Wkly Bible Study for Dial-Up/Broadband, 8-6-2012

This week’s study: What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery - Part 41. The Portfolio of Invisible Assets

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Prepare yourself for learning the Word of God!

Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge (confess) your sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father).

1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]

If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to have faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life:

John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." NKJV [italics added]

Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.

John 3:14-18 says: "¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV

Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:

Study to show yourself approved to God!

Grace Bible Church
Robert R. McLaughlin Bible Ministries

The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary:
God’s Word is Wednesday, Friday and Sunday mornings

STUDY TITLE:

What it means to be initiated into the
secret of the mystery - Part 41.
The Portfolio of Invisible Assets


OPTION: If you would prefer to go directly to the Grace Bible Church website to read this study message, all verse reference links are active there (but not hover active) and Enlarged Text is also an available option – right click the above link then left click “Open Link in New Window” or “New Tab”

Terms & Abbreviations used:

PPOG = Predesigned Plan of God
Human Good = Evil + Good Deeds while not in fellowship with God
OSN = Old Sin Nature
TLJC = The Lord Jesus Christ
SSE = Spiritual Self Esteem
PVTD = Positive Volition Towards Doctrine
+H - The Happiness of God
NVTD = Negative Volition Towards Doctrine
Doctrine = Bible Truth

To look up other “terms”, go to:
Alphabetical Listing

BEGIN BIBLE STUDY
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotes and references
are from the NASB – New American Standard Bible

We have now completed three forms of mystery doctrine pertaining to the Church-age only: 1) The baptism of the Spirit and its results. 2) The unique pre-designed plan of God taking its precedence from the dispensation of the Hypostatic union. 3) The unique equality factor of the Church-age manifested by the calling of God, election, and predestination.

We are now ready for the fourth category of mystery doctrine which is our very own portfolio of invisible assets, prepared for us by God the Father in eternity past.

Doctrine of the portfolio of invisible assets. Point 1 Definition.

Portfolio is a word which originated in English from the flat portable case or briefcase used for carrying documents. The word is now used for the securities held by an investor; “portfolio investment” has come to denote investment by the purchase of securities in contrast to direct investment. The analogy in the spiritual realm is that you can purchase certain securities which in turn can be used for divine investment. Our Lord said in MAT 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.” MAT 6:20-21 says, “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be and will end up being. Or in MAT 12:35, “The good man out of {his} good treasure brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of {his} evil treasure brings forth what is evil.”

So, we will use the word portfolio for the work of God on behalf of the believer in eternity past, the securities and the invisible assets which God the Father has provided for each member of the Royal Family of God before creation. You have securities and invisible assets that stagger the imagination; however, before these assets are usable, they must be understood. The portfolio of invisible assets connotes the grace work of God the Father on your behalf in eternity past. God the Father found the way for His justice to provide perfect and fantastic blessing to His righteousness in us without any compromise of His essence. In your portfolio of invisible assets God provided everything necessary for us in life, in dying, in eternity, growing in grace, and the execution and fulfillment of the PPOG. This is why the apostle Paul said in EPH 2:10, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. God has not only prepared beforehand good works for us to walk in, but He also has provided us with the assets and ability to perform these good works. We are His “workmanship,” the Greek noun poiema referring to the achievement and creation of God.

So, the portfolio of invisible assets provides everything necessary for you to have a fantastic life through receiving your escrow blessings which glorify God. Remember, if you do not have a fantastic life, it's your fault, not God's. All you need is positive volition, and God will direct you to the place where you can get the information. The very existence of escrow blessings implies the conditions for the transfer of those greater blessings from their present place of deposit in Christ to us, from the escrow officer to the grantee. Our portfolio of invisible assets only becomes apparent when living in the PPOG under the ministry of the Spirit, and by hearing correct and accurate Bible teaching so that we become inculcated with the PPOG as in EPH 1:3-14, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory. There are two characteristics of these assets that we must understand: 1) The assets are invisible; we can only come to know and use them by the metabolization of doctrine. 2) These assets are usable in any category of life.

Point 2. The grace principle of the portfolio of invisible assets.

On the cross, our Lord Jesus Christ finished His work of salvation (tetelestai). This perfect tense of teleo means salvation was finished in the past with the result that it stands finished forever. JOH 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit. That means the judgment of all your sins is finished, so that now the door of salvation is open to anyone, through which door you walk by faith in Christ; there is nothing you can add. EPH 2:8-9, For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. The work was accomplished in eternity past for your Christian life; all you can do is utilize the assets in your portfolio of invisible assets, by making right decisions which are non-meritorious. No human works from mankind can be added to the saving work of Christ on the cross just like no human works from mankind can be added to the Christian way of life. TIT 3:5 says, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. Grace is both the policy of God and the work of God on our behalf totally apart from any human ability or merit. This is why you must start thinking of yourself in terms of your portfolio of invisible assets. You are a person for whom Christ died; you have believed in Him, so now you are a person with a portfolio. Your portfolio is completely encompassed in a policy called grace, and in all the grace works of God. Both God's policy and God's works are working for you right now.

