INTRODUCTION
PLAN A – The Glory of God - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. PLAN B - The Gospel of Christ - In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: PLAN B2 –Back on Track - That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. (Eph.1:3-12 emphasis added)
MAN’S OBLIGATIONS AS REGARDS THE ETERNAL PURPOSE.
That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. (1Thes. 2:12)
For this eternal purpose of (The glory of God being passed unto His children) to come to pass; there needs to be some obligations that should be fulfilled by all parties – that is God and man just as in any contract; the duties of the parties involved must be clearly understood.
The principal task of man is obtaining the obedience of Faith as specified later on in chapter 16 of Romans.
Now to Him Who is able to strengthen you in the faith which is in accordance with my Gospel and the preaching of (concerning) Jesus Christ (the Messiah), according to the revelation (the unveiling) of the mystery of the plan of redemption which was kept in silence and secret for long ages, But is now disclosed and through the prophetic Scriptures is made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, [to win them] to obedience to the faith (Rom.16:25-26 amp)
Charles Spurgeon observed-
“Obedience—what a blessing it would be if we were all trained to it by the Holy Spirit! How fully should we be restored if we were perfect in it! If all the world would obey the Lord, what a heaven on earth there would be! Perfect obedience to God would mean love among men, justice to all classes, and peace in every land. Our will brings envy, malice, war; but the Lord's will would bring us love, joy, rest, bliss. Obedience—let us pray for it for ourselves and others!”
Man, right from the very first one, Adam have struggled with this command ‘obey’; just as Lucifer did from the beginning as his ‘Hercules hill’ pride will always lead to disobedience. Satan knew the root of his own fall and used the same to deceive Eve. What would have been the case if Adam had adequately instructed Eve on the instructions God gave Him about the tree in the Garden of Eden?
“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)
In other words,
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (1 John 2:15-17)
"He that is down need fear no fall,
He that is low no pride;
He that is humble ever shall
Have God to be his Guide."
Eve like any man today in the 21st century; being furnished with this information would have been equipped to align her thought life to obey God as “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Charles Spurgeon further observed that:
“Faith is the fountain, the foundation, and the fosterer of obedience. Men obey not God till they believe him. We preach faith in order that men may be brought to obedience. To disbelieve is to disobey. One of the first signs of practical obedience is found in the obedience of the mind, the understanding, and the heart; and this is expressed in believing the teaching of Christ, trusting to his work, and resting in his salvation. Faith is the morning star of obedience. If we would work the work of God, we must believe on Jesus Christ whom he hath sent.”
Disobedience by man stems from and is always in line with wanting to do it “apart from God”. In describing Eve’s experience in SOUL AND SPIRIT, Jessie Penn-Lewis said:
“The gilded bait held out to Eve in the temptation was " Ye shall be as God " (Genesis 3: 5). This was God's very purpose for the sinless pair before they fell. It seems that the word " likeness " in Genesis 1:26 signifies to " become like ", indicating that the wonderful potentialities breathed into Adam constituting the image of God, were meant to be developed in a process which would " end in man being like his Creator "* in dominion and rule over all things. How tragic, then, that God Who alone could rightly develop and guide the use of these powers, should be shut outside the wonderful being He had created, and more terrible still that the very potentialities inherent in Him should now lie open to the hand of His enemy.”
She goes on to say:
“We cannot now trace through the centuries all that has followed in this particular aspect of the Fall. We see references in the Scriptures again and again which indicate that the Arch-Enemy of God and man knew how to use the resources he had gained, and how "sorcerers" and "magicians" with abnormal powers were to be found linked with the powers of evil. It was reserved for the " Time of the End " in which we live, for Satan's objective in Eden, to be brought to its full manifestation. His purpose is to obtain the rule of the whole inhabited earth, and we are told that for a brief period he will be allowed to obtain his desire through a super-man he will endow with abnormal powers. Therefore the words are strikingly true of the present hour that "THE ` FORCES ' OF PSUCHE ARE MASSING AGAINST THE 'FORCES' OF SPIRIT". For it is through the fallen soul powers of men that the whole world will be prepared, and made ready to accept the rule of the Anti-Christ.
It means that for a time God will be ruled out of the universe. The potentialities given to sinless man in Eden, which when developed would have made him `like God' in power of rule and dominion, will be brought out into activity in such a degree that man in his fallen condition, will believe he is " like God " and exercise these powers under the control and instigation of the devil. Spiritists already boldly say that" Man possesses all the attributes hitherto ascribed to Deity . . . ", and Dr. Gratton Guinness wrote years ago that the apostasy would "take the perverted form" of "the fallen life of Adam", assuming what "belongs only to partakers of the Divine Nature".
This throws light upon the present time in a remarkable way. How rapid has been the spread of the Apostasy from the faith of the Gospel, among the leaders of the professing Christian Church-the result of the use of the fallen "soul-powers" under the unsuspected instigation of the enemy. In other directions the great theme is" Psychology ", with " discoveries " of " psychic " forces undreamt of by mortal man, so filling the minds of men that they are indeed like " children blown round by every shifting current of teaching ", led " cunningly toward the snares of misleading error " (Ephesians 4:14, Conybeare), little thinking that they are helping to fulfil a great world-wide scheme of the devil.”
The story of the great plot of Satan the Master Strategist, to capture men of science, men of business and men of religion, must be left to another paper. Suffice it to say that the scheme was to lead men to " discoveries " of " natural phenomena " under the name of " Psychic Science ". A list of some of these " discoveries " is given by a writer* on Prophecy to which many more recent ones could be added. How they counterfeit in the soul realm the wondrous life of God in the spirit, cannot but strike those who know anything of the latter, and it is in this present development, and increase of the use of the powers of the soul, that peril lies for the children of God who are really " spiritual ", and ignorant of these latent powers in the human frame.
The Churches ordained task as stated in Romans 16:25-26; is the obtaining of the faith among all the gentiles. This is to be done by faith that is nurtured and harvested not by the patronizing, casual, quick-fading faith that is characterised in our modern day witness. But one that is can be described by the Lord’s job spec for Apostle Paul in (Acts 9:15-16):
“But the Lord said to him, Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of Mine to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the descendants of Israel; For I will make clear to him how much he will be afflicted and must endure and suffer for My name's sake.” (Acts 9:14-16)
Andrew Murray describes the core of Apostle Paul’s job spec as follows:
“Faith is regarded as an act of obedience, of commitment to the gospel of Christ. Hence the implications of this expression ‘obedience of faith’ are far-reaching. For the faith which the apostleship was intended to promote was not an evanescent [quickly fading] act of emotion but the commitment of wholehearted devotion to Christ and to the truth of his gospel. It is to such faith that all nations are called.”
So man’s principal obligation to the eternal purpose of God is simply “ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE TO THE TRUTH” as given and presented in the word of God. This advice Apostle Pauls gave to Thessalonians:
That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. (1Thes. 2:12).
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