Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Sunday, September 8, 2019
The many areas of Unity, Oneness and Intimacy that exists between God and man, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Vine and the branches and the intimacy and oneness that should exist and develop between our Lord and us as Church-age believers.
We have been noting the importance of “The Doctrine of Positional Truth;” as well as “The Doctrine of Unity,” especially as it relates to believers in the Church-age.
Notice how far back these doctrines go to reveal to God’s children the many areas of Unity, Oneness, Intimacy, and the Union that exists between God and man, through the God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ.
This unity and oneness with intimacy goes as far back as the oldest book in the Bible, the book of Job, where we are taught, (probably by Elihu) that we needed a mediator between God and man.
Job has four individuals who claim to be his friend, especially those who were friendly when Job was one of the wealthiest men on the earth and was prospering naturally and spiritually.
- Eliphaz was a doctrinal theologian of his day accurate in his understanding of metabolization of doctrine but very weak and inaccurate in his application.
That’s true of a lot of believers today who are accurate in their understanding and their metabolization of doctrine but, they are very weak and inaccurate in their application.
- Bildad was an intellectual who followed the traditional opinions of his day. (Religion, Legalism, self-righteousness), all parlayed by arrogance into the evil of religion.
- Zophar was a younger man and is the most arrogant of Job’s friends filled with a lot of personal opinions about Job’s situation.
Zophar = He is intolerant, ill-mannered, and of course, the youngest of all and therefore, usually the most arrogant of all.
All three friends had a tremendous emotional reaction, but you must remember that emotion has no ability to think.
Emotion looks good to the average person especially in times of disaster and difficulties, however, emotion has no ability to rationalize, analyze, to synthesize, and to apply doctrine.
Job does have one friend who has character and integrity and that is a man called Elihu, a doctrinal believer who is also a faithful friend….which is very rare to find.
PRO 18:22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the Lord.
You may be wondering how we got here from the Vine and the branches = God the Father has ordained unity to exist even before the foundation of the world.
PSA 133:1 (A Song of Ascents, of David.) Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!
Our Lord Jesus Christ had to become true humanity to be the mediator between God and man, Job 9:1-2,32‑33; 1Ti 2:5‑6.
Jesus Christ had to be both undiminished deity and true humanity in one person forever.
- The Last Adam and the New Creation; 2Co 5:17, Gal 6:15. According to the Word of God, there are only two Adam’s; the first Adam or the Last Adam.
The first Adam and the last Adam represent the entire human race, in which, the first Adam lost dominion over the earth resulting in Satan becoming the god of this world.
The Last Adam came into this world and gained the victory back that the First Adam lost, — our Lord is said to be the “Head” of the body and He will use that headship when He comes back with His saints.
Notice — The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam {became} a life‑giving spirit.
The Te first man, Adam, and the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, all of which reveals the closeness we all possess with our Lord.
- We have the intimacy that should exist between the Head and the Body.
EPH 1:22-23, And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.
- The Shepherd and the Sheep analogy emphasizes the provisions and the protection from Satan and the Kingdom of darkness; under this point, we could study Psa 23; Joh 10; 1Pe 2:15-25.
- The Vine and the branches; Joh 15:1-8, emphasizes the fruit of the Spirit that our Lord produced from the True Vine.
- The Cornerstone and the building emphasize the unity that exists between the Jews and the Gentiles because our Lord is the chief cornerstone between them both; Eph 2:11-16.
- The High Priest and the Royal Priesthood; HEB 3:1, Heb 10:1-14. Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.
- The Groom and the Bride analogy (Christian marriage; Eph 5:22-33).
EPH 5:32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
I gave you eight different expressions that should exist among our Lord’s people, especially when it comes to Positional Truth and Union with Christ.
The Bible numerology code number 8 signifies Resurrection and Regeneration. It is the number of a new beginning.
With those eight different descriptions, we are now free to continue with a certain doctrine such as the Sealing Ministry of God the Holy Spirit.
We have been noting the word for “sealed” is the noun sphragizo which means to set a seal upon something or to mark with a seal.
- It was used in the ancient world for business transactions or business contracts. In the ancient world, signet rings were placed over wax and the transaction was finished.
The grass is always greener on the other side also refers to other people’s circumstances or belongings always seem more desirable than one’s own.
Do you remember what the father gave to the prodigal son when he came back?
Notice the father’s love and forgiveness and celebration because his son, who was lost, has now been found and so the father said; “Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him”
The best robe represents restoration to full experiential righteousness.
This was a signet ring representing withdrawing from the Father’s resources, logistical grace and future blessings from the father because of grace.
LUK 15:22…….and sandals on his feet; which means that once again you’re getting the opportunity of service and production.
LUK 15:23 and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat [have a feast] and be merry [celebrate];
The fattened calf represents fellowship in the word, feeding on divine truth or Bible doctrine.
