Dispensation of the Mosaic Law. Under the Law the right thing must be done in the right way.
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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]; we call this REBOUND, read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. REBOUND
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 3:16, 5:24, 6:47, 20:30, 31.
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 3:14-15, 16, 17, 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 McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary:
God’s Word is taught Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday
God’s Word is taught Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday
STUDY TITLE:
Dispensation of the Mosaic Law. Under the Law the right thing must be done in the right way.
As we enter into this New year 2017 I would just like share with you some of the things I believe the Lord has revealed to me about the New Year.
The following principles are just my opinion.
1. The Church will think that it is being blessed and prosperous because this year will be more prosperous than any other year since the beginning of the Millennium.
2. Deception will increase but it will be very sneaky and subtle thinking that we are going back to good when in reality evil will increase.
3. There will be more trouble in the Middle East than ever before, especially in Turkey and Saudi Arabia and Syria. Watch Damascus and Turkey especially.
4. The churches will be divided because of experiencing prosperity more than the last decade. Rev 3:14-20. This will be the “I don’t need you year” for a lot of believers.
5. Although every year gets worse and worse, 2017 will be the “calm before the storm.”
6. 2017 will seem to be a year of a lot of good changes but, in reality, things still remain the same. They just will appear differently.
7. The relationship between Russia and the USA will drastically change – not for the good.
8. Israel mainly, Jerusalem, will be forced to enter into a peace treaty with Palestine, which they will reject and therefore be blamed and condemned by the United Nations.
9. Then here is a shocker = The USA will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and Jordan will lead in the condemnation of the United States for doing so.
You see, because the majority of the Arab Nations want to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, their main target is Jerusalem and because Tel Aviv is where the U.S. embassy resides now, when we move our embassy to Jerusalem the Arab nations are going to freak out.
Why?
Because when they attack Jerusalem, their main target, they are in danger of hitting us.
10. 2017 will be a year of political assignations.
This past week we noted a very interesting principle concerning why God led the children of Israel to the bitter waters of Marah. You need to be sure that everything God does has a divine purpose for His own glory. And that does not mean that He is on an ego trip but what it does mean that if we follow Him and do things His way we will be blessed. Remember that everything that happens in this life is not necessarily the perfect will of God.
For example, look at Isa 46:8-11, Remember this, and be assured; Recall it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.
Even the so-called little things are a part of His plan which is why the Lord says in Isa 46:11, Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.
The point is that God always has some kind of plan as illustrated by how He handles the Jews from the Exodus generation.
So before we go on our study of the dispensation of the Law let’s notice how God treated His people in the beginning of this dispensation of the Law.
First of all, we need to note the Will of God. There is the directive or perfect will of God: Tantamount to the sovereign will of God. His choice for your life. Then the permissive will of God: Where negative volition in man is permitted to act contrary to the will of God. Man is allowed to go negative against God’s directive will. God cannot to choose. And there is the overruling will of God: This supersedes the directive and permissive will of God, and involves the frustration of Satan’s will.
God controls the circumstances but does not interfere with the operation of one’s volition, like he did with Jonah. Jonah refuse to go to Nineveh to preach the Gospel so God had him swallowed by a huge fish who vomited Jonah on the shores of Nineveh and then Jonah had to make a decision. God takes every situation in the life of the believer and makes it work together for the believer’s good.
The whole point is that even if we continue to rebel, as the children of Israel did in the desert, God does not give up on us that easy but provides a 1Co 10:13 way of escape so that we may be able to bear it and handle His plan for our life.
So it was with the children of Israel. They were filled with fear and bitterness and God decided to do something about it. The Jews were shallow and superficial and totally dependent on entertainment, dependent on signs and wonders, although the signs and wonders accomplished absolutely nothing!
So under the directive or perfect will of God, God brought this bitter congregation to a place where they could honor God’s choice or God’s sovereign will for their life. In effect, they were filled with bitterness so God said let Me give them a taste of that bitterness so He brought to “Marah” (which means bitter waters).
In His grace God allows us to experience the result of our negative decisions but He always gives us a “way of escape” or a “divine solution.” The result of the Jews and their NVTD = bitter waters.
