15 Jan 2010
WELCOME BACK. I AM PASTOR DOUG. WE NOW CONTINUE WITH PART 177 IN OUR SERIES ENTITLED, “PAUL’S LETTERS TO THE CORINTHIANS.”
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The SPIRITUAL blessings that an advancing disciple receives during his/her time here on earth are intangible.
Although these assets ARE obtainable by ALL born again believers, they are only received and become a reality for a very small minority.
Such things include, but are not limited to experiential peace as well as positional peace with God.
Positional peace between the believing soul and God is the type of peace that was announced by the angel at the First Advent.
THIS peace becomes a permanent reality for ALL believers, as of the moment of salvation.
For some believers, this moment can be a very emotional experience, whereas for others it takes time before what takes place impacts how one feels.
The reality of spiritual truth is not determined, enhanced, or diminished by one’s emotions.
Experiential peace with God does not belong to those who know OF the truth, but to those who believe the truth and have been set free from the fear that the rejection of this truth would inevitably generate.
This truth sets one free from the fear that accompanies false doctrines that imply that salvation can be lost.
This freedom is maintained by rejecting the false doctrines that attack our faith.
The advancing disciple will experience peace of MIND during times of great adversity, tragedy, and sorrow.
The advancing disciple will have Biblical answers to the questions of life here in the devil’s world.
Such answers will not make sense or be understood by those who do not have the spiritual discernment to do so.
The advancing disciple will learn not to fear “bad news” or what life may bring. To the mature disciple, there is no such thing as “bad” news, only greater opportunities to glorify God. The spiritually mature believer acknowledges that God is in charge, and that in His wisdom, He has a divine purpose behind everything that He sends or allows to takes place.
The advancing disciple has no fear of dying or death. The advancing disciple acknowledges that the timing and circumstances of his/her death are basic parts in the individual plan that God has for him/her.
Physical death is not an end, but only a change of location.
The advancing disciple will not want to die one second before his/her appointed time, or remain here on earth one second more.
The advancing disciple will be content with the material possessions that one has, be they little or great.
The advancing disciple acknowledges that he/she must be at least willing to give up anything or anyone that the plan of God may require (Job 1:21/Genesis 22:12).
The advancing disciple will find meaning and purpose in each and EVERY day of one’s post salvation spiritual life.
Don’t be discouraged if these scenarios do not presently describe your walk with the Lord.
Such things do not become the experience of born again believers until most of them have gone through years of failure in the process.
The MAJORITY of born again believers never identify or remain in true discipleship long enough to receive them.
Perhaps YOU are one of the majority who have never identified the TRUE spiritual life, or have, but then allowed the distractions of life to lead you away (Luke 8:14).
If so, know that it’s never too late to get with or return to the plan of God.
The post-salvation life of the repentant thief on the cross next to our Lord consisted of only a few hours, but has inspired many individuals throughout the course of the Church Age (Luke 23: 42, 43).
As in case of the prodigal son (Luke 15:20), God the Father, keeps an eye on the road on which you left, watching for your return.
Once the wandering soul chooses to return, God will come to you and welcome you back home with open arms.
The angels of Heaven rejoice whenever any sinner repents (Luke 15:10).
Other than the sin of disbelief, there isn’t a sin you can commit that the Lord Jesus Christ hasn’t already atoned for and paid the penalty in full.
Those who say or feel that God will never forgive any category of sinners, other than those who choose to be unbelievers, have never learned or have rejected the truth concerning what took place on the cross.
The character and nature of God cannot require repayment for a sin debt that has been stamped PAID IN FULL by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The phrase, “the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ” is not only a reference to physical blood that our Lord shed while on the cross, but to all the Work that He accomplished while doing so.
Unlike the uncertainty that can surround confessing a wrong doing to another human being, the reaction of God, that being forgiveness, is made clear in 1John 1:9.
One of the differences in confessing sin to God as opposed to confessing a sin to another human being, is that there is no element of shock or surprise with God.
We are not telling God anything that He doesn’t already know. If fact, He knew of it before the temptation to commit it even entered our minds.
God knew of every sin that ever was or ever would be committed when He imputed the entire sin debt of the human race to the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ during His three hours of spiritual death on the cross.
On earth, there will always be those (John 15: 29, 30) who will be arrogant enough to have something to say about the grace and forgiveness that God extends to us or any other sinner.
This does not condone the sins we get involved with, but James 2:10 should remind us and those who would condemn us that we are all in the same stinking, sinking boat.
