Continued…
What
does it mean to worship ‘in the spirit?’
This is
not the Holy Spirit, it is in our spirit.
This is how we worship God.
Romans 1:9
For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel
of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;
We are
members of his body; Christ is our head.
Our worship of him originates in our spirit; it is the reason we have a
spirit.
1 Thessalonians 5:23
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole
spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:12
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit
which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us
of God.
God
gave us a spirit to know him.
Unfortunately, the same spirit that we received from Almighty God cannot
only communicate with other human spirits through words, but it can communicate
with other spirits such as fallen devils (Satan and his angels).
God
gave us a spirit to know not only each other, but more importantly, to know him.
John 4:22-24
Ye [Samaritans]
worship ye know not what: we
know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 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.
As John looks into the
future he writes that one day that will be the issue. God is looking for your heart. After the Millennial Kingdom the nation
Israel and even the gentiles will worship God from a willing heart. There will be no more sin. God will be the issue in their hearts; but we
have that already. We have the fruit of
the pure grace of the New Testament.
2 Corinthians 3:6
Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the
letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth
life.
Because of pure grace we benefit from the covenant that God gave
to the nation of Israel which was ultimately ratified with the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. We
receive the spiritual benefit of that
– eternal life. We have it now; Israel
will get it in the Kingdom.
and rejoice in Christ Jesus,
and have no confidence in the flesh.
Notice that our rejoicing is not in ourselves
and we have no confidence in the flesh.
We know that has to do with religion because if you continue to read you
see that Paul goes into his religious pedigree as Saul of Tarsus.
Philippians 3:4-8
Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the
stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as
touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the
church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I
counted loss for Christ.Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win
Christ,
Paul
has all those credentials, but he counts them as nothing. See what religion profits you? Nothing!
Paul
has a lot to say about circumcision. For
those of you who are not familiar with the ritual, God gave Abram/Abraham the
Hebrew a covenant of circumcision when he called him out in the book of
Genesis.
Genesis 17:10
This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and
thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
Acts 7:8
And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham
begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and
Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.
It was
a cutting off of the foreskin of his flesh.
God was showing Abraham that he was cutting off what he could do, works that he could produce. It was done on the male member where his seed
flows out. God was saying, ‘No, I don’t want what you can produce. You can produce a child, but it will be
Ishmael, and not even with your own wife who is barren’
Genesis 16:15
And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name,
which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
I will produce for you the son I promised by your
wife Sarah whose womb is dead. I will restore
life to you both in your reproductive capacities. I will give you a son, Isaac.’
Romans 4:19-20
And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead,
when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's
womb: He staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to
God;
From
Isaac came Jacob, and from Jacob/Israel came the nation of Israel which was
born by a miracle of Almighty God in a number of ways; first through Isaac and
later when Israel was born as a nation out of Egypt.
Exodus 4:22
And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
So the
physical circumcision of cutting off the flesh was a type and shadow of a
spiritual circumcision that Israel would receive in the Kingdom through the new
covenant.
Deuteronomy 30:6
And the Lord thy God
will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and
with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
We receive
this spiritual circumcision by pure grace.
God never made a covenant with gentiles.
Ephesians 2:11-13
Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh,
who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the
flesh made by hands;
We gentiles were called the
uncircumcision by those who were called the circumcision (Israel).
That at that time ye were
without Christ [during
his earthly ministry we were without him], being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the
covenants of promise [the covenants God made with Israel], having no hope, and without God in
the world:
We had no hope of resurrecting into God’s Kingdom. We were lost and far off; but that all
changed in Christ.
But now in Christ Jesus ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
To be continued…
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