Angelic Conflict part 141: Human history – Heb 3; Rom 5:1-5; 1Co 9:24-27; Pro 17:27-28; 2Co 11:13-15; Act 20:28-35.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 141: Human history – Heb 3; Rom 5:1-5; 1Co 9:24-27; Pro 17:27-28; 2Co 11:13-15; Act 20:28-35.

 

 

Adversity not only tests the presence of divine virtue, but if it is revealed to the believer that he possesses it, it will increase his joyful expectation of future deliverance and prosperity.

 

Verses 1-2 identify our position in Christ, which should give the believer peace of mind in that he has eternal life and is a child of God forever and these cannot be taken away.

 

Rom 5:1 Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

 

Rom 5:2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

 

Rom 5:3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;

 

“tribulations” – afflictions; “perseverance” – to abide under [lit.]; patience, endurance and persistence while waiting for the deliverance from God.

 

Rom 5:4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;

 

“proven character” – dokimh,[dokime] = the process of testing, proving, or approving.

 

“hope” – evlpij[elpis] = happy and confident expectation.

 

Rom 5:5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

 

I now understand the meaning of this verse. This is truly a confirmation that you will find Him when you seek for Him with all your heart. How would we see the love of God [self-existing love] in our hearts if we were not put to the test in certain afflictions, remained under those afflictions while patiently awaiting God’s deliverance, going through the process of testing so that we see clearly that after these years of Bible doctrine we actually do possess divine love? One cannot tell if something is pure or not unless it is tested.

In the age of invisible heroes, to the untrained eye, the false virtue and the true one may look the same, so don’t think you function in divine virtue to be noticed by mankind. God sees the difference and that’s all that matters.

 

1Sa 16:7

But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

 

Divine virtue love is a tool that we see in our divine virtue toolbox. This in no way guarantees that we will use the tool every time that we should, but at least we know it’s there, and with more testing, more growth, more motivation, we will use it more and more and that makes us just smile at the future.

 

Hope or happy confident expectation does not disappoint because we have seen the love of God that was poured into our hearts.

 

And this verse further identifies these virtues or fruit of the Spirit as coming straight from God, left to us as a gracious gift, and they are by no means manufactured by us. There are forgeries that have been manufactured by man under the guidance and deception of satan, but by being finite and not self-existing, they are worthless compared to the pure virtues from God. We must be reminded not to buy them, but through doctrine, receive the virtues that belong to God, are of His character and essence, and are given freely to the believer.

 

“has been poured out” – evkce,w[ekcheo; perfect passive indicative] = to pour out or to shed forth; bleed out. Passive voice means that we receive the action.

 

Divine, virtue love is poured out into the heart of the believer as faith is mixed with hearing the word of God that is alive and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. And the affliction, perseverance under it, the continued test, is what revealed to you that you actually possess it.

 

1Co 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.

 

Win – there is no greater prize than the divine nature within consisting of self-existing virtues.

 

Heb 4:1

Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains [left behind] of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.

 

1Co 9:25And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath [earthly], but we an imperishable [heavenly].

 

There are many hindrances, stumbling blocks, and wrong courses that satan has planted in his cosmic system designed take us away from this rest. There is one course that takes us right towards it, as the pillar was leading the exodus to the Promised Land and that is termed predestination in the NT. Therefore, self-control is needed, but not human self-control which is usually accomplished with gimmicks but the self-existent self-control that is a part of the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit.

 

1Co 9:26Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air [I know my goal in Christ and I’m heading towards it];

 

1Co 9:27but I buffet my body and make it my slave [not allowing myself to be a slave of it], lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.

 

adokimazo – the test results will be negative. Pseudo and worldly substitutes for God’s virtues are not pure, not self-existing, and are dependent on people, events, and circumstances.

 

So when those people, events, or circumstances change, and they will for life is naturally erratic, everchanging, or mutable, then the substitutes will disappear and will be shown for what they are, weak forgeries.

 

The normal course of life will reveal the weakness of these pseudo substitutes since every person experiences pressure from the law of volitional responsibility. We live in a world torn by the invisible war or AC and so there are pressures produced by man’s choices making them a part of the permissive will of God and are not directed by Him.

 

However, if life’s circumstances don’t shout loud enough to the weak believer that he has no virtue, which will result in further hard heartedness, God will bring tests into his life in order to reveal him that he has bought a substitute, dependent virtue and fooled himself that it was the pure virtue.

 

Once again:

Heb 3:7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says [divine inspiration of OT],

"Today if you hear His voice,

 

The rebellion of the exodus is as pertinent today as it was then. What is most important today is if you will hear His voice through the intake of doctrine.

 

Heb 3:8 Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,

 

Hardening of the heart begins when the celebrityship of Christ comes in conflict with some other priority in your soul.

 

The symptoms of this are a sloppy doctrinal intake and a resultant sloppy spiritual life.

 

It can begin when you don’t deal with mental attitude sins through divine problem solving, or you get your eyes on people or things, or you get your eyes on the frustrations and disappointments in life. Something begins to cloud your occupation with Christ and something or someone else dethrones Him in your soul.

 

Signs of beginning reversionism: sloppy doctrinal intake; loss of contentment/peace/rest; frantic search for happiness; anger, depression, desolation.

 

It happens to every believer (I repeat – this happens to every believer), and multiple times in his life, and the ones who overcome are those that recognize this dangerous trend early enough and change their system of thinking through recovery.

 

For those to whom this letter is written, they have about 2-3 years to recover and get out of Jerusalem before it is too late.