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The Mystery Unveiled:
Let us now follow Paul, and allow him to lead us through this maze, that man has erected, out into the enlightenment of
the Newness of Life, which is, Col. 1: 27 c, Christ in you the hope of Glory. 1 Cor. 1: 17-21, For Christ did not send me
to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void. For the
Word of the Cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. in the
next couple of verses he explains how God has ruled out the wise and and the noble, and the clever, and the legalist, (lawyer),
and declared it all to be just the foolishness of mans reasoning. Verse, 21-, For since in wisdom of God the world through
its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who
believe. He explains in the next few verses, what every generation has observed, which is the debates between faction that
has gone on and is going on even today. One group is looking for signs and wonders, and miracles, and the other group is looking
for intellectual adroitness, (cleverness), scientific proof. But God through Paul, declares, verse,24-b, Christ the power
of God and wisdom of God. Verse 30-, But by His, (Gods), doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God,
and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, that, just as it is written , Let home who boast, boast in the Lord.
Let us now follow Pauls leading us through this maze, that man has erected, out into the enlightenment of the Newness of Life,
which is, Col. 1: 27 c, Christ in you the hope of Glory. 1 Cor. 1: 17-21, For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach
the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void. For the Word of the Cross is to
those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. in the next couple of verses he
explains how God has ruled out the wise and and the noble, and the clever, and the legalist, (lawyer), and declared it all
to be just the foolishness of mans reasoning. Verse, 21-, For since in wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not
come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. He explains
in the next few verses, what every generation has observed, which is the debates between faction that has gone on and is going
on even today. One group is looking for signs and wonders, and miracles, and the other group is looking for intellectual adroitness,
(cleverness), scientific proof. But God through Paul, declares, verse,24-b, Christ the power of God and wisdom of God. Verse
30-, But by His, (Gods), doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification,
and redemption, that, just as it is written , Let him who boast, boast in the Lord.
Paul, being perhaps one of the most highly educated men of his day, both in the secular as well as the religious realms
of His day, addresses the believers of this group as well as we today, Chapter 2: 1- And when I came to you, brethren, I did
not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing
among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. verse 5-8, That your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the
power of God. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however not of this age, nor of the rulers of this
age, who are passing away; but we speak Gods wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages
to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not
have crucified the Lord of glory; He is showing us in vivid contrast, the wisdom of this world, which counts the wisdom of
God as just foolishness, with the wisdom of God, by which the wisdom of this world is judged as foolishness. But he declares
that God, had revealed the wonders of this mystery which surrounds Him, to the Apostles, through His, (Gods) Spirit. Verse
10-16, For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who
among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him ? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows
except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might
know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught
by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
Pause and consider what he has just declared. He proclaims that through the gift of the Holy Spirit, Spiritual enlightenment
had been given the Apostles so that discernment was theirs to such an extent, that even the words were selected out of their
vocabulary, therefore, Spiritual Thoughts could be combined with Spiritual Words. Verse 14- But a natural man does not accept
the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually
appraised.(evaluated). But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man. For who has known
the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we, (apostles) have the mind of Christ. (and of course all Spirit filled
believers as well).
>P>He is very well aware, under the enlightenment he has received, of the age old conflict, between
the natural thinking man, and the Spirit led child of God. These two were very evident in the divisiveness that was beginning
to fragment the body, just as it had fragmented the people Israel into the factions we observe among them from the very outset.
And it has been evident and is evident today more than ever, as we observe the divisiveness, fragmenting the world of our
day into enumerable sects and cults, denomination, and organization, Governments, all claiming in some degree or another to
get their inspiration, and motivation from the Bible, as well as the God of the Bible. This cannot be, God is one, and we,
true believers are all created as one in Christ Jesus. And he declares very emphatically, Christ is not and cannot be divided.
He simply asks, to be accepted for who God in Jesus Christ had made him to be. Chapter 4: 1-2, Let a man regard us in this
manner, as servants of Christ, and stewards of the Mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that
one be found trustworthy.
