Sermons - Cornerstone Christian Fellowship

No Common Ground - Part Two

Jul 02, 2023 by: John Herbert | Series: No Common Ground

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Jn 14:30 "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.

The ruler of this world had and has nothing, no common ground with the One appointed heir of all things. But the same cannot be said of those who aspire to rule with Christ in the Seventh Day.

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Sunday July 2nd 2023
No Common Ground – Part 2

1). Jn 14:28 ¶ "You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I. 29 "And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. 30 "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. 31 "But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.

We had seen as we studied this Scripture in our first session that the original ruler of this world, Satan, was coming and that he had not one thing, nothing in Christ. There was no common ground nor point of mutual contact between them.
	a). And we could perhaps understand this in the same way that we understand that Peter would have no part with the Lord in His coming Kingdom unless Peter received the Lord’s provision for an ongoing cleansing, pictured through the washing of Peter’s feet, a provision that provided a common ground, a point of contact between them.
	b). In other words, then, there was nothing within the present age, under the authority of the ruler of this age, with which Jesus had any part 
Jn 18:36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world……….

However, we had also seen, that in relation to ourselves, because of our ever-present sin nature, our ‘old man’, who is inseparably connected to our first birth, that which was born in the image and likeness of fallen Adam, the same cannot be said of us as it is of the Lord. Satan does have something in us, as we, through our old man, our sin nature, do have a part with Satan and his present kingdom. And that part which we have can be defined as anything that does not align itself with the Word of Truth, the Word of the Kingdom.
	c). The good news is that we can choose to separate ourselves from the commonality we have with Satan and the part that we have with his kingdom – Eph 4:22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

As we consider our ‘former conduct, the old man’, our ‘sin nature’, we will most likely think in terms of what the Scriptures call ‘the deceitful lusts’, things such as anger, malice, evil speaking etc. And this of course is a perfectly good direction to take. But in doing so, we must be careful not to let our perception of the part that our old man has with Satan’s kingdom become too narrow. And in order to broaden our understanding of the part that we have with him, let’s look at some foundational Scripture to help us. We will begin with – Ge 12:1 Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you.

Abram, Abraham as we would know him, is the father of those who are of the faith – Ro 4:13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all..

From these verses we will note that the promise that ‘he would be heir of the world’ is to Abraham and those who are of the faith of Abraham. And this is confirmed for us in - Ga 3:7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

Abraham had been called to go from the land of his birth to the land of his calling, just as we have been called out from the kingdom of Satan to go to the heavenly land where our inheritance awaits us – Heb 3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers [companions] of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.

And to complete his journey to the land of his calling, God had instructed Abraham to do three things. To get out from his country, to get out from his family and to get out from his father’s house.
	d). For Abraham this was a literal journey and a literal separation but for us the content of these three instructions form a type for the concurrent processes we must be engaged in as we make our journey. We must conclude then, that what is pictured through ‘our country’, ‘our family’ and ‘our father’s house’ are the connections we have with Satan’s kingdom. And it is through these three areas that he has something in us, through these three can be found the part that we have with him, that from which we need to separate ourselves.
	e). And as we consider the instructions given to Abraham for his journey, we will call to mind the experience of Ruth, the one who is the type for the faithful Christian – Ru 2:11 And Boaz answered and said to her, “It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before.

And what do we see here? Ruth is commended by Boaz, the one who is a type of Christ, because she had left her father and mother, and the land of her birth to make the journey to Bethlehem. This is an identical experience to that of Abraham. And because we are dealing with the types of Ruth and Boaz, pointing to Christ and His bride, we will understand that this process of separation is also for us. Then in addition to her leaving we are told of what Ruth had done for her mother-in-law during the course of the journey, and, that in conjunction with this, she had come to a people whom she did not know before. And these people whom she did not know before had been identified for us a few verses earlier – Ru 2:8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women.

To put all this together then, we see that there is a journey to be made, a departure from one place to an arrival at another. Within the journey there is a process of separation that progressively narrows as the journey continues: country, family, father’s house. And out of the process of separation comes an assembling together with the people who were not known before, the young women working in the same field. And through the type of Ruth, we see that she made her journey under the direction and tutelage of her mother-in-law, Naomi – Ru 1:14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. 15 And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. 17 Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me.”

Ruth followed Naomi’s instructions in faithful obedience – Ru 3:5 And she said to her, “All that you say to me I will do.” 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law instructed her.

And this sequence of events inevitably led to Ruth’s marriage to the kinsman redeemer, a redeemed inheritance, with regality in view – 
Ru 4:18 Now this is the genealogy of Perez: Perez begot Hezron; 19 Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab; 20 Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon; 21 Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed; 22 Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David.

That pictured then, through the journeys of Abraham and Ruth must also be our experience so that we may separate ourselves from our part with Satan’s kingdom in order that we might receive the redeemed inheritance and have a part in the regality of the Kingdom Age. And this can only be done under the direction and child training, the tutelage, of the Scriptures.

