PROLOGUE
As the spirit of Christ moved upon the
prophets
to record the concepts found in the scriptures,
gardens were used as symbols for the mind of man.
Isaiah 58:11
11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually,
and satisfy thy soul in drought,
and make fat thy bones:
and thou shalt be like a watered garden,
and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Understanding the ministry of Christ
will bring one to see the love of the Father
and His desire to create through suffering and for suffering....
A FOUNTAIN OF GARDENS
Study One
#247.1100
scottSTANLEY
I pray as we go through this study today, the Lord give me
wisdom to express my heart, because I have a burden for the church that
continues to grow. Recently I have visited a local church in my area,
denominational church, and there are people that I speak with and I bring up
spiritual things. And I have to say, I am appalled at the answers, let me just
say, at the darkness that I see people in. You know, I experience with people
that they have a love of God. They have a desire to want to know Him and to
understand the Saviour, but I’m horrified at the darkness.
The things that people say, the things that come out of
their mouths, including the church leadership, sitting there surrounded by
question marks when questions are raised about who God is, just simple things,
that to us, being in this remnant church and having an open heart, being willing
to make changes, and to understand the Saviour and not be afraid to face
whatever that may be, whatever direction He would have us go; we have a
foundation that is so far beyond the denominational churches today and it is so
sad because they choose to be in that place.
They choose where they are. They have chosen a direction
and there they sit and they will not budge from it. They have eyes to see, but
see not. And again, when I look at it, it just befuddles me to think, you know,
how can they stay in that place. How can they choose to stay in that place. I
know they all have their creeds, and possibly various family members attend the
churches they go to, and it’s that type of thing that seems to hold them in
there. Because, like I say, when I talk to them they have a zeal for the Lord,
but you could say, not according to knowledge.
All of that, I realize, is because they have based their
belief on a mystery God. You know, that is what they call the Trinity. It’s a
mystery. No one can understand it. And if you think about it, it is that fact,
that the highest being in the universe, this thing they call God, is a mystery
to them. And because of that, everything they believe then, based on that
mystery, causes them to be scattered. It causes a horror of darkness on them.
If you don’t understand your foundation, what are you going to build on? I
visit with these people, and speak with them and recognize the problem. They a
have a wrong foundation, and if the foundation is not sure the structure that
you are building on it is never going to stand.
So these people, because God is a mystery, that it is OK
to go off in any direction you want to go, you might as well just, everyone be
scattered, because if no one knows who He is, and if no one can answer things,
and explain things, so everyone groups themselves with those who think similar
to where they are. But you know, when I visit the local Pentecostal church,
these people don’t even agree with each other. There are just certain basic
things–they mainly meet because it’s a social thing and they enjoy being with
their friends, and I don’t know how really to deal with them, when I think of
where they are.
It’s just amazing to hear the things that come out of
their mouths, and I have to praise the Lord that when He gives me a revelation
of something, that I have people I can turn to who are willing to listen, who
are willing to hear me out and take it to the Lord. And then if we can, we walk
in agreement. I would pray that if I’m teaching something that you don’t agree
with that you would let me know and we could talk it through and we could make
decisions together and seek the Lord together. But praise God that there is a
handful of people willing to hear me out and I’m telling you, it’s actually
healing for me to be able to have someone hear me out and then feel like I’m
understood. I praise God for every one of you.
I want to talk about things, continuing to build on our
foundation that we have. I want to express the burden that I have on my heart
for you, because again, when I visit the various denominational groups, and I
talk with these people, and I realize the condition they are in, has been the
same for a long, long time. Ever since I was a child growing up, ever since you
were a child growing up, what we have been hearing from the denominations is
actually death. Now it’s true, the Lord can use these things as a stepping
stone. But I dare say everyone of us carry baggage from the things we have been
taught all of our lives by the people in these churches. And some of you may
think -- well my church that I grew up with had more truth than the one he grew
up with, or this one or that one.
Let me tell you, it’s all death. All of it is death. I’m
not sure that anyone in the remnant church really has a grasp on their Heavenly
Father. I think we still have mental pictures of His judgment, and being in
anger and condemning. I think those things are still there. And I’m going to
tell you right up front, the Lord is changing that for me. And when He lays on
my heart, when He gives me an experience that helps me see Him in a brighter
light, I feel compelled to tell others who have ears to hear.
It’s important that all of us understand our Father. If
we don’t understand the ministry of Christ, we will never understand the
Father. But if we can get a handle on exactly what it is Christ is doing for us
and what is happening there, then we will begin to grow in our understanding and
we will have a picture of the Father that is precious. Now I ask you to turn
with me to 1 Timothy 1:5 and I want to share this scripture with you to begin
this study.
