This is a transcript of most of part 2, off the 5th and 6th audios.
I have made insertions throughout from the notes Ray handed out,
and added some scripture that were referred to by Ray,
a section was left out that was covered in the love transcript.
2006 Mobile Bible Conference
Part 2
HOW DID JESUS DO “THE FATHER’S WILL”
[What did Jesus do that defined His Father’s Will in His life?]
Jesus is surely a main part of “The Will of the Father.” But just where did Jesus come from? What part does Jesus play in "The Father’s Will?" Who is God the Father? Who was He, where was He, what is He?
Is God a fix up man? No. Where can you go to get away from Him? He’s in you and farther more you’re in Him.
What analogy could you use to demonstrate that? Like the fish in the sea, and the birds in the air. The fish is in the water and the water is in the fish. The bird is in the air and the air in in the bird.
God is everywhere! He is in us and we are in Him, because He is spirit, not a spirit - spirit. He is invisible and God is love.
Now it is difficult for humans to understand how spirit can be anything. But understand that spirit is a whole lot more real than the physical, because the physical is temporary and spirit is eternal. With all physical you have the laws of thermodynamics always enforced. Everything in the universe is doing three things, cooling down, slowing down, and deteriorating. Spirit doesn’t cool down, slow down, or deteriorate. Spirit is eternally youthful, for God does not have gray hair or wear glasses.
So we’re talking about where Christ came from. It said in the beginning there was nothing physical we know of,
and God created the heavens and the earth and the whole universe.
What was it like before creation when there was only God? First of all we don’t know that there was “only” God. There was no “heaven and earth,” but that doesn’t prove all was total void.
Was God alone in a giant space of darkness? What darkness? He created the darkness (Isa. 45:7). God is not darkness... God is in perpetual light, He’s the Father of light, the Father of spirit. There is no darkness in Him, there is no night only bright (Rev. 21:23; James 1:23; 1 John 1:5). God is light; there is no darkness in Him forever.
Now one of the attributes of God is that He never changes, which may sound like some what of a contradiction,
because there wasn’t a universe and now there is. What made Him change His mind from not having a universe, to wanting a universe?
Well you can not really say He changed His mind. Now when the scripture says He changed His mind, like in Numbers 23:19, where it says, God doesn’t repent (be sorry, repent, change mind, avenge). He does not change His mind, it doesn’t mean He doesn’t do anything. It means that He Himself does not change His mind or what He is, that never changes.
1 Samuel 15:19 “God does not change His mind.”
Malachi 3:16, “I am the LORD, I change NOT.”
James 1:6, “…the Father of lights, with Whom is no variableness.”
Romans 11: 29, “For the gift and calling of God are without repentance [Gk. irrevocable].”
Heb. 13:08, “Jesus Christ the same [Gk. ‘same One; same Self’] yesterday, today, and forever.”
It is paramount that God never change, therein lies the ultimate stability of eternity - GOD WILL NEVER EVER CHANGE. One doesn’t change total perfection. Creation will change, albeit God will never change.
Phil. 2:5 says “Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” Why? 1 Cor. 1:10; Phil. 2:2; Phil. 3:6; 1 Peter 4:1; Eph. 4:1-6 --- UNITY; no divisions.
We read these things, God doesn’t change, but nobody thinks about it. It’s very important that God does never change and will never change. Why do you think that’s important? Would it be better if He was flexible and changed a little bit?
You don’t improve perfection. Was God always perfect? I don’t know. We learn, did God ever learn? Now He knows everything, but did He ever learn? I don’t know. It doesn’t say.
But we know this, by the time He made the creation He either always was or reached perfection. How could an imperfect God (I don’t mean flawed or evil, but a God that was not perfect), how could He make a creation of humanity and say I’ve still got to work out a few bugs, in this theory of what we are doing and where we are going?
Do understand I say these things humbly, I don’t mean to be the less bit demeaning, when I say I don’t know if God ever learned. We know, that He knows now. So how do we know if He learned? He doesn’t tell us.
But in one sense it doesn’t matter, all we know is He’s perfect. How does He know He’s perfect? Well in order to claim perfection, you have to know what it is. He would have to have such a vast knowledge of everything, to know whether there ever existed a possibility of ever becoming better than He is. Think about that. He knows so much, I mean one centimeter of brain could contain trillions and trillions of encyclopedias on end. He knows so much, that He knows not only there is no one else like Him, He says I’m the only God,” (1 Tim. 1:17; Jude 1:25). There is nothing better He can achieve than what He is. He’s perfect, now whether He always was or achieved it, there your brain only goes so far.
