Abiding in constant, habitual expectancy

(ran out of time and will post new article tomorrow)

Martin Luther once said, “If you’re engaged in the battle for the truth at every point except the point at which the truth is being contended for in your life, you’re not really in the battle.”

Paul calls us “debtors” to “his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Love puts claims on your life. Love reaches down and puts a claim on your life that the law never could. Love is a motivator. It’s something that reaches into your heart and motivates you internally in a way no external compulsion can do, says Richard Jordan.

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Psalm 37 advises, [4] Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
[5] Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

How do you trust in the Lord; commit your way to the Lord? First, you’ve got to know the Lord and know His mind. How are you going to trust Him if you don’t know Him? How can you trust Him if you don’t know what to trust Him about?

To "delight thyself in the Lord" means you need to know some things about the Lord to be delighted about. People make all this stuff up; they say they talk to the Lord and He talks to them. They make a God in their own mind and delight in their own God.

James 4:3 says, "They ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." That’s what religion does! Religion is just designed to satisfy the lust of your flesh. And it will create a God who will do that for you.

But the way you do what’s in Psalm 37, and this is a tremendous psalm, is in verse 1: "Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity."

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If you ever wanted to see some people who had reason to worry and the antidote for it, it’s this Believing Remnant in the tribulation looking out and seeing evil prosper. What are they to do?

Proverbs 3:6 says, "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

Jesus says, "If you abide in me, focus on who I am and value me more than anything else, and let your mind be controlled by my Word, you know what will happen? You’ll have the knowledge to ask the right things that ought to be accomplished."

By the way, do you remember the old adage about prayer? A-S-K. "Ask, seek, knock."  If you go back and read Matthew 7:7 ("Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you"), the people Christ’s talking to in the context are fruitful believers. That’s on the Sermon on the Mount.

John 15:8 says, "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples." When you are bearing fruit, the way you bear fruit is you abide in Him, you draw your resources from Him and you have your thinking regulated by His Word. If you do that, you’re going to bear fruit; the outward expression of that inner life.

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Jesus Christ says in John 15:4, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me."

In verse 7, He says it a little differently: "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

That helps you define verse 4. "You abide in me, you keep your heart focused on me and you be occupied with me," Christ says in preparing the apostles to go through "the time of Jacob’s trouble."

To abide in something is to stay there. Constantly. You don’t leave. This is home. You’re going to dwell there. You’re going to be there not just occasionally, not sporadically, not fitfully, but this is where your heart’s going to be OCCUPIED.

“And if my word abides in you." There’s those two issues here. "Your heart’s going to be occupied with me, keep your eyes on me, look to Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith," it says in Hebrews, "but also have your life regulated by the Scripture."

They’re to be focused on who Christ is and what He’s provided for them. They’re to take their stand and just rest in who God’s made them, and the provisions God’s going to equip them with in Christ, and then let their thinking and their actions be regulated by what His Word has to say.

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By constantly, habitually communing with God through His Word until it becomes the substance of their inner being—that’s exactly what Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36 tell them is going to take place.

He’s going to take His law and write it in their hearts and that law that He writes in their hearts is going to cause them—there’s going to be an internal compulsion that comes from the Word written in their heart that causes them to keep His commandment; that internal empowering. He’s talking about, "That’s the provision and that’s where you want to be.”

Laboring in your soul through prayer

(Had an unexpected disappointment just before the evening meeting at the Bible conference tonight, inevitably leading me to cry when I least wanted to. It was a sudden rejection--a door closing--related to something I'd been earnestly praying about. At least I got an apparent answer. Not only was it embarrassing to have tears fill my eyes during the meeting, but the tears dried out my already dry eyes, as they've been consistently doing for years now, making it somewhat difficult to navigate the unfamiliar dark streets heading back to my friend's house 45 minutes from the hotel site.) 

Will have to try again tomorrow evening on a new article. In meantime:

Paul writes in Colossians 4: [12] Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

“What I find fascinating about that verse is it describes prayer as a labor. It’s actual WORK. I think sometimes we get the idea prayer is passive, but when someone prays for you, they’re doing you this great spiritual service. They’re working to help you!" says Columbus, Ohio preacher David Reid.

“Isn’t it fascinating to think you can think about a brother, and though he may be far-removed from you, you can care about him, and then by communicating with God about him, you can actually do him good because you are laboring in your soul on his behalf?”

“Paul says in Romans 15:30, ‘Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.’

“Prayer is something that requires effort because it’s a form of warfare. II Corinthians 1:11 says, ‘Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.’

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“I’ll be honest and tell you that in my life as a grace believer, I’ve had a very pathetic prayer life. My observation is that many grace believers do.

“The critical Pauline passage on prayer in my opinion is Philippians 4:6: ‘Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.’

“ ‘Be careful for nothing,’ is saying, ‘Don’t be full of care, don’t be overwhelmed, don’t be overburdened.’

“ ‘But in everything’ . . .  Notice it says IN everything. In every situation, every circumstance, every detail. Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you can’t pray? Not according to what that says.