5 Now the end of the commandment is
charity [love] out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith
unfeigned:
1 Timothy 1:5 lays out principles that I think, will
launch us into a study that will help us uncover, continue to uncover, the deep
things of God. I know the Lord has given us His Spirit, that we might know the
things freely given to us from Him, and that His Spirit searches the deep
things, and I know that we are capable of handling these things. I would just
pray that as we go through this study, we just simply uncover our hearts and let
the Lord minister to us and don’t be afraid to look at yourself. 1 Timothy 1:5
“The end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, a good conscience and
faith or understanding without hypocrisy – having an understanding that is
accurate.
Now I want to share with you something the Lord revealed to
me concerning the New Testament. It is really encouraging to understand this.
Our heavenly Father sent the Only Begotten Son into the world through Mary in
the fourth one thousand year period. And if I were to go to creation week and
look a the 4th day (because a day with the Lord is as a thousand
years; a thousand years is as a day) and if I were to look at that I could see
the sun and the moon being put in their place. The sun and the moon. Let’s just
simply look at our Savior without going into all of those symbols ... building
on what we’ve already come to understand and the Father was placing in the
heavens in the understanding of people His only begotten Son.
At the end of the day they are to rule and when we read
the New Testament we are reading letters written to people who already had that
foundation. These letters are written to people who understand Jesus is the son
of God, they have been explained to, the gospel of the concept of hearing God.
They understand that. If you’ll read, for instance in Romans 6, they have been
already taught, when you’re immersed, you are immersed into His death. You see,
the apostles proclaimed truths to these people and the letters are simply
building on that and re-affirming things they already know.
Now it’s true, if you go back and look at church history,
eventually the church went into apostasy. And those truths were lost. And the
church went into the dark ages and the Lord began to reform, and reform, and
reform and bring His people out of that darkness until, we come to the last
generation of believers who are made like unto the first century church. They
too, the last generation of believers, have the foundation that the first
century church had. They know there is only one God. They know Jesus is the
Son of God; they know born in eternity past; they understand to listen to the
voice of God; they understand the immersion into His death. They understand
salvation is not in a denomination, that the Lord is calling us out and forming
His temple, building us a living temple in the Lord.
You see, we have that foundation. The first century church
had that foundation. For that reason, even though the New Testament was written
2000 years ago, it was written for you. Because you are on the same level, on
the same day of creation week that these people were in. The Lord brought them
at least unto the fifth day. And we can read the writings of the apostle Paul
and read where he talks about spiritual understanding. We can read the gospels
and we can see spiritual truths in what Christ was teaching, and these things
are written to you.
None of these books give the ABC’s of our foundational
truth. It’s assumed you already have heard those things and it’s building on
and reaffirming things that the Lord is showing us. So when we read the New
Testament, again, it is written for you. Now in the New Testament, the apostle
Paul writes, in speaking of the Old Testament, that it was written for those
upon whom the end of the world has come. That’s you again. So in essence the
New and the Old Testament, this entire book is written for us.
Let that be encouraging. It is written and given, it has
been saved, prepared to be given to those upon whom the end of the world is
come. Those who have a foundational understanding of one God; faith in Jesus
Christ; reaching a perfection in Jesus Christ; understanding the words in the
book of Revelation -- something that people to this very day -- you walk in
these denominational groups, they don’t have any idea of what those words mean.
And yet you are grasping it. And, I’m telling you, if that isn’t encouraging –
that has to encourage us to go forward.
Now I have, like I said, a burden to help us understand
things about our Heavenly Father because it will unravel and help us get rid of,
come out of, the darkness that we have lived in. And it is something that we
can’t help. It’s there because it has been taught us and we’ve carried it. And
I dare say, as I go through these scriptures in this study and cover these
things, that you’re going to feel like weight fall off of you when you realize
what some of these things really mean. Now, back to 1 Timothy 1:5, the apostle
Paul says
5 Now the end of the commandment is
....
What commandment? What commandment is he speaking of
here? If you look a the word “commandment”, it is used in verse 1 where he says
he is an apostle by the will of God according to the commandment of God our
Savior. But what he says in these first 4 verses, to me, does not lead into him
saying, now this commandment I just spoke of, because he doesn’t speak of it
here. He spoke of it when he was in person, when he laid the foundation to
Timothy and to anyone else who Timothy would let read this letter.
The foundation had already been laid. Now if I were to
come up to you, understanding that you already believe in One God and that you
are settled on the birth in eternity and that you understand the Son of God kept
from sinning by abiding in the Father and you have heard the gospel of the
concept of hearing, if I came to you, knowing those things about you and said,
“Now, the end of the commandment is,” what commandment would you think I was
speaking of? I would like to ask you to turn to Mark 12 because I believe this
lays it out for us. Mark 12 starting at verse 29
29 And Jesus answered him, The first of
all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30
And thou [you] shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy [your] heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy [understanding and ability] mind, and with
all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy
[your] neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
This, according to Christ is the greatest of all
commandments-- “Hear, O Israel.” The commandment the Father has given us, the
first commandment is to “hear Him”. The second is love your neighbor and we
know that if you are hearing Him and obeying Him, you are walking in love
because there’s no such thing as hearing God and being obedient to Him and not
loving. God is love and the one who is walking in love is manifesting he is
hearing God. So I could say the first commandment is “hearing God;” the second
commandment is “Do what He says”. Hear and do.
