Episode 44- Chapter 24 Part 4
Transcription
Hello friends, and welcome to the latest in a series of podcasts that follow along with our book, The Wizard of God. This is Steve Roy, and today we're going to be discussing chapter 24. If you haven't already, you're invited to download a free digital copy of The Wizard of God from our website, wizardofgod.com, or if you prefer, you can buy a paper copy online through Amazon or Barnes and noble. In these podcasts, we're going chapter by chapter discussing our character's journey through the land of God. So if you haven't read chapters 1 through 24 yet and/or listened to the previous podcasts, please do.
Well, we're quickly approaching the end of our journey through the land of God. Friends, the gospel of Jesus is simple. Jesus said that His Father's entire kingdom has revealed to small children, but He also said it is hidden from those who fancy themselves as wise. Sadly... kill the sheep. Even more tragic, some of the false shepherds are themselves wolves in sheep's clothing. The factory unveils the dark, sinister underbelly of man-made, man-centered religion.
As it's born of the flesh, it feeds itself on the flesh. Being dead, it has no life to give. It can only feed on the life of its followers. But this killing and consuming is subtle. There's no blood in the streets of the EC or the land controlled by the government. The killing doesn't sound any alarms as it's often a gradual, painfully slow starvation. Some have asked, why does food play such a huge role in the Wizard of God parable? We're going to explore this at greater length in just a few minutes, But I understand why people are confused.
Most stories of this sort are centered on the battle between good and evil, the good guys versus the bad guys. In the land of religion, the land of god, small G, little kingdoms like the godvernment, the EC compete, they argue over good and evil. Both sides claim to be better than, more good if you will, the land of god, small G, little kingdoms like the godvernment, the EC compete, they argue over good and evil. Both sides claim to be better than, more good if you will, rather than the fruit that they're producing, the fruit that they're feeding to their followers. They don't consider such things as spiritual food most often. As having declared independence from the true God, they spend their time contending for who has the most glorious kingdom. Who is the most glorious lesser God? It has been this way from the beginning, for all who eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil instead of the tree of life.
In the book, the core problem in the land of God is not goodness or badness, but life and death due to starvation. The government and EC argue over good and evil while their people starve.
True good and evil are fruits not roots. In Matthew 7:17 Jesus teaches that a good tree produces good fruit and a bad tree produces bad fruit.
A good tree can't produce bad fruit and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. A good tree planted in Christ watered by the Holy Spirit naturally produces good fruit. A tree planted in dead soil will only produce death. Food plays a central role in this parable, partly because the problem began in the garden when the first two ate of the wrong tree and died.
But the primary reason food plays such a central role in the book is because Jesus spoke so much about food, about life and death. His invitations to mankind were never come to me and be made good or made more good. So deceptive. It's impossible to escape from, apart from being set free. But friends, if you're in Christ, you've already been set free. In John 8, verse 36, Jesus said,
"So if the Son makes you free, you'll be free indeed."
1 John 5:12, John says, "He who has the Son has life.”
Having eaten from the tree of life, having the life of God in you as an artesian spring, you have been freed from needing to die on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Always remember friends, Jesus said He had come to give us life, not to make us good in ourselves. Jesus is the tree of life. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil can never produce good, as its fruit is merely the knowledge of good and evil.
It has no power to deliver us from evil, much less minister life. The one who independent of God says, "I will be his God, I will declare good and evil," has cut themselves off the tree of life. Goodness is a fruit of life, the source of life, which is God. God is good. This is what good means. There's no goodness apart from God. The gift Jesus came to freely give mankind is life, not goodness, doing the best we can while living independently of God. Here is the message of the gospel, the entire Bible in one picture. We turned away from God, and in doing so turned away from life, so we died. God came to us in Christ Jesus to restore us to life.
Evil is a fruit of death. Goodness is a fruit of life. Those in Christ have the life of God dwelling in them. God is good. We eat of this fruit and we are filled with the goodness of God. The EC and the government are filled with people trying to do good. In this chapter the unmasking of "independent goodness" is complete. Everything is exposed.
You may have wondered if it's going too far to portray "good" or at least "nice" people literally feeding on each other's flesh. I understand the idea of good people consuming dead flesh. The dead flesh of their fallen brothers and sisters may be a shocking metaphor. Why would we use such an extreme example? What biblical basis do we have? Well, Galatians chapter 5 starting at verse 14 reads this way, "For the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Verse 15,
"But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed of one another." There is only one cure for this, friends, and the next verse tells us. Verse 16, Paul says, "I say then, walk in the spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust or the deeds of the flesh." How does biting and devouring one another play out in the church of our day?
