Sermons - Cornerstone Christian Fellowship

No Common Ground - Part Three

Jul 09, 2023 by: John Herbert | Series: No Common Ground

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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.

This week we will look at what is pictured for us through the command, get out from your father's house.

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Sunday July 9th 2023
No Common Ground – Part 3

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 in our last session that, that which Satan has in us, and the part we have with him and his kingdom are exemplified for us in the instructions that God gave to Abraham with respect to the journey he was to make from the land of his birth to the land that God would show him - 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.

To stir ourselves up by way of reminder; to get out from our country deals with the acceptance of our change of identity because of our creation in Christ, and the acceptance of our change in allegiance as we are no longer in bondage to the god of this age. And the realization of, and faith in, where our hope and our calling and our citizenship are to be found, needs to be the first step on our journey, having heard the Word of the Kingdom.
	a). 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, and separation from the leaven of the Laodicean background from which we have all come out on the other. Which may well also include a separation from those still in the Laodicean church who exert a detrimental influence on our spiritual journey.
	b). And having dealt with these two, this now leaves us to discover what it means for us to get out from our father’s house. And to begin to understand this, let’s establish a scriptural truth – Ge 5:3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

Adam was created in the image and likeness of God, but all subsequent generations have been procreated, in the likeness and image of fallen Adam, with an unredeemed spirit, an unredeemed soul and a body separated from the glory. This is how we all began our earthly life. And in this condition, being in Adam’s likeness, we were all a part of our father’s house; our father being fallen Adam, and his house being all those procreated in Adam’s likeness and image. A ‘house’ to which our old man still belongs.
	c). And then in conjunction with being part of Adam’s ‘house’, because of our old man, and his connection with Satan’s kingdom, we were also of our ‘father’, the devil’s ‘house’ – Jn 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do………..

These are Jesus’ words to the redeemed religious leaders of Israel. Their father was not literally ‘the devil’, but the religious leaders’ unbelief and the actions that came from that unbelief, so closely aligned them with Satan, that Satan could be said to be their ‘father’. This being true for the eternally saved Jew at that time, how much more so would it be true for those without spiritual life?
	d). To get out from our ‘father’s house’ then, is to separate ourselves from the person we were born as, to become the person we were redeemed to be. And this journey of separation from ‘our father’s house’ can be seen in – 1 Co 15:45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

2 Co 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.

Col 3:9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him…..

From the moment we received spiritual life, as we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, so our physical body has been the home of two individuals, our old man, who is of the house of his ‘father’, fallen Adam on the one hand, and of the house of his ‘father’, the devil on the other, and the new man who is of the Lord’s house, whose Father, through spiritual birth, is God.
	e). And simply then we are to leave behind the one to be transformed into the other. And here is our challenge because, the old man continues to exist alongside the new - Mt 16:23 But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."

This of course, is the Lord’s rebuke to Peter that came immediately after Peter had received the wisdom from above concerning Jesus’ identity. Peter’s focus and attention recorded in this verse was on ‘the things of men’, the wisdom from below, in other words he had his own preconceived picture of events that was at odds with the execution of God’s plans and purposes, even though he knew that Jesus was ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God’ and Jesus had told him what was coming next. This was Peter’s old man speaking, doing what seemed right in his own eyes and the connection with Satan’s ‘house’ in this is made obvious for us.

2). Let’s continue with this same thought in - Jas 1:14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

Now as we read this, it’s possible for us to have too narrow a concept of sin. A concept of sin that can come from what seems right in our own eyes, but let’s remember, that from God’s perspective, and therefore from ours also, anything that is contrary to His Word is sin, it comes short of the mark.
	a). As an example, let us recall how the Lord classified unbelief in – Heb 3:12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God….

