Spirituality

Let's return to Romans chapter 7. First of all, Romans chapter 7, verse 14. For we know that the law is spiritual. Chapter 8 and verse 9. But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.

Now, there seems to be an indication this is not the spirit himself, but the spiritual realm, the spiritual atmosphere into which we brought into. You're not in the flesh, but in the spiritual realm, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Verse 12. Therefore, I can readily see that verse 12 links itself with verse 9. Therefore, because we are in the spiritual realm, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you shall die.

But if you, through the spirit, mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

And a final reading, please, in Galatians 6, verse 1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

But every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. Now, that's all I'm going to read.

We're going to look at the subject of spirituality. After a short introduction, we shall look at the subject more closely. Now, almost everything in this universe in which we live is a reflection of the triune God.

Almost everything. Deity, Father, Son, Spirit. Humanity, Spirit, Soul, and Body.

Time, Past, Present, Future. Elements, Fire, Water, Earth. Almost everything is a reflection of the triune God in this universe in which we live.

Now, this is interesting to notice. Again, Noah, in Genesis chapter 9, divides the human race racially. Shem, Ham, Japheth.

1 Corinthians 10, Paul divides the human race historically. Jews, Gentiles, Church. He divides spiritually the human race.

The spiritual, the carnal, and the natural. So, everything almost reflects in this world in which we live. Again, from Genesis to Abraham, you have Gentile history.

From Abraham to Christ, you have Jewish history. From Christ to the present time, you have Church history. Again, the present age belongs to the Spirit.

He's predominant. The kingdom age belongs to the Son. Eternity belongs to the Father.

So, it's just a short introduction. Everything you see in the universe seems to be a reflection of the triune God. Now, let's come to the subject.

Spirituality. We shall divide it into three sections. First of all, what spirituality is not.

There's some misunderstanding along that line. What spirituality is not. Secondly, what is spirituality? How do you get it? Thirdly, how do you become spiritual? Three sections.

Now, spirituality is not isolation. Daniel, Paul, Esther lived in an environment that was anything but Christian. But brethren, in this environment, they are preserved, and so you and I. We live in a world that's wicked and sinful, has many temptations, young man.

But in this world, by the grace of God, we can be preserved because we belong to Christ. So, it is not isolation, and it's certainly not gift. Paul says to the Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 7, you come behind in no gift.

But brethren, some of the Corinthians were anything but spiritual. Anything but. And sometimes you hear of a man, a good gospeler, many souls to his credit.

That's no proof that a man like this is spiritual, although he should be. You have men who can ably expound the Scriptures. So, it's spellbound.

And you wonder at the gift they've got. But a man like this is no guarantee that he's a spiritual man, although he knows the Scriptures, although he should be a spiritual person. So, brethren, it is not gift, and it is not isolation.

It is not personality. As I look at you tonight, everyone has a different personality. I'm not referring to yourself.

But some folks have a personality that reminds me of a Costa Rica mango, very sweet. And some are choleric, like Amos of old. Some are the essence of patience, and some are very impatient.

By nature, we're all different. Different emotions. So, it's certainly not personality.

I meet saints who are very sweet, easy to get along with. And some folks are difficult. We are all different.

But this is not spirituality. It's personality, not spirituality. And it's certainly not license.

My dear brethren, if I, as a believer, go back into the world's systems that captivate my 100% life inhibitions, whatever it might be, politics, and so on, am I spiritual? So, I've got liberty to do this and do that. And you know, this world is like a magnet back to Egypt, onward to God in the heavens. We are not there yet.

The world has a tremendous magnetic attraction, not only to the young people. And brethren, I say it with feeling, we've lost too many young people from the assemblies. Oh, I know we all have to make a living, brethren.

But if you're a spiritual person, you hold a healthy balance between material things and spiritual things. So, it is certainly not license. You see, it's not mannerism.

When I first came to Christ in the city of Toronto many years ago, I just don't know where I got it. I had the idea that if you had a red car or wore a red dress, you're not spiritual. I don't know where I got it from.

But I had to study it myself. You know what I found? God made red roses. God made red tulips.

And if red is the color of the devil, well, that's not the point. So, it has nothing to do with mannerism. Hmm? And certainly, it has nothing to do with dynamics.