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WELCOME BACK. I AM PASTOR DOUG. WE NOW CONTINUE WITH PART 178 IN OUR SERIES ENTITLED, PAUL’S LETTERS TO THE CORINTHIANS”.
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What PEOPLE think of us is not the primary concern of the advancing disciple.
It’s what God thinks about him/her that really matters.
As the born again believer advances in discipleship, he/she will develop the ability to deal with the inherent hostility and/or arrogance of the fallen nature in both friends and foe alike.
The intangible assets and the accompanying experiences that the advancing disciple will have are not automatically received, nor are they necessarily retained.
It is important to distinguish the additional blessings associated with discipleship and the automatic and permanent benefits that all believers receive and permanently retain as of the moment of salvation (Titus 3:5).
The blessings of the advancing disciple are reserved for the born again believer in what would be similar to an escrow account here on Earth.
IF and when the advancing disciple reaches the corresponding level of spiritual maturity, the blessings in the account are released to him/her to experience as long as he/she continues to advance.
There are NO rest areas along the highway of the spiritual life. One either continues to progress and move forward, or takes an exit ramp.
Once off the highway of the true post salvation spiritual life, one can choose to travel along Works Road, Religion Street, or Independence Boulevard, but will drive around in meaningless circles in which NO divine good is ever produced.
God does not allow us to continue to the next hurdle until we first overcome the present hurdle that HE has placed in our path.
The degree, in which the blessings and assets that ARE received will be developed, strengthened, and reinforced, will be determined by the manner in which they are exercised by the ever advancing disciple.
If the advancing disciple chooses to retreat or to totally abandon the life of discipleship, God does not force him/her to remain, and he/she does NOT lose his/her salvation.
But what WILL be lost are the blessings, assets, and the joy of the Lord that the advancing disciple had experienced previously.
Such a retreating or deserting disciple will also forfeit the ETERNAL (1Corinthians 3:12-15) rewards that he/she would have otherwise received if he/she had stayed with plan of God.
The retreating or runaway disciple (Jonah 1:3) is subject to receiving divine discipline (Hebrews 12:6) to encourage him/her to return.
In 2Corinthians 6:10, Paul writes his last phrase in this passage, describing the true environment of an advancing disciple.
There we have the phrase, “…as having nothing, yet possessing all things.”
“Nothing” in this passage refers to how the value system of this world would ASSESS the earthly experience that will be the result of living for God, which is “foolishness” in the eyes of those who hold human viewpoint.
The earthly-oriented individual lacks the spiritual discernment to value the spiritual benefits that an advancing disciple possesses.
The naturally minded individual will often be very skeptical about the genuine reality of such things that the promoters of the spiritual life claim to experience, referring to them as phonies.
In the eyes of the world, believers are fools who deserve to receive nothing for being so naive as to believe that they are going to “get ahead” by following the principles of the Bible in what human viewpoint would call the “real” world.
Of course, what divine viewpoint and human viewpoint would perceive “getting ahead” to mean are two very different things.
It is often not until circumstances present themselves such as being diagnosed with a terminal illness that the earthly oriented person develops a new found interest in the “foolish” things of God. The intangible blessings of the advancing disciple become much coveted items when a born again believer glorifies God by not only being able to endure, but actually to be content and at peace in the midst of the worst of circumstances, from human viewpoint, that life or death can bring.
Unfortunately, for many back-sliding believers and unbelievers, the desire to pursue God and the things of God that comes to nearly everyone in times of dire scenarios, diminishes as soon as the adversity passes.
Certain blessings that are often taken for granted, such as sun light and one’s next breathe of air, are provided to unbelievers and believers alike under the principle of common grace.
Such things may seem trivial, but our time here on earth would be dramatically cut short without them.
Once a person reaches the age or stage of moral accountability, the preservation of one’s natural life during the time that God gives to each person to be saved is a clear example of the common grace that God gives to EVERY soul He creates.
Make no mistake about it, the time that God has allotted to any given unbeliever to BE saved, and the allotted time that a born again believer has to identify and execute the true post salvation life on Earth does come to an end.
The next beat of our hearts could be the last one that any one of us is going to receive.
Due to the hardening of the soul over time, long life does not necessarily mean more time or opportunity to accomplish the things of God.
Incidents of death bed salvation do take place, but nowhere is Scripture is ANYONE guaranteed that the circumstances of one’s death will include such an opportunity.
Those who leave this world in the spiritually dead condition in which everyone is born (Psalms 51:5) will immediately find themselves in the torments of Hades, and an eternity in the Lake of Fire to follow (Rev. 20: 13, 15).
