Angelic Conflict part 147: Human history (Sabbath) – Heb 4; Luk 12; Jer 17:5-8; 2Ti 2:11-13; Act 2:4; 3:17-19; Eph 3:14-21.

Class Outline:

Title: Angelic Conflict part 147: Human history (Sabbath) - Heb 4; Luk 12; JER 17:5-8; 2TI 2:11-13; ACT 2:4; 3:17-19; EPH 3:14-21.  

 

 

HEB 4:6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience,

 

HEB 4:7 He again fixes a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before,

"Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts."

 

HEB 4:8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.

 

HEB 4:9 There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

 

Some commentators interpret this verse to refer to heaven, and I have no doubt that it easily could, but heaven is not a choice for the believer, but an immovable destiny, as it was for many of the Jews who died in the desert. This is a daily rest (not Saturday or Sunday) for the life of the positive believer who believes God’s word, God’s character, and God’s promises and it reveals its own glory in the direst circumstances. Satan rebelled and took the earth and became its ruler and in the midst of his disaster there are people of God who have complete, perfect, self-existing, unchanging, rest that was left behind by the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

This is yet another motivation for the CA believer. To have this rest in this world is a kick in the teeth to God's enemy/enemies.

 

“remains” - avpolei,pw[apoleipo] = to leave behind. God’s Sabbath rest remains for every believer today and every day.

 

When Christ ascended into heaven He left behind His word and His rest which would come through the apostles by means of God the Holy Spirit. By the way, the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in your life is key to having this rest.

 

ACT 1:6 And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?"

 

ACT 1:7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;

 

ACT 1:8 but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses [there is the goal of the CWL] both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. " 

 

To be His witness is to be a witness or representative or memorial of all that He was and is! And that in the midst of a world that hates Him.

 

The witness shines under pressure. The witness' testimony is shown to be more true under intense cross examination.

 

ACT 1:9 And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

 

ACT 1:10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was departing, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them;

 

ACT 1:11 and they also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? [there is work to do on earth] This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."

 

"I'll be back." Heaven's destiny is set and immovable for the believer, so though out citizenship and lives are there, we are now to become expert witnesses of Him in time, on earth, in the midst of the world in the time that you live.

 

These witnesses posses the self-existing rest from God in their souls.

 

As we have seen the Sabbath was a seventh day, the end of the week or Saturday in which no work was to be done, work as in plowing or doing business in buying or selling, or whatever would be considered normal work to man, woman, or child. The rest was to signify the fact that God was finished with His work and nothing was left for man to do but to enter into the rest that comes from faith in God’s finished work. [Sabbath and Sabbaths mentioned 171 times]

 

There is no end to the irritation in satan’s soul when he witnesses a child of God rest and have peace in the midst of the pressures he places on them.

 

The Lord’s peace is not involved in attempting to make everybody get along, i.e. world peace where all agree in the future destiny of man on earth. That’s not the peace of Christ, but the peace of the world. 

 

Luk 12:

Our Lord's disciples may not have realized it, but they were in great danger. For one thing, they were surrounded by immense crowds of people whose major concern was not to hear spiritual truth but to see Jesus do a miracle or meet some personal need. At the same time, the scribes and Pharisees were plotting against Jesus and trying to get Him out of the way. The snare of popularity and the fear of man have brought ruin to more than one servant of God.

 

In Luke 12, Luke recorded five warnings from our Lord. Four of these warnings must be heeded by Gods people today if we are to be faithful disciples; and the fifth warning should be heeded by a lost world.

 

LUK 12:1 Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of the multitude had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

 

Hypocrisy is a word that means play acting, or pretending to be something that you are not.

 

As we saw in 1Jo and 1Ti 6; do not pretend to be something that you're not.

 

LUK 12:2 "But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.

 

LUK 12:3 "Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

 

Hypocrisy is foolish and futile for eventually everyone and everything gets found out. God speeds up this uncovering by allowing pressure in the believer’s life.

 

Leaven - sin and evil invisibly working and puffing up.

Light - God’s word visibly working and exposing all things.

 

LUK 12:4 "And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

 

LUK 12:5 "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who after He has killed has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!

 

Reverent fear of God removes the fear of man which can only lead to hypocrisy, pretending, acting.

 

PRO 29:23

The fear of man brings a snare,

But he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted.

 

This has application to the unbeliever as well.

 

JOH 5:44

How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?

 

LUK 12:6 "Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? And yet not one of them is forgotten before God.

 

LUK 12:7 "Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear [those who kill the body]; you are of more value than many sparrows.

 

Reverent fear causes caution, respect, alertness, and motivation to apply doctrine to life and life’s circumstances, and it removes fear of men and circumstances.

 

If God intimately knows the sparrow at 2/5 of a cent each and He intimately knows us then we have nothing to fear from men or any earthly thing. Reverent fear of Him, which verges on a deep and reverent respect of His person and plan is of great profit. It causes caution, alert thinking, and motivation to apply His doctrines to life. Those who do not have this will reap what they sow and all pressure will reveal their inherent and learned weakness from a lack of pure virtue that was graciously given by God.

 

LUK 12:8 "And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man shall confess him also before the angels of God;

 

LUK 12:9 but he who denies Me before men shall be denied before the angels of God [denied the rewards of reigning with Him].

 

If we have the confidence, which results from entering His rest, to confess Him before men and then we know that He will confess us before the Father and His angels, then why would we care what men think of us or can do to us?

 

Lack of concern over the opinion of others is a major step in entering God's rest. The confession of your name before the Father and the angels is told to you so that you will not put your trust in man.

 

JER 17:5-6

"Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind

And makes flesh his strength,

And whose heart turns away from the Lord.

"For he will be like a bush in the desert

And will not see when prosperity comes,

But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,

A land of salt without inhabitant.

 

God's rest is left behind. It remains for all believers and yet so many fail to see it because they will not invest time in the word of God.

 

JER 17:7-8

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord

And whose trust is the Lord.

"For he will be like a tree planted by the water,

That extends its roots by a stream

And will not fear when the heat comes;

But its leaves will be green,

And it will not be anxious in a year of drought

Nor cease to yield fruit.

 

Matthew’s account:

MAT 10:32 "Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.

 

MAT 10:33 "But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

 

HEB 3:6

but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence [all outspokenness; unreservedness in speech; fearless confidence] and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

 

2TI 2:11-13

It is a trustworthy statement:

For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him;

If we endure, we shall also reign with Him;

If we deny Him, He also will deny us [rewards];

If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself [position].