Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Friday,
June 28, 2019
A list that should motivate you to ‘learn the Word of God’ so that the “life of God’ is found in the “work of God” that our Lord describes just for us to handle any problem in life.
Luk 4:4, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'"
MAT 24:35 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away.
Happiness and contentment are promised: LUK 11:28 But He said, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and observe it."
JOH 6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
HEB 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.
JAM 1:21 Therefore putting aside all filthiness and {all} that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.
In PSA 107:20, our Lord commanded His word to heal those who were desiring to be healed; He sent His word and healed them, And delivered {them} from their destructions.
There are a lot of passages that are popular when it comes to the word of God like Psa 138:2; Mat 4:4; Heb 4:12; etc.
PSA 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?
PSA 56:10 In God, {whose} word I praise, In the Lord, {whose} word I praise,
JOB 23:12 "I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.
Life Changing = “your life changing you” as you grow in the (charis) grace and (gnosis) knowledge of our Lord and Savior which is the basis of your spiritual growth.
Grace is always available for any one who desires to be changed, ZEC 4:6, “It is not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts [armies].”
“be transformed” = the present-passive-imperative of the Greek verb susxhmatizw suschematizo = do not be conformed, or transformed, or changed, or even converted to the Cosmic System.
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?
Our Lord said in MAT 25:41 that 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] had to be enlarged, that is 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;
So many people do not realize the importance of repetition, because even though I have taught on this passage many times before, I still am learning more about it myself.
The personal pronoun autou [translated “His”] anggelos [fallen angels who recognize the authority of Heylel or the 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.
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, where our Lord said; "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.
This answer for us from God tells us that 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 do we ask the Lord for anything, if He already knows what we need before we even need it or ask 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?”
Natural -- NUM 21:6 And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
The Lord was responding to the rebellion and the implacability of the Jewish people who were complaining to Moses and the Lord about being delivered from the slavery in Egypt.
The spiritual is “lifting up our Lord” in the spiritual realm where we believe in “lifting up our Lord” or as Him being number one and the top priority of living the spiritual life.
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.”
In this way, the Lord permitted Himself to be found by those who did not ask Him for anything or seek Him for anything.
Notice that 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?
He did that only in the sense that 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 can be found even within nature.
JOH 1:9 There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.
“seeming contradictions” = they 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.
If not, 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.
You cannot please men and be a bond‑servant of Christ; Gal 1:9-10.
The Apostle Peter -- “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.
There is also the warning in JOH 12:43 which is given for those who “love the approval of men rather than the approval of God.”
Here comes the main doctrinal principle; For that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.
If this is true, and it is, then 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.
The implication here is that 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 we are offered.
There is a bondage of the will which is based upon the fact that we are not really given freedom as we know it, we are given a choice.
AT 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.
Before we go on with more principles of doctrine from Joh 15, probably one of the most frequent asked categories of questions come from both believers and unbelievers and deals with Satan and Hell.
We begin with some of the questions and answers that deal with the Problem of Hell, Satan and the eternal judgments, are they fair or unfair?
Perhaps the greatest of all stumbling blocks is the concept of Hell.
Skeptics believe it is repulsive, unjust, an overkill, or torture.
We also need to understand why we are given two choices, either the kingdom of God or the kingdom of Satan or the kingdom of darkness?
With the fall of Adam and Eve, Satan gained their God given authority over the world as this world and this world's kingdoms are under the domain of Satan (2Co 4:4).
Could Satan offer all the world's kingdoms to Jesus Christ?
The answer is yes! Jesus did not argue with Satan, but accepted Satan’s temporary worldly authority.
Satan’s kingdom consists of Satan, also called the devil, and an untold number of fallen angels that are now called demons or evil spirits.
Satan and his kingdom’s primary objectives are attacking God’s children and preventing the unsaved from understanding the gospel message so that they might be saved.
The kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness are diametrically opposed to one another, both competing and contending for the souls of mankind.
Both kingdoms have long been established on earth, and while neither has yet been outwardly revealed, both will be when their respective ‘kings’ emerge onto the world stage.
Jesus Christ will destroy the Antichrist and his satanic kingdom and replace it with His millennial kingdom, as King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev 11:15; 19:16).
He gave us one of the most important lessons to learn about religion which is the fact that 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.