Salvation is the most important decision that one can ever make, but it is only the first step in the spiritual life that God has planned for each soul He creates.
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WELCOME BACK. I AM PASTOR DOUG. WE NOW CONTINUE WITH PART 179 IN OUR SERIES ENTITLED, “PAUL’S LETTERS TO THE CORINTHIANS.”
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Individuals who do not reach the age or stage of moral accountability before leaving this world go to Heaven (2Samuel12:23).
For the rest of us, we have from the time we do reach the age or stage of moral accountability to the moment of our earthly departure to be born again (John 3:3).
Contrary to what religion would have us believe, there are no rituals or ceremonies that can regenerate the spiritually dead status of the human spirit.
Celebrating the Lord’s Supper is the ONLY ritual that the Church Age believer is commanded to take part in on a regular basis, but the purpose of celebrating the Lord’s Supper is to “bring into REMEMBRANCE” (1 Corinthians 11: 24-26), NOT to reproduce, the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The celebration of the Lord’s Supper is for those who have ALREADY been born again and who are already and permanently Spirit indwelled.
The regeneration of the human spirit is the Work and function of God the Holy Spirit that takes place at the moment of salvation (Titus 3:5).
Salvation is a result of making a conscious response to the Gospel Message at the time(s) that God the Holy Spirit arranges.
One never knows when his/her first and or last opportunity to respond to the Gospel Message will be made available to him/her.
To be born again, one MUST exercise the free will that God gives to each soul and choose to BELIEVE (John 3:18) the Gospel Message when it is presented to him/her.
This can take place at any time, and any place, but ONLY if God is doing the WORK.
It is God the, Holy Spirit who arranges for the presentation of the Gospel Message to take place, and it is God the Holy Spirit who enables a spiritually dead unbeliever to understand it; but it is the soul of the unbeliever who must CHOOSE to believe it, if he/she is going to be saved.
Once born again, the BELEIVING soul is forever “right with God” as far as salvation is concerned.
One is FUNCTIONALLLY “right with God” as long as he/she is Spirit filled and in fellowship with God.
All believers are forever Spirit-indwelled as of the moment of salvation (Titus 3:5). The indwelling of God the Holy Spirit is never lost.
However, the filling (that is to be under God’s control) and fellowship with God the Holy Spirit IS lost each time we commit a post salvation sin.
We remain saved, but out of fellowship and without the enabling power to continue executing the post salvation spiritual life until the fellowship with God and the enabling power to execute the plan of God are restored.
They are restored by confessing our known sin(s) to God in prayer (1John 1:9).
To recap these important principles of doctrine; it is GOD and NOT we who chooses when we are to be given the opportunity to be born again.
Once born again, it IS we who chooses if and when we are going to regain the fellowship and the enabling power of God the Holy Spirit that is lost via committing post salvation sin.
The POST salvation spiritual life on EARTH begins at the moment of SALVATION and ENDS at the moment of physical death.
How much of our post salvation life we spend indentifying and executing the plan of God is a CHOICE that we make for ourselves as individuals.
Salvation determines WHERE the soul will spend eternity, but it is WHAT each born again believers chooses to do with the time that God gives to identify and to execute one’s post salvation spiritual life, that determines MUCH about HOW the saved soul will experience eternity.
When, at death, the born again believer of the Church Age leaves this world, he/she finds him/herself in an interim body in Heaven.
There, they are united with all the born again believers of past generations who have already had their opportunity to play their part in the plan of God, as members of the Church Age.
There, they do NOT sleep, but they do rest from their labor and await the Rapture (1Thessalonians 4: 16, 17).
Until the Rapture and the 1Corinthians 3:12-15 evaluation takes place, the Bible makes no distinctions in the individual experience or environment that the departed Church Age believers have in Heaven.
Once the Church age believer has departed the earth, his/her post salvation spiritual life on Earth is over and so is the opportunity for him/her to produce divine good.
It was the production of their divine good that glorified God here on Earth and resulted in the rewards and accompanying privileges being deposited in their account the Bank of Heaven (Matthew 6:20).
These rewards will be presented to the qualifying believers after the entire Church is together, following the Rapture, but before the Church returns to the Earth with the Lord at the Second Advent. STOP
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WELCOME BACK. I AM PASTOR DOUG. WE NOW CONTINUE WITH PART 180 IN OUR SERIES ENTITLED, “PAUL’S LETTERS TO THE CORINTHIANS”.
