The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
64 “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
65 Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.
66 What do you think?”
“He is worthy of death,” they answered.
67 Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him...
Matthew 26:63-67
Some people when they hear the truth they just cannot accept it.
Today's study is most likely the most controversial study we have ever shared with you.
I know that some of you will react like those priest reacted above.
But if it is even possible, read on and you will realize through the Scriptures the truth of this study.
Others will early on stumble and tear their clothes as it were and miss out on these Biblical truths from the Word of God.
Those of you who make it to the end of this study will walk away with deep insight and a renewed dedication to walk with God.
***
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him, He came to His own ( often interpreted, "His own people"; however, the Greek word has a neuter meaning: "things" or "His own creation" ), and those who were His own did not receive Him.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become ( remember those words - the right to become ) children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:10-14.
As the days of the manifestation of the sons of God approach us, we are eager to become sons.
We want glorified bodies and divine health; we want everything of God's provision.
However, certain spiritual changes must precede those physiological changes.
We must first experience an overwhelming manifestation of the divine nature before our release from the human nature is made manifest.
God does not want His people to react like human beings, responding to situations on an emotional plane like sons and daughters of Adam and Eve.
He does not want them to live their days without direction, just drifting or dragging along.
He is concerned that they have definite divine objectives.
Divine goals differ greatly from human goals.
When Christ came to earth, He said, "I come to do thy will, O God."
His delight was to be wholly absorbed in only one thing: the spiritual will of His heavenly Father.
Nothing else meant anything to Him; therefore He reacted in every situation with deity.
Likewise, we are to respond as deity in the making,as sons coming to glory, rather than reacting as human beings.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12.
When you ask the Lord Jesus to come into your heart and to make you a child of God, you do not see the physical manifestation immediately.
Something must first be wrought in your nature so that you will want to be a child of God and not a human being.
Therefore, the Lord puts you through a process that will bring you into son-ship, into deity.
Do not be passive in that process.
Assume the deity that God wants His people to have.
The Gospel and the Epistles of John follow a similar pattern in emphasizing not only the deity of Jesus Christ, but also the deity of those who accept Him.
Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be.
We know that, if He shall be manifested, we shall be like
Him; for we shall see Him even as He is.
I John 3:2.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
What is in Jesus Christ will also be in the members of the Body of Christ: the Word becoming flesh, full of grace and truth, the glory of the Father coming forth.
God becoming man means nothing unless we become God, unless we become lost in Him.
Perhaps this sounds like heresy, like something distorted, but it is not.
The concept of it will hit you with an impact.
It will jar you.
It will change the way you think about yourself; but more importantly, it will change your attitude toward everything that happens to you, and toward the things you want to happen to you.
The promise of this was spoken as Christ prayed, "That they may all be one, even as Thou, Father, and I are one" ( John 17:21 ).
We are to be one with the Father.
God's plan is not to reach down to earth, throw a lot of human beings in a big gunnysack, and then take them to heaven.
His plan is for His people to become what they have the right to become; and even-more- what they have the responsibility to become.
True believers have the responsibility to move more and more out of the human plane and into the spiritual plane.
Paul expresses this in I Corinthians 3:1-3.
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual men ( or better, spiritual beings ), but as men of flesh, as to babes in Christ.
I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it.
Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly.
For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?
The Corinthians were walking as men.
The worst thing a church can do is to walk like people, to live like people!
There were walking as mere men when supposedly they were aspiring to something more then being members of the human race.
They were aspiring to come into the glory that belongs to the sons of God.
Do you react like a human?
Do you respond with jealousy and envy?
God has something better for you.
Anticipate it.
Move into the plan tat He has for your life.
Like the Corinthians, you have not only the right, but also the responsibility of accepting deity.
You must grasp that truth.
It is your responsibility- do not water it down.
You have a responsibility to participate in God, a responsibility to react and respond with deity.