The silent years are no longer silent, the voice of God is now being heard more plainly
and clearly than at any time in the existence of the race of mankind. The mouth of God, through His Son, has spoken loudly,
and clearly and plainly for all to hear and see and observe. Hebrews, 1: 1-3, God, after He had spoke long ago to the fathers
in the prophets in many portion and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of
all things, through whom also He made the worlds, (or created the ages) And He is the radiance of His glory, and the exact
representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat
down at the right hand of the majesty on high..
All of mans faculties can now come into play, and be put to their rightful
use. The key that unlocks the door however, is the instrument that God at the very beginning has placed in mans hands. The
little intangible, that is so illusive to the heart and mind of darkened humanity. It is the gift of Faith, which, when exercised
in behalf of the Word of God, concerning His Son Jesus Christ, causes the real things of God, to become real to his senses.
God who is Spirit, can be known, and felt, and heard, and seen, yes and even tasted, in the Person of Jesus Christ. Even the
prophets experienced God in this way and proclaimed, Taste and see, that the Lord is good.
Time however is of the essence,
and the cautionary note resonated throughout the whole world over two thousand years ago. That which had been separated from
the oneness with God which it first knew, and had been fractured into the untold numbers of philosophies and thoughts and
ideas, of how to have a relationship with God, all of which are counterfeit, has now been brought back to that place of oneness
with God, in and through Jesus Christ. After expounding how it has been brought about, in the letter to the Roman Believers,
Paul sums up in his discourse, in the eleventh chapter, with a string of superlatives of Gods way of uniting both Jew and
Gentile, together as one in Christ, that astounds the mind of natural man, but is the icing on the cake for the True Believer.
Romans 11: 32 For God has shut up all in disobedience, that He might show mercy to all. Oh the depths of the riches both of
the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His Ways! For who has known the the
mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor ? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again ? For
from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
With the Grace, Mercy and Peace
of God bestowed upon both Jew and Gentile, he now in chapter 12: urges upon the believer, a manner of conduct, that, Is Worthy
of the Calling, with which each of us are Called. Chapter 12: 1-3, I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
to present you bodies a living and holy sacrifice, (no longer dead in trespasses and sins), acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual service of worship. (or well pleasing manner of wor-ship). And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For
through the grace given to me, I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but
to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
As the Holy Spirit has given
him enlightenment and expression, which enables him to set forth this most vivid depiction, unveiling the Mystery, his benediction
to this letter is just as grand as the whole. Chapter 16: 25-27, Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my
gospel, (or the gospel that I preach), and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which
has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment
of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to the obedience of faith, to the only wise God, through
Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever. Amen.
The final phase, of the final fulfillment, of Gods restoration work,
by which the original purpose of God in His creation is also expounded by Paul, Gods appointed Apostle to the Gentile, (nations),
and revealed to the world through him. 1 Cor. 15: 45-58, So it is written,The first Man, Adam became a living soul, The last
Adam, (Jesus Christ), became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.
The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy;
and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also
bear the image of the heavenly. (action having taken place in the past, with present continuing results.) Now I say this,
brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold
I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep,(the sleep of death), but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have
put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written,Death
is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the
power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the
Lord.
The Mystery complete and Revealed in its entirety, and Told out.
Man has always had names for
the different segments of the ages, such as in the beginning, he titles it the age of innocence, then the stone age, the bronze
and iron ages, the age of reason, and the so called wisdom age. After the Church was taken over by the rule of man, under
Constantine, and became a state controlled organization, there was the dark-ages, and then the age of industry, known as the
industrial revolution. Now we have arrived at the electronic age, but through it all, mans reason has prevailed, and he is
obsessed with the thought that if he can just gain enough knowledge of his physical surroundings, he can become wise enough
to solve the dilemma of the mystery of life, the kind of life he inwardly aspires to, but is so illusive to him. The age of
Wisdom was upon the world in the day of the writing of the New Testament. Paul and the other apostles were faced with coping
with this opposing philosophy of the Gnostic mystisim , (knowledge seeker), to the gospel. The thrust of this thinking is
the foundation of much of the thinking that persist in many arenas of thought in our day. It is simply this, if man can gain
enough knowledge, he can reach a state of divinity, that is he can be Christ like. Thus instead of progressing we digress,
we go right back to the age when the rulers, the kings , the Pharaohs, the Ceasars, were deified, and held up as gods.
