> Transcripts of Ray's Audio's and More Teachings
THE FATHER'S WILL? Mobile Conference 06 Transcript added - A Word About Humility
Kat:
Adam-Eve/page 2
What I am saying, in my heart and mind I don’t believe that Adam tilled the garden and took care of the garden, and how big was it? 1000 acres? I don’t know how big it was, he took care of all that and then he named all the animals and everything in a few hours before sunset? I just don’t believe that. I believe it took certainly months, if not years.
If God was just going to create Adam and say, 'now one of your jobs in the future is going to be to keep the garden'... no. Now He was saying it to him then, you might say some of it you and your wife are going to do together later... no... then. He gave it to him now.
And by the way, when you and your wife are taking care of the garden I want you to name the animals? He had to name them... then. After he named all 6000 species, guess what? There was no one for Adam, there was no one for him. Can’t you see the longing here, over a long period of time? I think it was at least years. He didn’t have a mate, he looked for one and even God admitted that it was not good for man to continue forever without a mate. I’ll make him one, but not today. Now, then He says but there was none found for him.
Gen 2:21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
v. 22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
So we’re told God took a "rib" and closed it back up and made a woman out of the rib. Now He then said, wake up Adam I’ve got something for you. He wakes up Adam and He brings him the woman, Eve.
Gen 2:23 Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."
Is that what he said? Would you like to know what the Hebrew says?
You know I knew this for I don’t know how long, 10-15 years ago I learned this. So when I was doing this study I thought, well I’ll get the exact wording from the Concordant and see how they say it, because the Concordant is the only one that got this right. I looked in my Concordant and it wasn’t in there. The Concordant didn’t even get it right. The Concordant of the Old Testament doesn’t have it right. But I've got five other translations that got it right. Why you never read them is because you just passed over them and didn’t see it.
Adam didn’t say, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." That is not what he said. He was longing for a mate, God acknowledged it was not good for the man to be alone, and said I’ll make him a mate. Now we read over here where did the woman come from? The woman is in the image of God. God didn’t make man and then make woman out of the side or image of man. No, it plainly says;
Gen 1:27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Female is created in the image of God. There is female in God. God is female just as much as God is male. Where did He get the idea of femininity? It’s in Him, it’s a part of Him.
Adam is longing for this part of him that is missing. Maybe he didn’t fully understand what testosterone was, but he was feeling the effects of it and not only that, he had nobody to talk to. He talked to God, but He was on a little higher level there, you know. Adam might say, 'what did you do today God?' Well I don’t know, what did you do Adam? Well, pulled some weeds and I noticed all those animals I named, they all have a partner. I was wondering why it is I don’t have a partner God, why is that?
So we read over here that the female came out from God. That’s where it originated, God is female just as much as He is male and now He creates the man, and the man has no female counterpart. The animals do, he doesn’t. But he longed for it and God admits he shouldn’t be alone like this. I’ve got to make him a mate, but not today. I’m saying it was years later.
So He takes something out of Adam (notice He didn’t make the woman out of the dust of the ground), He took something out of Adam to make the female. We’re told it was a rib. I think we’re told wrong.
So God finally makes Adam a woman and He brings her to him and he says, “This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh…” How did he know that? How could he look at the woman and say hmm, let me see here... there is one missing, Lord there is one missing did you take my rib and make that woman for me? Do you think that’s what happened? He looked at her and instantly knew.
But that’s not what he said, he didn’t say, “This is bone of my bone,” Here is what he said, I’ll give you the translation from James Moffet. He looked at her and said, “this AT LAST is bone of my bone!” Why did he say at last? Did he say, 'I’ve been dying to have a mate for over an hour?' That is nonsense. Adam went for years without a mate, he was tilling the garden, he was taking care of the garden and he was naming all the animals, and who knows what else he was doing. But now he said “AT LAST!” where it says, “this is now,” that word ‘now’ means, at last finally someone for me.
The New World Translation say, “This is at last bone of my bone.”
The New American Version says, “This one at last is bone of my bone.”
The New Revised Standard Version says, “This at last is bone of my bone.”
The Living Bible says and I like this one, “This is it!”
She is part of my own bones and flesh, "this is it," Adam exclaimed. So first of all he was excited. I mean what a beauty, I mean come on all for me. But it was at least... you know he waited a long time, finally after all these years, finally someone for me.
How did he know it was bone of his bone? How could he look at Eve and say, you came out of me? What did he see? God didn’t say, 'Adam I know your going to wonder where this woman came from, I put you to sleep and I took a rib, I made her.' No, he could tell, he looked and saw and he said that’s me, you come from me. How did he know that? He looked, he had something before he went to sleep, he had something and when he woke up and God brought him to the woman, he didn’t have it anymore. She had it! What do you suppose that was? He (just like God) was male and female. God is male and female, Adam was male and female. God took the female part and made a woman out of it. Adam saw that what he had was now gone, it’s over there. She came from me, that’s bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, she came out of me.
Now can you see any spiritual connection in all this? How God is longing for a compliment, a counterpart, someone to compliment someone. It says a counterpart in the Greek, a compliment, or a help meet. A counter part for Adam that was not found, now he has a compliment, a counterpart to him, to make him complete.
That’s what God is longing for. Where is it going to come from? Out of Him. He has one Son, Jesus Christ, we are sons in the making. So where did Christ come from?
In the Hebrew the word is no. 6763 - tsela, and it can be translated ‘rib,’ and door, side and chamber. In Ezekiel 10 times this same word translated rib is translated chamber. A chamber-maid is usually some one who tends to the house, but specially the bedroom. If you look up chamber, the definition is a private room. The bedroom is your most private room. Our sexual anatomy is called our private parts. Can you put it together? This is not a rib. He took the femininity from him and made a woman. First He put it in the man, and then He took it from the man and made a woman out of it.