A heart of unbelief, something that can only come from the old man as it exists apart from faith, is described here as evil. And this of course is said of a Christian, the one in possession of spiritual life.
	b). Also, if we go back to the verses from James, we see that we are drawn away by our own desires, the desires of the old man and enticed, we are mindful of the things of men at that point and we entice ourselves to follow our own agenda, the agenda of the old man, the wisdom from below, and therefore, the agenda of the one who is the old man’s ‘father’. Rather than this, we need to renew our mind, to be mindful of the things of God - 2Co 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

The ’outward man’, our physical body, doesn’t get any younger, but the new man through receiving the ‘epignosis’ knowledge brought forth from the wisdom from above is growing stronger day by day.
	c). We can view this from a slightly different perspective in – 
Ro 10:8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

These verses can have nothing to do with the free gift, the salvation of our spirit, as believing, followed by confession, leading to salvation would take us into the realm of works where the free gift has no place. Rather we are dealing with issues surrounding the salvation of the soul and there is more involved in confessing with our mouth the Lord Jesus than just speaking those words. The word that is translated ‘confess’, as we know, is a word that means to say the same as. 
	d). So then, that which comes from our mouth must say the same as the Lord Jesus.  Not only must we believe that God has raised Him from the dead, remembering that His resurrection has given us the hope of our inheritance, but that which comes from our mouth must be in line with that which the Word of Truth has said about that inheritance. Not only with respect to its substance, but also with respect to the practice of that which it takes to receive it.  We need to speak the same as the Scripture, who is the Lord Jesus, not the things of men. And to speak the same as the Scripture does not mean to quote Scripture for its own sake - Jas 1:26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.

To ‘bridle’ our tongue is to keep it in check, so that we may say the same as the Scriptures say, not what might seem right in our own eyes. We will realize from this, that for us to be a doer of the Word and not just a hearer, will also encompass what comes out of our mouth - Pr 18:21 ¶ Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

Now, we have the ability to speak words that have an association with life, speaking the same as the Scripture, or to speak words that have an association with death, speaking the things of men.  But we should take this a step further to see that death and life, with respect to us individually in the age to come, is within the power of our own tongue. We can make confession, speak the same as the Scriptures, unto salvation and receive life, or we can do the opposite and speak things, in agreement with the god of this age, which will result in our rejection from a position with Christ in the age to come, receiving death, the loss of our soul instead. We are beginning to realize I hope that we can speak the same as the Scriptures, the Word made flesh, the Lord Jesus, or we can speak the same as the earthly, sensual, demonic wisdom of our enemy. And we have seen Peter in Matthew Chapter 16, do both in almost the same breath.
	e). Now let’s consider the second half of Proverbs 18:21 - And those who love it will eat its fruit. Those who love it will eat its fruit, those, who love to speak in agreement with the things of men, things that lead to death, those then who hear the Word of Truth but don’t bridle their tongue as a result of it, who make this their consistent practice, will eat of the fruit produced from it. The fruit of unrighteousness, thorns, and briars; rejection at the Judgment Seat resulting in the loss of their soul/life for the Age to come.
	f). However, those who love to speak things leading to life, those who hear the Word of Truth and bridle their tongues so as to speak the same as the Scriptures, those who make this their consistent practice, will eat of the fruit that comes from it, the fruit of righteousness, receiving the salvation of their soul for the Age to come and a position of rulership with Christ in His Millennial Kingdom - Mt 12:36 "But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

Now let’s look at - Pr 15:1 A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. 2 The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, But the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness. 3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Keeping watch on the evil and the good. 4 A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, But perverseness in it breaks the spirit. 5 A fool despises his father's instruction, But he who receives correction is prudent. 6 In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, But in the revenue of the wicked is trouble.