So, God the Father in eternity past made His declaration of tetelestai, because in eternity past, God the Father completed your portfolio of invisible assets, and it was finished before you lived. The Holy Spirit says tetelestai at the end of time when His work is finished. Regarding the Church, His work is finished at the Rapture of the Church. God the Holy Spirit provides the power for the Church-age believer. We are told that the Holy Spirit would be given in a special way to every believer after TLJC was glorified. JOH 7:37-39 Now on the last day, the great {day} of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet {given,} because Jesus was not yet glorified. Or JOH 16:7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”

This is the only dispensation in which every believer is indwelt by the Spirit and mandated to be filled with the Spirit. So the Holy Spirit cannot say it is finished regarding us until we die or the Rapture occurs. The fact that the work of the Christian way of life was accomplished by God in eternity past is not only a matter of grace, but it is the basis for the fact that each one of us as a believer has his very own portfolio of invisible assets. Grace is the only miracle God provides that involves non-meritorious volition. Each member of the Godhead has certain responsibilities related to the function and policy of grace. Each member of the Godhead performs certain works which are grace, meaning we don't earn or deserve or work for them. The apostle Paul said to the Galatians; GAL 3:1-3 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? No human works can be added to salvation or the spiritual life. God the Father not only provided fantastic grace blessings for every believer, but He also has provided the means to receive these blessings; 1TH 5:24 Faithful is He who calls you, and he also will bring it to pass. Or, JOB 23:14 For He performs what is appointed for me, and many such decrees are with Him. Or PHI 2:13 For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. PSA 138:8 “The Lord will accomplish what concerns me; Thy lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting; Do not forsake the works of Thy hands.” 1CO 1:4-9 “I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who [God] shall also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. PHI 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

It is the utilization of your invisible assets which is the basis for you receiving your escrow blessings for time and eternity. God desires to bless you, and He has providing blessing for you. This is why we all need to be taught how to pray as the disciples asked the Lord in LUK 11:1 “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” He said in LUK 11:9, “And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.” Is there something you need? Ask for it! Is there something you want? Ask for it! Our Lord used this passage to indicate a stronger tie between God and man than between friend and friend, and this is part of your portfolio of invisible assets. LUK 11:5-8 And He said to them, “Suppose one of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him; and from inside he shall answer and say, Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you {anything.} I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him {anything} because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.’”

Many misinterpret LUK 11:5-8 by confusing the throne of grace and making God's throne a place where we must persuade Him. They teach: keep talking, keep knocking, try to convince Him by repetition, but that is not what this passage is teaching. The biggest enemy in prayer is the lack of knowledge of what we are in Christ, and of what He is in us, and understanding our portfolio of invisible assets. What does this persistence mean? Look at LUK 11:9-10 again, “And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.” What's the seeking? Many say it's the extension of asking, but seeking deals with others! I ask bread for myself, and then I seek blessings for others. I ask for myself; I seek for others. You see, God wants our prayers to go beyond our personal needs. What's the seeking then? It is for those around us! Therefore, Luk 11:5-8 means, because he was seeking for someone else, and did not stop seeking for someone else, the man who was resting came down to give him bread. He didn't do it because he was a friend, but because the man loved others more than himself, manifested by his continual knocking. Seeking means that because of our love toward others we keep seeking until we find what we're asking for! So we ask for ourselves, and we seek for others! Then there's the knocking! “Knock and it shall be opened unto you.” Knocking means a specific door we want God to open up, as the apostle Paul said in COL 4:3 Praying at the same time for us as well, that God may open up to us a door for the word. The knocking is asking God to open up the doors; we don't have to beg God; it's all about grace. We have a portfolio of invisible assets. He is a gracious God who is listening, and the door opening is the gracious answer from asking.

So, LUK 11:9 means that if we ask, we will get an answer from heaven. If we seek, we will get exactly what is best for those we are seeking for. If we knock, the door will take us into the place where we should be. God is our Father and bestows His gifts not just because man is persistent, but because He loves His children and has provided for them a portfolio of invisible assets. He will do no less for them than any earthly father would do for his family. LUK 11:10 “For everyone [Our Lord promised a complete answer to everyone; He made no exceptions] who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.” Remember JAM 4:2 You do not have because you do not ask. It is the very essence of prayer to ask, and answers are the rewards of those who live in HEB 11:6, He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. We must continue in asking, seeking, and knocking because God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. For example, in our passage LUK 11:13, God promises to give good things to them that ask Him, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall {your} heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Those good things are necessities such as bread and luxuries such as fish. The point is that God encourages us to ask for more than the bare necessities of life, but to be precise. This is all a part of your portfolio of invisible assets.

Point 3. Moses' use of his portfolio of invisible assets.

