Sunday, October 11, 2015
Point 4. The Relationship between the Pivot of Believers toward The Jews And The Nation Of Israel.
The principles that the pivotal believer must learn from the nation of Israel when they failed as a nation - and from the born again Jews who failed to fulfill their spiritual responsibilities.
As goes the believer, so goes the nation."
How important is having a pivot of spiritually adult believers?
Can one person actually make a difference?
Can one group make a difference?
Abraham knew one of them was the Lord God, appearing as a Theophany, which is an Old Testament manifestation of TLJC, the only member of the Trinity who can be seen, JOH 1:18; 6:46.
REV 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
The one speaking said that the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah has come unto "Me", that is the Lord, not an angel.
The best estimates I could find from Historical and Archaeological Evidence for Biblical Accounts, say that the population of Sodom at this time was anywhere between 600-1200 people, so it was not an over-populated city.
Just to play it safe, I said on Friday evening, we will compromise between the estimate of 600 to 1200 and estimate the population of Sodom to be around 900.
JAM 2:23 "And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness," and he was called the friend of God.
ISA 6:9-13, He said, "Go and tell this people: "'Listen hard, but you aren't going to get it; look hard, but you won't catch on.' Make these people blockheads, with fingers in their ears and blindfolds on their eyes, So they won't see a thing, won't hear a word, So they won't have a clue about what's going on and, yes, so they won't turn around and be made whole." Astonished, I said, "And Master, how long is this to go on?" He said, "Until the cities are emptied out, not a soul left in the cities‑‑ Houses empty of people, countryside empty of people. U ntil I, GOD, get rid of everyone, sending them off, the land totally empty. And even if some should survive, say a tenth, the devastation will start up again. The country will look like pine and oak forest with every tree cut down‑‑ Every tree a stump, a huge field of stumps. But there's a holy seed in those stumps."
For the sake of the tenth, called the holy seed, the nation would be spared.
ISA 65:8 Thus says the Lord, "As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, 'Do not destroy it, for there is benefit in it,' So I will act on behalf of My servants In order not to destroy all of them.
If there were 10 righteous believers out of 900 in Sodom, Sodom would have been spared, but there not even 10 righteous believers or 10 who would have been a pivot.
God would have spared the city of Sodom if there had been 1% of the believers who were part of the pivot.
Because the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever, (HEB 13:8), and because of (ACT 10:34), He is not a respecter of persons, we are forced to conclude that if the pivot of believers is as low as 1% , that because of them, God would spare their nation.
ISA 1:9 Unless the Lord of hosts Had left us a few survivors, We would be like Sodom, We would be like Gomorrah.
JER 5:1 "Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, And look now, and take note. And seek in her open squares, If you can find a man, If there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, Then I will pardon her.
JOS 6:23 So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had; they also brought out all her relatives, and placed them outside the camp of Israel.
JOB 35:8 "Your wickedness is for a man like yourself [you reap what you sow], [on the other hand] And your righteousness is for a son of man.
ISA 65:8 Thus says the Lord, "As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, 'Do not destroy it, for there is benefit in it,' So I will act on behalf of My servants In order not to destroy all of them.
Even when there is a cluster of bad grapes but within the cluster there are some good grapes to make new wine, God will not destroy the bad cluster because of the presence of the good cluster.
he believer who stands in the gap in EZE 22:30 "And I searched for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.
MAT 24:22 "And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short.
JOB 22:30 "He will deliver one who is not innocent, And he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."
One man changed the entire course of the human and angelic race.
JOH 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.
ACT 4:12 "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved."
The ultimate illustration of the pivotal believer who believed as member of the human race even though He was a member of the Trinity is
TLJC - where ONE MAN saved the world.
"Changed His mind" is an anthropopathism ascribing to God something that He does not really do in language of accommodation so that we can understand in the human realm.
The real lesson here is how man can change human history by his actions.
As goes the believer, so goes the nation.
"A nation that does not learn from history, is bound to repeat it."
"Will America Learn from Rome?" by Art Fisher.
"It is evident that the United States has ignored the lessons of the past and has trodden the same road that led to the decline and fall of great nations like Carthage, Greece, and Rome."
1. No nation has survived its greatness beyond 50 years once it lost its first war.
2. Every nation that has neglected or refused to stand by and defend its allies has perished.
3. Every nation that has compromised with its enemies eventually finds itself "conquered by" or "left at the mercy of its enemies."
4. Every nation that openly condoned sexual deviancy ended up on the dung heap of "has-been" empires.
5. Every nation that refused to execute its capital crime offenders succumbed to a lawless society before losing its sovereignty and status as a nation.
Every 6 seconds = major crime. Every 30 seconds = personal assault. Every 50 seconds = robbery. Every 6 minutes = rape. Every 22 minutes = murder.
6. Without exception, when a nation's people turn their back on morals, that nation always falls back into a state of slavery and tyranny.
7. Whenever a nation fails to support its military as a protector of national freedom, politicians always bring forth tyranny and use the military to enslave the nation's citizens.
"America would never fall by an overwhelming enemy invasion from without, unless the people from within, failed to maintain the strength, morals, and foundations this "republic" was founded upon."
Alexander Fraser Tytler - "A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government; it can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves gifts and benefits, such as welfare, out of the public treasury."
"The majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that Democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by a dictatorship."
a. The Romans had become corrupted by their wealth, prosperity, and materialism, it being the criteria for their social and political status.
b. The population of the cities, especially in Rome, was decreasing.
c. The Free Farmer class had literally disappeared, due to Rome's interference with trade and farm programs.
All the food was being imported, even from some of Rome's enemies.
d. The cost of living was sky high with inflation sweeping the land. The cost of government stole a major portion of the people's prosperity and existence.
e. Government promoted welfare programs, supported many thousands of people. Unemployment was rampant; as Rome perpetuated its welfare state.
f. Government intrusion into the lives and privacy of the people accelerated as Rome sent hundreds of information gatherers and tax collectors, using the pretext that it was necessary in order to help the people.
g. The economy was in constant upheaval. Since Rome had gone off the gold and silver standard, the money was unstable and continuously being devalued. ---- just like our dollar -- becoming less and less valuable.
h. Manufacturing continued to decline, world trade dwindled. Imports far exceeded exports.
i. Finally came the time when the Roman government offered free land, if the people would only farm it.
The people preferred 'the government handouts of "free bread and circuses."
j . Immorality, greed, and fear swept the land like wildfire, as crime of every category increased at a rapid pace.
k. Taxation increased by leaps and bounds, along with the confiscation of property. Imprisonment and even death were the result of not being able to pay the taxes.
l. The people turned from morality. Those who didn't were persecuted, laughed at, and mocked.
As a result of all this, the barbarian tribes to the north and east of Rome saw that the Empire was weakening from internal turmoil and dissension.
Rome was forced to fight many wars to keep her enemies from invading and entering the Empire.
Pacifism and cowardice became rampant.
Rome had refrained from supporting her allies in the time of need, which contributed to the loss of Rome's outer perimeters of defense.
The combination of internal strife with the onslaughts of the Barbarians ultimately toppled Rome. The Roman Empire ended in 476 AD.