Ephesians Lesson 30 of 39 part 6

2Corinthians 5:16

"Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more."

Our own idea of this verse is, that Paul is referring to Christ and His earthly ministry. Paul knew all about Jesus of Nazareth, my goodness they were about the same age, and he walked as a contemporary with Jesus. We have nothing in Scripture that they ever confronted each other face to face, but old Saul of Tarsus knew who Jesus of Nazareth was, and Jesus knew who Saul was. So Paul says, "yet now henceforth on this side of the death, burial, and resurrection, we do not know Him as still in the flesh." We know all men through the Spirit. For the spirit is empowered by the Spirit to discern the spiritual from the dead or nonspiritual. This is a great mystery because all are spiritual, what do I mean by this? We were created spiritual beings as recorded in Genesis 1:27 and as such we are a receptive being, influenced by one or the other of two Spirit beings. Now the second spirit being is Satan and of course the other is God Himself. This is why Jesus said that we can serve only one master as Matthew records in chapter 6 verse 24 and Luke in chapter 16 verse13. And why Jesus in the wilderness when He was confronted by the voice of the flesh. Told the flesh that, “Jesus said to it, Get hence, Satan: for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.” in Matthew 4:10 (paraphrased). It was this spiritual being (Gen. 1:27-28) that Jesus acknowledged Himself to be, while in the wilderness and it was from here that He revealed Himself to be the Son of man (Gen. 2:7) and God.

This is where most of Christendom should be, at any given moment. But instead they are still over there in Jesus’ earthly ministry, in Israel's past and in the synoptic gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John on the other side of the cross. In the earthy, carnal, fleshly ministry of the letter which does what? Kills. Do not get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with studying His earthly ministry, but there is no salvation in that. We do not get saved by believing that Jesus ministered to the Pharisees, which by the way it does not appear to have happened. He and John the Baptist both have a holy war of sorts against evil and the Pharisee's, Sadducee's and scribes were the epitome of evil and at its center. Many preachers and teachers spend most of their time there, not seeing how Jesus dealt with the Pharisee, Sadducee's and scribes and belittled them and their Religiousness, and that of course makes it so much more incomprehensible. Why? because they were incompatible with Jesus and John the Baptist's message and were NOT in agreement with the Jewish Institution of Religious exercise. In other words they were and remain diametrically opposed to each other. It is something that we can learn, but it is not where our salvation is found. Its not where the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth wants us to spend our and His time.

Jesus in Matthew 11:29, asks us all to learn of Him and we will not find Him any longer in the synoptic gospels but rather within His revelation or revealing to and then through Paul. Though the Spirit of Truth will take us through the Old Testament and therein reveal all things pertaining to Christ. Just as Jesus did with His disciples after His return from taking the Old Testament Saints to Glory and there sprinkling them with His blood, to sanctify them there (Luke 24:45, Ephesians 1:10, Philippians 2:10, and Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 2:17).

Our salvation is only found in Paul’s writings on ascension side of the cross. Our salvation was one of the mysteries that was given only to the Apostle Paul for the Body of Christ. And that is what Paul is saying here in this verse. "Since we are on this side, I’m not going to be hanging on to Jesus and His ministry on that other side of the cross." The side where the man who acknowledged Christ was hung, we are to be with Him in paradise, for He is our Canaan land and rest. There are many preachers and teachers that do not want to face up to His shed blood, and refuse to face up to His resurrection, because they had much rather talk about Jesus walking on the water. So they are hung on or with the thief who rejected Christ. One day they will wake up at His judgment seat and find their place with the goats and all black cows. It is these kind of people who are to be His footstool. We think most of them know nothing of the Jesus who died for their sins, was buried, and rose again, because if they did that would be their message. They never hear His asking of them, “are you willing to take My Yoke and learn of Me?” For He is not in the signs, wonders and miracles that is not where we will learn the most of Him, though we are to pass through, and by that way, we are not to stay there or on milk.

Nevertheless this is what Paul is driving home, henceforth since His death, burial, resurrection and ascension we do not spend all our time back there in His earthly ministry to Israel and that is exactly what he says in verse 16.

2Corinthians 5:16

"Wherefore henceforth know we know man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more."

Let’s read verse 17, this is the verse we brought you here for in the first place.

2Cointhians 5:17-19
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation."      

Ephesians Lesson 30 of 39 part 5

James 4:4-12

“You adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do you think that the scripture say in vain, The spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy? But He gives more grace. Wherefore He said, 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.' Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.

Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaks evil

of his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil of the

law, and judges the law: but if you judge the law, you are

not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver,

who is able to save and to destroy: who are you that judges

another?” 

The question is, to whom is James addressing this letter? The answer is found at the entry salutation at the top of chapter 1 verse 1, "to the twelve tribes scattered abroad" or Israel. The Israel which is worldly and spotted by that worldliness. He calls them adulterers and adulteresses because they have been a pagan idolatrous nation since after Jacob death. In the cyclic cycle of the supplanter (which means this: the bottom of the foot, the heel, to over-through and undermine, to turn the head in another direction in a negative sense) and in unbelief. The very people that Moses had to deal with and are the ones he had so much trouble from.

This heel reaches all the way back to Genesis 3 and the promised seed. Who's heel the serpent would bruise and we know Him as the Messiah of Israel, the greatest of Prophets and the greatest Apostle, the High Priest of our Faith in God, the Father of spirit's and who by the way is also the Father of Life, Christ.

