No Common Ground - Part Four Jul 16, 2023 by: John Herbert | Series: No Common Ground Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T011_20230716.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon 1 Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. We will continue to look at the transformation to take place in us, from the person we were born as to the person we have been redeemed to be. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday July 16th 2023 No Common Ground – Part 4 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 have seen in our studies so far, that although Satan had no common ground, no point of contact, with Jesus, he does have common ground with us, because of our fallen nature. And because of this common ground with us, we had begun in our previous study, to look at the necessity for those who are seeking first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, to get out from their father’s house in compliance with that pictured through the sequence of instructions that God had given to Abraham that he might attain the inheritance he was promised in the land that God would show him. And that which Abraham did is something that each of us must do, because that seen through the phrase ‘our father’s house’ is a major point of contact between us and the enemy of our souls. a). And we had seen, that to get out from our father’s house describes the transition that must take place from our old man to the new man, to leave behind the image of the man of dust so as to bear the image of the heavenly Man. The transforming work of the Spirit then, as we receive with meekness the implanted Word of Truth that is able to save our souls - 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. And the spiritual truth contained in getting out from our father’s house had already been set in place at the beginning of the foundation in Genesis, within the typology of Adam and the Woman, pointing to Christ and His Bride – Ge 2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And as we think about this, we will realize that what is stated in Genesis 2:24 cannot be separated from the purpose for Man’s creation – Ge 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion……. So then, for rulership in the Seventh Day to take place, those who are to rule must leave ‘father and mother’ to be joined together in a marriage relationship, becoming one flesh. That which is set in foundation in this way cannot ever change. That stated in this verse is exactly what we have seen Ruth do and exactly what we have seen Rebekah do, both of whom are types for the faithful Christian. This experience of what we might want to call ‘leaving and cleaving’, remains constant in the types and must therefore be fulfilled in the antitype. b). And we can see this through Paul’s quotation of v24 from Genesis Chapter 2 in his letter to the Ephesians – Eph 5:30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. In that Day, faithful Christians who will make up the Bride for Christ will become ‘one flesh’ with their Lord in the sense of being just like Him. They will have been transformed by the renewing of their minds, from the image of the man of dust, to the image of the heavenly Man. These Christians will be in the image and likeness of God, just as Adam and the Woman were before the fall. In that Day they will have a redeemed spirit, a redeemed soul, and a redeemed body covered with glory, having fulfilled the requirements for rulership set out in the foundation. In that Day Satan would have no point of contact, no common ground, with these individuals, any more than he could have with the Christ, past, present, or future. c). This of course remains a Day yet future for us. A soon coming Day that we will prepare for now by leaving father and mother, by getting out from our father’s house. And in anticipation of becoming ‘one flesh’ with our Lord in that Day, so in the present we embrace the renewing of our minds through the ‘epignosis’ knowledge brought forth from above, enabling us to speak the same as the Scriptures, to speak the same as the One who is the Word made flesh. And we may choose to do this despite the ever-present presence of our sin nature. And the process of transformation described in Romans Chapter 12, we also see in Ephesians Chapter 5 – Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. And as with all process, we are faced with a choice. We might remember this from the Book of Ruth – Ru 2:15 And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 Also let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her; leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.” 17 So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. And the commentary verses from – Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Although Boaz’s young men purposely let grain fall from the bundles, Ruth still had to choose to glean them. Although God has prepared beforehand good works for us, we still have to choose to walk in them. And when we are faced with a choice of this kind, we come to what we might call an ‘Orpah’ moment. We will either choose to go on, as Ruth gleaned in the field until evening and beat out an ephah of barley, walking in the good works that God has prepared beforehand for us, or we will, like Orpah turn back to our father’s house. Back to the familiar, back to the patterns and mindsets of the old man, the common ground with Satan’s kingdom. d). It’s important for us to realize that we are either progressing in a forward direction toward the land of our calling or we are moving backwards, back to the world from which we have been called out. There is no middle road to take. Jesus said it this way – Lk 9:62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” And - Mt 12:30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. But let’s be encouraged – Heb 10:39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. 