TAS:
When a person turns to the Lord – the veil is taken away; where the Spirit is – there is liberty
Moses among the people with veil vs veilless with God – death vs life
He went to God by an alter (perfect sacrifice – by this we can enter into God’s presence)
The people were in unbelief – hearts hardened. They knew of it but it was not real in them
Moses was a mediator able to approach the people or God
“There are today a great number of the Lord’s people who are finding it well nigh impossible to stand their ground because their foundation is not solid. After all, their relationship to the Lord has been very largely an emotional one, one of ecstasy, and when it comes to sounding the foundation of truth, they are not well grounded; when the enemy comes, and the storms beat upon them, they do not know where they are. When the ecstasies and the emotions and all the more superficial elements in our salvation are brought under the stress of terrific opposition; when in addition to that the enemy lays on his accusations, then the foundations are discovered, and many, many breakdown. It is not that they are lost, if they have trusted the Lord, but, so far as their enjoyment of their salvation is concerned, they lose it… It must be possible for us to say with perfect assurance and confidence before God: “Lord, what I am as apart from Christ is one thing; what I am by faith’s union with Christ is that I am righteous with Thine own righteousness; I cannot be destroyed, I cannot come under condemnation!” You can challenge God on that ground, if we may so speak. God invites us to test Him on that ground.”
Abraham tested God in this – You will be destroying Yourself if you do not save the righteous
Christ is God’s righteousness and He is made that to us.
“Faith in the Lord Jesus makes it possible for you and for me to say to a God of infinite holiness, Through faith, I am righteous as Thou art. That is tremendous. Christ is the righteousness of God in me. It is not some kind of righteousness that God provides for humans, which is a different kind of righteousness from His own; it is the righteousness of God.”
Sabbath (walls of Jordan falling) – feels as if nothing is happening up to that pointbut it is all gathered up in the power of Christ (the Sabbath). Christ is ours and God’s sabbath.
“If only you and I really enter into God’s rest in Christ, we are in an impregnable position. That is why the enemy is always seeking to rob us of our rest in some way, to upset rest of heart, by raising questions about our standing, our state, our position in relation to the Lord. His object is to disturb rest of faith. We say that faith is the victory, but faith is not some abstract element; it is not simply a projecting of yourself to believe something is that is not. Faith has an object, a basis, and the faith which is the victory is the faith which appropriates and rests upon the righteousness of God in Christ. That is the victory that overcometh. Everything is overcome by the rest of faith.
The Lord says, in quite simple language, If only you will trust Me, and trust My provision, and stop worrying, stop fretting, stop being anxious; if you will but believe Me, I have the ground upon which I could meet all your need; I am no longer without ground. There was a time when I had not the ground upon which to do anything with you, and for you, but now you are on the ground of Christ, the ground which I have provided; if only you will trust Me, if only you will rest in Me to bring you through, you will be saved from so much of this weakness, and fret, and anxiety! Worry is a destroying thing. At the back of a lot that we suffer in body, and in mind, there is so often a secret, hidden restlessness, something deep down in our subconscious being of a fret, an anxiety, something that is not rest. It takes many forms. Sometimes over a concern of the Lord’s we feel that, unless we do it, it will never be done. We feel that if we are not up and at it, then the whole thing will go to pieces, so much depends upon us. No one will think that this is the call for passivity, for abandon of concern for the things of the Lord; but it is possible for us to have the things of the Lord on our hearts and yet not to have faith in God about them. There are hidden secrets to a great deal of our weakness and defeat, and unnecessary suffering. They are the hidden things of something which is other than just restful faith in God. There are some people who need to take things to heart a little more than they do, but for many the trouble is perhaps of the other kind. They are thinking that they have to run God’s universe for Him; they must look after things or else they will never be looked after!”
“It may seem a strange thing, but it is by beholding that we grow, beholding Him. I do not see any other way for our sanctification as a practical thing, than to take the ground that we are already sanctified. If you are striving after sanctification you will never attain to it. If you take the ground that you are sanctified you will grow in sanctification. This is no matter of psychology, no question of making yourself believe something that is not actual. It is the work of the Holy Spirit; “we… are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.””