That is the divine attitude of grace when you’re brought back into fellowship with God.
Something was hindering him that he felt that he was missing, he thought that something the world could offer him would make him happy and that his life was just fading away.
They are both sons as we all are in our position in Christ. They both were the father’s sons when it started, and both will still be His sons when this passage finishes.
The older religious son who was legalistic was the worse one between the two brothers.
Only his arrogant legalistic self-righteous brother said that he spent it all on “harlots or prostitutes” in verse 30.
The Bible doesn’t specify what the prodigal son did. All the Bible says is that it was just loose living and that’s it.
The point is that he spent it all. He spent everything that he had, and he was broke.
The prodigal son is just fading away and wasting time in the cosmic system which is designed by Satan to cause creatures in the world to live for #1 themselves, or #2 be religious and arrogant.
Prin: Whenever a believer goes astray, eventually he will come to a point, as the last part of this verse says, when he will begin to be in need.
The human soul is empty if God does not fill it; Ecc 3:11.
When the famine hit, he was starving, and he began to be in need and he couldn’t even find a job.
The word translated “attached himself” to the pigs on the farm is the Greek verb kollao meaning to glue or to get close or united to something or someone.
Prin: The further a believer goes away from God, the nearer he comes to be a slave to the devil.
Times of distress often lead to self-examination and are used by God to bring about changes or repentance in people’s lives.
The key issue is recognizing who we are in Christ and not who we use to be in Adam or the old man.
However, this young man still held on to the belief that he could maintain his self-sufficiency; his separation from his father; even though it meant complete humiliation.
His emptiness was shown by the job that he had to take, tending pigs.
There could be no worse job for a Jew than feeding pigs according to the Works of the Jewish Historian known as Titus Flavius Josephus, an excellent Roman and Jewish Historian.
JAM 2:19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
He’s starving while he’s working because pay day only comes after the pigs are marketed.
2PE 2:22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”
This shows the humiliation the young man was now enduring especially in light of the fact that he has forgotten that once a son, always a son.
For the Prodigal Son, gone were the fine robes and the rich food, because he was occupied with the filthiest of jobs from a Jewish perspective.
His hunger was so great that he considered filling his own belly with the pig slop covered with skubula.
The was feeding the pigs called pods made passable livestock food, but despicable human food.
The detestable pigs who were even demon possessed were now eating better than the prodigal son who had left his father.
Many times you do your best thinking on an empty stomach.
This man finally became honest with himself and looked at his life from a biblical perspective….which means to face up with the situation as it really exists.
Recognize where you failed and pick up the pieces and go on and live as the Apostle Paul says to live in Phi 3:12-15.
The point is to stop rationalizing or justifying yourself.
Stop blaming others for your failures.
This is not a parable about what happens to a believer when he sins, this is a parable about what happens to a believer when he changes his lifestyle.
He knew that the hired servants in his father’s household were even far better off than he was.
Self-realization of the hopeless and useless predicament of the sinful life is the first step towards true repentance.
The believer must see that his own actions have led him away from the loving Father (God).
You must realize that the seeming pleasures of the sinful life are vanishing and un-satisfying, while life with the Father is full and rich.
The believer must understand that a life of sin offers only destruction, while life with the Father offers prosperity and happiness.
Until a person can be convicted of the reality that he travels a dead-end road, true repentance cannot come to pass.
The Prodigal Son figured that his father’s servants were better off than he was and so he was going to go home to see if the father would take him in as his servant and let him live with them as a slave.
Our Lord would have none of that!
Nor would our Father.
Or the Holy Spirit.
Please notice, rebound in verse 18, I have sinned.
When you add all the nonsense in LUK 15:19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men = it’s ridiculous.“
Do you tell the Lord you’re not worthy?
If you do, you are not being humble but instead you are being arrogant.
His big problem now isn’t loose living, it’s arrogance.
The same problem his brother has….who isn’t living it up at all and who is still at home with his father and judging members of his own family.
The doctrine of eternal security says we are the sons of God and we will always be a son.
Whether we are worthy or unworthy doesn’t change our sonship.
Treat me like one of your servants, one of those hired hands, which by the way is an insult to his father.
His father has no character and no integrity, and He is not the forgiving type.
Notice his father is a wonderful person and this is a magnificent way of expressing God the Father and His love, mercy and grace.
His Father saw him while he was a long way off.
The father’s not interested in some asinine speech like; “I’m no longer worthy to be called your son!”
The father was filled with compassion and his father ran to him.
’Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him’
That is the divine attitude of grace when you’re brought back into fellowship with God.
The son wanted to do some penance from leaving his father.
He wanted to make it up to the Father or to compensate for his wrong decisions.
The father had no intentions of making him a hired servant just like He has no intentions of making us anything less than perfect.