Here is Jesus' warning in Matthew 7:15. He said,
"Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves."
Ravenous wolves kill the sheep for only one purpose, in order to devour them. Most of the killing and consuming happens in church. That happens in church is due to the spiritually ignorant, perverted teaching and counsel of the false shepherds.
This is what is portrayed in the factory of the godvernment in the EC. I understand this is a horrible, disgusting thing to consider. Let me tell you just a bit of my story, if I could. Many years ago, I was in a sort of leadership position as a sort of elder in a church. I say sort of because I had no real authority, which is okay. They didn't really want to be an elder anyway. I was just asked to be one by the sort of pastor. In this position, being allowed to see behind the facade, I soon discovered that the church was not truly feeding the people but was instead feeding off the people until they ultimately burned out, literally spiritually starved to death.
The sort of pastor said that those who fell by the wayside were just weak and were never really one of us anyway. Hearing him speak of dear brothers and sisters like this shocked me to the core. Before they died of spiritual starvation though, these precious people were praised for being some of the most dedicated in the church. They generously served with their time. They gave sacrificially with their money.
They were there every time the church doors were open. They were providing the fuel that powered the church, but were given nothing in return. Nothing that would actually feed them. All those who labor must be fed, and spiritual labor requires spiritual food. Instead, they were fed formula, watered down, processed, dead religious flesh, until like Anna in the hospital, they eventually died of spiritual starvation. Even while they were being starved though, in their ignorance, by inviting others to attend the church, these dear people ensured that there would always be an ample supply of fresh fuel. I know this sounds awful, but for the most part everyone was completely oblivious to what was truly happening, including the sort of pastor who was himself starving along with the people.
No, the sort of pastor wasn't the evil behind the spiritual Ponzi scheme. As always, it was the unseen enemy. He's the devourer. 1 Peter 5:8,
“Be sober be diligent because your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.”
Yes, it was the devil who was doing the devouring. Well, of course, I soon stopped attending this sort of church Which was very difficult as many of my dear friends attended there But it it long before the whole house of cards collapsed anyway. Everything fell apart. The sort of church folded its tent, and the people that remained to the end wondered why. Please hear this. Most people involved in man-made religions believe they are doing good. They are serving God. Most have the best of motives. So where is the disconnect? In John chapter 3 verse 6, Jesus told Nicodemus, who was a top religious leader, this simple yet incredibly profound truth:
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit."
I believe this is the one plus one equals two of the gospel. God is spirit. The gospel is spirit. Spirit born, spirit breath. Jesus said the flesh profits nothing. This includes religious flesh operating with good motives. We are born again of the Spirit. We need to be fed of the Spirit. Jesus went on to tell Nicodemus that his father so loved the world he sent him with an offer to receive the gift of eternal life of God.
He said everyone born of the Spirit has received the life of God. "Those born of the Spirit will no longer feed on, "receive their life force, if you will, from the flesh, "but eternally live by, receive of, "dying on the life of God." He's once dead, but now spirits filled, spirit -infused people would also be equipped to minister the life of God to others.
We did a four-part podcast series on this title, "The Ministry of the Spirit," if you're interested. In John 6, Jesus is announcing his new way, his new covenant, his invitation to a radically new life, a life which would soon be possible through the indwelling of God. This new spiritual life would also include a radical change of diet. Instead of dead flesh, he serves his people living bread. John 6, verse 48, Jesus said,
"I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so the one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread also which I will give to the life of the world is my flesh.’ Then the Jews began to argue with one another saying, ‘How could this man give us is flesh to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is the true food and my blood is the true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As a living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father. He who eats me, he also will live because of me. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As a living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father. He who eats me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the Father's ate and died, and he who eats of this bread will live forever."
Jesus spoke a lot about food. He didn't come to enforce or amend the dietary laws of the Old Covenant. He came bringing living bread, and he called himself the bread of life. He called the Holy Spirit the living water. He announced that the days of feeding off the flesh were over. The living bread has come and all are invited to dine. Defeat on is to receive of. What we are, excuse me, we are what we eat, spiritually speaking, and whatever we're consuming constitutes the source, the fuel of our life. Flesh or spirit are the only two options, and they do not mix.
Jesus said, feeding on Him, dining on the Spirit of God brings life, the life of God. Dining on the flesh only produces death. In John 6, he taught that the eating of his flesh, the drinking of his blood, was spiritual in nature, not physical. Eating, receiving of Him of the Spirit is not mere metaphor, though. We're invited to actually partake, to receive, to take in the Spirit of God. Now this is truly amazing grace. In verse 63 of John 6, Jesus hammers the last nail in the coffin for all man-made, man-centered religion when he says,
"The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak, are spirit and they are life.”
