Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 28 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit; Rom 5:12- 6:13.

Title: Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 28 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit; ROM 5:12- 6:13.

 

Announcements / opening prayer:  

 

 

God doesn't compromise with sin. We are called to walk in light and not darkness. We are called to acknowledge our sins when they occur and to strive for the upward call of the plan of God. We are to do so without guilt or condemnation since before God we are fully and completely justified from the moment of salvation and forevermore. God is transforming our hearts and implanting His desires within us, in grace, so that we may overcome the mastery of the sin nature by walking in the Spirit; being filled with the Spirit.

 

ROM 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin [sin nature] entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned — 

 

ROM 5:13 for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed [ellogao = charged to their account] when there is no law.

 

ROM 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses [still under the penalty of Adam's sin], even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

 

ROM 5:15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

 

The transgression brought death and this is nothing like the free gift (charisma = gift of grace). It is much more. Christ's gift to all the human race was grace. This is described as super abounding. Grace is all that God can and does give to all who believe in Christ due to His death on the cross on behalf of all men.

 

What the believer is in Christ is nothing like what he was in Adam.

 

A creature must live. The old creature lived under the full rulership of sin and death, but the new creature lives on a far higher and greater plane.

 

The sentence says that there is no comparison between the transgression and the gift. Though God has been comparing them, the gift is like a supersonic jet compared to a paper airplane. They have their similarities but are beyond comparison in effect and magnitude.

 

A practical application of this statement to our own personal walks is found in ROM 8:18.

 

ROM 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

 

ROM 8:17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him [we can lose a portion of the inheritance].

 

ROM 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

 

We suffer in this way because fallen men who hate God and His righteousness attack the manifestation of Christ in us. If the world were full of mature believers only there would be a great decline in the amount of Christian suffering. Yet as Paul brings out, based on the reality of the transgression of Adam compared to the gift of Christ, it is not worthy to try to compare the two. When we suffer at the hands of those who are of Adam because we are of Christ we must remember the glory of God that is being revealed to us and will be revealed in the future of time and especially in eternity. Please notice that it is a guarantee that we will see this glory during and after the present suffering.

 

The suffering that comes to us at the hands of Satan and the kingdom of darkness also falls under this same view - not worthy to be compared with the glory that we will see.

 

2CO 12:7 And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me —  to keep me from exalting myself!

 

2CO 12:8 Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me.

 

2CO 12:9 And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses [not sin but the obstacles that God's grace have overcome], that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

 

2CO 12:10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

ROM 5:15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

 

ROM 5:16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.

 

Out of the source of Adam's sin judgment came to all mankind and resulted in our condemnation at birth. The contrast is on the other hand, the free gift took the judgment of all the sins that resulted from spiritual death and this resulted in justification to all who believe. Justification and condemnation are polar opposites.

 

The contrast continues in what reigns over mankind; one is death and the other is life.

 

Please notice that it was one sin and not the many sins of all mankind that brought judgment and condemnation.

 

When all are born in sin God's love responds with mercy. God so loved the fallen world that He gave His only begotten Son.

 

One sin brought the judgment of death upon the human race. It was full condemnation from God.

 

There is no such thing as degrees of sin with God. One sin brings the full judgment of death upon us all.

 

The one sin multiplied into millions of sins. Some of them hurt the sinner and others much more. That is obvious, but all face the penalty of death in judgment if they reject the gift of the Savior. Adam's one sin brought down the hammer of judgment immediately. Despite the vast number of offenses, the vile cruelties that man has committed against man throughout history, the gift of grace still covered them all, resulting in justification for all who believe in Christ.

 

1JO 4:10

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

 

This very love is available to all believers in Christ by the fruit of the Spirit.

 

In God love functions and so does justice. Justice calls for condemnation and love calls for mercy. In man these two desires would be always in conflict, but in God they came together at the cross of Christ.

 

ROM 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

 

ROM 5:17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

 

The reigning victory in life is shown to be much more than the reigning of death in Adam that all believers once had. In other words, they are unequal in magnitude, or to use God's phrase, they are not worthy to be compared. The life of victory is through the Lord of all eternity while the death in Adam is through the finite head of the human race.

 

Death ascended the throne of the human race. It is not just an ender of life but a real power over the whole of mankind.

