Ephesians 1:13
Beyond The Covenants Of The Promise
Broadlands Bible Church
May 31, 2023
(Download Audio)
Thesis: The Spirit was given for good reasons.
Introduction: In our last series of studies (in the notes for Study # 32
(040)), we began a consideration of the
methodology of the Spirit as He moves to counter the Law of Sin in our members. We saw that He
begins by establishing a fundamental, two-part doctrinal basis that is focused upon Christ crucified. The first part of the doctrine is our utter sinfulness as the offspring of Adam that leaves us with no wiggle-room: we can do absolutely nothing as the offspring of Adam that is genuinely holy, righteous, or good. The second part of the doctrine is God's absolute love for us in spite of our sinfulness: there is nothing about any of our sin that blocks the reality of God's love for us. And we saw that these two inner realities are not established by man, but by the Spirit alone. Man does not realize his utter depravity by self-examination or any other means available to him; it is a Spirit-produced conviction. Nor does man realize the comprehensive love of God by any resource that he has within him as a son of Adam; this is also a Spirit-produced conviction. The summary of our consideration of the Spirit's method consists of the fact that
man's responsibility (whether he can meet that responsibility or not) is
faith and
that issue is surrounded by these facts:
- The faith issue has a fundamental foundation.
- 1. Faith is always corrupted by any appeal to the goodness of human activity that is divorced from the indwelling Spirit of goodness.
- 2. Faith is always corrupted by any resistance to the personal love of God for the person resisting.
- The faith issue has a fundamental methodology.
- 1. Anytime a person knows he is on the losing side of an internal argument, he knows he is resisting Truth.
- 2. Anytime a person yields to the obvious, he is making his body available to the Spirit for His manifestation of the life of Jesus.
This evening we are going to pursue the faith side of this methodological issue. The faith issue is the reason that the Spirit can, by indwelling, be the solution to all of the problems that are inherent within man and, yet, man, who is indwelt by this Comprehensive Solution, can still walk in the flesh and corrupt the manifestation of the life of Jesus by the Spirit of Jesus. The bottom line is this: man has the capacity to resist the obvious and, when he does, he blocks the Spirit as God's provision for life. This fact is fraught with difficulties of understanding that must be resolved by the Spirit if we are to consistently walk by the Spirit.
- I. Where Does This Resistance Come From?
- A. It arises from the reality of the Law of Sin in our members as it wages war against the Law of the Mind: Romans 7:23.
- 1. This war is highly prejudiced and consistently won by the Law of Sin when it has the backdrop of divine Law behind it: Romans 7:9-11.
- 2. This war can only be won when the believer rejects the fundamental precepts of divine Law: Romans 6:14.
- a. The fundamental precepts of divine Law are...
- 1) That the life of Jesus must be manifest by the spirit of man.
- 2) That failure to manifest the life of Jesus must be met by condemnation.
- b. The believer's rejection of these fundamental precepts are based upon two clear facts...
- 1) The life of Jesus can only be manifest by the Spirit of Jesus.
- 2) There is no condemnation upon the believer for any cause at any time. [Note well Romans 8:1-4 where both the absence of condemnation and the presence of the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus exist.]
- B. It does not arise from anything that is the believer as a new creation.
- 1. Paul clearly taught that all sin that erupts out of the complex that is the believer is directly the responsibility of the Law of Sin: Romans 7:17 & 20.
- 2. Paul clearly taught that the believer as a new creation is two realities...
- a. A new creation that does not sin.
- b. A new creation that is not yet finished...because the current body is not yet redeemed.
- 3. Paul clearly taught that when the believer functions as a new creation in the current body, he will fulfill the moral imperatives of the divine character: Galatians 5:16.
- II. How is This Resistance Made Dominant in the Body of a Believer?
- A. It is made dominant by a deception: Romans 7:11.
- 1. There are two major deceptions revealed in Romans 6.
- a. Romans 6:2 says that we are dead to sin.
- 1) This is not a "positional" truth; it is a genuine reality.
- 2) The major line of deception comes from the fact that our bodies are rather consistently involved in sinning.
- b. Romans 6:16 says that our bodies will produce according to whatever we present ourselves as "under-hearers" (hupakouo).
- 1) If we listen to doctrine which permits the establishment of the precepts of divine law, we will become producers of sin.
- 2) If we listen to doctrine which permits the contradiction of new creation truth, we will become producers of sin.
- 2. This dominance-issue is where the battle ground is located.
- a. Believers are not immediately omniscient (and will never be).
- b. Believers are considered by God as children to be trained.
- c. Believers are expected to, and compelled to, listen to the Truth.
- B. It is made dominant by deceptive intimidation: Galatians 5:17 in conjunction with Romans 7:23.
- III. How Do Believers Reject the Resistance?
- A. They embrace the fundamental precepts of grace...
- 1. That they are not responsible to produce the life of Jesus through their bodies.
- 2. That they are not liable for the failure of such production.
- B. They yield to the doctrinal foundations of Christ crucified...
- 1. That what they were in Adam was hopeless.
- 2. That Christ died because God loves them.
- C. They put themselves under the hearing of Truth as those aware that they will be servants to what they listen to.
