Cornerstone Christian Fellowship Jacksonville

Had God Indeed Said - Part 3

September 21, 2021 Cornerstone Christian Fellowship
Cornerstone Christian Fellowship Jacksonville
Had God Indeed Said - Part 3
Show Notes Transcript

2 Co 11:3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

We will continue today to look at the challenge to God's Word with a view to bringing deception to those called to the Kingdom of the heavens.

The full text of this message and supplementary study questions can be found on our website.

Sunday September 19th 2021
Has God Indeed Said
Part 3

1). Ge 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.  

We have seen in our previous weeks of study that the encounter between the serpent and the Woman in the Garden concerned one thing, rulership in the 7th Day. The serpent understood why God had restored the ruined material creation and he knew what God had said about the reason He had created the Man and the Woman – Ge 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion……..

He knew that they had been created to replace him and he also knew that if he was to prevent the change in rulership it would be the Woman who would be open to deception – 1 Ti 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.

And it would have to be this way because of the type that God has created to teach us from.
a). We will remember – Ro 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

Adam is a type of Christ, and it is obvious that Christ cannot be deceived, but those pictured in the Woman, Christians with the potential to become Christ’s Bride certainly can, and certainly will be deceived – 
2 Co 11:3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

And it is the nature of this deception among the eternally saved, that has come through the challenge to God’s Word, ‘Has God indeed said?’ that continues to be the subject of our study.
b). The promised ‘Seed’ of the Woman had come to the earth when the fullness of the time had come. Jesus, as the second Man, the last Adam, had proven Himself worthy to replace Satan. But Satan also knew that to take the crown from his head Christ needed to have a Bride to rule by His side – Ge 2:18 And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

Following Christ’s death and resurrection He has returned to His Father to await the promised Day of His return, a Day that has been predetermined and clearly stated in the Scriptures – Ac 3:20 "and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 "whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

2 Pe 3:8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

And as we had seen last time, before His departure into the heavens the Lord had given instructions to His servants, those who had the potential to be His Bride, to be carried out until His return – Lu 19:13 "So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, 'Do business till I come.'

Mr 13:33 "Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. 34 "It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. 35 "Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming--in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning-- 36 "lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. 37 "And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!"

Each servant is to work out his own salvation with fear and trembling, producing a profit on what he has been given, as he waits for His Master’s return. Each one is to wait, to work and to watch. And so, 2000 years have passed since the Lord gave His instructions, which from a human perspective is a very long time. If we then add on to this the 4000 years that have preceded it, the possibility of thinking that time will just continue as it is becomes easier to accept. However, to maintain our focus and our patient endurance we must view this matter through the Scriptures with the eyes of faith, not the passing of time.
c). And as the Lord’s return for His Church is the next event on God’s prophetic calendar, and as this will determine which Christians will have become worthy to be part of Christ’s Bride and be adopted as a firstborn son, it is this event in particular that has been singled out as the subject for deception as ‘the serpent’ approaches the ‘Woman’ with the same question as in the Garden, ‘Has God indeed said?’ – 
2Pe 3:1 ¶ Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3 ¶ knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."

Our Lord is in the heavens and cannot be touched, but those who could be His Bride remain within Satan’s jurisdiction and are the focus of his attention as he looks to deceive – 2 Ti 4:10 for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica……

Now, if we place the verses from 2 Peter Chapter 3 within context, we will firstly come to this – 2 Pe 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

That which we see in these verses is ‘the Word of the Kingdom’, the good news concerning an abundant entrance ‘into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.’ And these verses follow from instructions that Peter gave that would make that abundant entrance possible for the faithful Christian, instructions that if followed would mean that the Christian would never ‘stumble’ with regards to receiving his inheritance.
d). Or we could say, that in doing so, the Christian would be kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Our Lord may be physically separated from us, but if we will believe His Word and be faithful to it, then His power will be our armor against the wiles of the devil.
e). And with ‘the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’ in view, Peter then continues – 2 Pe 1:16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

