Morning Star Testimony - Sermon Notes
Jesus Christ, the Last Adam, the Second Man - “It is Finished!” – Part 2 by Pastor Doug Riggs
by John Mark on 04/28/24
This message was originally recorded December 15, 2013, the second in a series of 8 messages.
My notes:
In this message, Doug breaks down, amplifies, and further explains what he spoke in the first of this series.
We know Jesus as the Son of God, but who are 'sons of God'? The first were the angels. Sons of God are direct creations of God, with the exception of Jesus who is and ever was eternally generated and begotten from the Father. Adam, a direct creation of God, was a son of God. But his progeny, the sons of Adam, are not direct creations of God, and therefore not sons of God. However, when we are born from above (i.e.: born again), we become direct (new) creations of God and are therefore sons of God.
Doug goes into an explanation of the singularity and plurality of God as well as that of man which eventually leads to the teaching of the sin of one man affecting the entire human race and the obedience of another Man also affecting the entire human race. In Adam, we die; in Christ, we live.
The death of Christ judicially deals with our sin debt; the life of Christ imparts His virtue and righteousness to us as we participate with Him in obedience.
"Now that we're saved, the goal is eternal life." Some only believe that eternal life is what we come into only after we die and go to heaven. Paul instructs Timothy, "Pursue eternal life!" "Even though we have it, we pursue it. And (eternal) life is that which is an increased reality through the cross."
Speaking of representative man, "The last Adam had to be terminated in terms of His representative role as Adam; go into the grave; and so, when He comes out of the grave, He doesn't come out of the grave as the last Adam; He comes out of the grave as the second Man. The first man is terminated because the last Adam fulfilled the mission that the first Adam never fulfilled in the plan and purpose of God... He takes the entire human race all the way through a perfected obedience to the cross, and then, through resurrection, into the very throne room of God."
This message takes us into the throne room of God and allows us to 'behold the Man' - to see this One designated the last Adam, the second Man, the Lord from heaven. Don't expect to get it all in one sitting. For me, it's been a long process of going through this revelation of Christ in the Word - and it is longer than many of Doug's messages. You won't want to just go through it to get through it. You will miss the blessing. Doug goes through a plenitude of scriptures in making his points, and it requires a lot of focus and concentration. It's a good reminder that we should pray whenever we listen to the word being taught, that the Holy Spirit open our eyes, ears, minds and hearts to all He desires to impart to us.
As Doug reads the scriptures and comments on the perfecting of Jesus Christ, some may want to argue that since Jesus is (and was) God, He's already perfect. How can a perfect God be made perfect? We'll discover more about how when the Son of God became the Son of Man, He put aside His divinity to the point that He became fully human without the supernatural assets He had as God, and became man as God intended man to be - fully and completely dependent on the Father. Only by doing what we see our Father doing and speaking that which the Father is speaking do we realize and appreciate this life of dependence and faith and obtain the resulting life that is pleasing to God.
At the conclusion of this message, Lori raises a question for clarification, and it is one many of us have as far as the confusion of using the terminology of Jesus being 'the second Adam' - which He is not... "There is no second Adam." He's the second man. And completing the discussion, Doug gives us the solution to the unrest and protests we are currently witnessing between the Arabs and the Jews.
Resource Mentioned: The Celestial Court series (you’ll find that on the Video page)
Link to today's audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/12-15-13+Sunday.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!
To opt out of receiving these emails, please reply with a request to unsubscribe.
Jesus Christ, the Last Adam, the Second Man - “It is Finished!” - by Pastor Doug Riggs
by John Mark on 04/24/24
This
message was originally recorded December 11, 2013, the first in a series of 8
messages.
My
notes:
What
did Jesus mean when on the cross He said, "It is finished"? What is
finished? What does that mean to you and me? What does it mean to God?
In
this message, Doug explains that this declaration not only applies to what was
required for our salvation, but also for our sanctification. So many of us for
so long have either struggled to become a Christian only to discover there
isn't any work we can do to accomplish it. It's through the finished work of
Jesus on the cross that meets the requirement for me to receive the grace-gift
of salvation through faith, placing my faith in Jesus and His death on the
cross instead of faith in myself that somehow I'm good enough.
But
what about our ongoing struggle to live the Christian life? Maj. Ian Thomas so
well put it: "The Christian life is impossible." Jesus Christ is the
only one who can live it. As we count on the fact we died in Christ and we in
and of ourselves cannot live the Christian life, we take on His resurrection
life as our resurrection life, and in so doing, allow Him to live the Christian
life in and through us. "It is finished" applies to our salvation as
well as our sanctification. Doug explains, "So if it's finished, how does
that finished work of Christ in sanctification be transferred to us? That's
what the Holy Spirit is for. That's His 100% full-time job and focus, to
transfer that which constituted the humanity of Jesus Christ to be constituted
in us... Everything He (Jesus) did as man to please the Father is transferable
[to us]." He continues, "If we appropriate the finished work of Jesus
Christ as our holiness, as our sanctification, as our righteousness, then the
Holy Spirit takes that which was perfected in His (Jesus') incarnation and
transfers it to us."
