Wkly Bible Study for Dial-Up/Broadband, Jan 13, 2014

The plan for the human race from
the eternal and infinite genius of God.

PLEASE READ FIRST

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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:

The plan for the human race from
the eternal and infinite genius of God.


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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

The plan for the human race from the eternal and infinite genius of God.

We are living in a day when human viewpoint thinking is irrational and sloppy; a time when the media is trying to shape and control our thinking. The liberals push for ideas and so-called changes that are nothing more than socialism. Socialism is a system of a centralized government that plans and controls the economy. It is a government that takes from the rich, or those who are successful, and gives to what they deem to be the poor, including those who refuse to work. This is a great tragedy, because you should have the right to think for yourself; the right to make your own decisions. The point is that the only hope for straight thinking, or truth, comes from the Word of God, Bible doctrine which is the divine viewpoint of life. This is simply a reminder that we live in challenging times when evil is put out through television, radio, the internet, and on the printed page. So you have to get your facts from the Word of God because basically man has not changed, time has not changed, and history simply repeats itself. As Solomon said "All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell {it.} The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So, there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one might say, 'See this, it is new?' Already it has existed for ages which were before us" (ECC 1:9-10). Through our study of the word, we are able to see the tremendous fallacies and the evil propaganda being put out in these United States, almost unchallenged.

Our main passage in Rom 9 has many excellent applications to these present conditions. One application is the importance of avoiding, at all costs, anti-Semitism. Nothing is more disastrous to a client nation to God. The USA is a client nation to God, and one of our responsibilities is to provide a haven for the Jews. Therefore, the more we understand about the Jews from the Word of God, the more clearly we will see the evil & vicious anti-Semitic propaganda that is found in the history books, in the so-called prestigious educational institutions, and in the media.

I am communicating doctrine, I am not lying, my conscious bearing joint testimony with me in the Holy Spirit, but I have a great sorrow and constant pain in my heart, the right lobe of my soul, so I could wish that I myself would be accursed. Consequently, separated from Christ, but it cannot be, for the sake of, or on behalf of my brethren, the racial Jews. My fellow countrymen, national Jews. According to earthly descent, who are Israelites, to whom is the adoption, and the shekinah glory, and the covenants [by now you know what those covenants are in some detail] and the deposit of the law, and the temple service [which means the service of God in the temples] and the promises, from whom [the Jews or Israelites] are the fathers, [the regenerate ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob], in fact, from whom is The Christ, the One who came in the flesh, the One who is God, ruler over all, extolled, praised, eulogized forever, Amen. However, this [the rejection of the Jews concerning their spiritual heritage] this [rejection] is not to imply as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; (ROM 9:1-6)

God's plan for the Jew in this life is the same as God's plan for the Gentile; that is freedom to hear the gospel, and freedom to except or reject the gospel. The plan of God goes on with the principle of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is not only the Savior, but the God of Israel. However, until Jews believe in Christ, the spiritual condition of the individual Jew is no better than a Gentile or an unbeliever. The only issue in this life is "What do you think about the Lord Jesus Christ" (MAT 22:42). The Apostle Paul said, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (ROM 1:16). It is only after salvation through faith in Christ that the plan of God, and the promises of God, for Israel take effect. This is because after faith in Christ the Jew receives the imputation of divine righteousness and eternal life, and therefore is qualified for blessing from God.

Abraham became a Jew at 99, and at that time he was already a spiritually mature believer. Abraham was a Gentile for the first 99 years of his life, at age 100 he became the first Jew in history. Consequently, the fulfillment of the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic and New Covenants to Israel demanded the imputation of divine righteousness, and eternal life, and then eventually, in eternity a resurrection body. The problem of Israel is compounded by rejection of Christ as Savior. The real Jew is not the racial Jew, the person who is born with the genes of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but the real Jew is the born again Jew. That is the Jew who believes in the Shekinah glory, the Lord Jesus Christ. In physical birth, the Jew possesses the genes of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but simply being the physical seed of Abraham does not save anyone.

Let's review the Plan of God which is a major principle for the correct interpretation of the book of Romans, and in fact, the entire Bible. The first imputation is human life, imputed at birth. That's where we all started as God imputed to each one of us human life. The second imputation comes from the fairness of God, the justice of God, the greatness of the wisdom of God, it is Adam's original sin which is imputed to us, so that we are instantly condemned. God didn’t wait around for you to commit your first sin; instead God did you a favor when you were born by immediately imputing Adam's sin to you. By doing that, you received instant condemnation, so that if anyone dies before reaching accountability he is instantly saved since he has already been condemned. Just think of what a terrible thing it would be to be born into this world without the imputation of Adam's sin. All of us have a human father, known or unknown, and it is the human father that transmits the old sin nature. To be born with an old sin nature, and not to receive the imputation of Adam's sin would be a disaster. It would mean that we would have to stay perfect which would be impossible. Instead of going to Heaven, everyone would eventually go to hell, and be separated from God forever. So, God did us a favor when at birth, He instantly condemned us.

