A God I Can Believe In, Part #2

     One of the  greatest problems facing modern society today is we have taken a spiritual or Supernatural God and is attempting to interact with him on a natural level.  WE are more comfortable asking God for a pair of shoes than asking for the Fruit of the Spirit.  Spiritual things often go lacking in our hectic expression of our day to day lives as we pray for every conceivable act or thing.  We want God to build fences of protection yet John the Baptist and the Apostles all suffered and died at the hands of the devil.  Remember as we said earlier, the Father even asked Joseph to take the Christ child and flee to Egypt.  It would have been easier and it would have saved other lives if Heriod's heart had just stopped.

    Getting back on point, when we come to the Father in prayer many are seeking ways to improve their fleshly status.  There is the fruit of the spirit and there is the fruit of the flesh.

     When Nicodemus made his nightly visit to Jesus, Jesus said unto him, "Except a man be born of water (the Word of God, 1Peter 1:23; James 1:18), and of the SPIRIT (Holy Spirit), he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God." John 3:5. And He gave the reason why. For "that which is born of the FLESH is FLESH; and that which is born of the SPIRIT is the SPIRIT." John 3:6.  There is nothing in this conversation that express a natural or earthly entitlement.  Here we see two lines of HEREDITY. The "Flesh" line, and the "Spirit" line. The Scriptures speak of the first as the "Natural Man," and the second as the "Spiritual Man."

     Before we discuss the natural man let, let us consider Nicodemus dilemma.  He was face to face with Jesus and having a personal conversation, yet he did not understand the words Jesus spoke.  The ancient Hebrew language was filled with metaphors and symbolism.  To understand the Bible we must understand the symbolism of the Bible.  How would you explain, “a man born of water” or the phrase “living water”?   The third chapter of John should serve as a guide to realign our thinking and help us understand the message of the Gospel of the Kingdom.  

I. THE NATURAL MAN

Of the "Natural Man" the Scriptures say, "That his understanding is darkened." Eph 4:18. That he cannot receive (perceive) the things of the Spirit of God, for they only can be spiritually discerned. 1Co 2:14. That he is the child of wrath. Eph 2:3. That he is at enmity with God, and cannot please Him. Romans 8:7-8. That his heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer 17:9), and out of it proceedeth "evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride and foolishness." Mr 7:21-22. That he is spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. Eph 2:1. That there is no good thing in him. Romans 7:18. That as the Ethiopian cannot change his skin, or the Leopard his spots, so the "Natural Man" without supernatural help cannot change his character. Jer 13:23.

     Now God does not say in this description of the "Natural Man" that none are refined, or cultured, or sweet-tempered, or generous, or charitable, or honest, or truthful, or religious, but that none are RIGHTEOUS, for "ALL have sinned, and come short of the GLORY OF GOD." Ro 3:23.

II. THE SPIRITUAL MAN

While the "Natural Man" has a human parentage, the "Spiritual Man" has a DIVINE paren-tage. All life must come from "pre-existing life." There is no such thing as "Spontaneous Generation" of life. No life can come without (paren-tage). There must be a father and a mother. In the "Spiritual World" the Holy Spirit is the FATHER, and the "Human Heart" is the WOMB (Mother) into which the "SEED" of the "Word of God" is dropped. 1Peter 1:23. If seed in the Natural World is lifeless no plant will spring from it, and if the "Seed of the Word" is not VITALIZED by the "Holy Spirit" when it falls into the human heart there will be no "New Life." This explains how men and women can read and study the Scriptures and not be converted.

     This "New Birth" imparts a "NEW NATURE." This Nature is SPIRITUAL. "That which is born of the Spirit (Holy Spirit) is SPIRIT." Joh 3:6. This New Nature CANNOT SIN. "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His Seed (Life) remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is BORN OF GOD." 1Jo 3:9. This new "Spiritual Nature" is called "CHRIST IN YOU " (Col 1:27), and imparts ETERNAL LIFE. "He that hath the Son (Christ in you) hath LIFE." 1John 5:11-12. This "Life" is HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD. Therefore we cannot lose it, and "when Christ who is OUR LIFE shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him IN GLORY." Col 3:3-4. The "Fruit" of the "Spiritual Life" is-"love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance." Ga 5:22-23. The Spiritual Man is SPIRITUALLY ENLIGHTENED. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man (the natural man) the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us (the Spiritual Man) by His SPIRIT (Holy Spirit): for the SPIRIT searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." 1Co 2:9-10.