2). With this in mind, let’s take note of this from the beginning days of the ‘church’ recorded in – Ac 2:42 ¶ And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers…….46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. This is a wonderful picture of the proper functioning of the ‘church’ as it began in its infancy at the beginning of this dispensation. However, despite what we see here in Acts of the beginning days of the ‘church’, we know from the evidence of the dispensational history of the ‘church’ given first in the Matthew 13 Parables and then repeated again in Chapters 2-3 of the Revelation, that all this changed with the introduction of the leaven, ultimately leading to the multifaceted mess that we call Christendom today. As the leaven was introduced, the false teaching, so those who ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart lost this simplicity and exchanged it for the duplicity and mendacity of the world. a). Let us never lose the simplicity and the innocence that we have in Christ, that has come by hearing the Word of the Kingdom. Let us not allow ourselves to be conformed to this world but be continually transformed instead. And if our simplicity and innocence were to be lost, I am sure we would realize that it wouldn’t happen suddenly, overnight, it would have to begin with us being drawn away and enticed by the desires of our hearts, what seems right in our own eyes, as we had seen in James last time. b). The good news is of course that this is not an inevitable outcome. It remains as always, our choice. c). However, being an organized and formalized body of believers in pursuit of the Kingdom and having been organized in this way for some time we inevitably come to a place where our weaknesses, our shortcomings, and our failings begin to be more visible to each other. The more we are around each other, the more obvious these things become. And we will remember that we are commanded not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. And in this we are presented with a unique opportunity for growth to spiritual maturity if we align ourselves with the Scriptures or it could open a door for us leading to mutual self-destruction if we don’t. d). As has become obvious from our previous studies, we still have a sin nature, our ‘old man’ remains and remains connected with our first birth, that which was born of the flesh, in harmony with this world and the ruler of this world. Satan does therefore have something in us but as we have also noted, we do not have to choose to side with him – Ro 6:6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. This is good news, but now read on into the next verse- 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. To be free from the slavery of sin is in one sense automatic, through our creation in Christ. But what in one sense is automatic must also become a reality through denying our self and embracing, by faith, that our old man remains crucified with Christ. And if our freedom from the slavery of sin does indeed become a reality, then we will choose to use our members as instruments of righteousness rather than of unrighteousness on a consistent basis. e). And last time we had looked at one particular member, our tongue. And consequently, the words that come out of our mouth. We will remember - Pr 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit. Death and life in relation to the age to come can be determined by what comes out of our mouth now - Mt 15:11 "Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man." We need to bridle our tongue so that it may be used for righteousness and not unrighteousness. We must speak things leading to life, things that are in line with Scripture, agreeing with the things of God, rather than agreeing with the things of men which are the antithesis to the Word of Truth. f). And we can bridle our tongue to use it for righteousness if we fulfill what Scripture calls, ‘the royal law’ - Jas 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well… And this is an interesting phrase, ‘the royal law’. What might we understand from it? Well, the word translated ‘royal’ is a word that means, belonging to [or befitting] the sovereign. And we can understand what is meant by this phrase in two complimentary ways. Firstly, this is a law that comes directly from the Sovereign of the Universe and is given to His servants to keep. And secondly, those servants who keep this law, will find themselves exalted to positions of sovereignty in the age to come. Either way, for those who would rule with Christ, fulfilling the royal law is not optional. 3). Let’s trace this ‘royal law’ back to the Gospels - Mr 12:28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?" 29 Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. 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."32 So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. 33 "And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." 34 Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." We will note that because the scribe responded ‘wisely’ to that which Jesus had said to him, this particular scribe was ‘not far from the Kingdom of God.’ And what Jesus addressed in these verses are commandments and not suggestions. And although the context here is Jewish, that contained in these verses remain true, for the Jew then, or the Christian now. This is not something we can choose to opt into or opt out of. This is something the servants of God who want to become crowned rulers with Christ must do. And because God gave these as commands, we have the assurance that what is commanded can be done, because we would never be commanded to do something that it would be impossible to do. a). We will also note from these verses that the second commandment, love your neighbor as yourself, is like the first, love the Lord your God, it is comparable with it. In fact, these two commandments must go hand in hand, because we cannot obey the first apart from obeying the second. Let’s follow through on how this works. b). We already know that the Word of Truth says – Jn 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me. This seems to be pretty unambiguous. c). Now, let’s ask the question, why are we commanded to love our neighbor as our self? Let’s compare Scripture with Scripture - 1Jn 4:20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And to back up to - 1Jn 3:15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal [age lasting] life abiding in him. Please note that neighbor and brother would be interchangeable here, And, from a Christian perspective, the neighbor/brother is a fellow or companion in the household of faith. This is not every person in the world, nor indeed every Christian. The point would be, that if we cannot love those who have the same hope as we do, who are engaged with us in the race of the faith, then loving everyone else becomes a moot point anyway. d). So then, let’s note this very carefully, our love for God can ONLY be expressed through the love that we have for each other. It is not expressed in the multiplicity of our prayers, nor the frequency of our fasting, nor by professing the words, ‘Lord, I love you’. Or in how many hours we read the Bible. No, our love for God is demonstrated in action, by the way we relate to one another in alignment with the Scriptures, as we gather together with our shortcomings and weaknesses visible for all to see - Jn 13:35 "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." So exactly what does it look like to love our neighbor/brother in the same way we love our self? Well, to begin with, think about the grace and mercy, that we extend to ourselves, and then look at these verses - 1Pe 4:8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins." Ro 13:8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. 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. Ga 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! If we love one another, we will not sit in judgment on one another. We will do nothing harmful to each other in word or deed and we will not ‘bite and devour’ one another. e). Let’s look at how Scripture describes the love we are to have for one another - 1Co 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. The love we are to have for our brother, or our sister is not conditional upon how they treat us, rather, it is determined by our faithful obedience to God’s command. This then is an issue between us and the Lord, not between us and our neighbor. And understanding this as an issue between us and the Lord is exactly the same as we can see with regards to the respect a wife is to have for her husband and the love a husband is to have for his wife. Neither of these is about the spouse but about faithful obedience to the Scriptures. And just as we can note in the marriage relationship, getting to the place where we align ourselves with the Scripture is part of our process. It is beating out the grain. And we may require a good deal of winnowing to get there. f). To love one another after this fashion is not automatic for us but comes out of our progress to spiritual maturity. And this Peter has detailed for us - 2Pe 1:1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 ¶ But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 12 ¶ For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. The verses from Peter make clear that God’s ‘Divine power’, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit working together, has given us all things that pertain to life in the age to come allowing for ‘godliness’ in the present, loving our neighbor as our self. And these things have been given to us through the ‘epignosis’ knowledge of Him who called us with a heavenly calling. In other words, then, these things are ours through the work of the Spirit, as we hear the Word of the Kingdom, the same Word who was made flesh, who is also the Father, the ‘epignosis’ knowledge which renews our mind. And by this same means we have been given ‘exceedingly great and precious promises’ – 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. Gal 3:29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Ge 14:18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth….. And not only this, but these things make it possible for us to be companions of the ‘Divine nature’, ‘God is love’, thereby conducting our lives in alignment with the Scriptures as we go from faith to faith. And this progression from faith to faith, the transforming work of the Spirit, is what we see in 2 Peter 1:5-7, where we find the pinnacle of this transforming work in having ‘agape’ love for one another; the same love that Christ has for us – Jn 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” 1 Jn 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born [brought forth out of] of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. And according to the Scripture, if the things in 2 Pe 1:5-7 are ours, then we will never stumble, never be tripped up in our race of the faith. And the word translated stumble here, could just as readily be translated, ‘be offended’. g). And if these things are ours and we are not offended, caused to stumble, then an entrance will be supplied to us abundantly, whereby we may enter the Kingdom. h). And this brings us to the flip side of loving our neighbor as our self, so to speak. If we don’t love our neighbor as our self then we are going to take offense over things we hear, things we see and assumptions we make based on these. 