I want to turn you back though to Deuteronomy chapter 6
and I want to read this from there, because what we’re reading in the words of
Christ, He is simply quoting Deuteronomy 6:4. And I know this is something
we’ve covered in the past, but let me stir you up and keep you thinking about
and recognizing the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. Deuteronomy 6:4
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is
one LORD:
Yahweh our Elohim is one Yahweh. Now, why would I read it
like that? That’s literally the way it reads. “Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our
Elohim.” What is Elohim? Elohim is plural for El. And El is God. Elohim is
“God’s”. It isn’t simply “God” singular. Elohim is plural. And the verse
actually reads “Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God’s are one Yahweh.”
5 And thou shalt [you shall] love the
LORD thy [Yahweh your] God with all thine [your] heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy might.
Now, that’s key isn’t it. If I were to paraphrase this,
put this in my own words, the first of all commandments is that you hear God,
bend your ear to Him and you let Him speak to you. “Hear Him” because the
Father and the Son, Yahweh our Gods, the Father and the Son are One in unity.
Hear Him. The Father and the Son are united in their togetherness, in their
understanding. They are united. They are one, and you are to obey. You are to
follow through with what they tell you to do because if you do, you will be one
with them. Hear, O Israel. Here’s the first commandment, Hear, O Israel,
Yahweh our God’s are one and you are to love. I put love and obey together
because of what we read in 1 John 5:3
3 For this is the love of God, that we
keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
You see, that is how we manifest love to the Father. You
manifest your love for Him in obeying Him. Hear O Israel, our God’s are united
and you are to love them with all your heart, soul, understanding and ability
that you possibly have. When you do, you will be one with them. That is the
commandment. I know that Timothy understood that, so that the apostle Paul
could write him a letter.
Now the end of the commandment... and Timothy knew instantly what his brother in the Lord was speaking of. Going back to 1 Timothy 1:5, “the end of the commandment” -- this word “end” is simply a variation of the same word translated “perfect”. And it helps us understand the word “perfect,” because instead of saying end or perfect, I’m going to use the word “completion.” Now I have talked about being perfect in the Lord and reaching a completed perfection. And I want to talk about the completion that the Lord is bringing us -- and in this verse, the completion of the commandment, if you’re listening, what it is going to bring us to.
And I’m telling you now that in this study, I want you to
see that it is His main concern for you, that you walk in that place. It is His
main concern that you understand Him. I’m telling you as the Lord impresses my
heart, why do you suppose our Father created us in the first place? This is
key, because it leads to some answers. It leads to some things that I think we
need as a church. Look in Revelation 4:11...A scripture song that we sing.
11 Thou art [You are] worthy, O Lord, to
receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast [you have] created all things,
and for thy [your] pleasure they are and were created.
Now that was always interesting to me to see those words
“are and were created.” And I want to touch on that in just a moment. But what
does it mean, “for his pleasure?” How do you see your heavenly Father deriving
pleasure? Does He receive pleasure the same as an earthly king would, where his
food is prepared for him and it’s anything he wants to eat, and he’s wearing
royal garments and feeling over and above everyone around him...he wants to be
as flashy as he possibly can and feel as important as he possibly can so he has
people preparing his clothes, and shining his shoes, and washing him and
cleaning him?
Is that the way you see the Father, the King of Kings?
Is that how you see our Father, the Creator, the God of this universe? What is
it, how do you suppose, He derives pleasure? What is it that gives Him
pleasure? Let me tell you, He doesn’t need anything outward. He doesn’t need
anything outward. What He is longing for is a relationship of a communication.
It is an inward touching of His heart that will allow Him to derive pleasure.
It is when we touch Him on the inside that He derives pleasure. He created us
for His pleasure.
Consider, the One God, being in the universe all alone,
being existent without anything else, without anyone else, and having a desire
to create a high intelligence who could communicate with Him, that He would
derive pleasure from. Now think about this with me. There are certain things
He would have to give you in order to do that. One thing you have to have is
“an infinite mind”. If you are going to communicate with God throughout all
eternity, you can’t come to the place where your mind fills up, and that’s it,
and you can’t receive anything else from Him...that’s all I can learn now, I’m
full.
You have to be infinite because He is infinite and He made
you this way, so that all through eternity you can continue to learn more about
Him, and reflect Him more and more, learn more of who He is and love Him more
and draw closer to Him, feeling His presence with you and never coming to the
place, well, that’s enough I can’t go any further. He has made your mind
infinite.