“Notice it says ‘let your requests be made known.’ Does it condition them? Does it tell you there are certain things you can’t pray? It says if it’s your request, you can make it known. In fact, what it specifically says is ‘if you have a request, make it known.’ Don’t sit on it; make it known.

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“Look at verse 7 because this is what crystallizes prayer in my mind: ‘And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.’

“If you put verses 6 and 7 together, it says, ‘Don’t be troubled, and with an attitude of thanksgiving let your requests be made known, and you know what happens? You get peace!’

“I find often in my life I run into problems and my first reaction is, ‘This is bigger than me and I don’t know what to do with it.’

“So what I love about prayer is I can say, ‘God, this is causing me care. Here’s my request. I’m thankful for whatever you want to do with it and, God, it is now your problem. It’s not mine. It’s bigger than me; I’m giving it to you.’

“Verse 7 says what I get from doing that is peace, and that’s even peace that’s beyond my ability to understand. I don’t understand how it works, the details of it, but I understand I’ve given it to the Creator God who loves me and now it’s not my problem. Philippians 4: 6-7 is how you unburden yourself.

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“Let me run some verses with you. I Kings 8:54 says, ‘And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven.’

“Daniel 6:10 says, ‘Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.’

“Luke 22:41 says, ‘And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed.’

“Isn’t that interesting? The Lord Jesus Christ knelt in prayer. Of course, Solomon did, Daniel did.

“Part of prayer is being in humility towards the Creator. Part of prayer is acknowledging your place in the universe and there’s something appropriate and spiritually proper to kneel down in prayer.”

Consciousness of being sealed

(I arrived yesterday in Chicago and didn't have internet connection last night staying with a married couple near the lakefront. I am attending my church's annual Bible conference and will have new article tomorrow evening)

What you need to do is acknowledge that the most important person in your life is God Himself and what the Father thinks of you is you’re "accepted in the beloved." And all the rest--the circumstances, your enemies, whatever, faulty or accurate opinion . . .

I think of the thing in John 13 when the Lord is in the Upper Room with His disciples, He starts out in verse 3: [3] Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;

I read that and I say there’s Philippians 2: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." What was it that allowed God the Son to become the servant with the towel, washing the feet of His disciples? It was verse 3. He was secure in the knowledge that He was the beloved Son of the Father, in whom the Father is well-pleased.

He had a consciousness of His acceptance in His relationship with the Father that allowed Him to humble Himself. You see, true humility . . . humble yourself to be a servant, obedient even unto death. To say, "It’s not I, it’s Christ."

That doesn’t come with pride; pride doesn’t do that. That doesn’t come from self-confidence. It comes from confidence in who God has made you in His Son. You learn to, "Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus."

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James 1:21 says to "receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls."

That’s a great expression—"the engrafted word." You have God’s work grafted into your soul. A graft is a living kind of thing. In horticulture, you can make a graft, cut a slit into a trunk, graft in a cutting from another tree, bind it up and cause it to grow. It’s a thing about putting life into something.

Hebrews 4 begins, 1] Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
[2] For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

If the Word’s going to profit you, you don’t just hear it and know it--it has to be mixed with faith. In other words, you have to BELIEVE it. And when you believe it, it gets engrafted by faith into your soul. There’s a spiritual transaction where that Word literally gets implanted into your inner man.

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If ever there was a passage of Scripture that succinctly reveals how eternal salvation is brought into a person's life, Ephesians 1:13-14 is it:

[13] In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
[14] Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

The Holy Spirit comes in to seal you (He "seals the deal," we would say) when you believed, and you believed when you heard the Word of truth.

The moment you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, relying exclusively on Him to be the Savior He died and rose again for you to be, God goes into action and seals you.

Now, when He seals you WITH His Spirit, the personal residency of the Spirit of God in your life is the seal; it’s the guarantee.

He says "that seal which is the earnest of our inheritance." It’s the down payment; it’s the first installment of the eternal glory that you’ll have forever.

A seal in the Bible is a sign of a done deal--the thing's accomplished. It’s a sign of ownership.

II Timothy 2:19 says, [19] Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

You see, the seal tells you that He knows you. You’re His so you have "the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession." It also says you should depart from iniquity. Now that’s our part. We should live in the identity God gives us.

Ephesians 4:30 says, [30] And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Your security isn’t in what you do; it’s in who Jesus Christ is. Your security is the fact you’re sealed WITH the resident agency of the Holy Spirit. That’s a secure seal.

The seal is an issue of security, but that security doesn’t produce carelessness; it produces appreciation. Because of who we are, we should live in line with and in cooperation with what the Spirit of God’s doing in our life. That’s the sum total of what the Christian life is all about.

H.A. Ironside writes in a commentary, "The seal speaks of something that is settled. One draws up a legal document and seals it and that settles it. And so Christ and His loved ones have entered into an eternal relationship, and He has given us the seal, the Holy Spirit. That seal is the pledge of His love."

Dragon (i.e., Satan) in the details

You don’t need to prove God’s Word by trying to help Him out with some scientific theory about whether it’s true or not. God’s Word was true before anybody ever thought about it.

If you only see the physical and you think that’s all there is, and you don’t understand there’s something behind all that, you forget about the spirit part of it.

