FUNDAMENTALS OF
DISCIPLESHIP
THE ADOPTION OF SONS - II
Matthew 13:15 For this
people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their
eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and
hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be
converted, and I should heal them.
A day is approaching when IAUE Elohim will
call forth His mature sons from among His children; those who, by reason of experience
and discipline have pursued the instruction of their Master Yahushua Messiah to
recognize understand and obey His will.
What, specifically, will the Father look to see in those who have become
qualified to experience this adoption of sons, the adult son placing?
First, let us look again at the promise of
the adult-son placing:
Romans 8:13 For if ye live
after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the
deeds of the body, ye shall live.
14 For as
many as are led by the Spirit of IAUE, they are the sons (huios)
of IAUE.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage
again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we
cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit, that we are the children (teknon) of IAUE:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of IAUE,
and joint-heirs with Messiah; if so be that we suffer with
him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature
waiteth for the manifestation of the sons
(huios) of IAUE.
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity,
not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21 Because the creature itself also shall be
delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children
(teknon) of IAUE.
The cardinal qualifier for becoming an adult
son is “being
led by the Spirit“ (v.14).
Paul tells us that we have been given the Spirit of adoption that
provides that upward call to our very heart.
The Spirit “bears witness with our spirit
that we are the children of IAUE.”
He confirms that we are His children, that we are in the class of people
who are able to receive that recognition of sonship from IAUE. Not all men and women on the Earth are in
that class. We must be the children of
Elohim by the creative miracle of the new birth.
The second qualifier for becoming an adult
son is “that
we suffer with him” (v. 17).
2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Messiah Yahushua shall suffer persecution.
Another thing to note in Romans 8:21 is that
the adoption of sons will come as a liberation to the children, the “teknon” of
IAUE. We stated in our last post that
the “teknon” differ from the “nepios” in that the nepios are newborn infants;
and the teknon are the adolescents that have submitted to tutelage to become
mature sons. There is no mention of an
adoption of the “nepios” of IAUE. The
nepios first must become teknon. Now,
with that in mind, let’s look at the following passage:
Hebrews 5:8 Though he (Yahushua) were a Son (huios), yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered;
9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey
him;
10 Called of IAUE an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard
to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of
hearing.
12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers,
ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the
oracles of IAUE; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong
meat.
13 For every
one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe (nepios).
Let us first observe
that even Yahushua learned obedience; and the atmosphere in which he learned it
was that of suffering. It is easy to
obey easy commands. It is easy to obey
direction that does not produce any controversy or disagreement. All such obedience does not reveal what is in
our hearts; for even the flesh can obey commands that do not require much of
it. We have stated repeatedly that the
law of Moses could be observed by men of wicked hearts; because such laws do
not impact and shape the heart of man.
It is when the commands put us in a cauldron of resistance,
disagreement, opposition, hardship…suffering, that our hearts are revealed
through our obedience; and it is the heart of man that IAUE wants to be in
allegiance to Him; not the flesh.
The writer of Hebrews
reprimands his readers for not having grown up.
He tells them that they have been in the faith long enough to have
become teachers by now; but they are still in need of pablum. They are babes…nepios. They are not even in the class of those who
are qualified to answer the high call of the adoption of sons. Note, particularly, that they were “dull of hearing.”
It is impossible to be led of the Spirit
if you cannot hear His voice. By this,
we may recognize another qualifier for sonship:
Hearing the voice of the
Spirit. (In every age of man: 1) Adam and Eve in the garden, 2) the
time from the fall of Adam to Noah, 3) the time from Noah to Abraham, 4) the
time from the cutting of the covenant with Abraham to the giving of the Law, 5)
the time from the Law of Moses to the coming of Messiah; and 6) the current age
of the gospel of Yahushua, one common denominator in every age has been the command
to listen to and obey the voice of the Spirit.)
Hebrews 5:14 But strong meat belongeth
to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good
and evil.
Here we have revealed a characteristic of
children who are becoming sons. They
recognize that their physical senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing) are
the sense-gates to all that is perceivable and knowable in the flesh. They are not the means whereby we are made
aware of the things of the spirit world.
That is not their domain, their sphere of operation; however, “by reason
of use,” which is to say, by repeated exercise and discipline, even their
physical senses are developed to be able “to discern both good and evil.“ The obvious reason for doing so is to aid in
their ability to obey the voice of the Spirit when everything around them is
screaming to do the opposite. Such
disciples are not nepios. They are not
in need of milk to sustain them. They
are able to eat strong meat; which is to say, they are capable of receiving
revelation of more Truth. All Truth
comes with a purchase price, and the immature are not capable of paying the
price for the Truth that makes increasingly deeper cuts into our natural man.
From the last posting, we saw that the upward
call is answered by pursuing three things:
1
The
knowledge of Yahushua.
2
The
knowledge of the power of his resurrection.
3
The
knowledge of the fellowship of his suffering.
Today, we see that to obtain the reward of
that upward call, we must do four things:
1
Be
led by the Spirit.
2
Suffer
with him.
3
Hear
the voice of the Spirit.
4
Take
command of your senses.
Now would be a good time to remind you of the
difference between knowing something academically and having a revelation of
that same thing. One is knowledge
comprehended by your mind. The other is
Truth that has come alive in your spirit.
One only adds to the catalog of things you know. The other changes you. The Father wants to change you...to make you
like Him. The danger to which every
reader of this blog is subject, is that they he/she may increase in knowledge
and be satisfied with that understanding, yet never possess the
revelation. Please take what you are
learning and present it to Elohim with meekness, and ask Him to reveal the
Truth to you. This is His desire. He will meet you if you approach Him with an
honest and humble heart.
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