What is Spiritual Adultery? And How Does It Affect The Holy Spirit? - Part III
Oct 2023
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If the believer doesn’t understand the cross of Christ as it refers to sanctification, in other words, how we live for the Lord on a daily basis, then the only other alternative is spiritual adultery. And to be sure, even as physical adultery destroys a marriage, likewise, spiritual adultery will destroy the marriage of the believer with the Lord. It cannot be otherwise.
THE WHOLE HEAD IS SICK, AND THE WHOLE HEART FAINT
“Why should you be stricken anymore? you will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. (The statement of verses 5 and 6 not only describes moral character, or rather the lack thereof, but also the severity of future just but unavailing punishment. Israel refused to repent notwithstanding such punishment. The ‘head’ and ‘heart’ of Israel respectively represented the intellectual and moral natures. Israel had turned away from God in both her mind and heart. The deadly ‘bruises’ and ‘sores’ of Israel, while but a spiritual analogy, still, could not be cured by anything except the Lord)” (Isa. 1:5-6).
If these passages described the condition of the church some thirty years ago, and they most definitely did, then how much worse is the situation now? Spiritual adultery is the problem!
WHAT THE SPIRIT IS SAYING TO THE CHURCHES
Regarding the messages of Christ to the seven churches of Asia, which, in fact, typify the church age from the early church unto the present, in every one of these messages He closed it by the admonishment, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).
The short phrase, “He that hath an ear,” refers to those who truly want what “thus saith the Lord.” In other words, they are listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit.
The modern church is now in the Laodicean Age. In other words, the message of our Lord to the church at Laodicea describes the time in which we now live. It is the closing message, meaning that the dispensation of the church is almost over. The following is the message to this church, which, in effect, is the message to the modern church.
Our Lord said: “And unto the Angel (pastor) of the church of the Laodiceans write (this is the ‘apostate church’; we do not know when it began, but we do know it has begun; it is the last church addressed by Christ, so that means the rapture will take place very shortly); These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness (by contrast to His church, which is not faithful and true), the beginning of the Creation of God (Jesus is the Creator of all things).”
LUKEWARM
“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot (characterizes that which is prevalent at this present time): I would you were cold or hot (half measures won’t do). “So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot (if a person is lukewarm toward something, it means he hasn’t rejected it, but at the same time he has by no means accepted it; in the mind of God, a tepid response is equal to a negative response), I will spue you out of My mouth. (There is no prospect of repentance here on the part of this church, or restoration. In fact, there is divine rejection.)”
HAVE NEED OF NOTHING?
“Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing (they equated the increase in material goods with spiritual blessings, which they were not); and knowest not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (the tragedy lay in the fact that while this church gloated over material wealth, she was unconscious of her spiritual poverty; again indicative of the modern church!).”
GOLD TRIED IN THE FIRE
“I counsel you to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich (what they needed to ‘buy’ could not be purchased with money, but only with the precious blood of Christ, which price has already been paid; but the modern church is not interested!); and white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness do not appear (refers to righteousness which is exclusively of Christ and the cross; this tells us that the Laodicean church is extremely self-righteous; not having the righteousness of Christ, they are ‘naked’ to the judgment of God); and anoint your eyes with eyesalve, that you may see. (The modern church is also spiritually blind.)”
REPENT
“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten (implies a remnant): be zealous therefore, and repent. (The modern church desperately needs to repent for its rebellion against God’s divine order [Christ and the cross] and for following cunningly devised fables [II Pet. 1:16].)”
THE VOICE OF THE LORD
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock (presents Christ outside the church): if any man hear My voice (so much religious racket is going on that it is difficult to ‘hear His voice’), and open the door (Christ is the True Door, which means the church has erected another door), I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. (Having been rejected by the church, our Lord now appeals to individuals, and He is still doing so presently.)”
THE OVERCOMER
“To him who overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne (the overcomer will gain the prize of the throne, which can only be done by one ever making the cross the object of his faith), even as I also overcame, and am sat down with My Father in His throne. (This presents Christ as our substitute, going before us, and doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. (In plain language, the Holy Spirit is saying, ‘Come back to Christ and the cross!’)” (Rev. 3:14-22).
WHAT IS THE SPIRIT SAYING TO THE CHURCHES?
I firmly believe with all of my heart that the message of the cross of Christ is what the Holy Spirit is saying to this modern church. The modern church has a modicum of understanding respecting the cross of Christ as it regards salvation; however, it has no understanding at all as it regards how the cross of Christ refers to our sanctification, in other words, how we live for God on a daily basis. And yet, 99 percent of the Bible is given over to telling us how to live for God. In fact, 99 percent of everything that Paul wrote in his fourteen epistles, once again, refers to how we live for God. And it was to Paul that the meaning of the new covenant was given.
Most definitely yes, a plethora of information is given regarding salvation, as should be obvious, but almost all of the Bible, which is for believers, is given over to telling us how to live for God.
Considering that, it becomes obvious as to how much the church has drifted off course, when the truth is, the modern church simply doesn’t know how to live for God. It cannot know until it properly understands the message of the cross as it regards sanctification. Not understanding this message, it is living in a state of spiritual adultery, which is dragging it even deeper into a morass of sin and shame.
Modern preachers simply do not know how to tell believers to live for God. In fact, the modern church has become so inundated with humanistic psychology that, anymore, it little knows the true Word of God.
Please understand the following: One cannot have both humanistic psychology and the message of the cross. One or the other must go. Either one cancels out the other. Sadly, and regrettably, the modern church has opted for humanistic psychology and, in doing so, it is destroying itself. This is the reason that, in the eyes of God, the modern church is wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Spiritual adultery is the problem.
Again, all believers are married to Christ, and we are to look to Him exclusively for all things, whatever they might be. This means that our faith is to be in Christ and the cross and nothing else.
Article is an excerpt from the book Brother Swaggart, Here Is My Question About The Holy Spirit (09-114)
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