EXAMINING PASSAGES (continued)

Since we are concerned about context - context - context, let us go back to John 4.

24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

This refers to how biblical believers get their spiritual sustenance.

14 "Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst."

Messiah Jesus is saying:

People in the world (the unredeemed) are gleaning off the goodness of God, because everything they receive comes from God. However, the unredeemed are just gleaning the leftovers.

Picture: The unredeemed receive rain from God.

Application: If a biblical believer's eyes are on the world like an unbeliever's are, then [just like the unbeliever] the believer is just gleaning the leftovers.

What Messiah Jesus was saying to the redeemed throughout these passages is:

The reason He keeps saying this is because:

A believer's tendency is to stay a gleaner and not a reaper.

I am sure that we can all agree that it was extremely easy for Ruth to see the benefits of staying in Boaz's field, because there were no other fields like his. She saw one field [here] with plenty of food and another field [over there] with no food. However, it can be much more difficult to see the benefits (spiritual blessings) for believers. Specifically understanding:

• How am I gleaning from the world's field?
• What is available by reaping in Messiah's field [that is better] since I am living in the physical world?

This can be hard to understand, so let us take a look at it.

Look for ways that reaping in Messiah's field becomes tangible. For instance, you can choose to:

• Draw on the water given by Messiah Jesus.
• Eat His food.
• Stay in His field.
• Tap into His mind for decisions at home - at play - at work - everywhere.

That is what is available for biblical believers. Unfortunately, most of us do not have a clue for knowing what is available or they question How much is available?

Today it is commonly taught to look in the Bible for general principles that answers these questions. No!

Paul says that the Lord God…

and:

We are taught that this is a biblical believer's position There is a place reserved with Messiah in heaven for the future. If that were true, then He would have said just that; however, Holy Spirit clearly indicated:

There has to be some tangible manifestation of this truth. So what part of the believer is in heaven while his body is alive and on this earth? The eyes, ears and sense of touch of the believer are on earth, and:

A believer's spirit is in heaven.

Let us look again at John 4:24—

God's Spirit is where God's main point of consciousness is. He chooses a particular place, and that is where His consciousness is manifested. Of course, God is everywhere (omnipresent); however, He is in heaven in a different sense than He is throughout the earth.

Anybody who gets a glimpse of heaven sees God's love and Messiah Jesus. Even though He is here, all throughout the earth, individuals do not see God here. The only place where individuals see God's presence is in heaven [which is the place where His consciousness is localized], meaning:

There has to be some value in understanding that, or He would not have said it. What is the value?

The natural man tries to see God with his brain (a fallen organ), but the only access to God's presence is through his spirit. Unfortunately, very few believers get to that level. Why?

If a believer could disassociate himself from his flesh (and I do not mean by behavior, but by disowning his flesh), then he would reap the benefits of being in God's presence much more often.

Very few individuals have seen God's presence. Paul, an apostle of Messiah Jesus, did. I think [with one exception*] all believers experiences with God could be exactly like Paul's.

Paul was aware of his spiritual home, and he was aware of it all of the time. That is why he was always saying that he was the chief of sinners. He was not whipping himself; Paul was disassociating himself from his flesh. The more often Paul said that, the more he experienced where he really was — in heaven. We can do the same!

Since the Samaritan woman at the well did not have correct knowledge, the first thing Messiah told her [and what He taught most often] was:

He did not hammer the sin issue, although He did bring up her sin. Messiah says that worshipping God in spirit is the most important thing in our lives.

Application: What does He want from all biblical believers? The number one priority for the redeemed should be:

The Samaritan woman at the well (see John 4:7-26) may be the only person that Messiah Jesus redeemed directly. Most people who were saved during His ministry on earth were redeemed through the outreach of His disciples. But Messiah Jesus went to that woman, one-on-one, and witnessed to her.

Why was it that Messiah Jesus was emphasizing [with a brand new believer] worshipping God in spirit? Because our flesh wants us to worship God in our flesh, so our "religious requirements" [of our flesh] are satisfied. Additionally, the flesh does not want the spirit to connect up with Holy Spirit and [truly] worship God the Father.

The flesh wants to worship God in the flesh. It is a good cover job (works of the flesh are designed to conceal God's truth by replacement), and an individual will [wrongly] think:

And that blocks a believer from saying:

Let us look at another Scripture:

He is saying:

Love is all Messiah Jesus wants from His own. It is not If you love Me, obedience will flow out. It is less than that—

The flesh is very subtle. The reason the flesh overwhelms the Spirit is because the flesh is just as bad as it was before the believer was saved. Flesh never improves; instead, flesh becomes [more] religious.

Why? Because the flesh wants exaltation and Messiah's crown. More than anything, the flesh wants the believer to become religious and not pursue anything higher.

If the flesh forces one to attend worship services, talk about God, or conduct personal rituals (prayer, daily devotions, or Bible study) then the believer [wrongly] thinks that he is living a holy life. The flesh is in action, because the biblical believer is rejecting God's power and settling for a religious activity or system.

By the way, a biblical believer is not attached to the flesh by some gross sin, nor is the flesh winning because of dictation. The flesh is winning because it is selling the individual that old con job of religion. And most teaching just reinforces that.

All individuals hate God until they are regenerated and then they love God only in their spirit, which is guided by Holy Spirit. In the flesh, the redeemed still do [hate God]; they are at enmity with Him. Know that never changes in the flesh, because the flesh never improves.

What happens though is that our flesh knows:

So the flesh knows it cannot bring the redeemed individual down. However, it also knows that if it can make the believer religious, then the flesh has won the individual. And, best of all [to the flesh]:

What should I do when I sit down to read the Bible during my [SELF-imposed] daily study time, and I do not get anything out of that time? Do not read the Bible that day and say:

The flesh would hate that!

If your mind drifts when you are reading the Bible, do not say I am sorry, my mind drifted. Instead, just say:

Remember that the unregenerated elect are enemies of God. However, once they are redeemed, the tactics change. Now the flesh is religious; it says Let us pray and Let us read the Bible.

So if biblical believers are doing these things (praying and reading the Bible) then why is it that there is very little spiritual growth in the lives of so many? Because most teachers promote the thinking that if you just read (stay in the word) then you will grow. That is what the flesh tells us, because the flesh [wrongly] uses word as a synonym for Bible.

This fleshly thinking is based on the following verse in Romans 10:

The word in the Greek is the Rhema of God (the spoken word of God) and NOT the Logos of God (the written word of God). The translators changed it to word of God to make it mean "from the Bible" when Paul was actually talking about:

Correctly worded—

This clarification makes a big difference when you think about it. Instead of seeking His written word (the Bible), it is:

Otherwise, believers are not getting any more out of the Bible than many unbelievers. For example, Benjamin Franklin (American statesman, scientist and writer) and Thomas Jefferson (third president of the USA and scholarly lawyer) followed the precepts of the Bible and they were very successful. Anyone who follows the precepts of the Bible would be.

These unbelievers were really not much different from many biblical believers, because the flesh does not want them to go away from God in an obvious manner. The flesh does not want believers to stop dutifully reading the Bible or conducting other religious rituals. He wants that veneer of religiosity on believers that makes them think they are doing okay, and that there is not much more to their relationship with the Lord God than that.

For those that think they are almost there (they have spiritually arrived), their flesh has pulled a con job (convinced through lying) beyond belief!

There is one other fascinating aspect in Ruth 2 that will help us understanding seeking God without being religious. Let us take a look at that next.

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