Another thing He has to give you is a free will. Now, I’m
asking you, you know this has been something that I believe people have been
plagued with for many years. Do you have a free will or not? What about all
these verses that talk about God’s sovereignty and you can’t do anything He
doesn’t want you to do, and on and on. Those verses are taken so far out of
context and the Lord is giving me answers that people might understand some of
the questions that arise when they read Romans 9 or 11, or they read some of
these scriptures.
What I’m asking you to do is search your heart and let me
ask you a question. Do you derive pleasure receiving love or communication from
someone who doesn’t have a choice? Would you receive pleasure in knowing
someone loves you but they really don’t have a choice, they have to? They’re
doing this because they have to. First of all, you can’t have affection for
someone, being made to have affection and then receive pleasure from that. If
that is how you see our Heavenly Father, you might as well turn the tape off and
quit getting them. What I am giving you is a foundational understanding about
the Father.
Look at Proverbs chapter 8, and remember, Proverbs 8 is
about Wisdom and we know from 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Christ is the wisdom of
God. And when we read Proverbs 8, we see all kinds of things about the Son of
God. We learn kinds of truths about Him and once you learn this about the Son,
you can learn how that applies to Our Father. But looking at Proverbs 8,
thinking, considering whether or not you have a free will, I want to start
reading at verse 1.
1 Doth [Does] not wisdom cry? and
understanding put forth her voice?
And in verse 14, Christ is understanding, He is wisdom, He
is understanding.
2 She standeth [stands] in the top of
high places, by the way in the places of the paths.
Now, think a minute. Are you looking at this outward,
that Christ is standing in all of these places, crying out? No. It has to be
inward. This verse, where he says “by the way in the places of the paths,” it
has to be the paths of thought, the way we are thinking, the directions that we
have to choose from to walk and to live our lives. Now listen, wisdom is crying
and understanding is putting forth her voice. She stands in the top of high
places, by the way in the places of the paths.
3She
crieth [cries] at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the
doors.
That word “entry” is [6310]. It’s actually at the mouth
of the city, at the coming in at the door. Where would that be in the human
agent? Doesn’t it say in Revelation 3, Christ stands at the door and knocks at
the door of your heart? What we’re talking about here, is that mechanism that
the Lord has given every one of us. It is the third thing I wanted to talk
about other than having an infinite mind and a free will. You have a
conscience. There isn’t a single thing that we think, plan or do that does not
pass through the conscience. A moral decision is made every time you open your
mouth. Every time you move and do something, the thought has had to pass
through the conscience. It is the entering in of the gate, it’s the mouth into
the city. Wisdom is there. And look at the next verse.
4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice
is to the sons of man.
Let
me tell you what He didn’t say. He did not say it’s to the church. Every
person on this planet has a conscience, whether or not they are learning to
listen to it is beside the point. You do have one and we know God would have
all men to be saved and if we are not in that process of being saved, it is
because we choose not to hear. And it is to your conscience I am
pleading–that if you would consider God creating us for His pleasure, would
anyone have pleasure in deriving love from someone who had no choice? It’s a no
brainer, if you will just think it through. You have an infinite mind, you have
a free will and you have a mechanism in which God uses to speak to you, and it’s
called your conscience. 1 Tim 1:5. Look at this again
5 Now the end of the commandment is
charity [love] out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith
unfeigned:
Now that should make perfect sense to you. The completion
of the commandment is that you have a good conscience -- that is part of a what
He is doing in you–bringing you to experience love, out of a pure heart;
bringing you to have a good conscience and an understanding of Him that is
without hypocrisy; an understanding of Him that is without all of the darkness
that we see other people in today. Now, I want to key on this word “conscience”
and I want to share with you the meaning of this word. I could say that the
Lord has created us for “koinonea” -- for “joint participation” and I don’t want
to leave out the “are and were”. I’ve got to get back to that in Revelation
4:11, that we are created and were created for His good pleasure.
What could that possibly mean?
Well, I can look at, “are created” as being present tense
and I know that is an inward creation. And I could look at “were created” as
inward too, that the whole creation week is taking place in our hearts. But, I
like to look at it also that we were created as people, as human beings, that
were outward, are is inward. That we were created, He started this
thing for our communication with Him and He has to create you inward so that you
can communicate. That inward creation is an explanation of the things we are
talking about. He is creating in you that realization of what He has given you
and who you are in Christ. Look at Psalms 102. I have to tie this verse in
with Revelation 4:11. Psalms 102:18
18 This shall be written for the
generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.
You see, a future generation of people who are created
inwardly, not outwardly. Created inwardly, and again, it is for His pleasure.
His pleasure is “koinonea”, that is joint participation. Koinonea is that word
translated in the King James: fellowship, communion, contribution. Koinonea is
joint sharing, sharing not only with your brothers and sisters but with God, and
Him sharing with you.