2). So, let’s look at these a little more closely, ‘Get out of your country.’ We were all born into, and were a part of, a Gentile nation. A Gentile nation under the dominion of Satan within his present kingdom. And this was the only way things could remain until we were redeemed from our bondage to sin through the redemption of our spirit – 2 Co 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

As a result of our redemption, we are a new creation. We are no longer a Gentile but a Christian, created to rule. And as such, we are part of a distinct and separate group of people, separate from all others on the earth. As God looks at the inhabitants of the earth, He does not distinguish Kenyans, Ugandans, Rwandans, Americans etc, He sees Jews, Gentiles, and Christians.
	a). And along with this change to our identity came a change in our allegiance – Col 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Christ’s Kingdom is not yet in existence, and we are still on the earth, physically in the kingdom of Satan, but our allegiance has now changed. Before we received spiritual life, we could not be anything other than completely embroiled in ‘the power of darkness’. We were ‘slaves of sin’, the subjects of Satan’s kingdom, we could be nothing else. But now, following our redemption, we have seen a Kingdom to come, and our allegiance is now to our King and the hope of the Seventh Day, not the god of this age and this present world. And this has been set in the type of David and Saul – 1 Sa 22:1 David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.

There is more for us to add to this – Php 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

Where is our citizenship? In the heavenly realm of the Kingdom. The world can only relate to us through our ‘Gentile identity’, our ‘nationality’, because they have no other way to deal with us. But the question is, how do we see ourselves? Do we see ourselves as an American Christian, or a Christian who lives in America? Because these two are not the same.
	b). And if we see ourselves as an American Christian, then it’s high time to get out from our country – Heb 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. 15 And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.

There is only one nation on the earth that is not under Satan’s jurisdiction and this same nation is the only nation with a God, it is the nation of Israel.
Now, it is true that Christians are referred to by the Lord, as a nation – 
Mt 21:43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you [Israel] and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.

Christians are not a nation on the earth now though but will be a nation when they occupy their homeland, the heavenly realm of the Kingdom, where they have their citizenship, the homeland from which they are presently estranged. And for those who have understood this, who have gotten out from their country, their focus, as well as their allegiance, will have changed – Col 3:1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

The reality from the Scripture is, that if Ruth had not left Moab, she could not have arrived in Bethlehem and could not have married Boaz. And the same would be true for Abraham, without leaving Ur he could not have arrived in Canaan. What then does this say to us? Unless we relinquish this part that we have in Satan’s kingdom, unless we get out from ‘our country’, we will not be able to get out from our family and our father’s house either and the Kingdom will be lost to us.
	c). One last thing we will note here. Abraham did not begin his journey until God had told him of another land that He would take him to. And Ruth knew, from Naomi, that Bethlehem was their destination before her journey began. And for us, our journey could not begin until we had heard the Word of the Kingdom, because until then we had no reason to leave, because we didn’t know we had somewhere to go, other than a vague and incorrect notion of something called heaven. And our journey can only begin with a change of mind concerning our identity and our citizenship. It’s time to move on.

3).  ‘Get out from your family.’ Equally as vital as the change of mind needed concerning our identity and citizenship, is that pictured through getting out from our family. How then, should we understand ‘our family’ in this respect?
	a). The idea of the family then, pictures the place of the familiar, the environment in which we feel safe because we are comfortable with those of our lineage. This comfort provides conformity with others around us, allowing us to be accepted by them. And these relationships can provide a strong bond. And within the Book of Ruth, we find someone who wanted to remain within the familiar, to remain among the familial relationships in which she would feel safe and accepted – Ru 1:14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. 15 And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”

Orpah was, through marriage, a part of the same Jewish family as Ruth. Orpah knew that a journey was to be made to Bethlehem and she had set out on this journey with Ruth and Naomi, but the time came when she chose to go back, she made the choice not to get out from her country and her family. And in the account, we read in Ruth, we see that Orpah went back to the familiar, to her people and to her gods. And in these two things, ‘her people and her gods’ we will find what we are to leave behind to fulfill that pictured through getting out from our family.
	b). Orpah was a Moabitess, she came from a Gentile country, Moab, a Gentile country under the dominion of Satan, with its traditions and its customs and its idol worship, that governed the lives of its people. And none of these things, no matter how benign they appeared were aligned with the Word of Truth. All had their origins within the kingdom of this world under the god of this age, coming from the wisdom below that is described as, earthly, sensual, demonic. 
	c). We must realize that if we are to complete our journey to receive our inheritance, then we must, like Ruth’s dependence on Naomi, depend entirely upon the Scriptures for our instructions as to how we are to live in this present age – Jn 17:14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

And to this we should add – Eph 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Everyone of us seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness are to live by the same rule – Php 3:16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.

