Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Friday,
January 18, 2019
Recipient of this Epistle = the Chosen or the Elect ones as mentioned by ROM 8:33 who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies;
The foreknowledge of God the Father knows every thought, every word or every deed we would ever perform by the sanctifying work of God the Holy Spirit.
MAT 10:29-30, "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from our Father knowing that the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Verse 8 because there is actually a spiritual analogy with reference to our subject of a Theophany where it says in the first part of the verse "And though you have not seen Him, you love Him,"
How can you love someone who you cannot see?
You can love someone who you cannot see by learning how the individual thinks about life.
Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe Him or you believe what He says which causes you to greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible or +H and full of glory.
This is the attitude of the believer who desires to worship our Lord Jesus Christ who, like the apostles, they can see the main issue spiritually which is that the Life of God dwells in the souls of man.
Verse 8 our "growing up in grace and knowledge" or "growing up by means of God's grace and knowledge."
NT Theophany is seen and revealed in certain passages especially the mystery doctrine of the Church-age and is also revealed to us by "Divine Revelation."
A New Testament Theophany or a spiritual application of a Theophany especially in the New Testament.
MAT 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth;
MAT 5:14 "You are the light of the world."
2CO 3:2 "You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ,
cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.
1PE 2:5 "You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood,"
2CO 5:20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
2CO 5:16 "Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.
PHI 2:12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
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."
The main issue is that we should all know the divine principles behind this system of thinking, and why we are here.
One of the main goals of a Theophany is to make sure you are ready to worship the Lord according to the principle that a right thing must be done in a right way.
JOH 4:23-24 "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers."
JOH 4:24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
There are so many spiritual principles that are needed under the principle that we receive the Word of God which gives us power in ACT 1:8.
ACT 1:8 but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two‑edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
1CO 2:14 = A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised or literally spiritually judged or spiritually evaluated.
The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God.
Because the spiritual things of God are foolishness to the natural man.
"natural" = the Greek adjective psuchikos which refers to the thoughts of the natural man or woman which are known as "human viewpoint;" Isa 55:6-11.
The spiritual individual knows the spiritual information that he needs to know whereas the natural minded man cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discerned.
Notice what our Lord says in the phrase "not to the spiritual man but to the natural man" which our Lord says that the spiritual man or woman knows and understands the deep things of the Spirit of God.
The natural minded man cannot understand them, (the deep things of the Spirit and the Word of God).
Because they (the things of the Spirit of God) are spiritually appraised or literally spiritually judged or spiritually evaluated.
All of these passages and principles are spiritually appraised and the natural man does not have the power to appraise so.
LUK 3:7 He therefore began saying to the multitudes who were going out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
John said there was coming a Messiah and He would be a terrifying judge.
One of the most misunderstood individuals in the "Word of God" was one of the main prophets of the Old Testament who knew the Messiah was coming = John the Baptist.
There was a time when John the Baptist became a little confused as to when his Lord, Jesus Christ, was on His way to begin His ministry of fulfilling the plan of God the Father.
Everything that John had said about the Messiah, he received from God; as when LUK 3:2 was fulfilled and the Holy Spirit "The word of God came to John."
LUK 3:2b "the word of God came to John the Baptist, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness."
John was declaring that Messiah had come and he was saying certain things about the Messiah.
He was saying that the Messiah was going to be a judge, that when the Messiah came terrible things would happen.
LUK 3:7-8, He therefore began saying to the multitudes who were going out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance"
MAT 3:7 But when he [the Baptist] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Do you know what our Lord did?
He was known for His mercy.
He healed the sick.
He gave sight to the blind.
He gave hearing to the deaf.
He gave voices to the dumb.
And life to the dead.
LUK 7:33 "For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine; and you say, 'He has a demon!'
Here comes this guy name Jesus, and "We don't understand Him either.
He eats good food and He drinks the best wine.
He hangs out with prostitutes and publicans and sinners, the so-called unholy crowd; Mat 9:10.
Our Lord goes to the best homes to eat; LUK 14:1.
LUK 14:1 And it came about when He went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching Him closely.
Luk 8:3 And Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who were contributing to their support out of their private means.
Joh 19:24 the Scripture might be fulfilled, "They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots."
They said He must be a glutton and an alcoholic, Luk 7:34.
The Lord said, you know what, you can never ever scrutinize, figure out, and appraise and judge a spiritual man!
Especially, when that spiritual man is busy appraising all the things of God in his heart, 1Co 2:15-16.