Hebrews 2:5-7 is helpful in defining that responsibility:
For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking.
But one has testified somewhere, saying, "What is man, that Thou rememberest him?
Or the son of man, that Thou art concerned about him?
( This phrase is quoting Psalm 8:5 which reads: Yet Thou hast made him a little lower than God.
It does not say , "lower than the angels." )
God's people are not to consider themselves as being lower than the angels, for the nature of man, even in his fallen state, was that of an object of love.
Angel obedience is somewhat mechanical; they were created to obey.
Our obedience is wrought in us by a participation into the divine nature, not because we were created to obey.
"Thou hast made Him for a little while lower than the angels" (God); Thou hast crowned Him with glory and honor; Thou hast put all things in subjection under His feet."
For in subjecting all things to Him, He left nothing that is not subject to Him.
But now we do not see Him who has been made a little lower than the angels, namely, Jesus ( if this were interpreted that He was made lower than the Father, in that He laid aside His divine prerogatives, it would present a truer picture ), because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
For it is fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
Hebrews 2:7-10.
Notice carefully what this passage is saying.
It is not that Christ was made lower than the angels, but that He put aside His divine attributes and prerogatives and walked as a man, in order that He might taste of death for everyman, and thereby bring us into the glory of the Father, which He had laid aside.
For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.
Verse 11.
Most of us assume that it describes the process of being made pure.
Actually, the word sanctify means to be set aside for a specific purpose.
In this case it means being set aside for son-ship, being set aside to come into the glory of sons.
You are not destined to dwell in the human realm, hour by hour and day by day, just hoping that the Lord will give you enough grace to survive.
Refuse that human reaction.
Get off the human level.
As long as you think of yourself as a human being , you will have the problems of a human being.
Think of yourself in the divine nature, and problems of the flesh will leave.
Verse 14-18 tell how completely Christ took upon Himself humanity and human sufferings, participating absolutely and perfectly on the human level of our flesh.
Because of this, He is able to rescue us from all fleshly problems and temptations normal to mankind.
Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slaver all their lives.
For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the seed of Abraham.
Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
Do you understand what God is trying to do for you?
When you realize what He is doing and what He is working out for you, cooperate with Him!
Do not balk against the dealings of the Lord.
Let Him put you in a corner!
Let Him deal with your life, but do not give up- even if you are ready to fall apart!
The pressure is on you for a purpose.
God is cornering you so that you will flee to the Lord and find more of the divine in the situation.
React as God would react.
Romans 8 is a wonderful chapter about coming into divine son-ship.
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"
( "Abba" is an endearing term, like "Papa Daddy." )
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
( We are children of God! Who are you? Are you human or are you divine? You are a child of God! )
And if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
For the anxious longings of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
Romans 8:15-19.
I John 3:22 says, ...it doth not yet appear what we shall be.
We are sons of God incognito, disguised with what appears to be a great deal of limitation.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children.
( Those who seek God will enter into the coming liberty of the glory of God first, and then all of God's creation will follow. )
For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
( Everything is in travail.)
And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit...waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
Romans 8:20-23.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren.
Romans 8:28-29.
Gods plan for eternity past is not only that His people find salvation; it is that they become just like His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
Long before He became incarnate in flesh, God planned to bring His Son through the route of flesh, God planned to bring His people out of their flesh and into Himself.
The natural creation is in a state of corruption.
For that reason, God is not dealing with it.
Instead, He is dealing with the new creation.
He is making available to man, in his lost state, the responsibility of moving in and into deity.
He first teaches him how to move in God; then He teaches him how to move into God.
That process happens through the grace of Jesus Christ, which creates an infusion of God so great that you can say, like the apostle Paul, "Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."
The divine nature, with its responses and reactions, will take over; you will become totally different, even though you are still yourself.
It is a mystery, for when you look in the mirror you see the same face; nevertheless you know that you are not the same as you were a year ago.
