienced humility of the most bitter flavor.  Hopeless and defeated, he sat by the river.  Where was God?  This was the fifth year of Jehoiachin’s captivity.  Ezekiel was there in the depths of his despair, in the morbid reality that God had removed his hand from the children of Israel.  But it was there that God in his mercy and care, decided to place his hand upon Ezekiel.  The bible says:

For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. (Isaiah 57:15)

Quickly, I want to give you this list.  Remember, walking after the Spirit, chapter 8, is the antidote for chapter 7.  In chapter 7, Paul says, “So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”  In my mind, I want to serve the law of God, but in the flesh I just can’t seem to do it.  But then in chapter 8, he says, “Ah…”

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath 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 sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

For what the law could not do.  The law used sacrifice and offering to deal with sin. So I want to give you a quick list of the things that God esteems higher than sacrifice and offerings.

  1. The sacrifice of the body of Christ is acceptable to God.  Hebrews, chapter 10, says, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins…  Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared for me…  Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God… we are all sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”.
  2. Genuine, sincere love of God is acceptable to God.  Mark 12:33 “And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
  3. Obedience to God is acceptable to God.  1 Samuel 15:22 “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
  4. (This is where we’re at today)  Psalm 51:16-17 “For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt-offering. The sacrifice of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”  A broken spirit, and a broken and a contrite heart is acceptable to God.

This is where you’ll find God.  This is where we find Ezekiel.  We’re talking about the whereabouts of Ezekiel, location, location, location.  I want to say that Ezekiel was where God was.  God was where Ezekiel was.  The Spirit of God did not just show up with Ezekiel and carry him away through this mountain top experience of the vision, but he was with him and had carried him through the valley.  God was with Ezekiel through the tears and through the pain.  How do you know this?  Because God said,  “I dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit..”  A broken heart and a contrite and humble spirit God esteems more highly than all the sacrifices and burnt offerings.  Sacrifices are supposed to atone for sin.  They’re supposed to appease God.  They’re supposed to satisfy God.  But nothing satisfies God, but a broken heart, a contrite and humble spirit.  There were no more sacrifices.  There were no more offerings.  There was no more temple.  There was no more house of God.  But found a dwelling place with Ezekiel.

O, the worth and value to god of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  I want to also add to this that God esteems a broken heart and a humble spirit MORE than heaven and earth.  God spent six days creating heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he sat back and rested and looked at his work and said it was good.  God created heaven and earth, but this is what he has to say about it:

Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.  (Isaiah 66:1,2)

He said, heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool, BUT to this man will I look.  This man is where my attention lies.  This man that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word, this man do I esteem more than heaven and earth.  Ezekiel is this man.  Can I say this?  You can be that man too.  You can be that man too if you humble yourself before the mighty hand of God.  Now Ezekiel was that man and God dwelt with him.  And because he was that man, he got to see the heavens opened and the visions of God.  He got to see the throne of God.

God said, “I dwell with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”  The work of the Holy Spirit is to revive the spirit of the humble and revive the heart of the contrite ones.  Jesus said that he would send a Comforter, a comforter of the soul.  What comfort it must of been for Ezekiel to hear from God in the manner that he did?  Paul said to the Corinthians, “Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us…” (2 Cor 7:6)  God has reserved his most comforting, healing, medicine only to those that are sick, those that are broken.  Jesus said, “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick.”  (Mark 2:17)  David said, “Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou has broken may rejoice.”  The Spirit of God comforts.  The Spirit of God heals.  The Spirit of God revives!  What was it that Jesus said of the Spirit?

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.  (Luke 4;18,19)

The River of Chebar, it was place of sadness, yes.  A place of sorrow, brokenness, and humility.  But God was there. God had led them there.  If you truly have asked God to lead you and walk with you, I believe he’ll do it.  It may not always be mountain top experiences and smiles and high-fives, especially if you stray from the Lord.  But I’ll say this, or Paul also said this in chapter 8 of Romans, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

The Four Living Creatures and the Wheels

The Spirit of the Lord was upon Ezekiel by the river Chebar, in sadness and defeat, in sorrow and despair.  That’s where God opened up the heavens and made himself know to Ezekiel.  Utlimately, he sees the throne of God.  But before we go there, I want to look at his journey there.  I want you to see look at the things Ezekiel saw before he saw the throne.   The first thing (or things) that Ezekiel saw were four living creatures.   The bible says:

And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. (Ezekiel 1:4.5)

These four living creatures, many believe that these are actually cherubims, angels.  When we think of an angel, we usually think of someone dressed in a white robe with some white wings on their back.  But I want you see the description of these:

  1. (5) Shape:  They had the likeness of man.
  2. (6) Four faces: (10) man, lion, ox, and eagle.
  3. Wings:
    1. (6) four wings each
    2. (11) two wings stretched upward, two wings covered their body.
    3. (24) the noise of their wings was like the noise of great waters
    4. (9) their wings were joined one to another
  4. Feet:
    1. (7) like calf’s feet,
    2. sparkled like the colour of burnished brass
  5. Hands:
    1. (8) Hands of man beneath their wings
    2. Four hands?
  6. Appearance:
    1. (13) like burning coals of fire
    2. like lamps
    3. it went up and down the living creatures
    4. the fire was bright
    5. out of the fire went forth lightening
  7. Motion
    1. (9) they turned not when they went
    2. they went every one straight
    3. (14) ran and returned  as the appearance of a flash of lightening.

And then, along with these living creatures, were wheels.  I’m not even going to attempt to try to interpret what these wheels were or what they represented.  All I can tell you is that there were wheels.  And I want to describe them for you also.  Ezekiel 1:15,16,18

Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.  The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.  When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went…  As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.

Like I said, I don’t know what these wheels are other than they are wheels and apparently they’re very dreadful.  But there is something about them and the four living creatures I want you to see now that we have it in our mind what they look like.  I want you to first look at verse 19.  “And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.”  The latter part of verse 20 says, “for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.”  And then verse 21 says “When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.”  So it looks like to me that wherever those creatures went the wheels went to.  They moved together.  They stood together.  They were lifted up together.  Whatever the creature did, the wheel did too. Amen?  Now look at verse 12.  The wheels are not mentioned until verse 15.  In verse 12, he’s speaking of the creatures:

And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.

Whither the spirit was to go, they went.  You realize that this is actually the first time that “the spirit” is mentioned in Ezekiel.  This is not the spirit of the living creatures as in verse 20 and 21.  This is another Spirit.  Let’s read all of verse 20 now:

Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

This is what I’m getting out of this:  Wherever the spirit was to go, the living creatures went.  Thither was their spirit to go. That means “toward that place” was their spirit to go.  “Their” is the living creatures.  So wherever the sprit went, the living creatures went, and wherever the living creatures went, the wheels went.  So this is the picture I’m getting.  The spirit is the Holy Spirit, and wherever the Holy Spirit goes, the creatures go and the wheels go.  So what does that mean for you and me?  If we are going to walk after God, if we are going to walk after the Spirit, guess who’s going to be there too.  The creatures and the wheels!  You say, “Preacher, I’ve never heard that before in my life!”  Well neither have I.

