Living in the Context of the Lord of Heaven and Earth
I. We suffer from a systemic disease–“manitis”–the worship of the idol that is MAN.
A. The gospel we have heard is man centered–“God wants to save us so we won’t have to go to hell, so invite Jesus into your life.” Very little mention that we are dead in sins, and in God’s opinion, we don’t have a life to invite Jesus into. Therefore, we major on getting God to fix our stuff in the here and now with little thought of eternity until we have no choice!
1. Remember the message of I John 1:1-2? This “Eternal Life which was with the Father and was manifested to the apostles” (and us) is the only life God considers life!!!
2. John 10:10 “I AM come that that they (His sheep) might have life (for the first time!) and that they might have it more abundantly.”
3. John 14:6 “I AM the way, the truth, and the LIFE: no man comes to the Father but by me.” His goal is to bring us into the Presence of His Father for that is Life, to have the John 17 relationship, to bring us into inseparable Union with the Love that is the Triune God.
4. Exodus 19:1-6 is the O.T. shadow of this purpose, “I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to Myself.”
B. We have grown up in the age of the rapid expansion of human knowledge and therefore its worship!
1. There is a subtle, dangerous infection that afflicts the people of God. The increase of man’s (natural) knowledge decreases any vision or understanding that God made or that God controls. Mother nature, the
weather man, computer models, Hubble telescopes, social security, 401Ks, medical advances and miracles (that
merely keep the cadaver animated for a bit longer!), not to mention smart phones (those wonderfully portable idols), all subtly worm their way into our conscious mind, and as they do, they squeeze out a bit more of the Sovereign Creator God, Lord of heaven and earth.
Triune God Vision and Worship died in the garden at the foot of the tree of knowledge!!! It’s rebirth requires Holy Spirit Revelation!!!
C. All of this works to cause us to live in a “part time god” context. We pray–at last resort, we cry out–when the situation is out of our control, as if it ever was in our control!
We, and all the Bride of Christ, need a bath, the sanctifying, cleansing that only Christ by His Spirit can give us through the “washing of water by the Word!!! Ephesians 5:26
II. We must learn, through the Biblical bath, to live in the context of our God, to consider all life, begin all our days, where He does. He is the Eternal Triune God Who willed to create time and place in order to bring a chosen people into His Eternity. Unless we live in His context, we are stuck in the muck and mire of fallen time and place, and He will be bound in our minds to our needs in time and place–ie, a part time God! But consider–
A. Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This is the foundational revelation and the unceasing context of God’s revelation of Himself to humans!
1. Hebrews 1:2 This is His context upon introducing the “Image Restorer” Christ Jesus, “through Whom He
made the worlds”. Consider also Heb. 1:10-12 “ Jehovah the Son (LORD-NT “Kurios”=supreme in authority) “in
the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.” This should be our understanding in all our relationship with our Savior–our Creator is our Savior and LORD!!!
2. Acts 17:24 This is Paul’s “evangelism context” when speaking to a bunch of brilliant heathens! “God, Who made the world and everything in it, since He IS Lord of heaven and earth.” Notice, not “was”!
III. Today and in future studies, we are going to follow the injunction of I Corinthians 10:11, and seek instruction from our Old Testament teachers as to the Biblical view of our Creator God and our fellowship with Him.
A. Another of the subtle attacks on the people of God is the system of interpretation that separates the O.T. from the New–making the O.T. for Israel, and leaves the rest of us with a few O.T. Bible stories. NO, it is to teach and to instruct us as to our God’s Essence and Person, teaching us upon whom the end of the ages has come! We read it in the light of the gospel in the Face of Jesus Christ (II Cor. 4:6) and the glories of the New Covenant.
B. Jeremiah 23:16-29 Hear then, the Word of the Lord!
1. Vs. 16-21 God’s call to discernment. Beware of the “imagination of our own hearts”. Consider Jer. 16:12
and Gen. 8:21–our hearts are very imaginative, but they close our ears to hearing God’s Voice in His Word. (Imagination=obstinancy #8307)
a. Vs 18 “Who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, and has perceived and heard His Word? Who has marked His Counsel and heard it?” “Mark My Word” says the LORD!!! Did your mother or father ever say that to you?
2. Vs. 22 This very discernment is to characterize those we listen to. This is what Ken and I are required by God to do before you–“and cause My people to hear My Words”, and not our own words. And for what purpose? To turn us all from our evil ways, from anything that seduces us from an intimate walk with our Gracious and Loving God!!! Only the Word of God will do that. Our leaders must be careful of our few words lest we detract from God’s Word!
C. Vs 23-24 Our key text
1. Vs 23 Not standing in the Counsel of the Lord, not perceiving, not marking His Word, breeds a “far off God” feeling and behavior. Scripture constantly teaches that “I AM a God near at hand”! Mt 28:20; Heb.13:5a– quoting from Deut. 31:6-8
2. Vs 24a Not standing in the Counsel of the Lord breeds this preposterous thought and absurd behavior that we can somehow hide from God, or that He is not aware of little old me! Ps 119:7-12; Amos 9:2-9 “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account.” (Heb. 4:13); Ps. 33:13-15; Ps. 90:8
3. Va 24b “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD. II Chron.2:8; Isaiah 57:15–“the High & Lofty One inhabits eternity!” Isa. 66:1 “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build for Me? And where is the place of My Rest?” Daniel 4:35 “All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His Will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, No one an restrain His hand or say to Him, What have you done?”
Isaiah 45:18 “For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD, and there is no other.”