Now an interesting thing. It says in Tim. 2:14, that when Eve took the forbidden fruit she was deceived, the serpent had deceived her. But Adam was not deceived. Well if she was deceived, and she ate the fruit. Why did Adam eat it? He wasn’t deceived, so why did he eat it? Why didn’t he say you dumb female, you stupid wife of mine. How could you do such a dumb thing. No, no he did not. She gave him some and he ate it too. Why would he do that? He knew. Because God told him first, and He told him specifically. We know Eve knew because she said to the serpent, “God has said.” But first He said it to Adam before he created Eve. You can eat of every tree but of this tree you can not and the day you eat there of you will DIE. (Gen. 2:16-17)
In the Hebrew, ‘to die you shall be dying.” You will begin to die, you will be mortal and just die. You will be mortal and come to old age and die. So he knew that, he knew that when Eve ate it she was going to die. He longed for that woman so long and now she is going to die. He loved her so much, he said if she is going to die, I’m going to die with her, and he ate the fruit. He knew full well he would die, and he said I’m going with her. I’m not going to let her go alone, you see. So he was willing to die for that woman.
You see any spiritual connections?
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it [He died],
v. 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word,
v. 27 that He might present it to Himself as the glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that it should be holy and without blemish.
v. 28 So men ought to love their wives as their own bodies.
The first woman came from the body of man.
v. 28 He who loves his wife loves himself.
v. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord loves the church.
v. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.
Adam said to the woman, she is flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone, she came out of me.
So we are members of His body, flesh of his flesh and it says;
Gen 2:24 For this cause, will a man leave his father and his mother, and cleave unto his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
When a man and a woman are united in sexual intercourse their bodies are inside of each other. I mean that’s a pretty good connection, that’s not just a hand shake. Your bodies are literally inside of each other (I hope I’m not too gross, but there are no children). They are one flesh, in that relationship, you see. That is why you’re not supposed to fornicate with prostitutes. Because when you’re joined to a prostitute you’re one flesh too, and that’s an abomination. You cling to your wife, not your wife and your girl friend and the local whore. Your wife, because your one flesh, you see?
This is a great mystery it says. But I’m speaking concerning Christ and His church. The relationship of Christ with the church, it's typified by the relationship of a loving husband and a loving wife in sexual intercourse. When they are so emotionally intertwined with one another, that they are literally one flesh. This is the relationship we’re going to have with God. Christ refers to the church as the Bride of Christ.
The bride is going to be all decorated, by that we mean, made spotless and sure and clean, character wise. A fitting Bride for the creator of the universe.
Paul taught the church in Ephesians, this mystery of a man and a woman coming together. You know after a man longs for a woman for so long, and I’m saying years.
If I’m a heretic, then I’m a heretic, but that’s what I believe.
But for years and finally he, “at last” there you are. There you are, the one I’ve been dreaming of. This was a big deal.
They don’t make a big deal out of it in the King James. Because Adam says, “This is flesh of my flesh.” NO, exclamation point, “at last!” finally! This is it! Yes! My woman!
Emphatically the emotion is expressed in that word ‘now.’ Seven other translations got it right. Doesn’t that convey something of joy in the heart of God.
When Paul comes along and says this very thing we’re talking about, he’s talking about Christ and the church.
You see it’s a great spiritual lesson, this union of a husband and a wife, what it should be. How a husband should love a wife and how a wife should love a husband. I mean really love each other dearly. This is how Christ loves the church, and died for it.
Just as the husband and wife become one flesh, God wants to be that intimate with humanity, like one flesh.
John 10:30 I and the Father are one!
They’re not the same person, but ‘one,’ there’s a difference. But one, same spirit, same mind, same attitude, same character, same power, same strength, same wisdom, same purpose, they are one. That’s what God wants us to be with Him, that close, one.
It’s a spiritual thing He’s making here. We think that it’s a physical thing, we have physical life, and die a physical death, and then it’s all over. No.
This creation represents a spiritual creation. It’s not finished yet, and when we die it’s not finished. If it were, we could just pack up our books and go home. No purpose in me sitting up here trying to teach something, just go home and watch a football game.
Now He doesn’t want this just for the elect, though He calls out the elect first, but it’s for everyone.
1Tim 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
v. 4 who WILL [Gk. Thelo- ‘to determine, wish, desire, intend, have rather, will, willing, willingly’] have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
The Theologians of the church say that He wishes or desires that and that He doesn’t get His desires. Sorry I know you want it, but you can’t have it God. Sorry Adam I know you want the woman, and to be one flesh and intimate and loving, I’m sorry you don’t get her. That's what the Theologians say to God.
Oh You want humanity to be at one with You, nice try, it’ll never happen God. They say that the Greek word ‘thelo’ for ‘will,’ in verse 4, is a weak wish, a desire.
Already 2 lies.
1) Anything that God desires He gets.
It’s not such a thing as a blasphemous weak wish with God. I mean come on, God doesn’t have weak wishes. Strong wishes that come about, mediocre ones that sometimes do, and weak ones that never get done.
I mean this was not a weak wish with God. It was not a weak wish that Adam have a woman, that he could hug and love and be at one with. It was not a weak wish, it was very strong and when it happened it was like, WOW thank you Lord.
So when she did the wrong thing, he said I’m going with her. I’m not going to leave that woman behind, where she goes I’m going, that’s my baby. He’s not leaving her behind. Oh, you sinned, your on your own, go to hell. What? Is that what Adam said? Did Adam say, Eve you stupid female, you sinned so go to hell? No, he said I’ll go with you, I’ll die with you, I love you.
Can you see why somebody dies for somebody else? He proved his love for Eve, when he said I’ll eat it too. He wasn’t deceived, he knew what it would do, he knew. He did it anyway, that’s how much he loved her.
That’s how much Christ loves the church and everyone. His will is that everyone be saved. They said that the word ‘thelo’ means wish or desire. So I wanted to knock that in the head.
So 1 was if it’s a wish, God gets all His wishes. God said, “I will do all My pleasure.” (Isa. 46:10) It’s not like when God wants something He can’t get it. What does He think He is, God? Yes, He gets whatever He wants. That’s why He is God.
2) Thelo does mean will, an absolute must happen.
1. Matt. 15:32 … And I will [Gk. Thelo] not send them away fasting…
Remember they were following Christ and they were famished, ready to fall by the wayside. Christ said we need to eat, they said we have nothing to eat Lord, send them home. He said, “I will not.” The word is thelo, do you really believe Jesus Christ said I desire not to send them away fasting, but maybe I will? That’s blasphemy. The church blasphemies the Word of God up one side and down the other.
When He said, “I will not send them away fasting.” He had no intention in any way, shape, or form, that He would let those people go back to the city without anything to eat.