2Corinthians 5:14

"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all are dead:"

By virtue of Adam’s fall, every human is spiritually dead estranged, separated from God the Father, when he/she is born into the human family. This is why we are sinners, we are born sinners, we are the sons of Adam. So consequently Christ died for the whole human race, because the whole human race is spiritually dead, and in need of redemption which when received (by the baptism (not in or with water) of the Holy Spirit, through Whom we are given the right to become, a son of God, which requires our receiving the ontological essence of Christ within us in accord with Jesus' prayer of John 17) will reveal our (Israel and Gentile's) needed salvation. And now verse 15.

2Corinthians 5:15

"And that he did for all, that they which live (the true believers) should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." (There is our Gospel again.)

Paul just pops our salvation Gospel of Grace in there all the time. Why? Because God is a Covenant God and we are a New Covenant people, this Covenant is Grace and Truth in Christ Jesus alone. He was the hidden end of the Old and is the embodiment of the New which He inaugurated at the table of the Passover and consummated by His death and resurrection. This should sound vaguely familiar as it is a reversal of the Hebrews Passover before they left Egypt. We are what we are because we believe that Christ died for us and rose (resurrected within us) again and that we are now God-children because we have in faith received the ontological essence of Christ within our heart. Through the cutting away of the flesh of our heart by God's doing when we rightly understand the alter of our communion, the Cross of Christ. Not by mans works but by God's doing, as He promised Adam.

The Hebrew children did not seem to get just what was done for them at their table and what God did that night in Egypt for them. Though they rehearsed it over and over as they did all the other requirements given them for well into 1500 plus years until John the Baptist came. They did not see the meanings and purposes of all the utensils used in worship because they never saw the shadow cast by the tree, heck they never saw the tree. As many who copy them still do not. This is why Paul tells them and us that when we do not properly discern the Lord's body that we all are unfit to partake of His alter (study 1Corinthians 10 and Hebrews 9-10 closely). Now verse 16.

2Corinthians 5:16

"Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: 

yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now

henceforth know we him no more."    

Ephesians Lesson 30 of 39 part 4

Ephesians 4:24

"And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." 

We are not to be a facade, not a counterfeit, but the real thing. This is not something we can manufacture of our selves because the people of the world know a hypocrite when they encounter one. Because one they are one and two because they are, they know who else is also. We all at one point or another are acting our part, what you ask? Say your sick, do you broadcast it to everyone your true condition, many do not. And if they claim to be a "Christian" they will say that they are healed by His strips or that they are taking a healing. When in fact of truth they are not and then they will say, "Life and death are in the power of the tongue", as an escape mechanism. Oh, there are many such examples but that one will do, they are play acting and that makes them a hypocrite before God and man. They wont go to a doctor or even a hospital because they may loose their standing as a person of faith, when in actuality they are stubborn and bullheaded. That is slandering God and His name by so doing and God will not be mocked by any one. If your sick by all means seek help, God has given gifts to man for that very purpose and if someone comes and tells you to do so, then do it. Back to Romans chapter 6, and let’s start with verse 5, and remember Paul always writes to the believer, he never writes to an unbeliever, he does write to those who profess belief but are in fact a disbeliever and he expects us to contact them.

Romans 6:5-6

"For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death*, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man** is crucified with him, that the body of sin (that influence of the old Adamic nature) might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."

*the revealed illumination of the Lord Supper through His ascension, then Galatians 2:20. **the old Adam, that old sin nature, the hypocrite, that we are born with and because Jesus came through the line of Jacob though His was not a Hebrew or Jewish, for He was the Son of man.

We are not, we can NOT have or serve two masters, we will serve Satan (in Religion of man or are lost) or we will serve God through Christ, thusly having One LORD. If we are unable to call Christ Jesus LORD, we are none of His.

Romans 6:8

"Now if we be dead with Christ, (by faith) we believe that we shall also live with him:"

If we identify with His death, burial, and resurrection, by faith, then God identifies us in that same set of circumstances. I must warn everyone that this is not a form of head knowledge as a yes man but is rather by way of personal revelation. In other words the logos of God's Word has become the Rhema Word (life giving or living word) within you and your heart. We have been crucified the old Adam, we have now been given a new nature. And as He arose from the dead, we also arose from the dead. With this one difference He has resin in our heart as the Word of Life. As He paid the sin penalty on our debt, God sees us literally on the cross, in the person of Christ. He saw us in the tomb in the person of Christ, He sees us in resurrection power in the person of Christ, and we appropriate all that by faith. How because the shadow which the Prophets of Israel saw has become the Tree within us as the grain of mustard. We are seated in the Heavenliest in Christ at the Father of spirit's right hand, in His presence. We can not put it in a box, we can not lay it on a table and analyze it, but rather we take it all in by faith, and just simply believe Him. Why? Him because the word "it" is a living person, the ontological essence of Christ, the Rhema of God. In faiths receptivity of Grace, in Love and Truth. We are getting through to a lot of people that this is where it is at. We just simply believe it, because we can not always understand it. We can not fully comprehend it, but we can believe and receive it if we know that God has said it, and this is true. On our way back to Ephesians let’s stop at 2Corinthians 5, but before we do, allow us to look at James comments for a moment. 

James 1:27

“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”

What  does James mean by "unspotted from the world"? For our answer you will need to look at the LORD's prayer in John's synoptic gospel chapter 17 and verses 14-15, Romans 12:2, Galatians 1:4, 6:14 and Colosians 3:1-3, it might do well to also look at 1John 2:15-17 and 5:4-5. From here staying in James turn to chapter 4 and we find this:      

Ephesians Lesson 30 of 39 part 3

We ended with saying this, Let His blood be upon our children, and our children’s children. Israel did not know what they were saying did they? What we are about to reveal may upset many who are persuaded by their faith in Religion and the deception of Israel to deny God, that is your right but you had better think twice about doing so. His Word is Truth because He is a God of Covenant and there are only two of them. The First with Abraham and Isaac and the Last or New with mankind.