If you’re an evolutionist, well, you don’t believe in the supernatural anyway; all you believe is what’s physical and that's a nut-job take on things, says Richard Jordan.

Psalm 74: [12] For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.

[13] Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.

The dragon (singular) in the spirit world is Satan and then the dragons with an ‘s’ are his minions; the little devils, or demons.

You learn something about how Satan and his cohorts' function (their character, their characteristics, their methodology) by looking at these creatures, because what they demonstrate in the physical world is the reality that these creatures in the spirit world function with.

Isaiah 27: [1] In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

The dragon, leviathan and the serpent are all the same dude. You know who the dragon is Revelation 12?

[9] And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

You read down Job 41 and you see, "This is one weird-looking dude!" He’s so terrifying it says, [9] Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?

[10] None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?

If he stood here this morning it’d scare you so bad you’d just pass out cold on the floor. I mean, he’s a frightening-looking guy!

I love verse 18: [18] By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

Now, "neesings" is a strange word you don’t see very often. It means "sneezing." The guy breathes real hard and there’s a glow.

You know how in the afternoon and evening you kind of get a little dullish, but in the morning you’re all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed? It says his eyes light up.

Next it says, [19] Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.

[20] Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.

[21] His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.

This thing about fire-breathing . . . there are creatures today . . . you ever heard of the Bombardier beetle? It’s a beetle that has a combustion chamber in its tail-end and when it gets scared .

You know how a skunk will spray you? Well, this beetle doesn’t spray you; he’s got two chemicals his body makes that when they’re separated, they’re neutral, but when they’re put together they explode. It will put out a stream that will burn a blister onto you.

First of all, you think about how that evolved. Every experiment that didn’t work . . . you know, now you’ve got three more million years to get back to that place by accident again.

My point is, in nature right now, there are little bugs that do what this guy does in a big scale. So when you start saying, "That can’t be real," don’t be so ill-informed and myopic that you don’t know what’s going on in creation around you, okay?

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Numbers 23: [22] God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.

[23] Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!

"Uni" is one. "Corn" has to do with a horn. It’s a creature with one horn. You’ve seen animals like the rhinoceros, but this is in reference to the spirit world. Horns in the Bible represent power.

Deuteronomy 33: [17] His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.

Notice this dude is strong enough that he can move people around. Now, a unicorn is a real creature.

By the way, one of the great things about folks who think all these things are dinosaurs, is they go back and find these pictures that come from one of two places.

One, they’ve got bones they reconstruct and two, there are pictures in ancient literature; caves where old societies have drawn pictures —every culture on the face of the earth has pictures of these things in their history.

Now, you and I don’t think about that because our culture only goes back about 300 years as Americans. But if you go back from whence we all came, back into history, you’ll find in history these things replete.

How could people back then who didn’t have cell phones or telegrams come up with the same kind of pictures? Well, that’s because they're what’s there. There are similar origins to all those people and they saw these things.

Psalm 22: [12] Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.

[13] They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.

Notice Jesus said that around the Cross there are bulls. He’s circled by them!

You remember in Exodus 32, Moses goes up on the mountain to talk to God and what happened down in the valley? They built a golden calf. They took an ox and started worshipping the thing. Those bulls are associated with worship of the devil in the Bible.

In Ezekiel you learn that the face of the cherubim is the face of an ox. An ox has got two horns. So all of a sudden, you’re drawing lines between the dots.

[16] For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
[17] I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.

He’s got dogs around them. By the way, who was it around the Cross? A bunch of religious leaders, Pharisees, Sadducees, Roman soldiers, Gentiles. He’s saying, "These dudes sitting around me, trying to have me crucified, are bulls; they’re dogs."

Psalm 22: [21] Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

Who’s the lion? Satan is "the lion going about seeking whom he might devour." Christ is in hand-to-hand combat with the lion. "For thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn." You see, these creatures exist in the spirit world.

Now when He says, ‘Save me from the lion’s mouth,’ what does a lion want to do? You learn about some of the characteristics. Why does He have all these different descriptions? Well, a lion wants to devour, to tear, to consume, to destroy.

Numbers 21: [6] And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.

Those fiery serpents, Isaiah 14, looking into the future: [28] In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.

[29] Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.

What is that?! You can make it all kind of things. They got pictures of dinosaurs with wings and all that stuff that go back thousands of years. But this is something bigger than that.

You remember what Jesus said in John 3:14? [14] And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

You see, there’s a spiritual counterpart; there’s some of these creatures in the spirit world, and their desire--they’re "out of the serpent’s root." They’re a generation of Satan. That’s where they come from.

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The parallels made in the Bible are innumerable and no human could ever unearth them all in all their intricacies, says Jordan.

In answer to questions about Revelation 12 and the wilderness survival of the "little flock" during the Tribulation, those believing Jews will know from their Old Testament exactly where to find the hidden manna God will make available to them for their sustenance in the mountains.

Jeremiah 50: [19] And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.

Micah 7: [14] Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

[15] According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things.”

Bashan is on the extreme northeast of Israel. Gilead is to the southwest. Carmel is on the northwest of Israel near the Mediterranean Sea.

