The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Ten - B Jul 29, 2018 by: John Herbert | Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T018_20180729.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Mt 21:43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. We will continue to look at the 'nation' who will receive the Kingdom of the Heavens taken from Israel. The full text of this message and power point can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday July 29th 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Part 10B A New Creation 1). Mt 21:42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD'S doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes'? 43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. We have seen in our previous studies that because of Israel’s unbelief in rejecting the One born ‘the King of the Jews’, and in rejecting the message of repentance He brought to them, that the Kingdom of the Heavens – rulership over the Gentile nations of the earth from the heavenly realm of the Kingdom in the place of Satan and his angels which the nation had been offered was taken from Israel for all time. a). We have seen the part the religious leaders played in this summarized in – 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. b). And we have seen that the first part of the statement made in Matthew 21:43 had been presented through a type a few verses earlier in – Mt 21:19 And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again. [Lit. With respect to the age]" Immediately the fig tree withered away. With respect to fruit and the offer of the Kingdom of the Heavens Israel produced none at the Lord’s first advent and as this realm of the Kingdom would be taken from them because of this, they cannot produce fruit for this realm of the Kingdom in this age or the age to come. c). This is not to say that Israel won’t be fruitful in the age to come because they will, as we have seen many times from the type given in – Ge 25:1 ¶ Abraham again took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2 And she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. But the nation of Israel cannot be fruitful with respect to the Kingdom of the Heavens. d). And so, we will keep in mind that a failure to produce fruit in response to the message they were given resulted in the loss of positions of rulership in the heavenly realm of the Kingdom that would not be reversed. e). And as we have seen in other previous weeks of study there is a parallel between the events of the Lord’s first advent and what happened to the first generation of Israel to come out of Egypt at Kadesh Barnea – Nu 14:22 "because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, 23 "they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it……. 29 'The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. 30 'Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. In both these examples, the generation to come out of Egypt and the generation alive at the Lord’s first advent, we see an eternally saved people – they had put faith in God’s provision for sin, the death and shed blood of the Passover lambs – a substitutionary death on their behalf that delivered them from the death of the firstborn, the efficacy of which God accepted from the first Passover in Egypt to the crucifixion of the Christ – Re 13:8b……..the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. f). Because of this both generations were a people who had spiritual life and were therefore able to receive spiritual truth with regards to God’s purpose for them and His expectation of them – with rulership being the goal. g). And just as Caleb and Joshua out of that first generation received their inheritance through their faithful obedience in contrast to those around them, so there were those at the Lord’s first advent who did produce fruit with respect to the Kingdom of the Heavens in contrast to those around them and will therefore receive an inheritance in that realm of the Kingdom in the age to come. 2). Now, we have laid all this foundation because of what we read in our opening verses this morning – the Kingdom of the Heavens taken from Israel would be ‘given to a nation bearing the fruits of it’ – this nation alone, a nation other than Israel, would be capable of bearing fruit and fruit would be produced only from within this nation and it is only in response to the production of fruit that the Kingdom of the Heavens would be given to those from this nation. a). And as we saw last time this new ‘nation’ is a spiritual nation that is not to be counted among the existing nations of the earth - Php 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, And nor is this spiritual ‘nation’ to be counted within the Kingdom of Satan but separate from it - 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. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. b). This new ‘nation’, as we have seen, forms a totally new creation – Ga 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. And this spiritual ‘nation’ is also described this way in - Eph 2:15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, And - 1Co 12:27 ¶ Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. And those comprising this ‘nation’ are the spiritual descendants of Abraham through faith - Ga 3:29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. c). These are all ways of describing the eternally saved from the 2000 years of this dispensation, those that we have come to call ‘the Church’ and ‘Christians’ – those who have believed on God’s provision for the penalty of sin, the death and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ – a substitutionary death on their behalf – We are then in the immediate context talking about us. d). And as we received eternal salvation by grace through faith, as we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, so we who were