     We see from this description of the "Spiritual Man" that he is not an Evolution or Development of the "Natural Man," but a "New Creature" or "CREATION." 2Co 5:17. When the profligate ( prof-li-get) Augustine sat under a Numidian Fig-tree thinking over his past life, there flashed into his memory, vitalized by the Holy Spirit, the words of Romans 13:12-14, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But PUT YE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND MAKE NOT PROVISION FOR THE FLESH, TO FULFIL THE LUSTS THEREOF," and at once the "Seed of the Word" thus dropped into the "Womb of His Heart," created a "new life," and the profligate arose from the ground a "New Creature" known thereafter as Saint Augustine.

     The Spiritual man then is a "New Creation," and entirely different from the Natural man, and opposed to him in character, temperament and disposition. So far all is clear, but here we are brought face to face with the PARADOX, that while there are TWO SEPARATE MEN spoken of in the Scriptures, the "Natural Man" and the "Spiritual Man," these two men make up in the Believer but one PERSONALITY, known as

III. THE REGENERATED MAN

     When the "New Man" is born in the heart of the Believer the "Old Man" does not die. He is still there and very much alive. There are now two natures, diametrically opposed, fighting for the possession of the same body, like two tenants fighting for the possession of the same dwelling house. Paul graphically describes it in Ga 5:17. "For the FLESH (the Old Man) lusteth against the SPIRIT, and the SPIRIT (the New Man) against the FLESH; and these are contrary to one another: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.". This "SPIRITUAL WARFARE" is so vividly portrayed by the Apostle Paul in Romans 7:14-25. This was the Apostle's own experience after his conversion and before he learned how THROUGH JESUS CHRIST (verses 24-25) to overcome the flesh, and let the Holy Spirit reign in his life. Read Romans 8:1-39.

     It is not until we have been "Born Again" that we awake to a knowledge of the (de-prav-i-ty) depravity of our heart and discover tendencies that we never knew we possessed, and realize the power of sin over us. It is this awakening that startles and dumbfounds us, and makes us doubt our conversion and salvation.

     We have now established a platform according to the Bible that shows the existence of the natural and spiritual  order.  It is, and I will use a word and allow you to seek for clarification.  This word causes so much confusion, it is called the predestinated nature of God.  God does not jump start the Sun every morning.  It was created and placed in the universe and it performs as predestinated by God.  In the natural world for every positive there must be a negative. For good to exist evil must exist also, the same as night and day.  The Holy Spirit is real so is the unholy spirit.  There are two natures the natural and the spiritual.  To prepare us to live in the natural world we should go to school, and the church should get back to its mission of preparing us for the spiritual world.

HOW IS THIS WARFARE BETWEEN THE TWO NATURES TO BE CONDUCTED?

1. We must remember that we cannot get rid of the "Old Nature" until the death of our body of "Flesh." Therefore the warfare must continue until death.

2. We must not try to improve or make a fair showing of the "Flesh." Ga 6:12. We are to have NO CONFIDENCE in it. Php 3:4.

3. We must STARVE the "Flesh," and make no provision for it to fulfill the lusts thereof. Romans 13:14.

4. We must FEED the "New Nature." The "New Nature" at first is but a "babe," and must be fed with the "Sincere Milk of the Word." 1Pe 2:2. It must also be fed regularly. The best human literature ever written will not feed and nourish the new nature of the Child of God. We must remember that while we may starve the Old Man, and he may become very feeble and cause little trouble, and we may think of him as being  dead, he is not dead, and if we begin to feed him again he will revive and recover his strength and give us trouble. This accounts for how some Christians who have lived for years a consecrated spiritual life suddenly fall, having yielded in an unguarded moment to some former habit of their old nature. We must not forget that we cannot feed both Natures at the same time. We cannot be studying the Scriptures and listening to music, or a conversation that gratifies the Flesh, at the same time. Neither must we forget that what feeds one nature will starve the other. The "Spiritual Nature" will starve on novels, and the "Flesh Nature" on the Scriptures.