4). Now the word that is translated ‘offense’ is the Greek word, ‘skandalon’. A word that literally means a bait stick used in a trap. And we have seen this word used in the Lord’s rebuke of Peter in - Mt 16:23 But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense [skandalon] to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." Now clearly Peter did not have the deliberate intention of offering that bait stick to Christ. He had no idea what he was doing in this respect. But the Lord saw the offense, saw the connection in it with the ruler of this world, and refused to take the bait. a). And here as we would expect is our model. If we hear, see, or assume something that has the potential to cause us to be offended, then we need to see it for what it is and not take the bait. And this we can only do by obeying the royal law as we progress towards spiritual maturity, only by having faith to the saving of the soul - Ps 91:2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust." 3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. 4 He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. We will want to trust God to deliver us from the snare of the fowler more than we want to take offense. b). Now the thing about a bait stick is that it holds up a trap. If we nibble on the bait then the trap will fall - Heb 12:14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled….. And here is the trap set for us by our enemy, a root of bitterness. Bitterness is a word that speaks of piercing of stabbing. And implicit in this would be the desire for revenge, to inflict the same pain we have felt back on the person who has offended us - Mt 18:7 ¶ "Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes! And the piercing and the stabbing might remind us of the Christian who is described as a murderer because he hates his brother. c). Jesus addressed this in a parable that he gave, recorded in – Mt 18:32 "Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 'Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' 34 "And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses." And from the beatitudes - Mt 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. And to conclude this session we can find a summation of our subject in Psalm 119 - Ps 119:161 Princes persecute me without a cause, But my heart stands in awe of Your word. 162 I rejoice at Your word As one who finds great treasure. 163 I hate and abhor lying, But I love Your law. 164 Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous judgments. 165 Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble. [Shall offend them - KJV] Finally, then, it appears that we have only two choices, either we will submit ourselves to the Word of Truth and fulfill the royal law or we will choose to take offence and stumble with respect to our entrance into the Kingdom. d). Jesus had asked the question, what would it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul/life for the age to come? Would we really want to give up the Kingdom for the sake of taking offence from our brother or sister? We will continue in our next session if we remain and the Lord is willing, and someone has prayed. No Common Ground - Part Four Jul 16, 2023 Speaker: John Herbert Series: No Common Ground Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T011_20230716.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon 1 Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. We will continue to look at the transformation to take place in us, from the person we were born as to the person we have been redeemed to be. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday July 16th 2023 No Common Ground – Part 4 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 have seen in our studies so far, that although Satan had no common ground, no point of contact, with Jesus, he does have common ground with us, because of our fallen nature. And because of this common ground with us, we had begun in our previous study, to look at the necessity for those who are seeking first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, to get out from their father’s house in compliance with that pictured through the sequence of instructions that God had given to Abraham that he might attain the inheritance he was promised in the land that God would show him. And that which Abraham did is something that each of us must do, because that seen through the phrase ‘our father’s house’ is a major point of contact between us and the enemy of our souls. a). And we had seen, that to get out from our father’s house describes the transition that must take place from our old man to the new man, to leave behind the image of the man of dust so as to bear the image of the heavenly Man. The transforming work of the Spirit then, as we receive with meekness the implanted Word of Truth that is able to save our souls - 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. And the spiritual truth contained in getting out from our father’s house had already been set in place at the beginning of the foundation in Genesis, within the typology of Adam and the Woman, pointing to Christ and His Bride – Ge 2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And as we think about this, we will realize that what is stated in Genesis 2:24 cannot be separated from the purpose for Man’s creation – Ge 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion……. So then, for rulership in the Seventh Day to take place, those who are to rule must leave ‘father and mother’ to be joined together in a marriage relationship, becoming one flesh. That which is set in foundation in this way cannot ever change. That stated in this verse is exactly what we have seen Ruth do and exactly what we have seen Rebekah do, both of whom are types for the faithful Christian. This experience of what we might want to call ‘leaving and cleaving’, remains constant in the types and must therefore be fulfilled in the antitype. b). And we can see this through Paul’s quotation of v24 from Genesis Chapter 2 in his letter to the Ephesians – Eph 5:30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. In