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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 known unconfessed 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, that He is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, 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 simply exercise faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life; when you do, you will instantly receive 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:
The conclusion of the Doctrine of the Pivot; The salt of the earth and the light of the world.
We are now finishing up with our last point in the doctrine of the pivot.
Point 1. Definition and description of the Pivot which is defined as the accumulation of mature or spiritually adult believers living in a client nation in a specific geographical location, Matt 5:13-14.
Point 2. The relationship of the Pivot with the Client Nation.
Point 3. The importance of the Pivot, Prayer and Protection for Israel.
Point 4. The Relationship between the Pivot of Believers toward The Jews And The Nation of Israel.
Point 5. America and Biblical Prophecy and the Role of the Pivot in the Last Days.
Point 6. The Five Cycles of Discipline concerning the Doctrine of the Pivot.
Point 7. The conclusion-Either the believer will be under one of the cycles of divine discipline or salt to the earth and light to world.
Now, we began our final point on Friday evening by noting why being a pivotal believer or what Matt 5:13-14 calls ‘Salt to the earth’ or ‘light to the world’ is the only real choice we have of having a life filled with meaning, purpose and happiness. For remember Matt 5:13-14, “You [that is the believer who becomes a part of the pivot] are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You [also the pivotal believer] are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
Salt was known for also bring preservation into the life of others by bringing doctrine into a situation which seasons life and thought. Salt was also used for making a promise or covenant with others in the ancient world. If you ate salt with someone, you made a covenant or promise with them, and this meant that you were safe as long as you both honored the promises that were made. Salt was a sign of friendship referring to the trust that comes from fellowshipping with others. Salt was used in the Levitical offerings to represent eternal security in Lev 2:13, where salt portrayed eternal security in God’s plan. Salt was used in the offerings to indicate that once you had believed in Christ, you are in His hands forever. He is the source of your protection and blessing.
Salt is analogous to the mature believer preserving his nation, Mark 9:50. The greatest thing you can do for your nation is have salt (Bible doctrine) within you. Salt is also analogous to the mature believer in the expression of divine viewpoint, Col 4:6, Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person.
Matt 5:13, “You [that is the believer who becomes a part of the pivot] are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless,”
The word if it is a third class condition which says maybe you will and maybe you won’t; that is become tasteless meaning that it is no good and one of the worst things that can happen today in the Church-age is for believers to become tasteless. Every believer is the salt of the earth and if you as a believer are tasteless you are useless in God’s plan.
Matt 5:13, “You [that is the believer who becomes a part of the pivot] are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”
Or how shall it function as a preservative? In other words, how can you as a believer function as a preservative unless you are filled with the Spirit and unless you have a knowledge of doctrine.
You cannot function in God’s plan if you are out of fellowship and/or you are ignorant of doctrine; ‘it is good for nothing’ or as the Greek says, ‘it has ability for nothing.’ As a believer in Jesus Christ out of fellowship or as a believer in Jesus Christ ignorant of doctrine, what are you good for? Matt 5:13 says it is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
Now, on the other hand notice Matt 5:14, You [also the pivotal believer] are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Jesus Christ is the light of the world (John 8:12), but now Jesus Christ is absent from the earth and every believer is an ambassador for Christ; 2Co 5:20. As an ambassador for Christ the believer is the light of the world. The light of the world has the concept in the principle of witnessing—making an issue out of Christ—and that is exactly what true evangelism is.
The Lord now appoints His disciples to be the light of the world and only believers who become part of the pivot are able to become light to the world.
Matt 5:14, “You [also the pivotal believer] are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. You can see the cities of the world on a hill at night because they have their lights turned on. In the analogy you see the spiritual life of the pivotal believer in the night or the darkness found in the world or the cosmic system. That is the believer who is filled with the Spirit and who knows doctrine.
Now, because of this the Bible makes it crystal clear that you and I will never find true happiness and contentment and meaning to our life. In fact, we have a great illustration in the word of God of a man who tried to find life in the things of this world, things that he said, if you recall, that are found ‘under the sun.’ His name of course is Solomon, who tried every field of endeavor and pleasure that was known to man and he even also invented a few, and his conclusion was that all is vanity and emptiness. In fact, he made a great statement about the principle of the new when he said in Ecc 1:8 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.
Ecc 1:9, 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.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon tells us about that frantic search for happiness that he went on searching for something new, something that would entertain him, or stimulate him, or keep him going. Solomon learned the principle of doctrine that there is no place like home and that the believer’s home is from above not from below. Solomon recognized this after much experiences that led him to vanity.