"God
doesn't just do something legally and pronounce and declare us righteous. He
gives us the righteous one. And that is a fact accomplished at new birth, but
then for sanctification, the gift remains."
Doug
explains what might be misunderstood about Jesus being a 'mediator'. "As
mediator, He doesn't stand between us and God. As mediator, He is like the
fountain, and He mediates that which is who He is as the perfected Man through
the Holy Spirit into our lives." I used to think God was 'up there' ready
to pounce on me whenever I sinned, but Jesus was there holding up His
nail-pierced hands declaring me righteous, that He'd take away my sin. I like
Doug's explanation way better.
What
will we be like in eternity? Will we all look the same? We'll all see Jesus -
and we'll be like Him. So will we all be equal in heaven? Doug bursts that
bubble - well, actually the Apostle Paul does, but Doug takes us back to the
word and adjusts that misconception. To the degree we've been conformed to the
image of Christ through our death union with Christ (via His cross) and Jesus
being formed in us (via His resurrection), this will determine the degree we
have capacity to see Him as well as the degree others see Him in us. This
applies to us in time as well as eternity. As we are not all the same here in
time - as the Apostle John delineates us as 'children, young men, and fathers',
the glory of the attained reality of Christ in our lives will be displayed like
the glory of the stars we see at night - some very bright; others not so much.
This is explained in 1 Corinthians 15:35-42, "star differs from star in
splendor". "Will everyone be like Him? Oh, yes! But the measure and
the definition of that seeing and the manifestation of that seeing has vast,
vast differences."
Doug
would on numerous occasions reiterate the fact "God is not a communist! We
will not all be equal in heaven." We used to talk about how the Apostle
Paul will be like a 55-gal drum filled with Jesus in resurrection. His capacity
to enjoy Him and the measure of Jesus he contains for others to see and enjoy
will exponentially increase for all of eternity. Then we compare him to Demas
("having loved this present age") who might be like a thimble filled
with Jesus, full, but not to the capacity or measure of the Apostle Paul. He'll
grow exponentially throughout eternity, but at a much lower scale than Paul.
"There will be no end to the increase of... His kingdom." (Isaiah
9:7)
"Every
Christian's going to receive a glorified body; but this life affects the
measure and participation of that glory in ages to come. That should put fear
in us."
In
this message, Doug refers to Dr. Henry Mabie's term, mid-death resurrection
process. That's the ongoing daily process of the death of the cross that is
applied to what we are in Adam, and in Christ, the second Man, is resurrection
life.
There
are only two species of humanity: Adam, the earthly old man, the first man -
and Christ, the heavenly new Man, the second Man. "The cross is the
division between the heavenly - the spiritual, the natural and the
earthly."
Once
again we hear Doug pointing out the difference between redemption and
inheritance. To "inherit is conquest; inherit is reward. He (God) gives it
to you, but you have to take possession. Whereas when you're justified by
faith, that's just a gift. You just put your faith in Christ and your sins are
forgiven; you're justified. But when it comes to inheritance, that means
there's warfare, and there's a possession."
Link
to today's audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/12-11-13+It+is+Finished.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!
To opt out of
receiving these emails, please reply with a request to unsubscribe.
"To Whom is the Arm of the Lord Revealed?" - by Pastor Doug Riggs
by John Mark on 04/21/24
This
message was originally recorded June 18, 2014. I originally titled it as the
second part to "God's Pattern for our Conformity to the Image of
Christ", but opted to change it to this which is the theme throughout the
message.
My
notes:
To
Israel, God said, "I will redeem you with an outstretched arm". Doug
makes the comment, "It takes the supreme effort of the Lord to bring in
redemption, not only from Egypt, but to make a way for the children of Israel
to come in to their possession - that is, their inheritance." This applies
to our redemption and what it takes for us to come in to our possession, the
unsearchable riches in Christ.
"How
is the arm of the Lord revealed? Well the measure of which this Christ is
formed in you and me, and the measure in which we are brought into conformity
with His death will be the measure in which the arm of the Lord is revealed in
us, and then, ultimately, through us."
In my
listening to this message I learned something I hadn't heard before. Doug was
talking about Satan's attempt to wage war against the Lord and to keep Him from
returning. Speaking of hybrids (i.e.: Nephilim), I understood him to say that
when they are killed (this happens in countless rituals to empower the earthly
rulers and those in society that obtain much wealth and power), a demon is
released, and these are not numbered in the third of the angels that fell when
Lucifer rebelled. Angels are not demons; demons are the disembodied spirits of
the hybrids. Those locked up in Tartarus are those demon spirits from the
hybrids that were killed in Noah's flood. Today there are so many more than
what are there.
We
see in the scriptures that God will crush Satan under our feet (Romans 16:20 cp
Hebrews 10:13). "He first has to be under our feet before God will do the
crushing. It's our responsibility to come to the place of being above. When we
are above, and he is below, then the God of peace will crush Satan under our
feet. But the people above will only be overcomers... a Philadelphian
company."
