Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Wednesday,
March 13, 2019
- You will honor our Lord's commands and desires to "abide in Him" as an expression of your love and respect toward Him and what He says or requests in His Word.
We will all have to stand before the Bema Seat judgment also known as the Judgment Seat of Christ; Joh 12:46-48.
It reminds all of us of the importance of doctrine especially when we are dealing with "The Cross" = The Central Event of The Eternal Universe.
Could it be a reminder that just before the cross, our Lord warned us that they better have enough doctrine to handle what is about to happen.
These men are going to be responsible for major changes that is described in ACT 17:6 where it is said, "These men who have upset the world have come here also;"
- We will automatically live the spiritual life through the power of God the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, as we glorify our Lord Jesus Christ and truly worship and honor Him with all respect.
The thoughts that our Lord would be thinking of as He was preparing for one of the most violent, inhuman, agonizing painful time of suffering that a person could ever face.
This was what our Lord referred to many times as He called it "My time" or "My hour."
They would not allow Satan and his kingdom of darkness to defeat them or to hinder them from learning and studying the Word of God.
If you are a serious student of the Word of God, there is no such thing or situation when the teaching and studying of doctrine is convenient.
Those believers who have PVTD, they did not use the weather as an excuse.
They would not use the snow or the rain as an excuse to make them roll over and listen to doctrine at their convenience when they feel like it.
They wouldn't even use the "Time change" as an excuse and say that they forgot to "push their clocks ahead."
No excuses really means that they had a desire to learn the Word of God and therefore, they would not use any excuses or reasons to disobey, Heb 10:25.
Heb 10:25 Gathering Together
a. To learn the Word of God.
b. To build up and encourage other believers to honor and worship our Lord and Savior.
For believers who truly do love our Lord, instead of rolling over, they made positive decisions: To get up; to wash up; to dress up; and then to show up, and face up to the responsibilities and preparations that we all need as members of the Royal family of God.
If you are not honest with yourself, you will never be honest with others.
Our Lord was preparing Himself for what I am about to show you and teach you and want you to be crystal clear on some of our Lord's mentality or His system of thinking hours before the cross.
There is an entire Psalm, Psa 22 that records for us some of the thoughts that were on our Lord's mind.
Psa 22, Isa 53; are just some of the thoughts of our Lord the night before His death.
He knew that He was about to face the worse form of pain and suffering that a member of the human race ever faced.
He also knew and learned and applied the necessary faith to fulfill God's plan for man.
MAT 26:18 "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says," My time is at hand; I am to keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.
"My Time is at hand" = our Lord prepared Himself to face the "Timing of God" as He kept on going forward and approached the coming of the Cross.
Our Lord used the same phrase "My Time" when He was rejected by His own family; JOH 7:5-6.
JOH 7:5-6, For not even His brothers were believing in Him. Jesus therefore said to them, "My time is not yet at hand, but your time is always opportune -- under the Timing of God.
MAT 25:13 "Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour."
The hour is a title for the Rapture, the Tribulation, or the Second Advent depending on the context of scripture.
MAT 24:44 "For this reason you be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.
MAT 26:45 Then He came to the disciples, and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.
My hour also refers to the special calling upon our Lord for that which is about to happen in the realm of performing miracles.
"Special Event" = when our Lord performed His first recorded miracle as noted in Joh 2, where He turned expensive wine into the best wine in the world during that time or hour.
JOH 2:4 And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come."
MAR 14:41 And He came the third time, and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come [and here it is]; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.
In Luk 22, "the Hour" there refers to the institution of the Lord's supper in the middle of the Passover meal.
LUK 22:14 And when the hour had come He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him.
JOH 12:23 And Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
This phrase "The Hour" refers to some very important doctrinal passage that describes the Cross and our Lord's work upon the Cross.
JOH 17:1 These things Jesus spoke; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee,
"the Hour has come" = the hour that is important for all believers to be prepared for and to face some of the many ways that we can worship and honor the uniqueness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
These are usually crossroads in our life that we "have come to" or "have been created for" as all of us have some major doctrinal principles which "have been created" just for us to live by.
As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, all of us have certain times or certain hours or certain deeds and works that God has ordained for us to learn and to "live by" or to "live in."
We should never get lazy or slothful or jealous of other believers because if we reject doctrinal teachings, we will inevitably fall back into the vomit of our past in the "Cosmic System."
In the Bible, the word sin is hamartia in the Greek which refers to the imputation of Adam's sin and the resultant Old Sin Nature.
Our Lord was preparing Himself to face the most excruciating amount of pain and suffering that a person would ever go through in this life.
I believe that ISA 52:13-15 is actually and introduction to ISA 53.
The Hebrew word for high is gabah which refers to being seated in heavenly places.
"lifted up" is the Hebrew verb nasah in the passive voice and therefore it means He will receive lifting up referring to the ascension into heaven.
The word greatly exalted is the Hebrew word "ruwm" which means to rise up is a reference to resurrection which was the first stage of glory for the humanity of Christ.
