It is the permanence of God’s character that guarantees the fulfillment of all His promises.

Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Tree of Life
Weekly Review
081218
It is the permanence of God’s character that guarantees the fulfillment of all His promises.

As we conclude our study on the Ten Commandments, I would like to have you turn in your Bibles this evening so that you can receive God’s highest and best that He created just for you. It is very important that you learn the value that P.M.A. of Bible doctrine literally, as well as the many other doctrinal passages that we need to learn about especially if you think you know it and have heard it all before.

Why do you limit your capacity to receive divine blessings? In reality you should have a capacity for prosperity if you truly understood what was really happening in the details of life. Behind the scenes there is a secret among all the Jews against the greater capacity that they had. It is the permanence of God’s character that guarantees the fulfillment of all His promises.

ISA 54 has an application to us though it was said to the Jews, think how more applicable it is to the Church.

ISA 54:1, “Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child; Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed; For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous Than the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.

This means that more Gentiles will be saved than Jews....only because of the majority are Gentiles.

ISA 54:2, “Enlarge the place of your tent [expand your horizons]; Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings [prosperity in the home], spare not; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your pegs.

This is really promoting the dominion of ma over the creation.

PSA 54:3, “For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left [you’ll have tremendous capacity] And your descendants will possess nations, And they will resettle the desolate cities.”

This is the promise of the Lord to all the gentiles or believers concerning their future.

ISA 54:4, “Fear not, for you will not be put to shame; Neither feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced; But you will forget the shame of your youth, And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.”

The New Testament commentary to this principle is found in 1JO 2:28, And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.

ISA 54:5, “For your husband is your Maker [the spiritual relationship that the Lord had with His people the Jews in the Old Testament], Whose name is the Lord of hosts; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth. For the Lord has called you, Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,” Says your God. For a brief moment I forsook you, But with great compassion I will gather you.”

Notice again the word compassion.

ISA 54:8-10, “In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment; But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you, Says the Lord your Redeemer. For this is like the days of Noah to Me; When I swore that the waters of Noah Should not flood the earth again, So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, Nor will I rebuke you. For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, And My covenant of peace will not be shaken,” Says the Lord who has compassion on you.

In 1PE 4:19 to those who are going through some measure of suffering the apostle Peter says to entrust your soul to the “faithful Creator” who will always do what is right! And so, God is faithful in what He withholds just like He is faithful in what He gives. He is faithful in sending sorrow as well as in giving joy. And therefore the faithfulness of God is a truth to be acknowledged by us, not only when we are at ease but when we are in trouble. To agree with this means that we humble ourselves before Him and owe up to the fact that we fully deserve His correction and instead of any murmuring or complaining, we thank Him for it.

So, God is not only faithful in stopping affliction but in sending it as well. Look at HOS 5:15, I will go away and return to My place UNTIL they acknowledge their guilt and (until they) seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.

Remember what the Psalmist said in PSA 119? He had to rely on the Supreme Court of Heaven (SCOH) as he was facing annihilation. Here is a man who is imprisoned but he learned that the word of God was his comfort in times of stress and pressure.

PSA 119:50, “This is my comfort in my affliction, That Thy word has revived me.”

Here is also a man who learned to apply the word of God in the dark times because he applied it when he was in prosperity.

PSA 119:55, “O Lord, I remember Thy name in the night, And keep Thy law.”

What does God promise to the believers who persevere?

PSA 119:65, “Thou hast dealt well with Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word.”

PSA 119:67, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Thy word.”

In PSA 119:7, It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Thy statutes.

And of course all of these principles reveal the faithfulness of God; PSA 119:75, “I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness Thou hast afflicted me.”

PSA 119:77, “May Thy compassion come to me that I may live, For Thy law is my delight.”

What about the attitude of the adult spiritual life?

PSA 119:137, “Righteous art Thou, O Lord, And upright are Thy judgments.”

