Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery, Part 102. The antagonism of the world system toward believers and Bible doctrine, Part 5. Royal Ambassadorship.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Key word - “hate” - appears 8 times in 10 verses; that is what we can expect from a world that is out of touch with God and out of union with TLJC because there is disunion between the believer and the world.
1. Verse 18 - because the kosmos system hates Christ.
2. Because once a person is in the plan of God, as a believer priest, they no longer belong to the world.
3. Verse 20 - the slave is not greater than His master.
“Remember” - pres-act-imp - mnemoneuo = a command to call to mind something that you have learned, something that you already know.
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Once you identify with someone and they become rejected by others, then it is only a matter of time before you will be rejected because of your identification with them.
Pres-act-imp = a command.
Jesus has already said this before, that the servant is not greater than the master, JOH 13:16, MAT 10:24.
First class condition [true] - dioko = to pursue, to put pressure on, to persecute.
Aorist tense = certain points of time are all gathered up now into one ball of wax.
“If they have persecuted Me” - Future tense - dioko = they will also persecute you.
Once Christ leaves the earth, then the individual believer becomes the recipient of the intensification of the angelic conflict.
First class condition [true] - “to keep” - tereo = to guard something that belongs to self.
1. The gospel.
2. The divine institutions.
“If” = many who are in kosmos diabolicos came out of it by faith in Christ, and they accepted what Christ taught, and when Christ goes up the apostles are going to find themselves with a nucleus to begin the Church-age.
The servant is not greater than his master, and for this reason, the kosmos hates the believer.
The Doctrine of Ambassadorship.
Point 1. Definition and Description.
An ambassador is a high ranking minister of state or of royalty sent to another state to represent his sovereign or country.
By analogy we are spiritual aristocracy as members of the Royal Family of God, and Christ is the King who has sent us into a foreign country, the cosmic world.
At salvation, every believer enters the Royal Family of God through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and at the same time he becomes a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth.
Every Church-age believer is Royal Family of God representing the King of kings and Lord of lords during his time on this earth.
Two commissions are given to the believer at salvation.
1. Royal priesthood, part of the equal privilege of election.
2. Royal ambassadorship, part of the equal privilege of predestination.
Differences of function depend on differences of spiritual gifts, stages of spiritual growth, historical circumstances (prevalence of positive or negative volition), and environment at any given moment.
In addition to the mandates of scripture, there are many avenues of expressing your ambassadorship, such as utilizing the faith-rest drill and virtue-love as a problem-solving device with emphasis on spiritual self-esteem.
Point 2. The Profile of the Ambassador.
a. An ambassador does not appoint himself.