Our flesh, our human strength, cannot be added to the Spirit, to the life of God. Flesh profits nothing. The words of Jesus revealed, illuminated, revelation by the Holy Spirit gives life. It's all as simple as this. The question is, will we believe and will we receive?
Just a quick thought on the words that minister life. Remember the book that Jared wanted to get his hands on? But once he got it, he couldn't comprehend it. You may have heard people boast, "We're a Bible-believing church here." Okay? What does that mean? The Pharisees, who Jesus said were blind leaders of the blind, would have made this exact same boast and would have had lots more evidence to back it up than most of us. They had memorized the scriptures of their day. Even Jesus said they were always searching the scriptures. So it's simply lead the reader to come to him for life. The Son has life. His Spirit breathed and illuminated words have life. These are not mere words on a page. Yes, the Holy Spirit breathed, Holy Spirit revealed words of Jesus' ministered, tangible life. Friends, this is how we eat the living bread. This is our food, our daily bread. If you aren't experiencing this when you read the Bible, I pray the Holy Spirit will reveal this glorious truth to you. In the Word of God, there is only life and death. That's all there is to choose from. There's no giant religious gray area because that would be a mixture of flesh and spirit, which is death. Man -made religion can only produce death as it is void of life. This is the symbolism in the bosom of God. The Bible clearly teaches that you can't serve God or people in and through the flesh.
It also teaches that you can't truly know Jesus, yourself, or anyone else through the flesh. Second Corinthians 5 -16 Paul says from now on we regard no one or we know no one from a worldly view. Though we once knew regarded Christ in this way we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone. The new is here. All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Sadly, so much of what I was fed in church amounted to ministry to my natural mind.
The messages were either intellectually based, designed to educate my mind, or motivational, intended to provoke a positive emotional response. All this is of the flesh. It's of the natural world. But in John 17, verse 16, Jesus says that his disciples were not of the world, even as he was not of the world.
Read this for yourself. Think about it. As new creations in Christ, we need to be fed. We need to eat the same food that Jesus eats, spiritual food. The words of Nicodemus, the message of Galatians, what we just read, the entire New Testament, declare you can't begin by the Spirit and finish, be completed, be perfected in the flesh. Sometimes it's just a little pinch. Something is necessary to add just a little pinch of the law, a pinch of what our flesh needs to do to earn our way to God's blessings, try to get God to move, et cetera. Even though we may be continually taught to do so, we can't live the Christian life, even partially, in human strength and effort.
We receive all things 100% by grace through faith, all because of what Jesus has done, period. Jesus told his followers, "Beware of the leaven, the teaching of the Pharisees."
I wonder how often are church folks given the same warning? Aren't most churchgoers primarily taught to beware of sin and sinners? Maybe even the agenda of a particular political party? Well Jesus ignored politics and allowed sinners to follow him right along with his disciples. Why not warn his followers to beware of sinners and following a dissentful behavior? Because Jesus came to minister grace, not law. He knew if people received his grace, his life, ate of the living bread. They would be changed from the inside out. Their hearts would be changed. The grace of God friends is infinitely more powerful than law. Romans 6:14 says,
“For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.”
God’s plan to change the world, his only plan, is to change individual hearts. His only plan is for people to be under grace, in Christ Jesus. Throughout the Old Testament and into the 1st century, leven symbolized corruption, defilement and sin. The Leven, or teaching of Pharisees, declares that flesh does profit something. It is of some benefit in receiving or communing with God, becoming right with God. This is what Jesus told us to be aware of.
It is deceptive because it's what we're expecting to hear. Pure grace is so amazing. It's too good to be true, we think, so we wait to hear the catch. Yes, the bewitching message of the false gospel tells us what we've been waiting to hear, the call to add something to God's grace, to do our part, in essence to literally mix our flesh with the Spirit of God, to mix our sweat, our blood with the sweat and blood of Jesus. What a horrible, blasphemous thought. But this is precisely what a large segment of the church is being taught.
It began in the early church. In Galatians 3, in the New Living Translation, listen to Paul.
"O foolish Galatians, who has cast an evil spell on you, for the meaning of Jesus Christ's death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. Let me ask you this one question. Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not. You receive the Spirit because you believe the message you heard about Christ? How foolish can you be after starting your new lives in the Spirit? Why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now seeking to be perfected by the flesh?”