that Day, faithful Christians who will make up the Bride for Christ will become ‘one flesh’ with their Lord in the sense of being just like Him. They will have been transformed by the renewing of their minds, from the image of the man of dust, to the image of the heavenly Man. These Christians will be in the image and likeness of God, just as Adam and the Woman were before the fall. In that Day they will have a redeemed spirit, a redeemed soul, and a redeemed body covered with glory, having fulfilled the requirements for rulership set out in the foundation. In that Day Satan would have no point of contact, no common ground, with these individuals, any more than he could have with the Christ, past, present, or future. c). This of course remains a Day yet future for us. A soon coming Day that we will prepare for now by leaving father and mother, by getting out from our father’s house. And in anticipation of becoming ‘one flesh’ with our Lord in that Day, so in the present we embrace the renewing of our minds through the ‘epignosis’ knowledge brought forth from above, enabling us to speak the same as the Scriptures, to speak the same as the One who is the Word made flesh. And we may choose to do this despite the ever-present presence of our sin nature. And the process of transformation described in Romans Chapter 12, we also see in Ephesians Chapter 5 – Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. And as with all process, we are faced with a choice. We might remember this from the Book of Ruth – Ru 2:15 And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 Also let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her; leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.” 17 So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. And the commentary verses from – Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Although Boaz’s young men purposely let grain fall from the bundles, Ruth still had to choose to glean them. Although God has prepared beforehand good works for us, we still have to choose to walk in them. And when we are faced with a choice of this kind, we come to what we might call an ‘Orpah’ moment. We will either choose to go on, as Ruth gleaned in the field until evening and beat out an ephah of barley, walking in the good works that God has prepared beforehand for us, or we will, like Orpah turn back to our father’s house. Back to the familiar, back to the patterns and mindsets of the old man, the common ground with Satan’s kingdom. d). It’s important for us to realize that we are either progressing in a forward direction toward the land of our calling or we are moving backwards, back to the world from which we have been called out. There is no middle road to take. Jesus said it this way – Lk 9:62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” And - Mt 12:30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. But let’s be encouraged – Heb 10:39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. 2). With this in mind, let’s take note of this from the beginning days of the ‘church’ recorded in – Ac 2:42 ¶ And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers…….46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. This is a wonderful picture of the proper functioning of the ‘church’ as it began in its infancy at the beginning of this dispensation. However, despite what we see here in Acts of the beginning days of the ‘church’, we know from the evidence of the dispensational history of the ‘church’ given first in the Matthew 13 Parables and then repeated again in Chapters 2-3 of the Revelation, that all this changed with the introduction of the leaven, ultimately leading to the multifaceted mess that we call Christendom today. As the leaven was introduced, the false teaching, so those who ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart lost this simplicity and exchanged it for the duplicity and mendacity of the world. a). Let us never lose the simplicity and the innocence that we have in Christ, that has come by hearing the Word of the Kingdom. Let us not allow ourselves to be conformed to this world but be continually transformed instead. And if our simplicity and innocence were to be lost, I am sure we would realize that it wouldn’t happen suddenly, overnight, it would have to begin with us being drawn away and enticed by the desires of our hearts, what seems right in our own eyes, as we had seen in James last time. b). The good news is of course that this is not an inevitable outcome. It remains as always, our choice. c). However, being an organized and formalized body of believers in pursuit of the Kingdom and having been organized in this way for some time we inevitably come to a place where our weaknesses, our shortcomings, and our failings begin to be more visible to each other. The more we are around each other, the more obvious these things become. And we will remember that we are commanded not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. And in this we are presented with a unique opportunity for growth to spiritual maturity if we align ourselves with the Scriptures or it could open a door for us leading to mutual self-destruction if we don’t. d). As has become obvious from our previous studies, we still have a sin nature, our ‘old man’ remains and remains connected with our first birth, that which was born of the flesh, in harmony with this world and the ruler of this world. Satan does therefore have something in us but as we have also noted, we do not have to choose to side with him – Ro 6:6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. This is good news, but now read on into the next verse- 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. To be free from the slavery of sin is in one sense automatic, through our creation in Christ. But what in one sense is automatic must also become a reality through denying our self and