We have the resurrection, ascension and session mentioned in this verse.
As many were astonished means to be shocked.
Just as many were astonished at the sufferings of the Jews many were shocked at the appearance of our Lord on the cross.
The Hebrew word for marred is mishchath which means to be completely disfigured.
Remember that although our Lord suffered immensely not one bone in His body could be broken according to prophecy and therefore in Joh 19:36 "a bone of Him shall not be broken."
His face received disfigurement from His physical suffering but also His spiritual suffering which caused mental pain on His face as well.
Now, knowing the word of God, our Lord read and studied passages like Psa 22, Isa 52; Isa 53; Zec 12, etc.
Psychosomatic refers to the relationship between the mentality and the physical body or the relationship between what a person thinks and how a person feels.
There are certain times of a physical illness or other condition caused or aggravated by a mental factor such as internal conflict or stress.
His appearance was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men = He took more punishment in His body than anyone who ever lived, He holds the world record.
In Joh 15, this particular passage is the end of the upper room discourse, and as we begin chapter 15, we get into the "Gethsemane Discourse."
In verses 1‑8 we have the production of phase 2, living the spiritual life in time.
In verses 9‑17, we have a dissertation on true biblical love, both agape and phileo types of love.
In verses 18‑27, we have the hostility of the cosmos or the world system.
We have the production of divine good in this life I call Phase 2, then we have the dissertation on love and the hostility of the cosmos or the Cosmic System.
The "vinedresser" metaphor portrays God the Father as the author of the predesigned plan of God.
Joh 15, the "vine" metaphor portrays the humanity of Jesus Christ living in the Predesigned Plan of God for His life during the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union.
The vine metaphor emphasizes the fact that all precedence and all production of divine good in the Church-age comes from the Vine, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Fruit from the branch is a metaphor for the Church-age believer who is willing to go through whatever he or she has to go through to produce the fruit of the Vine.
No fruit (or divine production) can be any better than the vine that produces it.
Because of positional sanctification (our union with Christ) and the grace provision of the filling of the Spirit, it is possible for the believer to produce divine good which glorifies God.
The phrase "in Me" is a reference to the believer in union with Christ.
1. Eternal Life, 1Jo 5:11‑12.
2. Perfect Righteousness, 2Co 5:21.
3. Election, Eph 1:4.
4. Destiny, Eph 1:5.
5. Sonship, 2Ti 2:1.
6. Heirship, Rom 8:16‑17.
7. Sanctification, 1Co 1:2.
8. Priesthood, Heb 10:10‑14.
9. Royalty (kingship), 2Pe 1:11.
a. The first category of branches are called Dead Branches representing dead works or production skills minus the spiritual skills.
b. The second category are Live Branches representing divine good, with spiritual skills as the basis for production skills.
The branch in Christ that does not bear fruit represents the believer who does not produce Divine Good but instead, they produce "dead branches" or "human good."
Dead works do not bear fruit and are punishable by divine discipline because of the believer rejecting God's grace and knowledge.
a. The law of volitional responsibility, which produces a tremendous amount of self-induced misery.
a. The law of volitional responsibility.
b. Divine discipline.
Pruning is to trim a tree, shrub, or bush by cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems, especially to increase fruitfulness and growth.
Pruning is necessary for properly redistributing the "energy" for production.
The branch that bears fruit must be pruned occasionally so that the spiritual skills will increase and maximize = suffering for blessing.
Principle: Just as God provides divine discipline and punitive action for the one who bears no fruit, He also provides suffering for blessing for the fruit bearer.
The personal pronoun for you, humeis is in the plural, so we would say what our Texas friends would probably say, "Ya'll Clean!"
He is going to teach them that you can be clean, saved, and still not produce fruit.
LUK 23:43 "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."
Isa 43:25 "I, even I, am the One who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins."
PHI 3:13b.....but one thing I concentrate upon: constantly forgetting the things that lie behind and pursuing vigorously to what lies ahead,
"Abide in Me" = a command that is an experience after salvation and not a reference to positional sanctification (which is a permanent result of regeneration and is not dependent on our volition).
"Abide in Me" is a command to remain in fellowship with God through the use of 1Jo 1:9 in order that divine good may be produced in our lives.
When the branch is commanded to "abide in Christ, the believer is being commanded to enter into experiential sanctification through the filling of the Holy Spirit.
The phrase "I in you" is a mandate for the believer to learn and metabolize Bible doctrine (when we have doctrine, the "mind of Christ," in our souls, Christ abides in us).
The Vine has provided for us the precedent, the pattern, and the information necessary to produce divine good.
We cannot produce fruit apart from the function of spiritual skills--the filling of the Spirit; perception, metabolization, and application of doctrine; and execution of the predesigned plan of God.
The "Vine and Branch" metaphor is repeated.
Our Lord is the Vine; we are the branches.
Abiding in Christ is the filling of the Spirit.
Christ "in us" is a result of cognition of Bible doctrine.