But keep in mind:

  1. It was an angel that gave Hagar hope in the wilderness
  2. It was angels rescued Lot from Sodom
  3. It was angels accompanied Jacob on his way to meet Esau
  4. It was the angel of God that went before the camp of Israel in the wilderness
  5. It was an angel that drove out the Caananites, Amorites, Hittites, and Perizzites our of Caanan
  6. It was an angel that stood before Balaam
  7. It was an angel that spoke to Gideon
  8. It was an angel that touched Elijah under the Juniper tree
  9. It was an angel that smote the Assyrians and sent Sennacherib away
  10. It was an angel that shut the mouth of the lion and rescued Daniel
  11. It was an angel that spoke to Mary
  12. It was an angel that appeared before Joseph
  13. It was an angel that appeared before Zechariah
  14. Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit, was driven into the wilderness, and after his encounter with the devil, it was angels that ministered unto him.
  15. It was an angel that rolled the stone back from Jesus tomb
  16. It was an angel that opened the prison door and set the apostles free
  17. It was an angel that spoke to Phillip and led him to the Ethiopian
  18. It was an angel that spoke to Cornelius
  19. It was an angel that stood by Paul on the boat to Rome and comforted him

So is it so odd to know that where the Holy Spirit goes, the cherubims and the wheels also go?  David said, “The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.”  (Psalm 91:11,12) “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.  They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Listen, we’re not walking alone.  The bible says, (Psalm 68:17) “The chariots of God are twenty thousand , even thousands of angels…”  When the king of Syria came up against Israel,  God kept telling Elisha where he was going, and Elisha would warn king of Israel, and at least three times, Israel was saved.  So the king of Syria got mad and said who keeps giving me away and his servants told him “It’s Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel.  He’s telling the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bed chamber.”    So the king said, “Well, where’s Elisha?  Let’s go get him!”  They found him in the city of Dothan, and they surrounded him with horses, and chariots, a great host, and compassed the city about, surrounded the city.  And Elisha’s servant woke up early that morning and saw that they were surrounded, and said “Alas, my master! how shall we do?”  Elijah said:

Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.  Elijah prayed and said, Lord, I pray the, open his eyes, that he may see.  And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.  (2 Kings 6:16,17)

Wherever the Holy Ghost goes, the cherubims go, and wherever the cherubims go, the wheels go.  To walk after the Holy Ghost is not to walk alone.  “Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them…”

The Throne of God

Well, where did they go?   Where did the spirit go and the four living creatures and the wheels.  Let’s read vs 26-28

And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

The throne of God and the glory of God.  Paul said in the letter to the Hebrews (4:16), “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  If you put this verse together with Romans chapter 8 and the experience of Ezekiel, and I don’t know how to put it together.  I don’t know how to present this to you, but let me tell you what I see.  When we walk after the Spirit of God, when we are filled with the Holy Ghost, this is where he leads us:  the throne of grace.  And this tells us and demonstrates to us the intentions and motives of the Holy Ghost.  This is what the sweet Holy Spirit wants us to have: mercy and grace to help in time of need.  This is where the Holy Spirit leads us.

Mercy and grace.  Ah that’s why Ezekiel fell upon his face: because he needed mercy and grace.  That’s why Isaiah, when he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple, and he saw the seraphims that cried “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of host,” when he saw this, he said, “Who is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips… for mine eyes have see the King, the Lord of hosts”  That’s why Peter fell down at Jesus kness’ and said, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord”  They needed mercy and grace.

Remember the other days when I read that excerpt from that sermon, The Knowledge of God, by Edward D. Griffin fomr 1836?  What did he say?

Why should you not aim at the eminence of Enoch and Moses and David and Elijah?  (And to this I add Ezekiel) The same God that raised them so high still reigns, and is accessible to you.  You may go to that exhaustless store-house and take as much as you please.  Why denumb every effort by the miserable calculation that it is not for you to attain such eminence?  Who told you so but your own sluggish heart?

The reason why we can be raised as high at Enoch and Moses and David and Elijah and Ezekiel, is because we can be as low as they have been.  Humble yourselves before the mighty hand of God and we lift you up.  Ezekiel said, “I fell upon my face…”

 

 

 

The Things of the Spirit, Part 4

January 8, 2016

Introduction

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.  Romans 8:5

We’ve covered specific things (of the Spirit) that can be done, or must be done in the Spirit or through the Spirit.

  1. Beginning in the Spirit
  2. Praying in the Spirit
  3. Worshipping in the Spirit
  4. Waiting in the Spirit
  5. Sowing to the Spirit & Reaping of the Spirit
  6. Speaking and Preaching in the Spirit

We add one more to our study:  Carried Away in the Spirit.

And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,  Revelation 21:10

Carried away in the Spirit.  There’s three areas (or people) in the bible that this concept or idea present itself:  Ezekiel, Jesus, and John.  And all three are almost supernatural, out of body type experiences.  There’s no doubt about that.  I’m not going to try to diminish that aspect of it.  The focus must be not on the experience itself, but the means of that: the Spirit of Almighty God.  By studying these things and learning about being “carried away” in the Spirit, we learn about the character and workings and ways of the Holy Ghost.  In other words, we cover these things not so that we can endeavor to have some miraculous spiritual experience, but that we endeavor to know God, to know God the Holy Ghost.

fourlivingcreaturesEzekiel

The first of the three people in the bible I want to look at is the prophet Ezekiel.  In the book of Ezekiel, chapter 39, the passage regarding the valley of the dry bones, Ezekiel says, “The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD…”  So we’re going to look at Ezekiel and this passage to learn more of the Holy Ghost.

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

First, before we get into this passage.  I want to give you a little bit of information regarding Ezekiel.  Ezekiel is one of the five major books of the prophets; Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Daniel being the others.  Ezekiel is probably best know for it’s prophetic imagery throughout the book:

We recognize all these images from the book of Ezekiel.  We don’t ever really hear a lot of preaching out of this book.  It’s very similar to the book of The Revelation.  People are somewhat hesitant sometimes to get into these.  It is beneficial to understand the history of the kings, and of the captivity, and of other prophets, and other lands like Assyria and Babylon, and things like that in order to get a better understanding of the book.  It’s not a must, but it’s helpful.  There’s some amazing lessons and topics in this book.  One thing to consider is that all these images (There’s many more that what I just listed) were given to Ezekiel while, as the bible says, “the hand of the Lord” was upon him.  In fact, an overall consideration that should dictate our understanding of this book is the very first verse:

Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

Do you remember what Stephen, filled with the Holy Ghost, said as they stoned him there?  He said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.”  What happened when Jesus came up out of the River Jordan, and the Holy Ghost descended upon him?  The bible says that the heavens opened; and the voice of God came out of there.  Ezekiel said, “I saw visions of God.”  Let ask you this:  Does God reveal himself to his people today?  Ezekiel was given all these visions of God and the visions of things to come, while under heavy influence of the Spirit of God.  Ezekiel was “under the influence” so to speak.  However, he was not filled with wine wherein is excess, but he was filled with the Holy Spirit.  Remember, what did Peter tell us in the New Testament regarding the prophets?

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

So when we read the book of Ezekiel we should mind the fact that this is a recording of a personal powerful experience with God.  The heavens were opened, and Ezekiel looked into heaven and God revealed these things to him; gave him these visions, these images.  And Ezekiel lived to tell us about it!  This is what happened to Ezekiel in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month.  What we are reading is Ezekiel’s personal experience with God and the Spirit of God on that day.

So we look at the book of Ezekiel today, not necessarily to know the interpretations of all the historical details of the prophecies; or to understand which prophecy has come to pass or will come to pass; or to guess about the future and things to come. Not today, at least.  We look at the impact of the Spirit of God on the prophet Ezekiel.  What can we learn about the Spirit of God through the experiences of Ezekiel?  What kind of things happen to Ezekiel when he’s “carried away” in the Spirit?  Why do need to know this?  Because, they walk after the Spirit, mind the things of the Spirit.

The Hand of the LORD

With this in mind, we go back to the valley of the dry bones, where Ezekiel was carried away by the Spirit of the LORD.  The first thing I want us to cover is something you see through out all of Ezekiel’s experience.  There’s eight different places through out the book of prophecy that speak directly concerning Ezekiel’s experience.  The valley of the dry bones is just one of them.  Five out of the eight times something happens, Ezekiel always seems to mention something:  “the hand of God.”  It must be important for him to mention it so much.

The Word of the LORD Comes Expressly

The very beginning of the book, when the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel the priest, when the heavens were first opened to him, the bible says that the “hand of the LORD was there upon him.”  I want to bring your attention to how the word of the LORD came.  The bible says in verse three, “The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river of Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.”  The word of the LORD came expressly.  What does that mean?  It means clearly, directly, plainly, distinctly, unambiguously, unequivocally, absolutely, emphatically.  When God is speaking to you, and the hand of God is upon you, you will know without a shadow of a doubt that God is talking to you.  The word of the LORD came expressly.  The Hebrew word for “came” is hayoh.  The Hebrew word for “expressly” is the same word pronounced hayah.  There really isn’t a word in Hebrew for expressly.  By repeating the word, it conveys the meaning “expressly.”  So in Hebrew “expressly came” is translated hayah hayoh.  They just repeat the word.  In Hebrew you’re actually saying the word of the LORD came came.  The word of the LORD double came!  It’s like when we say, “I DOUBLE dare you!”  You are actually saying I emphatically dare you.  Or I expressly dare you.  When God touches you, when God puts his hand upon you, you’re gonna know it.  One effect of the hand of God, is the word of the LORD comes expressly.

