For the past few days now I have been using Amos 3:3 as a pattern for our own call to walk with GOD as One. In which mans original position of Genesis 2 is restored to him as promised in Genesis 3:15. Because this was the out come of GOD's many promises and mysteries of scripture held in silence until the day of the LORD came and GOD's transformation that then took place. This day was the day of Pentecost for all who would seek GOD, an acquire a contriteness and humbleness of heart. And still today there are many people who do not know this secret because their own church does not know it either. In fact they deny GOD by denying His Revelation of Christ. Today under the led of the LORD I will look at Christ's indwelling of redeemed, receptive man. But first Pastor Hoekstra and his teaching on Grace, by making use of Nebuchadnezzar a former ruler of Babylon, which lies close to the seat of Satan. And then with the use of the ESV translation I will look at Christ's indwelling of man.
"Nebuchadnezzar Exemplifying God's Opposition to Pride"
"All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar . . . he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. The king spoke, saying, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?" While the word was still in the king's mouth, a voice fell from heaven: "King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you." (Daniel 4:28-31)
"Our lofty and holy GOD is committed to graciously revive the hearts of all who walk in humility and lowliness. "Though the LORD is on high, yet He regards the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar" (Psalm 138:6). Those who walk in pride experience quite a different response from the LORD. King Nebuchadnezzar exemplified GOD's opposition to the prideful.
Nebuchadnezzar was a powerful king in Babylon. One day, he was in his royal palace reflecting upon the greatness of his kingdom. He concluded that it all came to pass because of his own might and for his own glory. "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?" This prideful evaluation was in stark contrast to David's earlier humble profession. "Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, our GOD, we thank You and praise Your glorious name" (1Chronicles 29:11-13).
Before Nebuchadnezzar had finished his self-centered pronouncement, heaven declared GOD's opposition to his pride. "King Nebuchadnezzar . . . the kingdom has departed from you." The consequences would be appropriately severe. "And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses" (Daniel 4:32). This radical action was much like another proud ruler experienced in the days of the early church. "So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, 'The voice of a god and not of a man!' Then immediately an angel of the LORD struck him, because he did not give glory to GOD. And he was eaten by worms and died" (Acts 12:21-23)." GOD in His wisdom has filled His record with all kinds of examples of wayward people of mans kingdom for our learning of Him and His greatness.
Christ's Dwelling in:
Revealed in the Coming of the Holy Spirit,
John 14:18-24 (Jesus is speaking) "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and WE will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. And the word that you hear is not Mine but the Father's Who sent Me."
Demonstrates to the World Christ's Mission,
John 17:20-24 (Jesus is speaking) "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in US, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. The glory that You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as WE are One, I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me. [the meaning of marriage, Genesis 2:23-24] Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me (Psalm 2:6-8), may be with Me where I am, to see My glory that You have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world."
The Old Life dies that the New may Live,
Galatians 2:15-21 "We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works required of the Law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law, because by works of the Law no one will be justified. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to GOD. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I [the "I" of sin] who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of GOD, Who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not nullify the Grace of GOD, for if righteousness were through the Law, then Christ died for no purpose."
Obtained by Faith,
Ephesians 3:14-19, 20-21 "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of His glory HE may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in His love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of GOD. Now to Him Who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the [family of which HE is the Patriarch His] church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
A Glorious Mystery,
Colossians 1:24-29 "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from GOD that was given to me for you, to make the word of GOD fully known, the mystery hidden for Ages and generations but now revealed to His saints. To them GOD chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me."
Obedience Essential to,
1John 3:23-24 "This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He has commanded us. Whoever keeps His commandments abides in GOD, and GOD in him. And by this we know that HE abides in us, by the Spirit Whom HE has given us."
Possible to All,
Revelation 3:14, 15-22 (Christ Jesus is speaking) "And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: 'The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of GOD's creation.
"'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. I would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with Me on My throne, as I also conquered and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'"
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