The Transcendental and Awesome Christ Jesus

“What It Means To Be In Christ”

Let us take the example of a book. Let us judge Christ to be this book. Now let us consider ourselves to be a piece of paper. We take the piece of paper and put into The Book. Whatever happens to the book will happen to us, because we are now “IN THE BOOK.” The great Chinese apostle Watchman Nee coined this example. Brother Nee goes on to say that because every believer is “IN CHRIST”, whatever happened to Christ happened to us. Therefore when Christ was crucified, we were crucified with Him, because we are “IN HIM”. Therefore our sinful nature has been dealt a once and for all mortal blow.

When Jesus was buried, we were buried “IN HIM”. This means that our whole sinful nature has the potential to decay from us until is totally gone.

When Christ was raised from the dead, we were raised “IN HIM”, far above in distance and authority over the realm of the demonic, diseases, circumstances and the like to allow us to potentially live a victorious life here on earth.

We are automatically “IN THE BOOK, OR IN CHRIST” by what the Lord did. This is a reality! It is our position forever and we can praise the Lord for that. No one can ever get us out of our being “IN CHRIST”. However as to our daily life, though we are always “IN CHRIST” if we fail to yield and surrender to Him we start to live like if we are outside of Him, or outside of the book. That is why we must daily get INTO CHRIST through our uncompromising obedience. Obedience is nothing else than getting out of God’s way so that He can live His life without hindrance.

The second angle of being “In Christ” has to do with God putting all of His treasures and blessings safely “INSIDE THE PERSON OF HIS SON”. I always teach that Christ is God’s treasure chest.

The enemy has duped and blinded us, mostly through our own fault, and the church serves the Lord with a certain amount if deception. God has given us Christ, His only treasure chest, to live in us. All of what God needs, and we need, is locked up safely in His Son. The whole ball of wax about Christianity is to bring up Christ from His hidden state in our hearts, and as He comes to view within us, all of the treasures within Him come to view alongside with Him!

· As I have said before, the Christian life has very little to do with us asking God for blessings and things. Unfortunately, that is how we live for the Lord. The whole bottom line of our walk with the Lord has to do with us making Jesus to become manifested. Obedience is the only way! Because everything that pertains to God is INSIDE OF JESUS, when He is manifested in us, all that is INSIDE of HIM become manifested WITH HIM and becomes a gradual but automatic reality in our lives. The more that we obey, the more that Jesus becomes manifested, and the more that He is manifested, the more that we can get to the treasures IN HIM.

John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

 I took a few excerpts from a previous teaching that will shed some light on how Jesus is God’s treasure chest. Everywhere that you observe the expression “In Christ” it relates to an accomplished victory and a blessing of God dwelling eternally inside the Person of Christ.

We Don’t Need Blessings, We Need the Manifestation of Christ the Source of All Blessings

Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

In the Manifestation of Christ We Have a Complete Victory Over the Devil

Joh 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

In the Manifestation of Christ We have an Absolute Victory Against the Flesh

Ga 5:24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Ro 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. The revelation of the person of Christ Jesus brings forth has broken the bondage of sin.

2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. The revelation of Jesus Christ sets us free from all of the old creation.

The Revelation of the Person of Jesus Christ is the Source of all Spiritual Gifts

1 Cor 1:5 That in every thing ye are enriched by (By or In Him) him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;

1Co 1:6 Even as the testimony (the revelation) of Christ was confirmed in you:

1Co 1:7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming (The revelation) of our Lord Jesus Christ

Re 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony (The revelation) of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy

In Christ We Are Complete and Need Nothing Else

Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

In the revelation of Christ dwells all of the fullness of God.

Col 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Col 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: The revelation of the person of Christ Jesus makes us complete in all that God has for us, and in our deliverance and freedom.

Col 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. The manifeststion of the person of Christ Jesus fills each of us with all that Christ is and has for us in all aspects of our lives.