spiritually dead received spiritual life - Eph 2:1 ¶ And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 1Co 15:45 And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. And because we have spiritual life we can receive spiritual truth – 1Co 2:13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. And this is so important because the message concerning that taken from Israel, the message the Lord calls, ‘the Word of the Kingdom’, which is being delivered to the ‘Church’, is spiritual truth that can only be heard by those with spiritual ears – it is a message then for the eternally saved alone in relation to an inheritance they will receive in the age to come and has nothing whatsoever to do with the ages we have come to call eternity. e). And it is only by hearing ‘the Word of the Kingdom’ that fruit with respect to the Kingdom of the Heavens can be produced by an eternally saved individual – something that is clearly stated in the Parable of the Sower in Matthew Chapter 13 – Mt 13:3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: "Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 "And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 "Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 "But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 "And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 "But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"………….18 "Therefore hear the parable of the sower: 19 "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, So then, we must first hear the Word of the Kingdom [of the Heavens] to produce fruit with respect to that Kingdom - Ro 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. f). The words Jesus spoke, ‘When anyone hears the word of the kingdom’ do not allow for fruit to be produced ‘accidentally’ or ‘incidentally’, nor in ‘ignorance’; this is not the case - fruit is produced in response to the message, as the ‘word of the kingdom’ is believed and faith exercised in accordance with it. g). And if we return to the Parable of the Sower for a moment we can see that although ‘the word of the kingdom’ is heard by a larger group, those who form the new creation in Christ, there are those within that larger group, within the body of Christ, who are associated with ‘the wayside’, ‘stony places’, ‘the scorched’ earth and ‘thorns’, who produce no fruit – only those who form a smaller group but still within the new creation in Christ, those associated with ‘good ground’, produce fruit, ‘some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty’. h). And here we find the parallel with the first generation of Israel to come out of Egypt and the generation alive at the Lord’s first advent – where we see those who receive that which God has promised and those who lose that which is promised – all based upon their response to that which God has said – either having faith or unbelief. Power Point – Slides 1-3 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. To be blessed with believing Abraham and be counted as a son of Abraham the eternally saved individual must be ‘of faith’ as Abraham was. And to be ‘of faith’ is not a reference to being eternally saved as so many would have it but having faith after the same fashion that Abraham did - Jas 2:23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God. Heb 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called," 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. Heb 11:9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. And the faith Abraham had, what he believed and acted upon was the promises of God with respect to rulership in the earthly and heavenly realms of the Kingdom by his descendants. This is what Abraham believed and it was accounted to him for righteousness. i). And to return to the Book of Hebrews the faith which Abraham had, which is the faith we are to have also if we are to be blessed with him with respect to the promises is very specific - Heb 10:39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe [who have faith] to the saving of the soul. To follow that which we just read in Hebrews, we are not those who ‘draw back’ from the promises of God as the first generation of Israel did at Kadesh Barnea, perishing in the wilderness, or draw back from the message of the Kingdom as the generation at Christ’s first advent did having the Kingdom of the Heavens taken from them – rather, we are to be those who believe, who have faith, with respect to the Word of the Kingdom, thereby producing fruit that will result in the saving of our souls. j). And the salvation of the soul is something that the Book of Hebrews calls - Heb 2:3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great [a] salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, The salvation of the soul is so enormous in its magnitude that there is nothing that can be compared to it – it is the greatest thing the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator of the universe can provide for His creation – Man – 1Pe 1:12 To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven--things which angels desire to look into. 3). So, if we can summarize for a moment – those who are eternally saved, who are part of the one new man in Christ are those who comprise the nation spoken of by the Lord in Matthew 21:43 and it is out of this nation that those who are to receive the Kingdom of the Heavens will come. a). Our being eternally saved does not automatically result in us producing fruit for the Kingdom and therefore receiving the Kingdom of the Heavens is not the automatic result of eternal salvation either – something we can clearly see from the OT types and from the parables and specifically stated by the Lord at the end of the parable of the wedding guest - Mt 22:12 "So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. 