The cosmos is ignorant of the plan of God; John 15:21.

Title: The cosmos is ignorant of the plan of God; John 15:21.

 

There is an abrupt change in Jesus’ message starting in verse 18. In John 15, verses 1-17 have been about our benefits in Him, which are the ability to bear fruit, love with His love, to have His joy made full in us etcetera. The transition to hatred from the world is abrupt, but not so much when you think that it is for the very calling out by Christ of His Church and within her those who would be positive towards doctrine that the world hates them, and so the transition from one to another is not so strange. 

 

John 15:18 "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.

 

The first reason the world hates the believer priest who is in the plan of God - they hated Christ and therefore hated grace.

 

John 15:19 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

 

The second reason is because the believer priest in the plan of God no longer belongs to the world.

 

The third reason is that the slave is not greater than his master.

 

John 15:20 "Remember [call to mind from the erected structure of doctrine] the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.

 

The reason you call doctrine to mind is to apply it to the situation.

And the situation will always be ready for you; the question is are you ready for it?

 

Then He makes the application:

“if” is a 1^st class condition; “they have persecuted me or put pressure on Me [dioko], they will also persecute you or put pressure on you [and they have].”

 

Jesus was not persecuted every minute but there were times when the pressure was on. The future tense, “they will also persecute you,” means that they are not a target yet as He was their protection. As long as Christ is on the earth He is the target, but He says that in the future they will be.

 

In the Church-age every believer is now the target of pressure or persecution by the cosmic system at certain points of time.

 

Pressure on an object will reveal its strength and purity or its flaws and weaknesses.

 

Diamond is the hardest natural substance on earth. It’s formed from heat and pressure at 100 feet below the earth’s mantle. It’s carbon just like a lump of coal or the graphite in a pencil or a water purifier.

 

It takes 1.5 million psi and 3600 degrees F to turn coal into diamond. Once in diamond form the substance can stand up to a great amount of heat and pressure.

 

There is one thing I want to add to this and that is when a diamond is made it becomes very useful in the practical sense. Since it is harder than almost every substance it can cut almost every substance.

 

When the believer is made strong and pure through the application of doctrine under pressure [in failure and success] then he becomes useful to his Master.

 

This is addressed to Timothy, a young pastor, but it has application for all believers.

 

2 Tim 2:14 Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle [strive] about words [cosmicology], which is useless, and leads to the ruin of the hearers.

 

2 Tim 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.

 

What is given is the mechanics and tools to survive the world, to live not just as the world does but what the world can’t even understand.  ,l

 

2 Tim 2:16 But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness,

 

2 Tim 2:17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

 

2 Tim 2:18 men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and thus they upset the faith of some.

 

2 Tim 2:19 Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from wickedness."

 

“names the name of the Lord” - I believe that He is God, Man, Savior, and my Lord or Master. “wickedness” = [adikia] = unrighteousness, which is living in the cosmic system. 

 

2 Tim 2:20 Now in a large house [the Church] there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware [reversionists], and some to honor and some to dishonor.

 

2 Tim 2:21 Therefore, if a man cleanses himself from these things [worldly, empty chatter, arguing over words], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

 

2 Tim 2:22 Now flee from youthful lusts [strong desire], and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

 

2 Tim 2:23 But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations [debaters questions for the sake of debating], knowing that they produce quarrels.

 

Some people just like to argue and debate and wrangle over words without any absolutes. These we are commanded to avoid.

 

In verse 22, to flee from one thing you have to flee to another thing. It is no good to flee from immoral degeneracy to immoral degeneracy or vice versa for both are the products of the OSN. To flee from the strong desires of youth it is only profitable to flee to righteousness.

 

“youthful strong desires” - approbation lust, power lust, monetary lust, sexual lust, popularity lust, chemical lust, pride, arrogance.

 

A strong desire for these things have been in the minds of millions of young men and women and even those who have attained most of them or even all of them have not found fulfillment.

 

History speaks of them. Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, Vanderbilt, etc., and Solomon, the greatest tragedy of these desires.

 

The word “pure” is a word for clean as opposed to unclean. Clean refers to how God would agree with it. Purity is right thinking in the only way it can be right as God is right or righteous. Purity is agreement with him in mind, soul, and heart. As I said, pressure tests the purity of a substance, whether it is contaminated with other substances of subpar strength or weakened by fissures or cracks that reveal unsure organization.

 

Purity is not hampered by desires. There is nothing wrong with desires. It only the perversion of them that makes for weakness, flaws, and therefore, sin and evil.