The Revelation of the Person of Christ is the Power of God and our Redemption and our Sanctification

1Co 1:24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

 The manifestation of Christ is our freedom from sin- redemption (Christ provides the blessing and becomes the agent of action for us to obtain it)

The manifestation of Christ is our purification- sanctification (Christ provides the blessing and becomes the agent of action for us to obtain it)

The Manifestation of the Person of Christ Is the Will of God

1Co 1:24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

 Christ does not only show us the will of God, His manifestation IS THE will of God. The more that He is revealed in us, the more that He will guide us to our ministry, our callings and reveal our spiritual gifts.

For In Him We Live, and Move, and Have Our Being

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Romans 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen

· I would like to direct your attention if I could, to the scripture above,

Romans 11:36. This scripture is one of my all time favorites. The apostle Paul has brilliantly by God’s anointing, summarized in just a few words, all of God’s actions towards the believer.

“For of Him’ (Jesus Christ is Our Source)

 “For of Him’ point to us that we must “live out of, or from Jesus”. Let me illustrate this point in the following way.

 Please visualize with me a large tree. (I know personally that amongst the folks receiving this Bible study there are some fine horticulturists, so I know that they will appreciate my example.)

 How does any tree or plant live? A tree or plant “LIVES OUT OF, OR FROM ITS ROOT SYSTEM.” Right? The roots provide all of the plant’s water and food as they absorb them from the soil. Basically speaking, the root system of any plant are the source for everything that is needed by them.. Without a system of roots the greatest and sturdiest of plants will die.

 “For of Him’ is defined in exactly this way. As any plant must “LIVE OUT OR FROM” its system of roots, so every believer must “LIVE OUT OR FROM” the Person, and the power of Jesus Christ. The person of Jesus living within us is “OUR ROOT SYSTEM”. Jesus is our source of life.

Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Please look with me now at Acts seventeen and twenty eight, Paul confirms to us once again us that Jesus is our life, our activity, and our existence. There is a progressive hierarchy found here. Life and energy, brings activity, which will define our existence and destiny.

 The kind of life, which the Lord gives to us, is the “God kind” of life. It is a resurrection life, which is free from bondage and hurt. It is clothed in the power of God, and is eternal in its nature.

 This “God type of life’ given to us by Christ our root system, sets us in motion; anoints us, animates us, and motivates to become vigorous in the things which please the Heavenly Father. Because we end up gratifying the Heavenly Father, our actions leads us into discovering what our true existence and purpose in life is all about.

 Before finishing up with this section, let us quickly look at two more scriptures, which utilize the identical Greek grammatical makeup describing to us that Jesus is our root system, and that we must therefore “live out of Him.”

2Cor 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ( OUT OF ) ourselves; but our sufficiency is of ( OUT OF) God;

“To be sufficient” has to do with making someone fit and equipped for a certain function. This in turn will allow the believer to become competent and qualified to carry out all activities pertaining to this certain function. We are unable to equip ourselves, and make ourselves competent for even the smallest of activities that relate to the kingdom of God. In order for us to qualify, and successfully carry out God’s plans in this world, we must absorb the Lord’s life, His power, His will and so forth and live out from the Lord Himself.

2 Cor 5:18 And all things are of( OUT OF) God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

 Second Corinthians five and eighteen goes even further than this by telling us that everything that we are dependent upon must be absorbed by us from the Lord.

 “Through Him” ( Jesus Christ is Our Agent of Action)

Romans 8:37 (Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.)

 By “Through Him” we are in fact setting apart the Lord as our agent of action. What does this mean? The Lord Jesus has not only taken it upon Himelf to be our root source on whom we feed. Jesus has goes even further than this!

 For everything that that Lord solicits of us, He also provides the avenues, the doors, and the individual steps for us to successfully conduct His every order. With every step that we must take to obey Him, the Lord will also provide us with the anointing, strength, motivation, the peace and joy, and the blessings that will lead us to successfully accomplish each one of His affairs.