Breaking the 'heads of leviathan' in pieces

Given the response to last night's post, here's the conclusion to yesterday's study on leviathan:

Psalm 104: [26] There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.

He's talking about the ships going out here in the Mediterranean and that's where the idea of Leviathan being a whale comes from. If there's going to be an animal to liken him to that way, a whale would be okay, says Richard Jordan.

In Jonah 2, Jonah is swallowed by "a great fish," but Jesus says it's a whale in Matthew 12: [40] For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Well, that's a picture of Satan. 

Psalm 74, referencing leviathan, is a teaching of Asaph, a prophet in Israel's history. When he writes such psalms they are basically prophetic. Psalm 78 is another example: [1] Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

[2] I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:

In this chapter he gives you a picture of some things in Israel's history and says those things are a parable, a picture of what's going to come in the future.

[18] And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
[19] Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
[20] Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?

[21] Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;
[22] Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:
[23] Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,
[24] And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.
[25] Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full.

So God literally fed them. What he's saying there is, "You see what God did back there? He's going to do that again." In Revelation 12 He feeds them in the wilderness.

Here's another prophecy of Asaph in Psalm 74: [1] O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?

[2] Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.

That's Isaiah 26: "Here's the little flock; here's His congregation. Here's the righteous nation. Remember them."

In connection with that, go to verse 9: [9] We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.

Who do the sign gifts belong to in the Bible? The nation Israel. "There's no more any prophet." During that fifth course of judgment God's withdrawn from them.

[10] O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
[11] Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.
[12] For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
[13] Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
[14] Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

There's the dragon and there's leviathan. It says, "and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness."

My point is that's going to happen again in Revelation 12. You remember when Satan came to tempt Christ? Have you ever wondered why he'd ask Him, "Turn that stone into bread"?

The three temptations that he asked Christ to do were things that Jesus Christ is going to do in the future at His Second Coming.

Satan wanted Him to do it then. Jesus could do it, but He didn't come to do that then. If you don't rightly divide the Word of truth, you can't understand even the temptations of Christ, because the temptation was to do something God said He was going to do that He will do but not at that time. It wasn't the right time in the program. But my point is He's going to feed them in that day.

And in the passage, He's going to use the breaking of leviathan to do it. The destruction of leviathan, the destruction of the Antichrist, the destruction of the dragon, the destruction of the satanic policy of evil . . . In that destruction He's going to deliver his people.

I want you to see in Isaiah 27 again: [1] In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

He punishes the satanic policy of evil with that Book. The sword, it's effective. It works. It's incisive; it's sharp. Back in Deuteronomy 32, the first time we read about it, it's His glittering sword: 

[41] If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.
[42] I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

When it says "whet," it means He sharpened it and it's glistening because He's got it sharp and polished. It's a sharp, two-edged sword. It gets the work done. It overcomes ANY opposition.

Behemoth has more than one animal in him

Here's an outtake from this evening's Bible study at my church:

Job 41 is the Bible's greatest chapter on Satan. The first book in the Bible ever written. There's more specific information about creation in Job than there is in Genesis and there's more information about Satan in Job than any other book of the Bible, says Richard Jordan. This is a whole chapter; a detailed description of Satan, as God views him. As God looks at him.

[1] Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?

[2] Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?

[3] Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee?
[4] Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?

He's saying, "Look at this guy. You think you're going to get him to do something and you're not going to do what he tells you to do? This guy is going to run you; he runs the world you live in and he runs your old nature. You aren't the boss; he is."

Again, this is the place where people say he's a crocodile, a hippopotamus, a rhinoceros, an elephant. Look at verse 15: [15] His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.

Does a hippopotamus have scales? Does a crocodile have scales? So, if you just read the text, you'd know it's not talking about anybody else that the creation scientist people tell you it is, or the liberal, non-believing evolutionists tell you it is.

A fascinating thing is the people who run the Noah's Ark museum in Kentucky have this guy on the ark as a hippopotamus. Anytime you've got to change a King James Bible to teach your doctrine, put your doctrine on the shelf. When you don't understand a verse, you know what you've got to do? Keep reading.

Job 40: [15] Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.

What the Lord's doing here is He's given Job a whole bunch of instructions and He's challenging Job about some things.

So really there are two creatures here. There's the behemoth, and then in chapter 41 he's talking about Leviathan, who we know is Satan from Isaiah 27.

If you use a Scofield Reference Bible, it's got a note that says, "The elephant, as some think." Well, some think that, but it doesn't make any sense.

The Hebrew word for behemoth is plural. In other words, here's an animal that has more than one animal in it. Today we have people with multiple personalities and that kind of thing. Well, this is an animal, but it's not a bunch of animals. It's one animal, but he's got more than one animal in him.

Where would you find someone in the Bible who's an animal who's got more than one animal in him? 

By the way, if you look at Job 38, the Lord talks about a lion and then a raven. Job 39: [1] Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?

Verse 5: [5] Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?

If you count the animals that He talks about, when you get to Job 40:15, the behemoth is the 13th animal that he lists. In your Bible, 13 is the number of rebellion. So, it's not surprising that you find in Revelation 13:

[1] And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
[2] And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

There's a beast--he's a lion, a bear and a leopard all in one. Now, that's the Antichrist. So, dollars against donut holes, when you go to Job 40:15, you're talking about the Antichrist and the kind of beast he is, well, he's told you.