Brethren, shouting is not power. So then, let's come to the subject. If, as a Christian, I seek heavenly honor, heavenly approval, heavenly gifts, that proves spirituality, doesn't it? All right? If, on the other hand... No, we're only natural.

If, on the other hand, I seek the back slap of the brethren, and there's nothing wrong to say, brother, your work has helped me. Nothing wrong with that, brethren. But if I seek for that... You know, the platform can be a very lonely place.

Hmm? For you have to touch on things that convict us, myself included, brethren. And we must, by necessity, expose certain weakness among the saints for our own preservation. And some brethren who do... You know, I always have to do it, you know? Some brethren do it, I'm not too popular.

And I learned as a young believer, the presentation of all the truth is geared for my own preservation and the preservation of the local testimony. That's the idea. If, on the other hand, and sometime we'll all experience it, we receive rejection, we receive opposition, we receive animosity, and even persecution, not so much in this country, but in other countries.

If these things discourage me, am I still spiritual? In that little town where we lived sometime ago, there's a barber. You remember Paul Elliot, don't you? And every time Paul Elliot preached, he always talked about barbering. So this barber of ours, in a little town of 5,000, he was a Christian.

And he witnessed his customers, not sharpening the knife on the leather strip and say, are you ready to prepare to meet God? No, not that way. But you know the people, how they react to something. Oh, they're friendly to the barber.

But when they get out of the shop, they talk behind his back. That's human nature. And from one person went to the other and to the third and to the fourth, until the whole town talked about this crazy barber, this religious barber.

So it came back to him. And one fellow Christian said, you know what they talk about you in the town? They talk that your head is cracked. He said, hallelujah, that's where the light shone in.

Brethren, you see the point, don't you? Rather than being dismayed, discouraged, depressed about negative reports, a spiritual man carries it with dignity. After all, he's a spiritual man. These things, now we're all human.

This can affect us. But are we then still spiritual? Look at Nebuchadnezzar, the big man, head of gold. And she's a dream in relation to the development of Gentile history.

To commemorate his dream and his supposed greatness is not this Babylon, which I have built for the glory of my name, the big I. Watch those men, will you? So he built in the plains of Dura, a great monument, 90 feet by nine feet. Wow. Gold, silver, bronze, copper, and lesser elements.

And you better, when the music starts, you worship the image or else it's a concentration camp for you. Nebuchadnezzar is taken with the imposing greatness of the successive world empires. Well, it's impressive, isn't it? Right from the Babylonians to the Roman and the empires that we see today.

Now watch. Here's a man of God, Daniel. He does not see, he's a spiritual man, he does not see the imposing might of the Gentile empires.

He sees the inward wild beast nature. And that's the way you should look at the world empires, brethren, all their greatness. Young man, I do not know you, don't know you at all, but tell me please, we all have to make a living.

But if that job of yours demands all the time and all the energies, tell me what's in for God. Now these things we have to face today. Where are the young men today who can step into the shoes of so many brethren who've gone to be with Christ? Great need among God's assemblies for young devoted brethren and sisters to carry on in the fear of God.

Tell me, are you such a person? Come on. All the men are going at quite a rate. So here's Daniel and he sees the vileness of the whole thing.

The corrupt inward nature. That's the way we should look at the world and its systems. Now, how then does a person become spiritual? I'm always encouraged to know, brethren, that spiritual men are not born that way, they're made.

Not born that way. Look at Peter. In the gospel, the Savior speaks about his death.

You know the response of Peter. You know what's behind it. But as the years pass by, between 20 and 30 years, Peter has matured.

He doesn't have a clue in relation to the significance and majesty and the wonders and the purpose of God through the Savior's death and resurrection. But now he writes the epistles. You know the leading theme in these epistles? The death of Christ.

Yes, Peter, you've grown. That is how to become spiritual. You're not made that way.

Rather, you're not born that way. You're made. And that's what the apostle Paul says.

Because God has placed us in the spiritual realm, we are debtors. Not to live after the flesh. We are debtors.

And it gives you some practical truth. Truth. Now, man is a creature of extremes.

We had a brother in the assembly where I was raised in. He was an open air preacher like I've never known anyone else. He had a voice that was like a Boston foghorn.