We like to think in terms of back then and the future out there. This was back at creation and now we are headed for eternity, no. You can’t look at it that way, it doesn’t work.
If you want to come up with an analogy of where God is in His own realm, as far as time goes. The closes physical analogy you could come up with is a circle. Not starting back there and going this way, that way is the past and this way is the future. Now if the realm of eternity is as a circle, can somebody point to where eternity begins on a circle? Can anyone show me, on this circle, where eternity ends? You can’t, can you.
Now I’ll give you another little mind boggler, not only can you not show me where it begins or where it ends,
I’m telling you it has no beginning and it has no end. It doesn’t move in a circle, it is a circle. Therefore time has nothing to do with eternity. Even your dictionaries most of them, not all, say eternity is an endless period.
Eternity has nothing to do with time, time starts here and goes to there. Eternity is like a circle, you can’t find the beginning and you can’t find the end. Because it has no beginning and it has no end. Therefore in that sense a circle is ultimate truth.
So God knows there can never be any thing more perfect than He is. And that’s where He introduces Himself to us. We are introduced to a being who is perfect. There’s nothing that says He can’t build a kingdom and make it bigger and bigger. But it does say that He is perfect, and He doesn’t change. And that is the most solid and stable thing we could hang our hopes and dreams on. Our God will never change and that He is already perfect, wow.
Now the Bible does use physical analogies, like a rock. He is like a rock, solid, immovable and unchangeable.
1 Cor. 10:4, says “…and that Rock was Christ.” It says they all drank of that spiritual drink and they all followed that Rock and that Rock was Christ. So God in the physical analogy of things is a Rock, He unchangeable because He reached perfection and you don’t change perfection.
All the pagan gods change, they are fickle. Read about all the pagan gods from any country, they’re fickle, they change with every whim and fancy and notion that comes along. They’re in many ways more carnal and stupid, than the servants that worship them as gods.
But God never changes, because He's already perfect, that’s our God. But God’s kingdom does change, but always in an upward, onward, forward, and larger proportion.
Isa. 9:7, Of the increase of His government [empire, kingdom, Lordship, dominion], and peace [prosperity; friendly, health, safety, happiness, welfare, rest, peace, ect.-Strong’s Hebrew dictionary] …there shall BE NO END…
We can’t really wrap our minds around the spiritual things of God, with a carnal brain. So you have to do the best you can with what God gave us, until He increases our mental capacity or spiritual capacity or whatever. We are limited.
I’m a retired roofer, so we’re doing the best we can here. Now if you know some place on the internet we can go and learn all this stuff, you let me know. Or if you know about some hot book, like that book ‘The Purpose Driven Life,” ridiculous nonsense.
Now there is no word in the Hebrew or Greek in the Bible that means forever, eternity, forever more, for ever and ever, there is no such word. So whenever endless time is meant you have to use more than one word. About the only phrase that is ever used to show that something doesn’t ever come to an end, is just to say it, ‘it never comes to an end.’
There is no word eternity in the Bible, but it has the same meaning when it says, there shall be no end. But you don’t find a scripture that says, the torture of mankind in this place called hell, will have no end. There is no such scripture, trust me.
Some people get confused and think Christ is going to rule for ever and ever. But it doesn’t say that, at all. You know His rule comes to an end in 1 Cor. 16:24.
Luke 1:33 And He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever (eons), and of His kingdom there shall BE NO END.
Oh, He’s going to rule endlessly. No, no, no. He’s going to rule for the eons. Of His KINGDOM, not Christ as the king, but of the kingdom, that He did rule over, of that “kingdom there shall be no end.”
1Cor 15:24 “then is the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God,
even the Father; when He makes to cease all rule and all authority and power.“
v. 25 for it is right for Him to reign until He has put all the enemies under His feet.
v. 26 The last enemy made to cease is death.
v. 27 For He put all things under His feet. But when He says that all things have been put under His feet, it is plain that it accepts Him who has put all things under Him.
v. 28 But when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subject to Him who has subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all things in all.
He gives up this kingdom to God, He was the King of this kingdom and it comes a time when He gives it up to God, even the Father, when He shall have put down all rule, all authority, and all power and He must rule till (means until) He has put all enemies under His feet. He no longer rules because He doesn’t require that type of rulership.
