God's Pattern for our Conformity to the Image of Christ - by Pastor Doug Riggs
by John Mark on 04/17/24
This
message was originally recorded June 15, 2014.
My
notes:
"Adam
was created sinless, but he was not perfected. Adam, when he was created, he
was not 'crowned with glory and honor'. That was God's intention... The first
Adam failed and with him, took the whole human race into sin and death and
condemnation... In that complicity with the Adversary, the life went out of man;
and with the life, the light went out." I'm glad this isn't the end of the
story. It set the stage for a Man as God intended man to be to come into this
world, sinless and not yet perfected, who every moment made the right choices
to remain sinless, and through suffering was made perfect (complete, whole,
mature). Jesus, though eternally Son of God, became fully human as he laid
aside His deity and entered into our space-time continuum. As the Last Adam,
the Second Man, He took with Himself the entire human race was judged and put
to death on the cross. By completing the journey God intended for man to
finish, Jesus attained glory and honor, not only for Himself, but for those who
would become His body, His corporate Self.
Sin
was not the only thing judged and put to death on the cross. The entire first
man, not only his sinfulness, but the best Adam could be was crucified and put
to death - and buried. Only in Christ are we raised into newness of life, the
new man in Christ - the new humanity - a wholly new race of mankind - a new
creation. In the world there are two humanities - one is forever dead - the
other is forever alive.
Salvation
is a once-forever transaction. Sanctification is the process of transformation,
"the setting aside of that old humanity, making a place for Christ."
The
title of this message is "God's Pattern for our Conformity to the Image of
Christ". So, what does that pattern look like? We'll find out it begins
with humility; "It is an attribute of God... the very essence of that
which binds the Godhead together... a love-humility... the absolute foundation
to even beginning to know God." Doug takes a journey of discovery in
Isaiah 52-53 to get a look at what humility looks like. Doug gives us the
definition of humility: "It is an accurate assessment of one's self in the
presence of an infinitely holy God. You're able to see who you are in the
presence of God as He is, and that we have nothing to offer Him; we have
nothing to give Him, and that we are nothing apart from Him."
Speaking
of 'the arm of the Lord' and to whom it is revealed, redemption is one aspect,
but "the inheritance is the biggest effort in the work God is doing."
I've been thinking about how so many pulpits limit the work of God to the
forgiveness of sins and the promise of heaven, and completely miss the
inheritance that must be fought for here in time. People are happy being
delivered from Egypt and spending their lives in the wilderness where the
greatest welfare program of all time was enacted - the daily food provided each
morning (except on each Sabbath) that required no work. The church seems
oblivious to the fact there's a land 'flowing with milk and honey' that awaits
our possessing (now, the unsearchable riches of Christ) which requires our
dispossessing the forces of darkness squatting on it. "The kingdom of God
is taken by force; violent men seize it for themselves" (Matt. 11:12) has
somehow been overlooked and ignored. We're happy with Moses delivering us from
the world but are ignorant of Jesus, the greater Joshua ready to take us into
the land. Churches want to be safe and content with their ticket to glory and
want nothing to do with the spiritual warfare and effort to gain our
inheritance. Salvation is free and requires no effort on our part; the
inheritance is costly and requires the conquest of our enemies.
Doug
stresses the fact that the Lord God is a MAN of war. Many years ago when Doug
taught through Exodus, I was inspired to write a song Man of War
(https://bookministry1.s3.amazonaws.com/audios/Man+of+War.pdf in case you'd
like to see it). He makes the distinction between the finger of God (i.e.:
casting out demons), the hand of God (i.e.: dealing with Satan, principalities
and powers), and the arm of the Lord (i.e.: redemption). Redemption is not only
salvation (i.e.: deliverance from Egypt - or the world) - redemption includes
the possessing of the inheritance - that which requires the arm of the Lord.
As
Doug recounts the warfare found in Exodus. We must make the connection to the
warfare the church is called to as the body of Christ, the Man of war (see 1
Cor. 10:11; 2 Tim. 3:16). The Old Testament is not a storybook of interesting
things that happened. It's written and given to us as an example - as
instruction for our day, not just history - but HIS story.
The
arm of the Lord will be laid bare on behalf of us who are humble: “A broken and
a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise... I dwell on a high and holy
place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit... to this one I will
look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My
word." (Psa. 51:17; Isa. 57:15; 66:2)
Link
to today's audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/6-15-14+Sunday+Assembly.mp3
Maranatha!
John Mark
...hereby committing this unto the providential
care of the enthroned Head of the Church; whose Name is blessed
forevermore, Yeshua Mashiach - Jesus Christ!
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