And while he preached, he turned 360 degrees so that people within at least two blocks heard his voice. It changed the man's life, but he was a little bit eccentric. Before he was saved, he was an avid hunter.

Now, there's nothing wrong with hunting. They still hunt pheasants around here? Deer? Okay. Sorry.

Well, we're well watered. Don't worry. No, no.

Forget it. That's amazing with the people. Do you remember when Mr. Krauss spoke, he tipped over the water bottle that he can't tell you what he spoke about.

That's something. Am I right? Anyhow. Yeah.

How do you become spiritual? And so here, the Apostle Paul says, mortify, therefore. Now, what does it mean mortify? In Canada, we have the funeral parlors. In America, the mortuaries.

Put to death. Brother, nothing dies to you. You'll have to die to it.

It's a struggle. Surely it is. And sometimes in places where I've gone, people find out that I play the instrument, the violin.

They said, Mr. Krauss, we have a young people's meeting tonight. Would you like to come along, bring a violin along? I said, bless your heart. I didn't come to fiddle around.

I came to preach. Get the idea, don't you? But you see, basically, now in the local assembly, unlike in the Old Testament, there's no instrumentation. The worship in the New Testament is entirely spiritual, spiritual in nature.

In some places, you know, people like to be entertained. And you have the quartet at the expense of spiritual contents. Oh, yes, brother, in some places, we can be slipping.

Young people are not content with the simplicity of New Testament. Those of us who are outsiders, you know why we appreciate the assembly? We have been in the denominational circles with all the paraphernalia and the choirs and the organ and so on. And the ministry was dead as a doornail.

Therefore, I appreciate the local assembly. First time I came to the assembly, I wasn't even saved then. In Europe, we have these big cathedrals, million dollars edifices, organs, choir.

And I came to the hall. I said, now, this is different. Plain worship choir, no organ, text on the wall.

I like that even before I was converted, the simplicity of it. And brethren, God helped us to keep it simple. Worship is entirely spiritual in the New Testament, mortified, put to death.

Now, finally, for the sake of time, Galatians 6 and 1. Now, there are certain things that keep you searching. What does the Apostle Paul mean? If any man be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such in one. Now, if we look at the context, that could be a reversion of the Christians in southern Galatia back to the law.

That could be in the context. But we are not too sure. So we come to the conclusion, my dear brethren, could be anything.

Could be anything. Now, watch. Sometimes you get a very strange idea when something happens to a child of God.

Some brethren and sisters, they say, well, and they judge him or her, hardly any sympathy. Hardly any sympathy. It's a touchy subject.

Brethren, if there's weakness or whatever happens, and sometimes in the local assembly, it calls for godly brethren, spiritual men, not to just criticize. You may not have known Mervyn Paul's wife. She's been with the Lord for many, many years.

I was just in the work for about one year, and a brother and I, we visited her in Valens, a little town. As we entered the house, she was a very kind lady. We saw her knitting a little sweater.

And of course, she was in the 70s then, so it wasn't for her own children. So she volunteered the information. She said, I'm knitting this little sweater for a young lady who got into difficulty and she has a little child.

Some folks in my assembly, they said this, this woman, she made her nest, let her lie in it. And what dear Mrs. Mervyn Paul says, although the word of God has to be carried out, that doesn't hinder me to make the nest a little softer. Get the point, brethren? When something happens, spiritual men, not those who come to judgment, spiritual men, says Paul, restore such a man, bring him or her back.

Don't leave him out there. Tell me, you ever go after a sheep that's lost? Come on. It's difficult work because the person that are associated with the world, the worldly systems, they talk about the assembly in the third person, you over there.

They don't feel included. And that takes a spiritual man with gentle hands and a soft heart to bring them back. Now we could talk a little bit more about the subject, the spiritual man and circumstances, but we like to heed the exhortation of our dear brother to make room for others, spirituality.

So the Lord help us, dear brother, especially young men. In the light of eternity, in the light of Christ's rule in this world, you and I will be used in administrative capacity. Your faithfulness to him now will determine your youthfulness in that day when our Savior will be acknowledged and have the rightful rule over this world that's Alawak today.

God bless his word.