What do we hear today? Im someone special, and I deserve the best! Even if I have to step over someone else to get it.
The Apostle Paul very emphatically refutes this in all of his writings, but especially in the letter to the Colossian
Church. Here he lets all for all time know that there is only one God Man, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Its in Him that
the mystery of life and all of the rule of life, every thing that man aspires to and everything that God requires of man,
is to be found. . Col.1: 19-2: 4, For it was the Fathers good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him
to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on
earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has
now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach--if
indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you
have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I Paul was made a minister. Now I rejoice in my
sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, (which is the church) in filling up that which
is lacking in Christs afflictions. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on
me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery, which has been hidden
from past ages and generations; but but has been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches
of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory. And we proclaim Him, admonishing
every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ. And for this purpose
also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me. For I want you to know how great a struggle
I have on your behalf, and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their
hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance
of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of, Gods Mystery, that is Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with persuasive argument.
In his God given
enlightenment, and filled with the knowledge of Gods will in all Spiritual wisdom and understanding, he gives the believer
a self evaluation exam, by which to examine ones self. 11 Cor. 13: 4-6, For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, (our
weakness), yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we shall live with Him because of the
power of God toward you. TEST YOURSELVES TO SEE IF YOU ARE IN THE FAITH; EXAMINE YOURSELVES! OR DO YOU NOT RECOGNIZE THIS
ABOUT YOURSELVES, THAT JESUS IS IN YOU---UNLESS INDEED YOU FAIL THE TEST. But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves
do not fail the test.
The new governing factor, the mystery of the ages has been unveiled, and its for all individuals
to be conformed to the image of Christ, so as to make up the body of Christ, (the Church), with Christ the head, and him being
the rule and authority, with-in the body. This new governing dynamic is what Paul speaks of in Romans 8: 1-2, There is therefore
now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set you free
from the law of sin and death. Verse 9-11, However you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God
dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. And if Christ is in you, though
the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised up
Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through
His Spirit who indwells you. verse 13-b-14, if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.
There are other references to the mystery
throughout Pauls writings, but this will suffice, for the sake of brevity.
There is much heard these days because much
is being said about the lives that are being changed by one tragic event or another that is taking place in our society. But
the change that takes place in the lives of people do to one circumstance or another, is not the change that is necessary
to bear up, with out the need of recrimination, which we hear being expressed on every hand. The change that is necessary
is the one we have been laying out before you here, based on the declared word of the living God, through His Son and recounted
by His hand picked messengers. Its a living word, therefore its just as applicable today as at any time in the history of
the race of man. Mankind can only avail himself of it by faith, because God is the Architect of it and and the Lord Jesus
Christ is the Perfecter of it, and the Holy Spirit is the One who makes it a living reality to the one who Truly Believes,
the Word of God for it.
In the final, Revelation of Jesus Christ, given to John the Apostle and to which he bore witness,
to the Testimony of Jesus Christ. Rev. 1: 4-6, John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him
who is and who was and who is to come: and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne; and from Jesus Christ, the faithful
witness, the first born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our
sins by His blood, and He made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever
and ever. Amen. Verse 20, As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lamp
stands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lamp stands are the seven churches. Chapter 10:
7, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the Mystery of God is finished, as He
preached to His servants the prophets. Chapter, 11:15-19, And the seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven,
saying, THE KINGDOM of the world has become, The kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever,
And the twenty four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give Thee
thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who art and who was, because, THOU hast taken Thy great power and hast begun to reign. And
the nations were enraged, and Thy wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward
to Thy bond-servants the prophets and the saints and to those who fear Thy name, the small and the great, and to destroy those
who destroy the earth. And the temple of God which is in the heavens was opened; and the Ark of His Covenant appeared in His
Temple, and there were flashes of lighting and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.
Why
is mankind in the main so foolish as to reject it now, His Governmental Sovereignty, that is? Its going to come, and He has
proclaimed from the beginning, that those who reject Him and His Lordship over them here and now, he will reject at the time
of His coming. You; We; can only have one or the other, but you cant have both. Jesus spoke it very plainly and clearly,
for all who have ears to hear, let them hear, Matthew, 6: 24, No one can serve two masters; (God and the devil), for either
he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon.