Oh listen, the wrath of God finally came in during the war of 66-70 AD, and the final push to get rid of the Hebrews that were left in Jerusalem and that region was at Masada, when the Romans found out there were still some 900 Hebrews left that were holding out against Rome, those soldiers spared nothing as they tried to scale the walls at Masada. And, you know the story of Masada. When the Romans finally got up there most the Hebrews had all committed suicide. But nevertheless the Hebrews during that war from 66-70 AD, Israel came under the wrath of God, and again under the Germany during Hitler's tyranny, and today the Arab nations under the tyranny of the Muslims and Islam all are the black horse and rider of Revelation. Again because of their national sins and unbelief concerning their Messiah. Israel is caught in the curse of their supplanter who wrestled with the angel of God, Jacob. Here in verse 24 Jesus is still speaking.

Luke 21:24a

"And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations*:...”

*as a result of the invasion by the Roman army.

We had not intended to go to Luke chapter 21, but right here is the clue that this is not the final battle of Armageddon, which will trigger the Lord’s return, as we find in Matthew chapter 24. Here in Luke, Israel is going to be led away into a dispersion into all nations, as they were in 70 AD, and we know that they were scattered into every nation under heaven.

We think in the opening remarks of his book, "The Source", James Michener said he had found Hebrews in every sovereign nation on the face of the earth. So when God said that He would scatter them into every nation, He was literal. That dispersion has lasted now for almost 2000 years, but that is not the part of the verse that we are really looking for, as it is in the last part of the verse.

Luke 21:24b

"...and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times* of the Gentiles be fulfilled **."

*a fixed or special occasion, denoting a delay in God's timetable. **as the everlasting pointed, toward the end of an unknown, hidden period of time.

In other words God will have to bring His wrath upon the Gentile world – now the other side of the coin we find in Romans. As the household of God which also covers Israel's being re-grafted into its root. This root is not Jacob but is rather Abraham and Isaac not Jacob because his name was changed to Israel, the rebellious house of the supplanter. The house of deception, the house which turns the heads in the wrong direction, away from the God of Abraham and Isaac.

Romans 11:25

"For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery (this secret), lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; (and here it is) that (spiritual) blindness in part (just for a time) is happened to Israel, until (there will be a day, month, and year) the fulness of the Gentiles be come in (the Body of Christ completed) ."

Those are two totally different concepts. In Luke it’s the cup of iniquity of Israel and the Gentile world. The deeper they go into sin, the fuller they are filling the cup of iniquity. Over here in Romans we have the filling of the One Body of Christ. Keeping in mind that Paul does not use the term sheep and goats as the Lord did for Israel. For the last 1965 + years, people have been coming into the Body of Christ, the Family of God and it is getting closer and closer to it’s completion. These two concepts will almost work in union. Of course the cup of iniquity of Israel and the Gentiles will go 7 years beyond the filling of the Body of Christ. But over the big picture, time wise that is not much difference, so what we are seeing today is that the Body of Christ is nearly complete, the cup of iniquity of Israel and the Gentile world is nearly completely. As they both run in parallel with Israel's past history in the character of the supplanter and it's track record. Now go to Ephesians 4 verse 24.

Ephesians 4:24

"And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."       

Ephesians Lesson 30 of 39 part 2

Genesis 15:13b-16

"...and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: (we know God did judge Egypt) and afterward shall they (the children of Israel) come out with great substance. And thou (Abraham) shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. (Abraham lived to be 175) But in the fourth generation they* shall come hither again**: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full."

*the children of Israel who had been down in Egypt all those years. **back to their promised land in Canaan. And why did God wait all those years to bring them back to Canaan.

In other words, God is going to give those Canaanite tribes (the sons of Ham), at least a couple of hundred years to clean up their act, which was possible even for a pagan if he wanted to. But did they clean up their act? No, they kept going deeper and deeper into the gross immoralities, and the things that had plagued the human race. They had gone so far down that when Joshua was ready to bring the children of Israel into the Promise Land, from the east side of the Jordan, what did God instruct them to do? Kill every Canaanite in the land. Makes no difference whether it was a new born infant or a person of many, many years, put them to death. Why would God say that? Because they were corrupt. 

If you put something good in with something corrupt, the corruption does not become good, but rather the good becomes corruption! So God says to Caleb, "You have got to cleanse the land of them." Well it was God’s judgment on their wickedness. So all the way up through their history there comes points of time periodically when God says, "I have had enough" of them and their idolatrous behavior.

The great next event before God judged the Canaanites was God’s judgment on mankind with Noah’s flood, and after the flood we find God judged Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis chapter 19. So God’s judgment fell on those people also. And God’s going to judge the world again, because the Bible is just screaming, "There is a judgment coming." Now we are not saying when, but we know according to Daniel, Luke, Matthew 24, and Revelation and other books, that day is coming. In fact on our way back to our study in Ephesians let’s stop for a moment in the book of Luke, chapter 21. You know when we make these little detours, we think, we have to hurry up and get through this chapter or that chapter, and then we stop and think, no, this is a Bible study, and as you know by now we are not on a fast track, so we will just study as we go. There is something here in Luke chapter 21 that we want to point out to you. Here Jesus is speaking during His earthly ministry.

Luke 21:20-22

"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compressed (encircled) with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh (Daniel 9). Then let them which are in Judea flee to mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter therein to. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled."

