Saturday, June 2, 2018

Sharing His mind best position to be in

Paul writes in I Corinthians 2:10, “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”

Key to having God’s wisdom and prudence flow out abundantly is knowing the mystery of the Father’s will, which comes from understanding the purpose He has in both Israel’s prophetic program and the mystery program defined by Paul’s epistles.

In Ephesians 3, Paul writes, “If you have heard of the dispensation of grace,” revealing that even in his day there were many saints who had not heard about the mystery dispensation because of an organized attempt to hide this information.

“It shouldn’t surprise you that 2,000 years later what was successful in Paul’s day has been successful ever since,” says Jordan. “But, boy, when you get it, doesn’t it liberate you?! Doesn’t it make it exciting?! If you’re not excited, it’s just that it has never gripped you. I guarantee that.

“Paul says in I Corinthians 2: 14-16, ‘But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.’

“You see, what happens to you and me is we’ve been put into a position in Christ of having the complete total thinking of the Godhead available to us right there. 

“We relate to God just as Jesus Christ relates to Him. Jesus Christ, by virtue of whom He is—as glorified humanity, the God-man glorified— knows and understands everything; He has all the information and you share His mind! Okay?! It’s the Spirit of God who teaches you that Book, isn’t it?”

*****

Bible scholar C.R. Stam’s Romans commentary from 1981 offers a super quick synopsis of the biblical concept of “Law vs. Grace.”

Stam writes, “Under the Law God’s people were not invited to seek the leading of the Holy Spirit in their walk. Their fellowship with God depended rather upon their obedience to the Law. ‘Thou shalt’ and ‘Thou shalt not’ were the characteristic phrases of God’s Word through Moses...

“The Believer in this ‘dispensation of the grace of God’ is not only saved from the penalty of sin, but is accepted as the Father’s fullgrown son in Christ, God’s beloved Son. He is given a position in Christ in the heavenlies at God’s right hand, with free access to all the riches of the Father. . .

“The Apostle Paul specifically states that as fullgrown sons we come into a deeper appreciation of the fact we are God’s children by birth . . . As ‘joint-heirs with Christ’ we share in all of Christ’s riches; not part belonging to each, but all to both. All He has is OURS.

“ . . . The Law from without, with its prohibitions, commands and threatenings, could only produce fear, but the Spirit resides within to produce that revolutionary change that causes us, as grown sons, to look to God and call Him ‘Father’ with an intimacy that the Law forbade. No threat hangs over God’s people today.”

*****

Conservative pundit Ann Coulter was once widely attacked as an anti-Semite on MSNBC for saying that “Christians consider themselves perfected Jews.”

She said in the interview, “We believe the Old Testament. As you know from the Old Testament, God was constantly getting fed up with humans for not being able to, you know, live up to all the laws. What Christians believe -- this is just a statement of what the New Testament is -- is that that's why Christ came and died for our sins. Christians believe the Old Testament. You don't believe our testament.”

Coulter shows a very common, basic ignorance of the Bible by mistaking Christians for “spiritual Israelites” who are supposedly “spiritually fulfilling” the things God said and gave Israel.

*****

When the law was given to Israel through the hands of Moses in the Old Testament everybody else was “cut off,” as Paul clearly informs.

As Paul summarizes in Ephesians 2, Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.”

Jordan explains, “There’s a racial issue here; something you are by nature. There are two groups of people; a group called the circumcision (Jews) and a group called the uncircumcision (Gentiles). Could you get any more different than that? One is and one ain’t.

“To me, in that first verse, the one word repeated twice really emphasizes the matter: ‘Who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision.’ I mean, these dudes call each other names!

“You see they’re mad at each other. There’s enmity between them. There’s hatred between them. They despise one another. They don’t love each other. There is contempt for each other. And if you don’t believe that, well, you haven’t thought very much, have you? The Jew has absolute total contempt for the Gentile and the Gentile returns the favor.

“Write down in your notes I Samuel 17:26. Old David looks out yonder at Goliath and he talks about this uncircumcised dog. Well, you know he wasn’t complimenting him when he said that!

“Look at John 18:35 and see if you think old Pilate was being kind when he answered, ‘Am I a Jew?’ You think Pilate was trying to butter him up when he said that? Can’t you just kind of hear the contempt roll of his tongue? He’s saying, ‘I’m not a Jew, man!’

*****

“This enmity is demonstrated in Acts 16 where it’s reported that the Gentiles ‘caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,
[20] And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
[21] And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.
[22] And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.’

“The Jew despised the Gentile and there's a contempt socially and racially between the two. That was a problem for you and me as Gentiles. You know why? Paul says ‘that at that time you were without Christ.’ Well, why were they without Christ? ‘Being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.’ Uh-oh!

“You see why it’s a problem for the hatred and division to be there? Because one of those groups is advantaged and the other one isn’t. People are always talking about superiority—hey, did you realize there’s racial superiority in the Word of God?! And you know who it is? Well, it ain’t none of us. It isn’t us; it’s them!

“And the reason that nation—the national, racial, social superiority existed is because of a spiritual and religious superiority God gave them.”

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