 Allow me to share an experience with you. I knew almost from the time that I got saved in the late 1970’s that God wanted to give me a wife. I did have to wait as a single Christian for nine years before the Lord blessed me with my wonderful wife Mary.

 Those nine years were times of great anxiety and guess working, as I thought this girl, and this other girl, and yet this other girl, was to be my Christian mate. Yet the Lord was not in anyone of these relationships. I can tell you that all of my attempts to make these relationships work was as trying to run an engine with no oil. Everything pertaining to the relationships was frustrating; the constant arguments, the disappointments and so forth.

 The Lord finally got me to a place in my life where I was so much in love with Him that marriage, or the lack thereof, got pushed to the backburner. Finally, when the Lord brought Mary into my life, He kept our eyes blind to each other for about one and a half years. I will tell you how He finally opened our eyes. I use to live in a house with two other single Christian guys in Miami, Florida. We had a church party at our home in celebration of Mary and another girl’s birthday. During the festivities, a friend of mine came to me and reproved me by saying “Are you blind of something, can’t you see whom the Lord has put under your nose?” From that moment on Mary’s and mine eyes were opened. We went out on three dates, knew that we were called of the Lord, and were married six months later. God made all of the pieces fall magically together like one humongous puzzle without any effort on our side. Twelve years later our marriage continues to be blessed over and over by God.

 So this is what it means to accomplish something “through Jesus”. It is not sufficient for us to only know the will of God in something that He is requesting of us. We must pray for His steps and wait for His timing. Once that His steps and His timing have come together, we perform His will “through Him”. The Lord puts forth His effort opens His doors, and gives us His power; we simply skateboard through them. This skateboard is labeled “ ur obedience”.

Phillip 2:12 ¶ Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

13 For it is God which worketh (IS PUTTING HIS ENERGY)) in you both to will (FOR YOU TO DESIRE) and to do(AND FOR YOU TO CARRY OUT THE DESIRES WHICH HE PLACED IN YOU) of his good pleasure.

 Philippians two, twelve and thirteen, marvelously show us all that we have been speaking about. In verse twelve, the phrase “to work out your own salvation” is defined as a continuous and persevering execution of absolutely everything that God desires, until a through success is attained in everything that pertains to salvation. The Greek grammar here is in the middle voice. This means that the responsibility for the execution of our salvation lies with us. However, there is more! Verse thirteen tells us that it is God who is continually energizing us. Remember God as the agent of action? When God energizes us, He always has a two-fold function behind it. His energy puts His will into our hearts. Afterwards, His energy gives us all of the strength that we need to carry out each and every desire of the Lord. In reality, it is God living through us.

 Take a quick look with me at Romans 15:18. Please observe the great lesson that the apostle Paul had learned through time. This is also what made him into such a great man of God. In this little discourse he tells us that he dares not to mention anything that The Lord has not performed through Him. You see, Paul does no want to brag about what He is doing for the Lord. He has come to recognize that it the separate person of Christ executing His life, and His actions in us that only counts. Paul is simply Jesus arms and legs.

 What Christ reveals and feeds us with as our root system, He also holds Himself responsible to accomplish it in us.

Rom 15:18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought (accomplishing and totally executing) by me ( through me), to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed,

 “And To Him” (Christ is the Goal of Everything)

 This phrase identifies the Lord the Lord as the goal of everything we do. Once that He has revealed to us what He wants to do and accomplishes it, His desire is that everything is done for His cause and His will.

§ “We In Him”

Let us now continue looking at how our relationship with the Lord continues.

1 Corinthians 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of (OUT OF) whom are all things, and we in ( INTO HIM) him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom (THROUGH WHOM) are all things, and we by( WE EXIST THROUGH) him. {in: or, for}

§ We have already ascertained to the fact that God is our absolute source for everything that we need. Secondly we have confirmed that what ever God wants God will also execute through us; He is our agent of action, we are His hands and feet and mouth. God reveals and God performs everything He reveals in us. We just have to let Him live his life by obeying all that He speaks. In other words we just have to get out of His way and let Him do His thing. Pretty simple, right?

