Bible Study: Through the Looking Glass

Hi Everyone

Here's our latest Bible Study. You can download the audio here.

Be blessed!

Chris

Blind and Fooled

The one who denies God is a fool. He is like the blind man depending only on his ears and other senses, trying to figure out the world. This is foolishness in the midst of people who can see.

Psalm 53:1 The fool has said in his heart,“There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; There is none who does good. (NKJV)

All for Futility

The Bible clearly tells us that this is an exercise in futility:

Ephesians 4:17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, (NKJV)

The Beginning of Wisdom

Until we believe God and His saving grace, we walk in the futility of our minds. We are like blind men going through life only with the knowledge based on 4 senses, no sight.

Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (NKJV)

God is Spirit

God’s realm is the realm of the Spirit:

John 4:24a God is Spirit…(NKJV)

We were in the same realm in the spirit in the Garden.

Our Spirits Died

Genesis 2:16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (NKJV)

Adam was separated from God and this is death in the spirit. His body was still in much better shape than ours, having lived over 900 years.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (NKJV)

The problem is universal – without Jesus, we are all dead spirits on a terminal experience in the body.

God Restored Our Spirits

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (NKJV)

God sent His Son to die for us that we might be restored into His image in the spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (NKJV)

Our bodies and minds didn't change when we got saved. Our spirits got reborn, made new. Born again!

Now we are alive in the Spirit. The spirit realm is not a spooky realm. It is the real realm God and we are to exist in it. This is walking in the Spirit.

We Still Live in the Flesh…

Galatians 2:20 (fragment) …the life which I now live in the flesh…(NKJV)

The other “4 senses” continue to operate, even when we start to see.

…but now have FULL Access to the Spirit

Things of the spirit are more important than things on the earth, just like what we see is more important than what we hear.

That’s why Paul says

Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. (NKJV)

This is our task. It won’t happen without our wills.

The Word is the Access

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (NKJV)

The Word is the entry point into the things of the spirit. When we read the Word in faith, we start to encounter God in the spirit realm.

We need to walk by faith in the Word we hear:

2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. (NKJV)

2 Corinthians 5:7 For we live by believing and not by seeing. (NLT)

Who Do You See in the Mirror?

The Word is not a pair of glasses. It is a mirror. We need to know who we are in Christ first. When we realise what He has done for us, who He has made us to be (one with Him) we realise His love more and more.

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (NKJV)

Each time we encounter God in the Word, we are seeing ourselves as we really are in the Spirit. We catch a glimpse of the glory in us:

John 17:22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: (NKJV)

We see Christ in us!

Colossians 1:27 … Christ in you, the hope of glory. (NKJV)

He put Himself in you and is the power in you! The Creator of the Universe, the Heavens and the Earth has made His home in you!

You can try beating people to not sin, but if they don't know why they are Christians, who they really are, they will always be going in circles.

We need to access the spiritual truths provided in His love by the spirit. See the truths of the real realm, not the lies of the false one. No longer live like the blind man, being fooled by the devil, but live by the truths that we see in the spirit.

In the Looking Glass – The New You

Here’s a quick cross section, just a glimpse:

1 John 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. (NKJV)

You are like Christ in this world. He is the one who said that as the Father has sent Him, He sends us.

Now we can believe all the truths in the Bible, because we know it is in Him in the Spirit!

Righteousness, Holiness, able to do all things etc.

Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (NKJV)

2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (NKJV)

1 Corinthians 1:30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— (NKJV)

1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (NKJV)

I thought the devil or my brain kept telling me I was dirty, that I wasn't worthy? Looking in the mirror, I see God’s glory has made me worthy, righteous like Christ, holy!

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (NKJV)

No I can’t; unless I look in the mirror and see that God is in me, the immense generator of power to do His will!

Ephesians 1:19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power (NKJV)

Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, (NKJV)

Walking by faith, believing the Word of God’s goodness as my “sight” above the 5 senses, releases this power.

Mark 11:22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. (NKJV)

Speak to the mountain and believe. This comes from knowing who you are, not from what you say. When you know who you are in Him, when you believe it, what you say will be powerful.

Mark 11:22 Jesus was matter-of-fact: “Embrace this God-life. Really embrace it, (The Message)

Realise that is who you are. It is not about doing. It is about realizing and being.

Don’t Forget What You Look Like!

James 1:23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. (NKJV)

1 Peter 2:1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. (NKJV)

Keep looking into the Word, seeing who you are in His glory, seeing Christ in you.

It’s Brave New World

Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (NKJV)

Your “sight” and your “hearing” contradict each other. Believe in the “sight” and be led by your newfound “vision” not your “hearing”. Walk by faith in this newfound “vision”.

2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, (NKJV)

Our problems in life look very different when we see them in the Spirit, when we “see” instead of “hear”. So when Christ says you are righteous, and your mind screams otherwise, we need to bring our thoughts in line with scriptures, to the obedience of Christ.

Paul actually exhorts us to know people only after the new creation:

2 Corinthians 5:16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. (NKJV)

The Take-Away