[15] Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. You remember in Ezekiel 10, the four faces around the throne? One is an ox. In chapter one he's called a calf. An ox is one of the cattle.

In Genesis 3, the serpent is cursed above all the cattle of the field. So, here's a reptile identifying as a cattle and people say, "Well, that's just not scientifically accurate." Yes, it's spiritually accurate, because this guy, he's one of the cattle; he's part of that satanic hierarchy that's sought to usurp God's authority.

So, you really have the Antichrist here and the guy who gives him his power is in Job 41.

Job 40:[19] He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.

A chief is a position of authority. The last verse in chapter 41 says Satan is the king. There's principalities, powers, mights, dominions, thrones. There's this governmental authority system and this guy is going to sit at the head of it under Satan as Satan's man.

Nobody else can get this guy, but God's sword can get him. What did you read in Isaiah 27? Who's going to get Leviathan? God's sword. The great and strong sword of the Lord.

The only thing that can handle these guys is God's Word. That's all that actually defeats them and that's why in Isaiah 26:21 the Lord comes out of His place. He's won the authority.

[21] For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

He comes down to the earth and when He does, He destroys Leviathan.

Job 41: [33] Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear. [34] He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.

Martin Luther wrote "A Mighty Fortress is Our God," and you go back and read the hymn and when it says "on earth is not his equal," that's talking in the hymn about the devil, because that's what that verse says.

On the earth, he doesn't have an equal! Because he's "king over all the children of pride." He's the god of this world. He said, "I'm going to be in the position of God the Most High, possessing all the authority in the heaven and the earth."

If you go back to verse 15, his scales are his pride. quote. His pride is to say, "I'm invincible. I'm the smartest, I'm the best."

[16] One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.
[17] They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.

Job 41: [25] When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves.

They literally worship the guy. He's so great, he's so mighty--because of what they see him doing they worship him. They join into religious rites of purification.

MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH reigns over all the kings of the earth. That religious system that reigns from the beginning. 

Job 41: [8] Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.
[9] Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?
[10] None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?

Leviathan's not a physical creature you can look at (you're getting God's viewpoint of him), but if you could see him, that verse says you'd just pass out. He's that frightening of an appearance.

[18] By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
[19] Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.
[20] Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.
[21] His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.

Down South people used to say, "That's smoking." So, when you're smoking, you're looking like the devil. He's the dragon and the fire's coming out. This guy is a fire-breathing monster in the spirit world.

[26] The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.

Your sword, your spear can't knock him down. The only sword that can "fell" him is the Word of God. You ain't got a chance. Your psychology, your wisdom, your resolve, your intention, your religion doesn't work. You can put on your protective gear and it doesn't help. He's that powerful.

'Stand down, emotions, we're going anyway!'

I was a cleaning a room this afternoon, listening to an old sermon on CD and realized I had written up part of it many years ago. I thought, "This is so good I might as well rewrite the material rather than dig and try and find what I may have included in an old post." I'm actually recalling right now that I entitled the old post, "All in the Appropriation." 

Well, maybe this will seem like a big repeat for some readers, but I enjoyed (and needed) the refresher course myself. I will have another post late this evening.

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Sometimes your emotions go kicking and screaming; they don't want to go because you've allowed them to sit on the throne and you know what a little spoiled brat does when you start making him behave, says Richard Jordan.

You're designed to reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. He says, "Come, sit upon the throne with me and let's reign in life." Not your emotions; your will submissive to God's will. Your faith resting in an understanding of who God has made you in Jesus Christ. That's the way your life is designed to function.

Sometimes you'll go and your emotions say, "I'm not going to GO!!" You say, "Okay, we're going anyway." Sometimes they'll get in the back seat of the car and they'll go "Wahhh!" and you just say, "Okay, if you want to sit there and have a hiney fit, waste your time, but we're going," and you know what? You go.

If you have to go with your emotions kicking and screaming and not wanting to go, go anyway. And the next time you get up to go, you know what? Your emotions will say, "I don't want to go," and you say, "We're going to go anyway," and sooner or later your emotions will look at it and say, "Well, I guess he's going to go; we might as well go with him, but we don't have to have a good time."

You just keep going and eventually your emotions look at you and say, "Oh well, he's going to go. He seems to be having a good time when he goes. Maybe if we go and relax a little bit we might have a good time."

Before it's over with, nine times out of ten, your emotions will come along and support the actions of your will. And if they don't, so what! You still did what was right.

In Genesis 27 is the classic illustration of a man operating on his feelings. Jacob's thinking didn't govern him and his feelings were used to deceive him and that's why you have to be very careful. That's the classic example of a mistake based on going on your feelings alone.

When we're talking about the joy, the love, the peace, the longsuffering, we're talking about appropriating into your experience the reality of what God has given you in your position in Christ.

You have an identity in Christ; you are redeemed, you are forgiven. God has taken your sin and set you free. He's taken the guilt and sent it to Calvary.