(you cannot deify, make a god out of material wealth, power, prestige, position, of this world system).
The popular
question of the day could be asked of God; Is that your final answer? and the response will be; That's My final answer.
Do
you want all the Spiritual Wealth of Gods Kingdom at your disposal, or would you rather be a pauper in the kingdom of this
world, for it is there that everything is lost? FAITH IN HIS WORD CONCERNING HIS SON JESUS CHRIST, IS THE KEY-WORD.
The Mystery that has baffled and eluded man for centuries until it was revealed by God in Jesus Christ and made known
to the world by the hand of Paul, the Apostles to the Gentiles. But remains a Mystery to the Majority of mankind today, because
it is rejected in unbelief, and in the main only alluded to in an abstract manner. .
The mind and the heart of natural
man has been so constituted, after the disobedient act of the first man Adam, that he is incapable of understanding Spiritual
things. Being in this state of Spiritual Death, and therefore in a condition of Spiritual Darkness, but not realizing it,
he has gone on his way developing many and varied systems of religion and false worship by which he deludes himself into
believing that he is having a relationship with God.
In order to correct this condition, God raised up Prophets. through
whom He spoke. Much of what He spoke to them, they werent fully aware of because they were simply instruments in the hands
of God, and the Prophesy was pertaining to The Messiah, The Christ, and the work of Redemption that God was going to bring
to man at the appointed time.1Peter 1:10-12.
When that time arrived, God spoke directly to the race of man, specifically
through Israel, out of which Jesus the Messiah of God head come into the world., Gal. 4:4-7. He called to Himself special
men, Apostles, that He would so energize, empower, enlighten spiritually, and through them give a Living revelation of Himself.
Then through their recorded Experience.of living the New Found Life in Christ, He could then Illuminate any and all who would
Believe with a complete abandonment of the Old Dead Intellect, and by Faith, could and would, with a New Spiritual Intellect,
given to them at the time of a New Spiritual Birth, record all they would be directed to. All of which is contained in the
Letters to the Church, The Lords New dwelling place here on earth. These Assemblies raised up by others becoming Joint Participators
in sharing the Life Given to all by God the Holy Spirit, the Giver of all Life. Jesus Christ , Himself being the Head of this
great Assembly.
The natural man has always been confounded by this concept and has questioned, How can sinful man be
brought to a place where a Holy Righteous God who cannot look upon or allow sin into His Presence enter into an intimate relationship
with him ? The uncertainty in the mind of man is something like this. If I accept the fact that I am spiritually dead, and
am just waiting for the event of natural death to overtake me, and there is nothing that I can do to change this fact, then
how can I overcome this dilemma ? This question has been posed by many through the ages, and God answers with a question.
Is there anything that is impossible with God? and That which is impossible with man is Possible with God.Gen. 18: 14a, and
Jer. 32:17, Matt. 19: 25c-26.
This is the Great Mystery, that was hidden from the eyes of man from the beginning of
time, but was Revealed at the time of His Appearance on earth as the Virgin Born Son of God, Called Jesus of Nazareth. His
Perfect Sacrifice by which all sin was remitted, taken away from before the eyes of God, and The True Believer, Cleansed by
His Shed Blood, (His Life poured out,) which was the price of complete remittance required by God, His and our, (Believers)
Heavenly Father. It is God the Father Who Begets The True Believer as is Child through the New Birth.
Let us allow the
Holy Spirit of God, to lead us on a path through the recorded Revelation of the New Testament writers, so that we too may
be illuminated by the light of Life Shined upon the world by The One Who is the Embodiment of The Eternal Light of Life,
The Lord Jesus Christ.
In the recordings of one of the men Jesus Chose for this task, John the Apostle, Jesus is confronted
by a teacher of Israel, who by his own ignorance of spiritual things, revealed that he was one who was relying on the natural
mind and thought process, and therefore could not understand that which was being spoken to him, even though he had come questioning
Jesus. His reasoning being wholly that under the accepted religious practices of Jewish Ritual, which by then was only a
system of religious practices with little or no spiritual significance.