"What
we are by nature in Adam has affinity with Satan. Conformity to His (Christ's)
death is the strategic purpose of God in our being delivered from what we are
by nature and into that which represents His image."
Link
to today's audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/6-18-14+Wed__Assembly.mp3
Recommended
resource: "The Spirit's
Law of Life" by T. Austin-Sparks
https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/spirits_law_of_life_the.html
The Arm of the Lord
https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/arm_of_the_lord_the.html
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!
To opt out of
receiving these emails, please reply with a request to unsubscribe.
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!
To opt out of
receiving these emails, please reply with a request to unsubscribe.
The Day of Visitation - by Pastor Doug Riggs
by John Mark on 04/14/24
This
message was originally recorded January 25, 2015.
What happens when there is a visitation by
God in our lives?
What is a visitation?... and ‘the day of
visitation’?
My
notes:
A
note on faith: Faith appropriates what God promises even when we don't see it
materialize. "He's waiting for us to agree with Him for Him to call into
being that which does not yet exist." Faith "pulls God out of
eternity into time".
Visitations
are recorded in scripture as individual and corporate events.
The
visitation prophesied for these last days "is going to draw a sword right
between that which is the church functioning independent of Jesus Christ its
head [i.e.: Laodicea] and that which is Philadelphia... that prepared remnant -
a John the Baptist company - and He's going to thrust them on the stage of
world history for the final display and revelation of Jesus Christ. The people
themselves are going to be the revelation." "It's that revelation
that is going to be the final act of God in the body of Christ that will give
Him the justified right and all that He needs to take us out."
The
day of visitation is either a visitation of blessing - or a visitation of
judgment, depending on the state or condition of those visited by God. It's
like a 2-edged sword. In the case of Israel's exodus, that visitation was a
blessing and deliverance for Israel and a sword of death to the Egyptians...
one visitation with opposite results - blessing on one side; judgment on the
other. "Visitation means one thing: God shows up."
"We
have a constitution that has been developing through our life based upon
choices. The day of visitation will manifest those choices. The day of
visitation will manifest our constitution. And it will either be Laodicea, or
it's going to be Philadelphia."
In
Doug's research on this topic of a day of visitation, he discovered there is no
example of it as described by Peter having as yet occurred during the history
of the church age. Therefore it is still a future prophetic event not yet
realized. "And it will occur before the rapture." This makes me think
of how many prophecy teachers I've heard saying there is NO prophecy yet to be
realized before Jesus comes - that He can come any time, that all prophecies
related to the church have been fulfilled. I can't think of one other than
Doug. "You think the rapture can come any moment? It can't happen until
the church comes to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ [Eph.
4:13]. It cannot happen until the fulness of the Gentiles come into the body of
Christ [Romans 11:25]."
As
for the doctrine of imminency, Doug says, "I believe in the imminent
return of Jesus Christ; but I believe in the imminent return of Jesus Christ
within the context of a generation, not for any moment within that generation.
And since we live in the generation of the coming of the Lord, His return is
imminent, but there are things that must be fulfilled before He can
return."
Additional
examples of that which must precede the rapture of the church: God answering
the prayer of Jesus in John 17. We have yet to know anything of this unity as
also described in Ephesians 3:14. How about God's enemies being made a
footstool under Jesus' feet? (Hebrews 10:13) ... and the God of peace crushing
satan under the feet of the church (Romans 16:20)?... all yet to be fulfilled
before the Lord comes for His bride.
Link
to today's audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/1-25-15+Sunday+Assembly.mp3
Following the message was a discussion and further commentary:
Doug talks about the "Disclosure" event, the worldwide unveiling of "aliens" and the possibility this could happen prior to the rapture of the church - and even be used to explain the rapture away as the opportunity for humanity to shed the uninformed and laggards of society from the earth so they can evolve to a new 2.0 humanity, allowing humans to become 'gods'. Doug reminds us that these 'aliens' are not evolved species from other planets, but the hybrids, or Nephilim - the offspring of fallen angels and human women.
From Lori Riggs:
This has to be the most timely and phenomenal message of Doug’s that I’ve heard in a long, long time! It made my heart burn!!! I so appreciated being reminded of the study in I Peter all those years ago, and the research on the meaning of ‘visitation’, etc. (I loved all the references that Doug gave from theological books.) This reality - being a ‘John the Baptist company’ - has only increased (exponentially, I might say) in me since Doug’s departure. There’s nothing else to live for and I’m filled with JOY to be alive solely for the purpose of awaiting that Day when He will call us up to the clouds to meet Him, because WE have had a great deal to do with His being able to do so - by making ourselves ‘ready’ and others, as well! Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!
P.S. This message reminds me of the Morning Star Testimony church that I loved, that was good, and wholesome, growing into His likeness, pressing toward the mark! Wonderful memories, for which I thank our great God!
Reigning in Life through the One, Christ Jesus,
Lori
Link to Discussion: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/1-25-15+Discussion.mp3
Recommended: The Day of Visitation (video presentation & pdf)
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!
To opt out of
receiving these emails, please reply with a request to unsubscribe.