The divine solution = the Tree or the cross that makes the waters sweet.
In other words, He injects us with the results of our negative decisions, Gal 6:7, and the leads us to the divine tree that makes our water or our decisions sweet. That is why this week I gave you an illustration from the medical realm which dealt with the fact that when there is a virus going around and people are subjected to it, the medical field will usually come up with a vaccine that will combat the virus.
In the same way God does the same in the spiritual realm, if we got a problem in a certain area, He leads us to places where we can overcome the problem. This is what He did to the Jews when they had problems with bitterness especially toward Moses, He led them to the bitter waters of Marah and then He showed them the divine solution which was Moses throwing a tree (cross) to make the water sweet. Again this is the Rom 8:28, Deu 23:5, Gen 50:20 principle. God wanted to free them from their sin of bitterness and this is how He did it.
Back in Exo 15:22-24, Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah. So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
Now, notice what Moses did after the children of Israel failed and complained in their bitterness.
Exo 15:25, Then he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them.
The bitter waters have now become drinkable. In other words, whatever it was, it was Moses alone who did something…but he didn’t do it on his own. There was no secret ingredient in the tree which made the water sweet. What was it that turned a bitter situation into a sweet one? It was the obedience of Moses.
Now, in Exo 16, we will see God’s grace to them and once again, no sooner are they the beneficiaries of God’s grace and what do they do? They complain. They are critical. They are filled with the emotional sins. Remember, this was one of the worst periods in all of history as far as believers are concerned. And all of this time they are the beneficiaries of God’s grace.
Exo 16:1-3, Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the sons of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
Now this is what happens when people get emotional. Emotion as we have seen is irrational and can’t think in terms of doctrine at all. All they can do is think in terms of accusation. And this went on for 40 years. God delivered them, and then He tested them, and then they failed, and then God delivered them. Repeat – and this went on for 40 years.
This was God giving them the opportunity to grow spiritually. And He gave them doctrine with every deliverance. It was grace all the way….and they missed it! And they had the most awful lifestyle, and they did it to themselves, like we do as Gal 6:7 teaches. They were lovers of security rather than lovers of God….why? Because they had the slave mentality.
If you put your personal security above everything else in life, you have a slave mentality. And so while they were traveling the Jews owned no land and had no means of growing their own food. And therefore in grace, God provided for the client nation. So let’s read this passage once again.
Exo 16:1-4, Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the sons of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction.”
Again notice it says I will rain bread from heaven for you; Now, the Jews did not call this bread but manhu, manhu, manhu, which means what is it? What is it? What it is? And then they finally called it manna. Manna was logistical grace provision from God. Furthermore manna was a challenge to the daily function of the faith-rest drill for God had specified definite requirements which are equivalent to a challenge of positive volition toward the word of God.
In other words, the Lord not only gave them the manna, but he also gave them instructions to follow concerning the manna. And if they did not follow these instructions properly, then the manna would not benefit them at all. In fact, just the opposite, the manna would become a snare to them. Here again, we have the importance of following the Lord’s directions….or doing a right thing in a right way. This is the whole principle behind God’s plan for the Church-age believer….which is what we call the PPOG. The PPOG is a strict system of procedure based upon the accurate teaching of the Word of God. It is based upon the very simple statement that a right thing must be done in a right way! It must be precise and correct in its’ procedure. There are no if’s, ands, or buts’ about it.
Therefore, in His grace, God has developed a system which is totally impossible for human power to live in. In fact, it frustrates human power constantly. Sloppy procedure is always related to emotion, to human works, and to human activity, and is always a manifestation of arrogance. And the power of God is not delegated to a system of sloppy procedure. The PPOG is based upon the fact that God has only one way of doing a thing: the right way.