Jesus responded to him, unless one is born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3: 3b. But read Chapter 3: 1-27. In the statement that there was need of,being born
again, the inference is that there had been a previous birth. This takes us right back to the Creation, (Birth) of the first
man Adam. Shortly after which Death was pronounced upon him because of an act of disobedience. Man has been under this indictment
ever since, and is in a state of spiritual death, until today, and at intervals, depending to what extent the sin that permeates
this world effects him, he must face physical death. Rom. 5: 16b-6:11. Heb. 9:27-27. These two conditions are mans greatest
enemies, and are only removed from off him through being born into a New Realm, that being heavenly, and spiritual. It is
the same God with invested Creative Powers that performed the first and it this same God that we must accept to perform the
second.
It is this that is faced, and taken care of in the, Birth, Death, Burial, Resurrection, Ascension, and His soon
coming again to usher in The New, that the old may be completely done away. This was all then, But Now since the Holy Spirit
came back into the world, and restored the fellowship, communion, intimate living relationship that man has tried so hard
to bring about through self effort, has now been made possible, through being born again, being born anew, being born of His
Spirit. John 17: 20-26. It is the, becoming a part of this New Creation that God through His own Creative action makes a reality
for everyone who believes His Word concerning is son Jesus Christ for.And then appropriates this New Life for his or herself,
by Faith. Faith is the instrument through which the illusive things of God are made to become real and vital and living to
the believer.
Allow yourself by Faith to be transported back through the ages to the Garden, where in Adam the first,
you had your beginning, and then in Adam you had death pronounced upon you. Then be brought forward in your Faith, to the
day when Jesus Christ came forth from the grave of death, and as a believer you had been placed into His death, and in His
death to sin, you also had died. But now in His resurrection and you with Him have come forth to Newness of Eternal Life.
Having
been placed into His Body, (Baptized into Him), you are now a member of a New Body of Believers, The Church, Ecclesia, Assembly.
1Cor. 12: 13. It was this Body, in which He would would dwell, live, abide, in this assembly that was brought into living
reality on the day of Pentecost, and has been a Living Entity ever since, although it is an invisible body to the natural
eyes and mind of man. There is a physical, visible body that is observed by the eyes of man, but this isnt the true Spiritual
Body. The True Spiritual Body are those interspersed with in them, known and observed by God alone, and, the individual, True
Believer Themselves. They are but a Remnant of the whole, as was Israel, through out their history.
It is this New
Spiritual, Reality, that Paul, Peter and John, spend their lives, trying to bring Believers, to an awareness of.
In
all of their writings, the emphasis is on exhorting these new members of this new group to recognize themselves as New Creatures,
created anew in Christ Jesus, and for them not to revert back to living the old life of a Spiritually Dead person which they
had been living previously. Paul being Gods Special Apostle to the Gentiles, while Peter was the Head Apostle to the Jew.
Same message however. It seemed that it was quite a bit more difficult for the Lord to get through to Peter than it was to
Paul. But Peter acknowledges this in his writings much later, when he admits that in the Revelation that Paul had received
there were things even he found hard to understand. 2Peter 3: 14-16.
Let us turn to Pauls writings, as he unveils this
great Mystery, that his experience with Jesus Christ, to which he had been awakened him.Gal. 1: 15-17,But when He who had
set me apart, even from my mothers womb, and called me through His grace, was pleased to, REVEAL HIS SON IN ME, that I might
preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those
who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus.He received three years of instruction
out there in the dessert alone with the Lord, and the other Twelve had received three years with Jesus before His death. But
it is the consciousness of , This New Person Jesus Abiding in him, that he desires all New Born Ones to come to a consciousness
of also.
Sometime later he and Peter had a confrontation, over the manner of conduct, this being in the manner in which
The New Life of the Lord Jesus Christ, that they each had received, was being lived out.Peter was the first to be shown by
God, over in Joppa. There God was preparing him to go to Cornelius house, him being a Gentile Roman officer. He had been shown
that the time had come, spoken of in all the old covenant writings, that now there was to be no difference between Jew and
Gentile, for God was making them both into One New Man in Christ. They being neither Jew or Gentile, but one body in Christ,
through the Gospel. Eph. 2: 14-22. In the confrontation that ensues, Paul very Pointedly, expounds this unveiling of the Mystery.