5. We must "WALK IN THE SPIRIT." "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the Flesh." Ga 5:16.

The Scriptures mention three ways in which the Believer can overcome the "Flesh."

1. BY AMPUTATION.

Here again the simplicity of a symbolic language come into play.  "If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off." Mt 18:8-9. Not literally, but if thy hand causes thee to steal, stop at once, don't taper off. If thy foot causeth thee to go to the haunts of sin, stop short as if you were footless. "If thine eye offend thee," causeth thee to look upon a woman to lust after her, it were better if you were suddenly to lose the power of sight.

2. BY MORTIFICATION.

"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness," etc. Col 3:5-10; Ro 8:13. To mortify is to cause some part of a living body to die. There are some things we cannot amputate, they must be removed in some other way. So there are things in our lives that take time to overcome, as weak nerves, impatience, pride, etc., these we must destroy by mortification. This treatment is more "medical" than "surgical," and is INTERNAL rather than external. It is not by our own effort, but by letting GOD "work in us." Php 2:12-13.

3. BY LIMITATION.

"Lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us." Heb 12:1.

There is a difference between "Weights" and "Sins." All "weights" are not "sins," though all "sins" are "weights." It is not a sin to be a slave to your business, nor to be so absorbed in social service as to neglect other important duties, but these things are "weights" and prevent the proper cultivation of the Spiritual life and should be limited. On the other hand every sin is a "weight" for it loads us down and interferes with our running the Christian race.

     In this lesson we have covered the two natures of man.  We have established the natural and the spiritual aspect of nature.  There is a natural and there is a supernatural world.  A problem arises when we attempt to merge the natural with the spiritual and began to pray God’s blessing upon this unholy union.   We should never pray for the natural blessing and neglect to pray for the fruit of the spirit.

A God I Can Believe In, Part #1

         During a lecture I posed the question of how do you teach a person to believe.  This question was crafted to address the eroding belief in God as expressed in the world, nation and social media.  It was concluded that to teach on to believe the power of the senses must be invoked.  The five identifiable senses are, hear, smell, taste, see and feel.  Based upon my indoctrination the result of one of these senses can be enough to invoke a believable response.  Looking out of my window right now I SEE the leaves on the trees moving back and forth.  I know the wind is blowing.  This is called common sense.  I could go outside and FEEL the wind blowing on my skin to reinforce my belief, but if I walk outside and see a huge exhaust fan blowing air on the trees my belief in the wind blowing is tampered with.  To affirm our belief in God we should be able to look at his works, David was one too often speak of God’s works. Psalms 104:24  O LORD, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.  If God’s works is tampered with through trivializing his works, the belief structure is damaged.  This is a conclusion brought about by common sense.

     In another Bible study I asked to see the hands of those who believed in ghosts or spirits.   Only two out of twenty or more people raised their hand.  When I rephrased the question and asked, how many of you believe in God, everyone in the room raised their hand.  At that point I exhibited a look of confusion that was picked up on by one of my students who asked me the question, “Do you Believe in ghosts.”  I responded by saying, a ghost or a spirit is the spiritual manifestation of a disembodied Soul.  The look on his face told me that this did not answer his question.  Now the question became, “Can you believe in God and not believe in ghost?”

     The disciple of Jesus had a strong belief in ghosts or spirits as recorded in Matthew 14:26  And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

     There was a time when every child was taught to believe in the spiritual world.  Stories of ghost were told and retold by our parent and grandparent  and we were conditioned to believe that anytime we were in a strange dark setting or passing a graveyard we were likely to see a ghost.  In those days it was said that the spiritual world and the natural world coexisted and its presence and your ability to interact with it, was based upon your belief.  In essence, to see a ghost or a spirit you must believe in ghosts or spirits.  The spiritual world response to our belief and God is a spirit as recorded in John 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.   Therefore to interact with a spiritual God you must believe in the supernatural world.   