We will all have the same mind through having faithful obedience to the same Word of Truth. Wherever we may go in the world, if we find someone seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness, then their manner of living will be the same as our own, not the circumstances of their life, but how they live in the midst of those circumstances.
	d). The Word of Truth is not comparable with man-made traditions, customs, and cultures. We can never accept the premise that, we do it differently because of our culture. Our response must always be, ‘What does the Word say?’ It is then, conducting our lives inside and outside of our physical home, within the context of the church, in complete alignment with the Scripture, not the traditions of men nor the dictates and expectation of our culture, that is pictured through getting out from our family – 1 Pe 1:17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

And right along with the cultural traditions of men, described as Orpah’s people, we can place this, with respect to her gods – Re 3:14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—

This is the description of the church of the Laodiceans, the seventh of the seven churches described in the Revelation. And within the dispensational history of the church, Laodicea marks the condition of Christendom at the end of this dispensation with respect to the Word of the Kingdom. A condition brought about by the leaven placed in the three measures of meal as the dispensation began. Leaven introduced by deceiving spirits and the doctrines of demons. And this is the ‘church’ background in which we all began. And in this background, we were taught and trained in the ideologies of men that had little to nothing to do with the Word of Truth. And this is a situation that has a direct parallel with the conditions that existed in Israel at the Lord’s first Advent as His Kingdom was offered – Mt 15:1 Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, 2 “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” 3 He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5 But you say, “Whoever says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”— 6 then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. 9 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

Mt 23:13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

The leaven can still be ingrained deeply in our thinking even though we have now received the Word of Truth, and it is the Laodicean leftovers that we must flush out if we are to get out from this facet of ‘our family’. And there is a marvelous example of this pictured through the experience of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus on the day of the Lord’s resurrection - Lk 24:28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them. 30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

Let’s notice firstly the timing for the events described in these verses, ‘it is toward evening and the day is far spent’. Within the context of Man’s Day, for us, this Day, Mans’ Day, is far spent. We are in the time during Man’s Day categorized by spiritual darkness, a time associated with night when we await the end of one day and the dawning of a new one – Ro 13:11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

And it is because of the lateness of the ‘day’ in the Luke account, that the disciples asked Jesus to ‘abide with us.’ And as they came together late in the day, they sat at a table together to share a meal. And as Jesus blessed and broke the bread which He then gave to them, ‘their eyes were opened, and they knew Him.’ And the sequence concludes with them recounting how their hearts burned within them as Jesus opened the Scripture to them while they were on the road – Lk 24:13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.

We have previously seen the leavened teaching of Israel’s religious leaders and the consequences of their actions, to which we can add – 
Jer 50:6 “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; They have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; They have forgotten their resting place.

The center of this leavened teaching was Jerusalem, and we see from Luke that the two disciples had left Jerusalem to go to Emmaus, a journey of seven miles. A complete journey then from the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees to the revelation of the Christ of the Scriptures. And this must be our experience also.
	e). Inevitably, with these events taking place on the third day following the Lord’s crucifixion we can see in the breaking of the bread the Lord’s death on the cross. This is not an unreasonable assumption, but let’s not get stuck on just this one thing. The opening of the Scriptures on the road and the breaking of bread at the table, can also be seen as synonymous, especially when we consider the Christian parallel to this encounter – Re 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

We all heard the Lord’s voice at some point late on in Man’s Day and we opened the door - Heb 1:1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the age……[set the age in an orderly arrangement]

To eat His flesh and drink His blood speak of the same thing, and we do this through the Scriptures as Jesus is the Word made flesh. We eat the Bread of Life sent from heaven, and we do this through rightly dividing the Word of Truth, through the breaking of the bread that we receive each day. 
	f). There comes a time for each of us then, as we continue to hear the Word of the Kingdom, that we will realize that the only way we can know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings and be conformed to His death, that we might attain to the out-resurrection from the dead, is exclusively through the Scriptures.
	g). There comes a time for us when, like Paul, we must make the choice to lay aside everything from our leavened background, things that are no more than the religious traditions and the commandments of men in favor of receiving the pure milk of the Word, the Word of the Kingdom. Only in this way, can that part our enemy has in us through our connection with the Laodicean leftovers be done away with. The removal of all vestiges of false teaching and man’s ideologies for a total reliance on the Word of Truth instead, will not allow him to have one thing in us when it comes to rightly dividing the Word of Truth.
	h). To recap then, to get out from our country has to do with the acceptance of our change in identity and our change in allegiance. And realizing and believing where our hope and our calling lay needs to be our first step having heard the Word of the Kingdom.
	i). To get out from our family has to do with a separation from the cultural and worldly traditions of men within the Gentile nation in which we live, on the one hand, Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition, and separation from the leaven of the Laodicean background from which we have all come on the other.
	j). And this leaves us with getting out from our father’s house.

This we will deal with next time. If we remain and the Lord is willing, and someone has prayed for us.

No Common Ground - Part Two

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No Common Ground - Part Two

Jul 02, 2023

Speaker: John Herbert

Series: No Common Ground

Category: Sunday Morning

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A Recap from the Sermon