Gal.2:5-21. Read Carefully. The Jist of the conversation is this. They were both Jews, both had been brought to an understanding
by the Tutoring of the Holy Spirit, that their Justification came only by faith in Jesus Christ, and Law works had no part
in it. The Knowledge of the Law only brought them both to the knowledge of sin, and their need of a Savior, and only faith
in Jesus Christ brought them both to a Knowledge that, by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified in Gods sight.But
having been brought to this knowledge, if either of them reverted to the old way of living, (law keeping, law works), these
would then be deliberate acts of disobedience by them. And as such could not be attributed to The Leading of the Lord, (The
Source of their new life), in any way. Paul now in abbreviated and concise terms, states from personal experience , that
which every New Born Believer, should be aware of, and be just as real for them also, and not just an abstract concept to
be mouthed, but with no transforming reality to it, as far as their true Spiritual knowledge goes. Ver. 19-21. For through
the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but
Christ live in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by FAITH in the Son of God, who loved me and delivered
Himself up for me.I do not nullify the Grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.
The
Law is an instrument of death for every person. 2Cor. 3: 7a. And the Cross is the Altar upon which that death took place,
in our behalf, in the Person of Jesus Christ, Gods Sacrificial Lamb.The introduction to this idea comes from the mouth of
Jesus in preparation for the event.Matt. 10:38-39,And he who does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy
of Me. He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it. Matt. 16: 21-27, From
that time Jesus Christ began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and
chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke
Him saying, God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You. But He turned and said, Get behind Me, Satan! You are a
stumbling block to me; for you are not setting your mind on Gods interests, but mans. Then Jesus said to His disciples, If
anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his
life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. For what will a man be profited , if he gains the
whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come
in the glory of His Father with His Angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds. Death to the natural
mind of natural man is the most difficult of all of life's difficulties for him to accept, because it is so final.
The
cross has been made a fetish of and reduced to a little trinket about a half inch in size, and worn as jewelry, for what is
called a witness, and others have some besetting sin or some difficult situation to face constantly, that plagues them, and
they consider this to be their cross in life. All of which is false thinking. The cross that we must bare is the same cross
that Jesus was made to bare, and He bore that cross to the top of the hill called Calvary, on which He died as our Representative
and Substitute.. It is required that each and every one who wishes to be one of His followers, shoulder that same cross and
ascend that same hill with Him by Faith. It is there where we lose the old self life in death and gain the new. This is
just what we hear Paul saying in all of his expounding of the Gospel. Gal. 5: 24-25,Now the flesh of those that are Christ
Jesus, has been crucified with the passions and lusts. Gal. 6: 14-16,But may it never be that I should boast, except in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. For neither is circumcision
anything, nor uncircumcision, but a New Creation. And to those who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon
the Israel of God.Rom. 6:8-11.
Embodied in this Word is the Great Unveiling of The Mystery hidden from ages past to
the eyes and intellect of natural man. Col. 1: 27b,Which is Christ in you the hope of glory.
His longing for this
to be a reality for every believer, cause his writings to burn with passion for it to come about. 1Cor. 13:5,Test yourselves
to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves,That Jesus Christ is in
you--unless you fail the test ? But I trust that you realize that we ourselves do no fail the test.
Paul was very much
aware of this New Person Living within his body. He had, and deferred to New Lord of Life in every waking moment.
In
his letter to the Ephesians, he admonishes them much like he did Peter, only these new believers were being admonished not
to go back to the old Gentile way of living, where as Peter was admonished not to go back to his old Jewish way of living
separately, thereby creating a divided body. But he says to the Ephesians, that they, Eph. 4: 10-32, (Read this portion thoughtfully
but for sake of brevity, lets just look at, ver. 20-24),But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard
Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside
the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your
mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
This
is just what he says in Romans, 8:29,For whom He fore knew, He also predestined to be, conformed to the Image of His Son,
that He might be the first born among many brethren.
Let us consider what we have just read and put it into practice.
Let us examine ourselves. For if we are Truly in the faith, then God has performed the miracle of the New Birth. A New Creation
has come into being, 2Cor. 5: 14-21, This is a New Creation, Created in Christ Jesus, New Life from the dead. Christ in you
the hope of glory.
