The plan of God moves on, with or without you; John 15:16

Title: The plan of God moves on, with or without you; John 15:16.

 

Contrast Abraham and Cyrus. Contrast Paul and Judas.

 

The potter molds for His use both the believer and unbeliever, but God does not predetermine faith in a person. Faith is a matter of free will.

 

Verse nine is quoted in Rom 9, the chapter that is magnanimous to the hyper and moderate Calvinist.

 

ROM 9:1 I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,

 

ROM 9:2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.

 

No believer in the client nation should rejoice over the destruction of that nation. The RFHC demands patriotism.

 

ROM 9:3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,

 

ROM 9:4 who are Israelites [racial and spiritual heritage], to whom belongs the adoption as sons [royal family of David] and the glory [Shekinah glory] and the covenants [four unconditional covenants] and the giving of the Law [divine establishment] and the temple service [Levitical offerings] and the promises [secure future],

 

ROM 9:5 whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

 

Having so many gifts from God is not the issue; it is your volition that counts.

 

Unbelievers don’t see the need for a Savior and so they reject Him and they lose. Believers who become apathetic towards the word of God lose.

 

The true Jew can never be a Jew by simply possessing the genes of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The true Jew must possess the spiritual heritage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which is the new birth.

 

The spiritual heritage is the new birth.

 

ROM 9:6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;

 

Because of the insertion of the Church Age and the administration of the fifth cycle of discipline to the nation of Judah it does not follow that Israel has no future.

 

 

During the CA the unbelieving Jew does not see Israel as a client nation and this complicates things for him and discourages him. What they fail to understand is that God is going to keep His promises to Abraham, to David, and to the prophets and Israel has a future, but that future can only be realized through Christ, their Messiah.

 

Many unbelieving Jews have given up on God and don’t even know the covenants any more.

 

The continued failure of man in no way cancels anything in the word of God. Man continues to display his individual self-determination and free will.

 

God does not need us to fulfil His plan, but we certainly need Him. Any departure from the word of God is certain disaster in the soul of man.

 

In the policy of God it is always grace first. In the directive of God doctrine is always first.

 

ROM 9:7 neither are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: "through Isaac your descendants will be named."

 

Isaac was a believer and Ishmael an unbeliever. The genes of Abraham does not save, faith saves.

 

 “descendants” - spe,rma[sperma] = seed. Abraham’s seed is in contrast to Isaac’s seed that will be elected.

 

 “named” - kale,w[kaleo] = election. This is in reference to the election of Israel through Isaac and Jacob.

 

It is no mistake that Abraham has two sons and Isaac has two sons that have the same contrast. The first born is the unbeliever and the second born is the believer. So, though primogeniture counts culturally it does not count spiritually. In fact, Abraham’s older brother Nahor never became a believer either.

 

GAL 3:26

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

 

John 3:6

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

 

This was said to Nicodemus who was a teacher in Israel, and he failed to see its implication, so far had Israel gotten from the truth that God the HS is communicating through Paul in Romans 9.

 

Therefore, the divine election of Israel is limited to those racial Jews who are born again through faith in Jesus Christ.

 

God does not submit to man’s ways, for His ways are higher. What man esteems generally is against God, and although God allows it for a time, all will come into obedience, whether through judgment or blessing. Man’s free will must line up with the +S will of God.

 

[internet clip - the brain actually changes, as we will see with Pharaoh and Esau; ED]

 

The Gentiles originated through Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. However, the Jews originated from the spiritual maturity of Abraham, therefore, the Jews have a spiritual heritage first and foremost and a racial heritage second.

 

The election of Israel [Jacob] will result chronologically in the election of Christ, which will result in the election of individuals in the Church-age.

 

Paul’s burden originates from the fact that contemporary Jews have been blinded from their spiritual heritage by means of negative volition.

 

John 8:31-33

 Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." 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'?

 

Spiritual blindness causes even natural blindness. How can they say they have never yet been enslaved to anyone when there is a Roman praetorium filled with soldiers right in the midst of Jerusalem?

 

ROM 9:8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded [imputed] as descendants [seed].

 

ROM 9:9 For this is a word of promise: "At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son."

 

This is quoted from GEN 18:10. When Sarah heard it she laughed to herself and God heard her. When Abraham was first told he laughed openly in front of the Lord and so Isaac would be his name, which means laughter.

 

The plan of God moves on, with you or without you. The only way you can adjust to it is to make daily decisions to hear doctrine, and if so, distractions and discouragements will come.

 

Believers are constantly being distracted and discouraged from a healthy diet of daily listening to the word of God from their prepared, right pastor-teacher. Then they fail to adjust to the plan of God and the plan moves right on without them. However, they can rebound and recover and get back with the plan, but like so many, the details of life become an entanglement and the word of God becomes the still small whisper that they barely hear any more.

 

There might be some or much of this chapter that you do not grasp at this time, but remember what you do know and how it has delivered you from just existing in this life to actually living. In this we recognize that the word of God is enough for us and that in time we will come to know all that God has revealed.

 

We should understand that God has reasons which are unknown to us. When standing at the threshold of time and eternity there is no shame in admitting that there are some things we do not understand. It should be sufficient that we have God's word for it.

 

This is an illustration from Donald Barnhouse: While all illustrations fall down if expressed in detail, let us imagine a case and compare it with what we have before us here. A small boy has a pet dog which he loves very dearly. He plays with that dog every day and the dog sleeps beside him at night. One day the boy opens the door of the family garage just in time to see his father kill the dog. The fatal shot rings out and the boy screams and rushes toward the dog. The father catches the boy who kicks and screams against him. "You killed my dog. You killed my dog. I hate you. I hate you." The father carries the boy into the house and says, "My son, I will tell you why I had to kill him." But the boy runs from his father, screaming, "I hate you. I hate you. You killed my dog."

 

In order to make our parable fit the spiritual fact we are trying to explain, we will continue in a somewhat absurd way. Men who act in an absurd way toward God may not see their own absurdity, but they would be quick to detect the absurdity in the parallel. This boy, we will say, continues to live in his father's house, eating the meals that are provided by his father, wearing the clothes that are provided by his father, while constantly saying that he hates his father because his father killed his dog. When the boy grows up and begins to have some understanding of disease, he is given clippings which show that there had been an epidemic of rabies in his neighborhood, that a mad dog had bitten several children, and that some of them had died. He even finds a clipping which states that the mad dog bit several other dogs in the neighborhood and that it was necessary for the owners to destroy those pets. From his maturity the boy can look back on his childhood and see how warped were his opinions of his father. He had carried hatred of his father through the years because his father had crossed his childish will when he was four or five years old. Yet now he sees the evidence that his father was acting in wisdom and love, and that his pet dog might have bitten him and caused his own death.

 

It can happen that one doctrine that is not understood may cause the believer to get discouraged and to focus on it so intently that he forgets the dozens of doctrines he does understand. Protect your soul.

 

 

 

1 Peter 5:8

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

 

He does so with false doctrine and suffering.