A lot of people get misled here in Luke, and think that this is the Battle of Armageddon, when Jerusalem will be compassed, but it is not. This is the prophecy that Titus and the Roman Army in 66-70 AD will destroyed the Temple and the city of Jerusalem, it was awful. My, Josephus gives an account of it that is just unbelievable. Over a million Jews were slaughtered, unmercifully, when Titus finally overran the city of Jerusalem. He raised his troops ensign or flag over the temple grounds, the very ensign of a pagan god. Also you want to remember the pagans had no mercy, and the Romans of course became more infuriated than ever because of the Jews stiff resistance. One of the things that raised the ire of the Roman soldiers so much was when they were trying to scale the walls, the Jews would pour hot boiling water over them. Well that was enough to infuriate anybody. But this passage here all happened between 66-70 AD. What confuses readers so much, is the language here is much the same as in Matthew 24 which is all Tribulation and end time events. Now verse 23.

Luke 21:23

"But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people."

What is the controversy with the city of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel at that time? They had rejected their Messiah, and crucified Him! And after all the pleading, and after all the miracles, that Christ performed in the midst of those Jewish people who were so blind to whom He was, what was their cry? Let His blood be upon our children, and our children’s children. They did not know what they were saying did they?  

Ephesians Lesson 30 of 39 part 1.5

Genesis 6:11-12

"The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was (very) corrupt; for all flesh has corrupted his way upon the earth."

Here we have the word corrupt three times in 2 verses, and you know by now when God repeats something 2 or 3 times in a short period, what is He doing? Emphasizing. It is for emphasis, that the world leading up to the flood became so rotten and core. We believe their technology at that time was also exploding. Why do you think Lot chose Sodom, rather than the highlands of Israel? Because it was thriving, it had an economy, it probably had a stock market above 11,000. They had an abundance of food, and an abundance of idleness, which gives you the whole picture now of our own society. This is where we are, and what did the Lord Himself attach to it? "As it was in the days of Noah, as it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man." Hey, we are close to that time again. We do not put dates on it, but the more you see our sliding downward and morality dropping off the charts, and our technology rising, we are getting so close it almost scares us. And let’s look at verse 13.

Genesis 6:13

"And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence..." 

And when you have corruption, you have all manor of violence! What is more corrupt than mans religion? Nothing. It stinks like that seed potato when exposed. My wife and I have found somethings buries in scripture that took the wind out of our sail, but we are not yet at liberty to reveal what it is. Not until the LORD confirms what we have found, it has to wait on the shelf until then.

Come back to where we left off, and we did not quite finish with verse 22, so let us pick that verse up again.

Ephesians 4:22

"That ye put off concerning the former conversation (manner of living) the old man, (old Adam sin nature) which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts;"

Let me say this, if our Bible translators and yes the early Hebrew writers twisted, perverted scripture or as God told Hosea that he spoke through the Prophets in similitudes. Then we had better find out from Him what was meant when He spoke.

We looked at that word corrupt, and found that it is that which is in complete opposition to God, and includes, violence, immorality, and dishonesty, and all the stuff that makes up the world of wickedness all around us. What society of our day and time does not want to accept is that is very corrupt and this all stems from Religion. Mans Religion, Revelation and the worlds Economy pictured as a woman on the back of the waters. and waters, kingdoms and mountains mean nations which are all subjected to the corruption of this Harlot. We think once in a while the media and world around us is constantly ridiculing the fact that, God doesn’t always put up with man’s foolishness forever, and there is a day of judgment coming. Scripture tells us that this judgment will start at the house of God. Well where is the house of God? The literalist and the futurist will tell you that it is Israel, because of the way they read Bible prophecy. But is that true and more correctly is it the Truth? For Truth is determined by our own perspective or view point, what we depend on, our mindset, not God's. That makes Bible Truth corrupt, discolored, wrested and that all brings God's wrath down upon our heads. What we must know and see is God's perspective, what is He telling us. We are going to take us back, before we go any further, to Genesis 15. God has always promised that people would be judged all the way up through Scripture.

It goes without saying that when Israel, God’s covenant people, would go down the tube as we put it today, God would judge them. In their history, foreign nations come in and overrun them, or give them a king that would tax them to death. Sometimes they would be enslaved, and their young sons would be put into the armies and so forth. But when Israel would finally cry and cry, then of course God would bring them back out of it, bring them up to a high plain. They would be on the correct path for awhile and then down they would go again when they became disobedient. This is the cyclic cycle of Israel's history. So God would not hesitate to judge that little nation when they needed to be judged. His correction for them is still to come for the scriptures tell us that He will start with the household of God first (1 Peter 4:17). But is that actually what He means? Peters statement has these scripture references behind it: Isaiah 10:12, Jeremiah 25:29, 49:12, Ezekiel 9:6, Malachi 3:5 and Matthew 3:9-10, Luke 12:47-48, 23:31. Then Jesus in effect scolded Israel in the following passages: Matthew 11:20-24, Luke 10:12-14, and the writer of Hebrews in chapter 2:1-4 reminds those to whom he is addressing not to fall backwards into the old traditions, and we find a warning in 12:24-25 which we all would do well to listen to.

In fact we find in the book of Judges, is a record of the 400 year period of Israel’s history, it is nothing but a roller coaster ride. Up they had gone down and down they would go. They would no sooner get into a period of prosperity, and obedience to the Law and God, when they would become sensuous, nationalistic and materialistic, and then down they would go again. So we can see that God does not always wink at man’s improprieties and wickedness and put up with it. The first evidence of this is found in Genesis 15, where God is promising Abraham that his offspring, the nation of Israel, would one day be going down into Egypt into slavery and captivity.

Genesis 15:13a

"And he (God) said unto Abram, know of a surety (when God says it, you can bet on it) that thy seed (offspring) shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs,..."

Here God does not name Egypt, but we know now from our side of the coin, that is who He is talking about.   