Joshua 9:
They had overcame 3 – 7 left (7 heads; 10 horns)
They were to utterly destroy (Deut 7) – the law was (Deut 20:10-11) proclaim peace if they response in peace and become bondslaves but not in these 7 (sign of not allowing sin whatsoever – no defilement to be in the Land).
Gibeonites there spread a pollution through God’s people which, after Joshua’s death, dragged the whole nation into idolatry and lawlessness. – Wolves in sheeps clothing – they came in through flattery and sentiment – peril is not so far from us as it pretends to be. Gibeonites were Hivites (descendants of Canaan) in Gibeon. Word Hivite means “serpent.” These were those who Dinah had interacted with (Gen 34). The Gibeonites were afraid and believed the word of God and actions He had taken (similar to gentile brides). Gibeon later gets attacked by neighbors (The Israelites help them – the one where the sun stands still). God expects us to keep our oaths – “Let your yes be yes and no be no.” 2 Samuel 21 – Saul broke this commitment; David fixed. They are, however, a thorn in their side. David had to kill 7 of Sauls kin and there was a famine. They cause Israel to backslide. (Numbers 11:4 example – mixed multitude).
He in Christ is a new creation – we cannot be a mixed multitude (tares in the wheat). Not that we separate entirely form the world but we do not intermingle. Pride (leaven) is the source of all sin. Visible as witnesses but not OF the world – need to disengage and separate from the weight that so easily hinders.
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Joshua 10:
The faithful in the ten tribes migrated to Judah – thus not lost.
Adoni-Zedek: Lord of Righteousness; King of Jerusalem = symbol of antichrist. Gen 14 Melchizedek – King of Righteousness. There are parallels in Joshua and Revelations. Seeks to destroy Gibeon due to them changing alliances. Lachish tough place to conquer (Senacharib gives up). The Israelites made an agreement and now had to defend them. Gibeonites trusted in Joshua (YHWH is Savior). Joshua answers immediately. “Fear not.” Past tense to God. 5 enemies in one war! He turns all things for the good. God killed more than they did – with hailstones! Meteor shower with marksmanship. Kings hide in caves in Revelations as well. Enemies made the footstool of our feet through Joshua (sign of Christ) [Psa 110:1, 1 Co 15:25, Rom 16:20).
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John 5: Man at the pool of Bethseda – “That that I want to do, I don’t; That that I don’t want to do I do. Who is He that can save me from this body of death?” Speaking out of hopelessness. Five pools = grace. He spoke out of unbelief but now must walk in faith holding to the Word of Christ. An obvious miracle vs trusting in His word. Despite being healed by grace, this man still feels subject to the law and returns to them. So often after we are healed, we go back to our old ways. 5:17 points out God has not entered into His Sabbath – working until now. The hypocrisy as Israel had not held the Sabbath (see OT). HE is the Sabbath – a rest r/t death unto life – the life I now live I live by Him. Rise = wake up and walk! (The dead will hear my voice and live – Arise sleeper from the dead and He will give you Life – Take up your cross and follow me)
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
(John 5:39-47)
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Joshua 11&12
Made the advantages of the enemy their disadvantage
Canaan campaign – 7 years
Anakim (giants) – 5 stones of David for Goliath and brothers ; Gen 6:4 AND AFTER THIS
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Joshua 13-19 – Genesis 49, Deuteronomy 43
Reuben – defiled fathers concubine, will not succeed
Simeon, Levi – angry, murdered and lamed cattle over Dinah; Levites have 48 cities (6 of refuge) but no land (were tithed to), took care of tabernacle during times of war, Simeon shares with Judah
Judah – Was not innocent (i.e. Tamar); however, to be praised – line of Christ, David (Saul of the Benjamites).