There is a catalogue of contrasting statements set out in these verses. In v1 we have ‘a soft answer’ contrasted with ‘a harsh word’. One turns away wrath and the other stirs up anger. But let’s not think of this simply as the way we talk to each other. It is more profound than that. The soft answer of v1, will come from the tongue of the wise, who use knowledge rightly, seen in v2. And the tongue of the wise is the wholesome tongue of v4, which has an inseparable connection with a tree of life. And the wrath that this turns away is the Lord’s wrath at the Judgment Seat. In contrast, the harsh word comes from the mouth of fools, and these are equated with ‘the evil’ of v3. Correction and a father’s instruction is received by the prudent, those who are ‘the good’ in v3 and the wise in v2. And this is the child training of the Lord, the wisdom brought forth from above, whereby our thoughts and our words will be in alignment with the Scriptures as we bridle our tongue. The fool despises this, doing what seems right in his own eyes instead. And it is the fool who will stir up the Lord’s anger against him because he is a fool but had the choice to be wise. Then v6 brings us to the conclusion of the matter In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, But in the revenue of the wicked is trouble. These are Judgment Seat determinations and I doubt they need any further explanation. Let’s now go to Proverbs 11 – Pr 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise.

Here we see that the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. And because of the connection with Proverbs 15, we can say that the wholesome tongue will produce the fruit of the righteous. And to this is added, ‘And he who wins souls is wise’. And we have seen that the tongue of the wise use’s knowledge rightly, rightly dividing the Word of Truth, speaking that which the Scriptures say, and in so doing, souls may be won because of it. And isn’t this just what we see taking place within the properly functioning church as recorded in Ephesians? – Eph 4:14 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[of the Word of the Kingdom] 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.

And it is access to the tree of life, that was first seen in the Garden with respect to rulership, that is the first of the overcomers’ promises in – 
Re 2:7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” ’

And it is no coincidence that this overcomers’ promise is seen in connection with the church of Ephesus, the church that had left its first love, who stopped speaking with a wholesome tongue, who stopped using knowledge rightly, who stopped speaking the truth in love, ending the process of winning souls. And what did the Lord say in the Revelation to this church? – Re 2:5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works……

The first works – change your minds about being foolish and become wise, change your minds, and speak with a wholesome tongue, change your minds, and use knowledge rightly, change your minds, and speak the truth in love, change your minds, and win souls. And if you do so, you will eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.

3). And all of this, inevitably will take us back to the two trees in the Garden, the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now clearly at this present time we are not dealing with two literal trees for us to eat from.  Both the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are no longer located on the earth. Presumably after the flood of Noah’s day these trees were no longer to be found. However, the tree of life, as we have just seen, does reappear in connection with the coming Kingdom, and is promised to those who would be overcomers.
	a). Just as with fallen Adam, we have been separated from this tree until issues surrounding the salvation of the soul have been dealt with. And so, if we love that which leads to the tree of life, thereby achieving the salvation of our soul, we will eat its fruit in the coming Kingdom. Providing for us the necessary wisdom for rulership.
	b). The tree of the knowledge of good and evil does not make a second appearance in Scripture however, nor does it need to. The consequences of eating from that tree, sin, and death, have been present in the human race ever since Adam and the Woman ate from it. And in a figurative sense every time we choose that connected with this tree, our own determination of good and evil, what seems right in our own eyes, just like Peter in Matthew Chapter 16, we eat from its fruit.
	c). So, let’s look back for a moment to the events that followed the Woman and then Adam eating from that original tree of the knowledge of good and evil - Ge 3:12 Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."

According to what we read here, who is to blame for what has just taken place? Now, we might be tempted to think that Adam blames the Woman, but note who he says gave him the Woman, ‘the Woman whom You [God] gave me’. Adam, now with a sin nature, may have drawn attention to the Woman, but this is just a veneer. From Adam’s fallen perspective, determining what is good or evil in his own eyes, God is to blame, according to his own judgment.
	d). And as we bring this over into the NT the Lord has some very serious things to say about judging - Mt 7:1 "Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 "For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?4 "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

Please note what the Scripture says, if we judge, if we condemn others, we will be judged and we will be judged by the same judgment we use on others, and it will be given back to us in the same measure that we give it out. This is a very sobering thought.
	e). The problem is that when we judge/condemn others, it is usually because we have set a bar of expectation for them apart from the Scriptures. We can set standards that we expect those around us to live up to and if they don’t, we condemn them for not meeting what seems right in our own eyes.
	f). And if we do this, which we do, we are always going to be disappointed as our brother or sister will at some point fall short of our mark. And as we have seen with Adam and the Woman, our judgment is not of our brother or sister but of God, because through our judgment, we imply that He should have done a better job in that person’s life. And at this moment we are right back in our ‘father’s house’ – Jn 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning….

