Living After the Spirit, Not the Flesh

I began my post yesterday with the motivation to call out a number of worldly behaviors that I have seen so much of in the body of Christ recently. But as I began to write about how everyone is either carnally minded or spiritually minded, the holy Ghost changed my direction. Rather than write about symptoms of the spiritual disease of being carnally minded, God wanted me to "lay the ax to the root of the tree," and hew down the support system that actually promotes all of the carnal minded behavior among God's people. That support system that keeps God's people carnally minded is the network of doctrines set forth by modern Christianity. And as I was finishing the post I was led by God's Spirit to continue the same message today, this time focusing on another aspect of the promotion of carnal mindedness by Christianity. That aspect is the observance, practice, and godly regard that is shown to carnal, ceremonial ordinances. I am talking by and large about water baptism and "communion," though there are other things that apply, such as the "Sabbath" observance. I want you to see exactly HOW it is that these practices are promoting a carnally minded condition among God's people who observe them, and it won't take very long. First of all we will see from the scriptures that both water baptism and what is known as communion, are actually ceremonial ordinances of the law; or partially so in the case of "communion." And we'll throw in the Sabbath observance for good measure as well. Jesus said clearly that he came to FULFILL the law (Mat. 5:17). Jesus also said that he was doing just that when he came to John to be baptized (Mat. 3:15). So that ends that dispute very quickly. Water baptism was an ordinance of the law, or at least according to Jesus. And it was a ceremony, not something spiritual. And that is integral because Jesus also said that all who worship God now must do so "IN SPIRIT and in truth" (Jn. 4:24). The "in spirit" part of that statement actually means "in nothing carnal," as in the carnal ordinances under the law. And I might add that anything that has been FULFILLED, is clearly no longer in effect; such as fulfilled prophecies. Okay, what people have long called "communion" is actually just a broken off piece of the Passover, which was a carnal, ceremonial ordinance of the law (Mat. 26:17,18,26-28). The truth is, Jesus kept all of the ordinances of the law BECAUSE he was FULFILLING the law, as he himself said. He was baptized in water so that we could be baptized with his Spirit in our hearts and souls, which is the "one baptism" that God now requires and accepts (Acts 1:4,5; I Cor. 12:13; Eph. 4:5). He kept the Passover so that he could BE our Passover through the holy Ghost (I Cor. 5:7,8; II Cor. 3:17). He kept the Sabbath so that we could have true spiritual rest in our souls every day.

As for the Sabbath day, the apostle Paul made it quite clear that it was a ceremonial ordinance or observance when he wrote the following: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a SHADOW of THINGS TO COME; but the body [fulfillment] is of Christ" (Col. 2:16,17). The Sabbath day observance under the law was a SHADOW of, or symbolic of the "rest and refreshing" we have by the holy Ghost purifying us from sin daily [if we pursue that] (Isa. 28:11,12; Mat. 11:28; Acts 3:19). Now if you have followed this plain, indisputable path of scriptural evidence and proof about these ordinances being of the law, then here is the clincher: "But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are NOT under the law" (Gal. 5:18). That is what it comes down to. If we are observing, practicing, and giving godly regard to ordinances of the law, then we are very simply going in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION of the leading of God's Spirit. That is exactly what the apostle said right there in Galatians 5:18 as I have copied. And that is a real problem because the scripture also says that those who FOLLOW the Spirit are God's true children (Rom. 8:14). And do you know where going in the opposite direction of the leading of the holy Ghost will take you? That is correct, into being carnally minded. There is nowhere else TO go in that case. And that is exactly what had happened to the Galatians that Paul wrote to. They had been duped by false apostles and teachers to believe that they had to keep ordinances of the law in order to be saved (Acts. 15:1; Gal. 1:7,8; Gal. 3:3; Gal. 4:11,12; Gal. 5:2,4). And the body of Christ today has been duped into thinking that observing these ordinances is actually an act of obedience to Jesus. But that is NOT in the Bible. What IS in the Bible is that God gives the holy Ghost to all them that obey him (Acts 5:32). And what IS in the Bible is, "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Rom. 8:9). And what IS in the Bible is, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Rom. 8:14). And what IS in the Bible is, "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, [by] the Spirit of our God" (I Cor. 6:11). And what is also in the Bible is, "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth THROUGH THE SPIRIT unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently" (I Pet. 1:22). And what is also in the Bible is, "... because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts BY the Holy Ghost which is given unto us" (Rom. 5:5). And this is in the Bible too: "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. 13:10). Now all of these things my friend, are things that have to do with BEING LED by God's Spirit, not going in the opposite direction of the Spirit. And THESE are the things that constitute being spiritually minded, while the belief that carnal ordinances are to be observed in obedience to Christ, promotes being carnally minded. And the failure to observe THESE things of the Spirit is what will doom you if you fall short of them: "And because iniquity shall abound, the LOVE of many shall wax cold. BUT he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" (Mat. 24:12,13). Amen.