The believer who flunks the procedure test ends up functioning in Satan’s cosmic system. Learning God’s procedures is especially hindered by the two great enemies of the Christian: Ignorance and Arrogance. The energy of ignorance is arrogance, which is life in the cosmic system. This is why the apostle says in Eph 5:15 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise. So the children of Israel followed their own plan concerning the provision of God. As far as the manna was concerned, first of all you had to learn and get to know the doctrine, and then you had to believe it. And then once you believe it, then you have the availability of the faith-rest life where upon you wait and rest for the manna from heaven to be dropped down from heaven. You have to have the knowledge of the mechanics of the PSD and then you must have integrity or the spiritual strength to do it. It’s like a soldier, he must have physical strength to be prepared, but then he must have the integrity to fight when needed. And the integrity and the spiritual strength comes from the whole realm of doctrine. Therefore, manna was a challenge to the professionalism of the spiritual life which was in the case for the Jews — the faith rest drill. The consistent daily function of the faith-rest drill is the highest possible lifestyle that you can have.
So God provided every day the perfect food. Every day, except one, food was provided. And that means that food was provided from Sunday to Friday , every morning food was provided for the rebellious children of Israel. And they had to gather every day, just enough for one day only. And then on Friday morning, they gathered a double portion because Saturday was the Sabbath and the Jews were to do no work on Saturday which was the Sabbath.
So on Friday for the Jews, the Jews had to use the faith-rest drill. You see, God had a system, and you had to know the system. You had to do it God’s way. You couldn’t gather a double portion whenever you wanted to because if you did it bred or produced worms. You had to do it God’s way. And if you went out on the Sabbath day and looked for something to eat…there would be nothing there. Why? Because you had to do it God’s way.
Following the correct procedure and doing things God’s way is one of the greatest manifestations of a believer’s love, respect and worship toward God. A right thing must be done in a right way. And whenever you are wondering if something is from God or not, remember – a right thing must be done in a right way. And God always leads and guides in the right way.
Therefore, we need to understand a few principles concerning the plan of God and God expecting His people to fulfill that plan under what we call the Pre-designed Plan of God (PPOG). The PPOG is based upon one major doctrine which is the doctrine of pre-destination. And therefore, we need to understand a few principles concerning predestination. Pre-destination is the provision of the sovereignty of God for you in eternity past to execute God’s plan, purpose, and will for your life.
For example, if God is going to deposit fantastic blessings in your escrow account and then He wills them for you, then He must provide a way for you to fulfill the conditions for receiving those blessings. Therefore, He provides the way and means. He doesn’t leave anything to your works, abilities, personality, or attractiveness. He provided it all in eternity past. Under pre-destination, God provided everything you need to execute His plan, the PPOG, the only game plan for the Church-age.
Therefore, pre-destination is God’s grace provision for each one of us to fulfill His plan and to receive the conveyance of our fantastic escrow blessings. Now, pre-destination also provides you with equal privileges and opportunities. Your equal privilege of pre-destination is being made Royal Family by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Who placed you in union with Christ at salvation. This is called positional sanctification.
And being in union with Christ means we share all that Christ is and all that Christ has. So equal privilege means that we share Christ’s heirship, being made heirs of God. And also we are the sons of God, adopted as adult sons Roman style. Your equal opportunity in pre-destination is your very own plan, designed perfectly for you and prefabricated for you in eternity past. So, pre-destination is the work of God the Father in eternity past on behalf of every Church-age believer to execute God’s plan, purpose, and will for his life. Therefore, pre-destination is the grace provision of God the Father for the royal family.
Therefore, what we call in time the PPOG is from the divine viewpoint of eternity past, called pre-destination. And pre-destination means three things.
a. Pre-destination means that there is a plan perfectly designed for you, Eph 1:11 “Having been pre-destined for a pre-determined plan.”
Eph 1:11 Also we have obtained an inheritance, having been “predestined” according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,
b. Pre-destination means the possession of your very own personalized and individual plan, Rom 8:29, “He also pre-destined us to be conformed to the image of His Son.”
c. Pre-destination means royalty. The believer is Royal Family of God, Eph 1:5, “He has pre-destined us for the purpose of adoption to Himself.”
Eph 1:3-6, 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.
Therefore, God the Father prefabricated the PPOG as the Christian way of life, not human beings and their legalistic standards. And this is one of the many doctrinal principles that the Lord wanted Moses to teach to the Jews in the wilderness.
