Jesus' Flesh - The Way Into the Most Holy Place Into the Very Presence of God - by Pastor Doug Riggs
by John Mark on 10/20/24
This was originally recorded on July 23, 2017.
My notes:
"Jesus
Christ is our access into the presence of the Father."
"The
human spirit has to be so released to come into a place of ascendency in our
life that God in Christ through the Holy Spirit is governing the mind, emotion,
and our wills."
"From
the fall (of man), the body, the soul, and the spirit is the way we relate to
reality; this is how we determine reality until the sanctification process
begins (after new birth). Then that whole thing is reversed and becomes spirit,
soul, and body." (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
You'll
hear Doug say, "If we are to go on be being filled with the Holy
Spirit...", it may sound like there's an extra "be" in that
sentence. In an earlier message that Doug gave, he broke down the grammatical
verbs and tenses used in Ephesians 5:18, "be filled with the Holy
Spirit". More literally, though not great grammar in English, it says for
us to be (passive) being (present) filled. In other words, to allow yourself to
continually be in the state of being filled. He continues, "We've got to
understand that the soul can only be filled with the Holy Spirit to the degree
that the human spirit has been released from the flesh, the foreskin of the
heart." What is true circumcision? "It is by the Spirit where the
heart is circumcised... If we still have the foreskin over our hearts... then
there's a veil... that veil is called the flesh." This is how "the
god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might
not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
This veil doesn't just disappear when we're born again. It takes the work of
the cross, dying to self, the knife of circumcision to cut it away so we become
sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit indwelling our human spirit.
Without this, there is no filling with or by the Holy Spirit.
"We
all enter heaven with a different measure of Christ being formed in us."
Therefore, as the Apostle Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 15, "star
differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection....", we see that
there are vast differences in the display of the glory of God in Christ shining
through us. This relates to the shakedown at the bema seat where all that is
worthless is burned, and only that which conforms to Christ is left.
We
also discover it's not every man for himself. We have the example in the Old
Testament with Israel conquering Canaan. They had to help each other gain their
inheritance which qualified them to obtain their own. "The measure of
Christ to come to fullness in one another is interrelated and interconnected
with others coming into that fullness together."
So,
what about the life of Jesus while here on the earth? He lived in complete
dependence on His Father. "If we're to walk as He walked, that means He
had to walk our walk first... He's the prototype; He's the template. For that
work of the Spirit in Him in the days of His flesh to be transferred to us,
there has to be a circumcision; there has to be a removal of the veil."
As
this message is titled, Jesus' Flesh - The Way Into the Most Holy Place Into
the Very Presence of God Himself, Doug explains Jesus' flesh is a veil. Like
the veil in the temple that hides the Holy of Holies, "His unglorified
humanity, His flesh, is a veil." So, how do we gain entry into the Holy of
Holies? Through Jesus' humanity - His flesh - His humanity that was sacrificed
on the cross that resulted in the physical veil in the temple being torn top to
bottom. Jesus had no uncrucified flesh; but we do. It's a veil that keeps us
from dwelling in the Holy of Holies until it's circumcised. "We're already
positionally there. In Christ we live in the Holy of Holies. We are in the
presence of the Father. That's positional truth. But experientially, where are
we? We're only there experientially in the reality of the most holy place that flesh in us has been
rent. And the tearing of that veil is really painful."
A
question comes to mind: How many times have we heard bible teachers, preachers,
pastors, evangelists, or anyone else talk about an inheritance to be gained and
potentially lost? If at all, they might want to equate the inheritance to
salvation, so if you’re saved, you have your inheritance; they assume the
inheritance is eternal life. "It's one of the most dumbed-down theological
realities that I've ever seen." As Doug taught us often that salvation is
a free unearned gift, and is a personal individual transaction with the Lord.
However, the inheritance is only gained through conquest, by dispossessing the
enemy and laying claim to our inheritance in Christ. It is accomplished
corporately as we fight not only for our own inheritance, but that of our brothers
and sisters in Christ.
Earlier
this morning I listened to a re-posted message by Jamie Walden originally
broadcasted August 23 of last year that is all about faithfulness, semper
fidelis, always faithful (see resources below for the link). It goes very well
with Doug's message. "When there's an exhortation to enter in, to come
into the fullness of that which redemption has provided, it always has to do
with an inheritance; full reward... That glorifies God to the hilt!"
Link
to Audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/7-23-17%2Bsunday.mp3
Link
to Discussion: https://s3.amazonaws.com/bookministry1/assemblies/7-23-17+discussion.mp3
Note:
Transcripts won't be available for some time.
Resources
Mentioned: An Asian Harvest:
An Autobiography by Paul Hattaway
Major
Ian Thomas: The Saving Life of
Christ and the Mystery of Godliness
4
Audios of Major Thomas: https://bookministry1.s3.amazonaws.com/audios/Saving+Life+01.mp3
https://bookministry1.s3.amazonaws.com/audios/Saving+Life+02.mp3
https://bookministry1.s3.amazonaws.com/audios/Saving+Life+03.mp3
https://bookministry1.s3.amazonaws.com/audios/Saving+Life+04.mp3
Gary
Huffman & Doug Woodward: The Revealing: Unlocking Hidden Truths
on the Glorification of God's Children
C.H.
Mackintosh: Notes on the
Pentateuch
Chuck
Missler: The Mystery of
Melchizedek (I'm not sure if this was what Doug was
referring to in July 2017.)
Watchman
Nee: The Release of the
Spirit
Jamie
Walden: SEMPER FIDELIS: An
Invincibility Complex For The Days Ahead
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!