But now the word “conscience”. The end of the commandment
is that you have a good conscience. The word “conscience” is made up from two
Greek words. It’s in the New Testament either 8 or 9 times. The two words are
literally “ joint knowledge”-- knowledge that you share with someone. And let
me tell you, if it is your conscience, the someone that you share it with is
God, because the conscience is His megaphone, you could say, into the soul. It
is His way of communicating with you–of impressing on your heart. The
conscience. We’re in 1 Timothy. That word “conscience” is also again in
Chapter 1, in verse 19.
19 Holding faith, and a good conscience;
which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:
Look at “faith,” remember, as the noun. “Believing” as
the verb. Faith isn’t what you do, faith is something you possess. It’s the
understanding you have. And put the two together-- “Holding faith and a good
conscience.” You see, to me that’s the same as in 1 Timothy 1:5 where he says
“faith unfeigned”. You have a good conscience and faith unfeigned. There is no
way that when someone delivers you the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, when the
Lord lays it on someone’s heart to bring you meanings of God and you reject
that, there is no way you are going to live with a good conscience because the
conscience is the tool He is using to teach you, to help you understand His
perfect will.
So in 1 Timothy 1:19, holding understanding and a good
conscience, see if you can hold the two together. If the two can come together
for you, then you know you’re walking accurately. And it doesn’t mean that
something isn’t going to change on down the road. It means right now, this is
where He wants me to be. And you’ll know in your conscience if you need to take
another step.
Now looking at this word “conscience” with me, I want to read a few places where
it is, just so you can see, continue to get the drift of the word “joint
knowledge”. One place that is key for us in understanding is in Romans 2:15
which reads
15 Which shew the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their
thoughts the mean while [or between one another] accusing or else excusing one
another;
So here we have that conscience. Here we have that joint
knowledge. And He says, well the Lord is writing on their heart. He’s showing
the work of the law written on their heart, their conscience bearing witness,
you see, that it is of God. The thought accuses or excuses. Another scripture
that I want to show you, it doesn’t use the word “conscience”, but it does imply
it. It uses the word “heart” instead, the impressions of the heart. In 1 John
chapter 3, I want to read starting at verse 19.
19 And hereby [by this] we know [by
experience] that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and
knoweth [knows] all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not [isn’t condemning us],
then have we confidence toward God.
So in my own words, what he is telling us here, God is
greater than our heart and if you’re feeling condemnation, if through your
conscience He is impressing you negatively, you know that is Him doing that. If
He isn’t, then you can have confidence toward God. You see, it’s obvious that
he is saying here to live according to your conscience, that your conscience is
God’s tool. It isn’t another man’s tool. It isn’t a tool for anyone but God to
use, to impress direction upon His people. And we could call it developing a
hearing ear, learning when that impression is happening, and that hey, this is
the Father. This is God speaking to me! Now let’s keep building on this word.
Turn to Hebrews chapter 9. Let’s look at conscience again. Hebrews 9:9
9 Which was a figure for the time then
present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make
him that did the service perfect [complete], as pertaining to the conscience;
Now, it’s important that we grasp the following verses
that I’m going to share with you. I want to make a chain with you because He is
talking about a completion, but he says “as pertaining to the conscience.” Look
at verse14 in the same chapter.
14 How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
What if I said instead of “dead works,” “works of death.”
What is a work of death? Isn’t a work of death doing our own will, and not
allowing God to have His way in your heart? And he is saying here the Son of
God giving Himself, purges your conscience from works of death. Now I know, to
have my conscience purged, there is a forgiveness; here I’m talking about
something more than that. I’m talking about works of death so I can serve the
living God and do what He is commanding me to do. Look also in Hebrews, chapter
10, I’ll start reading at verse 1.
1 For the law having a shadow of good
things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto
perfect [complete].
2 For then would they not [wouldn’t they] have ceased to be offered?
because that the worshippers once purged should [once they’re purged would] have
had no more conscience of sins.
3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again
made of sins every year.
4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats
should take away sins.
Now, let’s keep reading.
5 Wherefore when he cometh [that is why when he comes] into the
world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not [you would not] , but
a body hast thou [you’ve] prepared me:
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no
pleasure [you haven’t had pleasure. We could say, in burnt offerings and
sacrifices of animals for sin, you’ve had no pleasure].
7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written
of me,) to do thy [your] will, O God.
8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and
offering for sin thou wouldest not [you would not], neither hadst
pleasure therein [neither had pleasure in them]; which are [those were]
offered by the law;
9 [but] Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will [I’m coming to do
your will], O God. He taketh away the first [He takes away that first covenant],
that he may establish the second.
10 By the which will [and it is by this will] we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Now, I had to read that because we are talking about not
only forgiveness and our conscience being purged, but we are talking about
coming to a place where our conscience is turned from dead works. Now, I’ve got
to ask a question about the Saviour at this point, so that we can go further
into this study. To ask the question, let me just make another chain for you.