Solomon tried it all and again not only will we note briefly what he tried but we will also note hopefully have enough time to note his conclusion after accomplishing all he set out to do.
Solomon will tell us in the end that the key to the enjoyment of time and the enjoyment of everything meaningful in life was having Bible doctrine saturating the soul. Solomon tried a few other things but he finally came to the conclusion that while there are a lot of wonderful things that God allots to us in time, they’re no good without Bible doctrine in the soul! And he came to realize that without Bible doctrine in the soul, the believer with the best of everything is still the most miserable of all creatures.
Secondly, he realized that the believer was designed or created by God to have a capacity for many of the blessings Solomon had if the believer has Bible doctrine in the soul! In the end, Solomon tells us that the key to the enjoyment of everything in this life is when the word of God is alive within you, saturating the soul. Now, let us take a quick trip into Solomon’s endeavor. Now, remember there is nothing wrong with any of Solomon’s experiments providing that they are enjoyed with God. However, in themselves they can never give the happiness, contentment or satisfaction that we are all looking for.
1. His first experiment we called: Anthropocentric Academic Speculation or regarding humans as the central element of the universe and therefore seeking happiness through education. The results of this experiment or experiment number one are given in Ecc 1:17-18, And I set my mind to know wisdom or academics and to know madness and folly [psychology and psychiatry]; I realized that this also is striving or chasing after the wind. Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge {results in} increasing pain.
2. Therefore, in Ecc 2, we have his second experiment, the experiment of seeking happiness in pleasure, Ecc 2:1-11 or eat, drink and be merry. The results of this experiment or experiment number two are given in Ecc 2:1, I said to myself [he thought in his heart], ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So, enjoy yourself.’ And behold, it too was futility or empty, vanity, meaningless, boring.
He tells us that all the pleasure, the partying, the living it up, the sex, was nothing but futile, empty, vanity, meaningless, and boring! Ecc 2:2, I said of laughter, ‘It is madness,’ and of pleasure, ‘What does it accomplish?’
So, wisdom in effect said to Solomon, ‘what you’re looking for I can’t give you’,
Pleasure and laughter said in effect ‘what you’re looking for Solomon, I can’t give you.’
So, Solomon did something very interesting, he said in effect let me mix them, let me try them >em>both together, pleasure and wisdom. Therefore, he mixed the two experiments and tried the intellectual with the pleasure! He thought ‘Maybe there’s something in drinking fine wines and having stimulating conversation’, verse 3.
So, in Ecc 2:3, I explored with my mind {how} to stimulate my body with wine [that’s what I need, some booze to take the edge off, he had the finest wine cellar in the world] while my mind was guiding {me} wisely,
Wine, women, song, there’s got to be something out there that will bring me pleasure! However, the results off this experiment are given in Ecc 2:9-11, Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom [his academic wisdom] also stood by me. And all that my eyes desired I did not refuse them [Whenever I saw something that I wanted, I got it!]. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this [my heart being pleased] was my reward for all my labor. Thus, I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and chasing after wind and there was no profit or gain under the sun.
3. His third experiment is what I called the All in the Family experiment, I’m going to have children and keep it all in the family. The results of the third experiment are given in Ecc 2:12-14, So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly, for what {will} the man {do} who will come after the king [the king’s son] {except} what has already been done? And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. The wise man’s eyes are in his head [he uses his head], but the fool walks in darkness [Rehoboam]. And yet I know that one fate befalls them both [the wise man and the fool].
He knew his son already. Then he thought about something in his heart.
Ecc 2:15, Then I said to myself, ‘As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. Why then have I been extremely wise [or what do I really gain for being wise, I’m going to die just like my foolish son] ? So, I said to myself, ‘This too is vanity!
4. And so we have experiment number 4, The Philosophy of Time Orientation.
What Solomon discovered about time was basically right, however, without a relationship with God and seeing things from the divine viewpoint of life, all of these things he mentioned in chapter three are meaningless. His conclusion concerning the fourth experiment Ecc 3:9, What profit is there to the worker in that field of monotonous and wearisome labor?
5. Experiment number 5, looking for happiness from money, wealth and prosperity. This is not an attack nor is there any attack throughout scripture on those who have money! This is simply saying that money or wealth cannot give you the happiness, contentment and satisfaction that only God can give! His conclusion concerning experiment number 5, Ecc 5:10, He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance {with its} income. This too is vanity or chasing after the wind.
In verse 11, Solomon says, Ecc 5:11, When good things increase, those who consume them increase [or the more you have, the more you spend]. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look on or look at it….the money, the wealth, the prosperity?