     Yet we must be careful of how we use the knowledge of the spiritual world.  There is a gulf that separates the two worlds and mortal man should not try to cross it, nor try to communicate with the spirits that dwell there.   An example is in 1 Samuel 28:7  Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.  The story is told of how Saul went to this woman and asked to speak with Samuel.  This woman "a mistress of a familiar spirit;" that is, one who claimed to have such a spirit at her command--her familiar, as it were, that the spirits would come at her call--and she would be able to obtain from the spirits the knowledge of secret things. This seems to have been a false pretense, kept up by jugglery and cheating; but even if we were to suppose such conversation with familiar spirits to be a reality, its wicked, for it would be nothing else than resorting to created spirits to access the knowledge which God keeps in his own power. All such conversation with the spirits of the dead, or spirits of any other order, God has strictly forbidden. It withdraws men's love and confidence from himself and his word and Spirit, and its reward will be such as Saul received on mount Gilboa.  The story end as stated in 1 Chronicles 10:13  So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it;  In essence Saul had attempted to harness the knowledge of the spiritual world and use it to advance his natural standing.  We ought to be careful when we attempt to mix the natural order and the spiritual order together to form a saleable gospel.

     The Scriptures are full of the "Supernatural." The only cure for the materialism of todays society is to discover what the Scriptures reveal as the "Spirit-World." There is but a step from the "Natural" World to the "Spirit" World. The dividing veil is our "fleshy" bodies. The "heavens" are peopled with Spirit Beings. They are of two classes, good and evil. They are classified as "Seraphim (Sara-i-film)," "Cherubim (Chair-rub-bin)," "Angels" (Good and Bad), "Principalities," "Powers," "Age Rulers of Darkness," "Wicked Spirits," (Eph 6:12), "Thrones," "Dominions," (Col 1:16), "Fallen Angels," (2Pe 2:4), "Spirits in Prison," (1Pe 3:18-20), "Demons," "Seducing Spirits." (1Ti 4:1.)  There is the Holy Spirit and there is the evil spirit.  There is the Spirit of God and the spirit of the devil.  Man is composed of two natures.  It is very important that every Christian Believer understand what the Scriptures teach us of the "Two Natures." Because of a lack of knowledge of the "Dual Nature" of the "New Born" many new convert, after rejoicing for a while in their new found hope and then suddenly awakening to the fact that the old fleshly inclinations are not dead, and is led to believe that they were never converted, and disheartened and discouraged they begins to drift and finally backslides.

     There is a problem in the household of faith, a blight is spreading and the wheat is looking more like the tare.  New methods promulgating (prom-UL-gate-in) the faith is being ushered in, yet the belief structure of God is eroding.  The United States, once defined as as a Christian nation, is no longer a defender of the Christian faith.  Being political correct is more important than serving the God of old.  Things that were once hidden is now being brought to light and examined and is accepted by the church.    God has been has been redefined and is still being redefined by newly commissioned ministers to make him more applicable and saleable in today’s modern world..  We proudly admit that God is in charge of our day to day existence, where in reality it is the devil that is driving the bus.  There is a constant attempt to change the knowledge of God rather than increasing the knowledge of God.  When questions are asked to increase our knowledge of God we are quickly told that there are things we will never know about God, as if this is a definitive answer.

    The love of God is defined as an unconditional love for us regardless of the way  we are,  yet Proverbs 6:16 says, “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:”  God enumerates men, not from their outward circumstances, but from their character. All whose hearts and lives are defiled with wicked practices are abominable in his sight, no matter how high their reputation is among men.  (to be continued)

A Common Sense Belief In God, Part 3

     Many pious prelates refused to acknowledge the attack on God as a viable threat to the belief structure.  Rather than stand up for the God of old, the God of our salvation, God is redefined to make him relevant in our modern society.   The old testament was no longer looked upon as the beginning of the story that defines man’s purpose, or the chronicles of God’s interaction with man, and how the new testament addresses the solution to resolve the problems man has created.  Rather the  old testament and new testament are mixed together to form a hydrogenated and polluted form of the Gospel that is neither supported by God nor is it fully believed by many.  We are like Peter, we want to listen to Moses, Elias and Jesus Christ.

     Another for instance moment, 2 Chronicles 7:14,  If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.  A serious question must be asked here.  Who was talking and who was he talking to?  In the context of the old testament, “who was my people which are called by my name?”  My people is used throughout the old testament and it always reference the children of Israel, not the church.  As in Exodus 3:7  And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;  In the old testament God’s plan was to lead the children of Isreal to a land of plenty.   They rejected God’s plan and Jesus pronounced judgement upon the whole world.

