Grace Bible Church
Basic Training in Doctrine
Guest Speaker: Pastor Joe Sugrue
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
3. He gave gifts to men. Believers in the CA are in union with Christ and His glory is given to them.
When you can give so much and not be inflated with pride because you are so thankful to know that those gifts have been bestowed through Christ then you are becoming a joyful giver.
Christ gave His life so that the kingdom would be opened to all men – that all sons of Adam could be set free in a life that is death-proof, sin-proof, and devil-proof.
Christ gave His life so that the Spirit could be poured into and filling every heart.
4. Christ was given a name above every name and seated at the right hand of the Father, above all rule and authority.
“If [3rd class condition]” a man keep my word” – observing Bible doctrine – “he shall never, no never see death.” The strong double negative it means both to perceive and to experience.
The double negative, “ou me” means a knowledge of eternal life and an experience of eternal life in time that results in a complete lack of fear concerning death.
“keeps” – tereo, which means to guard, to keep watch, it does not refer to sinlessness.
The promise in verse 51 is the result, in spiritual maturity, of peace in life through resurrection life in time and a complete absence of fear concerning death.
Christ is the victor over death and He’s going to prove that in vs. 52-59.
John 20:31
but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ [impeccable humanity], the Son of God [deity]; and that believing you may have life in His name [eternal life].
Either Jesus will deny His deity or affirm it. If He affirms it they will try to execute Him for blasphemy. If He denies it they will discredit Him.
When you talk to unbelievers about spiritual things they will always equate what you say with earthly things because spiritual things are foolishness to them, 1CO 2:14.
‘If I glorify self the glory that I produce is nothing.’ That is true of all of us. Self-glorification is outside of the plan of God.
God the Father is the author of the plan and the plan of God calls for the Father to glorify the Son and the Son’s royal family.
Whoever says they honor God must honor the Son of God – the Lord Jesus Christ. This erases the possibility of all religions being from the one true God.
The perfect tense of ginosko means that they never knew God. But Christ uses oida of Himself which is inherent knowledge – He knew the Father from eternity past.
Ps 56:4
In God, whose word I praise,
In God I have put my trust;
I shall not be afraid.
What can mere man do to me?
Abraham saw Christ through faith in spiritual maturity and rejoiced. The unbelieving religious folk are seeing Christ face to face and desire to murder Him.
To the Jews if you weren’t fifty you were still inexperienced. They had great respect for age. They were denouncing Christ for His youth.
“I am” – ego eimi, present tense: “I always existed.” He came right down to the issue, the point of doctrine: “I am the Great I am – God.”
The word hid doesn’t quite mean to hide. Krupto means He just faded out of that area. He just turned around and walked out of the temple and no one followed.
When God has a plan for your life the devil himself can’t kill you. And that means, like it did for Christ, no fear of death.
John 17:1
Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee,
Christ did not seek for the glory as if in selfish ambition, but He asked for it so that the glory bestowed upon His humanity would shed back upon the Father’s character.
The difference between seeking glory and asking for God’s glory in humility is subtle but profound. Seeking glory through personal promotion will only fuel approbation lust.
1 Peter 5:6
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,
Do not seek your own glory, but pray for God’s glory that was given to the humanity of Christ to become a reality in your heart.
1. Christ possessed the indwelling of the Father and the Father wrought His power through Him.
2. Christ endured the ultimate in suffering under the severest tests.
So far from being overcome, He rose out of each successive test, having set forth in perfect beauty the appropriate grace which it demanded, and absorbed the whole force of the trial with which He was confronted.