Just as Christ relates to God

Paul explains 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."

Jordan says, “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?”

*****

"I John 2:5 says,[5] But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

“Where obedience exists, it’s the completion and the perfection of love. Love reaches its completion, it’s filling up, by being obedient to the will of God.

“Love is never complete without obedience and it’s a verse like that, and a truth like that, that says, ‘See, that’s what we need today! We need to be obedient so we need to completely . . . ’ and you take that principal and apply it to us and pretty soon people go into I John . . .

“I know grace preachers that use I John and believe I John is the greatest impetus to Christian living there could ever be, and the way they do it is the way the Baptist brothers do it, and it’s that they go into the passage and pull out verses like this but take a blinder to the other verses and what the passages really say, and instead they conclude, ‘See, if you really love Him then you need to obey Him.’

“Now, is that a true statement? Well, it’s hard to argue with that. But this passage is saying a WHOLE lot more than that.

“By the way, you notice verse 5 says, ‘But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected’? It’s perfected by their obedience, by their keeping the commandments. They’re going to need some perfected love.

*****

“Look at I John 4: [17] Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
[18] There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
[19] We love him, because he first loved us.

“Tell me something. If you had perfect love, would it be a benefit for these people? It'd cast out fear. It gives them boldness in the day of judgment.

“When the persecutions come on them they understand how; they have a mental attitude of understanding that gives them the ability to sustain through the problems. But how did they get their love perfected?

“Their love is perfected by keeping His Word. Because they kept His Word they had a mature, complete love; an obedience that came out of that love that gave them the capacity, when the persecutions came, to endure through them without the fear, without the paralysis, or the phobia.

*****

“You know what the problem is with these verses in I John? They aren’t the way God deals with us. They represent performance-based acceptance; legalism.

“It's all about how you’re accepted and blessed and get the reward because you served. Performance motivation. Conditional blessings based upon your performance. That’s what the law is. We’re not under the law system, so you know what the law won’t do? 

“Paul says in Galatians 5:18, ‘[18] But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 

“What would the Spirit of God lead you to do? Live under grace. We perform not to get something but because of who we are, and how can we live any other way than consistent with who we are already?

“Our ambassadorship is carried on in our inner man, in our new man. It’s the life that’s IN us, and as that life in us lives out through our bodies of flesh, then the flesh gets to do something. Because it’s internally motivated by what God’s doing in our inner man."

  

(new article tomorrow)