Doctrine of the Angelic Conflict, part 41 – The essence of God – Justice. Jam 2:21-24; Gen 22:12-19.

Title: Doctrine of the Angelic Conflict, part 41 - The essence of God - Justice. JAM 2:21-24; GEN 22:12-19.

 

Now James, through the inspiration of God the HS uses the example of Abraham.

 

JAM 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?

 

Positional justification - at the moment of salvation, being justified before God forever based on the work of Christ.

 

Hold on James:

ROM 4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about; but not before God… ROM 5:1 Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

 

Abraham was justified by faith and the doctrine in his soul was justified or vindicated by this stupendous work - offering Isaac.

 

Experiential justification - when imputed divine righteousness reveals itself in deeds or fruit (thought, word, action). In this sense the word comes to mean vindication.

 

What righteousness demands, justice executes. Through doctrine there was the wisdom of divine righteousness in the heart of Abraham and not the possession of it alone. All believers possess the +R of God but not all believers know what it is. If I know what divine righteousness is then it will express itself in justice.

 

Abraham expressed more doctrine in three days than most people do in a lifetime. What will God ask you to do that will make His doctrine in your heart shine like the glory of heaven?

 

Abraham demonstrated the maturity, the tenacity, the dynamics and the stability of the faith-rest technique in three short days. All of his life he has been preparing for this moment. It all comes down to this, after 50 years of believer-ship, yet there is no option for failure in Abraham because his faith in fully placed in God’s word.

 

GEN 22:12 And he said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."

 

His fear [yaree] of God is obviously not being afraid. This word can be used in terms of reverence and awe. So that we could better translate yaree as Abraham being so in awe of God that he trusted Him and leaned on Him explicitly. God had known this from eternity past through His omniscience, but now Abraham has vindicated or justified that fact before the world.

 

Notice that no one is there to see it besides Isaac and God, and Isaac, being a teenager, probably doesn’t know enough to understand the significance of what has occurred. This leads us to a vital point concerning justification by works.

 

People do not have to see the believer’s experiential justification, yet God will make it known to those whom He desires and in His way.

 

The mature believer is not producing works for the sake of people, but for the glory of God.

 

Matt 6:3-4

"But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

 

Matt 6:6

"But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

 

Matt 6:17-18

"But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

 

1 Cor 4:5

Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God.

 

No one is on the hill with Abraham but we all know what happened since a man, 430 years later would be instructed by God to write it down.

 

GEN 22:13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.

 

So here we have a type within a type and that is that the ram, provided by God, would be the substitute for Isaac as Jesus Christ would be the substitute for us.

 

GEN 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the Lord it will be provided."

 

 “The Lord Will Provide” - Jehovah-jireh.

 

On this mount God provides, and since it is Cavalry, all that we need and all that is provided comes from the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

And, on the back of justification by works there is reward. Remember, this is not about salvation, which is justification by faith, for all who believe. And God has blessed every believer with blessings that stagger the imagination in EP. God has also predestined every believer to get to this same type of testing as Abraham. If I forfeit the plan, my personal predestination, by my own free will, then I forfeit certain blessings.

 

The blessings that the believer experiences up to the point of reaching the base of the hill would be enough, but God always gives above and beyond what we can think or imagine, and so blessings are bestowed, but not in reward for the work done, but rather as reward for the capacity attained from actually seeing your own experiential justification, which is likely the greatest steroid for the muscles of faith.

 

GEN 22:15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven,

 

GEN 22:16 and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing [manufactured works from doctrine], and have not withheld your son, your only son,

 

 “done this thing” = manufactured works from doctrine.

 

GEN 22:17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.

 

Once you break through in the greatest possible pressure with the use of Bible doctrine, from then on for the rest of your life you are going to have the greatest happiness.

 

GEN 22:18 And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

 

GEN 22:19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.

 

 

JAM 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?

 

 “Abraham” = father of a multitude. Abraham is termed our father, not just to the Jews but to the Gentiles. ROM 4:16 Abraham, who is the father of us all.

 

Why? Well, Abraham is the first to have recorded of him that he believed in God, God’s promise of his seed, the Messsiah, and it was credited to him as righteousness. It is to Abraham that the covenants are made and through whom the Messiah comes, so in essence he is a father of all who have believed in Christ.

 

Yet, besides showing that Abraham was justified by works, James, through God the Holy Spirit, has something else up his sleeve here.