That Christ rules with a rod of iron, the Kingdom that is established. That is the subduing of all humanity, all enemies, all angels in heaven, all subdued and coming under His authority and government. All is in peace now, no enemies, He then turns over the kingdom to His Father. He’s no longer the King, the Father becomes the Patriarch of the family of God. And the kingdom just keeps growing and going and growing and going and like it said in Isaiah, it has no end.
Now think about this. We have a perfect flawless God, with all wisdom, all knowledge, all power, and He’s love. Not just love like a king loves his subjects, but like a Father loves his sons and daughters. This is a pretty nice relationship and He will never change.
He is a rock solid, He can be depended on for all eternity, and nothing will ever go amuck in His kingdom. But the kingdom will keep growing, we will not be bored out of our gourds with nothing to do, no place to go. There will be activities and growth forever. What? Well He doesn’t tell us, we just have to except it on faith that what He tells us is true.
He said that pleasures is at God right hand (Psa. 16:11), you just have to except it on faith. That He is telling us the true, that’s what faith is - faith is believing, it’s the same word in Hebrew and Greek, the word for faith and the word for it is the same word. It all depends if you are using a verb or a noun. Faith is a noun and belief is a verb, it’s the same word. So you just have to believe God and what He said is true and He tells us He can’t lie and He’s perfect and never changes.
Now we are going to be part of a kingdom, where there is going to be nothing but prosperity; friendly, health, safety, happiness, welfare, rest, peace, ect., with no end. Pleasures at His right hand and growth into the circle.
The reason we’re not more excited about this, is for one thing, we don’t think about these things. Because they’re not real to you, it’s sometimes you come to listen to me say and then you go home and just forget about it. You don’t believe it is real, something that is just so many years down the pike, that‘s how close it is. Like Paul said, “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed” ( Rom. 13:11).
When is Christ coming? I don’t know, but it’s closer than it was yesterday. It is close and I don’t care if you live to be 118, it’s close, with the magnitude of the universe and how long it’s been here, it’s close.
Now this unchangeable God, He makes things, He never changes, but He’s a creator, He creates things. One of the things He made was His Son.
Now we get into the Trinity business, and oh I thought Christ was God and He existed with God for all eternity.
No, He did not. Remember the scripture --
1Cor 8:6 but there is to us only one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we by Him.
Is Jesus Christ something? Yes. What is He? He’s of God. All is of Him, of the One God. All is of Him, Jesus Christ is of Him. It interesting that Jesus Christ is called the Firstfruit in 1 Corinthians --
1Cor 15:20 But now Christ has risen from the dead, and has become the Firstfruit of those who slept.
In Gen. 1:1 it says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” But that’s not the way that word (beginning) is translated in most places in the Bible. Let’s step back a second, lets decide who created the heaven and the earth, okay.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
A guy argued with me for 3 months, back and forth, telling me that was the Father, “In the beginning was the Word.” The right order of the words in the linear is, ‘and God was the word,’ “and the Word was WITH God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning WITH God.” Now it’s pretty hard for something that is something, to be with itself, see what I’m saying, that don’t quite work grammatically, does it.
John 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made.
So whatever this Word was, He made everything, everything was made by Him.
v. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
What is light? This light that shines in darkness, what was this light? It was the Word. What did the Word do? It made all things and nothing was made that He didn’t make.
v. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
v. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the Light, that all might believe through Him.
v. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the Light.
v. 9 That was the true Light, which lights every man that comes into the world.
v. 10 He was in the world and the world was made by Him.
We just read that He was in the world and the world was made by Him. It repeats it (verse 3 and 10) and the world knew Him not.
v. 11 He came to His own, and His own received Him not.
v. 12 But as many as received Him, He gave to them power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on His name,
v. 13 which are born(begotten) not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God.
v.14 And the Word made flesh, and dwelt among us with the glory of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and of truth.
v.15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, This was He of whom I spoke:
He who comes after me has been before me, for He was preceding me.
v.16 And out of His fullness we all have received, and grace for grace.
v.17 For the Law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Who is this Word, who is as with the Father, who was with God, who made all things, who was the light of men, who was made flesh, who dwelt among men, who was the only begotten of the Father? JESUS CHRIST !
v. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father,
He has declared Him.
In the bosom of the Father, That means a close intimate relationship, He (Jesus Christ) has declared Him (the Father). Nobody has ever known anything about God the Father, except through Jesus Christ. Before the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, nobody on the face of the earth, ever knew anything about God the Father. But didn’t they know about God(in the OT)? That was Jesus Christ.