Ephesians Lesson 29 of 39 part 9

I just realized that we are at the last entry in my note book 29 so we will be entering 30 here shortly. Carrying on with the revealing of man and then Israel's corruption through Jacob. Remember that those who come to the obedience of faith or the trusting of God by taking Him at his word, are counted heirs of Abraham and Isaac because they speak well of them. For years I was puzzled by what I saw as a break in Israel's behavior after Isaac but I was not able to put my finger on it. Yesterday the LORD opened it up to me and for you our followers.

Ephesians 4:22b

"...which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;"

Corrupt isn’t a pretty word is it? And we want you to know it’s not a pretty word. If any of you have ever done any gardening, especially if you put out a patch of potatoes. When you dig up those new potatoes after the growing season, and you are going through that nice fresh turned dirt, and picking up those new potatoes, invariably you are going to stick your finger into something that will just about turn your stomach inside out. And what is it? That old seed potato that is now rotten (in Genesis 3 God told woman and the serpent that the seed would be bruised at the heel, in 25:26 Jacob grabs Esau's heel at birth. My wife and I did some research last evening and we found a word buried in the ancient Hebrew, which has a French origin lier, in Joshua 8:14 it is used for one who lies in wait for ambush just as) that old potato which is now corrupt. Now that’s what we think of when we see the word "corrupt." Religion, in Latin is religare, in French it is lier and both when applied properly means rotten, corruption through the turning away as a supplanter (see Hosea12:2-3). It is something that is repulsive, something that just turns our stomach, and something that we just want to push out of our mind. Now listen, we think in the eyes of God that we can safely say, this is what our old Adamic nature boils down to. It is corrupt in His eyes, and is something that just turns Him off. The house that practices religion is deceitful in it's lusts for greater deception by turning mans head away from God as the serpent did woman and man when Adam listened to the voice of his flesh.
Now we just found a word in Genesis 32:28, which may be interposed by the translators, the word is blessed, if the Bible translators twisted it and its actual meaning or in an effort to deceive, this word means curse, or to blaspheme. If that be the case Jacob was cursed and not blessed and Israel carries this curse by it's practice of usage. Why did the angel of the Lord bless Jacob? When Jacob wanted him to bow to him as the victor, that does not fight God's character. God will bow to NO man, let alone Jacob a usurper and supplanter. This is why we need the Spirit of Truth, the ontological essence of Christ's Spirit within us who alone will cause us to question and search for His Truth. Look at Genesis 25:23 where Rebekah is being told, "and two nations", those of out right rebellion and the other are obstinate and prevailed against God....Jacob who became Israel. Today Esau's decedents are the Assyrians.

Now we are entering note book 30.

Now God loves us, do not get me wrong, but the old Adam is corrupt, and vile. The word shows us how bad it was back before the flood in Genesis. In fact let us go back there and look at it for a moment in chapter 6. This chapter is introducing the flood, and what brought it on, and see, God is still looking on that kind of a world. My word, when we consider, and read some of these articles of the filth, and the corruption that is permeating the whole world today, we have to wonder, how long can God put up with it. Well it was the same way back there and in Genesis it is recorded for our learning. But because of the removal of at least two books that we have in our position the Bible hides allot of information. And there came a day when He did not put up with it any longer, nor is He going to again.YES! But this time He will judge it by fire, or wrath. Why? Because the blood has been shed which redeemed mankind and mans conscience now judges him, the inner witness of God's very presences.

Genesis 6:5-7

"And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (does that ring a bell? Hey we are there!) And it repented (or made the Lord sorry) that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them."

Come on down to verse 11, and we will pick up with the word "corrupt."

Genesis 6:11-12

"The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was (very) corrupt; for all flesh has corrupted his way upon the earth."       

Ephesians Lesson 29 of 39 part 8

Ephesians 4:21

"If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:"

For us the questions now remain, have you heard His voice and then have you been or are you now being taught by Him? Anyone who follows this blog is being taught by Him, as I am being taught. Ever since we through away or removed our earlier postings and started this site and our other blog a new, we have all been under His teaching. For us, my wife Glenda and myself, this adventure began a new and with new Life shortly after He asked me this question. 'Are you ready to take My yoke upon you and learn of Me?' This happened by way of an audible voice back on August the 14th of 2007, when I replied to this question, Yes LORD! And our world has not been the same. He has been changing us both on the inside, through revelation of Him. As we strive to be as little children in constant receptivity of His activities within us by His faith and our trust of Him. Getting back to our subject at hand.

Everybody knows the verse in the synoptic gospel of John.

John 14:6a

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:..."

Of course He is, and again I come back to my use of the synonyms. Truth, Grace, this Gospel, and Christ, all mean the same thing. If you know Christ, you know this Gospel. If you know this Gospel you know Truth, and are experiencing Him in His Grace within you, you know they all fit together. So what Paul is saying here in verse 21 is, if you know this Gospel, if you are a member of this Body of Christ, then you have Truth and Grace, though it is unspoken and we have Truth that the world knows nothing of. We know Christ Jesus as John knew Him and witnessed to this in chapter 1 and throughout his synoptic gospel account. But we are making reference in particular to verses 14 and 17. Now in verse 22, Paul comes into a review of what he taught more explicitly in the book of Romans.

Ephesians 4:22a

"That ye put off concerning the former conservation (manner of living) the old man,..."