 So we ask ourselves, “Okay, God wants to do this thing in us. I know now that whatever He tells us He will also want to do it by Himself. He does not need our good ideas. It will just mess Him up. So what is the answer. God needs our obedience.

Rom 6:6 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

 Do you see the little word “yield”? This is my friend is Christianity in one word! We shall continue to see this principle over and over in our Bible studies. To yield, is to present to the Lord and put before His feet all of our plans, our future, in fact our very lives, as a sweet offering. Do you all remember the Persian Gulf War, when the U.S. and its allies mounted a huge offensive against Sadam Hussein’s elite Republican National Guard? Men by the hundreds would emerge from their bunkers waving white handkerchiefs and their hands up in the air? Sweet surrender? Ye indeed! To yield is to surrender to the Lord. Why must we do that? The answer is so that we get out of the way and give God space to live His life in us! As I have said before, God does to need a live Christian, He needs a dead one! Then we can’t stick our paws into what He is doing. Too many hands mess up pot!

 “So “WE IN HIM” has to with obedience. We all have dealt and used such slang expressions as “ Man, I am really into the music” or “Man, I am really into this football game”. When we really love something we get lost into it and just flow with it, right? What about saying, “ Man I am really into Jesus.” When we love Jesus like this, then obeying Him becomes pleasure and a breeze.

 You see God’s steps? He reveals what He wants to do. We know now that He also wants to and has to do it for it to turn out right. Our job is to get “INTO WHAT” wants to do, yield (SURRENDER) and be his mouth, arms and legs to carry Him wherever He wants to go.

 It is also very interesting that when Jesus uses the expression “Believe on Me” He is really saying, “BELIEVE INTO ME”! Many a good believer thinks that believing in Jesus is simply utilizing a mental confession of agreement of what is in the Word of God. True believing has to do with us getting into Jesus’ plans and desires so much that we will obey Him without fail.

John 7:38 He that believeth on me ( INTO ME), as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

John 7:31 And many of the people believed on (INTO HIM) him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?

“And Ye In Me, and I in You”

John 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

As we start to conclude our teaching for today lets us knit everything together. Look at what Jesus says in John fourteen and twenty. The “YE IN ME” has to do with our maintaining ourselves smack inside the book, which is Christ. We accomplish this, as we are careful to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” As we “believe on Jesus” we are sure to always get INTO HIS plans and not ours. As we keep ourselves IN CHRIST, He promises to manifest Himself to us, and in us. His manifestation will also manifest alongside Him, all of God treasures, which reside in Him, as well. This is now the “I IN YOU”; Christ, and all that He has and is, becomes automatically assimilated in us. Because we are dead, and Christ is our lives, His manifestation becomes our reality. His victory over the devil becomes our victory, and we gradually find ourselves becoming free from the oppressive lies of the Evil One. His victory over sin becomes an automatic reality to us as we assimilate His infilling presence or manifestation. Remember all blessings, treasures and victories become manifested with Him. The more that Jesus is revealed in our lives, the more that all of these treasures are revealed with Him. Christianity is not about trying but about becoming. Christianity is about us becoming less manifested, so that Christ can become more manifested. Christianity is not about us getting blessings and things but about knowing Him.

God's Plumb Line For Purity

Heb 6:1 ¶ Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

 A dead work is any work that we perform which has not been called for and begun by the Holy Spirit.

Mt 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

 A good work is a “Spirit led” work

2Co 3:7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:

Was to be done away to render useless, and inoperative, just as an old car that finally breaks down.

 (There is a glory which is energized within dead works)

But it is a glory that is being rendered useless, and inoperative, just as an old car that finally breaks down.

 Any activity, which is performed outside of the voice of God, will manifest the blessings and the glory of God temporarily.