The imputation of Adam's original sin was the eternal and infinite genius of God, His Perfect wisdom, and His Perfect plan. First, of all in GEN 2:7 God created the man. Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed (GEN 2:7-8).

Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die." Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him. " (GEN 2:15-18)

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place. And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. And the man said, "This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." (GEN 2:21-23)

And then, you know the rest of the story but I want you to notice the depth of the wisdom of God.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?'" And the woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.'" And the serpent said to the woman, "You surely shall not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" And he said, "I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself." And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" And the man said, "The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate." Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said," The serpent deceived me, and I ate." (GEN 3:1-13)

Having the right man/right woman is not what you think. It's not having the person who is the most compatible with you, or the most agreeable with you. It's the one who causes you to have to get to know God. It's the one who drives you to the problem solving devices. It's the one who pushes you to the realization that you need the grace of God, the mercy of God, and the love of God. That's why even a marriage where one person gets saved, and the other does not can still bring glory to God.


But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband (but if she does leave, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not send his wife away. But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, let him not send her away. And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, let her not send her husband away. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy. (1CO 7:10-14)

The unbelieving spouse is sanctified by the believing spouse. This means that it is divine institution number 2 (marriage) which sanctifies them, this does not refer to positional truth, or the unbelieving spouse being saved. The fact that it is a marriage sanctifies the home in that sense, and the children are legitimate children. The point here is that in a marriage where one spouse is a believer, and the other is not, they can still glorify God by obeying the mandate to stay in the marriage.

Back to the plan of God: We see the genius of God when we look at the fall of man. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned (ROM 5:12).

But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (ROM 5:15-21).

God's great wisdom comes to the rescue when He imputes to us Adam's sin. We only have one testimony, we are sinners, condemned at birth, not condemned because of any sin ever committed. No one is condemned by their personal sins. God saved all of our personal sins, and imputed them all to Christ on the Cross. The issue in salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ because every personal ever committed was imputed to Him and judged. It caused our Lord to scream out, "My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me." So, there is no place for arrogance, no place for self-righteousness, no place for salvation by works. God did the work in condemnation, God does the work in salvation. Adam's original sin is imputed to all of us at the moment of birth, and that's condemnation at birth. Condemnation must precede justification for the most obvious reason in the world, because when God imputed life to us, He was imputing human life to an old sin nature in the body. So, we all start at the same place, human life, and we all start with one equality: Adam's original sin is imputed to us, and that imputation sets up the potential for salvation. Once you're condemned then you have a potential for salvation.

So, none of us are ever judged for our sins, Christ was judged for our sins. He was our substitute, He took our place so that everyone has a chance, no one was ever born who didn't have a chance. The tragedy of the Jew is to fail to do what Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did. That set Abraham up in contrast to his brother Nahor, set Isaac up in contrast to Ishmael, and of course, Jacob in contrast to Esau. So, it was Isaac rather than Ishmael, Jacob rather than Esau who were true Israel. There was a time when Ishmael and Isaac were both equal, however, Ishmael refused to believe in Christ and remained a Gentile. Same thing is true of Esau and Jacob. The heritage that counts, is not from physical birth (the genes of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), but from the spiritual birth or being born again, and that is the heritage principle.

There is nothing better than instant condemnation from God. The genius of God dealt with the fall of man which resulted in the fall of the entire human race and solved mankind’s problem with the justice and righteousness of God. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned, for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law (ROM 5:12-13). The sin nature disturbed our relationship with God the extent of that was not as crystal clear until God spelled it out in detail through the Mosaic Law. Nevertheless death [this huge separation from God still dominated mankind=s problem with God and therefore it] reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. (ROM 5:14)

Even those who didn't sin like Adam did, by disobeying a specific command of God, still had to experience this death, or separation from God. Adam, who got us into this, is said to be a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, because he also points ahead to the One Who will get us out of it.

But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many (ROM 5:15).

Paul is actually stating a spiritual a fortiori [much more] which is the fact that if one man's sin put all mankind in the abyss of separation from God, just think of what God's Gift of salvation through Jesus Christ will do! There's no comparison between death and sin and God's gracious and generous life giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence.

And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation [to all], but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions [sins of the world] resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. (ROM 5:16-17)

If death dominated us through one man's sin, can you imagine the breathtaking gift from God through His Son, the last Adam?

So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. (ROM 5:18-19)

Just as one person did it wrong, and got us all in this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right, and got us out of it. However, more than just getting us out of trouble, He got us into life. The first Adam said no to God, and put many people in the wrong; the last Adam, said yes to God, and put many in the right.

And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (ROM 5:20-21)

All that passing laws against sin did was to produce more lawbreakers. Sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that's the end of it. Whereas when grace rules, it invites us into life, a life that goes on and on and on.

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.