Morning Star Testimony - Sermon Notes

Jesus Christ, the Last Adam, the Second Man - “It is Finished!” – Part 4 by Pastor Doug Riggs

by John Mark on 05/05/24

This message was originally recorded December 22, 2013, the fourth in a series of 8 messages.

My notes:

'Consider Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith' - the One 'who began a good work in us who will bring it to completion', 'the last Adam, the second man, the Lord from heaven' (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6; 1 Corinthians 15:45, 47). As the second man, "there will be no successor to Him." There are no more humanities than that in Adam and that in Christ. Satan's attempt (since the days of Noah) to modify and manipulate God's creation via hybridization (fallen angels cohabiting with human women to produce offspring) does not create a third species of humanity recognized by God. (Though today's teaching doesn't mention this, I thought it would apply.)

Those who are born once will experience the second death – eternal separation from God in hell - it's the second because all born in Adam are born spiritually dead, our first death. Only those who are born twice will experience eternal life. Therefore, as Jesus said, we 'must be born again'. Our becoming born again is only available to us because of Jesus' becoming born again at His resurrection, 'the firstborn from the dead'.

In Isaiah, Jesus is described as being 'marred more than any man'. You may be surprised to learn this did not refer to what Jesus suffered physically. This is one of the departures from reality and truth the Roman Catholic church takes as it emphasizes the physical suffering and blood of Christ. You'll hear Doug explain the reality as perhaps something you didn't realize before, that the sufferings of Christ go way beyond anything physical. He yielded His soul unto death; the stripes He received were so much more than those from the Roman soldiers. It was the Father's judgment that went immeasurably further than any man could do to Jesus as He became sin on our behalf.

In this message, Doug corrects the common evangelistic message that one must repent of their sins to receive Christ as Lord and Savior. If this sounds not-quite-right to you, you'll hear the explanation in this teaching. Also, how often we hear the gospel presented that Jesus died for our sins without including the fact that Jesus didn't just die for us, but AS US. He took us, the first Adam, into death and into the grave to be left there, forever judged and condemned by God, never to rise again. Jesus as our representative, the last Adam, died, and in newness of life, the new man, the new humanity, as the second man, the Lord from heaven, He was raised and we with Him, a new creation, not the resurrection of the old one. Our water baptism is the symbol we have to illustrate this, though it may not be apparent that we leave the old man behind in the water unless it is explained to us.

The whole human race in Adam was baptized (identified with / incorporated) into Christ's death. When He died, we died. Well, you may say, "I wasn't even born yet! How could I have died 2,000 years ago?" Well, the Bible tells us that when Adam sinned, we sinned. Well, you may say, "How could I have sinned 6,000 or more years ago? I wasn't born yet." If this is new to us, we are learning positional truth. In Adam, the first representative of the corporate human race, we sinned. His sin is accounted to us as our sin. You may think this unfair. Well, 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ, the second man, the second representative of the corporate human race, was crucified. His death is accounted to us as our death. In Adam, we sinned; in Christ's death, we died. This has to do with what Jesus cried out on the cross: "It is finished!"

When we discover we are dead, what do we come to realize we need most? We need life - we need to be born again. When we receive Christ, we are transferred out of the old Adam into the second Adam, the new man in Christ, resurrected out of death into the newness of life in Christ. Christ's death, burial, and resurrection is ours just as if we were right there 2,000 years ago. That's positional truth; now we learn to live out that truth experientially. That's sanctification.

Doug makes this astounding revelation: "On the cross, God took responsibility for allowing Satan to tempt man in the first place; and He took responsibility for man's sin. He took care of both." How did He do that? By the crucifixion of Christ on the cross. So if any of us have any complaints about being charged with Adam's sin, our mouths are shut by this reality. If we don't like being charged with Adam's sin, we'll surely want to claim Jesus' act of righteousness on our behalf when He took care of the debt we owe due to our sin (positional and experiential).

