Sharing the happiness of God, part 1; Darkness vs. Light; John 15:11

Title: Sharing the happiness of God, part 1; John 15:11.

 

Conference meeting Sunday. Book is complete.

 

John 15:11"These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

 

These things I have spoken to you … abide in the vine and bear fruit, endure under suffering for blessing and bear more fruit, ask what you wish in prayer, glorify the Father by abiding in Christ and bearing much fruit, abide in the sphere of Christ’s love, guard the commandments within the doctrines you learn and so apply them, and do it all as Christ has shown in His first Advent.

 

“in you” - true happiness is in the thought content of the heart, the right lobe of the soul, and does not originate from circumstances outside the soul.

 

If you find yourself going through highs and lows due to the changes in the circumstances in your life then you are not abiding in love. Continue to grow in grace and knowledge.

 

God doesn’t convey His happiness through a bunch of stuff. God conveys His happiness to the regenerate new creature who abides in the plan of God, the sphere of love,

 

 “may be made full” - plhroqh[plerothe - aorist passive subjunctive of pleroo] = To fill up the deficiency; To fully possess; To fully influence; To fill with a certain quality.

 

The Lord’s happiness can only exist within you when you are filled with the Spirit and doctrine is circulating in your soul. The moment you lose fellowship with the Father and Son by quenching or grieving the HS that happiness is gone.

 

Unconfessed sin results in status quo carnality which robs the super-grace believer of the happiness of God and robs the less mature believer of its potential.

 

We are reminded again and again in the scripture that we must see the frontier between the plan of God and the kosmic system and choose God’s plan while we witness to the world.

 

1 John 1:1  What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life — 

 

1 John 1:2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us — 

 

1 John 1:3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

 

From here on out the verbs are subjunctive - the success of your new creature depends on volition; maybe you will maybe you will not.

 

1 John 1:4 And these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

 

1 John 1:5 And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

 

 “darkness” - skoti,a[skotia] = darkness experienced as an enveloping sphere that has significance for existence, e.g., by hampering movement or foresight, or causing anxiety or danger.

 

Used in both a literal and a transferred sense, skotia means death as light means potentiality.

 

The realm of the dead is a dark realm. Darkness projects fear. The fear arises from something unknown, HEB 2:15.

 

If you have ever been engulfed in complete darkness you know the fear it can cause. It is a natural human fear.

 

God has no darkness at all, however the fallen human race does. Fear of unknowns in life, but mostly fear of unknowns in death.

 

Darkness: Arrogance, preoccupation with self, hatred towards God, antagonism towards God, apathy towards God, ego, pursuit of self-consciousness, idols of creatures, false gods, sin, human viewpoint, human power, slavery to self in lust, adoration of self, slavery to world system, government can solve problems, secular education can solve problems, communism, fascism, socialism, Christian activism, false Gospel, false communion table, false teachers, love of money, lying for gain, perversion of marriage, rejection of authority, murder, stealing, coveting, works instead of grace, legalism, lasciviousness, asceticism, double mindedness, evolution, hedonism, …

 

All amount to false solutions to the problem of a fallen creation.

 

The greater mystery is that this darkness is really only a shadow. God owns the earth and all that is in it. Darkness is a false perception of reality.

 

Nothing in itself is wrong. The truth or underlying essence of any one thing would lead a person to know its value as God designed it to be. What Satan and the KOD have done is to pervert the truth with lies and then attempt to convince the human race that it is the truth, when it is all smoke and mirrors.

 

1 Cor 6:12

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

 

It is a lie that earthly things can give lasting happiness, however this does not make earthly things necessarily evil. It is how they are perceived that makes them evil, which perception is not a reality and therefore the darkness in this world is just a shadow.

 

Is government evil, is education evil, is wealth evil, is pleasure evil, is food or alcohol evil? The resounding answer is no. But how they are perceived can make them very evil.

 

If one perceives that government can make man happy, that is evil. Is it evil for a person to work hard at education and his career to make wealth? No. If he perceives that it is the sole purpose of his life, then yes.

 

Darkness is used figuratively as a false perception of reality that is not based on God’s core truth of any matter, and therefore it is a shadow.

 

A Scottish story tells of a fearful old man who lay dying. The minister, an understanding man, asked him if he had not been a shepherd. The old man replied that he had watched the sheep many a day. “And,” asked the minister, “did you never stand on the hillside and watch the wind drive a cloud across the valley?” “Many a time,” said the old man. “And when the shadow of that cloud came racing along the heather, coming toward you and your flock, were you afraid?” The old man drew himself up on his elbow and cried, “Afraid of a shadow? I have covenanter’s blood in my veins [a covenanter was a defender of the Scottish Presbyterian Church of the 17^th century], and I have never been afraid of anything.” And then the wonder of the passage broke upon him as the minister read, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”

 

EPH 5:8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light

 

EPH 5:9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness [production of divine good] and righteousness [experiential = execution of the plan of God for your life] and truth [what is true light and not false]),

 

 “truth” - avlh,qeia[aletheia] = truth as in the reality lying at the basis of an appearance, veritable essence of a matter, a thing as it really is and not what is might appear to be.

 

This word is important in terms of its use from Hellenistic Greek [2 centuries before Christ] and into the New Testament since it refers to what is real or the essence of a matter in contrast to how a matter may be hidden or disguised.

 

Aletheia would be the trick behind the magic trick. It would be the real reason behind the grandiose promises of the politician. And it is also the truth behind the lies and deception of the KOD who oppose God’s people.

 

 

2 Cor 11:14-15

And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness;

 

The word of God cuts through all of the nonsense of the false servants of light, HEB 4:12.

 

HEB 4:12

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

 

We are commissioned to guard this truth which belongs to us as precious, but you cannot guard what you do not know, which is why Paul continues:

 

EPH 5:10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord

 

EPH 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places

 

We don’t always have the KOD on our back, or even if we do, we do not see them. We do not truly have opposition from people since it is not people who can rob us of our happiness in the sphere of love, only we can do those ourselves. So though I don’t see the powers that rule the darkness, I can definitely see the darkness and so that is what I resist. I endure the opposition against the light of the sphere of love by the darkness of the cosmic system.

 

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him [ambassadorship] who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

 

1 Thess 5:1 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you.

 

1 Thess 5:2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

 

1 Thess 5:3 While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

 

1 Thess 5:4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief;

 

2 Tim 4:8

in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

 

1 John 2:28

And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.

 

1 Thess 5:5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness;

 

1 Thess 5:6 so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.

 

1 Thess 5:7 For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night.

 

1 Thess 5:8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober [SSE], having put on the breastplate of faith and love [doctrine and love are the protection of your vital organs], and as a helmet, the hope of salvation [confidence of salvation means no condemnation and so is the protection of guilt complex and timidity].

 

1 Thess 5:9 For God has not destined us for wrath [you’ve already been judged], but for obtaining salvation [deliverance] through our Lord Jesus Christ,

 

1 Thess 5:10 who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep [alive or dead], we may live together with Him.

 

1 Thess 5:11 Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

 

Therefore, darkness can project into the present life and bring on a great blindness. The blindness is transferred to the senses arising in subjectivity, secrecy, deception, obscurity of the truth, and lack of knowledge or insight into any problem solving.