You are in a state of change.
You are going from glory to glory- many sons are coming to glory ( Hebrews 2:10 ).
And it is taking place during this phase of restoration!
It is difficult for you to adjust to what is happening to you spiritually?
It is even more difficult to adjust to what is happening to someone else in the Body of Christ?
If you have known someone a long time, or if you know certain things about him, it is especially difficult to believe that he will change; but you must not think of anyone in terms of the past.
Discover what God is doing in his life and adjust to God's way of thinking.
Think that way about your brothers and sisters and think that way about yourself.
Do not think of yourself in terms of past insecurity or inadequacy.
You are changing constantly.
Adjust your thinking to the present.
Erase the out- of- date ideas about yourself.
They belong to a time when you were not in a state of grace, a time when you were not progressing or growing spiritually.
Evaluate honestly the marvelous process that is taking place in your spirit; you are a son of God, going from glory to glory!
And whom He predestinated, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. ( This already is accomplished in the thinking of God.)
What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who is against us?
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
Romans 8:30-32.
This explains that we are heirs with God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.
If we suffer with Him, we will reign with Him ( II Timothy 2:12).
He has freely given us all things with Jesus.
Shall He not with Him freely give us all things?
Who will bring a charge against God's elect?
God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns?
Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Jut as it is written, "For Thy Sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor heights, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:33-39.
This passage speaks of God's predestined plan for us to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.
Predestination is not fatalistic.
Otherwise God would not constantly be exhorting us and giving us the right to choose.
We must face this honestly.
God would not torment us, telling us to choose, if He had already determined that we would never be able to.
We cannot charge God with that kind of folly.
However, we can say that God does predetermine certain things.
He has predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son.
The right to become the sons of God involves a responsibility on our part to predetermine, even as God does.
He has already made an absolute provision for each step of our glorification.
If we are going to move into God's predestined plan for our lives, then we must begin now to move in the closest aspect of that plan that we can.
We will move in the closest aspect of that plan that we can.
We will move into that plan, into the divine nature, more rapidly if we , like God, come into a predetermination.
Predetermine what you are going to be.
Like Jesus, do always those things that will please the Father.
Find the will of God.
As a child of God, your first responsibility it to discover what your Father wants; then determine to want that too.
It becomes necessary to use the human will.
God created that will; use it to predetermine what you are going to be.
Goals and objectives should not be on the human level; they should be on a high spiritual level.
Predetermine to be a child of God.
Predetermine to be conformed to Jesus.
Times of defeat occur only when your focus drifts from God during the course of the day.
What is the answer?
Predetermine your day.
Seek the Lord.
Have each day well in hand.
Do not allow yourself to drift and open the door to the flesh.
The right to become a child of God encompasses a responsibility to put to death the members of the flesh and to come into what you are to be as a child of God, to react with the divine nature rather than with the human nature.
Attitudes and decisions should be predetermined.
otherwise, when something happens for which you are not prepared, something for which you have no course of action or thought, you will react on a human level.
Learn to react in God to every situation.
This is necessary when times of difficulty come in a church.
The only members who will be shaken are those who are not predetermined in their walk with God.
They will be shaken because they have not predetermined what they are going to do.
A pastor must have a predetermined attitude or decision before problems come.
In a sense, he must live with the possibility of what could happen.
That is not being fearful or unbelieving if he knows that the objective he believes in s in the absolute will of God.
His church may be in the will of the lord.
It may be a center out of which hundreds of churches will start.
Great things may happen throughout the world because of the faithfulness of his congregation; however, he must predetermine his attitude, his dedication, and his decision, in case his church were to turn away from their walk with God.
Most probably that will never happen; but if it were to happen, he must predetermine that he will not be bitter, that he will not turn away from walking with the Lord, and that he will not reject the fact that God wants him to be a channel for His word.
His faith cannot be based upon what he sees in circumstances; it must be based upon what he has predetermined by faith and dedication to do an to be.
