Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Wednesday,
June 26, 2019
- Is there a God?
2. Is there a devil?
3. Are there angels?
4. Are there humans? - Where did the humans come from?
6. What is the Angelic Conflict? - What was the origin of the Angelic Conflict?
8. What part do humans play in human history? - Why am I here?
10. What does God expect from me?
11. Why is there Suffering? - Why are there Two Kingdoms?
13. Where did these kingdoms come from? - Why the Church?
15. After salvation; What?
16. What is expected from believers in the Church-age?
- What happens to us when we die?
18. How do we glorify the Lord in time? - How do we glorify the Lord in eternity?
20. What will we do for all eternity --- forever and ever?
As you grow up spiritually, you will discover certain doctrinal subjects that are life changing.
Life Changing = changing you as you grow in (charis) grace and (gnosis) knowledge which is correctly translated.
Gnosis not epignosis or knowledge perceived as gnosis doctrine (knowledge) rather than epignosis (wisdom from metabolized doctrine).
Questions like these and many more are also some of the same questions that others have that you will be able to give a reason for the hope that is in you as you.
Easy doctrinal conclusions = are of use to you as you fulfill to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; 2Pe 3:18.
The last words of a dying man or a dying woman can be very beneficial for those who listen to what I am about to say.
The Triple “L’s” = Listen – Learn – Live.
- Listen - PRO 8:6, wisdom is speaking; "Listen, for I shall speak noble things; And the opening of my lips {will produce} right things.
- Learn - Mat 11:29 "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.
- Live - Luk 4:4 And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone."
The Triple “L’s” = listen – learn – live.
Prin: God the Holy Spirit can only take us so far as our free will or volition allows to happen which is the fact that He takes a far as our volition or freedom will go.
There is absolutely no manipulation or guilt reaction that God the Holy Spirit would ever use to force Himself upon us.
God the Holy Spirit, like the other two members of the Trinity, is a perfect gentleman and will not force Himself upon any believers or unbelievers.
Five Advanced Doctrinal Subjects every believer to know, understand and apply.
- The Mystery Doctrine of the Church-age.
- The Predesigned Plan of God for the Church-age believer.
c. The Personal Sense of Destiny for the Church-age believer. - The Importance of the Ten Problem Solving Devices.
e. The most overlooked Doctrine of the Church-age which is the Doctrine of Dispensations.
If God loves us so much, then why do we suffer?
“If God loves us so much then why do people die?”
“If God loves those He created so much, then why did He create the eternal lake of fire or hell for those who reject the Gospel and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?
MAT 25:41 = the eternal fire had been originally prepared for the devil and his angels, not the human race.
MAT 25:41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;
Sheol [the part of Hades where unbelievers go after they die] had to be enlarged = to make room for members of the human race who reject the Gospel.
ISA 5:14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure (shocking number)
So many people do not realize some of the important principles concerning the devil and his angels which reveals to me the importance of repetition.
I missed one particular phrase -- the personal pronoun autou [translated “His”] anggelos [fallen angels who recognize the authority of Heylel [devil or Satan].
Even the devil and his angels know and recognize the importance of authority, especially the spiritual authority of the two different kingdoms.
“His Father's Kingdom,” MAT 26:29 "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."
MAR 1:15, "The time is fulfilled, and “the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."
Here is one of the most common description that is used and called “The Kingdom of God.”
In JOH 18:36, our Lord called it “My Kingdom.”
EPH 5:5 “For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”
In COL 1:9-17, the word kingdom was also known as the domain or the kingdom of darkness or the kingdom of His beloved Son.
ISA 65:24 "It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.
Before we call or ask Him for anything, we should realize that He has already answered us even before we ask?
If He hears us” while we are “still speaking,” then that means He already knows what we were going to ask Him before we do ask Him.
Whatever it is, it will be exceeding abundantly beyond all that we could ask or think, EPH 3:20.
EPH 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.
Why we ask the Lord for anything, if He already knows what we need before we even need it or asked it.
ISA 65:1 "I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me;
What does it mean when our Lord says; "I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me?”
JOH 5:41 "I do not receive glory from men;
JOH 6:44 "No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him;”
JOH 6:45 "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught of God or by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.”
The Lord permitted Himself to be found by those who did not ask Him for anything or seek Him for anything.
They didn’t ask for the Lord, but He still permitted them to search for Him.
How did they seek for Him or how was He sought by them if He hadn’t called for them?
They were born with a light or with a conscience that convicts them of the fact that there has to be a Creator and that He can be found even within nature.
JOH 1:9 There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.
“seeming contradictions” = appear to be saying one thing while they are really saying another.
They love to stand and pray in the synagogues in order to be seen by men.
This is the motivation that keeps them going which is to do things in front of others for the sake of promoting self or promoting man instead of trying to live in their self-promotion as a man-pleaser.