The old man, now we can see what was being shown in Genesis 32:28. Where Jacob wrestled with God and prevailed, the word used is power. This word, power, in this case and application is not good for it means to turn the head in an other direction, in a negative sense. For it says that Jacob used power to prevail and his name was changed to Israel and he called the place Peniel. God then touched the thigh on the inside and Jacob became halt in his walk. This was not a good thing because he resisted God and did not allow God to work within him. This same kind of resistance is what we see in Israel's history up to and including this very day. If Jacob had willingly surrendered to God, Israel's outcome may have been changed for the better. In Paul’s language the old man may be in reference to Adam, as many teach and even preach. But because of what I just said, I do not think so. It was Jacob who is responsible for the sin of Israel, it was his old Adam who made Israel sinners. And since the old Adam is functioning in a person, he is constantly trying to satisfy his own desires. The lusts of the flesh in one way or another. These desires are not limited to sex or self gratification, they are also the vain imaginations of our unrenewed minds. These are governed by the familiar spirit known as religion, the speck in our eye. We as a believer are instructed to put that lifestyle, this mental block, out of your everyday thinking, and actions. But the question for us all is, HOW? To this Paul says that:

Ephesians 4:22b

"...which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;"  

Ephesians Lesson 29 of 39 part 7

Ephesians 4:19

"Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness."

I just read in a magazine recently, where a young man somewhere had just became a multi-millionaire overnight, by putting a pornography page up on the internet. He is just reaping in the money. Alright, what about a young man like that, does God love him? Absolutely! Is this Gospel available to him? Absolutely! But do you think it is very likely that he will ever see it? No. Just like and possibly for the same reason that those hung up on all the Old Testament prophecies possibly wont either. Or how about those people who are diehard Islamist? We mean, they are all so blinded, no doubt, by the chains of Satan, and all he has on his mind is more, more, more power and needless blood shed. All because of the things that greed and religious ideology precipitates, because it’s driving source is greed, in his case it is ego that drives this stuff.

 

All right so in verse 19 they have gone beyond the feeling that would respond to this Gospel, because they are saturated with this immoral lifestyle, the immoral thoughts, and what have you, and all they can think about is working that which is unclean for the sake of satisfying their greed and religious ideologies. Had a gentlemen tell us several years ago, that it was his opinion that the human race is motivated almost entirely by one word. "Greed!" And you know he is completely correct. Now we love the capitalistic system, we love this freedom and all that, but you take greed out of it, and how long would it last? Oh it would die overnight, because it is that constant push for more and more that keeps it going. Sadly more and more corrupt politicians and failing economies cause extreme hardship across the world because most nations today operate on a negative cash flow (in the red). And that house will one day collapse on itself.

But that is not what we are talking about. We are talking about those who are so saturated with the things of the this world especially the lower element that we are seeing it take over our whole societies, and greed is the motivating power. It is what drives the drug culture as it did the alcohol kingpins of the 1920's and it's related crime culture.

Ephesians 4:20

"But ye have not so learned Christ;"

Speaking of us as members of the Body. That is not what we have learned of Christ. We are not in the Body of Christ to promote our greed. We are not a Christian so we can have health, wealth, prosperity of any kind nor religious ideologies, our Bible does not teach that. My goodness, look back over the years of Christian history. How many millions suffered and died for their faith. They did not have health, wealth and today's prosperity message. Even today all around the world Christians are under tremendous persecution, we do not hear much about it. There is an organization up in Bartlesville, Oklahoma that puts out a monthly magazine, and they report on the persecution of Christians. It is an unreal amount of persecution that is going on against Christians right now as we speak today. But this is exactly as the Lord said it would be and more so as the final day draws near. There are places in almost every continent where we are dying daily for our faith. These Christians are not in it for greed, or some trumped up religious ideology but rather we are in it because we love the Word of Truth! We have the ontological essence of Grace, Truth and God's Agape Love restored within us and He is our motivation, our driving force of Love for all.

Ephesians 4:21

"If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:"   

Ephesians Lesson 29 of 39 part 6

2Corinthians 4:3-4

"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:* In whom ** the god of this world (Satan) hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."

*if they are lost, they are in darkness. If they are in darkness, they are blind, and it is just a vicious cycle, this is also the state of those who are in the first estate. Oh, they have received redemption but yet the Bible is still a mystery to them, they have only the right to become a son of God. There remains a journey down the hill of despair and the revelation of how utterly sinful and bankrupt they are. Then there is the wanderings in the wilderness seeking for God and His righteousness. **those that are lost? No, but those who profess to believe but don't know just what it is they believe.

Do you see how one feeds on the other. If the world can keep people blind, they can not see the light. Oh, there are many a man who profess to have truth but truth is not Light nor is it Life eternal. If the world can keep them from seeing the light, they are going to stay blind. And the end will never meet, until the Lord moves in of course, and breaks this chain of blindness that is the blinder in the mind and hearts of both lost and yes, even the redeemed people alike. That is why we are given the Holy Spirit as a comforter, trainer, teacher and guide. But He can be copied and the false spirit thereby lead many astray. All the while they believe they are in the state of redemption. And as we have seen and heard the warnings even those in Salvation can also become distracted or turned away.

We are going to read the next verse also. We have had it happen, where some one said, "Well, you make too much of the Apostle Paul." And the person from whom this was spoken floored me, because he was and still is a close friend our ours.

2Corinthians 4:5

"For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake."

Always remember that when we are constantly emphasizing Paul’s Apostleship it is only because Paul gives us the true view of the finished work of the cross, we do not get it anywhere else. This is why we spend as much time as we do in the Pauline Epistles. 

We are going to stay in Paul’s Epistles, because this is where we are now. This is what we have to know today, this is what we have to know to tell people how to get ready so they won’t be here for the Book of Revelation. Tell you what, we sure do not want to be here for that. We know the world scoffs at the Book of Revelation, because they can not imagine that these things are going to happen, but they are. We have been sharing in the Book of Exodus, and all the plagues that happened there. People do not scoff at that because there is enough valid proof that those plagues happened, but we say, if we can believe the plagues in Egypt, we had better believe the plagues in Revelation, because one is tied to the other.