     Thus began the trivialization of God.  The reshaping of the Word of God by taking scriptures out of context.  Imagine reading a History books without any thought of who is talking and who is being spoken to.  Context is cast aside and if God spoke to Moses, he is speaking to us.  When Jesus said “go tell that fox who was he talking to?”  We have failed to keep one of the greatest commands of the Bible in that it asked us in 2 Timothy 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  

    As I said earlier, worship services have become a platform of entertainment, Hollywood styled minister, choirs, praise teams and dance groups all performing to the big beat.  What once was confined to the nightclubs can now be found in the church.  Crossover music has become the wave of the future.  The Church, schools and the workplace once had a dress code, now the church says come as you are.  Not to be critical of the changes in our worship, service but there seems to be a strange correlation with Moses coming down from the mountain and finding the children Israel is playing loud music and dancing around their newly   created idol with what we find in the church today.  God was not pleased and the question we should ask ourself is God pleased about the things we do in and out of the church today.  The children of Isreal even referred to the Idol that they had just created as the God that delivered them out of the land of Egypt.   Have we created a God and is giving him credit for performing trivial acts. 

     Prayer, once referred to by Jesus as a private thing, a secret conservation between a father and his children, it is now a public thing, an in your face type message of I know how to talk to the father.  True, the Bible states that man should always pray, to many this means walking around publicly stating I am praying for you.  To Jesus it meant entering into your secret place.  Praying, praising and thanking God have been trivialized and used in settings that are not related to or even  conducive to serving God.   Today the use of the word prayer, getting my praise on and thanking God seems to invoke a plea of the scripture whereas it said, do not take the Lord’s name in vain.   The power of prayer is diminished when it is callously used and the result is often not seen.  In essence, the condition of the World is not getting better.  To compensate for the lack of an answer and to supposedly build faith the response is, “He might not come when we want him to come, but he is always on time.”  The use of this cliché has caused lots of praise to be offered up to God, while many waiting for a miracle watch their love ones draw their last breath and wondering if God had forsaken them.  We somehow have constructed a God that answers all prayers and a God that never changes his mind.  Yet there are instances in the Bible where Moses talked God out of destroying the children of Isreal.  Exodus 32:12  Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. In the ancient days when a miracle was preformed it was done in such a manner that only God could receive the glory. 

     Sitting in church the Sunday after a family member had died, the church members were testifying about how blessed they were to be alive.  Being alive was even acquainted with being the greatest blessing available from God.  The pastor even preached a message on how bless we were to be above ground.   In the church, that institution that is supposed to teach us to embrace life after death, is caught up in teaching us how to get our blessings here on Earth.  In the military we were taught not to fear death, when we went out on a mission we were aware that some of us might not make it back.  We did not go running to our superior officer begging to be relieved of duty.   We should be willing to fight with the same resolve and intensity of a good soldier the battle that is before us.

     In conclusion of part one , Hebrews 2:1-3  Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.  For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.

     It is necessary for us to seek recurrent nourishment from the Word of God, and it is available only through an enduring relationship with the Creator. This spiritual relationship, like any human relationship, is multifaceted. Yet, quite simply, we as individuals and as a body if we neglect our relationship with God, the result is confusion, division and scattering of the sheep.

     The world's spiritual junk food gradually became the source of our spiritual nourishment. It invaded our attitudes and behaviors, systematically weakening us as it produced the spiritual disease we call Laodiceanism. (Lay-on-dih-SEE-uhnz) Jesus alluded to this condition in Revelation 3:14-17  And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:  The Devil deceives us because we are led to believe that Jesus is speaking of a natural condition.  He deceived us because we outwardly appeared to be in good health. We judged that we were spiritually rich and God is doing all of these for us.  We testify of our favors, increased with goods and have need of nothing. However, the reality is, a spiritual cancer is eroding our spiritual health. He who looks on the heart saw that the Laodiceans were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. When the test came in the form of false doctrine, He found them lacking in spiritual strength and scattered them.

     We can reduce this process to the common sense principle found in Matthew 6:24, where we are reminded that it is impossible to serve two masters equally well. As time has shown, many are serving the Flesh rather than God. In the book of Revelation God revealed our spiritual weaknesses, and how they have greatly diminished us. It's really a matter of common sense.