Angelic Conflict part 214: Human history (the Church) – Rom 12:1-21; 1Jo 4:16; Gen 8:21; Joh 8:44; Eph 2:2; 5:6; Col 3:6.
length: 65:24 - taught on Dec, 11 2013
Class Outline:
Title: Angelic Conflict part 214: Human history (the Church) - ROM 12:1-21; 1JO 4:16; GEN 8:21; JOH 8:44; Eph 2:2; 5:6; COL 3:6.
Vv. 6-8 state that our gifts should be used with zeal, diligence, cheerfulness, but in verse nine we have something more. Love must leave the stage of acting and become us in the inner man.
ROM 12:9Let love be without hypocrisy [lacking in pretense or show, but genuine]. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.
No definition of love is given here because God wants us to simply see the issue and the beauty of the life of divine, virtue love.
Plus, the definition is given elsewhere, especially in 1Co 13.
Our definition from our in depth study is as such:
As we have defined agapan love: A mental attitude love from mature virtue that recognizes the value of an object, which produces a preference and a regard for its benefit, without sin, nor motivated by any affection or attraction.
The gifts are gifts of service to be used for the common good, and if love is not in the heart of the believer and he is an actor of love, a hypocrite, then the gifts will not function and division and strife will.
ROM 12:9Let love be without hypocrisy [lacking in pretense or show, but genuine]. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.
Love is the ultimate virtue as it includes all other virtues. There comes a time when it must leave the stage and become the believer.
Hypocrisy refers to acting. It is a word of the theater. Actors in Greek theater wore masks, comedic or tragic. God does not desire His love to be a mask that covers un-love within. God wants His love to completely absorb our hearts. God wants His love to reside within and not leave.
God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
The Lord Jesus Christ came in love and died for us. We who have been redeemed by His love are to be possessed by His love. Surely it should not be a mask that we put on in public or in church and then remove when it’s safe to do so. We are to abide in love and if we do, we abide in God, meaning the sphere of God’s influence, wisdom, power, and virtue.
ROM 12:9Let love be without hypocrisy [lacking in pretense or show, but genuine]. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.
It seems that translators have a hard time using the word hate when it comes to a Christian. The object of hate is not a person but a form of thinking that is defined as evil.
“abhor” - avpostuge,w[apostugeo] = apo - from and stugeo - hate. Strong hate, repulsion, or a desire for absolute avoidance.
We are not to hate people.
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.' "But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you
Yet we are to hate evil as God does.
'Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Evil is in the motivation and thinking of people.
Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Everyone is born with evil thinking.
for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.
Evil thinking leads to evil actions.
There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God?"
Evil is sin as well as man’s attempt to solve his problems without God [doctrine and divine establishment law], which we call human good.
Recovery from sin is instantaneous through the use of grace recovery but recovery from evil takes a long time through doctrinal rehabilitation.
Evil is the human good panacea which attempts to solve the problems of life apart from doctrine and divine establishment. Doctrine and establishment came first, being from the mind of God.
Evil is often a distortion of doctrine or a distortion of the laws of divine establishment. Satan’s original sin was a distortion of the doctrine of divine essence. Evil distorts law and order, substituting evil, as in crime.
Evil comes in many forms: altruistic humanitarianism, philanthropy, religion, legalism, reversionism, socialism, political internationalism, government interference, distortion of the law, bribery in government, cutting down the military, gun legislation, sociology, public welfare, and the United Nations.
Evil is the misconception of “brotherly love,” which is a hypocritical love devoid of true virtue.
The whole idea of government trying to abolish sickness, mental illness, economic problems, frustrations, and human problems by legislation and human solutions is evil. The world’s problems can never be solved apart from Bible doctrine and the laws of divine establishment. This amounts to a person or a group of people attempting to handle or manage what only God can manage.
Evil is man trying to do what only God can do.
Evil also includes social action, the social Gospel, restriction of human freedom for the greater good, the distortion of law to solve social and economic problems; i.e., the interference of government in business and free enterprise, setting restrictive regulations, legislating against the God given, inalienable rights of life, liberty, and propertypursuit of happiness.
The dreams of religious guides who predict a transformed, regenerated kosmos as a result of human effort in Christian service are seen to be without foundation. Satan's deceptions continue until he is bound and consigned to the abyss. But who will bind satan and place him in that prison? In the interest of divine righteousness, the dissolution of the kosmos and the disillusion of the lie must reach the ends predicted when all will be destroyed in the zenith of its wickedness. It is only then that the King shall reign and prosper. It is then, and only then, that righteousness and peace shall cover the earth.
