Spiritually self sustained and in communion with the true vine; Heb 10:22; 1Sa 17:48; John 15:16.

Title: Spiritually self sustained and in communion with the true vine; Heb 10:22; 1Sa 17:48; John 15:16.

 

A continued diet of Bible doctrine continues to cleanse the conscience from OSN and cosmic influence, Heb 10:22.

 

Heb 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

 

So the first approach is a dependable or genuine heart that desires truth.

 

The second approach is a confidence in the richness of doctrine.

 

Therefore, the third approach is a heart sprinkled from a conscience of painful mental attitude sins by the wisdom of the blood of Christ with the result that the believer is dedicated to freely serve God.

 

The fourth approach is the believer in fellowship, cleansed from all sin through the rebound technique.

 

So, in an expanded and corrected translation of Heb 10:22, taking the liberty of knowledge from various doctrines concerning these four approaches, we have:

 

 “Let us approach God with a dependable and genuine heart that desires the truth by means of confidence in the richness of doctrine, our hearts having been sprinkled from a conscience of painful mental attitude sins by the wisdom of the blood of Christ, and our body cleansed from all sin through confession.”

 

Therefore, this approach goes beyond positional truth into the realm of decisions for the plan of God after salvation. It is a call to a face to face proximity with God, in the third heaven, before the believer is actually there physically.

 

Phil 3:8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ,

 

Phil 3:9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,

 

Phil 3:10 that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

 

Phil 3:11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

 

Phil 3:12 Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

 

Phil 3:13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,

 

Phil 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

 

Phil 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you;

 

Phil 3:16 however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.

 

And so, the believer through his relationship with Christ and his relationship with Christ’s doctrines, remaining in fellowship through rebound, and walking in the light through applied wisdom and producing divine good feeds the self-consciousness with a good report, making crutches unnecessary and SSS a reality.

 

SSS is the bridge between spiritual self-esteem and spiritual autonomy. SSS means that you don’t use anything as a crutch and that you can stand confidently on your own doctrine and foundation in Christ.

 

There is perhaps no greater display of this mental attitude than David and Goliath.

 

1 Sam 17:26 Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?"

 

1 Sam 17:27 And the people answered him in accord with this word, saying, "Thus it will be done for the man who kills him."

 

1 Sam 17:28 Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's anger burned against David and he said, "Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle."

 

1 Sam 17:29 But David said, "What have I done now? Was it not just a question?"

 

1 Sam 17:30 Then he turned away from him to another and said the same thing; and the people answered the same thing as before.

 

1 Sam 17:31 When the words which David spoke were heard, they told them to Saul, and he sent for him.

 

1 Sam 17:32 And David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine."

 

1 Sam 17:33 Then Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth."

 

1 Sam 17:34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant was tending his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock,

 

1 Sam 17:35 I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him.

 

1 Sam 17:36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God."

 

David recalls past victories that were the result of God’s deliverance and concludes that if God did so before that he will do so again. This is a major system of thinking in being SSS.

 

1 Sam 17:37 And David said, "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and may the Lord be with you."

 

1 Sam 17:38 Then Saul clothed David with his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head, and he clothed him with armor.

 

1 Sam 17:39 And David girded his sword over his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. So David said to Saul, "I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them." And David took them off.

 

1 Sam 17:40 And he took his stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd's bag which he had, even in his pouch, and his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine.

 

1 Sam 17:41 Then the Philistine came on and approached David, with the shield-bearer in front of him.

 

1 Sam 17:42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance.

 

1 Sam 17:43 And the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

 

1 Sam 17:44 The Philistine also said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field."

 

1 Sam 17:45 Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.

 

1 Sam 17:46 This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,

 

1 Sam 17:47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hands."

 

1 Sam 17:48 Then it happened when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, that David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.

 

1 Sam 17:49 And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground.

 

1 Sam 17:50 Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David's hand.

 

1 Sam 17:51 Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

 

1 Sam 17:52 And the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines as far as the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the slain Philistines lay along the way to Shaaraim, even to Gath and Ekron.

 

1 Sam 17:53 And the sons of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines and plundered their camps.

 

1 Sam 17:54 Then David took the Philistine's head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his weapons in his tent.

 

David didn’t want the people looking at the weapons, as if they were the implements of deliverance.

 

John 15:16 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you.

 

In the upper room discourse on the night before His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus used the figure of the vine and the branches to describe His relationship to His disciples.

 

This revelation of the ministry of Christ to and through His disciples portrays the conditions for fruit bearing as well as the ministry of the Father, the vinedresser, the privilege of the branches in relationship to the vine, and the danger of superficial connection to Christ.

 

As in other figures that are used to describe spiritual truth, it is an illustration which should not be pressed beyond the proper bounds. Seen within the limitation described in the Scriptures themselves, the figure provides another important means of revealing the relationship between Christ and His own.

 

In its NT usage, the word for “vine” [a;mpeloj; ampelos] is always associated with fruit-bearing (Matt 26:29; Mark 14:25; Luke 22:18; James 3:12).

 

Matt 26:26 And while they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." 

 

Matt 26:27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; 

 

Matt 26:28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

 

Matt 26:29 "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."

 

What you say, how you say, and when you say can be divine fruit production, Jam 3:12.

 

James 3:2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.

 

James 3:3 Now if we put the bits into the horses' mouths so that they may obey us, we direct their entire body as well.

 

James 3:4 Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder, wherever the inclination of the pilot desires.

 

James 3:5 So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. Behold, how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!

 

James 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.

 

James 3:7 For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by the human race.

 

James 3:8 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

 

James 3:9 With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;

 

James 3:10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

 

James 3:11 Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?

 

James 3:12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Neither can salt water produce fresh.

 

Christ is the true vine. The word for true (avlhqino,j; alethinos) refers to that which not only bears the name or resemblance but corresponds in its real nature to that which it is called.