 

It is not only the deeds that man does against his Creator but it is his ruler and sovereign. Because of it came God's wrath and the Law. Wrath is God's destructive power and the Law is a written letter of condemnation. Yet, the wrath came upon Christ and Christ satisfied the righteous demands of the Law. Through Christ the rulership of sin and death are dethroned and life, resurrection life, eternal life ascends the throne of the believer. Does not the Christian see that such a life is not to be lived in continued subjection to the disposed rulers? The Spirit is given so that we can live this life in time, as conquerors and overcomers through Him. The Lord is our Lord as well as Savior. There are some Christians who do not know Him as Lord and still continue to know the old nature as Lord, as were the Corinthians in Paul's first epistle.

 

Some of the Reformers had a difficult time with the existence of carnal Christians. So they taught that there was faith and there was true faith that resulted in a life of works. This is known as the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. If no works were present these people would just say that the person was never saved. They proclaimed that the gospel truly believed would result in a life of holiness, and all this was simply due to the fact that they were apparently embarrassed at the lives of some who proclaimed they were Christians. This false teaching further led to the attacks on eternal security in the teaching that a believer can fall away from God and lose his salvation. It also led to the teaching that salvation was by works as well as faith. This has been taught in two ways. The more up-front way is the teaching that there must be evident works before one is saved and the more subtle way is that works will come after faith and through them the believer will secure salvation. Also added to this is another branch of teaching, but resulting from the same original so-called problem of carnal Christianity, which is lordship salvation. This is the teaching that a person must not only have faith in Jesus as his Savior but that he also must make Jesus the Lord of his life or he cannot be saved. From this the catchy phrase, "If Christ is not Lord of all He is not Lord at all." This is another terrible distortion of scripture.

 

The means of salvation is faith and faith alone. It has nothing to do with the works of man, hence the reality that the total depravity of man precludes any work from mankind that has any merit.

 

All who have taught these false doctrines, from the Reformers to today, were afraid of freedom in grace. To them, grace was good but it could be taken too far into license. Like the Jews in the wilderness they feared true freedom.

 

A great problem with these false doctrines is that it creates a constant introspection in the life of the believer and the recurring doubt that he is actually unconditionally loved and accepted by God. By making his relationship with God based upon him, he has greatly weakened it. Then paradoxically their teachers admonish them that such a life is lived from gratitude, but how can they be grateful to God if there is the chance that He will cast them away?

 

The only real gratitude to God comes from an understanding of eternal security through faith alone in Christ.

 

One may ask if all of this pressure for works in the life of Christians made for better Christians? I think church history bears witness that it has only had the effect of weakening Christians as any false doctrine would. A life filled with the Spirit and walking in a manner pleasing to God comes only from choosing it from true motivation. It will be the norm in a believer's life when enough understanding of scripture has transformed his own desires into conformity with God's desires, and so, as will all good things in life, it is achieved by the grace of God only.

 

What is in danger for the carnal Christian, if he perseveres in carnality, is not loss of salvation, but spiritual impoverishment, severe discipline in time, and forfeiture of reward.

 

Do we see anywhere in this letter or in any of the others in the NT that the rulership of Christ in the life of the believer is to be taken lightly or apathetically or that it just isn't that very important? Can we take it seriously without condemnation or guilt because there are times that we resist it? The NT answers with a resounding yes.

 

God desires all of His children to see the real issue and to see just how important it is. Through Christ, by means of His Spirit and by means of the plan from the Father, we are to reign in life.

 

God has transformed us from slaves to kings; kings that are subject to the King of kings and overcomers over the flesh and the world and the kingdom of darkness.

 

This can be seen by the fact that Christianity gives a person true personality and individuality in freedom and yet in the gracious love and service of others.

 

Paganism robs a man of freedom. In paganism man is always seen to be at the whim of the imperfect gods that rule over him. Unless he sacrifices properly he will find no good in life and even if he does the gods may still mess with him. In tyranny and socialism and communism there are no individuals. There is just the collective and their contribution to the state. It seems that man always trends to this in his societies since he abandons God and looks to the state for security and value and providence. I do not have to list examples of how this has crippled the culture, freedom, and power of the USA. Our founding fathers worked toward a society where men's rights under God were protected. Through Christianity and Christian principles they saw the real personality of man, which could be shaped by his own choosing under the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that were his, not given by man, but by God. Progressives today state that these rights only worked in that day of rugged individualism and that today we have advanced into collectivism which requires different rights. This is the opposite of advance.