Doug quotes Stephen Kaung: "Our biggest problem is not that we don't have enough strength; it is that we have too much strength." He closes this message with a searching question: "Are we perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord?" 

Doug mentioned a message by Eric Ludy he thought was titled "The Ineffable Name" - it may actually be The Unspeakable Name (https://ellerslie.com/the-unspeakable-name/)

Also recommended: The Celestial Court series (see our Video page)

Link to audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/12-22-13+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!

 

 

 

Jesus Christ, the Last Adam, the Second Man - “It is Finished!” – Part 3 by Pastor Doug Riggs

by John Mark on 05/01/24

This message was originally recorded December 18, 2013, the third in a series of 8 messages.

My notes:

As Doug continues the theme of the revelation of Jesus Christ as the last Adam, the second man, he relates the passage in Philippians 2, known as the kinosis (self-emptying) of Jesus. I know Doug has taught us well through the years, but for me, only upon recently listening to an amazing message by Art Katz, Growing Unto Sonship (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65d8Key9Z1E&list=WL&index=5&t=15s), did I come to the realization that Jesus laid aside EVERYTHING pertaining to deity and became fully man. His life was a demonstration of man as God intended man to be and live, in complete dependence on our Father in heaven. Therefore, everything we read of Jesus' life, everything He did, all the miracles and supernatural activity was not his divinity peeking through, but what we can expect when we live in complete dependence on the Father - doing only the things we see Him doing - speaking only that which we hear Him speaking. I know I've got a long way to go before that's a 24/7 reality in me, but that revelation floored me. And what floors me further is what Jesus said, "Greater things shall you do, because I go to the Father." (John 14:12)

Doug adds, "As I think about Christ... every day that He got up and faced His day, His first thought was, 'I'm here to please the Father. I only do those things that are pleasing Him.'" "As the last Adam, all that which God intended in the first Adam was realized in Him."

Here's something to think about: "God did not redeem Adam." Before you think Doug went off the rails here, listen to how he explains it. "He doesn't save Adam. Adam dies! We are saved judicially as we put our trust in Christ. And when we put our trust in Christ, the legal justification of God is imputed to us in terms of the righteousness of God in Christ. But in terms of being alive unto God in Christ Jesus, that's only on the ground of resurrection. There's nothing of Adam that survives. God did not save Adam. He didn't save anything good in Adam, even the best of Adam... all that is dead to God."

In Adam, we died. We in Adam weren't saved. We were born again - born from above - born as a new creation in Christ. How much of our Christian life is trying to make our old Adam better? We call that 'self-improvement' and buy many books to help us accomplish nothing. Jesus didn't die on the cross to improve who we are in Adam. He died and took us with Him. It's only in resurrection as the new humanity do we discover our lives as not improved, but replaced.

Perhaps we thought that people were born again during the age of Israel. Jesus was the first man to be born again. "He was born again, not because He needed personal salvation, but He's the first begotten from the dead."

"Eternal salvation is justification, sanctification (growth in holiness), culminating in glorification." Jesus is the source of our salvation, justification, sanctification, and glorification.

The bible tells us to "press on to maturity ('perfection')" as Christians. So, does this mean "I have to grab my bootstraps and do something", as Doug asks? No, "We let God do it. Why? Because He's already in Christ, the perfected one, as Man for man." The better rendering of this is, "Allow Him to bear us along to maturity... That perfection is already ours in Him." Doug continues, "Where we still have roots in Adam, those roots gradually shrivel up through the internal work of the cross, and we gradually through death transition practically and experientially out of Adam into Christ."

Resource mentioned: The Historical Account of the Revelation of the Mystery: The gradual unveiling of the church in the book of Acts

(https://www.salembible.org/the-historical-account-of-the-revelation-of-the-mystery/)

Link to today's audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/12-18-13+Wed+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!

 

 

 

Jesus Christ, the Last Adam, the Second Man - “It is Finished!” – Part 2 by Pastor Doug Riggs

by John Mark on 04/28/24

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!

 

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"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.