I. We suffer from a systemic disease–“manitis”–the worship of the idol that is MAN.
A. The gospel we have heard is man centered–“God wants to save us so we won’t have to go to hell, so invite Jesus into your life.” Very little mention that we are dead in sins, and in God’s opinion, we don’t have a life to invite Jesus into. Therefore, we major on getting God to fix our stuff in the here and now with little thought of eternity until we have no choice!
1. Remember the message of I John 1:1-2? This “Eternal Life which was with the Father and was manifested to the apostles” (and us) is the only life God considers life!!!
2. John 10:10 “I AM come that that they (His sheep) might have life (for the first time!) and that they might have it more abundantly.”
3. John 14:6 “I AM the way, the truth, and the LIFE: no man comes to the Father but by me.” His goal is to bring us into the Presence of His Father for that is Life, to have the John 17 relationship, to bring us into inseparable Union with the Love that is the Triune God.
4. Exodus 19:1-6 is the O.T. shadow of this purpose, “I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to Myself.”
B. We have grown up in the age of the rapid expansion of human knowledge and therefore its worship!
1. There is a subtle, dangerous infection that afflicts the people of God. The increase of man’s (natural) knowledge decreases any vision or understanding that God made or that God controls. Mother nature, the
weather man, computer models, Hubble telescopes, social security, 401Ks, medical advances and miracles (that
merely keep the cadaver animated for a bit longer!), not to mention smart phones (those wonderfully portable idols), all subtly worm their way into our conscious mind, and as they do, they squeeze out a bit more of the Sovereign Creator God, Lord of heaven and earth.
Triune God Vision and Worship died in the garden at the foot of the tree of knowledge!!! It’s rebirth requires Holy Spirit Revelation!!!
C. All of this works to cause us to live in a “part time god” context. We pray–at last resort, we cry out–when the situation is out of our control, as if it ever was in our control!
We, and all the Bride of Christ, need a bath, the sanctifying, cleansing that only Christ by His Spirit can give us through the “washing of water by the Word!!! Ephesians 5:26
II. We must learn, through the Biblical bath, to live in the context of our God, to consider all life, begin all our days, where He does. He is the Eternal Triune God Who willed to create time and place in order to bring a chosen people into His Eternity. Unless we live in His context, we are stuck in the muck and mire of fallen time and place, and He will be bound in our minds to our needs in time and place–ie, a part time God! But consider–
A. Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This is the foundational revelation and the unceasing context of God’s revelation of Himself to humans!
1. Hebrews 1:2 This is His context upon introducing the “Image Restorer” Christ Jesus, “through Whom He
made the worlds”. Consider also Heb. 1:10-12 “ Jehovah the Son (LORD-NT “Kurios”=supreme in authority) “in
the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.” This should be our understanding in all our relationship with our Savior–our Creator is our Savior and LORD!!!
2. Acts 17:24 This is Paul’s “evangelism context” when speaking to a bunch of brilliant heathens! “God, Who made the world and everything in it, since He IS Lord of heaven and earth.” Notice, not “was”!
III. Today and in future studies, we are going to follow the injunction of I Corinthians 10:11, and seek instruction from our Old Testament teachers as to the Biblical view of our Creator God and our fellowship with Him.
A. Another of the subtle attacks on the people of God is the system of interpretation that separates the O.T. from the New–making the O.T. for Israel, and leaves the rest of us with a few O.T. Bible stories. NO, it is to teach and to instruct us as to our God’s Essence and Person, teaching us upon whom the end of the ages has come! We read it in the light of the gospel in the Face of Jesus Christ (II Cor. 4:6) and the glories of the New Covenant.
B. Jeremiah 23:16-29 Hear then, the Word of the Lord!
1. Vs. 16-21 God’s call to discernment. Beware of the “imagination of our own hearts”. Consider Jer. 16:12
and Gen. 8:21–our hearts are very imaginative, but they close our ears to hearing God’s Voice in His Word. (Imagination=obstinancy #8307)
a. Vs 18 “Who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, and has perceived and heard His Word? Who has marked His Counsel and heard it?” “Mark My Word” says the LORD!!! Did your mother or father ever say that to you?
2. Vs. 22 This very discernment is to characterize those we listen to. This is what Ken and I are required by God to do before you–“and cause My people to hear My Words”, and not our own words. And for what purpose? To turn us all from our evil ways, from anything that seduces us from an intimate walk with our Gracious and Loving God!!! Only the Word of God will do that. Our leaders must be careful of our few words lest we detract from God’s Word!
C. Vs 23-24 Our key text
1. Vs 23 Not standing in the Counsel of the Lord, not perceiving, not marking His Word, breeds a “far off God” feeling and behavior. Scripture constantly teaches that “I AM a God near at hand”! Mt 28:20; Heb.13:5a– quoting from Deut. 31:6-8
2. Vs 24a Not standing in the Counsel of the Lord breeds this preposterous thought and absurd behavior that we can somehow hide from God, or that He is not aware of little old me! Ps 119:7-12; Amos 9:2-9 “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account.” (Heb. 4:13); Ps. 33:13-15; Ps. 90:8
3. Va 24b “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD. II Chron.2:8; Isaiah 57:15–“the High & Lofty One inhabits eternity!” Isa. 66:1 “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build for Me? And where is the place of My Rest?” Daniel 4:35 “All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His Will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, No one an restrain His hand or say to Him, What have you done?”
Isaiah 45:18 “For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD, and there is no other.”