embracing, by faith, that our old man remains crucified with Christ. And if our freedom from the slavery of sin does indeed become a reality, then we will choose to use our members as instruments of righteousness rather than of unrighteousness on a consistent basis. e). And last time we had looked at one particular member, our tongue. And consequently, the words that come out of our mouth. We will remember - Pr 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit. Death and life in relation to the age to come can be determined by what comes out of our mouth now - Mt 15:11 "Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man." We need to bridle our tongue so that it may be used for righteousness and not unrighteousness. We must speak things leading to life, things that are in line with Scripture, agreeing with the things of God, rather than agreeing with the things of men which are the antithesis to the Word of Truth. f). And we can bridle our tongue to use it for righteousness if we fulfill what Scripture calls, ‘the royal law’ - Jas 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well… And this is an interesting phrase, ‘the royal law’. What might we understand from it? Well, the word translated ‘royal’ is a word that means, belonging to [or befitting] the sovereign. And we can understand what is meant by this phrase in two complimentary ways. Firstly, this is a law that comes directly from the Sovereign of the Universe and is given to His servants to keep. And secondly, those servants who keep this law, will find themselves exalted to positions of sovereignty in the age to come. Either way, for those who would rule with Christ, fulfilling the royal law is not optional. 3). Let’s trace this ‘royal law’ back to the Gospels - Mr 12:28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?" 29 Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. 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."32 So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. 33 "And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." 34 Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." We will note that because the scribe responded ‘wisely’ to that which Jesus had said to him, this particular scribe was ‘not far from the Kingdom of God.’ And what Jesus addressed in these verses are commandments and not suggestions. And although the context here is Jewish, that contained in these verses remain true, for the Jew then, or the Christian now. This is not something we can choose to opt into or opt out of. This is something the servants of God who want to become crowned rulers with Christ must do. And because God gave these as commands, we have the assurance that what is commanded can be done, because we would never be commanded to do something that it would be impossible to do. a). We will also note from these verses that the second commandment, love your neighbor as yourself, is like the first, love the Lord your God, it is comparable with it. In fact, these two commandments must go hand in hand, because we cannot obey the first apart from obeying the second. Let’s follow through on how this works. b). We already know that the Word of Truth says – Jn 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me. This seems to be pretty unambiguous. c). Now, let’s ask the question, why are we commanded to love our neighbor as our self? Let’s compare Scripture with Scripture - 1Jn 4:20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And to back up to - 1Jn 3:15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal [age lasting] life abiding in him. Please note that neighbor and brother would be interchangeable here, And, from a Christian perspective, the neighbor/brother is a fellow or companion in the household of faith. This is not every person in the world, nor indeed every Christian. The point would be, that if we cannot love those who have the same hope as we do, who are engaged with us in the race of the faith, then loving everyone else becomes a moot point anyway. d). So then, let’s note this very carefully, our love for God can ONLY be expressed through the love that we have for each other. It is not expressed in the multiplicity of our prayers, nor the frequency of our fasting, nor by professing the words, ‘Lord, I love you’. Or in how many hours we read the Bible. No, our love for God is demonstrated in action, by the way we relate to one another in alignment with the Scriptures, as we gather together with our shortcomings and weaknesses visible for all to see - Jn 13:35 "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." So exactly what does it look like to love our neighbor/brother in the same way we love our self? Well, to begin with, think about the grace and mercy, that we extend to ourselves, and then look at these verses - 1Pe 4:8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins." Ro 13:8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. 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. Ga 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! If we love one another, we will not sit in judgment on one another. We will do nothing harmful to each other in word or deed and we will not ‘bite and devour’ one another. e). Let’s look at how Scripture describes the love we are to have for one another - 1Co 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. The love we are to have for our brother, or our sister is not conditional upon how they treat us, rather, it is determined by our faithful obedience to God’s command. This then is an issue between us and the Lord, not between us and our neighbor. And understanding this as an issue between us and the Lord is exactly the same as we can see with regards to the respect a wife is to have for her husband and the love a husband is to have for his wife. Neither of these is about the spouse but about faithful obedience to the Scriptures. And just