Joshua and Judges: Crossing the Jordan - Obeying God's delegated authority, part 14. Jos 1:16-18; Rom 13:1-3; 1Pe 2:11-17.

Title: Joshua and Judges: Crossing the Jordan - Obeying God's delegated authority, part 14. Jos 1:16-18; Rom 13:1-3; 1Pe 2:11-17.

Announcementsopening prayer:

1Pe 2:11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul.

War in the soul is the absence of perfect peace. The pursuit of lusts brings war and conflict.

1Pe 2:12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles [unsaved world - ruling authorities], so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Honor comes before excellence (intrinsic good).

This word can be translated as "seemly" in the sense that our overt lives match what is within. This means no hypocrisy or acting. It means that the new creature within, the treasure in the earthen vessel, must shine forth to the heathen world so that Christ is seen in every Christian. Instead of Jesus walking this earth alone, He now indwells millions and through them can reveal Himself, not just in word but in deed and in excellence while we sojourn amongst our pagan neighbors.

Remember that honor means the ability to evaluate truthfully and then attach a value, and when true value, as God would deem, is recognized, it produces deference, respect, reverence, kindness, courtesy, and obedience.

If the believer evaluates the new creature in light of the word of God and the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit then he will see its priceless value. This is honor. Being then honorable, his outward conduct, behavior, and the way he carries himself will be intrinsically good, the good that only comes from the source of God.

The tribes that pledged to follow Joshua just as they had Moses because God was with him had honor. They evaluated the situation through the word of God properly and concluded the value of following God's man into battle.

1. Regeneration through the baptism of the HS.

2. Evaluation of the new creature from the WOGHS.

3. Fathom and appreciate its value = honor.

4. Walk in a manner that is intrinsically good.

But what if you fail to evaluate life from the foundation of the word of God?

1Co 3:10

According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder [architect] I laid a foundation [blueprint], and another is building upon it. But let each man be careful how he builds upon it.

Some so-called Christians evaluate Christianity and life from the foundation of current liberalism or worldly doctrine rather than the word of God and the filling of the Spirit. This is now very popular to do in America. They say that those who hold to hard rules and commands as the Christian way of life are old fashioned and on the wrong side of history - not progressive. They claim Christ as their Lord and reject much of His teaching. They keep the parts that they like, and really don't understand, and they reject the rest. They claim that they are free to do as they please because everyone is different and to judge them for this is anti-God because God doesn't judge. God commanded us not to judge. He judges plenty, and perfectly. So they flaunt their homosexuality, their rejection of authority, their laziness, etc. and as claiming to be Christian they state that their own version of freedom, which matches the world's pretty much point for point, is Christianity, when all it is, is the same garbage that any liberal atheist or agnostic would state. And then they say they don't judge, and in the next breath state, "like those other archaic Christians." Ah, yeah, you judged.

This is just one example of many, where the first step, gaining the true knowledge from the word of God so that one may evaluate properly, falls flat due to non-truth being heralded as truth.

Isa 5:20

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;,

Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;,

Who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

It is telling when avoid agnostic can see this hypocrisy and these so-called Christians cannot.

To such a blatant liberal, progressive, so-called Christian message, the following comment was posted in response by a person who is a Jewish agnostic.

"You guys (Christians) have really got to figure out your liberal Christianity problem. Look, I’m a Jewish agnostic, and my Sunday morning ritual is brunch. Why anyone would swap out real brunch for fake “we’re trying super-hard to be secular and cool and brunch-like so that you guys will like us” Christianity, I have no idea. Real Christianity is a compelling, complete belief system that demands something of its adherents: hence, a REASON to skip brunch. “Brunch Christianity,” on the other hand, has absolutely zero appeal over real brunch. At least at real brunch the wine is better.

… I mean the loosening and dumbing-down of the ethical demands Christianity makes on its adherents, for example, to not have sex before marriage, etc. There is a difference between emphasizing forgiveness for sins and basically keeping mum when you know even those in your direct congregation are flagrantly violating the ethical rules of the religion over and over again, and in fact, defend those violations as ethically sound.

My point [is] that Christianity, stripped of any “hardness” and requirements, is just one more activity to feel good about yourself on a Sunday. I humbly suggest that sitting in a church pew, stripped of higher moral instruction or serious examination of theological truths, is not good competition for other Sunday activities similarly lacking in ethical dimension, such as brunch or watching football. In my view, these liberal churches will continue to bleed adherents, because attending doesn’t really matter in the end; it’s no different than other activities in the world." [end quote]

This violation of Christ's way is addressed in verse 16:

1Pe 2:16 Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.

Do not uphold your liberty as a cloak of wickedness, but use your freedom as a slave of God.

The word "excellent" is the Greek word kalos and it means that which is intrinsically good, i.e. good by nature, from within, and not an act. It is the good that is God.

Intrinsic means belonging to the true nature of a thing; not dependent on external circumstances; essential or inherent.

Though completely hypocritical, the unbeliever loves to judge the believer for any bad conduct. So why should we care? We care because of the witness of Christ in us.

It is necessary for the believer to diverge from the things of the world and live a life of separation, not a separation from the unbelievers, for then we would have no one to witness to, but separation from them in conduct of life. This is sanctification.

The words "speak against" are literally "speak down," referring to the act of adversely criticizing a person. The separated life of a Christian is one of the most powerful means God has of convicting the world of its sin.

The world does not like its sin uncovered, hence the persecution which it directs against the separated Christian. Like it or not, the people of the world watch the Christian. The word "observe" in the Greek text means "to view carefully as a personal witness."

Said to His unbelieving brothers:

Joh 7:7

"The world cannot hate you; but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.

The Greek word for "visitation" is the same word that means a pastor. Episkope refers to an overseer. Here it refers to God being the overseer of their souls, which would occur at their salvation.

Some of them will see God in their neighbor believers and come to faith in the gospel and then they will glorify God in the day of their salvation when God becomes their Father and the overseer of their souls. God certain doesn't need the believer as a witness, but He certainly uses us as such. The sanctified believer is a vessel of honor who is useful to the Master.

And so, in the context of being a witness of Christ in the midst of the unbelievers around you is submission to every human institution for the Lord's sake.

1Pe 2:13 Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority,

The words "submit yourselves" are the translation of a Greek military term meaning "to arrange in military fashion under the command of a leader."

One could translate, "put yourselves in the attitude of submission to." The exhortation is not merely to obey ordinances, but to create and maintain that attitude of heart which will always lead one to obey them. "Human institution" refers to the ordinances of man, such as the laws of the land. The word for institution is a word that means creation. Man creates institutions, some of them are honorable and most of them are not to varying degrees. Christians are to do this because of their testimony to the Lord Jesus and not because the institutions are always honorable.

1Pe 2:14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.

1Pe 2:15 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.

Doing right, divine right or righteousness, will eventually muzzle the slander of evil, ignorant, and foolish men.

It will eventually undeniable that what you do is good and their slander is unjust. If you reject authority as they do and pursue lusts as they do, and all the while claiming to be of God, then their slander will be seen as justified.

Act 4:13-14

Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John, and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were marveling, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply.

This doesn't mean that the Sanhedrin didn't continue to persecute them, they were just dumbfounded by the power they witnessed. It's not about convincing everyone of the truth or of being vindicated before all men. It IS about being an expert witness for the Lord Jesus Christ while He sits at the right hand of God.

They are ignorant of grace and forgiveness, but this is not about being just before God, which all believers are, it is about being a witness of Christ to the pagan population.