However, the greatest of all evils is religion. Legalism and apostasy are the greatest manifestations of evil.
God only ordained and authorized one institution, and that is the local church. God has ordained and authorized the local church as the only vehicle for spiritual growth in the dispensation of the Church. The pastor-teacher has been given authority in the local church to teach doctrine and to ensure that doctrine is taught while protecting the privacy of the believer priests in his congregation.
This means that denominations are not ordained in the scriptures and are a violation of God's authorized institution, the local church.
Evil is what you think as an apostate, reversionistic liberal, a bleeding-heart, guilty type.
So the worst and most detrimental thing that can happen to a believer is to come under the influence of evil. The recovery from evil is lengthy and can be very painful. The recovery from evil demands enforced humility.
Evil originated with satan before human history and he has devised an evil system, the cosmic system, in order to oppose God.
Satan has devised a system whereby people can be nice, lovely, and look good to society, and yet behind the facade of good there lurks an evil, destructive person who is often self-deceived.
Satan controls most of Christianity through his cosmic system. The thing that makes people function in the cosmic system is arrogance.
Satan’s plan is related to beating Christ to the Millennium with his own the production of a perfect world. The more the world follows his plan, the greater the degeneracy which occurs. His plan seeks equality by destroying success and failure with legislation.
Satan’s plans always look good to the stupid, but it always results in degeneracy.
A man of the world would find little fault in satan.
Those who have accepted the world system has accepted the mind a schemes of the devil. In this we see that satan’s evil character can only be determined in God’s light. He is the anti-god and anti-christ, though he is finite. It must be understood that he is no comparison to God. He is not an evil god, but a creature, higher in creation than humans, but a creature none the less.
There is no evidence that angels are tempted in the realms of those sins which find expression through the human body-immoral relations, gluttony, and the perversion of normal bodily functions. It is equally certain that there is no occasion for greed, stinginess, or thievery among the angels since, so far as is known, they are not burdened with possessions of any description whatever. In truth it is easier to discover the sins which are predicated of the angels than to list those which they, for obvious reasons, do not practice. Angelic sin is along the lines of two closely related evils—ambitious pride and untruth—as these may be manifested within the range of angelic existence. Within the scope of these two sins the evil character of Satan must be computed.
The sinfulness of Satan’s sin is not to be discovered by comparing it with wickedness in human spheres, but rather by a due comparison of it with the holiness of God, and in the light of that which God has required of the angels.
Satan's sin is along two lines: 1) Ambitious pride:
not a new convert, lest he become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.
"Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.
"But you said in your heart,
'I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.'
2) Untruth:
"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.
This is a serious accusation.
He doesn't accuse them of being of their father Adam, though they are, as are all of us under the federal headship of Adam, but Adam is a link in the chain, while the originator of evil is satan.
So there is such a thing as a reception of satanic ideals to the end that the life which receives them is, to a marked degree, the child of the one who originates the manner of life which is embraced.
Paul uses the phrase "sons of disobedience" in EPH 2:2; 5:6 - ui`o.j thj avpei,qeia[huios tes apeitheis] = sons of the unpersuadable.
EPH 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
EPH 2:2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
EPH 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
So similar is COL 3:6 that some of the translations have added the phrase "sons of disobedience" and in light of our study it is important that we read the passage and see the alternative to being an unpersuadable son.
COL 3:1 If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
COL 3:2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
COL 3:3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
COL 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
COL 3:5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
The idea that any one of these characteristics of the world and the flesh can fulfill the human heart is an untruth.
COL 3:6 For it is on account of these things that the wrath of God will come,
COL 3:7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.
COL 3:8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
COL 3:9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
COL 3:10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him
COL 3:11 — a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
COL 3:12 And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;
COL 3:13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
COL 3:14 And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
COL 3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.
COL 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
COL 3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
In this passage we see the clear contrast between good and evil. As in the last sentence in our chapter:
Connect
Subscribe to our mailing list |
Grace and Truth Ministries 1900 Hines S.E. Salem, Oregon 97302 |
 |
letters@cgtruth.org |
|
© Grace and Truth Ministries All Rights Reserved. |