Look at Hebrews chapter 2. Let’s read these together, Hebrews 2:10.
10 For it became him, for whom are all
things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto [to] glory, to
make the captain of their salvation perfect [complete] through sufferings.
18 For in that he himself hath suffered
being tempted, he is able to succour [help] them that are tempted.
15 For we have not [don’t have] an high
priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in
all points tempted like [us] as we are, yet without sin [yet he never sinned].
And Chapter 5, verses 8 and 9,
8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered;
9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation
unto all them that obey him;
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is
in the light, we have fellowship [there’s koinonea, the purpose for your
creation] one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth
[cleanses] us from all sin.
That word “cleanseth” literally is “cleansing”. It is
present tense; it is going on. If we walk in the light, as He is in the light,
we have koinonea. There’s your word, that joint participation. There’s the
reason for your creation, to bring God pleasure. We have koinonea with each
other and the blood of Christ is cleansing us from, notice, from all sin. When
I talk about all sin, I think of sin of all time: past, present and future.
That is all sin. For me to be cleansed of my past sin, that is called
forgiveness. But to be cleansed of my present and future sin, that is called
deliverance.
Think of the Son of God. He had never sinned; He wasn’t
sinning. But what about tomorrow? What about the next day? What about His
future? In order to bring Him to completion, this man, the Son of God, gave His
very life to His Father and when the Father gave Him life again, it was pretty
obvious that if the Son of God had given Him everything, that He would never
choose to follow His own will. He would never choose dead works. In other
words, He was complete. It was a process He had to go through, and listen, He
suffered being tempted. He learned obedience through the temptations, through
what He suffered and He was made complete through those sufferings. Think those
things through. Because He was brought to a place where it was sure He would
not sin tomorrow, even though He had never sinned. He was made complete.
Now let me tell you something about yourself. The
144,000, the last generation church, will be made complete also. In other
words, you will be brought to a place that just as sure as you are that God has
forgiven you of your yesterday, just as sure as you are that you are forgiven,
it will be that sure that you will not sin tomorrow. You will be made
complete. And don’t miss this point. The Son of God suffered being tempted.
He learned obedience through His sufferings or from the things which He
suffered. Let me tell you something about obedience that’s coming clear to me.
When there is something you want to do and the Lord gives you the OK, and you do
it, that isn’t obedience. When the Lord doesn’t want you to do it, when the
Lord is saying “No, go this way; no, don’t go that way,” and you follow Him --
that is obedience. There is no obedience to doing the things you want to do, in
the first place.
He learned obedience, learned obedience from the things
which He suffered. So let that stand clear in your thinking. Our sufferings,
the things that we suffer through -- and He was tempted in all points like us --
He is going to make the captain of our salvation perfect through suffering.
Our salvation and our sufferings teach us obedience. When you buckle down and
you do what He is asking you to, when it’s going against your grain, going
against your will, that is when we are learning obedience. So the Son of
God, even though He had never sinned, was not perfected until His tomorrow was
as sure as His yesterday.
10 By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Now think that through with me. We are sanctified, or made
holy by the offering of His body. Now this is stated again in Colossians,
chapter 1 and I want to read these two verses. In Colossians 1:21-22,
21 And you, that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind [by your understanding in wicked works] by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled
22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and
unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
What is that saying? It is saying that we were alienated from God; we were enemies to God in our understanding, inwardly in our minds. But He rectified that by the death of His flesh, by His body dying. And again in Hebrews, we are sanctified through the offering of His body, the death of that body. Why is that? The Lord has really brought this home to me and it’s something I would pray that we could all understand together. The Son of God was slain, not because of how He looked, but because of what He believed, what He taught. In other words, they slew His body, they killed His body to stop His mind.
You know, just recently I had a conversation with Tod
Ramsey. And he shared something with me that is really profound. It’s a simple
concept and yet, it’s profound to me. And to get to that, I want to read a
scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5:23
23 And the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly....
Now, there’s that word “sanctify.” We just read it in
Hebrews 10, that you’re sanctified by the offering of the body. You see, by
the death of the body, the mind died. While I’m at this point, let me just share
this with you. Our heavenly Father turned a bad thing into something wonderful,
knowing that that was going to take place, that they were going to slay His
son. He brings His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and when they try to put
Him to death, when they begin putting Him to death, the Father separates from
Him. Why? So that the thing dying would be us, the old man. So that when He
gives His son life again and comes back into that unity and harmony with His
son, when the Son speaks to you and gives you truth, He can now convey to you
Holy Spirit, the mind of the Father thru a completed Son. Knowing that they
were going to kill His only begotten Son, and put Him to death, He used that to
perfect His Son and create something most wonderful to give to us, that we might
be brought to completion also.