He said, "I'll remember it no more; I'll not connect it back with your identity again. I'll do it permanently and forever. You never have to come and ask me to accept you; I already have. You never have to ask me to forgive you. I already have. I've made you complete; I've blessed you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Now, what I want you to do is take what I've already given you and bring it into the experience of your life on a daily basis."

Colossians 2:10: [10] And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

But come down to Colossians 4:12: [12] Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

Wait a minute, I thought they were complete? Why is Epaphras praying and laboring that they would BE complete?

He says in Ephesians 1, "You're accepted in the beloved." In II Corinthians 5 he says, [9] Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

You say, "Wait a minute, I thought I was accepted?" That's the difference between your standing and your state--your position in Christ and your practice in time. Your identity in Him and then that identity living in your experience now.

If you're complete in Him there's nothing to make you more complete. All you need to do is appropriate the completeness you already have. Bring it into your experience. Have the practical experiential possession of what already belongs to you. That is to experience the joy of, "I'm already forgiven." Let that inform your mind so that your emotions know how to relate to reality.

Now, there's two things you have to have. One you got to know about it. You've got to see what you already have in Christ. In our meetings I try to teach about that constantly. That's why we rightly divide, so we know we're not Israel; we're the Body of Christ.

The key to the Christian life is knowing your identity, and you can never know your identity if you don't study the Bible rightly divided. Dispensational Bible study is the most practical thing you can have in your life because it gives you the ability to know who you really are.

The other component is you not only have to know who you are in Christ, you have to be aware of your NEED of it because you'll never reach out and appropriate into your experience something unless you know that you really need it.

That's what happened to Paul in Romans 7. He'll say, [24] O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

You say, "What?! How'd he get out of Romans 6 into that so fast?!"  Romans 7: [14] For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

You lying rascal! You just told me that you're complete in Christ, dead, buried and raised with Him. How'd you get out of Romans 6 so fast?!

Paul, in Romans 7, is not identifying himself as God does. He slipped back into identifying himself as he identifies himself.

He said it in one little phrase in Galatians 2:20: [20] I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

You got to have those, "It's not I" moments where you become aware of you own bankruptcy so that the riches of Christ become the thing that you need the most.

Appropriating into your experience is closed to all but the needy heart. It's available to only those who will say, "It's not I; it's Christ."

Those two things. A conscious awareness of faith trust in who you are and then a realization of your absolute need in every moment for it. Then you need a lifetime of spiritual growth because, friend, it takes time for the Holy Spirit to work that process into the details of your life.  

Weak, losing? Nah

II Corinthians 6: [8] By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; [9] As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;

You’re going to be as unknown. Why would that be? In II Corinthians 12:9-10: [9] And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
[10] Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

You see, if you have the mentality that gain is godliness, you don’t want to be weak. Because weakness is not getting more; it’s having less. It’s not being known; it’s being unknown, explains Richard Jordan.

If your definition of success is more (meaning gain), what are you going to miss? It’s in my weakness that my strength is made perfect.

Remember, in that weak appearing, you look small but what did the verse say? “As unknown and yet known.” You will have an impact spiritually far beyond your apparent size. But you will only see that by faith in some verses. Write that in your mind because that’s how you have to think about your ministry.

So, when you’re trying to be more effective, it’s not going to be with more money and with more people and more buildings and more clout and more notoriety. It’s going to be with truth and the preaching of the truth.

Listen, true Bible-believing Christianity has always been an underground movement. When you study church history, what Paul preached in the 1^st century starting at Antioch there, there is a representation of that message all the way through; in every century of church history you can find your kin folk.

If you go through northern European history, you’ll find in the 600s Bible versions that translate verses and the translation they use is in your Bible today. That’s why it’s called the Received Text.

Where are we church history? We’re not there in the books because the people who write church history are Roman Catholics and Roman Catholic-sympathizing Protestants. They’re the institution. When you study church history, you study the institution. That’s not the real church.

The real church has always been an underground movement. What’s coming ahead for you and me is we’re going to be an underground church, but we’ve always been that.

But when you don’t understand God’s Word rightly divided and you think you’re supposed to be out there (gain is godliness) and that’s your whole perspective, that is the whole perspective of the system because it is destitute of the truth. It is proud and knowing nothing. Why? Because they don’t consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ.

*****

One of the greatest lessons learned under grace is it’s okay to look weak; to look as if you're losing. 

Paul writes in II Corinthians 4, [11] For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

What that’s talking about is what Romans 12’s talking about; how it happens.

Romans 12 begins, [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.
[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.

There are three checkpoints in the issue of presenting your body to the Father for Him to use. In I Corinthians, Paul says [19] What? know ye 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?
[20] For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Your soul is the issue of where your will is. He says glorify God in your spirit (obey God’s Word) and your body (that’s where it lives out). And it’s based on “the mercies of God.”

When he says, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice,” God desires a vehicle. He purchases you, puts His Spirit in you in order to dwell there and manifest the life of His Son in you. So our bodies are important vehicles.

You’re buried with Him and then you’re raised with Him to “walk in newness of life.” So what you really are is, “I’m crucified with Christ nevertheless I live.” We're a LIVING sacrifice. How did you get to be a living dead person? That’s part of the provision God made you in His Son. It’s ALREADY who you are.

