A mature believer could care less what people are saying about him

A mature believer could care less what people are saying about him.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

This week we have studied how doctrine can make a man out of a wimp.

HEB 11:20 By means of doctrine resident in the soul Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things destined to be [the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant]

We saw him grow up and get married to Rebekah.
We saw Rebekah give birth to twins, Esau and Jacob.

GEN 25:25-26 Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. Afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.

The mother fell in love with Jacob because he was like she was!

The father fell in love with Esau because he was like he was: he liked to go out hunting!

Then we saw Isaac reach supergrace, and then he was deceived by his wife Rebekah and by his younger twin son Jacob.

Isaac is now old, and blind, and one day he tells his son Esau that he is going to give his blessing to Esau, his favorite.

Rebekah and Jacob go into action, plotting to deceive Isaac and gain the blessing for Jacob instead. Isaac falls for the trick, and gives Jacob his blessing.

GEN 27:33 Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.”

The reason why he trembled violently is because he realized the serious mistake he was going to make by blessing Esau and not Jacob.

HEB 11:20 By means of doctrine resident in the soul, even concerning things destined to be, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau

Through doctrine resident in the soul he recognized that giving the blessing to Jacob was the will of God.

Jacob was a con-artist and he was conning his father out of the birthright and the double portion blessing... and God still chose Jacob.

Upon the discovery of the deception, Isaac took a doctrinal stand and for the first time in his life on record in the Scripture, he did not do what a wimp would do.
He recognized that it was God’s will that the elder should serve the younger.

GEN 25:23 And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples shall be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.”

But Isaac was such a great believer at this time that he recovered immediately and when Esau came whining and crying like a baby (HEB 12:16-17) and asked dad to give him the blessing because they both had been cheated, well dad took a stand on doctrine and said no, it stands.

Isaac, who reached spiritual maturity and entered God’s hall of fame, did so by taking a stand on Bible doctrine. A man can take his lumps in life when he has doctrine resident in the soul.

Doctrine resident in the soul took precedence over his great love for Esau his favorite son.

1. Even though Isaac loved Esau who was his favorite, he would never reverse the decision though Esau worked on him for years, HEB 12:16-17.
2. This was an act of supergrace nobility based on resident doctrine in the soul and is comparable to the test of Abraham in Gen 22, although not as great as Abraham’s test.
3. In addition to the principle of doctrine that the elder should serve the younger there was a second principle by which Isaac held to his decision,
ROM 9:6-14, an extensive treatise on the fact that Esau was an unbeliever.

ROM 9:8 This means that the descendants of the flesh [who had the genes of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob] are not the children of God, but the children of the promise [regenerate Jews] are regarded as the seed. [Only Jewish believers profit from being a new racial species.]

Even though the unbeliever, Esau, is genetically related to Abraham, he is not spiritually related to Abraham through regeneration, and so was rejected from the new racial species.

So the line of Israel and the future of the race must follow the course of regeneration, the new birth resulting from faith in the promised Messiah.

As much as he loved Esau, Isaac knew from divine viewpoint that the unbeliever Esau, his eldest and favorite son, was excluded from the Abrahamic covenant.

Here are two boys from the same parents; one’s a Gentile, the other is a Jew, Esau and Jacob, Jew and Gentile,
GEN 25:23; GEN 36:9.

A real man always sees the true issue and never allows his pride to interfere.

HEB 11:20 By means of doctrine resident in the soul, even concerning things destined to be [the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant], Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau

Only spiritual growth and maximum doctrine resident in the soul gave Isaac the objectivity and courage to stick with a major command decision.

PSA 119:165 Great peace have they which love thy doctrine: and nothing shall offend them.

A mature believer could care less what people are saying about him.

1CO 2:15 But he who is spiritual [the spiritual man] discerns or appraises all things, yet he himself is discerned by no man.

Therefore you are not subject to investigation by other believers including your pastor; that is a part of the privacy of the priesthood.
1CO 11:28 But let a man examine himself,
2CO 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you - unless indeed you fail the test?

GAL 6:4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another.

Other believers do not have the ability to appraise or to evaluate your spiritual status quo!

For the mature believer, no one knows his innermost thoughts!

If he is an invisible hero, the general community of Christendom can’t understand him!

The Lord said, you know what, you can never ever scrutinize, figure out, and appraise and judge a spiritual man!!!
PSA 19:12 Who can understand his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.
1CO 4:4 For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord.

COL 2:3 in whom [Jesus Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

COL 3:1 If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

There are a lot of things in the Bible that are hidden and need to be dug up and bought with your time, dedication, and concentration!
As you grow and mature in the ways of the Lord, there will start to be things about YOU that are hidden and mysterious as well.

The more this desire is fed, the stronger it becomes, and it can even carry the believer through the most difficult situations in life.

COL 3:1 If then you have been raised up with Christ [and you have] keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

MAR 12:30 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

PRO 2:4 “Seek her [wisdom] as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures;”

JER 29:13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for me with all your heart.