We are just going to keep sharing what Paul teaches because he is going to be constantly putting us in the crucified, risen, and ascended Lord, our union with Him. Back to Ephesians chapter 4, verse 19, and Paul is speaking of those people who are in darkness. He is speaking of those people who the god of this world is keeping blind.

Ephesians 4:19

"Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness."   

Ephesians Lesson 29 of 39 part 5

Ephesians 4:18

"Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart."

Immediately two verses just pop into mind. The thought here is having their understanding darkened. So let’s go back to John’s synoptic gospel chapter 3.

John 3:19

"And this is the condemnation, that light (reference to Jesus of Nazareth) is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, (why?) because their deeds were evil."

It was not that they lived in the gutter but rather that they lived in what might be called great wealth. Oh they lived sumptuously, and there again Pompeii and the more resent discovery in Jerusalem not far from the Temple wall shows that. Some of the ruins of those beautiful homes, they must have been mansions, and yet as they went down the street there was evidence of the immorality, and corruption everywhere they went. Even though it was from 2200 to 1800 years ago, things they have unearthed are amazing. So when we look at what’s going on in America, and the Western world today, don’t think for a moment that this is the first time anything like this has happened. It has always been this way, we are just doing it in a grander scale now. We remember telling my Sunday school class way back in the 1980's when the favorite cliche at that time was, "the new morality." Do you remember that? It was the so called sexual licenses, but we as kids in the 60's also had our new morality (woman's libbers, with them the burning of draft cards and woman's bras) and we use to tell our kids, "Hey wake up, there is nothing new about that, it is the same old immorality that has plagued the human race from day one." Now it is the same way here in this verse.

John 3:19b-20

"...and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (look at the next verse) For every one that doeth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved."

Where did his lifestyle of evil deeds come from? Adam! All those evil deeds came from the fall of mankind, and evil has been with every generation after generation since then. What we have said is this, man is more attached to the tree of good and evil than the tree of life. Now before we go to 2Corinthians for a moment, first let’s come back to Ephesians chapter 4, and look at verse 18 again. Hope we are not preaching, but rather sharing.

Before we do, last night while watching a program on TV the Lord gave me a thought, dealing with Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 1. Where the writer states that the Law and the Jewish customs, rituals, rites and ceremonies were all a shadow until Christ. And were only to last until the Tree, Christ Jesus came. And that John the Baptist told the Jewish elite, the Priest's that the axe had been laid to their root, as witnessed in both Matthew 3:10 and Luke 3:9. Both are in reference to Isaiah 10:33-34 and Ezekiel 15:2-4 and Malachi 3:1-3, 4:1 all because of Isaiah 5:2-7, 27:11 and Ezekiel 15:2-7 and to these the Lord made reference to in Luke 13:6-9 and John15:6. Then the writer of Hebrews states almost the same thing in 6:8 and Peter shortly before he is executed revealed this in 1Peter 4:7-8. I know that I have given you allot of scriptures to read but it will help you to do so, especially if you do not know them already.

Ephesians 4:18

"Having their understanding darkened* alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:"

*they loved walking in the dark, because their deeds are evil. But now what is the next word in that verse?

They are alienated from God through ignorance because of the hardness of heart, it was and remains a heart thing. For this we must go to 2Corinthians chapter 4. Where do they get such stringent blindness that they can not even see through it and recognize the light? Where does it come from? Well of course it originated from Adam, but who picked up the dominion of everything when Adam dropped it. Satan did. The prince of the power of the air and his silent manipulation of mans mind and thinking as a child plays with his toys. Now if you do not think our churches are in trouble, someone told us a while back that one of their pastors was holding a Bible study, and that individual said, "he didn’t believe in Satan." Well no wonder we are in trouble. If we can put Satan out of the picture, out of the equation, then he is home scott free isn’t he? If we are not going to recognize him, he has free reign. But oh the Scripture does recognize him.

2Corinthians 4:3-4

"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine in them."     

Ephesians Lesson 29 of 39 part 4

Today's version of church is only playing church, a church of hypocrisy because we are not close to being a true Church. This is a hard pill for many deceived people to swallow and believe because of the brainwashing that has been in effect for well over 1500 years. The peoples in the churches of the world are sickly and dying because of this hypocrisy and the practicing of all kinds of evil, in the name of Christ.

Ephesians 2:2a

"Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world,..."

What does Paul mean by that? Their everyday life’s experience, they way they lived life just as we live life today's with little if any difference. Before believing this Gospel, and the course they walked. Coming back to chapter 4, and verse 17, our walk now is to be as a member of the Body of Christ. Paul tells us not to walk as those pagan Gentiles do. Today there is not much difference between those who profess to be, what they by practice are not and those of worldly sort. There is NO! difference between them. When we are sharing Scripture, we try to remember the circumstances in which Paul lived and wrote. We guess it was never so graphically brought home to us as it was a couple of years ago when. We were watching a program on the area of Asia Minor out there near Turkey, Pompeii I think it was. When we saw the proof of that corrupt city, the ungodliness and the wickedness that was evident even in the ruins. 

So what must it have been like in it’s hay day? The evil was still seen, so that was the kind of a city into which Paul walked. He didn’t have the convenience of evangelists today. Most of them have help with all kind of publicity, they have the counselors ready, prayer warriors in place, but all Paul had was the Holy Spirit and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul would come in pretty much alone into these pagan cities. Sometimes he would have a companion such as Luke or Timothy, but he had this Gospel, and he proclaimed it. He would bring these people out of that abject, pagan, immoral, lifestyle. 