Ecc 5:16, And this also is a grievous evil exactly as a man is born [naked and with nothing], thus will he die. So, what is the advantage to him who toils or labors for the wind?
He is saying this is the grievous evil…those who have clutched can quickly crash! Those who grabbed will ultimately lose! Those who held onto, will ultimately release!
6. His sixth experiment that he thought would give him happiness is building a reputation. And although he learned many good things during this experiment, he will tell us in the end, even a good reputation or being well spoken of by others will not fill that void that only God can fill! He begins in Ecc 7:1, by saying A good name is better than a good ointment [or an expensive perfume]
Now, the Bible must be interpreted in the times in which it was written! In the ancient world many of the people did not understand the modern concepts of hygiene! They did not take baths or showers daily like we do, they drank the water rather than clean themselves with it! And this was also true of their clothes! And so in the ancient world, they had a very simple system; you would wear a garment until it was filled with various types of sauces and greases and salad dressings until you couldn’t stand it anymore or no one else could stand it…and then you took it off and threw it away and you bought a new robe and you put that new robe over a very unclean body!
This was until the Roman’s came into the picture with their baths, the Roman baths! Now, many people who were wealthy and smart would put ointments and perfumes over their body so that they would smell better than the average person! And so, in the ancient world these precious ointments were very expensive and valuable! The ingredients came all the way from India and China and parts of Africa!
In fact, you may remember what the queen of Sheba brought Solomon, 1Ki 10:10, And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a very great amount of spices and precious stones. Never again did such abundance of spices come in as that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon. So, when Solomon says that a good name is better than a good ointment, he is talking about something of value and something that was attractive to the rest of the human race! The point is that the ointments of the ancient world made one a person very attractive. But a good name is that which has influence and character and that which changes lives and is made up of a fine reputation. And Solomon says, a good name is better than that which simply smells good.
By this point, Solomon has tried almost everything in his frantic search for happiness. His first six experiments in earlier chapters included academics, pleasure, the family, time orientation, money, and building a reputation. None of those things made him happy, so he is ready to try that thing that so many think will make them happy. Now he is ready to try sex.
7. Ecc 7:25-28 reveals the fact that intimate relationships are compelling, but often not satisfying. This is the beginning of Solomon’s seventh experiment, the experiment of seeking happiness in sex.
Ecc 7:25, I directed my mind to know, to investigate, and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of folly [or stupidity and the inclination within man to make stupid or foolish choices.] and the foolishness of madness [an irrational thought process]. (corrected translation)
Solomon conducted an investigation by interviewing men and women. He sought to understand the inclination within man to make stupid or foolish choices and the reason for man’s irrational thought process. Verse 26 gives us his discovery.
Ecc 7:26, And I discovered more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.
Remember, Solomon had a thousand women: 700 princesses as his wives and 300 mistresses. He was a sexual athlete, but his experience did not gain him any wisdom or fulfillment. Instead, Solomon found out that his sexual pursuits had trapped him. He went looking for love, thinking it would support and strengthen him, and make him feel that life was worth living again. He was sure that an intimate relationship with a woman would do the trick. What he found was nothing but a fleeting sexual thrill. He found himself involved with women who did not give him what he was looking for. In conclusion, sex with the wrong man or wrong woman is wrong. Homosexuality or lesbianism is trying to find happiness in having sex with a member of the same sex, and that is a distortion. Masturbation is self-responding to self, and that is also a distortion. Bestiality is forbidden by God, and that is a tremendous distortion. These are all perversions of God’s design. In fact, all of these were practiced by the Canaanites who were destroyed and completely removed from all the earth.
Only God can make a person truly happy, by means of His plan and His doctrine. And when man goes on a search, as Solomon did, looking for happiness in the cosmic system, he never finds it. All that he can find are the distortions of life. Is wisdom keeping you stable? As you live your life in the palm of God’s hand, you have the ability and the opportunity to have the insight and the strength and the stability that the Spirit of God can give. The final analysis is that truth comes when you ‘put yourself together’ in the person of Christ.
8. Experiment 8 in Ecc 9:13-15, Solomon looked for happiness in the hero image. Ecc 9:13, Also this I came to see as wisdom under the sun, and it impressed me. Notice something impressed him…it seemed great to him! He is saying in effect, ‘There’s one thing that really impressed me under the sun…when I read history, I marvel at the heroes.’ Some people think, it must be great to be famous, to be a celebrity, to be a hero! However, as Solomon discovered….being a hero doesn’t make you happy! And this was his final experiment!
Ecc 9:14-15, There was a small city with few men in it and a great king came to it, surrounded it, and constructed large siege works against it. But there was found in it a poor wise man and he delivered the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man.
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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