Have you gotten to know Him? Do you, we, recognize Him? What is He like this New Person Living in
you ? Have you spent any time Learning Him? Matt. 11:25-30. Or have you been trying emulate Him, and struggling to produce
an image that would appear Christ Like? Are you working at trying to improve your old natural self. What is there to improve
about a dead person, except to dress him all up and powder and rouge and perfume him? He is still in a state of deterioration.
If so that wont get it. God has declared, The flesh Profits nothing.
Let us begin with, what He is and what He is not
Like. Phil. 2:3-16 When getting to know a person, you must learn these two aspects of the persons character. What he is and
what the is not. It is always easiest when you can learn what the person is not first. In the case of Jesus, He has none of
the characteristics, attributes, that you see which describes natural man, as presented in Romans, 1:28-32, or as stated describing
our character before we became Believers. Col. 3:5-10.
The New Person, created in Christ Jesus, abiding within the believer,
is not Self Asserting, He is not arrogant, nor is he self-willed. He is not dishonest, he doesn't Lie, Cheat or Steal.He never
creates divisions, but rather try to unify every one into a oneness of thought, desire, purpose, and endeavor around Himself,
in, oneness to the Fathers Glory.All of these Characteristics, are those to be found in the Natural, sinful character of Natural
Man, and have no place of acceptance in the True Believers Character, but must be, RECKONED DEAD, and therefore put off, just
as you would put off an old soiled , dirty garment.
On the other side, what is this New Person, Created in Christ
Jesus like? This is the New Person every born anew believer should be endeavoring to get to know in an intimate way, and
in so doing, Defer to Him in every instance, while denying the Old Self .
This New Person is in essence, LOVE, which
is the highest quality of love that can be envisioned. Because this Love never fails. 1Cor. 13:8a, Love never fails. But all
the other attributes which are embodied in this one, are listed in the verses preceding. 1Cor. 13:4-8, & 13. God in Jesus
Christ, through His Holy Spirit, is the New Person, we find when we stop and examine ourselves, see the New Person within..
Since God is Love, and this Love which God is, is shed abroad in the hearts of every true believer, Rom. 5:5b, then the Holy
Spirit manifests these attributes. He is Patient, He is Kind, and is not Jealous, He does not brag, He is not Boastful, and
He is not arrogant. He does not act unbecomingly, He does not seek His own, (He is not Selfish.) He is never Provoked, and
doesnt take into account a wrong suffered, (He know what we are and why we do things), He doesnt rejoice when the unrighteousness
of Sinful humanity is displayed. But Rather He rejoices in the Truth. (Because anything other than absolute truth is a lie,
and no lie is of the Truth.for He also is Truth.) He bears all things. He is Long suffering, and Enduring, and His Character
never changes, nor is He ever Compromised. LOVE NEVER FAILS BECAUSE HE, GOD NEVER FAILS. WE HAVE A PERFECT SALVATION,(LIFE),
BECAUSE WE HAVE A PERFECT SAVIOR.
The question now becomes very pertinate, and very personal. How well have we gotten
to Know Him? And to what extent do we allow our old natural sinful self Prevail? And to what extent do we, deny self, and
Defer to the New Man. our daily lives, whether among the assembly of the church or out of it among our fellow men in our
everyday walk of life tells the story to God the Holy Spirit, and to us. i believe this is the foundation upon which Paul
built his admonition in his Phillipian Letter. Phi. 2: 12c,work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God
who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
To anyone desiring to know more of the New
Testament Teaching according to the writing of the Apostles, spend some time and effort in the pages of this Web-Site.. It
is there for your benefit and enlightenment, and it is my Prayer that any and all who persue copying and reading gain much
strength from doing so.
Yours in Christ, Douglas C Schacht-Rev. Ret.
Having now taken a good hard look at
yourself, which of the two Images are you Truly desirous of Your Heavenly Father observing as the predominate Character in
you? You and I hold that which He observes in our own thoughts. The admonition is, Be Renewed in the spirit of your mind.
Do we put more trust in ourselves or in The Lord Jesus Christ, to save us from ourselves?
A Rest For The People Of God
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EMail Me Here doug,schacht@coxx.net
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