13 "Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14 "For many are called, but few are chosen [Lit – called out of the called]." The same thing seen earlier in - Mt 7:15 ¶ "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 "Therefore by their fruits you will know them. 21 ¶ "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' And it is the very thing that Paul draws attention to in - Ro 11:16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. b). Our eternal salvation then places us in the position where we can now hear ‘the word of the kingdom’ and produce fruit – it is our starting point. c). Israel, having slain the Passover lambs did not stay in Egypt, they moved on to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and we, having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ are not to stay in the same place either, but move on towards the heavenly land promised to Abraham’s descendants which is being offered to us. d). And one of the keys to understanding how we are to produce fruit can be found in the verses that follow those which we just read from Matthew Chapter 7 - Mt 7:24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." 28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. We can see then that the ‘wise man’ ‘built his house on the rock’ – which hopefully will remind us of verses we have read from Matthew Chapter 16 – Mt 16:16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 "And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." It is Peter’s revelation that Jesus is ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God’, which was brought forth to him from above that is ‘the rock’ upon which Christ will build His ‘church’ – and as we hear those words, ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God’ they should now resonate with us in a way that they may not have done before – This is spiritual truth, this is the heart of the Word of the Kingdom, this is what we must hear and believe if we are going to produce fruit with respect to the Kingdom of the Heavens - Eph 2:19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. 1Pe 2:4 ¶ Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame." 7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone," 8 and "A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. 9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. And these verses might remind us of the words of John the Baptist recorded in Lu 3:7 Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And so, to conclude for today – the new creation in Christ has been brought into existence for a specific purpose and we find ourselves as part of that new creation in the unique and privileged position of being able to respond positively to the offer of rulership as a joint heir with Christ over the Gentile nations of the earth from the heavenly realm of the Kingdom in the age to come – to be able to produce fruit with respect to rulership from the heavens some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. We will continue next time – If the Lord is willing. The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Ten - B Jul 29, 2018 Speaker: John Herbert Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T018_20180729.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Mt 21:43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. We will continue to look at the 'nation' who will receive the Kingdom of the Heavens taken from Israel. The full text of this message and power point can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday July 29th 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Part 10B A New Creation 1). Mt 21:42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD'S doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes'? 43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. We have seen in our previous studies that because of Israel’s unbelief in rejecting the One born ‘the King of the Jews’, and in rejecting the message of repentance He brought to them, that the Kingdom of the Heavens – rulership over the Gentile nations of the earth from the heavenly realm of the Kingdom in the place of Satan and his angels which the nation had been offered was taken from Israel for all time. a). We have seen the part the religious leaders played in this summarized in – 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. b). And we have seen that the first part of the statement made in Matthew 21:43 had been presented through a type a few verses earlier in – Mt 21:19 And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again. [Lit. With respect to the age]" Immediately the fig tree withered away. With respect to fruit and the offer of the Kingdom of the Heavens Israel produced none at the Lord’s first advent and as this realm of the Kingdom would be taken from them because of this, they cannot produce fruit for this realm of the Kingdom in this age or the age to come. c). This is not to say that Israel won’t be fruitful in the age to come because they will, as we have seen many times from the type given in – Ge 25:1 ¶ Abraham again took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2 And she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. But the nation of Israel cannot be fruitful with respect to the Kingdom of the Heavens. d). And so, we will keep in mind that a failure to produce fruit in response to the message they were given resulted in the loss of positions of rulership in the heavenly realm of the Kingdom that would not be reversed. e). And as we have seen in other previous weeks of study there is a parallel between the events of the Lord’s first advent and what happened to the first generation of Israel to come out of Egypt at Kadesh Barnea – Nu 14:22 "because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, 23 "they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it……. 29 'The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. 