We need to make sure that we are also always ready and prepared for any spiritual combat that comes our way.
One of the major attacks we all must face, is the attack of the temptation to become men-pleasers rather than God-pleasers.
The principle is: You cannot please men and be a bond‑servant of Christ; Gal 1:9-10.
Peter publicly stated that “We must” or “We need” to live according to the divine principle of obeying or choosing God over man.
Act 5:29 But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men.
Look at what the apostle Paul stated concerning this principle in Eph 6:5-9.
JOH 12:43 is given for those who “love the approval of men rather than the approval of God.”
For that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.
How should we answer the questions that others have concerning prayer as to why ask God for things if He already knows what we need.
If the Father knows what we need before we ask Him, then why do we ask Him?
We ask Him because the Bible tells us to and because in JAM 4:2 “You have not because you ask not” or in JAM 4:2 “You do not have because you do not ask.”
One of the most popular questions really is why is there a hell for those who reject God’s commands.
Does man or woman have the freedom to choose whatever they desire?
Does man or woman have a choice to choose whatever they desire?
We are not really free to do whatever we want, or to think whatever we want, say what whatever we want or live like we want.
We do have freedom, but the freedom is limited by the choices we are offered because the freedom that we have is freedom to choose from the choices that are given to us.
Bondage of the will= we are not really given freedom as we know it, we are given a choice, beginning with the main question; “What do you think of the Christ?” MAT 22:42; JOH 3:18.
MAT 22:42 "What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?"
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.
Man is not really a product of his own free will because he is not given freedom to do whatever he wants to do, in reality, he is given a choice as to what kingdom he wants to be a part of.
This is why it is the importance of preparation for these questions that cause us to “grow in God’s grace and knowledge.” 2Pe 3:18.
Probably one of the most frequent asked categories of questions come from both believers and unbelievers and deals with Satan and Hell.
Perhaps the greatest of all stumbling blocks is the concept of Hell.
Skeptics believe it is repulsive, unjust, overkill, and torture.
If there is a God who loves us so much that He is even called the God of love; 1Jo 4:8, we also need to understand why we are given two choices, the kingdom of God or the kingdom of Darkness?
Religion is the devil’s ace trump, especially against our Lord and then others.
In 2TI 4:18, it is called His heavenly kingdom.
In HEB 12:28, it is said to be a kingdom which cannot be shaken,
2PE 1:11, it is also called the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
In REV 12:10, the apostle John calls it the kingdom of our God.
MAT 23:3 that these false religious leaders tell you what to do and observe, but “they do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them.”
Our Lord is literally saying, “You won't go wrong in following their teachings but be careful about following them.
They walk a good walk, but it is the walk of human good not divine good.
In Mat 23, our Lord revealed to His disciples an outline of what to expect once they discover how to live the kind of spiritual life that is classified as carnal or fleshy.
No matter what you do, you cannot please God whenever you are under the control of the old sin nature; Rom 8:8.
It is “quality of life” that our Lord is interested in not “quantity of life.”
1CO 3:12 Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
1CO 3:13 each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is {to be} revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.
It is this quality of Life that Peter wrote about concerning the doctrinal women in the early church, probably in Ephesus; 1Pe 3:1-5.
Notice in 1PE 3:4 that the women’s attitude toward her man is said to be a life of an imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.
True love cannot be found where it doesn't truly exist, and it cannot be hidden where it truly does.
MAT 23:4, the Pharisees and the scribes tie up heavy loads of guilt and condemnation upon their followers and are unwilling to move them themselves with so much as a finger.
They package these doctrines in bundles of rules and regulations as they load you down like pack animals would do.”
Pro 10:12 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions.
1PE 4:8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
They would put a burden on others though they would not do it themselves.
In MAT 23:5, notice that our Lord says; They do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments.
In MAT 23:6, They love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in in the synagogues,
In MAT 23:7, they demand respectful greetings to them in the marketplaces, and lobe being called by title such as Rabbi!
In MAT 23:13, Notice that the Lord said that they were hypocrites and they shut off the kingdom of heaven from men; and do not enter in themselves.
The Lord is really saying to these religious losers that they were hopeless frauds.
MAT 23:14 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, even while for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you shall receive greater condemnation.”
Just like the principle of the different measures of judgment that we noted before, the same thing is true in this passage even though the older manuscripts do not contain this particular verse.
In three months, in just 90 days of the summer of 70 AD, 1,900,000 people will die horribly in Jerusalem cap-stoned by cannibalism.
About 97,000 will survive.
The dying was so horrible, that even the Hebrew Historian Josephus when he writes of it tells us how shocked he was.
The Lord is actually saying that the limit of Israel's evil is almost here.
God's tolerance has its' limits.
1Co 14:21 In the law it is written, "by men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to me," says the Lord.
“this people,” refers to Jews only.
1Co 14:22 tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers, but to those who believe.