God's holiness is made up of His integrity, which has two characteristics to it. One is righteousness; He's always right. His nature is right. He's complete truth and right.
"The other characteristic is justice. That is, if He's right, His justice looks at what's around Him and makes sure it's right too, and if it's not, it's separated away. Our sin offends God's integrity and so there's a way to bring reconciliation, atonement, and that's propitiation.
"The word describes a satisfying payment. It literally means to bring people together. In the Old Testament, Israel had a mercy seat where God and man could meet together because of the blood on the mercy seat. It satisfied the offense that man was against the righteousness of God.
"So God the Father set forth His Son at Calvary to be a propitiation--a fully satisfying sacrifice, notice, through faith in His blood. Who's having faith in the blood of the Cross there? God the Father believes that the blood of His Son at Calvary is a fully satisfying payment for all sin. When you believe that, you're just agreeing with God."
*****
Paul writes in I Corinthians 2:9, [9] But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
“In this verse, Paul talks about the three ways you can know something. By the eye, or empiricism, the ear (rationalism or figuring it out on the basis of reason) and then revelation. God can reveal the thing to you, as in verse 10: [10] But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
“Notice the description of the things of God: ‘The Spirit searcheth all things.’ He’s not talking about how the Spirit doesn’t know what’s going on so He looks into it. He’s talking about how there’s nothing held back from what the Spirit of God understands and knows; He knows everything there is to know.
“David says to God, ‘Search me and know me. Try me and see if there be any evil way.’ He isn’t saying God doesn’t know what’s in his heart. He’s saying, ‘Come down here and know me and look and see and examine.’ Not as someone who doesn’t know, but as someone who DOES know.
“The spiritual man can personally, experientially enter into all things--‘yea, the deep things of God.’ He knows the doctrines of God inside and out; he even knows the deep things of God. When Paul’s talking about deep things, he’s talking about mystery truth. He calls them that because they’re hidden things and not known.
“Notice how this word ‘deep’ is used in Psalm 92: ‘[5] O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.
[6] A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.
“The idea there is a brutish man, a natural man, can’t know them. For a thought to be deep, the idea there is that it’s unknown. It’s not understood by others. They’re hidden thoughts. They’re thoughts that are kept back and not made known.
“The mystery truth is that God kept some things secret and hid in Himself so that no one else could know them. They were tremendous in their value and scope but it was also hidden wisdom.
*****
“Romans 11 says, ‘[33] O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
[34] For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counseller?
[35] Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
“Paul has just spent 11 chapters writing down, delineating, and explaining the judgments and the ways of God. He’s just spent all the previous part of Romans revealing to you the MIND of the Lord.
“In I Corinthians 2, the last verse says, ‘[16] For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
“Where do you have it? In the Word of God. Folks, you wouldn’t know the depth of them if they weren’t revealed to you. You ever thought about that?! You would just SUSPECT that they must be deep, big and wonderful.
*****
“In your Bible, there’s not only the deep things of God; there’s another system of deep things. In the first two chapters of II Corinthians is the conflict between divine viewpoint and human viewpoint. More than that, though, between divine viewpoint and ‘the wisdom of the princes of this world which God’s wisdom has brought to nought.’
“The program of the Adversary is referred to in Revelation 2:24: [24] But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.
“Notice, the depths of Satan is associated with a doctrine. There is a wisdom and a set of principles, programs and plans and philosophy that are described in the Bible, not as ‘the deep things of God,’ but rather as the deep things of the Adversary.
“It’s his agenda, his program, his plans, his purposes, his personality, and what he is seeking to accomplish. It has to do with a doctrine.”
(new article tomorrow)
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