30 'Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. In both these examples, the generation to come out of Egypt and the generation alive at the Lord’s first advent, we see an eternally saved people – they had put faith in God’s provision for sin, the death and shed blood of the Passover lambs – a substitutionary death on their behalf that delivered them from the death of the firstborn, the efficacy of which God accepted from the first Passover in Egypt to the crucifixion of the Christ – Re 13:8b……..the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. f). Because of this both generations were a people who had spiritual life and were therefore able to receive spiritual truth with regards to God’s purpose for them and His expectation of them – with rulership being the goal. g). And just as Caleb and Joshua out of that first generation received their inheritance through their faithful obedience in contrast to those around them, so there were those at the Lord’s first advent who did produce fruit with respect to the Kingdom of the Heavens in contrast to those around them and will therefore receive an inheritance in that realm of the Kingdom in the age to come. 2). Now, we have laid all this foundation because of what we read in our opening verses this morning – the Kingdom of the Heavens taken from Israel would be ‘given to a nation bearing the fruits of it’ – this nation alone, a nation other than Israel, would be capable of bearing fruit and fruit would be produced only from within this nation and it is only in response to the production of fruit that the Kingdom of the Heavens would be given to those from this nation. a). And as we saw last time this new ‘nation’ is a spiritual nation that is not to be counted among the existing nations of the earth - Php 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, And nor is this spiritual ‘nation’ to be counted within the Kingdom of Satan but separate from it - 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. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. b). This new ‘nation’, as we have seen, forms a totally new creation – Ga 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. And this spiritual ‘nation’ is also described this way in - Eph 2:15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, And - 1Co 12:27 ¶ Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. And those comprising this ‘nation’ are the spiritual descendants of Abraham through faith - Ga 3:29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. c). These are all ways of describing the eternally saved from the 2000 years of this dispensation, those that we have come to call ‘the Church’ and ‘Christians’ – those who have believed on God’s provision for the penalty of sin, the death and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ – a substitutionary death on their behalf – We are then in the immediate context talking about us. d). And as we received eternal salvation by grace through faith, as we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, so we who were spiritually dead received spiritual life - Eph 2:1 ¶ And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 1Co 15:45 And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. And because we have spiritual life we can receive spiritual truth – 1Co 2:13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. And this is so important because the message concerning that taken from Israel, the message the Lord calls, ‘the Word of the Kingdom’, which is being delivered to the ‘Church’, is spiritual truth that can only be heard by those with spiritual ears – it is a message then for the eternally saved alone in relation to an inheritance they will receive in the age to come and has nothing whatsoever to do with the ages we have come to call eternity. e). And it is only by hearing ‘the Word of the Kingdom’ that fruit with respect to the Kingdom of the Heavens can be produced by an eternally saved individual – something that is clearly stated in the Parable of the Sower in Matthew Chapter 13 – Mt 13:3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: "Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 "And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 "Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 "But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 "And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 "But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"………….18 "Therefore hear the parable of the sower: 19 "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, So then, we must first hear the Word of the Kingdom [of the Heavens] to produce fruit with respect to that Kingdom - Ro 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. f). The words Jesus spoke, ‘When anyone hears the word of the kingdom’ do not allow for fruit to be produced ‘accidentally’ or ‘incidentally’, nor in ‘ignorance’; this is not the case - fruit is produced in response to the message, as the ‘word of the kingdom’ is believed and faith exercised in accordance with it. g). And if we return to the Parable of the Sower for a moment we can see that although ‘the word of the kingdom’ is heard by a larger group, those who form the new creation in Christ, there are those within that larger group, within the body of Christ, who are associated with ‘the wayside’, ‘stony places’, ‘the scorched’ earth and ‘thorns’, who produce no fruit – only those who form a smaller group but still within the new creation in Christ, those associated with ‘good ground’, produce fruit, ‘some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty’. h). And here we find the parallel with the first generation of Israel to come out of Egypt and the generation alive at the Lord’s first advent – where we see those who receive that which God has promised and those who lose that which is promised – all based upon their response to that which God has said – either having faith or unbelief. Power Point – Slides 1-3 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. To