Angelic Conflict part 217: Human history (the Church) – Rom 12:1-21; 2Pe 1:5-11; Heb 13:1-2; 1Co 1:10-13.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 217: Human history (the Church) - ROM 12:1-21; 2PE 1:5-11; HEB 13:1-2; 1CO 1:10-13.

 

ROM 12:9-10

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted [family affection] to one another in brotherly love [philadelphia]; give preference to one another in honor;

 

This loveis also not to be hypocritical [1PE 1:22] but a result of spiritual growth and therefore intrinsic, not for show or pretense, but a product of changed character within the Christian from personal spiritual growth.

 

Philadelphia is a virtue that Christians must cultivate, 2PE 1:7, and therefore it is not of attraction or emotion, though these can result as responses.

 

2PE 1:5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence [virtue], and in your moral excellence, knowledge;

 

2PE 1:6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance [hupomeno], and in your perseverance, godliness [well devoted];

 

2PE 1:7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness [philadelphia], and in your brotherly kindness, love.

 

2PE 1:8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless [barren - yielding no return] nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

2PE 1:9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted [cannot see far and therefore cannot see past the immediate world surrounding him], having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

 

Vs. 9 concludes that a lack of spiritual growth leads to a life occupied with sin in others and self resulting in guilt or condemnation. This is slavery to fear and not the freedom of a son who cries out, Abba [phileo] Father [agape].

 

Without that strength in freedom from a faith in Christ as Savior a person is more apt to fall for the lie, where in other systems of religions and cults people are promised what God can only give.

 

2TI 3:1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

 

2TI 3:2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

 

2TI 3:3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,

 

2TI 3:4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God;

 

2TI 3:5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these.

 

We have read these words and maybe we have thought of Pharisees or criminals or religious leaders or tyrants, etc. All of them would fit the category, but have we considered that the list would include the likes of Mohammed, Gandhi, Sidhartha Gautama (Buddha), Lao-tse (Taoism), Confucius, Charles Taze Russell (JW), Joseph Smith, Sun Myung Moon, Mary Baker Eddy, L. Ron Hubbard, Swami Prabhupada (Hare Krishna), guru Nanak (Sikhism) and any number of Catholic and Protestant leaders.

 

2TI 3:6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,

 

In Paul's day women had a lower position in society than in more modern times plus they are more easily misled than a man.

 

1TI 2:12-14

I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression.

 

This applies to both men and women who are weak because a lack of faith in Christ as Savior and, if a believer, a lack of doctrinal instruction or faith in that instruction. Their position is not secure because they have not increased in spiritual growth, wisdom, and virtue. Because of this they are weighed down with sins, guilt, condemnation; they have a seared conscience, and so they are easily duped.

 

2PE 1:9

For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted [cannot see far and therefore cannot see past the immediate world surrounding him], having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

 

A bad conscience leads to a shipwrecked faith:

 

1TI 1:18-19

fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.

 

2TI 3:7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

 

2PE 1:8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless [barren - yielding no return] nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

2PE 1:9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted [cannot see far and therefore cannot see past the immediate world surrounding him], having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

 

Christ as Savior has atoned for your sin so there is no guilt or condemnation of the past. Christ as Jesus, the Man, is the mediator and Comforter between you and the Father so there is no fear of tomorrow and all the tomorrows. Christ as Lord is God, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and Holy Spirit and so He has made the believer one with God and as sole authority, no one can undo what He has done and so there is happy expectation of eternity. So then where is guilt, condemnation or fear? It was all borne by Him and through Him removed from us so that we can walk in contentment, joy, love, and rest in the present, in the moment.  

 

Zen Buddhism has a deceitful counterfeit to this truth. Since Zen has no God, even the priests have no role of intercession. There is no speculation on the nature of creation nor the future of an afterlife, since everything considered important is embodied in the experience of the moment. Zen meditation with a focal point of a pool, a rock, or a flower is designed for an inward search for truth in which one becomes nothing and thinks nothing. In fact, the foremost Western Zen master has stated, "Zen teaches nothing."

 

Loss of self, loss of personal desires, no guilt for sin is all taught in other religions and cults, but all without the reality of Christ and His work. Satan has continually stolen from God and perverted truth into untruth [Pharisees developed their untruth from the Law] in opposition to God. This is evil.

 

2PE 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent [make every effort] to make certain [make it a reality] about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble [not sin but reversionism];

 

Therefore, Royal Family, make every effort to make His calling and election of you a spiritual reality; for as long as you practice these things, you will never develop negative volition.

 

• No matter how much we fail or how many problems come our way, grace meets all of them, for God has called and elected you to His highest and best long before the foundation of the earth.