And then he tells us to gut it out in time of pressure and adversity;

PSA 119:157, “Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, Yet I do not turn aside from Thy testimonies.”

And this will be their message in HOS 6:1, “Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.”

This is divine discipline wounding the believer who has gone astray.

HOS 6:2, “He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day That we may live before Him.”

This is a verse that needs to be understood according to typology. For example, the reviving of the Jews after two days can refer to the prophecy being stated where a day to the Lord is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day (2PE 3:8).

So in HOS 6:3, “So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth.”

Just like the Trinity possesses the three types of “omni’s” and are all on an equal basis so is our Lord’s faithfulness to us, especially when we give something over or turn things over to the Lord. And so because of this we can conclude that the same principles of equality that exist between the Trinity when it comes to His knowledge, His power or His presence also exists in their being faithful.

God the Father - faithful in JAM 1:17, Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.

God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (HEB 13:8).

God the Holy Spirit is faithful to indwell us and teach us (JOH 14:26-28).

Now, understanding these principles will preserve us from worry. To be worried and concerned is to reject the nature of God and His  divine attributes and become a loser believer. God doesn’t change and therefore He who has cared for His child through all the years, will not forsake him in old age.

In PSA 37:23-28, “The steps of a NOBEL man are established by the Lord; And He [that is the Lord] delights in his way. When he falls, he shall not be hurled headlong; Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand. I have been young, and now I am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Or his descendants begging bread. All day long he is gracious and lends; And his descendants are a blessing. Depart from evil, and do good, So you will abide forever. For the Lord loves justice, And does not forsake His godly ones; They are preserved forever; But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.

He who has heard your prayers in the past will not refuse to supply your need in the present.

Therefore, the principle; God is greatly honored when under testing for blessing or chastening, we have proper thoughts toward Him and recognize His divine attributes in action. And the sooner we trust in Him in all of our affairs being fully persuaded and convinced of His love toward us,  the sooner we will find true meaning, satisfaction, and contentment in life.

PSA 130:1-4, (A Song of Ascents.) “Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let Thine ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications. If Thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee, That Thou mayest be feared.”

If you, GOD, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? But, as it turns out, forgiveness is God’s manifestation of His love. 1JO 2:12, “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.”

Now because God has forgiven us, believers are commanded to forgive one another in Eph 4:32 which is an imperative mood. Forgiving one another is not only a command but it is needed for fellowship and unity in a local assembly. After all, the Lord was so serious with this principle that He said in MAR 11:26, “If you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”

In EPH 4:25   Therefore, laying aside falsehood (the Cosmic lies], speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.

What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.

EPH 4:26-27, Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.

Go ahead and be angry for you have the right to, especially if someone is hurting or attacking the Royal family. You do well to be angry but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.

EPH 4:28-32, Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have   something to share with him who has need. Let no unwholesome word or corrupt communication proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

This command to be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you is for the believer who has attained spiritual growth. He is tender-hearted and forgives others on the basis of the fact that God has forgiven him. Forgiving others allows God to handle the situation rather than self. If you have failed under disaster testing or like the Jews you are blaming others, just simply name and cite it and go on. That is a part of the RFHC concerning how to give things over to the SCOH. Just make sure as you go on that you keep your mouth shut!

Why?

So that the Lord will fight for you while you keep silent. Or look at 1SA 17:45, Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.”

ROM 12:19, “Beloved, do not take your own revenge, but defer to the wrath of God. For it stands written [DEU 32:35], ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.’”

COL 3:13, Bear one another and forgiving each other. Whoever has a complaint against anyone else, just as the Lord forgave you, so also you should forgive others.

This is guidance and direction concerning how to function under the Supreme Court of Heaven without any resentment. Resentment doesn’t make us ready. What overcomes our resentment is that which David said in PSA 103:3, “The Lord pardons all our iniquities; and heals all our diseases.”

Forgiveness is an extreme important part of the spiritual life.

In EPH 1:7 the apostle Paul said, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,”