 The ministry of death must be done away. Many of these works are accomplished out of our logic and intellect, fleshly compassion, earthly or soulish what appears to be right, noble, and charitable, instead upon strict reliance to the voice of God. To walk in the Spirit entails complete adherence and reliance upon the still, small voice.

8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?

 Much more abounds the office of the ministry of the Spirit in glory.

10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

 All dead works, programs, plans, and schemes, that have been glorified by the church, indeed are not glorified because much greater is the glory when done through the ministry of the Spirit.

11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

 (Dead works) are performed through God’s glory because they still retain a measure of God’s blessings upon it.

 The things of the Spirit abide however permanently in the world of God’s glory.

Obedience

Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;)

Various definitions of abounded:

God has given us in great abundance. He has excelled towards us; He has been affluent, rich, or dealt in excellence towards us. He has made to abound to or He has conferred to us this thing superabundantly.

 This is God’s mode of dealing with His saints at all times.

The abundance of blessings comes within the limitations of wisdom.

Wisdom then, is performing all things in accordance to the will, dispositions, arrangements, and timing of God.

Prudence: Is the step-by-step guidance of God’s will by the voice of the Spirit, and His time schedule to carry His will out.

The superabundance that comes into our life is limited in proportion to doing all things in conformity to God’s will, and carrying them out step by step in His direction and His timing. This is what it means “toward us in all wisdom and prudence;”)

Growing Up Into Christ Rather Than Things Wanting the Works Instead if the Ways of God

1 Tim 6:6 ¶ But godliness with contentment is great gain.

Greek (paraphrase & my thoughts) what is great gain is (not selfish material acquisition but) godliness with contentment.

Contentment - Is a most interesting word.

 It is defined as the sufficiency, satisfaction, which a man and woman find solely in their spiritual condition apart from relying on any satisfaction or dependency on circumstances or the world. It is defined as the state of being so filled with the Spirit of God that the believer is self-sufficient solely in the fullness of the Spirit and the revelation of the Person of Christ living inside of them.

 This self-sufficiency and satisfaction, causes this believer to become independent and autonomous of the influences of circumstances, finances, and worldly affairs, as their means of sufficiency and satisfaction.

Php 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

 My God shall fill full all of your necessities in proportion to the riches found in the world of His glory. (not the world of selfish prosperity)

7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

 Marvin Vincent translates this scripture; “We brought nothing into this world because we can carry nothing out.”

8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

Greek: Our sufficiency and satisfaction must be found in the good state of our spiritual life, and in having “a sustenance or nourishment that will thoroughly meet God’s needs for us and not our wants ” and clothing.

9 But they that will (to counsel plan for and deliberately purpose to) be rich fall into temptation (the trials of the devil and sin) and a snare (the same word used for a snare used to catch birds and beasts, unaware), and into many foolish (absence of understanding) and hurtful(injurious) lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.( which cause men to sink into destruction and perdition)

10 For the love of money (a fond love) is the (a) root of all evil: which while some coveted after (to stretch out after in order to grasp) they have erred from the faith (to be led astray from the truth and into idolatry), and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (Grief, distress and pain.)

11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

“flee”! Our English word for fugitive comes from this word. Several dictionary definitions such as a runaway, a person who is fleeing, or someone who takes to flight describes the fugitive. My friends, we must be fugitives from the love of selfish material gain.

Likewise, I love the word “follow after”, which is none else than the word for persecute!

My friends, we must be fugitives from the love money and persecute instead righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness!

Eph 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

Greek: By the “spiritual dice playing” of men in which they work around you with the goal of implementing the methodology or a “system” of error or plantezing. (From the word for a “planet” or one who wanders)

 “children”- Infants, and other minors that are immature and untaught.

 Tossed to and fro - dashing or surging waves. In changefulness and agitation the infant is carried about by every wind of or degree or doctrine.

 Sleight of men Dice playing and deception. Instead of growing up into the revelatory knowledge of Christ, we make philosophies, or things (debt release, miracles, positive confessions, being blessed, prosperity) the main focus.