What Peter is describing in these verses is his experience on what we call ‘the mount of transfiguration’, the account of which we find in – 
Mt 16:27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 28 Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” 17:1 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; 2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” 6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. 7 But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” 8 When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

As we know, what Peter, James and John experienced on the mountain, was Christ’s coming in His Kingdom glory. And within this particular context, it would have to do with Israel and the end of the tribulation, but nonetheless, what they witnessed was Christ’s literal return.
f). As Peter said, he did not follow ‘cunningly devised fables’ to make known to them the power and coming of the Lord. He was an eyewitness of Christ’s majesty, after six days.
g). And because he was an eyewitness to this event, he wanted those entrusted to his care to have a constant reminder of it so that they would not forget that the coming of Christ is not just a teaching, but a reality that he had experienced that had confirmed the ‘prophetic word’ set in place in the first thirty-four verses of Genesis.
h). A reality that his readers would ‘do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place.’ And there is probably no darker place than the darkness of this age at the end of this dispensation, immediately prior to the Day dawning and the morning star rising in our hearts. It is the surety, the certainty, the irrefutable reality of the coming of Christ that is our beacon of hope, the lamp to our feet and the light to our path, the anchor of our soul.
i). And as we have seen, 2 Peter Chapter 1 then ends with the reminder that no Scriptural prophecy originated from the minds of men but came solely through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, it was brought forth from above. And it is from here with the ‘Theopneustos’ Word at the forefront that Chapter 2 begins with the introduction of the false teachers – 2 Pe 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words;

The same false teachers that Peter calls ‘scoffers’ at the beginning of Chapter 3. The same ones who proclaim the fables of men as Scriptural truth, who ignored the Holy Spirit given prophetic Scriptures to introduce the lie - "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."

And from what we have looked at so far today we will understand that this question strikes at the very heart of God’s purpose for the ages.
j). ‘all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." If we just pause for a moment and take in the wording here – ‘from the beginning of creation’ – Ge 1:1 In [the] beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The lie perpetrated by theses ‘scoffers’ discounts everything that follows v1 of Genesis Chapter 1, denying God’s act of restoration and the purpose for it, denying the reason for the creation of the Man and the Woman and in so doing irradicating the typology of the foundation – Ps 11:3 If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?

The answer to this question is self-evident, they will perish with respect to the Millennial Kingdom. This is Satan’s aim.

2).  This then is the false teaching of the ‘scoffers’. It is the leaven that a woman placed in three measures of meal at the beginning of the dispensation, until the whole became leavened.
a). In other words, a corrupted teaching that was placed into the Divinely perfect Word of the Kingdom, which has distorted the gospel of grace and undermined the gospel of the glory of Christ.
b). And as we know this is the work of the enemy, working through apostate Christians to introduce the doctrines of demons into the Church 1Ti 4:1 ¶ Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons…

We have also seen that those who stood away from the faith had done so according to their own lusts, described for us as having gone ‘in the way of Cain’, ‘run greedily after the error of Balaam for profit’, and perished in the ‘rebellion of Korah’.
c). They had, like Esau, despised their birthright, considering the fulfillment of their carnal desires in the present to be prized more than that which was promised at Christ’s return.
d). And so all pervasive has the work of the leaven been that the ‘church’ of these last days is completely devoid of that which is the central pillar of all of Scripture, the Word of the Kingdom, the return of Christ, the coming seventh Day, the Millennial Kingdom.
e). And this destruction of the foundation has been possible because of a deliberate act by those who began the process -
2Pe 3:5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

According to the verses here, ‘they willfully forget’ – KJV says, ‘they are willingly ignorant of’. And the word translated both ‘forget’ and ‘ignorant’ is the Greek word ‘lanthano’, which means to escape notice or be hidden.
f). In other words, these individuals willingly and deliberately allowed that which Scripture teaches about God’s interventions in the affairs of Man, to be hidden from them, they chose to be ignorant of what God has done to deny what God will yet do.