2. Matt. 20:31 …I will [Gk. Thelo] give unto this last….
That’s as absolute promise there. That will happen. But it’s the word thelo there. The Theologians say is a weak wish.
3. Acts 7:30 …our fathers would [Gk. Thelo] not obey…
They just wished not to obey? Is that what that’s telling us? That the Israelites, the father of old, they wished not to obey? But actually then they wished to obey, but wouldn’t. That’s absolute.
4. 1 Cor. 16:7 For I will [Gk. Thelo] not see you now.
Is Paul telling these people that he loves them so dearly, but I don’t want to see you, I don’t wish to see you now? Can in your wildest imagination believe he was telling them, that I don’t wish to see you now? I don’t have a desire to see you now?
The word is thelo, “I will not see you now.” But that was not a good thing, it was a sad thing. But it was a fact that he wouldn’t see them, now. It wasn’t his desire not to see them, that’s stupid. His desire was to see them. But the word is thelo, it’s not a weak wish.
5. Phil. 2:13 …to will [Gk. Thelo] and to do…
He works in you both to wish and to do, but it’s a weak wish, that maybe it won’t come about? There is no “to do.”
6. 11 Thes. 3:10 …if any would [Gk. Thelo] not work.
Now listen to this, is Paul saying if somebody doesn’t desire to work he shouldn’t eat? Is that what he’s saying? How many people desire to work? No one, No one should eat then, nobody wants to get up on Monday morning and go to work. No, he will not eat, if any would not work. I mean absolutely would not work, then he should not eat either. It doesn’t say if he wishes not to work he couldn’t eat, because nobody would eat.
7. 11 Tim. 2:12 if we suffer…will [Gk. Thelo] deny us.
He wishes to deny us? He desires to deny us? No, He will. The word is thelo, what Theologians say is a weak wish only. No, it’s a fact.
I just showed you 7 scriptures, where it can be nothing but an absolute fact. So thelo was not a weak, and even if it were a desire, if it’s God’s desire it would happen any way.
They lie, God will save all humanity.
Kat:
Mobile Conference 9-3-2006
A WORD ABOUT HUMILITY
Gal 5:23 Meekness (HUMILITY)…
One of the fruits of the Spirit.
In Deut 8:1-3 “…forty years in the wilderness (of evil), to humble you…”
What about us?
Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens:it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.(CLV)
What is “humiliation?” – lowliness, modesty, condescension of mind.
2Ch 7:14 … HUMBLE themselves … then WILL I (GOD) HEAR from heaven…
PRIDE VS. HUMILITY
Pro 29:23 A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.
James 4:6 …Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
1Peter 5:5 Likewise, you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.
v. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.
I was talking about how people make a show of Christianity, they pretend to be Christians. They say they are Christians… they say they have great faith… they say they love the Lord and so on and so forth. But you know the United States is one of the biggest Christians nations in the world, I think something like, it’s in the high 80’s, 87% or whatever that professes to believe in God and most in Jesus Christ.
Yet America has the largest per-capita of prisoners in the world, about 1%. One out of every hundredth person in America is in jail. We have three hundred and some million people and we have three million and some prisoners in jail. Isn’t that amazing? You know what is even more amazing? All three million of those prisoners are Christians. Oh there are a couple of atheists and there may be even a Jews and a Muslim, but I’m saying over all. All those three million prisoners and criminals are Christians. Or are they?
Some people were imprisoned wrongly, but there we are talking 1 in 87,000 or something you know. Those three million prisoners and criminals and some of them very mean nasty murders and armed robbers and the like, they are Christians! Something is wrong with the Christian message starting from Sunday school, that people aren’t getting and it’s showing. A lot of those Christians know just how fake and phony a lot of Christianity is. In some ways some of them (prisoners) feel superior, to not only the people on the outside, but to the Christians and the clergy on the outside. They feel superior even though they are criminals in jail.
I wanted to say a couple of words about humility again. This thing you find it all through the Scriptures, this thing of humility. Not only using the word humility, but some form of not feeling haughty, superior, prideful and all of these things.
In the Old Testament they traveled through the wilderness for forty years because they wouldn’t humble themselves. God didn’t give them the Spiritual ability to humble themselves, so they didn’t. But it only shows that if you don’t have God’s Spirit you can’t do anything spiritual. You just can’t, you just follow the dictates of your lust and all of those were filled in at creation. So those thing operate according to law.
God doesn’t have to force people to become criminals. For example He doesn’t make people, they say, ‘so everything’s of God?’ Yes it is, the whole creation is of God. He made mankind SPIRITUALLY WEAK, so that whenever he encounters temptation, he sins. God doesn’t make them sin, they volunteer.
God doesn’t make dirty old men rape little girls, no. He doesn’t make them, He doesn’t force them, they volunteer. They do it from the heart. But you say, ‘it is all of God?’ Yes, God created the human race and He put in that weakness and that lust… where do you think testosterone comes from, do you think it evolved from sea slime from evolutionary progress?
We saw yesterday that it (testosterone) was building up rather heavily in Adam, as he was wondering where he was going to find his… all the animals had a buddy, ‘how come I don’t have a buddy Lord.’ Oh He had one in mind. I’m sure Adam wondered what all that paraphilia was for down there anyway. He found out one day that it didn’t all belong to him, He was going to make a woman out of that and ‘you will like her.’ He liked her a lot.
EXALTATION VS. HUMILIATION
Mat 23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
Where Jesus Christ said “take My Yoke,” we talked about that yesterday.
Mat 11:29 Take My yoke upon you…
But I want to emphasize the “yoke” part today… so why?
Mat 11:29 … for I am meek (Gk. humble) and lowly (Gk. humble) in heart:
Christ was “humble” and “humble” in heart, the Creator of the universe was humble. But He was made a man and when He was given back His splendor, He doesn’t necessarily have to be humble anymore, but He IS humble.
If we can’t be humble, what is our excuse that we are haughty and prideful and all of these things? If you are haughty and prideful you are going to fall. You can’t make it in the spiritual world with a haughty attitude, it just won’t fly and God won’t bless you. It just won’t fly you’ve got to be humble. How do you get humble?
- You read the Scriptures.
- You look at yourself.
- You pray.
- You ask for wisdom.
Good will show you that you have nothing to be haughty about. Even if you have some great talent or beauty or strength or ability, it’s a gift of God and how can you take credit for that?