Those two on the road to Emmaus, after Jesus had spoken to them, they said, “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures?”  They knew there was something different when Jesus talked with them along the way.  All I’m saying is that God is not going to reveal anything to you until he places his wonderful, powerful, merciful, blessed hand upon you.  Isaiah said, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?”  Do you know what’s at the end of the arm of God?  The hand of God.  Can I say this:  No arm, no report.  No hand, no word.  When you put the hand of God to the word of God, then you’ll have the work of God.  What are saying preacher?  You’ll know when God takes hold of the word of God.  Let me put it like this:  You’ll know when hand of the LORD wields the sword of the LORD.

The Spirit of the LORD is Strong

One of the more popular passages in Ezekiel is the one concerning the watchman. This is found in Chapter 3 and also Chapter 33.  We’ll be in Chapter 3:14.  I’m not going to read the warning to the watchman.  What I’m going to read is what happened right before Ezekiel was delivered this warning.  In fact, this is before God gives Ezekiel any of these visions and prophecies.  God’s just getting started.  Ezekiel just been called to preach.  He’s seen the four living creatures; he’s seen the throne of God and the glory of God; he had to eat that roll (not a bread roll, but a scroll roll).  God has told him to “go, get thee to them of the captivity… and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God…”  He told them not to worry about their looks.  Don’t be afraid.  Now, he hadn’t done any preaching yet.  In fact, I want you to hear this (vs 12,13):  “I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing… I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures… the noise of the wheels… and a noise of a great rushing.”  What was it that Peter and the disciples heard in the upper room as they were endued with power on high?  What was it that they heard as they were filled with the Holy Ghost?  “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.”  Let me ask you this:  Is it possible that they heard what Ezekiel heard?

It was the first time that Peter preached.  Jesus told them to “tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.”  So with power from on high, Peter preached his first sermon.  What’s another word for power?  Strength.  I want you to see this in verse 14:  “So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.” Another characteristic of the hand of God is strength and power from on high.  Now this power manifests itself differently at different times in different people.  When Peter was endued, he stood up and preached.  But look what happened to Ezekiel (vs 15,16) “Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.  And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me…”  Verse 14 said while the hand of the LORD was strong upon him, he was in bitterness and in the heat of his spirit.  That means, in the anger of his spirit, the fury and wrath of his spirit.  He sat there at the river and sat where they sat and was astonished seven days.  That means to be filled with consternation, dismay and distress.  They say that the power of God will give you holy boldness like Peter.  But Ezekiel, it wasn’t boldness, it was bitterness.  He didn’t stand up and preach.  He sat down and wept.

What was the impact of the Spirit of God on the prophet Ezekiel?  I’ll say this: everybody’s experience with God is different, but it’s the same hand of God; the same Spirit of strength and power.  God’s power is going to manifest itself differently at different times in different people.  Interestingly, look at the message that God gave him after those seven days.  After that great experience with God, after he saw the glory of God and God told him to go, and after he sat seven days with the sinful people of the captivity, waiting to give them the word of God, when finally the message came, it wasn’t a message for them.  It was a message for Ezekiel himself.  God said, “You better warn the wicked to turn from their wicked ways, or I’ll require their blood from YOUR hands!”  To whom much is given, much will be required.  Yes, the hand of God is strong and powerful, but to be carried away in the Spirit is to be brought to a purpose and with it comes responsibility.

The Glory of the LORD is Remembered

This really gets more interesting as we look the hand of the Lord in Ezekiel’s experiences.  So he’s been commissioned to go the people of the captivity, and tell them, “Thus saith the LORD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.  And the first message he gets to preach is not to them, but to himself.  That alone ought to be a message to us.  Nevertheless, his experience with God goes on.  The next one, (3:22) begins with hand of the LORD.  “And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee.  Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face.”  Now I don’t know how much time passed between verse 21 and 22, but apparently some time has passed.  What we see here is that he’s now come to a place in the plain where the glory of the LORD is.  And he makes it known that it’s “as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar…”  He said “It’s just like it was back when I was at the river.”  He remembered back when the heavens were opened up before him at the river of Chebar.  He remembered the four living creatures, and the wheels in the sky, and the throne of God and glory of God.  (1:28) “This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.  And when I saw it, I fell upon my face…”  And when the hand of the LORD was upon him and brought him to that plain, the bible said, “…behold, the glory of the LORD stood there.”  And he said, “Hey, that’s the glory of God and it’s just like it was before.”

Can I say this:  God doesn’t change.  “Jesus Christ is same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”  Hey I remember that day I got saved.  I remember when I had a head on collision with glory of God.  I remember in the wretchedness of my sin, I met God.  I remember when I fell on my face.  It was horrible to be lost.  It was horrible to be without hope.  It was terror to before a Holy God.  But can I say this:  It was glorious.  It was an experience filled with the glory of God.  Oh it was glorious when Jesus whispered in my ear that he loved me and wanted to save me.  It was glorious to finally, for the first time in my life, fall on my face and call upon the name of the Lord; and cast myself on the mercy of God.   It was glorious.  And I thank God that sometimes, the hand of the LORD still brings me to a place where I find God and I can say, “That’s the same glory which I saw by the river of Chebar.”  And I can still fall on my face before the glory of God.  We can grow cold on God.  It’s easy to do.  Ah!  Like that old songs says: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love…”  But by the hand of God, he brings us back to that place; a place where we can worship him before his glory.  And we need to go to a place like that.

I don’t know about anybody else, but I had times I’ve told God, “I need to hear from you Lord!  I need something.  I need to see something or I don’t think can go on anymore like this.”  I remember when Patty was pregnant with Carina.  We didn’t know what we were going to do.  We didn’t have no doctor, no midwife, nothing.  We didn’t want a doctor.  We didn’t trust any.  We still don’t.  So I was scared.  I was scared we’d lose the baby; and with no doctor and no midwife, if something went wrong, I was scared we’d lose all our kids.  I didn’t tell God, “Thy will be done.  Whatever your will be Lord, I’ll be okay with it.”  No I didn’t say that.  I said, “Lord, if we lose this baby, I’m not gonna make it.  I won’t have the strength to press on.  I’ll be done.”  But by the hand of God, the glory of God stood there.  I couldn’t fall on my face, I was driving to work.  But if I could, I would have.  I needed that.  And God knows we need that.  I don’t know what you’re going through, but I know there’s no peace like the presence of God.  God knows we need that.  Ezekiel needed that.  Look at what happens next to him.

(vs 24-26) Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house. But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them: And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house.

Thou shalt be dumb?  If I was Ezekiel, I would have gone nuts.  Lord, you called me to preach!  Lord you told me to go!  Lord you even warned me of the consequences if I didn’t go!  Lord why are you making me dumb?  Why are you taking away my speech if you want me to preach?  But that’s not what he said.  Listen, it doesn’t have to make sense if the glory of God is there.  It doesn’t have to make sense if the hand of the LORD is there upon you.  That’s the only reason Ezekiel didn’t go mad; because he knew it was of God because he remembered the glory.

The Work of the LORD is Uncomfortable.

(8:1) “And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.”  You know, we try to worship God in church.  We praise God in church.  People lift up their hands, they cry, they shout, they drop down to ground in prayer.  I mean there’s not a lot of that here, but in some churches, there’s a lot of what Jonathan Edwards called, religious affections.  Jonathan Edwards, one of the great preachers of the Great Awakening was greatly criticized because during his services they said there was much swooning, and emotional outbursts, and things like that.  And then we try to worship God alone in prayer.  Some people actually have a secret place, a place where they can get alone and talk to God.  And in your prayer closet, you can kinda open up and let go so to speak.  You don’t have to be self-conscience about how you behave before God; there’s nobody looking.  You can weep, shout, and lift up holy hands before the Lord.  You can be like Hannah; incoherent.  The Lord knows what you’re trying to say.

