Sermon Tone Analysis

Concerning Spiritual Things

Pastor Keith Hassell

 

 

God Seeks Spiritual Worshipers

            God is Spirit.

His realm of existence preceded our own and it will exist after this present world is gone.

The spiritual realm actually has more substance than the natural realm around us.  Believers are exhorted to keep their eyes on spiritual things rather than on natural things:  "while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18)/./

Jesus told us that God is looking for spiritual worshipers to worship Him(John 4:20-24).

Becoming /spiritual/ does not mean that we put on a religious mind.

God has never approved of religion, i.e. man's way of worshiping God.

Most of what man calls worship is soulish---mental, emotional, and our way.

While worship will include the mind, will, and emotions, the worship that God seeks flows from the spirit of man through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Man is made up of spirit, soul, and body(I Thessalonians 5:23).

When Adam sinned in the garden, he died spiritually.

His ability to fellowship and commune with God on a spiritual level was destroyed.

That has passed down to us because we are born into the world as the seed of Adam.

Jesus talked to Nicodemus about the necessity of a /new birth/.

Jesus was not talking about turning a new leaf in life and becoming religious.

No, Nicodemus was already religious.

He was a Pharisee and a ruler among the people.

Religion did not satisfy Nicodemus.

He knew there had to be something more.

Thank God there is!

This new birth which Jesus described to him is a /spiritual /birth(John 3:1-8).

Sadly, many today are just like Nicodemus.

They began with a desire for a relationship with God but then somehow they were sold religion instead of the new birth.

Religion can never satisfy because it is our effort to please God.

We always fall short and become disappointed.

When we couldn't reach God, He came to us so that through faith He could bring us to Himself.

The new birth is literally a miracle of God.

It is not the work of a priest or a pastor, but is performed by the Spirit of God Himself inside the spirit of man.

The new birth literally ushers a person into relationship with the family of God and the Kingdom of God.

A new spiritual life begins to unfold when a person believes the gospel, repents of their sin, and confesses Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

Once a person becomes born again by the Spirit of God, operating in the Holy Spirit should become a normal way of life for any true believer.

Many times, however, Satan comes immediately to deceive us.

If he can't stop us from being born of the Spirit, he will attempt to lead us back into a fleshly mode of worship and practice which he can control.

Paul asked the church people of Galatia,  "Are you so foolish?

Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?"(Galatians 3:3).

You see, Satan is not scared of the /form/ of religion any more than we would be scared of the shadowy form of a dog.

It is the reality, substance and power of God over which the devil has no control.

If Satan can get us to settle for a /form /of spirituality(i.e.

religion), then he has effectively stripped us of our power in spiritual things.

Paul warned Timothy that in the last days men would hold to a /form /of godliness but deny its /power/(2 Timothy 3:5).

The power is found in the operations of the Spirit.

Therefore Paul went on to tell the Galatians:  "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit"(Galatians 5:25).

Fear has led many to feel safer with form than with substance.

/Form/ality is structured and safe.

We feel safe because we know everything that will happen before a service even begins.

We even know when it will end.

We are afraid of someone else being in control, even if that Someone is God.

Spiritual things are sometimes hard to understand.

And, naturally, we tend to be afraid of what we do not understand.

We can even be tempted to label the work of the Holy Spirit:   "Of the Devil."

Regardless of what we may have been led to believe, Satan does not have a corner market on spiritual things.

The spiritual world belongs to God, and Jesus is Lord over it all.

Satan is a spiritual rebel and a spiritual counterfeiter.

He is the father of lies and deception.

Because of this, we need to exercise Biblical wisdom in spiritual matters.

For instance, if we attempt to operate in spiritual things apart from Jesus, we will open ourselves up to deception and spiritual bondage by the devil.

Jesus is the /only/ door into God-ordained spiritual authority and power.

As I mentioned earlier, entering God's Kingdom through the new birth gives us entrance and access into a new walk in the power of the Spirit.

Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My father"(John 14:12).

When Jesus ascended to the Father, He sent the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit(John 16:7-8; Acts 1:4).

Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit came upon us we would receive power to be His witnesses(Acts 1:8).

He said this promise is to all who are afar off, /as many as the Lord our God will call/(Acts 2:39).

Praise God, I'm a part of that /as many/!

How about you?  Jesus said that in His name, signs and wonders would follow those who /believe/(Mark 16:15-20).

The book of Acts is filled with testimonies of the church going forth in the power of God's Holy Spirit.

Peter even stood up and declared that in the last days God would pour out His Spirit on all flesh---sons and daughters would prophesy, young men would see visions, and old men would dream dreams.

The last days were ushered in on the day of Pentecost(Acts 2) and we are racing toward the end of the last days in our day.

God is still in the Holy Spirit outpouring business!

Why isn't this the experience of more believers today?

Why is it that some have taught that God no longer works like He did in the New Testament book of Acts?

Why is it that when spiritual gifts do begin to occur that they are sometimes quickly attributed to the devil?

Why are there misunderstandings and confusion about these issues?

The reason is our ignorance of spiritual things which have been reinforced by the devil and the philosophies and doctrines of men.

Of course, the devil would love to keep us ignorant of the spiritual battle and of our authority and power over him.

He would love for us to believe he is in control now that Jesus is in heaven.

He would love to keep us running in a squirrel cage of human effort to solve the problems around us.  Philosophies, doctrines, and traditions of men rob us of the power of Christ.

Paul warned in Colossians 2:8, "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ."

/ /

Did Spiritual Gifts "Pass Away"?

/            /Nowhere in the New Testament does the Bible say that spiritual gifts would pass away with the apostles.

Some have tried to use I Corinthians 13:8-13 as "proof" that the gifts passed away, but actually the opposite is proved.

"That which is perfect" is not the canonization of the Scripture in the fourth century AD. as has been proposed(where do you find that in this passage?)

but rather when we see Jesus/ face to face/.

Only then will there be no need for spiritual gifts as we know them, because there will be no gaps in our knowledge, no sick bodies to be healed, no evil spirits lurking around to be discerned, no language we cannot understand, etc.  Reality is, we /still/ see through a glass darkly.

Thank God for the Word of God, but we still need the Holy Spirit to reveal it and to apply it!

Not everything God wants to do in specific situations is revealed in the pages of the written Word.

We still need the Holy Spirit and His gifts.

One doctrine of man which has promoted the idea that the gifts have passed away is Dispensational Theology.

Though the Bible does talk about dispensations, it does /not /teach the dispensationalism promoted today.

Naturally the Bible is a record of covenants between God and man.

We can know how God will work with us based upon what His covenant says.

The covenant now in force is the New Covenant, or the New Testament.

It has not changed.

Therefore all things written remain the same and nothing has passed away.

Dispensationalism, however,  is an entire theological system based on a whole different system of Bible interpretation.

It is based on a belief that God has carried out His plan in different ways at different times of history.

J.N.

Darby, a minister in the Church of England and leader of the Plymouth Brethren, developed dispensationalism and the Scofield Reference Bible, published in 1909, popularized it.