 Doctrines become divine truth. Things, blessings, miracles, and financial prosperity become what we grow up into instead of the Person of Christ. Our growth becomes lop-sided.

15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

 speaking the truth “thruthing” into we grow into Christ in all things or also confessing the truth may in love grow up into.

 Confession is an outward expression of what is really part of us.

The revelation of The Christ must be the end and the object of all of our growth.

 Christ is the object and goal to which our growth in its every stage must look to or be directed.

(Additional notes:)

 The church is tossed to and fro by every new doctrine, as it hungrily chases after it, believing for that very doctrine to be its source of liberty and salvation.

 The church today grows up into a message of claiming positive confessions, which are done outside of the rhema word of God. This message pampers and deceives the church away from the trials and sufferings that it must go through so as to learn to operate solely by the rhema word of God.

 The church likewise grows up into a message of selfish financial prosperity, which robs it from the season of material deprivation that it must go through so as to learn to walk by “true” faith, which is the principle for the power of God to be manifested into a lost and dying world. The church blindly continues to grow up into things that will never bring it liberty or salvation. This is why the American church desperately hurts. Numerous of the men and women of God which continue to bring these doctrines, because they themselves are deceived, enjoy great importance and financial wealth from the very church that desperately goes after their teachings as it seek the joy and freedom that it will never find until it grows up into the revealed person of Christ instead. Many of the doctrines of men only work when you throw money at them. We are indeed caught in a spider’s web!)

Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Greek: You cannot be a slave to two lords… You will hate one, and love the other one unconditionally…you will embrace one; and think little of the other…Ye cannot be a slave to God and to material acquisitions.

Matthew six and twenty four is proportional scriptures. To the extent that we embrace material gain for the wrong motives is to the same extent that we will think little of, and hate the Lord.

 By hating the Lord, I mean to say that we will hate what He requires from us that regard the yielding up of the material wealth that we dearly embrace. Our ability to obey the Lord, as Lord, will be restricted likewise to the extent that we are submitted to the lordship of material gain.

  

4)Purity

1 Cor 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

2Cor 1:12 ¶ For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.

2 Cor 2:17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ

The word sincerity is defined as being judged by the sun or the “rays of the sun” (not “Son”).

 Only a life of purity before the Lord will make us into a clear windowpane by which the rays of the sun or can clearly shine through. An impure life will make us into a dirty piece of glass through which the image of the Lord can hardly be seen.

 If the enemy cannot see the sunlight of the Son of God, he shall not leave us alone until the day and the time that he does, and if he does. Remember our enemy, the devil, is the greatest legal lawyer that this universe will ever see, apart from God Himself. He will claw and cleave for every inch of us that has not pass by death into resurrection.

Philippians 1:9 ¶ And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge(thorough knowledge) and in all judgment;(discernment)

Greek: (my paraphrase included in italics) That your love may abound yet more (but always held bounded within the river banks of a) a full precise and accurate knowledge of the things of God and in all discernment (Judgment is defined as discernment. Likewise charity must be always held in check within the river banks of our discernment of God’s voice and our discernment of what is of God, and what does not come from Him.)

10 that ye may approve things that are excellent;( what differs or excels) that ye may be sincere (judged by the sun) and without offence till the day of Christ;

Greek: That you may recognize as genuine upon examination the things that are differing. Your recognition of what differs will allow you to choose only what is excelling or best towards your fulfillment of the things that pertain to Christ. This will cause you to become so pure that it will allow for the beams of sunlight to shine through you unhindered. Likewise you will become as one that has nothing that will make others stumble when they observe your life before the Lord.

Ps 89:20 I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him

Hebrew: “With oil of My separation I anointed him”

 The anointing comes in proportion to the separation from the common and unworthy things of this world into the sacred and holy things of God.

1Tim4:7 But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.

 Exercise thyself; Comes from the word for gymnastic which in turn comes from the word gymnos, which is defined as “being naked.”