The Old Testament saints also had their own corresponding assets, though they were different from ours. Moses utilized his portfolio of invisible assets in a magnificent way. He moved through the different stages of spiritual adulthood and became a mature believer. HEB 3:1-5 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling [a call from heaven], consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession. He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all his house. For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later;

Let’s note a few principles about this passage: In verse 2, Moses is said to be faithful to the Lord Who had appointed him, and in verse 4, Moses was faithful in all his house even as a servant. Now, go forward to Heb 11. HEB 11:24-27 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin; Considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing him who is unseen. However that's not what it says in the original language! Actually HEB 11:27 looks like this; By means of doctrine [pistis], he [Prince Moses] forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king [Thutmose III], he persevered; he saw the invisible [assets].

Moses made a decision for God by which he gave up the greatest wealth, prosperity, human influence, and romance, all at one time. Not being afraid of anything in life, Moses saw his invisible assets. Therefore, he departed from the Egyptian court, spent forty years in the desert, after which he returned to bring out the Jews from slavery and to do one of the greatest jobs of leadership in all of human history. That job of leadership was based on seeing his invisible assets. In living, Moses was not afraid of anyone or anything. In dying, Moses was not afraid; living and dying go together. Moses was one of the three greatest geniuses in history (the other two being Paul and Gaius Julius Caesar). Moses was a multiple genius in many areas: he had great and rare beauty, a body of fantastic strength, and a fantastic personality. His areas of genius included engineering, music, military, and administration. He had prepared the 18th dynasty to become the greatest of all the empires of Egypt. But the time came when he discovered his Jewish heritage and personally accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior (who was about to become the God of Israel). He advanced to spiritual independence and made this greatest of all decisions. Moses left the court and refused the rulership of Egypt. Moses persevered in undeserved suffering: forty years in the desert where he completed both momentum testing and evidence testing.

The man who came back to the Egyptian court forty years later was not only spiritually mature, but a mature believer who had passed evidence testing. Note that Moses didn't see Him who was invisible; he saw the invisible assets. He wasn't seeing God; he was seeing the invisible assets that God provided.

Point 4. Three attributes of God are the source of our portfolio of invisible assets: sovereignty, love, and omniscience.

First, the sovereignty of God, which is His eternal, infinite, and perfect divine volition. The sovereignty of God is His eternal and infinite will expressed in the divine decrees, manifest in the comprehensive divine interpretation of history called dispensations, and the unique plan regarding the Church-age. When God makes a decision, it is permanent and irrefutable. For example, God made a decision in eternity past to bless you; there is nothing you can do to reverse that decision. You may not receive the blessings, but that's not because God took them back! ROM 11:29 For the gifts [escrow blessings for time and eternity] and the calling of God [God electing you] are irrevocable. EPH 1:11 In Whom also we have received an allotment [escrow blessings], having been predestined for a predetermined plan from Him.

So, the sovereignty of God made a decision to create a counterpart to His sovereignty, a free will in every person for function during human history as a part of the angelic conflict. In His perfection, He has provided a magnificent plan and magnificent assets. Along with the sovereignty of God, His divine love is related to our invisible assets and predestination, EPH 1:5, By means of love He has predestined us. God is sovereign; therefore, His love is self-motivating and totally compatible with His divine essence. God is infinite and eternal; His love is infinite and eternal. God is holy; therefore, His love possesses perfect integrity and perfect virtue, for its source is His justice and righteousness. The love of God the Father is perfect. When it is directed toward His own perfect virtue and perfect righteousness, it becomes the pattern for our spiritual self-esteem. When it is directed toward the perfect virtue of God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, it is perfect personal love. Therefore, His love does not increase or diminish; it exists with or without an object. Divine love is not sustained by rapport or merit or attractiveness. Human worthiness is not the basis for divine love; just as human merit is not the basis for eternal salvation. This means that God's love is totally free from any patronizing influence.

There are three categories to God's love: 1) Personal. The object of God's personal love is perfect righteousness, both toward the other members of the Godhead, and toward all believers to whom He imputes His perfect righteousness. 2) Spiritual self-esteem is His love directed toward His own perfect righteousness. 3) Impersonal. Impersonal love is reserved for creatures after they fail. It is directed toward mankind who is spiritually dead in total depravity. The highest expression of God's impersonal love occurred when God imputed to His Son all our sins, and when Jesus Christ was willing to be judged for all our sins. This all means that you cannot bribe God or make deals with God to receive your escrow blessings. God is not a respecter of persons; as Peter said in ACT 10:34, "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality.

The third attribute of God which is the source of our portfolio of invisible assets is the omniscience of God. Omniscience means that God knows perfectly, eternally, and simultaneously all that is knowable whether it is actual or possible. Since God is sovereign, His knowledge about creatures is superior and in control at all times. When you're out of control, God is still in control.

God is infinite and has infinite and eternal knowledge. God is truth and His knowledge is totally and perfectly accurate. The omniscience of God knows all the facts about every person in human history. In knowing all about us, God still provided for each one of us a portfolio of invisible assets, resulting in our equal privilege and equal opportunity in this unique
dispensation.

The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life: Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.

Also posted on ThinkBeDo: bookmark link in case this site is ever off line.