Isn’t it amazing how people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth and they drive around in their new Corvette like they are somebody. They didn’t earn that money. They think they are better than some guy who is working on the power lines or working down at the store or hanging onto a garbage truck or whatever low job, blue collar job they are doing. They look down their nose at them. But that guy is working hard for a living and you didn’t work at all for that car and you think you are better than him? Are you crazy?
Well yeah they are crazy. Anything that you have… what do you have except God gave it to you? What do you have accept you received it of God. He says if you received it of God why do you boast as though it is from you? You think about these things and it will humble you.
A lot of people say, ‘I wish I knew what you know about the Bible. Boy Ray, how do you learn all this?’ Well I know people who are so puffed up over what they think they know about the Bible, I mean reeking with vanity and pride. I will tell you the honest God truth, with God as my judge, that I am humbled by how much I don’t know about the Bible. That’s the God truth. We have nothing to be haughty about.
Jesus Christ was humble and meek, He could raise the dead any time that He wanted to. ‘So why do I have to go around this little lake here Lord?’ No you don’t we can walk right straight across the middle. ‘We are running out of food.’ What do you mean? ‘We only have two fish’… that’s enough for about five thousand I reckon. Now that was power… and He was humble.
If you read the Scriptures and you look at yourself and you pray for wisdom, God will show you, He will not disappoint that pray. You will not pray to God to show you your humility your nothing, that he will say, ‘I’m not going to answer that prayer.’ He WILL answer that prayer. If you really want to know who and what you are, He will show you. Then when you have that humble attitude you will be teachable, He will be able to teach you. You will be ready and you will be willing.
HAUGHTINESS GOES BEFORE A FALL
What is paramount?
Pro 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.
Here is a paramount verse and we have a profound verse.
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
V. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
That is a paramount Scripture right there. It’s a mouthful, it’s more than you can handle the first time you think about that, “a living sacrifice.”
People sometimes will call me on the phone and the first thing they will do is apologize or they will send an email and say, ‘I apologize I’m asking this question.’ I say you don’t need to apologize, I don’t get to them all, but you don’t need to apologize to me for writing. I don’t give my telephone number out to very many people, because I know even if they used it with restraint, I would probably be on that phone and I wouldn’t have time to do anything. But they apologize that they are taking my time… who me, that’s what I live for. That’s why I am here, that’s why I exist. That’s what my only goal in life is any more, is to do the will of God. Whatever that is, I going to do that. So don’t apologize if you ask me to help you in some spiritual way, that’s why I exist, that’s what I live for, that’s my life.
So Romans 12:1 is a major Scripture and here is another one. Watch out this is a real mouth full.
1John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
That’s pretty simple, pretty straight forward. It doesn’t say you can’t live in the world or participant with a lot of things that go on in the world and so on… don’t fall in love with it!
- Don’t make it your guiding light!
- Don’t put it before God!
- Don’t put it before doing spiritual things!
- Don’t put it before being obedient!
If you know you are going to do this, that or the other thing in the world, you are going to lose your obedience. If you are talented, you can use your talent, you don’t need to hide your talent, but don’t flaunt it and be egotistical either. Give God thanks for it, but not in a false humility.
I can see that among athletes sometimes. It’s the popular thing to say, ‘I didn’t run that touch down, it was the Lord.’ I guess it’s fine if they acknowledge that God is in their life or whatever, but sometimes I’m thinking to myself, ‘yeah, well that sounds good.’
LOVE NOT THE WORLD
1John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
John 14:21 …he it is that loves Me: and he that loves Me shall be loved of My Father…
1John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh…
This is the feel good aspect of sin and worldliness, “the lust of the flesh,” could be food, alcohol, drugs, smoking, sex, laziness and you can go on and on. Things that make the body feel good, “the lust of the flesh.”
v. 16 …and the lust of the eyes…
Then we have “the lust of the eyes,” which sometimes goes hand in hand with the lust of the flesh. But the lust of the eyes would involve maybe looking at the wrong things. Like, did you know that 99.44% of all men that get Playboy magazine buy it for the editorial material that’s inside, did you know that? See the lust of the eyes will make you become susceptible to the lust of the flesh. You say, ‘oh she looks pretty nice, I wonder if she is married, but I really don’t care.’ Then you go over to talk to her and it’s, ‘hey she came on to me.’
So the lust of the eyes, wanting to watch television 24 hours a day or whatever, the eyes. You know people that are blind, I think sometimes don’t have quite as many lustful problems as those of us who have eyes.
But I think the biggest one of all is number three.
v. 16 …and the pride of life…
“The pride of life” I mean that’s where it’s all at, with men and with women. Men and women are different, they have a different psyche. But women don’t generally go out and fornicate with men as much as men go out and fornicate with women, for example. But you know the other devious things that go on in the mind of you females, they have their problems.
The pride of life…
… wanting to be looked up to.
… wanting to be worshipped and adored.
… wanting to be powerful.
… wanting to have control.
All of those things. We want that psychological power, prestige and adoration and you lust after it.
What drives most people to success is a combination of these three lusts, “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” We men want to be successful and have a woman worship them for what they have accomplished. Then they want their menfolk to say, ‘wow you’re a powerful man.’ They will pride themselves, not just for the materialism that they can get from the money and the success, but the adoration and the respect and worship from other people. That’s what is really important, that’s what really drives them. That’s of the world.
v. 16 … the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1John 2:17 And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever (eonian).
Because “he” is going to live and rule with Christ for the aons or ages ruling the earth.
Now there is Scripture that you need to think about. I remember the day that I read that and I thought wait a minute, where have I seen that before, I’ve seen that before. This is something that God just put in my mind, I haven’t read it, nobody told me this.
Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
v. 6 And when the woman saw (lust of the eyes) that the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh), and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise (the pride of life)…
Do you know what John just said? These are like the three sins of the world, lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life. That was the sin of the garden. But here is what really got me when I saw that, she committed all of those three sins, which encompass nearly all the sins of the world before she ever ate the fruit. Boy I knew I was on to something then.
They could no more be obedient t to not eating the fruit then they could fly straight up. They were already carnal to the core, before they ate the forbidden fruit. The reason that they ate the forbidden fruit was because they already had the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life.
We read in Timothy that Paul said she was deceived, she was sincerely deceived.