 The practice in the days of Paul was for athletes to exercise almost naked so as to be unhindered as possible for vigorous training.

1 Timothy 6:19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

There is big difference between getting saved, going to church and performing religious activities versus that of “laying a hold on eternal life.” To lay hold on, is to grab on to, pull in, and make it our own possession The Lord is never satisfied with our simple conversion and even our faithful attendance in church. He wants us to experience as much of the fullness of eternal life as possible while in our earthly tent, which is to know God through the fullness of the revelation of His Son within our lives.

Colossians 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently (agonizing with athletic zeal) for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect (to the very maturity of Christ’s character) and complete (fulfilling every aspect of Christ will, will so that you have total confidence and assurance in everything that He wants from you) in all the will of God.

 Perfect: Brought to a place of spiritual maturity in ever aspect of our lives

 Complete: Having a full assurance and understanding of everything that God has willed for our lives and perform it with all spiritual maturity

 Brought to the very maturity of Christ’s character so that we can fulfill every aspect of Christ will through this character.

James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

 The prayers of a righteous individual carry more than the needed inward strength (like Popeye) in them to efficiently and energetically obtain all from the Father’s will.

  

Nothing in Common With The Devil

Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

The Greek word for worketh is defined as giving energy to.

The word for disobedience is being non-compliant. (Christian and non-Christians alike, the devil does not show partiality)

 Simply speaking it signifies that in any area of our lives in which we habitually are non-compliant or disobedient in this very area we energize the devil to work his system of error.

Eph 4:27 Neither give place to the devil.

v Do not build an airport runway upon your life for the devil to land and take off.

John 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

Hath nothing (Greek absolute negative) “The devil has absolutely nothing in me or nothing in common with me.”

Mark 1:24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.

Greek: There is absolutely nothing in common between you and us, Jesus (the) Nazarene, have you come to destroy us?….

This is a highly crucial verse in that it teaches us about our true authority before Satan and his demons. The authority that the demonic discern in the Lord, and causes them to tremble is that because of the Lord’s absolute purity, and sinlessness, there is nothing in common between them and the Lord Jesus. Herein lies our key to overcome the demonic within our lives, and then to be used by the Lord to deal with it in other people’s lives.

Matthew 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

 Absolute binding of the enemy can only occur, when each and every part of our lives have come into conformity with the will of the Lord, and the enemy is forbidden a place or space where he can afflict us

In actuality Jesus tells us the following. The word for bind is “is to forbid”. The word for loose is “to permit”. Whatever we forbid or bind upon the earth shall come to pass, if it is of the Lord. This is because God will honor our obedience and count it as forbidden in the heavenly realm. He will then execute His righteousness to cause us to successfully carry out the binding on earth, which He decreed in the heavenly realm through our obedience.

The same is true of our loosing, or our permitting. God will bless our obedience and will loose or permit in the heavenly realm, when we loose upon the earth. He then sends forth His power to cause us to execute the act of loosing as was decreed in the heavenlies.

Herein lies the true meaning of Biblical binding. To bind is not to allow or permit something to occur. Genuine binding of the demonic only occurs within a pure life, which has no defilement with what is common with Satan and his cohorts. At every point of our lives in which purity reigns and the devil shares nothing in common to us, he has been bound. Now mind you, we will never experience absolute purity and sinlessness on this side off heaven. Please let us be assure that if we live in habitual disobedience and chronic bondage our vocalized confessions of binding the enemy is scorned and mocked by him who will continue to afflict and latch on to us wherever he finds sin.

Mat 12:29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

Greek (paraphrase) No one will have the dunamis power to come into the strong one’s house in order to change the situation, thoroughly plunder his goods until they are laid waste, and then occupy. (Like the USA is doing in Afghanistan.) He must bind the strong one first and then he will be able to thoroughly plunder.

The strong man is the demon that is last to be bound from our lives. He is the one that we can discern constantly standing before us face to oppose and withstand us every second of our lives in a variety of deceptive measures.