 

God has made a plan to fulfill these desires in His way, which is set apart from the world.

 

Ps 37:1 Do not fret because of evildoers,

Be not envious toward wrongdoers.

 

Ps 37:2 For they will wither quickly like the grass,

And fade like the green herb.

 

Ps 37:3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;

Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

 

Ps 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord;

And He will give you the desires of your heart.

 

“Delight” - anag = to be delicate with, to be pampered, to take exquisite delight in another, to be merry over someone, to be intimate with someone.

 

Ps 37:5 Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

 

Ps 37:6 And He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

And your judgment as the noonday.

 

John 15:20 "Remember [call to mind from the erected structure of doctrine] the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.

 

And then we have the wonderful alternative from the RFOG who are also positive towards the word of God.

 

if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.

 

Again we have a 1^st class condition meaning certainty concerning the fellowship in the word of God through the RFOG.

 

The word to “keep” here is thre,wto guard something that belongs to self. There is a fellowship amongst those believers who regard mystery doctrine as their top priority.

 

A good question is, “What are the disciples, soon to be apostles, going to teach?” Mosaic Law, morality, emotion, etc.

 

So few on this earth ever experience this often overlooked blessing to the Church. The lack of judging, the encouragement, the support, the camaraderie, the common goals of the RFOG has escaped the life of most every person while it has yet been offered to every person.

 

All believers of the Church Age belong to a unique system of royalty that is based on the spiritual concept of Bible doctrine, a specific doctrine, the doctrine of the mystery.

 

Those who honor the mystery doctrine of the CA share a common mind, a common love, are united in spirit, and intent on one purpose.

 

That’s why this fellowship or common purpose is not shared with other denominations who emphasize everything but the mystery doctrine for the CA.   

 

John 15:21 "But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.

 

The fourth reason for this hatred: because the cosmos is ignorant of the plan of God.

 

“all these things” is a reference to satan’s system of culture, politics, education, religion, legalism, phallic cultism, etc. designed to obscure and ridicule the plan of God.

 

Satan is in the business of exalting self and opposing God. Satan is therefore in opposition to the plan of God. He has designed a plan to counter the plan of God. He has designed systems of culture, politics, education, in order to obscure the ridicule of the plan of God. He is the author of religion and legalism and he is doing everything he can to discredit grace and discredit the plan of God during the Church Age.

 

“they will do” - they refers to anyone who is involved in Satan’s system. Satan’s warfare adapts itself to times and conditions. Christians have found themselves in the Colosseum thrown to the lions and found themselves unable to put a nativity on public property. Whatever is most effective satan will do.

 

Sometimes he seeks to destroy all believers on the earth, when history is right for it, and at other times he seeks to discredit believers on the earth. Sometimes he entices the believer away with false doctrine and sometimes he just wipes him out with those who have false doctrine.

 

“because they do not know” - oi=da[oida - perfect active indicative] with the negative ouvk[ouk] = to have no inherent knowledge, to have not seen or perceived.

 

Knowledge of the Father is not inherited. No one is born with the knowledge of Him. In fact we are all born spiritually dead and aliens from Him, separate from Him, enemies of Him, and with an insurmountable barrier between us and Him.

 

Don’t be shocked that the world doesn’t know God. What is the first word that comes to mind when someone in the world is asked about Christianity and you can bet that it is not “grace.”

 

[L.S. Chafer; volume 2; Satanology]

The idea that man will stand on a basis of personal worthiness has been the chief heresy, opposing the central doctrine of grace, from the time of Christ’s death to the present hour. It so permeates the church that few who preach are able to exclude it from their attempts at gospel preaching. It is safe to say that wherever the element of human merit is allowed to intrude into the presentation of the plan of salvation, the message is satanic to that extent. The ministers of Satan proclaim personal righteousness as the ground of the individual’s right relations to God (2 Cor. 11:13-15). No sphere of profession has been more confused and befogged by the intrusion of human merit than has the Church of Rome.   

 

John 15:21 "But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.

 

“because of my name [title] = The Lord Jesus Christ - deity, humanity, Savior.

 

What’s in a name? The first 10 generations:

 

Hebrew	English
Adam	Man
Seth	Appointed
Enosh	Mortal
Kenan	Sorrow
Mahalalel	The Blessed God
Jared	Shall come down
Enoch	Teaching
Methuselah	His death shall bring
Lamech	The despairing
Noah	Rest, or comfort

Title: The cosmos is ignorant of the plan of God; John 15:21.