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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 [your 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 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
STUDY TITLE:
The truth about speaking in tongues.
In Jn 15:1 we read, “I [Jesus Christ] am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.”
I told you when we began our study on the Dispensation of the Hypostatic-union that it was going to be a life-changing doctrine for those of you who have PVTD [positive volition towards doctrine] . Life changing because it gets our eyes off ourselves and puts them right where they belong – upon our Lord. There are two categories of branches found in this passage:
Dead branches represent the dead works or the production skills of the old sin nature minus the spiritual skills of the new nature and therefore God classifies these principles as “Dead Works.”
Live branches representing the production of divine good with the spiritual skills that our Lord placed within us as the basis for the production of agathos or divine good.
Ac 11:1-18, Now the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised took issue with him saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” But Peter began {speaking} and {proceeded} to explain to them in orderly sequence, saying, “I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, a certain object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from the sky; and it came right down to me, and when I had fixed my gaze upon it and was observing it I saw the fourfooted animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the air. “And I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Arise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.’ And this happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into the sky. And behold, at that moment three men appeared before the house in which we were {staying,} having been sent to me from Caesarea. And the Spirit told me to go with them without misgivings. And these six brethren also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send to Joppa, and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; and he shall speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as {He did} upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If God therefore gave to them the same gift as {He gave} to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way? And when they heard this, they quieted down, and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance {that leads} to life.”
Notice please that there is what we call theologically, the Gentile Pentecost, Ac 11:15-17, Peter recognized that what happened to them on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem (Ac 2) was a fulfillment of the prophecy of Ac 1:5, for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Now, before we go on, I need to remind you of something that is very vital when it comes to this subject of ‘speaking in tongues; there are two important passages; Isa 28:9-13; 1Co 14:21-22.
1Co 14:21-22, In the Law (Torah) it is written, “By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to Me,” says the Lord. So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers; but prophecy [bringing forth the Word of God before it is written permanently down] is for a sign, not to unbelievers, but to those who believe.
You cannot get a better explanation then the one that is given in these two passages; Isa 28:9-13; 1Co 14:21-22.
Look at Ac 2:1-12, And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because they were each one hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and marveled, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear {them} in our own language to which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs we hear them in our {own} tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
So, we all need to remember that in Acts 2, we had the First Pentecost ever seen or given which was a Jewish Pentecost. Here Jews came from all over the world to celebrate the Passover, and they all heard the Gospel in the language of the country that they came from. And before we continue with this thought, please note that the languages that were given were all “KNOWN” languages; Acts 2. It was not the foolish garbage that is out today where apostate believers and unbelievers are used by Satan to distort and distract others from the real gift of tongues which was for the unbelieving Jews; 1Co 14:22. As Peter began to speak on this occasion, the Gentiles received the baptism of the Holy Spirit as did the Jews on the day of Pentecost. Peter recognized the Gentiles were a part of the body of Christ for they had their own Pentecost, as it were. Therefore, the Baptism of the Spirit applied equally to both Jew and Gentile; it was not a Jewish monopoly.
By the way, we are also taught that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit produces a new spiritual person within every believer and is designed to replace the old psychological person. The old psychological person is a reference to the double-mindedness of the carnal Christian who lives in one or more of the following manifestations of the loser believer; 1) Fear; 2) Bitterness; 3) Guilt; 4) Hatred; 5) The Sins of the Tongue. This is another manifestation of the baptism of the Holy Spirit who produces a new person by placing you and me in union with Christ.
Union with Christ means the following: You share His life which is eternal life, 1Jo 5:11-12, “And the deposition is this: God has given to us eternal life, and this [eternal] life is in His Son. He, who has the Son, has life.”
You share Christ’s righteousness. You have a double perfect righteousness: That of the Father’s from imputation at salvation, and that of the Son’s through union with Him. 2Co 5:21, “He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” In fact, possessing the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ is the means for the conveyance of your escrow blessings for time. Because of all these different symptoms.
We share the election of Christ an escrow election, Eph 1:3-4, 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.
We share the destiny of Christ by learning about our personal sense of destiny and applying it to a protocol predestination, Eph 1:5-6, 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.
We share the Sonship of Christ Gal 3:26, He is the Son of God; “We are Sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”
Jn 1:12, But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, {even} to those who believe in His name,
We are the heirs of God and joint-heirs with the Son of God. Rm 8:14-18, For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 1PE 1:3-8, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to {obtain} an inheritance {which is} imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, {being} more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.
We are a royal priesthood, sharing the priesthood of Christ. 1Pe 2:5, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1Pe 2:9, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for {God’s} own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
We have eternal security; we can never get out of union with Christ whether we are winners or losers; Rm 8:1; Jn 5:24.
We are adopted into the Royal Family of God, Eph 1:5, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.
We are a Royal Family of kings, Rev 1:5, 5:10, 19:16.
Another result from being “in union with Christ,” is the principle of adoption. The biblical connotation of adoption, which is based on the Roman aristocratic function of adoption in the time when the NT was written, is not the same as in our day and age. In Scripture, adoption means to be recognized by God as an “adult son” positionally at salvation and an “adult son” experientially at spiritual growth especially spiritual maturity. The Latin adoptia, from which we get our English word adoption from, is the exact equivalent of the Greek huiothesia in our passage meaning to adopt someone as an adult son not a baby believer, as it were.
Now, the Romans as a people lasted for a thousand years. And one major reason they lasted so long is because they had character, integrity, but most important of all, they had respect for authority, both in the natural realm and the spiritual realm especially they had very strict ideas about being parents. In fact, there was one Roman senator whose son ran away in battle and was brought back as a coward and court-marshalled and they were going to execute him, but the father said; “O no, I will execute him and he stepped up and plunged the short Roman sword into the chest of his son and personally executed him.” These Romans either had respect for authority or they simply couldn’t stand their teenagers – either way, they neglected their responsibility to raise them up under the doctrinal teachings of our Lord. The point is that they took the concept of being a parent very seriously. And this means that they were “thinking parents” who had very strict discipline in the home so that Romans grew under very strict discipline and had a head start in life because they basically followed the doctrines from our Lord.
So, adoption meant to pass the family fortune and the family opportunities down to that person who was qualified to be a legitimate mature heir of the family inheritance. Adoption meant greater opportunity for anyone who was adopted and became one of the heirs of the estate especially under the rules of the Roman Empire which gave the legitimate heir the family fortune. Being in union with Christ, we are joint heirs with Christ, and are therefore adopted at the moment of salvation, Gal 3:26, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 4:1-7, Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
Adoption then, meant selection to special privilege. Therefore, adoption refers to our equal privilege and equal opportunity under predestination. It also meant rank and aristocracy not necessarily based on physical birth. The lowest person in Roman society, if he had ability, could be adopted, and therefore have the greatest of opportunities. Some people often say, “Well look, I came from a very poor family and we didn’t have the opportunities that other people had.” “We didn’t have the privileges that other people had, the education, the life-style.” Well, you can tell that to Abraham Lincoln who use to study by firelight after working all day. And the countless stories of success through faith in the LORD and hard work. He came from a very poor family and so did millions of other Americans who came from a poor environment and a poor family but they had one thing in their favor. They had opportunity in this country. And that’s exactly what this means…opportunity! And opportunity means willing to start at the bottom, willing to sacrifice, willing to work hard work.
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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