You know we feel so sorry for our young parents trying to raise kids in this culture of ours today, where they are bombarded with these same kind of things as an incitement. We have billboards, TV, movies and all sorts of vile things being said and in print, with NO regard for young people let alone adults who do not want to hear such things. And it was terrible in Paul’s day. Look what he says.

Ephesians 4:17a

"This I say therefore*, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth..."

*remember when Paul says therefore, he’s referring back to what he has just covered.

Once we have come into the Body of Christ, we are to be different, we are to be totally different. Not that we are to be odd balls. Oh it just gripes me when some Christians are just odd balls, that is not what God wants. God does not want somebody that the world would say, "If that is being a Christian, then I’m glad I’m not one." The world should be able to look at us, and say, "I wish I had what they have. I wish I had their joy and happiness, and their outlook on life." Always remember, when you come into certain positions, the world out there expects somebody to be worthy of that position, that is a given. Well, it is the same way here, when we come into our position as a member of the Body of Christ, it becomes a given that we are to be different. And look what Paul says. 

Ephesians 4:17b

"...walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind." 

That word walk is a unique Pauline term. We saw that in chapter 2, and Paul is always referring to walk, and here it is the same kind of description, but in a different setting. Then he says “in the vanity of their minds” what does that mean? We do not like to us people or especially close relatives but this last weekend we held another family reunion at our home. Then this one afternoon, while my wife and I were reminiscing over the weekends events, something struck me, which fits this thought. Most of the conversations were nothing but vanity of the carnal mind. People vented about relationships, work, traffic and travel and of course the families past. And what does that have to do with this, not one comment other than the ones the Lord lead us to engage in, where of a spiritual nature. And then even those which were spiritual, if taken in the wrong way, were also counted as vanity. Most conversations were empty, idle talk and inflation of mind upon slight grounds; empty pride, inspired by an overweening conceit of one's personal attainments or decorations. All these are but vanity of our minds, when our minds are not renewed to the things of the Spirit and our hope in that which is yet to come, our eternal home.

Ephesians 4:17

"This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind." 

In other words, they had no comprehension of what God expects. They just lived according to the appetites of the flesh. This is what we noticed by way of a living reality after rehearsing the conversations of this past weekend. This is not to put any one down or in a mean spirit but is only for our learning. Now verse 18, and in this verse is the other Gentiles that Paul is referring to.     

Ephesians 4:17-19 

"This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness."   

Ephesians Lesson 29 of 39 part 3

Romans 7:4

"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ*, that ye should be married to another, (that is to Christ) even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God."

*this is the secret of the Last Supper or Marriage Feast on through the ascension.

When man, Adam was first introduced on earth he belonged to his creator, then when mankind fell he became married to another, Satan. Jesus was the promised seed of Genesis 3:15 in which mankind would one day become God's sons again. In metaphoric terms married to Him as one being.

In the original scheme of things, what was the purpose of marriage? Children. Now look at this verse, what is the true purpose of our being married to Christ? Offspring. "That we should bring forth fruit unto God." What is the fruit? Lost and the unbelieving people that we can win, and by doing that we cause the Body of Christ to grow. Those of us who are hoping for the Lord to come, we have stressed, "how can we hasten the Lord’s coming? Soul winning! As soon as the Body of Christ is complete, whenever that is, it is going to be going home! That is why in Proverbs we are admonished to train up a child in the way he or they should go, so when they get older they will NOT lost the path home (paraphrased). This is one area that our churches have failed God and His message of Grace. So let’s get out and do not miss a chance to witness, to win the people's hearts. Hearts that the Lord opens, to receive Him and fill up the Body of Christ. In fact another verse comes to mind to finish that thought. Romans 11:25.

Romans 11:25b

"...that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in."

The fulness of the Gentiles, has not happened yet, but as soon as that last person is saved in this Church Age, then this prophecy will also be complete. 

What is the greatest hindrance to soul winning? The church of the "frigidaire", a church of the national parks, is how I have heard it stated, in other words the church which is not a Church. The world knows a falsehood when it sees it and hears it and that is exactly what has happened because of the spirit of Religion which has taken over. The world is filled with phony baloney Religion and is waiting for the Sons of God. Men and women who are true and living Truth of the Resurrection of Christ within them because they will walk in the power of the Resurrect and will win the souls of mankind by God's Love and Truth.

Ephesians 4:17a

"This I say therefore*, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth..."

*and remember when Paul says therefore, he’s referring back to what he’s just covered.

Once we have come into the One Body of Christ, we are to be different, we are totally different. Not that we are to be odd balls. Oh, it just gripes us when some Christians are just odd balls, that is not what God wants. God does not want somebody that the world would say, "If that’s being a Christian, then I’m glad I’m not one." The world should be able to look at us, and say, "I wish I had what they have got. I wish I had their joy and happiness, and their outlook on life." Always remember, when we come into certain positions, the world out there expects somebody to be worthy of that position, that is just a given. Well it is the same way here, when we come into our position as a member of the Body of Christ, it becomes a given that we are to be different. Because God's illumination shines through us, His Truth, Love and Grace shines. And look what Paul says. 

Ephesians 4:17b

"...walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind."

That word walk is a unique Pauline term. We saw that in chapter 2, and Paul is always referring to walk, and here it is the same kind of description, but in a different setting. The world knows the "vanity of mind", because they are it. Yes, they have vanity of mind and if our being has not been changed to God's character, then we are still lost. Because we live in deception and are only deceiving ourselves,  we still possess the vanity of mind. In other words we are only playing church, we are not true the Church.