1Tim 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
So what deceived her? These carnal pulls of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life. She saw all of those, she saw it, sensed it and coveted in her heart and mind, I mean she was already there. That’s why she took the fruit, her ‘sinful’ senses made her commit another ‘sin.’
Now was Adam free from those? No, he wasn’t free from those, but I will tell you something he “was not deceived.” No he wasn’t deceived, he knew what he was doing was wrong, he didn’t care. Why? Because he saw Eve, he had felt her in his arms, he was so proud to have such a beautiful thing hanging on his side. Now we can call it love, he did love her in the carnal way, not maybe in the truly spiritual way. But he did love her enough that he would eat the fruit and go with her, ‘wherever she goes I’m going to go with her, I’m not going to lose this one.’
But the truth is both of them already possessed all of the sinful nature that they had after they ate the fruit, they had it before they ate the fruit. They were not created perfect in the image of God, don’t let anybody ever tell you that. They were carnal.
Gen 2:25 And they were both naked…
What does that mean? They were ‘spiritually’ naked. You say, ‘no that means physical.’ It has a spiritual application, the words of Christ and the words of the book are Spirit! Yes they were physically naked and if that is all you see then you will never understand this book.
This says “they were naked” just like it says in Revelation 3 concerning the church at Laodicea.
Rev 3:17 Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and NAKED:
They weren’t going around without clothes. They were wretched and poor and spiritually naked. Adam and Eve were spiritually naked BEFORE they ate the fruit. That’s why they ate the fruit.
So what does this tell us? God created them that way. They didn’t have free moral agency, He created them that way and they could only follow the dictates of their heart, which was to lust. They didn’t say, ‘wait a minute, no no no, I got to give this some more thought. God our creator said don’t do that, I don’t think I want to do that.’ Nope, it was ‘let’s do it, let’s try it.’
Kat:
EKLEKTOS - ONE OF THE FAVORITES
1John 2:15 …If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
You’ve got to give that up and then you do the will of the Father. For he that does the will of the Father, abides, if you love the world you won’t abide.
1John 2:17 And the world passes away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.
So if you love the world the love of the Father is not in you, you’ve got to give that up and then you do the will of the Father. Because he that does the will of the Father abides, if you love the world you don’t abide. You need to think about these things which you want. What do you want?
You say, ‘well I don’t know if I can do it, Ray.’ Well no, we have already determined that YOU can’t. So you can only do it if God is working with you. But the reason you are sitting here, ought to tell you God is working with you. Paul told the Corinthians don’t you know that you have the spirit of God, unless you believe in vain it says in the King James. But the word fainedly, you know when you fain something you fake it.
1Cor 6:19 What? know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
1Cor 15:2 By which also you are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
He said, don’t you know you have the Spirit of God? When you say that you love God and you want to learn His word, you come to this Bible study and you want to learn these things, you have the Spirit of God, unless you are faking it. Are you faking it? Are you just pretending you want to learn these things and it’s all just a bunch of fake and forgery? You say, ‘no I really do.’ Okay then you have the spirit of God, but you may not be spiritually converted yet. But you’ve got the spirit of God with you for sure, you’ve been called. But is God choosing you out though, are you going to be the eklektos, the out called ones, the eklektos. Only God knows, I don’t know.
We’ve had about a hundred people here at the last, twenty four months, of which ten are here now. It’s so easy to go out of here and say, ‘that’s kind of interesting, but he doesn’t know everything. Maybe I’ll just go back to my little church or maybe I won’t go to church at all. He makes some good point, I’ll try to live a good life, I’m not going to worry about it, whatever.’ You get a nonchalant attitude, then you’re probably back in the world or whatever. So you need to take this serious.
You’ve got to take this serious. You see when this all comes about and God is setting up His kingdom, and you aren’t there, you’ll say, ‘well I didn’t think all of this was really going to happen! It happened so fast. I mean we had the conference there in Mobile and it just seemed like a few months, I know it was 8 years, but I died and it was all over. It just seemed like a few months or a few years and then I died and now I am up here in the resurrection to judgment. I don’t want to be here.’
So I don’t know how many of you will be back or there will be another one here next year or whatever, God knows. But I do want to give you some confidence now concerning your calling and I’d like to think that everybody in here is not just called, but chosen, a favorite. A favorite, that’s what it means, eklektos one of the favorites. ‘Ah I want to be one of God’s favorites.’ Wow favorite, that’s pretty good. Why is that? He made you one of His favorites, He did it. He wanted some favorites, so He made some favorite and you are one, thank the Lord.
DON’T RENDER EVIL FOR EVIL
Now here is another big Scripture. I Thessalonians 5, here we have sin admonition.
(1) 1Th 5:15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man…
Do not answer back in kind, which is a real temptation. When people will write me a really nasty email sometimes, and it’s like, ‘on yeah, well try this.’ But I try to be tactful and say something that is not bitter or nasty, but which will nonetheless do a slam dunk on them and I learned that from Jesus Christ.
If you haven’t read ‘You Fools, You Hypocrites, You Snakes,’ you need to read that article of mine. ‘Why do your apostles not wash’… no why do you! Don’t ‘why do you’ to Me, the Lord said. No, why do you break the commandments through your traditions! You say, ‘well I don’t think He said it that way.’ That’s fine, I think He did, your word against mine. Maybe not quite that strong, but He had a comeback and I do the same thing with people. I’ve got an example.
People ask me a question and I say, ‘alright I’ll answer that, if you answer this,’ and they don’t answer, so I don’t answer. Sometimes I come back and ask again and I say, you didn’t answer my question. He said, ‘well I’m asking the questions,’ I said no I am asking a question and I will answer you if you answer me. That’s what Christ did.
They said, ‘Master where do You get all this authority You have?’ He said well I will answer that for you, but I want to ask you a question first, ‘by what authority did John the Baptist baptize people? Was it of God or was it just of men?’ Then they said, what’s this He is saying, what’s this all about? If we say it is just of men, well these people hate us and think John is really a great man, so we can’t say it is of men. But if we say it was of God then He will say, well why didn’t you repent and be baptized, if it was of God. So they said, ‘we can’t answer that Lord’ and He said neither will I answer you. (Matt. 21:23-27)
When I tell people how God (Christ) tells it, they don’t like it. I’ve got a thing where I just recap… ‘you fool, you liars, you whitened sepulchers, you generation of snakes’… the whole thing, not just those phrases… you blind leaders of the blind, etc. I just copy it and send it to them and say this is the way Christ talked and do you think He was sarcastic? ‘But He told the truth.’ Well do you think I’m lying? Where am I lying, you didn’t show me where I lied?