be blessed with believing Abraham and be counted as a son of Abraham the eternally saved individual must be ‘of faith’ as Abraham was. And to be ‘of faith’ is not a reference to being eternally saved as so many would have it but having faith after the same fashion that Abraham did - Jas 2:23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God. Heb 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called," 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. Heb 11:9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. And the faith Abraham had, what he believed and acted upon was the promises of God with respect to rulership in the earthly and heavenly realms of the Kingdom by his descendants. This is what Abraham believed and it was accounted to him for righteousness. i). And to return to the Book of Hebrews the faith which Abraham had, which is the faith we are to have also if we are to be blessed with him with respect to the promises is very specific - Heb 10:39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe [who have faith] to the saving of the soul. To follow that which we just read in Hebrews, we are not those who ‘draw back’ from the promises of God as the first generation of Israel did at Kadesh Barnea, perishing in the wilderness, or draw back from the message of the Kingdom as the generation at Christ’s first advent did having the Kingdom of the Heavens taken from them – rather, we are to be those who believe, who have faith, with respect to the Word of the Kingdom, thereby producing fruit that will result in the saving of our souls. j). And the salvation of the soul is something that the Book of Hebrews calls - Heb 2:3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great [a] salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, The salvation of the soul is so enormous in its magnitude that there is nothing that can be compared to it – it is the greatest thing the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator of the universe can provide for His creation – Man – 1Pe 1:12 To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven--things which angels desire to look into. 3). So, if we can summarize for a moment – those who are eternally saved, who are part of the one new man in Christ are those who comprise the nation spoken of by the Lord in Matthew 21:43 and it is out of this nation that those who are to receive the Kingdom of the Heavens will come. a). Our being eternally saved does not automatically result in us producing fruit for the Kingdom and therefore receiving the Kingdom of the Heavens is not the automatic result of eternal salvation either – something we can clearly see from the OT types and from the parables and specifically stated by the Lord at the end of the parable of the wedding guest - Mt 22:12 "So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. 13 "Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14 "For many are called, but few are chosen [Lit – called out of the called]." The same thing seen earlier in - Mt 7:15 ¶ "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 "Therefore by their fruits you will know them. 21 ¶ "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' And it is the very thing that Paul draws attention to in - Ro 11:16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. b). Our eternal salvation then places us in the position where we can now hear ‘the word of the kingdom’ and produce fruit – it is our starting point. c). Israel, having slain the Passover lambs did not stay in Egypt, they moved on to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and we, having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ are not to stay in the same place either, but move on towards the heavenly land promised to Abraham’s descendants which is being offered to us. d). And one of the keys to understanding how we are to produce fruit can be found in the verses that follow those which we just read from Matthew Chapter 7 - Mt 7:24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." 28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. We can see then that the ‘wise man’ ‘built his house on the rock’ – which hopefully will remind us of verses we have read from Matthew Chapter 16 – Mt 16:16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 "And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." It is Peter’s revelation that Jesus is ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God’, which was brought forth to him from above that is ‘the rock’ upon which Christ will build His ‘church’ – and as we hear those words, ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God’ they should now resonate with us in a way that they may not have done before – This is spiritual truth, this is the heart of the Word of the Kingdom, this is what we must hear and believe if we are going to produce fruit with respect to the Kingdom of the Heavens - Eph 2:19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. 1Pe 2:4 ¶ Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame." 7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone," 8 and "A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. 9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. And these verses might remind us of the words of John the Baptist recorded in Lu 3:7 Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And so, to conclude for today – the new creation in Christ has been brought into existence for a specific purpose and we find ourselves as part of that new creation in the unique and privileged position of being able to respond positively to the offer of rulership as a joint heir with Christ over the Gentile nations of the earth from the heavenly realm of the Kingdom in the age to come – to be able to produce fruit with respect to rulership from the heavens some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. We will continue next time – If the Lord is willing.