But remember you are not going to do it except as you
suffer. You know He did. Again, when I look at creation and I look at His
reason for creating humanity, for His pleasure we are and were created. But He
giving you that infinite mind and that free will and that conscience, He giving
those tools to us, giving that to us in His foreknowledge, knowing we were going
to fall -- and let me tell you -- when you lose control of that infinite thing,
you will never pull it back. It can’t be pulled back. And the Father
foreseeing that fall, He used that fall as something good. It is through that
fall, that you go through that suffering, that actually brings you nearer to
Him. It isn’t that He planned it but He certainly used it for something good.
The same thing with His Son.
I’ll send my Son to them. They’re going to kill my Son.
Well, when they do, I’ll let My Son be them, and when He dies, He will be
slaying the old man. And He separated from His Son, allowing that to take
place. When the Son of God died physically, the mind died. That is why we are
made spiritually stronger by the death of His physical body, because the death
of His body meant the death of His mind. His mind had become you; your old man
died -- God’s plan from eternity, “the lamb slain,” from where? “from the
foundation of the world”. So here in 1 Thessalonians 5:25 he says
23 And the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly;
But now look at the three parts.
23...and I pray God your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Three parts to you: spirit, soul and body. Spirit, the
mind. Soul, the record of who you are. Body, this physical flesh. Well, in
speaking with Tod, he said “if a person is going to be whole, if a person is
going to be healthy spiritually, physically, they have to do what’s right. But,
how do you know what’s right? How do you know what is right for you?” Then he
said, “There are counterfeits, three counterfeits: Psychology, Theology, and
the health message. Those are man made, to try to tell you what is best for
you.” Think about it. psychology: the study of the mind; the spirit: theology,
that’s what affects your soul, the record of who you are; and the health
message: people trying to give you advice on what you need for your physical
makeup, what you need to be eating, what you need to be doing. And I’m going to
tell you, there is one person who knows what is right for you and that is your
Creator. He knows what is right for you and He knows what He would have you
do. It isn’t a health message, it is Christ. It isn’t psychology and reading
everybody’s books and what they think. That isn’t going to help you
spiritually. And it isn’t theology, man’s study of God.
It is God Himself that is going to....Listen, think of
those counterfeits. Look at your life. Do you know why we have the problems
we’re having, and the suffering that we are going through, sometimes pulls us
down and gets the best of us? It’s because we’re not waiting to listen to God.
It’s because we are not allowing Him to lead. The mere fact that you are having
problems in your family, whether it’s your spouse, whether it’s your children,
those that surround you, the people in your workplace, health, whatever it is
that you’re struggling with, the reason you are having that struggle is because
you are running ahead of the Lord and He is not leading you.
Let me tell you a secret. People like us, who have the
struggles, who have the problems, and I’m pointing to myself too, don’t get me
wrong -- I have my struggles through life. But I realize that I have to make a
decided effort, what if I said, a deliberate effort to get on track. Now for
me, I want to use my diet for an example, because there are a couple of things I
want to say to you. If I feel like, and at times I do, I feel like I’m not
eating properly, I feel like I’m overeating, I walk around feeling stuffed and I
know I’m not by myself, I know many of you know exactly what I’m talking about.
If that is my weakness, and for me it is; if that is my weakness, then I need to
make a deliberate effort to seek the Lord because for me it is a weakness. And
when I say deliberate effort, and I talking about myself, I mean, on your knees,
seeking the Lord for strength not to, for strength to do, what He’s asking, to
go in the right direction, to stay on a right course.
There are other things in my life I need to seek the Lord
but not as hard. This particular thing, I have to be diligent and I have to
seek Him. I pray before I eat. Every time we eat a meal, we’ll sit and have
prayer. Even at that point, I need to be seeking His strength because I’m
getting ready to eat, I don’t want to weaken my mind and I don’t want to feel
bad about myself, and I want to be as good of an example to those people that
surround me as I possibly can be. I want people to see Jesus. And if I am
failing in an area, then I need to make a deliberate effort to deal with it.
You know, one thing that has always bothered me physically when I eat them, it’s
grapes. Grapes always have a negative effect on me. And yet, grapes are on
everyone’s list as being OK to eat.
And that is why I’m telling you psychology, theology and the health message that you have been told, if you would simply chuck it. Learn to develop a hearing ear and let God Himself lead you. Remember that everlasting covenant. They will not say this is how you know God because they’re all going to know Me from the least unto the greatest. And let me tell you something, we’re kidding ourselves if we think we are going to be in the 144,000, having reached a completed perfection, and we can’t overcome grapes – we can’t overcome chocolate, we can’t stop doing this. It’s time folks, to realize the purpose of the everlasting covenant is to complete a people and it is the last generation that this book is given to. And we most certainly can be complete.
1 Therefore we ought to give the more
earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let
them slip [slip away, not we should let them slip away, it literally is “we
should slip away”].
