Angelic Conflict part 255: The Carrier of the kingdom of God – 2Co 10:3-5; Eph 2:1-10; 1:18-23; 3:14-21; 5:6-16; 1Co 2:9-10; Rom 8:10-25.Title: Angelic Conflict part 255: The Carrier of the kingdom of God – 2Co 10:3-5; Eph 2:1-10; 1:18-23; 3:14-21; 5:6-16; 1Co 2:9-10; Rom 8:10-25.
Yet, if Christ could command demons to remove themselves from a man then it is sure that through the mind of Christ and the power of the indwelling Spirit, the believer can remove doctrines of demons from their soul and continue to reject them in his experience.
2Co 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
2Co 10:4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
2Co 10:5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
If we look again at the plundering of the strong man's house we can correlate it with the plundering of our own house, i.e. the house of the soul. As a man thinks in his soul so he is. The soul is where we live and if we follow Christ by taking in His doctrine and walking by means of His Spirit then the house will be filled with the kingdom of God. If we do not follow Him then the house will be filled with the kingdom of darkness. [thinking, wisdom, goals, priorities, objectives, tactics, etc.]
Our souls were once under the control of the strong man.\
Eph 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
Of course, this means spiritually dead; that is, he is unable to understand and appreciate spiritual things. He possesses no spiritual life, and he can do nothing of himself to please God. Just as a person physically dead does not respond to physical stimuli, so a person spiritually dead is unable to respond to spiritual things. A corpse does not hear the conversation going on in the funeral parlor. He has no appetite for food or drink; he feels no pain; he is dead. Just so with the inner man of the unsaved person. His spiritual faculties do not exist, and they cannot exist until God gives him life through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
spiritual death - separation from God. The wages of sin is death. It applies to the unsaved moral man or immoral man.
The unbeliever is not sick, he is dead. Christ displayed His power over death physically, but the unbeliever doesn't need resuscitation, rather he needs resurrection, which we all received spiritually the moment we believed in Christ. We are seated with Him in the heavens, verse 6. (and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,)
Eph 2:2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
The world system is built for conformity. Man must conform to it if he is to succeed in it. This principle will hit its zenith in the Tribulation.
Rev 13:17 he provides that no one should be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.
A keen eye on current events will see that the world is marching toward this rapidly. For now the conformation to the world is more subtle.
The unsaved person or the saved person minus doctrine, either consciously or unconsciously, is controlled by the values and attitudes of this world system.
The spirits of the world are its ministers, demons, and doctrines of demons. These are both immoral and moral; legalistic and ascetic. satan can only be at one place at one time, but he has devised a system with ministers that can influence everyone. That is slavery to a cruel tyrant and cruel system.
Eph 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh [sin nature], indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature [fall] children of wrath, even as the rest.
So in verse two we have the world and satan with his kingdom of darkness and in verse three we have the flesh.
The believer's three enemies: satan and the KOD, the world system, and the old sin nature.
Why does a cat behave differently than a dog? Why do domesticated animals behave differently than wild animals? It is their nature. A sinner behaves as a sinner. This does not justify sin, but by nature, our OSN behave badly, whether in human strength or weakness, or moral or immoral degeneracy.
The leopard cannot change his spots to stripes, and neither can an unbeliever make himself righteous. All of us are born fallen, dead spiritually, and separate from God and we need outside help. Only God can make us righteous and holy and that was accomplished through the work of His Son on Calvary.
Everything leading up to Calvary was an ultimate display of His power and then on the cross, the world saw the ultimate display of His love.
Before the cross the kingdom of God was embodied in Christ. At the cross the kingdom of God was given to men through faith and without cost.
The kingdom of Israel and the Mosaic Law was a shadow of the kingdom to come. The kingdom of the Jews was promised to them in the future through the seed of Abraham. Sin was covered through sacrificial animal blood until the time when those sins would be judged upon Christ. The OT saint died still in captivity to the earth until Christ, after finishing the work, would set them free.
When Christ came the kingdom was in Him, the one and only King. To the nation of Israel He was the Son of David and was rejected.
Joh 1:11-13 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
To the Church He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, but when did He receive that title? There were no kings or lords before the cross was finished, He was resurrected, ascended and sat down at the right hand of God.
Eph 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might
Eph 1:20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.
Eph 1:22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23 which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.
1Ti 6:14-15 keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time — He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords;
Eph 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh [sin nature], indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature [fall] children of wrath, even as the rest.
As children of wrath by nature we indulged the desires of the flesh and the wishes of the mind. This was our only appetite.
These are moral, immoral, licentious, ascetic, legalistic, and hedonistic. We had no appetite for anything spiritual. We could do nothing to merit or earn salvation or deliverance from this slavery to the world, the flesh, and the humanistic wishes of the mind. We consisted of those who were kind and sweet and those who were unkind and obnoxious; pillars of society who were looked up to and murderers. Without Christ, without faith in His redemptive work, faith alone in Christ alone, we are destined for wrath along with all who reject Him.
Joh 3:18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Christ plundered the strong man and set us (captives) free. What a difference two words make! "But God..."
The focus now turns completely from sinful mankind to the God of infinite love.
Eph 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
From the belly of the fish Jonah finally came to his senses:
Jon 2:9-10 Salvation is from the Lord." Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.
This is symbolic of all of us.
Love is one of God's intrinsic attributes, but when this love is related to sinners, it becomes mercy (vs. 4) and grace (vs. 5, 7).
God is "rich in mercy" (Eph 2:4) and in "grace" (Eph 2:7), and these riches make it possible for sinners to be saved. It comes as a shock to some people when they discover that we are not saved "by God's love," but by God's mercy and grace that were motivated by His love.
In His mercy, He does not give us what we do deserve; and in His grace He gives us what we do not deserve.
And all of this is made possible because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. It was at Calvary that God displayed His hatred for sin and His love for sinners.
Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Eph 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
Spiritual resurrection - being alive together with Christ in position while on earth and living in that life while walking in the devil's world.
The NT has much to say about living in time in your spiritual resurrection and not in the sleep or death that the world is under.
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