Grace Bible Church Pastor Teacher Robert R. McLaughlin Friday December 26, 2014 1. Every tree being desirable to the sight is the first category which is designed for the prosperity of the soul. 2. The Second category of trees was the category called good for food. 3. The third category: the Tree of Life. 4. Category four is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God in His grace has provided for us our own Garden of Eden which I call the PPOG, a perfect spiritual environment in this life. After the fall, the purpose for the creation of man could only be perpetuated by cutting man off from the Tree of Life and providing a new Tree of Life: the cross, 1PE 2:24. God cut man off from the Tree of Life. This was another manifestation that justice has to come before love. Judgment had to come because condemnation must precede salvation. Perfect happiness excludes boredom and complaining about his present situation in life. Man sins many times because he becomes bored and familiar with everything he faces in life. For you cant have Gods perfect happiness without capacity. 1.Every tree being desirable to the sight, 2. Those good for food, 3. The Tree of Life Because good represented the plan of God, while evil represented the plan of Satan. He would have rather seen His creation remain perfect and never have to choose to make a choice between good or evil. We would not have known evil, sin, legalism, self-righteousness, religion, and the PPOG, if we had not fell or eaten from the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Only in sinfulness and spiritual death must man understand the issue of good versus evil. How do you discover the Tree of Life in time? The word blessed is the word ashreey meaning happinesses. Wisdom is chokmah which is the Old Testament word for epignosis doctrine or metabolized doctrine. PSA 62:10, Do not trust in oppression, and do not vainly hope in robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart upon them. It doesnt say long life it says `orek jaamiym which means length of days referring to enjoying every day because you have capacity for life. PRO 3:16, Length of days is in her right hand [the right hand represents the hand of power]; in her left hand [the Secondary hand] are riches and honor. The word pleasant is the Hebrew word no`am meaning gracious. Peace is shalowm meaning prosperity. PRO 3:18 She [chokmah, wisdom, metabolized doctrine] is a Tree of Life to those who take hold of her. to take hold is the Hebrew word chazaq which means to seize, to be constant, to continue, to be established, to retain. to hold her fast is the Hebrew word tamak which means to obtain, to follow close, to maintain, to retain, to hold, to support, or to hold strongly with. PRO 3:18 she [chokmah, wisdom, metabolized doctrine] is a tree of life to those who take hold of [to seize, to be constant, to continue, to be established, to retain her, and happy are all who hold her fast who obtain, follow close, maintain, retain, support, or to hold strongly with her. The tree of life is also related to divine good in PRO 11:30, The fruit of the mature believer is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise. The tree of life is also related to a tongue which doesnt gossip, malign, judge, criticize, ridicule, discredit, slander, defame, mock, undermine, PRO 15:4. PRO 15:4 A healing tongue is a tree of life, but perversion in it is the crushing of the spirit. Positive volition is related to the tree of life in PRO 13:12, Hope deferred makes the right lobe sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life. This is why the Tree of Life will be located forever in the New Jerusalem, Rev 22:2. It will be a place where the word of God is glorified and where desire is totally fulfilled. Man was cut off from the tree of life because of his positive volition to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When man has PVTD, the opposite happens he is cut off from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and back to the tree of life. There are many distractions to Bible Doctrine which we have noted in the past, but there is a difference between distractions from doctrine and distractions to positive volition. In MAT 13:7,22, thorns refer to the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of riches choke out the word. There is another problem which many believers face which can also extinguish or suffocate PVTD and that is arrogant subjectivity. Arrogant subjectivity is an overemphasis of personal problems when listening to Bible Doctrine being taught. Every message is not going to be for your present personal problems. Knowing this beforehand is the Greek word proginisko which means to have knowledge beforehand or before the moment needed the knowledge is given. What Bible Doctrine says is reality to you, 2PE 1:16‑21. MAT 17:2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. You may experience something, however, if what you experience does not line up biblically, your experience though real, is wrong. The depository, our Lord Jesus Christ, will be providing for you the most fantastic blessings. Reality is found in the doctrine of the word of God not in empiricism or experience. Empirical phenomena is what you see, feel, taste, touch, and hear. Peter, even though he has experienced a glimpse of the Second coming will emphasize doctrine over experience. Question, What was more real to Peter? Seeing Christ as He would appear at the Second advent and hearing the voice of God the Reality can only be determined by what is taught in the word of God. Personal problems are non‑essentials, which demand the application of doctrine, and at the same time flexibility, regulation, and restraint when involved in the function of perception and metabolization of doctrine. If you think your problems are more important than anything else in life, you are inflexible about your personal problems, therefore disassociated from reality. Self‑centeredness is training yourself to think about you and only about you and your problems. Under the principle of self‑discipline, the believer must be regulated by the filling of the Holy Spirit to approach doctrine with objectivity and concentration. Authority orientation demands that Bible teaching overrule preoccupation with personal problems. ROM 12:3, stop thinking of self in terms of arrogance beyond what you ought to think... When you think of your problems during Bible class, you are an arrogant person and have distracted yourself. ROM 12:3 goes on to say but think in terms of sanity [objectivity] for the purpose of being rational without illusion. You become an opportunist seeking to distort doctrine, so that you can rationalize and therefore remove your problems. In fulfilling the function of perception, metabolization and application of Bible Doctrine, the believer must understand the interpretation of a scripture in terms of grammar, syntax, exegesis, isagogics and contextual application rather than personal application. By failure to set aside your problems, you inject arrogance into the function of perception and metabolization and the result is subjectivity in your approach to the word of God. Inflexibility in the non-essentials divorces you from the reality of what the passage is actually teaching, not what you would like it to teach. Subjective distortion of doctrine to justify self or to solve personal problems is a non‑essential. It becomes arrogant presumption and subjectivity to presume that every scripture is related to your current personal problems, or that God is speaking directly to you concerning your personal problems. Instead of objectivity in approaching doctrinal teaching for the purpose of receiving the correct interpretation, you subjectively distort what you hear to relate it to your immediate problems, so that your approach to teaching is subjective and you do not profit from the teaching. 2CO 10:5 Assaulting and demolishing cosmic thoughts and every obstacle of pride which attacks the objective knowledge of God. even making a prisoner of every human viewpoint system of thought to the authority of Christ. gbible.org
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 18:41:06 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015