Dan – oldest of the concubines, may have been ring leader with Joseph, not looked upon in a good light in the scriptures, omitted from some genealogies and sons not mentioned at times, predominance of idolatry (first of golden calves) – not all bad (Samson)
Joshua 13 – east of Jordan; 13:22 Balaam sold-out prophet, conspired with enemies, donkey spoke (Num 22)
Caleb at 85 asked for mountains/giants to conquer – “Wholly followed the Lord God” – We are blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3)
Daughters of Zelophehad Joshua 17:3 – Num 27, no sons, sons mean land
Benjamin – the fiercest; source of heroes (Saul, Paul)
We have come out of Egypt, but have we entered into the Land – or are we caught up in the wilderness (less than in power)
John 7
TAS: ‘Father, are You going to get something out of this? Is this going to be Your pleasure? I cannot do it on any other ground than that it glorifies You. If You are not going to find satisfaction in this, well, let them have all the feasts they like. I will not be there. Let them do what they have always been doing, but I will not be in it. Unless there is something for the glory and the satisfaction and the pleasure of the Father, it is not My hour.’ He evidently got the witness from the Father at that moment: ‘It is alright. I have got something in this.’
“My meat is to do the will of him that sent me.”
Vs 5: “Not even his brothers believed Him” … He tells them that the world doesn’t hate them because they are not testifying of its evil. He was being moved by the Spirit. He did not care for publicity or being well loved in the world, but even chose to go to Judea secretly. Jesus said that they would know His teaching was of God if they wanted God’s will. The response was a violent one from the crowd – they held to their own religious convictions and criticized that he HEALED a man on the Sabbath, completely missing that the true Sabbath was standing right in front of them. If they would have known God and been receiving from Him, they would have recognized Christ.
Missler: John 5 (Out of Egypt), John 6 (wilderness), John 7 (in the Land)
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Galatians 5/6
Seeking to have part in our own redemption relying upon our works through the law. This has been accomplished in Christ. Those clinging to the law a hindrance to others – “Who hindered you in the race?” WE have NOTHING to add to the gospel. Walking in Christ is a work of FAITH. He who holds you to the law (the accuser of the brethren) will face judgement [think of cities of refuge – running from the accuser into Christ]. Loving your neighbor as yourself means providing the save forgiveness and love that you, yourself, have found in Christ Jesus. If you are not walking by the Spirit, you are held to the law. We must experience circumcision of our flesh (natural/old man).
“The person who sows in the Spirit will harvest eternal life from the Spirit. Let’s not get tired of doing what is good, for at the right time we will reap a harvest—if we do not give up.”
“But may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world! For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. Rather, what matters is being a new creation.”
“Let no one make any more trouble for me, because I carry the scars of Jesus on my own body.”
“What is the Letter to the Galatians all about? First of all, it is about the bondage of the law and the law making nothing perfect but bringing everybody into bondage. The people who are under the law are in this Letter spoken of as being in bondage. The Apostle says that the Jerusalem which is below, or beneath, “is in bondage with her children” (Galatians 4:25). That is where the poor man was, in Jerusalem, but in bondage in the Jerusalem which is beneath. So Galatians first of all speaks about bondage under the law.
Then the second thing that the Letter to the Galatians speaks about is the spirit of sonship in Christ. You will recall that the great words of this Letter are ‘sons’ and ‘the Spirit’. We are all sons of God by faith in Jesus Christ. It is sonship in Christ, and the spirit of sonship is the Holy Spirit.
Now we come back to John and hear the Lord Jesus saying: “If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36); “ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). What is the truth that makes us free from the bondage of the law? It is the great and glorious truth of our sonship in Jesus Christ.
Need I turn you to the Letter to the Galatians? The idea of liberty, ‘liberty in Christ’, is mentioned eleven times in that Letter, and that is more often than in all the other Letters put together. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1 – A.V.). And again: “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty” (Galatians 5:13 – A.V.). It is the liberty of the sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
And note again: the name ‘Christ’ is mentioned forty-three times in this little Letter. That is tremendously impressive. If it has a lot to say about the law and about liberty, it has far more to say about Christ. The law is broken in Christ, and all its bondage is destroyed for the sons of God. They are free by grace, and Christ has made them free.”
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28)
DesertLilly 