Predetermine the type of reaction you will have.
When someone hurts your feelings, do you stop loving him?
That reaction comes from a human love.
Human love is an illusion produced by man, and God will tear it down.
Divine love does not react on the carnal level- love suffers long and is kind (I Corinthians 13:4 ).
You may feel that you love the Lord and your church with all your heart, or that you love a certain individual very deeply.
However, if in moments of stress or difficulty you turn away or reject love, then your love is only a human love, not the love that God requires of you- toward Himself and toward every individual in the Body.
You will react on a human level if you love on a human level.
God test every relationship.
He requires relationships that are based on a love that predetermines its reactions- what it is going to be and what it is going to do.
If you have this attitude, your walk with God will be real; if you do not have it, your walk with God will fail.
It is possible for believers, not walking in the Spirit as they should, to slip unknowingly out of divine love and into human love.
Although the flesh takes over and it is difficult to recognize the subtle difference, there is a difference; and they momentarily move in human love instead of divine love.
In such a situation the believer will fail his walk with God unless he gets his love off the human level and on the divine level.
When a Christian is tested, he will never be defeated if he has predetermined to be a believer who submits to God.
That attitude was in Job.
Did he love God on a human level?
No, for when family and all his possessions were taken, he bowed down and worshiped God.
He had a predetermined response in his heart to react as a worshiper.
Because of inherited tendencies it may be difficult for us to avoid becoming angry and reacting on the human level, but more and more we are coming to the end of all flesh.
We are coming to the days of His glory, when all human reactions will give way to that glory.
Do not be discouraged if you have yielded to the flesh in the past; thank God for that which you have suffered in order that the rest of your days might be spent in victory.
In days to come, you may face situations more difficult than those you have faced in the past.
Either you have failed in the past because you did not believe the Word of God, or you succeeded because you did believe the word of God.
If you did believe it, it was because you had the will to believe, and that will is of the divine nature.
God is bringing down everything that is of the human nature.
He is invading His people.
He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ ( Revelation 15 ).
And that includes the kingdom of your heart.
Little by little He is taking over.
He is invading you,and everything is giving way.
Everything is coming down- everything except what god is, what He has done, and what He has wrought in you.
At times, because of circumstances and situations, everyone becomes upset and unforgiving.
This should not cause self-condemnation, for it is good to suffer a healthy defeat periodically; it takes you from the level of human aspirations and forces you to seek God.
If a rebellious person suddenly harasses you, deal with the situation, but do it with a right spirit.
Predetermine never to be unforgiving and never to lose faith for any man, no matter what he does or what he says.
You may not know how God will work His will in that person's life; nevertheless, He will help you to be without viciousness and without the capacity to hate.
You may be moved by a situation, but God will remove from you the capacity to hate if you predetermine to react with God in it.
Never lose sight of the heavenly vision that God is working in your life.
If your eyes are on the mechanics of walking with God, you will forget the process that is taking place.
Seek to do the Father's will.
Appropriate an initiative and a drive of the Spirit to become a son of God.
Believe to be loosed from anything that will keep you on a human level, because that is where you can be defeated.
Move out of that level.
Enter a new level of reaction, and the human reactions will give way to divine reactions.
Believe that it can happen in you.
Think differently about your entire life- past, present, and future.
We must accept the fact that spiritually we have the right to become children of God.
We have been born of Him.
We must believe not only for forgiveness and release, but we must believe that we can co-exist in this world as sons of God.
Many times we may find ourselves in difficult human situations, but our reactions should be totally different from the reactions of the world.
The Lord is doing more than forgiving us of our acts and our attitudes.
He is putting to death our old nature.
The flesh is being crucified and He is taking over.
Let the lord take over!
Let Him invade your being, for to as many as receive Him, to them He gave the right to become- that is yours!
But remember, the right to become and the responsibility to be go hand and hand.
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