What I’m saying is that there’s an appointed time and place for all this. But that’s not the case for Ezekiel.  He had the elders of Judah over to his house. I really don’t know what they there for.  This was during the captivity.  Maybe they were having a political meeting.  Maybe they were discussing important concerns of the people: food, shelter, their captors, their condition.  Who knows?  Nevertheless, Ezekiel had these people over, and in the middle of this party, the hand of the LORD falls upon him.  Remember, God called Ezekiel to preach to these people.  Ezekiel was God’s servant.  And in the middle of this gathering, God said, “We’re going to have one of those visions right now!”  The work of the LORD is uncomfortable.  “We’re not going to do this in the temple, or by the river Chebar, or even out in a plain. No, in your house and before the elders of Judah that sit before you.  Right now, we’re going to open up heaven, and you’re going to get your vision right now.”

I want you to notice, that it says, “… the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.” I don’t want you to think that God just gently touched Ezekiel on the back and whisper a little something in his ear.  No.  The hand of the Lord GOD fell upon Ezekiel.  That means it was sudden.  That means it was heavy.  That means it had weight.  That words means to collapse.  In other parts of the bible that word means to attack, like in the book of Job.  When Job lost all his cattle. The Sabeans fell upon them, and the servants were slain by the sword.  The hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon Ezekiel.  Walking after the Spirit, serving God in the Spirit, being carried away in the Spirit, is not necessarily going to take us places that are comfortable and put us in situations that are comfortable.  Ezekiel didn’t exactly blend in with the crowd.  No. We’re supposed to be a that city upon a hill, the candle upon the candlestick.  You’re out there where everyone can see.

Notice also the actual vision.  He saw a likeness as the appearance of fire.  It was fire in the shape of a man.  “And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven.”  I don’t know about you, but I don’t appreciate someone pulling me a long by my hair; much less lifting me up between heaven and earth.  Hey that hurts!  Wouldn’t you say that being lifted up by your hair is uncomfortable?  The flesh is comfortable.  The flesh is normal.  Walking after the flesh means nothing changes in your life.  It will always be that even keel.  There’s no rocking the boat.  I tell you this:  The bible says, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”  They that are after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit.  The things of the Spirit are not for the natural man.  If you want to stay carnal, if you want to keep walking after the flesh, then just do nothing.  Believe nothing.  Don’t rock the boat.  Don’t put yourself into any discomfort.  Let the only thing that guides your “so-called” walk with God be your comfort.  Phillipians 3:18-19 “(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)”  Romans 8:7, Paul says that the carnal mind is enmity against God.  Follow after your own belly.  Follow after your own comforts, the earthly things, and you’ll be an enemy of God.  No. Walking after the Spirit, being carried away by the Spirit, is not comfortable.  It may even hurt.

And then look at the actual vision:  This was the vision of the seat of the image of jealousy.  This is where God took Ezekiel to that little hole in the wall.  And he dug, and he found a door, and Ezekiel went in.  What did he see?  He saw seventy elders of Israel worshipping ever creeping and abominable beast.  He saw Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan in the midst of them.  Who was Jaazaniah?  Shaphan was a scribe to Hilkiah the high priest during the reign of Josiah.  Josiah was the king that brought revival back to Israel.  They found the word of God again during the reign of Josiah.  Josiah tore down the altars to false gods and did good in the sight of the LORD.  Well, when they found that old bible and brought it to Hilkiah the high priest, he gave to Shaphan to read to the people.  Shaphan was there when Israel turned to God.  Shaphan knew hand of God and the mercy of God.  So what must have it felt, when Ezekiel looked into that door and saw the son of Shaphan, Jaazaniah worshipping beasts?  Jaazaniah was a ruler.  His father had done good in the sight of God.  But his son had forsaken God and gone after other Gods.  What else did he see?  He saw the women of Israel weeping for Tammuz.  Tammuz was a false god.  They were observing a ritual where they worshipped this god by weeping for Tammuz.  It was a funeral of this god.  In Babylonia, there’s even a month named after this god and that’s when they performed this funeral for Tammuz and wept over the false god.  Well Ezekiel found the women of Israel weeping for Tammuz.  What else did he see?  Verse 16 “And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.”

These were not from some foreign nation.  These were not the Assyrian or the Babylonians.  These were his own people.  These were the elders of Israel.  These were the rulers, the scribes.  These were the women of Israel.  These were not strangers, people that Ezekiel didn’t know.  They were people he knew, and people he saw every day.  He knew their names. It was people in his own house.  “I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.”  There’s nothing more uncomfortable than the people of your own house that are strangers to God.  It’s one thing to see a stranger in sin; but it’s another thing when it’s your brother or your sister in the depths of sin, or your mother or father that is carried away in iniquity, or your own children in sin.  The bible says that judgement must begin in the house of God.  This country is in dire straits.  And the problems we face are not in white house. It’s not in the school house.  But it’s in the church house.  There isn’t anything comfortable about that.

The Servant of the LORD is Vindicated

(33:21) “And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten. Now the hand of the LORD was upon me in the evening, afore he that was escaped came; and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.”  In the twelfth year of our captivity.  For twelve years, or at the most twelve years, God has given vision to Ezekiel.  And all these visions were concerning the nation of Israel and city Jerusalem.  There’s some visions of other nations.  But the primary subject were the nation of Israel.  The fall of the nation of Israel did not just happen overnight.  There were two halves of the nation.  There was the northern kingdom and then there was the southern kingdom.  The north was the first to fall.  Many of them were carried away into captivity.  And then the southern kingdom did not just fall overnight.  There was a time when they paid tribute to another nation.  That is a pictured of a conquered nation, but not necessarily a desolate nation.  The southern kingdom, Judah, with Jerusalem as her capitol with every king lost more and more power; lost more and more sovereignty, until finally, the city was smitten.

(2 Kings 25:8-11) And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house burnt he with fire. And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about. Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away.

So all this time that Ezekiel was getting visions of God while he was in captivity, Jerusalem and the temple were still in alive and kicking.  But the visions that God gave him were foretelling the fall of Jerusalem.  You look at the two visions of the two sisters Aholah and Aholibah.  Ahola was the elder.  Ahola was Samaria, the northern kingdom.  She committed whoredoms and was judged, but the little sister Aholibah didn’t learn from the elder.  Aholibah which was Jerusalem also went after other gods.  There was time to repent.  There was time to turn from that wickedness.  Ezekiel wasn’t the only prophet.  They were warned not to go down that path, but they did anyway.  The visions that God gave Ezekiel were a foretelling of the fall of Jerusalem:

(12:17-20) Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness; And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein. And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

So now (In Chapter 33) the hand of the LORD was upon Ezekiel again, and something happened.  One of those fugitives from Jerusalem escaped and came to Ezekiel and gave him the news:  The city is smitten.  He gave him the news that city of Jerusalem had fallen and was made desolate.  The word of the LORD had come to pass.  If we put our trust and faith in the word of GOD and believe what he’s telling us, we can rest assured that His word will come to pass.  Whatever God says will come, will come to pass.  One day, in that sweet forever, we’ll be on the other side of this bible.  We’re going to know it.  And they’re going to know it.  (33:33) “And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.”  There’s vindication by the hand of God.

All the people that looked down upon you because you didn’t want to go their way will know.  All the people that criticized you for trying to follow God will know.  Even all the people that agreed with you, but didn’t heed the warning will know.  (33:31) “And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them…”   All the times you doubted will be erased away.  All the times you questioned God and didn’t understand where all this was going will be washed away by the hand of the LORD.

Conclusion

This brings us back to Chapter 37, back to the valley of the dry bones where Ezekiel is carried out in the spirit of the LORD.  We’re using this passage as a sort of outline to detail and catalogue Ezekiel’s experience with God.  Remember the book of Ezekiel is a recording of a personal powerful experience with God.  The heavens were opened, and Ezekiel looked into heaven and God revealed these things to him; gave him these visions, these images.  This is what happened to Ezekiel in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month.  What we are reading is Ezekiel’s personal experience with God and the Spirit of God on that day.  We looked at the book of Ezekiel today, not necessarily to know the interpretations of all the historical details of the prophecies or to understand which prophecy has come to pass or will come to pass; but we looked at the impact of the Spirit of God on the prophet Ezekiel.  We learn about the Spirit of God through the experiences of Ezekiel because they that walk after the Spirit, mind the things of the Spirit.