 

You remember:

 

JAM 2:19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

 

Corrected translation:

 JAM 2:19 “You believe that The God is one God; do you do beneficially by so believing: the demons also believe and shudder with fear.”

 

Well, if we go back to what the half-brother of James debated with the religious Jews, same types that James is trying wake up here, only they are believers who have returned to religion, so in one great way they are not like them, but in lifestyle there is no difference …

 

JOH 8:31 Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;

 

JOH 8:32 and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. " 

 

JOH 8:33 They answered Him, "We are Abraham's offspring, and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You shall become free'?"

 

Can Abraham save anyone? Can Abraham deliver anyone or even himself from the penalty of sin?

 

They have lied here. They have been slaves to the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians, vassals to the Greeks and also to the Romans. But Christ doesn’t challenge the lie because it is inconsequential. Yes you are Abraham’s offspring, but does that deliver you from your sin?

 

JOH 8:34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.

 

Sinners are slaves of sin and so sinners need a Savior or a Deliverer.

 

JOH 8:35 "And the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.

 

JOH 8:36 "If therefore the Son [not Abraham and not even God the Father] shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.

 

Sons of Abraham does not equal sons of God. Only the Son of Man can make another man free from the penalty of sin, free from the rulership of the OSN, and free from death, and this occurs through faith in Christ as your Savior, and in no other way, not by works.

 

JOH 8:37 "I know that you are Abraham's offspring; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word [I am the Messiah and I alone make men free] has no place in you.

 

JOH 8:38 "I speak the things which I have seen with My Father [divine decree]; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father." 

 

JOH 8:39 They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham [GEN 15:6; 22:12].

 

The irony is so thick here. Abraham believed in the deliverance from God without the Law and Abraham sought to kill his son based on the command of God. These Jews seek to be justified by the Law without faith and they seek to kill the Messiah against the commands of God.

 

JOH 8:40 "But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do.

 

JOH 8:41 "You are doing the deeds of your father." They said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God [they increase the bid from Abraham to God - deism]."

 JAM 2:19

“You believe that The God is one God; do you do beneficially by so believing: the demons also believe and shudder with fear.”

 

JOH 8:42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me; for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.

 

JOH 8:43 "Why do you not understand what I am saying? [furrowed brows all around] It is because you cannot hear My word.

 

JOH 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.

 

For salvation, the working object of faith is the person of Christ and after salvation the working object of faith is the mind of Christ. Returning to legalism or cosmic living after salvation is to reject the importance of Christ and so then, in essence, deny His importance, which is akin to denying the Trinity and so denying grace.

 

The born-again legalist is denying the Trinity by denying the work of Christ, who is God in the flesh, and therefore denying grace.

 

The cross, the Trinity, the mind of Christ, the power of the Spirit are all associated or communed with the believer by means of grace. To return to the cosmos, whether it is living for self in cosmic 1 or living in legalism in cosmic 2 is to deny the power of all of these and therefore making Christ less than the Father and the Spirit.

 

This false doctrine, denying the essential deity of Christ, infiltrated the Church through a man named Arius, a Christian pastor from Alexandria, Egypt who around 300 AD taught that Christ was divine but was created and therefore not co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit.

 

The motivated the council of Nicea in 325 AD where the Nicean creed was established and Arius deemed a heretic.

 

[I believe in …] And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. Nicean Creed, 325 AD

 

Several cults that state that they are Christian have accepted Arianism and acknowledge Jesus Christ as a created being.

 

The unbelieving Jew does see Abraham as their father:

LUK 16:24 And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame.

 

 JAM 2:19 “You believe that The God is one God; do you do beneficially by so believing: the demons also believe and shudder with fear.”

 

Just because you are a deist doesn’t save you. All the demons are deists. And if you’re a believer that has gone back to deism by rejecting the importance mind of Christ, your lifestyle is no different than an unbeliever’s.

 

The ignorant believer thinks the God the Father and God the Son in hypostatic union to be different and separate by diminishing the mind of Christ.

 

He may say he does believe the Father and Son to be one, but his actions betray his words because he does not adore the mind of Christ.

 

JOH 14:7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him." 

 

JOH 14:8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."

 

JOH 14:9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, 'Show us the Father'?

 

JOH 14:10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.

 

JOH 14:11 "Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves.

 

JOH 14:12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.