Joshua and Judges: The allotment of the land, part 16 - Predestination; Jos 14-17.

Title: Joshua and Judges: The allotment of the land, part 16 - Predestination; Jos 14-17.  

 

Announcements / opening prayer:  

 

Last night we began to look at the disunity of man from God and the knowledge of good and evil in his fallen mind. The good news or the gospel is that Christ died for the sins of the world in order to bring man into union with God and to restore him to the rulership that was the purpose of God. The believer in union with God is made a brand new creature and his life is the justified, heavenly life of Christ. As such, the believer lives far above the good and evil of man in disunity.

 

The Christian has been made complete in Christ, COL 2:10. He follows Christ, a person and not a list. The believer in union with Christ has an essence that compels him to the good that is only from God and he possesses the wisdom of the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit and the position of being in Christ in order to walk in the manner of that life. The characteristics of the way, truth, and life of the believer are the core of his predestination from God. God has predestined a plan for his life that is unique to him and the goal of that plan is to conform the life of the believer into conformity with the image of Christ.

 

The Christian stands far above the petty squabbles of man who attempts to organize his life and his world through his fallen idea of the knowledge of good and evil.

 

Fallen man is in disunion with God, with himself, and with others. He is hopelessly isolated and alone. He falls back on his knowledge of good and evil and through it he constantly judges others, himself, and even God. A judge of God is a self-appointed god.

 

In essence all fallen men are Pharisees who at some level seek salvation in their own definition of good when true good is only found in the person of Christ.  

 

JOH 9:39 And Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see; and that those who see may become blind." 

 

The judgment of man upon himself, others, and God is the direct result of his fallen idea of good and evil in which much sin results. In that he must be judged by God, but Christ came into the world to take that judgment upon Himself and to remove man's judgment so that He may give man the discernment of God's very will,  which as we will see, is the judgment of the man unified with God.

 

JOH 9:40 Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things, and said to Him, "We are not blind too, are we?"

 

JOH 9:41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind [if you didn't claim to know good and evil], you would have no sin; but since you say, 'We see,' your sin remains."

 

JOH 12:44 And Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but in Him who sent Me.

 

JOH 12:45 "And he who beholds Me beholds the One who sent Me.

 

JOH 12:46 "I have come as light into the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness.

 

JOH 12:47 "And if anyone hears My sayings, and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.

 

JOH 12:48 "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.

 

JOH 12:49 "For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me commandment, what to say, and what to speak.

 

JOH 12:50 "And I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me."

 

The believer has been set apart from the world's knowledge of good and evil and sanctified in the truth, the true good, and he is sent into the world to reveal it.

 

JOH 17:13 "But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves.

 

JOH 17:14 "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

 

JOH 17:15 "I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

 

The evil one, the god of this world, tweaks man's knowledge of good and evil to his own ends and that is the evil that permeates this world.

 

JOH 17:16 "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

 

Our life is his and so our life must be in conformity to His image. He was not nor is in the mud pit of man's knowledge of good and evil. His gospel is of heaven, His salvation and His truth are of heaven and His good is God's good. All of this the believer is given and can now reside since he is in union with Christ.

 

JOH 17:17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

 

JOH 17:18 "As You did send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

 

JOH 17:19 "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

 

HEB 2:11

For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren

 

JOH 17:20 "I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;

 

JOH 17:21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You didst send Me.