Working Outline

Here’s a section of the my current working outline out of this study of Romans, just in case anyone is wondering how I got so far from Romans:

Romans 8:5 The Things of the Spirit

  1. Beginning in the Spirit
  2. Praying in the Spirit
  3. Worshipping in the Spirit
  4. Waiting in the Spirit
  5. Sowing to the Spirit & Reaping of the Spirit
  6. Speaking and Preaching in the Spirit
  7. Carried Away in the Spirit
    1. Ezekiel (37) The Valley of the Dry Bones
      1. The Hand of the Lord “The Hand of the LORD was upon me…”
        1. The Word of the LORD Comes Expressly (1:3)
        2. The Spirit of the LORD is Strong (3:14)
        3. The Glory of the LORD is Remembered (3:22,23)
        4. The Work of the LORD is Uncomfortable (8:1)
        5. The Servant of the LORD is Vindicated (33:21)
      2. The Whereabouts of Ezekiel “…and set me down in the midst of the valley…”
      3. The Words of Ezekiel “And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.”
    2. Jesus
    3. John
  8. Love in the Spirit

 

The Things of the Spirit, Part 3

January 8, 2016

Martyrdom of St Stephen, c36 (1866). St Stephen, the first Christian martyr, having been found guilty of blasphemy by the Sanhedrin, the supreme council of the Jews, being stoned to death. From the Bible (Acts 7.57). (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)
Martyrdom of St Stephen, c36 (1866). St Stephen, the first Christian martyr, having been found guilty of blasphemy by the Sanhedrin, the supreme council of the Jews, being stoned to death. From the Bible (Acts 7.57). (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Overview

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  Romans 8:5-6

We are trying to serve God in the newness of Spirit. To walk the Christian walk is to walk after the Spirit. Not to walk after the flesh, or man, or religion, or tradition, but after the Holy Spirit of Almighty God. And we come across this verse that says, “Hey! If you are to walk after the Spirit, then you must mind the THINGS of the Spirit!” So we ask the question: “What are the THINGS of the Spirit?” We’ve gone through this Holy Bible and found some THINGS. What were they?

#1 Beginning

Galatians 3:3 has the expression, “…having begun in the Spirit…” One of these THINGS of the Spirit is this thing of beginning; new beginnings.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Galatians 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

It’s the Spirit of God that creates this new creature. It’s the Spirit of God that convicts, and woos a sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s the Spirit of God that baptizes him into the body of Christ: into his death, burial, and resurrection! New beginnings are one of the THINGS of the Spirit.

#2 Praying

Ephesians 6:18 Paul admonishes us to be, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit…” When we bow our knees and humble ourselves before the mighty hand of God, we enter into the domain and power of the Holy Ghost. Why? Because we know not what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. I hear alot about the power of prayer. Do you know how much power it takes to get the space shuttle into the heavens? They had to attach this huge rocket to the bottom of that shuttle to get it out of our atmosphere. Without it, it wouldn’t get off the ground. The Sprit of God is our rocket to the heavenly throne room of grace.

And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. Revelation 8:3-4

That smoke carried up those prayers to the throne of God. How do you think our prayers gonna get there. The Holy Spirit. His THING is prayer.

#3 Worship

God is not interested in our man-made worship. God takes worship seriously:

Isaiah 1:13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

Amos 5:21-23 I hate, I despise your feast days… Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings… Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.

John 4:23-24 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Worship is also the Sprit’s THING.  It’s something that we certainly cannot do without him.  We ought to spend more time on worship.  Everybody has their own idea of what a worship service should be like.  I wonder what God thinks it should be like?  Anyhow, one of the Spirit’s THINGS is worship.

#4  Waiting

Galatians 5:5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.  As we discussed last time, waiting is not just moping around doing nothing. Waiting for the hope of righteousness by faith IS waiting for the blessed hope and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We compared this to parable of the 10 virgins: five with oil, five without.  They were waiting for the bridegroom.  We showed how that oil they had in their lamp was a picture of the Holy Ghost, and concluded that waiting through the Spirit is to be filled with the Holy Ghost and to burn for God.  Waiting through the Spirit is letting the Spirit of God have his way in your heart in this present hour.  Waiting through the Spirit is a holy anticipation for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Waiting through the Spirit is looking up, and lifting up your heads, for your redemption is drawing nigh.  Luke 21:28  Let me ask you this:  What does a waiter do?  A waiter is a servant, busy and attentive to the call of his master.

#5 Sowing

One THING of the Spirit is to sow:  Galatians 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.  We spent the entire message last time on this one verse.  I found it necessary to read the entire context to get a better understanding of the verse.  And I believe in exploring that context, we stumbled upon the fruit of the Spirit:  love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.  And I really believe that it was clear that sowing to the Spirit was really and truly the same as the Spirit producing fruit in the Christian life.  Sowing is the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit.  Paul gives us a real good example of how the fruit of the Spirit manifests itself in the life of the believer.  He talked about restoring one overtaken in a fault, about bearing one another’s burdens, about proving your own work, and sharing with the brethren what the word of God has done in your life.  I believe the point was that if we sow to the spirit, if we allow the Spirit to bear fruit in our life, to God, to man, and to ourselves, we shall OF THE SPIRIT, reap life everlasting.  I think the emphasis was on the fact that that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.  The life we now live and things we do are of a spiritual nature and have spiritual results.  And we had some things to say about that ‘life everlasting’ and what exactly is Paul talking about.  Is he really talking about our salvation or of the salvation of others.  And I won’t get into all that again, but I will say this:  Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.”  Luke 10:2  What do labourers do in the harvest?  They reap!  He said, “Of the SPIRIT reap life everlasting!”  So sowing and reaping are also the THINGS of the Spirit.

Two New Thing for Today

They that are after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit.  So that’s what we’ve covered thus far.  What other things are there?  What are the other THINGS of the Spirit.  I want to look two today:  Speaking and Preaching in the Spirit.  This is what comes out of our mouths.  This topic has great significance in the life of the Christian:  The Tongue.  I want you to hear the words of Jesus Christ:

Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.  Matthew 12:33-37

Think about this:  What are the everlasting ramifications of what we let out of mouth.  Do we consider the eternal consequences of simply opening up our mouth?  No wonder Paul admonished the church in Thessalonica, 1 Thes 4:11 “And that ye study to be quiet…”  I remember a preacher used to always say, “You’ll find out what inside, when it get’s shaken up.  Whatever’s inside will come out!”  And I guarantee you, it’ll come out of the mouth.  Oh the tongue!  Let me read a few passages from the bible, concerning the tongue.

They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?  Psalms 12:2-4

They say, “Our lips are our own!”  Paul would say, “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?” (1 Cor 6:19)  Let me state it plainly.  Our mouth, being that it is most definitely part of our body, our mouth, lips, and tongue, if we are saved, everything belongs to God.  They do not belong to us.  Call it our mouth, lips, or tongue; this apparatus here that produced words and sounds; it belongs to God.

Another thing I see from this passage is that there’s consequences to what we say.  The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh proud things.  When a person is cut off, what does it mean?  It means he’s separated.  The LORD said he shall CUT OFF all flattering lips and proud speaking tongues.  Sound painful doesn’t it?  There will be consequences to what we say.  Say what you please but know the words of Jesus, “…every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.  For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”   The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh proud things.  Do you remember Lazarus?  In hell, the rich man said, “Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool…”  What?  “…my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”  In hell he said “Cool my TONGUE!”  Oh the tongue.

Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words: That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.  Psalms 64:2-4

The sword is used to kill, to bring down, to hurt, to cut deep.  So is the tongue.  The bible compares the tongue to a sword, a weapon, a blade that is sharped for battle.  It can take life, destroy, threaten, and pillage.  It’s not the sword though that’s doing it, it’s the one that wields it.  Much like guns today.  People want to blame the guns for killing people.  But it’s people that pull the trigger.  It’s people that use these instruments.  They can be instrument of freedom or instruments of tyranny.  It depends on who is using them.  It depends on who owns them.  So is the sword.  Likewise is the tongue.  It depends on who owns it.  Is it “Our lips are our own” or is it “ye are not your own”?  We’re gonna have to decide.  If man owns the tongue, it’s an instrument of tyranny, an instrument of hate.