as we can note in the marriage relationship, getting to the place where we align ourselves with the Scripture is part of our process. It is beating out the grain. And we may require a good deal of winnowing to get there. f). To love one another after this fashion is not automatic for us but comes out of our progress to spiritual maturity. And this Peter has detailed for us - 2Pe 1:1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 ¶ But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 12 ¶ For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. The verses from Peter make clear that God’s ‘Divine power’, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit working together, has given us all things that pertain to life in the age to come allowing for ‘godliness’ in the present, loving our neighbor as our self. And these things have been given to us through the ‘epignosis’ knowledge of Him who called us with a heavenly calling. In other words, then, these things are ours through the work of the Spirit, as we hear the Word of the Kingdom, the same Word who was made flesh, who is also the Father, the ‘epignosis’ knowledge which renews our mind. And by this same means we have been given ‘exceedingly great and precious promises’ – 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. Gal 3:29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Ge 14:18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth….. And not only this, but these things make it possible for us to be companions of the ‘Divine nature’, ‘God is love’, thereby conducting our lives in alignment with the Scriptures as we go from faith to faith. And this progression from faith to faith, the transforming work of the Spirit, is what we see in 2 Peter 1:5-7, where we find the pinnacle of this transforming work in having ‘agape’ love for one another; the same love that Christ has for us – Jn 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” 1 Jn 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born [brought forth out of] of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. And according to the Scripture, if the things in 2 Pe 1:5-7 are ours, then we will never stumble, never be tripped up in our race of the faith. And the word translated stumble here, could just as readily be translated, ‘be offended’. g). And if these things are ours and we are not offended, caused to stumble, then an entrance will be supplied to us abundantly, whereby we may enter the Kingdom. h). And this brings us to the flip side of loving our neighbor as our self, so to speak. If we don’t love our neighbor as our self then we are going to take offense over things we hear, things we see and assumptions we make based on these. 4). Now the word that is translated ‘offense’ is the Greek word, ‘skandalon’. A word that literally means a bait stick used in a trap. And we have seen this word used in the Lord’s rebuke of Peter in - Mt 16:23 But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense [skandalon] to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." Now clearly Peter did not have the deliberate intention of offering that bait stick to Christ. He had no idea what he was doing in this respect. But the Lord saw the offense, saw the connection in it with the ruler of this world, and refused to take the bait. a). And here as we would expect is our model. If we hear, see, or assume something that has the potential to cause us to be offended, then we need to see it for what it is and not take the bait. And this we can only do by obeying the royal law as we progress towards spiritual maturity, only by having faith to the saving of the soul - Ps 91:2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust." 3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. 4 He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. We will want to trust God to deliver us from the snare of the fowler more than we want to take offense. b). Now the thing about a bait stick is that it holds up a trap. If we nibble on the bait then the trap will fall - Heb 12:14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled….. And here is the trap set for us by our enemy, a root of bitterness. Bitterness is a word that speaks of piercing of stabbing. And implicit in this would be the desire for revenge, to inflict the same pain we have felt back on the person who has offended us - Mt 18:7 ¶ "Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes! And the piercing and the stabbing might remind us of the Christian who is described as a murderer because he hates his brother. c). Jesus addressed this in a parable that he gave, recorded in – Mt 18:32 "Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 'Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' 34 "And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses." And from the beatitudes - Mt 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. And to conclude this session we can find a summation of our subject in Psalm 119 - Ps 119:161 Princes persecute me without a cause, But my heart stands in awe of Your word. 162 I rejoice at Your word As one who finds great treasure. 163 I hate and abhor lying, But I love Your law. 164 Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous judgments. 165 Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble. [Shall offend them - KJV] Finally, then, it appears that we have only two choices, either we will submit ourselves to the Word of Truth and fulfill the royal law or we will choose to take offence and stumble with respect to our entrance into the Kingdom. d). Jesus had asked the question, what would it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul/life for the age to come? Would we really want to give up the Kingdom for the sake of taking offence from our brother or sister? We will continue in our next session if we remain and the Lord is willing, and someone has prayed.