All Romans 12 is telling you is just live in the reality of who God's already made you. He’s not telling you to do something so you can be something. He’s telling you, “Go be who you are.”

He's saying, “This is who you are so yield yourself to that.” Romans 6:13 says, [13] Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

He’s not saying, “Go make yourself these things.” He’s saying, “That’s who you are so just let that be what the reality of your life is.” You make a personal choice to say, “I’m going to make this what’s real with my body.”

You need to have your own personal convictions about your life. “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” is the issue of taking an understanding of God’s Word and APPLYING it.

And as you walk in the truth of God’s Word about who you are in Christ, it’s not a bunch of rules and regulations where, “If I do this I get there.” It’s just, “This is who I am,” and you’re transformed.

Again, Romans 12:2 says, [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.

By the way, the world wants to conform you to its mold. How does it do that? Paul tells you in Romans 1. There’s a thinking process that produces conformity to the world.

There’s a long passage in II Corinthians 3 comparing the glory of the Mosaic Covenant to the glory of the New Covenant and Paul says the glory of the New Covenant is so much bigger and better than the glory of the Old Covenant.

Paul ends the chapter by saying in verse 18, [18] But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The law won’t transform you, but you get transformed when you’re changed from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of God.

Galatians 5:18 says that the Spirit will not lead you to be under the law. The Spirit of God leads you to be under grace.

*****

When you make the choice to “present your body,” you make a choice to use your body for Him: “I’m going to let Him be the vehicle through which His truth lives and functions. I’m going to be filled with the fruits of righteousness.” Fruits are the inward life and product of His righteousness unto the praise and glory of God.

When you move from law (or performance-based acceptance where it’s what I do that gets me accepted and gets me blessed) to grace, it’s, “God’s provided it for me and I’m just going to let that be what lives and I’m going to yield to that. I’m going to present that as my thinking process.” That’s where the transformation is; that’s where the changing is.

Here’s why you want that. When Paul says “that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God,” that’s not a “good, better and best” kind of a thing. Something that’s good is valuable.

You know what you discover when you do what that verse is talking about; what the will of God is? People say, ‘Well, if I present my body a living sacrifice and tell God to just use it for His glory, I’m going to miss out on a lot.”

No, you know what you discover the will of God is? It’s a treasure; it’s valuable. And when you treasure Him, you make choices in life because you value Him more than anything else. That’s really how you make the choices.

What do you really choose to make the most valuable in your life? That renewed mind gives you the capacity to prove and demonstrate, to say, “There is the thing that is of greatest value and treasure to me.”

The way Jesus Christ is glorified in your life is when people see what you see. When others see that you value Him more than all these other things, that will make you different than everybody else around you and it will make you different for the right reasons.

It’s the essence of maturity. It’s the demonstration of what maturity is really all about. Absolute, complete, maximum fulfillment is when I take my life and function in a way that produces all that.

Way and will to THINK about emotions

You have a body and your body has emotions. Well, your soul has emotions. Your soul has a mind, a will and emotions, and the thing that connects your body with the place where you take action is your emotions--the places where these things connect.

The Word of God comes into your spirit, it's translated through your mind, your thinking processes, into your soul. It's believed by your will and your will affects your emotions, and your emotions stimulate your body to go out and do what your mind, your will, decided it was going to do, says Richard Jordan.

You don't start with the emotions; you start with the thinking. You are designed to take action based on a decision of your will educated by truth in your mind.

So, you have to have your mind programmed with truth so that your will can make a decision based on that truth, and then your emotions will put you into motion with acts that support the decision based on truth.

Now when you get the emotional revolt, your old sin nature (Romans talks about the "motions of sin"), the motions in your life that are stimulated this way, from out here, your flesh, come in, take over your emotions, tell your will, "This is what's real," and your mind . . . listen, that's backwards!

What that does is it puts you into revolt and absolute failure in life, because now you are literally in revolt. Jesus told His apostles, "Let not your heart be troubled."

You can have emotional pain in here and when you have it it's because instead of your mind being programmed by truth, your will making decisions based on that truth, that your emotions can then support . . . by the way, sometimes your emotions don't want to support what your will has decided to do. You know what you do? You give them the Bronx Cheer and go on anyway.

If you understand how these things work, when you get into the gritty details of life on a daily basis, then you begin to understand how this kind of stuff works in life. So, you have to understand that love . . .

The emotions need to come as a result of some truth educating your mind. Your will making a decision based on that truth that then your emotions can support.

That's what real love is designed to produce. That's the way it's designed to operate. It's more than emotions. It's not something you fall into and out of. It's a commitment you've made based upon faith in some truth, that then your emotions come in line with.

Your emotions don't really have any intellect. They are designed to be responders. They respond to what's in your mind. That is reality to your emotions; whatever you're thinking.

So, if you've got some bad thinking in here, your emotions are going to respond to that bad thinking. That's why they need to be programmed by truth. What is true? "Thy Word is truth."

When you make decisions in life, you need to have truth based on God's Word in you. That's where the right division comes in and that's why we pound on that all the time. That's the basis upon which spiritual life is built.