The bible says that the words that come out are bitter and likens them to arrows; arrows like swords are weapons used kill, to hurt, and to destroy.  The prophet Jeremiah says (Jeremiah 9:8) “Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.”  He’s simply saying what Jesus was saying, “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”  Jeremiah also was the one that said that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked.  Let me read that again, “one speaketh peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in heart he layeth wait.”  Lies and flatteries are cover for what is in the heart, deceitfulness and murder.  In heart he layeth wait.  That means he waits to kill, like a lion or a wolf.  One may speak peaceably, but beware that it may be a trap or a snare.

The bible says that these bitter words are shot in secret at the perfect.  “…That they may shoot in secret at the perfect…”  Usually, we shoot our criticism at people for one reason:  to bring them down in order to lift ourselves up.  In other words, it’s the upright that get shot at.  It’s usually the ones doing right or the ones doing better than us that are getting all the arrows shot at them.  I’ve found that to be more and more true.  The ones that are standing up for right, doing right, fearing God and taking a stand.  Those are the ones to where the arrows shall fly!  Those are the one to which the wicked take aim.  And in secret?  The arrows always fly but seldom can you see where they came from.  When we criticize someone, we rarely ever do it to their face, do we?   You say, “I don’t do that!”  The bible says “That they may shoot in secret at the perfect.”  That reminds me of Jesus because Jesus was perfect.  You think about what they did to him.  The bible says that “they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?”  Those people that crucified Jesus, are a picture and a type of you and me, especially as a sinner and lost.  There’s a song that the kids sing.  The words go as such “Behold the man upon a cross; My sin upon his shoulders.  Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers.  It was my sin that held him there until it was accomplished…”  Thank God Jesus said at the cross, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do!”  As long as man owns and controls the tongue, it’s an instrument of unrighteousness; a sword and and an arrow stained with the blood of men.  The bible talks about having blood on our hands, yes.  But what about blood on our tongues.

For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things…  James 3:2-5

If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.  James is saying that if a man can keep from offending people in word that man is a perfect man, or a mature man.  And that man is able also to bridle the whole body, or control the whole body.  James is saying that if you can control your tongue, you can control your whole body.  He compares it to a bit in a horse’s mouth or to the helm of a ship.  It’s a small thing, but wherever that bit goes that horse goes.  Wherever that helm goes, that whole ship go.  If you can get that tongue to go in the right direction, most likely the whole body will go with it.  But then he goes on to explain what happens when you don’t control it.

…Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.  James 3:5-8

Now this does not negate what James just said.  I think it better explains it.  James just got finished saying that if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body.  But then he says that no man can tame the tongue.  He’s contrasting the two directions the tongue can take you.  The tongue on one hand can control the body and steer it, or the tongue can be like wildfire and defile the whole body.  I believe that James in this first part is making clear that yes, the tongue can be tamed.  The tongue can be controlled.  But in this second part, he makes clear that it’s not man that tames it.  He can tame birds, he can tame serpents, and he can tame every kind of beast, but man cannot tame the tongue.  But there is someone that can:

Speaking in the Spirit

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.  Matthew 10:16-20

Who can tame and control the tongue?  The Holy Spirit of God can tame the tongue.  So here we have another THING of the Spirit.  They that are after the Spirit do mind the things of the Spirit.  Speaking in the Holy Spirit is one of those THINGS.  I’m not talking about other tongues.  I’m talking about your tongue.  He sad to take no though how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.  Glory to God!  For it is not ye that speak, but praise the Lord, the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.  Stephen was a good example of Speaking in the Spirit.  Stephen was delivered up to the council:  The bible says:

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,  Acts 6:8-12

And you all know what happened next.  He opened up his mouth and gave that council the entire history of the Jews, from Abraham to Moses, and from Moses to David and Solomon, and when he got to the prophets he laid in on them:

Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:  Acts 7:51-52

Of course, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and not in a good way.  And what did Stephen do?  The bible says that he looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God.  And then he did this: he spoke.  And the bible says that he was full of the Holy Ghost when he spoke.  “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven…”   He said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.”  Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost.  Stephen was speaking in the Spirit.  Can I say this:  Stephen was minding the things of the Spirit; he was speaking in the Spirit.  You know the rest of the story.  They rushed him and took him outside the city and stoned him to death.

Now I don’t think speaking in the Spirit, will always bring about our death.  But rather, speaking in the Spirit ought to be our normal Christian life.  Remember in Matthew 12:37 Jesus said, “For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”  By thy words thou shalt be condemned.  That’s what it says: condemned.  Now I want to contrast that to what we’ve been reading in Romans.  In verse 1, it says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”   So being in Christ Jesus, and walking after the Spirit, our words will be affected.  Make the tree good, and his fruit good.  For the tree is know by his fruit.  A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things.  To be in Christ and walking after the Spirit, to be filled with Holy Ghost, is to bring forth good things.  Good things.  Good words, Amen?  Speaking in the Spirit.  Paul said, “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”  (Col 4;6)

Our words should never be used to bring other people down or to hurt them.  We should always have good words, yet not flatteries and lies.  Those will also only hurt people in the long run.  Speaking in the Spirit

Preaching in the Spirit

I want to cover just one more THING of the Spirit, and that’s preaching in the Spirit.  This is also related to what comes out our mouth, the tongue.  And I believe this goes for preaching, teaching, and witnessing.  I’ll say this:  Should we study our bibles?  Yes.  Should we study our doctrines?  Yes.  Should we meditate and think upon the things of God?  Yes.  Should we take notes, or write notes?  Write outlines.  Write our exhortation?  Edit our exhortation?  Yes.   But I’ll say this:  Without a touch from the Holy Spirit, it’s all in vain.  And I can’t speak for anyone else, but I struggle with this a lot.  If the Spirit of God does not give the preacher the words to say, then there’s no use in even saying.  And if it’s not God’s words, then who’s words are they?  They’re man’s words.  And as be already covered, what is the end of man’s words but death and destruction.  Listen, Jesus said, “It is the spirit that quickeneth and flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

Oh how we preachers and those that will proclaim the love of Jesus to a lost and dying world, how we need the quickening of the Holy Ghost.  How are words must be given wings of flight by the Holy Spirit, lest they just fall to the ground and go nowhere.  Or worst than that, cause death and destruction.  We’ll either point them to heaven or to hell.  The truths and subject matter that we give our people must be conceived by the Holy Ghost.  Our preaching and teaching must be carried by the Holy Ghost into the hearts of men, lest it does no where.  Paul said this:

And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.  1 Corinthians 2:4-5

That’s what we need.  The power of God.  We don’t need man’s wisdom.  I’m not saying we shouldn’t study.  I’m not saying we shouldn’t plan.  I’m not saying we shouldn’t go to bible college, or read other books.  I’m saying that we need the power of God.  Souls are at stake.  People are going to hell.  People’s lives are being destroyed by sin and the devil.  We need the power of God in our preaching and teaching.  Our people are out in the world bombarded by the other side.  Day in day out, cussing, blasphemy, every manner of sin and the devil and his devils are after our people all week long, and we’re supposed to take care of it in 30 minutes.  How we need the power of God.

How we need a demonstration of the Spirit of God in the church house more than ever.  How we need a demonstration of the Spirit and the power of God in our life today.  Preaching is not just a book report, or a speech.  First and foremost, we’re laying down the terms that God has given a lost and dying world.  Paul said, (1 Thess 2:4) “But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak…”  We were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel; the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We are to give people the terms of redemption; the terms of salvation; to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.  Luke 4:16-19

 

If Jesus needed to be anointed by the Spirit of the Lord to preach, how much more do we need an anointing of the Holy Ghost.  Oh we don’t want to talk about that because that’s Pentecostal.   We don’t want to talk about being FILLED with the Holy Ghost, because it’s too weird, too taboo.  Amen?  Preaching in the Spirit?  Is there even such a thing?