2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every
transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at
the first [at first] began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us
by them that heard him;
4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders,
and with divers [different] miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost [Spirit],
according to his own will?
Now, let’s compare this with Hebrews chapter 4, look at
verse 2.
2 For unto us was the gospel preached,
as well as unto them: but the word preached [the concept of hearing] did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith [or understanding] in them that heard
it.
When we read Hebrews, chapter 4, we’re talking about,
we’re reading about people in the provocation, in the wilderness, when God
delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt and how they provoked Him in the
wilderness. Notice in Hebrews 4:2 he states the gospel of the concept of
hearing was preached unto them. So I want you to understand, we can go back to
the Old Testament and see where this concept of hearing God, was given these
people. When Jesus Christ came proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and by
the way, He healed all manner of disease when He came proclaiming the gospel of
the kingdom, hearing God, letting God lead, that wasn’t the first time they had
been taught the concept of hearing God. Now I’ll grant you, that maybe these
particular people had never heard that, but Israel as a nation had been told
that, and that was not a new concept coming from the Lord.
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so
great salvation; which at the first [at first] began to be spoken by the Lord...
In other words, there is a message that Christ came
proclaiming that was the first time it had been proclaimed, and then was
confirmed unto us by those who heard Him proclaim it or the 12 apostles; or I
should be able to come and take the writings of the New Testament and see the
same thing. A new message, something that is new. What was it? It
wasn’t the gospel of the concept of hearing. It was so great salvation, he
says. What does he mean? The gospel of the concept of hearing explains the
mechanics of serving God.
Christ came and explained the extent to which you can be
saved. The gospel of hearing is the mechanics of salvation. He proclaimed the
extent to which we can be saved. I want to give you an example. I want to read
some verses . The first one is in Matthew, chapter 5. And these are verses I
know that all of us are familiar with, but I want you to understand what he’s
saying now. Matthew 5:48.
48 Be ye therefore perfect [complete],
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect [complete].
Think about that. He was telling people to be as complete
as God. The so great salvation, the extent to which God is going to save us.
Since we’re in Matthew, look at chapter 19, verse 21.
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be
perfect [if you’ll be complete], go and sell that thou hast [what you have] ,
and give to the poor, and thou shalt [you shall] have treasure in heaven: and
come and follow me.
Now, He says the same thing in Luke chapter 12, I believe
it’s verse 33, to the whole church -- go sell what you have and come follow me.
Here, to the rich young ruler, go and sell what you have. He wasn’t telling him
to literally sell everything he had. But if you want to be complete inwardly,
sell all of this that you have. Get rid of your psychology, theology and your
health message and come follow Me for righteousness, He says, if you’ll be
complete. Another one is in John 17, the gospel of John chapter 17, verse 23.
23 I in them, and thou [you] in me,
that they may be made perfect [complete] in one...
Now that is the point I want to make. Christ came
proclaiming so great a salvation. He not only proclaimed how it is to be
achieved but to what extent it is going to happen and those who heard him
proclaim the message too, confirm it to us. Let me show you one. And this is
my old standard, I’ve got to read this and be consistent in reading this because
it is so plain. Ephesians 4:13.
13 Till we all come in the unity of the
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man [a complete
man, a perfect man. How complete?], unto the measure of the stature of the
fulness of Christ:
And I have to ask, how much more complete could you be, to
be as complete as your Father in Heaven is complete. That is what Christ was
brought to and we are joint heirs. We will be brought to the same thing. Look
at James chapter 1, verse 4
4 But let patience have her perfect
[complete] work, that ye may be perfect [that you may be complete] and entire,
wanting [lacking] nothing.
19 For the law made nothing perfect
[complete], but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which [by which] we
draw nigh unto God.
Jesus Christ proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom. He
healed all manner of disease, and so doing, He is trying to bring His church to
the place where they will listen to Him -- not follow the counterfeits, not try
to find answers in all of the counterfeits -- but will listen to Him for what is
right. And it is a message that began with Him, to be complete as your Father
in heaven is complete.
Now this study is going to take a turn into deeper things
concerning the Lord. What I have done in this tape is lay a foundation for the
studies to follow. And I want to take a closer look at Calvary. I want to take
a closer look at our Heavenly Father and His working for you even at this very
moment–what He is doing for you. That leads me to this word “propitiation” and
the meaning of that. Now I’ve done a study in the past where I charted out the
word “propitiation” and I want to do it again. I want to lay out, put in front
of you, a chart of this word, and I want us to understand what our Father is
doing for us in our behalf. Because it isn’t like the denominational churches
proclaim it. It is nothing like that.
Isaiah 62:1
1 For Zion's sake will I not hold my
peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof
go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and
behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he
calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong
in power; not one faileth.
Genesis 2:1-3
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were
finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and
he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.