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The New Testament Church, Part 3
By Ronel
Introduction
We, the ones that are being joined to Christ through His Spirit [1Co 6:17], are His wife, flesh of His flesh and bones of His bones [Eph 5:30], His seed bearers, being sent to do His will.
1Pe 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
Psa 89:3 I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,
Psa 89:4 Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.
Psa 89:5 And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.
So being sent, to do His will, and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord [Luk 4:18-19], which is the hour of judgment that is like a thousand years, how do we speak plainly today and see Him as He is? [1Jn 3:2]. We speak the words of Spirit and Life [John 6:63], the Words of Christ.
Today, we continue in chapter 14 in Romans.
1] Rom 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
We have carnal thoughts, being subject to vanity, being created this way [Psa 51:5, Rom 8:20]. So what does verse 1 mean within us? It means we are patient and learn to wait on the Lord to bring the increase and overcoming. Yet, we also are not to let strife fester and are to engage in spiritual warfare taking all such contrary thoughts captive.
2Co 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Christ is our perfect example when tempted in the Wilderness. We do it wrong first but when our time comes, we begin to do it right and act in love (obedience). Those of the world and even our own carnal mind will seek to lead us astray at every opportunity by putting worldly logic and reasoning ahead of the narrow way that we are commanded to follow. Being a faithful watchman starts at our own house.
2Co 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
2] Rom 14:2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.
We are free in Christ but not all things profit us. When we eat all things [meat], we are being matured, when we eat herbs, we are still on the milk [negative application] yet we know all things come alike to all, there is one event to all and therefore we know that all the works of the Lord is good.
Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty [freedom]; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
1Ti 4:4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
1Ti 4:5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Only Christ can bring a clean thing out of the unclean. The law for the lawless is needed before the law of Liberty comes.
Job 14:4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
Job 14:5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
3] Rom 14:3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
What it is saying is that the spirit lust against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit because they are contrary to each other [Gal 5:17]. God works all matters to His own counsel and in the appointed times for each of us, we enter into His rest not striving anymore in our heavens but judging righteous judgment, the Lord working it all.
Heb 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
rue inner peace is found only with Christ as we follow Him to the cross [remember the altar is the cross] and abide in our day of the Lord which is our lake of fire experience.
Eph 2:14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Eph 2:16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
We are all One Bread, the Lord making of the twain one.
1Co 10:17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
4] Rom 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
God is able to raise up children from stones [hardened hearts], and give them a renewed Spirit. The baptism of fire, brings the fear the Lord in our Day of Judgement which is now on us.
Mat 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
Mat 3:9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Mat 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Mat 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Mat 3:12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
We are learning to walk by faith and act upon our knowledge of the Lord’s sovereignty in all things. With maturity, we do not judge others because they are exactly where the Lord has ordained them be [Psa 139:16, Act 17:28]. But this also extends to ourselves and we come to know more and more we are the work of His hands.
Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
If we truly believe in Him, we no longer condemn ourselves for the work of the Lord in us but instead will cry out for His mercy and His Kingdom to come within us. Our sins are forgiven and we will stay on the narrow road through His chastening grace.
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
5] Rom 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
Esteeming days above another is far more than just keeping the world’s traditions and all of its holidays. Keeping days is what we fail to take heed the Lord’s sovereignty in all things and that He is molding and shaping the clay that all men are in spirit on His timetable.
Isa 64:8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
All men, within the Body or without, are exactly where they are supposed to be. We are to give thanks to the Lord for every day and be glad in the work He is performing in all men. Every day His will is always being performed.
Psa 118:24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
1Th 5:18 In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
We should always strive to walk by faith, the measure of which is given to men by the Lord. This also applies to judging others knowing all not have the same measure but are exactly where the Lord has ordained them to be.
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Anything else is sin because what is not of faith is sin.
Rom 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
6] Rom 14:6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
What we eat spiritually is speaking of our doctrine and what we are able to partake of based on our level of maturity. Spiritual food and drink is important, a huge means to the end but the end of our way of life with Christ is not the process of eating or drinking but this:
Rom 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
The stronger wait for the Lord to bring the weaker along in faith and maturity. The weaker can only partake of what the Lord has given them to eat at every stage. When we know this, we forgive more easily, and we have more patience with others and ourselves.
Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Rom 3:30 Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
All of us are coming to see that we are not our own, we have been purchased with a price and belong to Him.
7] Rom 14:7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
8] Rom 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
We escaped a great death. Remember what we came out of, we are not able to flee from the Lord.
Hos 13:4 Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.
Hos 13:5 I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.
Hos 13:6 According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.
Hos 13:7 Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them:
Hos 13:8 I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.
Hos 13:9 O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.
The cattle on a thousand hills belong to God [Psa 50:10]. The Lord of heaven and the earth is working all things and needs nothing from anyone of His creation.
Act 17:24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Act 17:25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
9] Rom 14:9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
Christ is the First and the Last. We are the first and the last in down payment form, whether we live or die, all is for Christ, so He may reconcile us to God, the Father, in the end when God becomes all in all.
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 7:22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.
1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
1Co 7:24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.
10] Rom 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
We have to tarry for each other and for others.
1Co 11:33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.
1Co 11:34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.
Tarrying in Jerusalem until the Lord comes, is saying wait for the Lord until He gives us power because without Him we can do nothing, not even sinning.
Luk 24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
Luk 24:46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
Luk 24:47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Luk 24:48 And ye are witnesses of these things.
Luk 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
Joh 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
11] Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
The Lord’s promises are sure and Satan and his angels, the spirit that drives our carnal mind and our carnal thoughts, will not be enduring to the end. Within ourselves, we judge ourselves and remove the planks from our own eyes.
Rom 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
Rom 16:18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
Rom 16:19 For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.
Rom 16:20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
When all is said and done, God will be all in all in both harvests.
1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
12] Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
All men will appear is, was and will be before the Lord and be judged and given an account.
2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
This is the means all men, beginning at the house of God in this age [1Pe 4:17] are learning righteousness which is learning to love the Lord will all our hearts, minds and souls.
Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
Last Word
Our crying over the abominations shows we have been marked of the Lord for salvation.
Eze 9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Our struggle with sin is also the Lord’s work in us. We first experience this evil in order to be humbled and put our trust in the Lord and not in our flesh.
Ecc 1:13 (CLV) I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.
Those spiritually circumcised by the Lord [Col 2:11] have no confidence in the flesh [Php 3:3]. When we have needs to overcome, the Lord wants us to turn to Him and ask from Him what we need which is also an acknowledgment or account of our sin. This prayer is known as the Lord’s prayer.
Mat 6:8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
Mat 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Mat 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.