We are back in the house we have been commanded to get out from – 
Jas 5:9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!

We will remember from - Ro 8:1 ¶ There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

What do we see then? Grumbling against one another is walking according to the flesh. We would then have to choose not to grumble against one another in order to be walking in the Spirit. We would have to get out from our father’s house, to bridle our tongue.
	g). Judging, condemning, grumbling, with respect to our brothers and sisters is a large point of contact that the ruler of this world, the accuser of the brethren, has in us. And given what we know of him, this is a part of what we have with him and his kingdom through our old man - Ge 3:6 ¶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.

Grumbling against our brother or sister must of necessity expose their imperfections in order to reveal, in our own eyes, or the eyes of our hearers, our own perfection.  We put them down in order to exalt ourselves. We may not think in this way, but it is certainly the outcome of what we do.
	h). We need to get out from our father’s house, leaving behind the person we were born as, and embrace the reality of the image into which we are being transformed instead - 2Co 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.

Don’t ever take that which God is working in us and consider it to be ordinary, it is extraordinary. Instead, let’s confess with our mouth unto salvation, let’s speak with a wholesome tongue, using our tongue to speak knowledge rightly, to speak the truth in love and reject the lie and the father of it.
	j). To grumble against one another comes from a religious mindset that is rigid and inflexible, a mindset we have brought along from our Laodicean days. Brought with us from a leavened background where we want to see people get what we think they deserve, rather than extending them mercy.

4). Yet what do the Scriptures say? - Ro 14:3 Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.  4 Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

If this is what the Scripture says, then what should our wholesome tongue say? To continue - Ro 14:10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written: "As I live, says the LORD, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God." 12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way.

1Co 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God.

Jas 4:11 ¶ Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

And let’s remember Paul’s admonition to the Philippian Church – 
Php 2:12 ¶ Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. 14 ¶ Do all things without complaining and disputing, 15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

This clearly brings everything once again into the focus of events at the Judgment Seat related to the salvation of the soul. Paul admonished the Philippians to do all things without complaining and disputing, so that when they appear at the Judgment Seat, he would not have labored for them in vain, he would not have taught the Word of Truth to them to no purpose.
	a). Where is our heart’s desire in this? To get out from our father’s house or to cling to the familiar? What we do from this moment onwards will provide the answer.
	b). Scripture itself provides the road map to get out from our father’s house, so as to leave our grumbling and complaining old man behind -
Le 19:18 'You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

And to this we can add - Mr 12:30 'And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. 31 "And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

And again - Jas 2:8 ¶ If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well….

As we consider these Scriptures, let’s keep in mind, that to get out from is to go to, it is a process, and we will not all have covered the same spiritual distance yet. Consequently, we cannot ever know where each of us is, individually, in this process. Therefore, we must never judge one another on the basis of what we think we see, rather we will trust God to continue the work to bring us all to that place of completion.
	c). And as we would expect, Jesus, the Word made flesh, provides our example - 1Pe 2:21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 22 "Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth"; 23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

And to this we can add - 1Pe 3:8 ¶ Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; 9 not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For "He who would love life And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit. 11 Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil." 13 And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?

And as we deal with our brother and sister, there must always be grace and mercy - Ga 6:1 ¶ Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.

We will continue with this next time if we remain and the Lord is willing, and someone has prayed.

No Common Ground - Part Three

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No Common Ground - Part Three

Jul 09, 2023

Speaker: John Herbert

Series: No Common Ground

Category: Sunday Morning

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A Recap from the Sermon