As we've said before, this is the litmus test for the false gospel. Is the message pure grace, pure spirit, or is flesh mixed in somewhere? How much flesh false teaching does it take to cause a problem? Galatians 5:1 Paul says,
“It was for freedom that Christ set us free therefore keep standing firm and do not subject yourself again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I Paul say to you that if you receive circumcision Christ will be of no benefit to you. Again, I testify again to you, anyone who receives circumcision is under obligation to keep the whole law. You’ve been severed from Christ. You who are seeking to be justified by the law, you have fallen from grace. For we, through the Spirit, by faith are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. You were running well, who hindered you from the faith? This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you.”
Verse 9, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough."
Now when Paul speaks of circumcision, he's not talking about the medical procedure. This puts circumcision for the purpose of adding flesh, mixing law with the grace of God. Galatians 5 teaches that it only takes a little leaven. This should be sobering. Trying to add man-made works to grace is to fall from grace, because grace and works don't mix.
Flesh and spirit don't mix. When we turn away from Jesus and look to ourselves, we self -sever ourselves from Him and as a result from life. But in 1 Corinthians 1:23 Paul explains why the false gospel, the leaven gospel, is so appealing to so many. He says that the message of the gospel of grace, the announcement that Christ has done it all, with us adding nothing, is foolishness to the non-religious and offensive to the religious.
Well, there you go. But he also said that the gospel message to those who are being saved was the power of God. He also made the same statement in Romans 1:16.
My friends, the gospel of grace is incredibly good news to weary hungry Christians. If we can't do it, then we don't have to try. We can be free of the endless cycle of trying to please God, trying to be a good Christian, only to fail, fall on our face and despair, then pick ourselves up and try again. Trying to live for God is not the Christian life. Colossians 2 starting at verse 6,
"And now just as you accept the Christ as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots go down into Him and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth that you were taught and you will overflow with thankfulness. Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from spiritual powers of this world rather than from Christ. For in Christ, in Christ lives all the fullness of God and human body, so you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is head over every ruler and every authority.”
As you have received Christ by grace through faith, you continue to walk in Him. We continue to receive grace. As we're in Christ, grace is about receiving, not trying, and faith is simply the act of receiving. This scripture says, "We are complete in Christ.” Complete means finished. Nothing to add. Nothing more to do." Ask your Christian friends if they believe they are complete, lacking nothing before God. Regardless of how any of us feel if we are in Christ, we are complete. In our weakness, we lay hold of God's strength.
2 Corinthians 12 verse 9 Paul speaking, who is seeking God to deliver him from something he said,
“He said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weakness that the power of Christ may rest upon me for the sake of Christ. Then I am content with weaknesses insults hardships persecutions and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Our problem as Christians is not that we are too weak in our flesh, our natural abilities. God doesn't need them or want them. The problem is trying to be strong in ourselves apart from the grace of God, the power of God, the life of God. Paul got this revelation and began boasting, admitting his weakness and laying hold of the power of God. The power of God isn't an additive to our strength. No, when we embrace our total weakness, our total dependence upon God, then we are in a position to receive the pure grace, the complete strength of God. In our weakness, Jesus is our strength. Trying implies you don't believe you are totally weak, You're trying to be strong.
So what is a strong Christian? Those who in their perfect total weakness receive, they hold of the perfect strength of Jesus. Remember, Jesus invited the weary, those with heavy burdens, to come to Him and rest. Yes, we can rest in Christ, drink the living water, and as Jesus has promised, the life of God will flow from us. There's no trying. They're just believing and receiving. In Christ, you have been made complete, Fully complete, lacking nothing. In Christ, you are perfected. Jesus is not upset that we're spiritually weak and poor apart from him, because we're never apart from him. But his good news is specifically for the poor.
In Luke 4, his first sermon,
“He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and it was his as his custom. He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read and the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him and he opened the book and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit is Lord, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, recover your sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.’ And he closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of the synagogue were all fixed on him, and he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Hallelujah and praise God. The gospel, friends, is only for the poor. So today, if you're poor, the gospel and all the grace in Christ is yours to receive today. Today is when we need it and today is when we must receive it. This is the Christian life. This is why it's called good news. News means something has already happened. Something good.
I believe we've shared enough for now. Again, I hope you'll meditate on the scriptures we've read. Oh, they're such good news and they're part of your inheritance in Christ. They're yours. I pray you'll begin to hope. Hope isn't out of the mind. Hope is seeing the unseen. The hope of righteousness is not hoping to be righteous one day, we are righteous in Christ. Hope is seeing that unseen reality, that truth. See with eyes of the Spirit what is yours today in Christ Jesus. I pray by the Holy Spirit you will behold Jesus, the living bread, and you will come to Him and dine on Him in His abundant grace. You are invited. He offers his bread himself to you today free of charge. Please join us next time for part two of Chapter 24. Until then, grace and peace be yours in abundance as you dine on the bread of heaven. Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen. Bye for now.