3). The essence of the ‘scoffers’ message was that there is no promise of His coming as the world from its creation onwards has continued in an uninterrupted way.
a). What the scoffers willfully forgot is the clear teaching of Scripture that there has been Divine intervention with respect to the earth in the past just as there will be Divine intervention with respect to the earth in the future.
b). People will often ask, ‘Why does God allow these awful things to happen?’, whereas the correct question would be ‘When is God going to intervene to stop this?’ And this we know the answer to.
c). The first thing Peter draws our attention to, that the scoffers have willfully forgotten is this, ‘that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.

Notice how this begins, it was by ‘the Word of God’ that these things were brought to pass. They didn’t just happen.
d). The heavens and the earth ‘of old’ take us back to – 
Ge 1:1 ¶ In [the] beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep………

At an unspecified point in eternity past, ‘in beginning’, in Genesis, ‘of old’, in 2 Peter, God created the heavens and the earth, and this creation was perfect. God had done this by His Word – Jn 1:1 In [the] beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

Between that recorded in Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 something happened that caused the earth to become without form and void and we can know this to be true by going to the Word of God and comparing Scripture with Scripture - Isa 45:18 For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: "I am the LORD, and there is no other.

The verse here from Isaiah, provides God’s own commentary on Genesis 1:1, and it states categorically that God did not create the earth ‘in vain’. The word that is translated ‘vain’ is the same word translated ‘void’ in Genesis 1:2, the Hebrew word, ‘tohu’.
e). And so, in Genesis 1:1 we read that God created the heavens and the earth.  Then at the beginning of verse 2 we read that the earth was ‘tohu’.
f). However, God has said through Isaiah that the earth was not created ‘tohu’.
h). So, if God did not create the earth, ‘tohu’ and yet it became that way, then clearly something took place that brought this about.

4). Just as an aside, as we know God’s affinity for numbers, it might interest us to know that the opening verse of Genesis consisting of ten words in English, is a translation of only seven words in the Hebrew. And seven is a number that God uses to show completion of that which is in view, and in this context, we would understand it to be completion in a perfect sense.
a). These seven Hebrew words are comprised of 28 letters, giving us four sets of seven.
b). And four is the number of creation with respect to the earth, four seasons, four points of the compass, four four elements etc. And again, seven in this context, is the number of perfect completion.
c). God has underscored that which He has said with a numerical construct that further proves that in beginning when He created the heavens and the earth, this was perfectly done.
d). And of course, this perfectly formed creation was brought into existence, in beginning, to be ruled over and He created a ‘messianic angel’ and other angels with him to administer this task.
e). Rulership of the earth in conjunction with the heavens is at the heart of creation, and it can never change - Da 4:26…… the heavens do rule.  

Rulership with respect to the earth was never an afterthought, it was the primary thought, and in Ezekiel we can find a description of the messianic angel created to rule - Eze 28:12…. "You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. 14 "You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.

Here we find the description of a beautifully created angelic being whose location was – ‘in Eden the garden of God’, an Eden that is somewhat different to one in which we find Adam, this one being filled with minerals and precious stones.
f). And we can know that we are not dealing with a man here as v13 speaks of ‘the day you were created’, and all men since Adam have been procreated. He is also described as the ‘anointed cherub’ – literally meaning the messianic angel, who was created to ‘cover’, a word that means to fence in and protect. In other words, he was created to have charge over, to rule over, to govern under God’s authority, this one province in God’s universal Kingdom that included Eden the garden of God.
g). And it is within the jurisdiction given to him, as an action of governance, that we find him going back and forth – Job 1:6 ¶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7 And the LORD said to Satan, "From where do you come?" So Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it."

And Scripture has more to tell us about him and God’s first intervention in the governance of the earth. But this will have to wait until next time – If we remain and the Lord is willing, and we have prayed.