I know I can go a little over and it’s not fair, I have the advantage, I know the Scripture and they don’t. It really is an unfair advantage. They try and they try and they try to put me down and put me in my place and they can’t do it. It doesn’t make me great, God has given me some wisdom about these things that’s all. I don’t sit there and plan these things for an hour and a half, I just read it and I go (shows fingers typing). That’s the way I answer every email, there are a few that I’ve got to look at some Scriptures. But I just answer right off the top of my head. Because I know these things now, I know these spiritual things. It doesn’t make me great, God has let me begun to understand spiritual things and you can too, some of you are.
Bob and I have lunch together every Tuesday. We go to the Executive Lounge, we’re laying off the chicken and dumplings and now we are going with the chicken salad. But we talk about Scriptures just about every day. We don’t talk about much of anything else, just God, Scriptures, the plan of God and all of that.
1Thes 5:15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man…
Don’t do it, don’t let anyone bring you down to their level. Like Denny always tells me, ‘always take the high road.’ That means biting your tongue and don’t let that carnal thing come out.
(2) v. 15 …but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.
Always follow that which is good. Like that movie by Spike Lee ‘Do the Right Thing.’ First time I heard that, I said I like that. I’ve been saying that for years now, I picked that up from Spike Lee, do the right thing… always do the right thing. Live that way… ‘how do you live?’ I do the right thing. Then maybe you do what you think is the right thing and sometimes it’s wrong. So you learn, they are not going to crucify you for that… but do the right thing. But always think first, ‘what should I do?’ Do the right thing. Well sometimes you think, ‘what is the right thing?’ Alright well we can discuss it and we will come to some things that we hope is the right thing. But at least have that as the motivation in your heart. Always do the right thing, you will feel good about yourself, hopefully you won’t feel self-righteous you will just feel good that you are doing the right thing and that’s what God ask you to do. Always do what’s good.
So “follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.”
(3) 1Thes 5:16 Rejoice evermore.
That’s a hard one. The best example we have of that is Paul; I mean shipwrecked, stoned, beaten with a rod, beaten with whips, in danger of robbers, shipwrecked and in the swamp and all of this stuff and hungry and thirst and fasting and all this (2 Cor. 11). Then he says, but I’ve learned in all things to be content. Not all this gaudy happy, but content, there is a difference. Just be content with what you have or the situation and that situation hopefully will get better. In the meantime be content, “rejoice evermore.”
Now here is a biggy.
(4) 1Th 5:17 Pray without ceasing.
In Matthew 6 Christ says don’t be like the Pharisees who want to be heard and stand in the Synagogue. They pray in the Synagogue, go into the house of prayer. There was the Temple, but the Synagogue was supposed to be a house of prayer too. But they loved to pray in the Synagogue and long prayers or some liked to pray on the street corners or whatever.
About four or five years ago somebody emailed me and they sent me something and I answered back and they got on me about this thing about corporate prayer. ‘Don’t you believe in corporate pray, Ray?’ I don’t find that phrase in the Bible, corporate pray. You can pray in front of the congressional pray breakfast or ‘corporate’ pray. But I said I don’t believe much in corporate prayer.
I pray in public when I feel like praying, I don’t pray as a ritual. Sometimes I pray short prayers and sometimes they’re a little longer depending on how I feel or the situation. But I don’t ever want to feel that it’s politically correct for me to pray now, so let’s pray. We can fall into that.
Pray all day, you know. If you pray all day and you are thankful all day and now you are going to have yourself a sandwich, then you don’t have to sit down and ‘Lord I thank You for this sandwich, oh how I love this sandwich Lord and I just want You to bless it to the nourishment of my body. Make this sandwich be disease free for the rest of my life.’
It’s not wrong to say ‘grace’ or whatever. But I don’t bow my head and say these vocal prayers out loud when I eat a sandwich. I’m always thankful for what I have. I’m always praying, all day every day. There isn’t a day goes by that I don’t pray 50-60 times or 70-80 times, I just pray. My thoughts are prayers, my meditation is prayers, I just think like God is there, that’s the way that I think.
I’ve told you that God is Spirit, He’s everywhere. He’s not sitting up there on a throne where you have to raise your voice so He hears you. So if you are praying silently… like I put in that paper that I wrote on prayer, ‘Praying by God’s Rules,’ I pray myself to sleep virtually every night of my life. That’s how I go to sleep, I don’t count sheep, I pray myself to sleep.
Last night I’m praying about today, praying about what I should talk about. You know, ‘help me give these people something worthy to take back home with them, so they will be really glad that they came and feel that they profited spiritually.’ I just pray about that and I pray about it and prayer goes into meditation and meditation goes back into prayer and pretty soon I’m asleep. Then I wake up and I don’t remember when I fell asleep, but all I know is I prayed myself to sleep.
I don’t think I’m a religious nut or something, but all day long I am always consciously aware of who I am and what I am and that I’m a child of God. I’m trying to live right and think right and do right, I think about that all day long. To me that’s good, I mean that it’s just possible to be. It’s always checks and balances… am I doing things right? Am I worrying to much? Am I showing my wife enough love? All these things, do I need to adjust my attitude on the way I’m writing on Bible Truths? I think and I meditate and I pray about this stuff all day long. Now then I get sidetracked where I will get in conversations or maybe I’ll watch television. I always watch the news, at least 20-30 mins. every morning while I drink a cup of coffee or second or third. Sometimes I don’t have a third or a second, but then I’m back at my computer and reading my emails and stuff like that. But I get sidetracked while I’m doing some other things, but mostly all day long I pray. “Pray without ceasing” (1Th 5:17).
Christ says don’t be like the hypocrites. Now when Jesus Christ wanted to pray… you don’t see many public prayers of Christ. I’m not saying that’s wrong, I’m just saying, you don’t see many from Christ, do you?