Now, the point is that we have a strict system of procedure to follow based upon the accurate teaching of the Word of God. And the Jews had to do the same thing but there plan was based upon visual aids such as sacrificing of animals and the furniture in the tabernacle and the Temple or what we call the shadows. This is why the apostle Paul said in Col 2:13-17, And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions. having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the Cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
So, whether it’s the ritual plan of God or the PPOG it is still based upon the very simple statement that a right thing must be done in a right way. The PPOG is much more challenging than the Old Testament plan under the principle that “to whom much is given, much is required.” There is one major principle concerning both plans and that is that there is nothing sloppy in the procedure of the Christian way of life. And with the introduction of human power and energy of the flesh function, sloppiness occurs.
PRO 13:4 The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, But the soul of the diligent is made fat.
The sluggard is a picture of the sloppy believer who never glorifies God and never receives his escrow blessings…He says such things like “Ask Jesus into your heart.” “Ask Jesus in your life.” He prays to Jesus. He prays to the Holy Spirit. He says, “God Helps Those Who Help Themselves.”
All of these statements sound good and spiritual but they are sloppy. For example, let’s take the first two, “Ask Jesus into your heart” Ask Jesus in your life—- There’s not one passage in the Bible that states this. It’s Act 16:31 over and over again. Or the next two: He prays to Jesus or He prays to the Holy Spirit. This is a violation of what the Lord, Peter and Paul said in passages such as Luk 11:1, And it came about that while He was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come.
Or as Paul said in Eph 3:14, For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father.
Or as Peter says; 1Pe 1:17, And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth;
Notice, are you a sloppy believer that would condone such ignorant doctrinal principles? If you are not accurate in your doctrinal intake, you will not be accurate in your doctrinal application. We are also warned against sloppiness and laziness in Pro 19:15, Laziness casts a person into a deep sleep, and an idle soul will suffer hunger. Or Heb 6:12, That you may not be sluggish [lazy and sloppy], but imitators of those who through doctrine and patience inherit the promises.
So, God has developed, in His grace, a system which is totally impossible for human power to live in. In fact, it frustrates human power constantly. And sloppy procedure is always related to emotion, to human works, and to human activity, and is always a manifestation of arrogance. And so the power of God is not delegated to a system of sloppy procedure.
Anything the unbeliever can do is not the Christian way of life. The Christian way of life is a supernatural way of life and demands a supernatural means of execution. Therefore, the Christian way of life is executed through the power of the Holy Spirit who does not produce emotion. Emotion is produced by the body; The Holy Spirit produces the accuracy and preciseness a vast difference.
So the PPOG is the procedure for every Church-age believer as a member of the Royal Family of God and body of Christ. This plan is almost 2000 years old for it began with our Lord’s resurrection. Ten days after His ascension the Church-age began which is the dispensation of divine power. And this system is God’s game plan for this dispensation only. It is the system God has devised to delegate His power to manufacture a winner out of the Church-age believer. This means that the ability to fulfill God’s plan is provided in the delegation of divine power.
This system, the PPOG, defines the way of living or lifestyle of the believer who fulfills the mechanics of the Christian way of life by residence, function, and momentum inside of God’s plan. And while all divine power is delegated to the PPOG, all human power is relegated to cosmic one and two.
Therefore, inside the PPOG, the believer functions under the enabling power of the Holy Spirit and momentum from metabolized doctrine, and under the application of these two factors, he executes God’s plan. So the PPOG is the divine system for the utilization of God’s power whereby every Church-age believer is able to glorify God, though not through any human means. In fact, God would be compromised if any Christian could glorify Him through any system from the energy of the flesh. So, this system for the utilization of divine power is called the PPOG which is the power realm. It is the only location for usable divine power. It is called a realm because the boundaries of this divine power are confined.
Inside the PPOG, the believer functions under two categories of divine power related to the Royal Family of God.
(1) The enabling power of God the Holy Spirit.
(2) The dynamic power of Bible doctrine, Heb 4:12.
However, this does not exclude the power of God the Father and God the Son in our lives. But we are now addressing the power that enables us to execute the PPOG.
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.
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