The Lord has allowed the strong man to afflict me until I have bound every major area of sin in my life through obedience to Him, which has led to liberty in those areas. After completing this process, the Lord is now dealing with the strongman in my life. Let us now look at the next set of scriptures.

Luke 11:21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:

· Greek: When the strong one fully furnished with weaponry guards his palace, his goods, wealth, and property lie in peace.

22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.

Greek: But when a stronger one than the strong man comes upon him with a hostile intent, attacks him, and conquers him, he takes from the strong man the armor which he trusted in and thoroughly distributes out (to others) the strong one’s weapons and goods.

Jesus is obviously the stronger one.

The strong man must be defeated in two ways. His binding by us is the point in which there is not one significant area of unrepentant sin left in our lives. Secondly, it is only the revelation of the Lord Jesus laboring in us by His grace, and attacking the strongman as the stronger one, that is effective

With the strong man is finally bound and conquered we find ourselves running, leaping forward, and plundering for the Lord!

Transformation and Working Out

Phillip 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

 Carry out or work out our salvation to an utter completion, growing up into Christ in all things.

 Here Paul commands us to work out, carry out, and accomplish absolutely everything to completion that pertains to our salvation, and that with utmost serious cautiousness.

 The command is in the middle voice signifying that the responsibility is ours, and it shall be done through implicit obedience, much prayer, and through accurate knowledge of the word.

Ephesians 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand,

We are encouraged here to take the whole armor of God and having done all to stand, to stand therefore. "Having done all" is the word to “work out”.

 The cartoons of the coyote and the roadrunner are wonderfully depicted this word. In one of their many scuffles, as a ball of dull is kicked up, both of these guys always got lost in their dusty fights. When the dust finally settles, the roadrunner usually remained standing. This is exactly what it means to “having done all, to stand.”!

We must fight by the Spirit without compromise, or without discouragement, until we remain standing victoriously; as Satan, sin and the world lay scattered at our feet in full visibility, once our ball of dust finally settles!

The command is to carry out all things in our lives against sin, bondage, the world and the devil to a complete victory!

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

 Do not follow the schematic or blue print of this world but be metamorphosized by the overhauling of your mind… so that you may approve the good, well pleasing (not to us but to God) and “spiritually mature” will of God

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Greek: But we all with our face uncovered.

 Though our faces have been uncovered at our conversion, a believer that has an “open” face is one that is yielded to the Lord and gladly obeys Him.

 He or she welcomes all that God has for them; their faces are opened to His dealings in their lives.

Quite the opposite, the person who has a “closed face” is one who secretly does not receive another, and is in opposition or disagreement with that other, judging them in their heart.

To the same image are being “metamorphosised” out of glory and into (the next level) glory even as from the Spirit of the Lord.

The Testimony of The Conscience and The Minister

2 Cor 4:1 ¶ Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not Because by the mercy of God, we were called into this ministry, we do not become discouraged. (We know that if God divinely summoned us, He will take care of us, and see us through; therefore we do not lose heart.)

2 But have renounced (we gave up once, and now forbid) the hidden things of dishonesty (anything that brings shame or disgrace to the gospel, or to us), not walking in craftiness(not conducting ourselves in the doctrines of men), nor handling the word of God deceitfully(by trickery, adulterating or corrupting God’s word for base gain) ; but by manifestation of the truth (but by manifesting the gospel in its accuracy and genuineness through the Word of God and by our lives) commending ourselves to every man’s conscience( we present ourselves to every type of men’s conscience) in the sight of God. (Before the constant gaze of God).

 (We must remember that the conscience of man is a component of the voice of the Holy Spirit. Paul here says, that the soundness of the apostle’s doctrine and the genuineness of his or her life in accordance to the gospel must be so great, that it must hold up to the scrutiny of the voice of God bearing witness or passing judgment to what the apostle ministers in their hearer’s consciences.

 Secondly, the apostle must also deal with the scrutiny of God Himself, whose penetrating look is ever upon the apostle.