 

 

The Things of the Spirit, Part 2

January 8, 2016

IMG_2297Introduction

The things of the Spirit:

#5 Sow to the Spirit

Galatians 6:8 “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

So here we have this concept of sowing to the Spirit and reaping of the Spirit. Now Galatians goes into great detail of the difference between the flesh and the Spirit. Romans 7&8 should be studied with Galatians. So I’d like to give you a little commentary on this section of Galatians. Maybe it will be a help to you.

1st of all, this passage can easily become a problem passage for the Baptist. I’ve come to this conclusion: Read a passage once and you’re interested, or maybe blessed, or maybe delighted. Read it a second time and you’re troubled and can easily go down the road of false doctrine. Read it a third time, and you’re a Baptist. Let me explain:

When you read this passage first (read it), it’s interesting. It makes sense on the outset. Flesh leads to corruption, and the Spirit leads to everlasting life. Flesh bad! Spirit good! We don’t have a problem with that. It sounds good. We can relate. However, we don’t give it a whole lot of thought. We just shake our head and say AMEN! Now wait a sec! Let’s read it again, and actually think about this for a second (read it). Now we believe that salvation is by grace through faith plus nothing minus nothing. You cannot earn your way to heaven. You cannot work your way to heaven or more particularly, everlasting life. John 3:16 (read) So the way we obtain everlasting life is by believing in God’s only begotten Son. That’s what we believe. That’s our doctrine. There’s nothing we can do obtain everlasting life. It’s simply by faith. Right?

Okay, now what does the scripture say though? “He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” Now it doesn’t say, “He that believeth in the only begotten Son of God shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” It doesn’t say that, does it? It says he that soweth to the Spirit does. So we have ourselves a little bit of a problem.

Now one way people handle this (which is wrong by the way) is to try to impound our doctrine into the scriptures. That means we must somehow explain and believe that sowing to the Spirit must mean believing in Jesus Christ. And that’s not too hard to do. All you got to do is regurgitate some scriptures about sowing and salvation. What’s the first one that comes to mind?

Luke 8:5-8 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Verse 11, Jesus says that the seed is the word of God. There you go. We got a sower. We got the seed. We got the word of God. And we’ve spent alot of time about the work of the Holy Ghost reproving the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. So it’s sounding pretty good. We can quote quote 1 Peter 1:23 “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”

So this sowing to the Spirit in Galatians must mean to believe in the gospel, the only begotten Son of God? Right? Wrong. We’re all bible students here. Jesus said, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life…(John 5:39). Paul said of the Berean Christians, “They were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they recieved the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:11)” If you’re having a little trouble a verse in the bible, the best commentary on that verse is the verse above it and the verse beneath it. We call this the context. The prefix con means “with”. The context of the passage is the text that is with it. If you’re having trouble with a verse and you’re going to search the scriptures, always as a general rule, search the context. Search the verses that are surrounding that scripture. Keep the verse in the context and you’ll never regret it. Let God’s word say what it says. God does not need us to STUFF our Baptist doctrine into the scriptures.

Okay, so what is the context of this verse (read it). So let’s back up a bit and read from Chapter 5:16 to 6:10. I’m gonna read it and give you some commentary regarding the subject matter and what’s going on.

Galatians 5:16 – This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. **** Now I went all the way back to this verse because it’s a real good topic sentence for the context. It sums up well the entire book of Galatians in fact. This is also shows that it’s the same context as Romans 7&8. This is about walking after the Spirit or in the Spirit.

Galatians 5:17 – For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. **** Here we have the struggle between the flesh and the Spirit, this competition between the flesh and the Spirit. What did Paul say twice in Romans 7? “For the good that I would I do not…” “for what I would, that do I not…” In verse 17, he says, “so that ye cannot do the things that ye would…”

Galatians 5:18 – But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. **** This is what he said in Roman 8:2 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1 says that there is therefore no condemnation (that the condemnation of the law). Ye are not under the condemnation of the law if ye be led of Spirit. So you see how the context is very similar to where we’ve been for the past 6 months.

Galatians 5:19 – Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

Galatians 5:20 – Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

Galatians 5:21 – Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. **** Paul goes on to list the works of the flesh. Paul is establishing a relationship: a relationship between the people who do these things and inheriting heaven. It’s that of association. These two are not related or associated together. People that do these things are not the same people that inherit the kingdom of God. This is not the relationship of cause and effect. If it was, then you’d see words like “if” and “then”. If ye do such things, ye shall not inherit the kingdom of God. It doesn’t say that. (read it)

Example: Matthew 6:30-34 (Explain) It’s not a relationship of cause and effect in Matthew. If there was a cause and effect, it would be the opposite. (Explain) That’s Matthew, but in Galatians 5:21 we have a relationship of association. It is not one of cause and effect nor is it one of warrant. It is a relationship of association or common ground: two peas in a pod. Two different facts about the same person.

Galatians 5:22 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Galatians 5:23 – Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Galatians 5:24 – And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. **** Now Paul is listing the fruit of the Spirit. First he gave a list of what the flesh produces, now he’s giving a list of what the Spirit produces. So this reaffirms what the context is. Same things as Romans 7&8: Serving in the newness of Spirit and bringing forth fruit unto God (7:4) So, right off the bat, regarding the context, is Paul explaining to us what he explained to the Phillipian jailer? “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” He’s not explaining how to get saved, he’s talking about how to live the saved life. He’s talking about the Spirit of God having victory over the flesh and producing the sweet Holy Spirit fruit.

Galatians 5:25 – If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. **** There it is again. This is proof positive. There’s two “in the Spirit”s. There’s living in the Spirit and then there’s walking in the Spirit. This is the same distinction we’ve been making through all this: There’s the indwelling of the Spirit, the sealing of the Spirit, the earnest of the Spirit, all of which you get the moment you get born again. But then there’s the filling of the Holy Ghost. We can take you through the New Testament again and show you all the times that God’s people (the ones that knew God and loved God and served God) were filled with the Holy Ghost. Indwelling and Filling: two different things. Just like baptism: There’s being baptized into the body of Christ, that includes his death, burial, and resurrection. The Holy Ghost performs this baptism. It’s the baptism OF the Holy Ghost. It’s his baptism. He performs it when you get saved. And then there’s baptism WITH or IN the Holy Ghost. That’s what happened on Pentecost when they were filled with the Holy Ghost. There’s a difference. So now we have Galatians 5:25: (read it) Is Paul saying the same thing twice? Absolutely not. Paul is making a distinction between living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit. Living in the Spirit is to be indwelt by the Spirit, whereas waking in the Spirit is to be filled with the Spirit. Living in the Spirit is to be baptized by the Spirit in the body of Christ; whereas walking in the Spirit is to be baptized by Christ with the Spirit. My point is that the context is the latter, walking in the Spirit: living a Spirit-filled life that honors God and performs the will of God.

**** Now I want you to see before we get to Galatians 6:8 where Paul says, “he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting…” We got 8 verses before we get there. I want you to see that Paul now gives us a list of instructions, things to do. I want you to see that all of these embody the fruit of the Spirit (list). You say, “I want to produce fruit for God.” I want the Spirit to produce fruit in me. Well, here’s a list of how in manifests itself. Here’s what a tomato looks like. I want to grow tomatoes. Well here’s what they look like. (3 classifications)

Galatians 5:26 – Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. **** I see temperance. “And every man that striveth for mastery is temperate in all things. (1 Cor 9:25). Paul is saying be temperate in your desires. Temperate means to show moderation or self-restraint. Paul is saying restrain your desires.

Galatians 6:1 – Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. **** Meekness. Longsuffering. Gentleness. This reminds me of the verse, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall…” (1 Cor 10:12) Paul is saying to the Christian to be careful “…not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly…” (Rom 12:3) Ye which are spiritual. To be spiritual is to be careful that you’re not spiritual. Spiritual people don’t claim to be spiritual. Those which are spiritual have the patience to deal with someone that is overtaken in a fault. Those which are spiritual have the gentleness necessary to help and restore someone.

Galatians 6:2 – Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. **** What is this? The law of Christ: (John 13:34) “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you…” That’s the 1st fruit of the Spirit: Love. And in the Garden Jesus said again, (John 15:12-13) “This is my commandment That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends…” Bear ye one another’s burdens. Love is not a feeling. Love is an act. The expression “act of love” is redundant, for love acts. Jesus said, if you love me, DO what I command.