One time when He raised Lazarus from the dead, I guess it was Martha that said… He had said roll the stone away from the tomb, but she said, Lord by now he stinks, it’s been four days. He didn’t give a prayer, He payed no mind to these things. He doesn’t stink he going to walk out of there alive, he’s not going to walk out of there with rotten flesh, he was going to have good healthy flesh. He said out loud;
John 11:41 …And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. V. 42 And I know that You hear Me always…
He already knew that Lazarus was waking up, He just said roll the stone away so he can come out. He said, I thank You that You always hear Me, but He said for the sake of those that are standing around I said it out loud. Why did He say that? Because He normally didn’t do that. So you can, but it doesn’t have to be ‘politically correct’ or this is the time and the place and I think we should.
I mean I think there are times when you just about have to, at every situation that comes up like that. If you are burying a loved one in the ground and all of the relatives are standing around and you are a minister and you want to comfort them, I think you should offer a pray in behalf of those people and what they are going through. You comfort them, and ask God to comfort them. Now this is a public prayer that’s needful, that’s a good time to pray.
When you marry a couple, that’s a good time to say a prayer publicly for this couple and their life together and so on.
But most of the time you notice that Christ went up in the mountains to pray. He said go in your closet to pray. Most of the time it is a private thing between you and God. No one has ever said to me, ‘Ray what are you doing?’ Oh I’m praying… I don’t do that. It’s a private thing, they don’t know what I’m saying.
“Pray without ceasing.”
(5) 1Thes 5:18 In every thing give thanks:
You have got to thank God for the good and the bad, because that’s everything.
Turn over to Philippians 4, there are a couple of great verses here, I love these verses. You remember one of the bothers said “rejoice evermore”? Well we are going to hit two or three birds with one stone here.
Php 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.
Okay there is a double whammy on that one.
Php 4:5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
v. 6 Be careful for nothing…
Now this is a horrible translation here, it says “be careful for nothing.” That just lost every bit of meaning there. Now in my margin it says “be anxious for nothing,” okay that’s better, that’s good enough. But the Concordant version really nailed it.
Php 4:6 Do not worry about anything… (CLV)
Don’t worry about anything! I’ve not quite mastered that yet. But that’s what it says, don’t worry about ANYTHING.
Php 4:6 …but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving (always with thanksgiving) let your requests be made known unto God.
v.7 And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
That is a military term there in the Greek, “keep your hearts,” it means He will garrison you, like a fortress. He will garrison you like a fortified fortress. You will be impenetrable, He shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
So this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you; to rejoice… give thanks for everything… don’t render evil for evil… always follow what’s good... This is the will of God. What do you do to live the will of God? It’s saying what the will of God is right here, these ten items.
Kat:
(6) 1Thes 5:19 Quench not the Spirit.
Eph 4:22 That you put off concerning the former conversation (conduct) the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; v. 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
This is all the same things that I have been telling you over and over. When you read the whole New Testament and you will see it a hundred times.
Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Why? Because this is the way God is and God wants you to be like Him, because He is creating Himself through you, to be in His very own spiritual image, children. Children are a chip off the old block, right?
Eph 4:25 Therefore putting away lying, let each man speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
v. 26 Be angry, and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down upon your wrath,
v. 27 neither give place to the Devil.
v. 28 Let him who stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, so that he may have something to give to him who needs.
v. 29 Let not any filthy (corrupt) word (communication) go out of your mouth, but if any is good to building up in respect of need, that it may give grace to the ones hearing.
v. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed until the day of redemption.
v. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and tumult and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
v. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.
My oh my, what a mouthful of stuff to do and it’s “the will of God” to do all this stuff. Well you can’t do it unless you are spiritually converted. What the spiritual conversion does is it makes you want to do this, that’s what it is. When the spirit of God is in you motivating you to be a new man… a new person… a new creature… a regenerated person… a begotten new person… When the Spirit of God is in you, you want to do these things, because you want to please God.
Two things; you know it’s right, (Spike Lee) do the right thing. ‘Why?’ It will make you happy and you will please God. You will be rewarded. There is a lot of good reasons.
(7) 1Thes 5:20 Do not despise prophesying.
Don’t despise those that teach you, your inspired speakers. Don’t be offended at anything that they say. If they have the Spirit of God they are doing this for your habitation, your welfare, your future.
(08) 1Thes 5:21 Prove all things…
(9) 1Thes 5:21 …hold fast to that which is good.
I tell people all the time, when you learn a spiritual truth and you know it is true, you see it’s true, you see it in the Scriptures, you know it works, you know that it is the will of God… don’t ever let it go! Hold on! I mean I could name you people that some of you know, who have known truth and then they threw them away. They literally threw them away, like they were dirt.
When you learn a spiritual truth, if it’s true, it’s Scriptural and it’s godly, you hang on to it and make that a part of your permanent life.
(10) 1Th 5:22 Abstain from every (all) appearance of evil.
That really is a spiritual concept, because you can live in such a way that you are not doing evil, you are not in your heart sinning or breaking any of the spiritual laws of God. But you could well be ‘appearing’ to do so to others. So you can’t even give the appearance that you are doing wrong. Learn how to do things that you are legally allowed to do without giving the appearance that maybe you are not doing the right thing. You will learn how to do it.
It’s like I remember on an occasion or two my wife ask me to hold her purse. I learned how to hold a ladies purse so that no human being would ever think that it belonged to me. So when my wife says, ‘hold my purse,’ I don’t hold it like this (tucked up under the arm), I hold it like this (held out at arms length), like what am I doing with that. It’s just a little thing, but you will learn how to do things. You can do the same thing, but you will give a different impression to people who see you.
GOD WILL SAFEGUARD YOU
Now here is a big point that I want you to have. I’ve given you a lot of admonitions of things to do, things to think and things not to think and do and so on and so forth. But if you have the Spirit of Christ where God is calling you to be one of His elect, then I want you to understand that God will safeguard your spiritual success. He will safeguard you and see you through and I want you to see some of these Scriptures.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9 that I subject my body and hold it down and bring it under control and all of these things and I keep telling you how to live and how to act and I myself could be a castaway.
1Cor 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
Now there’s a couple of things we should learn there. Number one is would he ever say such a thing if any of it is not within the realm of possibility for him to be a castaway? Now I want to tell you something, listen carefully to what I’m going I say.