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The fact that the rewards of the 1CORINTHIANS 3:12-15 evaluation are given prior to the Second Advent is made evident by the fact that some of the privileges that are to be received by the qualifying Church Age believers are exercised during the Millennial Kingdom that the Lord establishes at the Second Advent.
What joy or embarrassment (Revelation 3:18) each one of us, as born again believers will experience at the 1Corinthian 3: 12-15 evaluation is self- determined by what each one of us chooses to do with the post salvation life we have been given.
What happens to one’s BODILY remains after we depart may provide a sense of closure to those we leave behind.
However, such things are of no spiritual significance (Matthew 8:22) and neither assist nor do they impede God’s ability to raise one’s bodily remains in a complete resurrected form at the Rapture (1Thessalonians 4:16, 17).
The only resurrected body that Scripture records displaying some of the scars of earth is that of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 20:27/Revelation 5:6).
The mangled bodies of the martyrs that were fed to lions in the arenas will still be raised in perfect resurrected form.
John the Baptist, will not be “headless” in Heaven, even though his head was not likely buried with his bodily remains (Mark 6:28, 29).
These are graphic examples, but this principle can bring solace to those whose loved one’s left this world under circumstances that did not permit the recovery of one’s bodily remains.
God DOES provide logistical support here on earth to born again believers in the form of tangible, temporal, blessings.
Such blessings are for the purpose of providing an environment, circumstances and opportunities in which the born again believer can best execute his/her post salvation spiritual life.
Human viewpoint is that one’s material possessions are to be obtained and retained for one’s earthly pleasure, as it is by such things that success here on Earth is to be evaluated.
If an advancing disciple has sufficient food, clothing, and shelter, then he/she has ALL the logistical support that he/she NEEDS.
All other material blessings are certainly nice to receive and to enjoy, but are not necessities, nor are they to be the means by which success in the post salvation spiritual life is to be evaluated.
Money when acquired and used to accomplish godly objectives can be the source of great blessing.
Money and all that it can buy, or the desire to have it, can also be a major distraction to the call of God on one’s life.
Scripture is clear that one can NOT serve the interests of both God and money at the same time (Matthew 6:24). As you favor either one, you disfavor the other.
God does NOT promise to provide everything we want, but does promise to provide to provide everything we need IF we seek out and put God and things of God first on our list of priorities (Matthew 6:33).
God is NOT the only source of material or temporal blessings (Luke 4:6).
Satan is well aware of the temptation that money, or the things that money can provide, can be.
Satan also knows that we, in our fallen nature, not only want such things, we want them NOW.
Satan’s counter-offers to the plan of God will always APPEAR to offer the same things as does the plan of God and without the sacrifice and the time that God’s ways require.
Satan offered the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ the glory of all the kingdoms of the Earth without the cost of the Cross (Luke 4:6), or having to wait for the same glory that, in the plan of God, are to be His in the millennial kingdom to come.
When Luke 4:6 refers to this world to be the domain of Satan, it is referring to the world’s systems of control, through which Satan desires to establish a functional kingdom that will glorify him, and one that is independent of God (Isaiah 14: 13, 14).
Satan’s original plan to establish such a kingdom did not include the involvement of the human race, but the fallen angels who followed him in a prehistoric rebellion that failed, resulting, among other things with the devastation of the earth’s original surface (Genesis 1:2).
Satan is NOT in Hell waiting for all the “bad” people to join him.
Satan and many of the fallen angels (Ephesians 6:12) are alive and active in this world.
The eternal residence of Satan and the fallen angels WILL be in the Lake of Fire, but not until the appointed time in the future (Revelation 20:10).
A significant part of Satan’s present strategy is designed to involve the production of human good to make this present world a better place to live while distracting Man from the spiritual purpose of their creation and presence here on earth.
Satan desires to deceive Man into thinking that the production of human good, that includes religion and religious practices, as well as all the benefits of the many forms of human good, is what God desires, when in fact, it has NOTHING to do with glorification of God and the true spiritual life.
Materialism and social status are the most common temporal rewards for the production of human good, here in the devil’s world. It was the same bait that the devil used when he tempted the humanity Jesus Christ.
Satan, through his control of the world, has made it so that the production of human good is a necessity as well as a reality in the more “productive” sectors of the world.
Accordingly, believers and unbelievers produce human good and receive and exchange the benefits of the human good that is produced.
Providing the products or services of human good are the means in which both believers and unbelievers in the civilized and developed areas of the world earn a living and provide the logpstical support for themselves and for their families.
God knows of the reality of having to labor in the devil’s world. He does not call us away from it, but to function as a disciple IN it (John 17:11, 15).
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Pastor Doug Laird
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