Galatians 6:3 – For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. **** There’s that meekness again. Jesus said, “…learn of me; for I am meek and lowly: and ye shall find rest unto your souls…” (Matt 11:29) Jesus described himself as meek and lowly. The irony of that. For Jesus is something. He is not nothing. He is everything! “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Heb 2:9) He was made by himself a little lower than the angels. It’s a bad thing when man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing. But it’s glorious and honourable when a man thinks himself to be nothing, when he is something. Meekness means submissive. Jesus was submissive to the will of the Father. He said, “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.” (Matt 26:42) Meekness. Captured in the words of Fanny Crosby: “Consecrate me now to thy service, Lord by the power of grace divine. Let me soul look up with a steadfast hope and my WILL be lost in thine!”

Galatians 6:4 – But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. **** Joy and peace. The bible talks about joy unspeakable and full of glory. The bible talks about a peace which transcends all understanding. These come from God. These come from the Spirit of God. They’re the fruit of the Spirit. Joy and peace come from God not other men. If your joy and peace come from the approval of other men, what happens when you don’t have the approval of men. What happens when other men don’t think very highly of you? What happens when you can’t please men? Let everyman prove his own work. It goes without saying that Paul wants us to mind our business and worry about or judge our own work. But in this verse he’s saying your work does not need to be proved by (or approved) by another man. If we’re constantly looking for man’s approval, constantly trying to please other people, then that will be the source of our joy and peace. Joy and peach is between you and God and ultimately it’s your work is your responsibility, not theirs. That’s why he says in the next verse:

Galatians 6:5 – For every man shall bear his own burden.

Galatians 6:6 – Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. **** This verse reminds me of 2 Peter 1:20 “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” Peter quotes Joel in the book of Acts, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy…” Remember when that angel appeared before John in Revelation. John fell at his feet to worship him. And he said, “See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of they brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Prophecy is to tell forth the testimony of Jesus. We tell forth the testimony of Jesus because God so loved the world. That the love of the Spirit that compels us to tell people about Jesus. But actions speak louder than words. The bible says that we are epistles, written of God, known and read of all men. That’s faith. That’s living by faith. Our lives tell the testimony of Jesus. Paul said, “and the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me…” The testimony of Jesus is not just for the lost, but for the saved. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. John said this, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” No greater joy. There’s another fruit of the Spirit.

**** So Paul lays down all these examples of the manifestation of the Spirit of God in the fruit that he produces before he says what he’s saying. None of these examples are about coming to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. But rather, they are about living for God and doing the will of God letting the Spirit of God work through us. If this passage was about HOW to obtain life everlasting, then there would be some indication of this in the text. If sowing to the Spirit was about how to be saved, there would be something in this text to indicate that. So far, there isn’t. In order to make the next verses regarding reaping life everlasting about HOW to be saved, you have to take the verse completely out of its context to do so. And this is how you get off into false doctrine. People will teach that you must DO these things in order that you be saved, and presto you have a WORKS salvation. You must sow these seeds in order to reap life everlasting. All while there’s no indication of that in the text. Just because there is a mention of everlasting life, does not mean automatically that Paul is teaching how to get it.

Galatians 6:7 – Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. **** It doesn’t say, IF a man soweth, THEREFORE shall he also reap. The cause and effect relationship between the action of sowing and reaping is not in question. Everybody knows that already. What Paul is drawing attention to is WHATSOEVER. That’s the key so to speak. Paul is not teaching about CAUSE and EFFECT lesson here. He’s demonstrating a WHATSOEVER lesson. WHAT you sow is WHAT you reap. It’s not IF you sow THEN you reap. The emphasis is on WHAT. He’s establishing a relationship again, one of association. Can I say this: He that sows tomato seed reaps tomatos. Let me add this to better explain what I’m getting at. You cannot sow tomato seed unless you got tomato seed. This teaching comes from Jesus. He told Nicodemus in the night, “That which is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of Spirit is spirit.”

Galatians 6:8 – For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. **** Sowing to the Spirit is not for the lost. It’s for the saved. You must 1st have the Spirit in order to sow to the Spirit. So don’t think for 1 second that you must do something to earn or bring forth life everlasting. If you keep the text in it’s context you’ll never reach that conclusion. Yet they do. Most religions under Christendom will tell you that you have to DO something to maintain your salvation. You have to buy the extended warrantee. You have to get the yearly subscription. It’s like insurance. You can pay all your life. The second you stop paying, you lose all the benefits and everything you paid in is lost. Why would you want a religion like that? I like the Baptist doctrine of eternal security. When you get everlasting life, guess what? It actually lasts forever. I have everlasting life NOW not later.

**** (Read it again) I want to repeat what I’ve been saying: What I wanted to stress in all this, was the absolute need for the preeminence of the Holy Ghost in our life. To serve God is to be filled with the Holy Ghost. To fulfill the will of God is to be influenced and controlled by the Holy Ghost. To walk after God, to have victory in the life for Jesus Christ and lift up His name, and glorify God, we must be in step with the Holy Ghost. If we accomplish anything for God in this life it will only be by the power of His Holy Spirit working through us. Being filled with the Holy Spirit and being empowered by the Holy Spirit is as important to saved folk as being born again is to lost folk.

(Read Rom 8:5) They mind the things of the Spirit. Sowing and reaping to the Spirit. We’re talking about the fruit of the Spirit: (list the 9) Sowing is work. The bible says that if you don’t work, you don’t eat. In the wilderness there’s no food and no water, that’s walking after the flesh. But on the other side of Jordan, they found the giant grapes of Eschol. It’s the land flowing with mild and honey. That’s walking after the Spirit. Let me read the next verse so we can see this ever clearer:

Galatians 6:9 – And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. **** Paul is just repeating himself. But instead of saying “soweth to the Spirit” what does he put in there? “Well doing…” Well DOing. What was he addressing in verse 17? “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot DO the things that ye would.” Oh but if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Look at verse 10 now:

Galatians 6:10 – As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. **** There it is again: DO. Let us DO good. Let us not be weary in well DOing. He that soweth to the Spirit.

 

Conclusion

Sowing to the Spirit is doing good to all men.

This is about doing. Doing where at one point in our life we were utterly incapable of doing anything for the glory of God. But God be thanked if any man be in Christ old things have passed away, behold all thing have become new. Now, with the help of and through the Holy Ghost, we can do good to all men. And let us not be weary in well doing.

Minding the things of the Spirit is DOing the will of God, doing good to all men. John the Baptist said, “Bring forth the fruits!” That’s the message, church. Do good. The Spirit is interested in doing good. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.

Now we’re not done yet. Let’s look at verse 9 again (read it)

If we faint not. Now we have a an IF/THEN relationship. What are you saying Paul? Are you saying that if we faint, and don’t do well, we’re not going to reap. We’re not going to reap life everlasting? Isn’t that what it says. We can’t say it’s an associative relationship and WHAT is the subject, not IF. It says IF WE FAINT NOT! Uh-Oh now what? Do things ever bother you? They do me. (Act 2)

Now let’s think about this for a second. There’s a few explanations for this I want to share. This is what I believe the Lord was showing me. If all these verses we covered have little or nothing to do about how to obtain your individual salvation, if they’re all about living the Christian life and doing the things of the Spirit, letting the Spirit produce fruit through you, if this is so, they why do we believe that verse 8 and 9 are about the individual’s salvation. You understand the question?

We gone through great lengths to discuss and prove that the context does not deal with how to get saved. Then why do we believe that verse 8&9 are talking about our salvation? Well preacher, it says life everlasting. Isn’t that what it’s all about. How can you think that he’s not.

Maybe he’s not talking about YOUR salvation, but he’s talking about other’s. You think about this: When he goes down that list from 5:26 to 6:6 (Read it) Most of that list is about others. Maybe when he’s talking about reaping life everlasting he’s talking about reaping it in other people. Maybe he’s telling us what it takes if we’re going to see other people saved.

Or let me give you another one: Maybe life everlasting is much much much more than just living forever. There’s some preachers that will tell you that there are rewards in heaven. Do you ever think about these things? I’ll tell you one thing. They that are of the Spirit, do mind the things of the Spirit….