If God has called you, you know He has called us from the foundation of the world (Matt, 25:34), predestined us (Eph. 1:5) to be called and to be justifies and those that He justifies He glorifies and all of that. If God has called you from before the foundation of the world to be one of His Elect, then you will be one of His Elect! You will not and cannot fall away! It’s impossible, I Scripturally believe that firmly, you cannot fall away.
2Peter 1:10 …for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
1Thes 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
v. 24 Faithful is He that calls you, WHO ALSO WILL DO IT.
But there is a little bit of a problem here. The Scripture says that Christ knows those that are His.
2Tim 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, The Lord knows them that are His…
Why does it say that, that Christ knows those that are His? BECAUSE WE DON'T! We don’t… He knows. We don’t. We don’t know 100%, maybe up there around 99.44%, but we don’t know 100% that we cannot fall away and be a castaway. We won’t be if we truly have been elected of God to be in the first resurrection, but He doesn’t tell us for sure that we are His Elect, it may only APPEAR.
There are these people that were just as sincere as I knew people to be on the outside and I know what happened to some of them. They were not what they appeared, they were not. It’s not that they changed from being an Elect, to not being an Elect. They were never Elect, it just appeared that way from out front.
But if you are an Elect, you will be! So the only question is. . . Am I?
Well God leaves a little question there. Why? To keep you humble! So you won’t say, well if we knew for sure and just say, ‘forget everything, I’m in like Flynn. I can do no wrong. Maybe I will do some sins and stuff, but it won’t matter, I already know in the end I will be in there.’
So Paul said that and he didn’t lie when he said it, I’ve got to be sure I do the right thing or I could be a castaway myself and what would that be if I’m teaching you all and I be a castaway. I’ve got to be sure I do what is right. So he did say that and it wasn’t a lie.
On the other hand he also said this and this also is not a lie.
2Tim 4:8 Henceforth there IS laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
Not hopefully, not maybe, not perchance… IS!
So, yes, did he acknowledged that he was going to tow the line, he said you run the race. But you know that those that are running the race or whatever athletic game Paul may have been talking about. He talked about wrestling, he talked about boxing and he talked about running a race, but you have to obey the rules. You can come in first, but if you take a shortcut across the infield, it doesn’t count… you’ve got to abide by the rules and he knew that. He said, I’m willing to play by the rules, unless I be a castaway. So he said, I’m going to play by the rules. But then he said, “Henceforth there IS laid up for me a crown,” he had no doubt about that either.
He didn’t say I hope there is, he knew what he suffered, he knew what he believed, he knew how much he loved his Lord and Savior, he knew how he treated other human beings, he knew how he could be spit on and kicked and beaten and stoned and still not have any hatred or resentments towards them, he knew that. So he knew if he could do that, through the power Christ, he’d be there, he knew that too. So we need to take heart. Those are powerful words, that’s something that we can hang on to, “I know.”
I mean that’s the way I feel. I know there’s a place for me reserved in God’s kingdom. Because if there’s not, how deceived can somebody be? How could God deceive me this way, if there is not, if I’m not going to be there?
Now if I knew that I had a bunch of secret sins that I don’t give up and I pretend that I live a better life than I do and so on, that another story. But I don’t have a bunch of secret sins. I’m not perfect, I get angry sometimes when I shouldn’t, I raise my voice, but I don’t hate people. I resent some of the things that they do, but I don’t hate them. Because if you can’t see that you would do the same thing under the same circumstances… don’t you want God to have mercy on you? Yeah, well then you have mercy on them. It’s just that simple.
But when things happen to us and it becomes ‘personal’… well don’t take it personal. The reason that they hate you is because you are in their way, if you lived in China they wouldn’t hate you. It’s time and chance, you just happen to be where they want to be or you happen to be where they don’t want you to be. So don’t take it personal.
So Paul was not worried, like he said don’t worry about anything.
Php 4:6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, (CLV)
Php 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
He said rejoice and again I say rejoice and give thanks in everything, he did that! That’s why he knew he was saved, because he did that.
I’m going to read you what I consider, maybe the single greatest chapter in the Bible. To me there is more in this chapter then just about any other chapter in the Bible.
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Okay. Now some people think in chapter 7 verse 5 when he talks about when I did not know coventing, except the law says thou shalt not lust, and all these things. Then there is this other law warring in my members and when I sinned it was no longer I, but sin. People say, ‘well that’s the way (Paul) lived,’ that he had all these moral sins all his life and never could overcome them. But they need to realize that it says in chapter 7 verse 6 “For when we were in the flesh,” he did all these things.
Rom 8:9 But ye are NOT in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you…
Don’t ever let anybody confuse you about that, Paul was talking about when we/he “were in the flesh” we served sins. But you are “NOT in the flesh” anymore, if the spirit of God dwells in you. When the Spirit of God dwells in you there is “no condemnation” towards you. None! There is no condemnation towards you if you are in Christ Jesus, you have the Spirit of Christ.
So the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, that means we’re free from the law of sin and death. So you don’t do these things he was talking about in chapter 7.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
v. 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
It talks about the carnal mind is enmity towards God.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.
Now that goes without saying. But if you have the Spirit of Christ, then there is no condemnation in you. You’re no longer in the flesh, you no longer serve the flesh.
Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
v. 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.
v. 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
v. 29 For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
v. 30 Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified.
It’s a done deal! If He predestinated you to be an Elect it’s a done deal. You can’t fall away. All you have to know is… am I?
v. 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
v. 32 He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
v. 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
v. 34 Who is he that condemneth?…
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s Elect? Who? Nobody dare do that.
v. 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
v. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
v. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Wow, what a profound bunch of Scriptures that is! That’s an absolute promise. It just can’t happen, there’s nothing that will separate you from the love of God. If He chose you to be an Elect you will be there.
That’s one of my favorite and most profound chapters in the Bible, I skipped over a lot. But I will give you one of the most profound Scripture.
Jude 1:24-25 Now unto Him (Jesus Christ) that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Think about those things. I mean our God is a lot, He doesn’t change. If He selects you, you are going to be there, you are going to make it. Just don’t become haughty and think you can relax and start sinning and all of that. You just keep your mind where you know it should be, do the right thing, pray and meditate and thank God for everything and ask for wisdom and ask for all the things that you need. Just live that way. The fact that you are here tells me that God is calling you. Don’t worry about anything.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[*] Previous page
Go to full version