Jesus said, "The words I speak unto you they are spirit and they are truth," and God's life works through that Word when you believe it. It programs your mind and your will makes the choice to believe it and then it "works effectually in you that believe."

Jesus said, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death." In His inner man, His emotions were revolting against what His mind and His faith had told Him lay ahead of Him.

Hebrews 12: [2] Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

He had a realm of understanding in His mind and He said, "Not mine but thy will be done." Jesus was sorrowful for what was coming: As "Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it."

He wasn't run by His emotions. He recognized where they came from, why they were there and He walked by faith in His Father's will.

*****

Here is an old post:

There are two fundamental emotions humans deal with in life—one is love, drawing us toward things, and the other is fear, pushing us away from things, notes Richard Jordan.

“Fear is a debilitating thing; in John 14, the fear of men kept people from trusting and believing even when they saw the truth of God’s Word by seeing the Messiah in their midst!

“Jesus said, ‘Let not your heart be troubled.’ What does your heart do? With a heart man believes. Then He says, ‘Neither be afraid.’

“Without having that turmoil down inside, you have the ability to just go, ‘Ahhh,’ and let it all hang out and relax inside; relax in the truth of God’s Word about who Jesus Christ is and what He’s accomplished.

“Why should you trust it?  Christ says, ‘Look at me; I’m trusting it!’

“He says in John 14:28, ‘Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.’

“Christ is saying, ‘You know why you ought to have your heart trust me and not be afraid? Because you’ve heard my Word!’

“He already told His disciples, ‘If you love me keep my commandments.’ 'I’m living in complete total dependence on the will of my Father,' is what He’s saying. Paul has a great phrase for that—he calls it ‘the faith of Christ.’

“Jesus Christ entered into a plan and an agreement with His Father about what He would do and said, ‘Now, my peace I leave you.’ He’s completely at peace. He has complete inner tranquility even though He knows the agony He’s going to face on the Cross.

"In fact, when He says in verses 30-31 (‘Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

[31] But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence’), He’s saying in the vernacular of our day:

“ ‘Let’s git-er done! . . . Let’s get on with it! The Adversary, the prince of this world, has come to fulfill the conflict of Genesis 3:15 where the seed of the woman and the seed of Satan will be in personal hand-to-hand combat. That day has arrived, so let’s go!’

“Because He’s got nothing . . . ‘There’s no weakness in me at all; I’m ready to go.’

“He knows what the Scripture says is going to happen to Him and yet He doesn’t hold back. In Hebrews 12, it says, ‘Who for the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, despising the shame.’

“He had in His mind an understanding of what God had promised Him and believed it and confidently trusted in it. There’s no rebellion, no hesitation; He has that complete inner tranquility.

*****

“There’s a fascinating passage in Philippians 4:9: 'Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.'

“You want the God of peace to be with you? What does that mean? Well, look at verse 7: ‘And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.’

“Wouldn’t you get the peace of God from the God of peace? This is peace that BELONGS to the God of peace.

“When Paul talks in Philippians 4 about the ‘peace of God,’ that’s the peace that BELONGS to God. In Romans 5, he talks about ‘being justified by faith we have peace WITH God.’

"That’s the peace that God Himself has. God is at peace with His own will. He’s at peace with His own plans. He’s at peace with His own word. And God’s peace; that total tranquility and inner calmness over what He’s doing, He takes that and gives it to us when we trust Him.

*****

“By the way, when it talks about the peace WITH God and the peace OF God, Melchizedek was the king of righteousness and the king of peace. Righteousness is first, peace is second. Because peace can only be based on righteousness; things have to be dealt with righteously.

“James 3:17 tells Israel, ‘But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.’

“First you have the righteousness, then you have the peace.

“Isaiah 32 says, 'And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.

[18] And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.'

“Righteousness has to do with being right. God’s Word is right and I’m in relationship with it and the peace comes out of His righteousness.

*****

“John 14: 27 is the great illustration of the peace OF God.  Jesus says, ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.’

“Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. Here’s God living in our humanity and He has complete and total peace—inner tranquility, inner calmness, a relaxed mental attitude in His heart that results in that faith, that total dependence on the Word of His Father.

“He’s going away to receive the kingdom. Remember the parallel in Luke 19? Remember the passage in Daniel 7 where the Son of Man comes before the ancient of days to receive the kingdom and the power and the dominion? He goes there to receive the kingdom and to return.

“Philippians 2:5 says, ‘Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.’ This is a truth that Paul followers should be very clear about and should rejoice in.

"Paul goes on, ‘Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: [7] But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: [8] And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.’

“He made Himself of no reputation. Who did that to Him? He did it to Himself. Voluntarily, He took up a position and took upon Him the form of a servant. Though He’s equal with the Father, He chooses to function in relationship to the Father as a servant. Did He have to? No, He willingly chose to.

“The next verse says, ‘He humbled Himself and became obedient.’ What does a servant do? He does what his master, his lord, tells him to do. So when Jesus Christ says, ‘The Father is greater than I,’ it’s in relationship to Jesus Christ coming as a servant. What He’s doing is owning His place as a servant.”