WBS.203
FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
WHO AM I?
– VII
The New
Man - 6
1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an
holy nation, a peculiar
people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who
hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the
people of Elohim: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
This is who we are.
We are no less. If you think
yourself to be angry, bitter, unworthy, timid, shy, weak in faith, etc., you
simply are wrong. You just don’t know
who you are, yet…Say to yourself and to others, “I am a chosen generation. I am a royal priesthood. I am someone to be revered. I am the purchased possession of the Creator
of Heaven and Earth. This is who I am;
and any thought, word or idea to the contrary is a lie.”
Last week, we focused on 1 Peter 2:9. We did not address verse 10. That is because we needed to understand the
answer to the question, “Who am I?” As a
disciple of Yahushua Messiah; you are a member of the 14th
generation. Your spirit and Messiah’s
spirit are intertwined as one. All that he has is yours; and all that you have
is his. Yahushua’s inheritance as the
son of IAUE is now your inheritance.
One might think that IAUE is taking a great
risk in trusting us with such a position that we have become heirs and
joint-heirs with Messiah. That kind of
thinking simply betrays an unrenewed mind that fails to recognize the
significance of what IAUE has forged in the New Creation, the New Man that now
is the power of our life in this world.
We are what the Scripture says we are. We may not see it, smell it, hear it, taste
it, or feel it; but we can believe it.
The five physical senses are what the flesh uses to glean information
and knowledge for our life from the world around us; and that is what produces a
carnal mind. A carnal mind is the enemy
of IAUE. Faith/belief is what the heart
uses to glean information and knowledge of the world of the spirit, and that is
what produces a spiritual mind. A
spiritual mind pleases IAUE. So, you can see the conflict. Do we rely on “Seeing is believing,” or do we
rely on “Let IAUE be true and every man a liar?”
Over the past five weeks we have seen in the
mirror of the Scriptures what the New Man is.
It is the only thing that reveals to us the condition of the New Man we
have become in Messiah. It is our
mirror. When we look into it, we see Yahushua. We see the son of IAUE who is the fullness of
the image of his Father, the Creator of Heaven and Earth; and THAT is what our
spirit looks like. We look like
IAUE. Yahushua has the nature and image
of His Father; and we have the nature and image of Yahushua. The more we “see” that in the Scriptures and
our heart believes it, the more we are changed from glory to glory on the
outside…in our soulish man and even in our body.
Let’s turn now to the following verse.
1 Peter 2:10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the
people of Elohim: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Isn’t it interesting that a man who was specifically
noted as being unlearned, on the day of Pentecost preaches a message that is
laced with numerous Old Testament prophecies and passages and applies them with
precision in the first sermon of the “church age” (Acts 2)? Every time Peter
preached, he brought illumination to the Old Testament Scriptures (and in so
doing was writing New Testament Scriptures).
The Holy Spirit can do that within a man given wholly to His leadership. In this verse, Peter, the unlearned
fisherman, is quoting from the book of Hosea.
Hosea 2:23 And
I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had
not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art
my people; and they shall say, Thou art my Elohim.
To understand the meaning of 1 Peter 2, we
need to understand the context and meaning of the verse he is quoting. In Hosea, IAUE makes the point that the
Hebrew people had estranged themselves from him in the same way that a wife
becomes estranged from her husband when she leaves him to go after other
lovers. The Hebrews expressed their
unfaithfulness to IAUE by worshipping other pagan deities that were recognized
by the heathen nations around them. He
said He blessed their produce only to find them offering grain offerings to
other “gods.” He blessed their vineyards
only to find them bringing drink offerings to other “gods.” Because of their faithlessness, their
divorcing themselves from IAUE, they ceased being recognized as the people of
IAUE.
Because of their faithlessness, they were
scattered among all the nations of the earth.
In His amazing wisdom, IAUE set up the Hebrew people to observe the
second half of the Abrahamic covenant coming into effect: “…and through
your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”
Do you remember what was said in the first council
of the church in Jerusalem when the issue of the gospel being spread to the
gentiles was discussed?
Acts 15:19 Wherefore
my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are
turned to Elohim:
20 But
that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from
fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
21 For
Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the
synagogues every sabbath day.
The only conditions that the council placed upon
the spread of the gospel to the gentiles were designed to prevent the Hebrews
from being offended by the liberty that is produced by the gospel. Why is this?
It is because they were everywhere.
They had been “sown” everywhere by IAUE in fulfillment of Hosea’s
prophecy.
When the New Covenant was initiated, that of
blessing the whole earth by the seed of Abraham, (that seed being Yahushua
Messiah) the gospel spread to the gentile nations in signs and wonders and in
much power. The people who had NEVER been the people of IAUE became His
people. The people who had NEVER
obtained the mercy of IAUE were now the objects of and recipients of His
mercy. The apostle Paul describes this
wisdom like this:
Romans 10:19 But
I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to
jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger
you.
20 But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of
them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.
21 But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched
forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
Romans 11:11 I
say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? Elohim forbid: but rather through
their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
The Hebrews were scattered everywhere, and
yet, they were quick to reject the gospel when they heard it preached. The Gentiles, however, did not reject it, and
the Gentiles, who had not been a people, quickly discovered what the mercy of
IAUE was like when they discovered He forgave them, healed them, raised up new
life within them, united them with the spirit of His Son, empowered them in
righteousness to walk free from bondage to wicked practices and from disobedience
to live faithful lives unto IAUE. They became the people of IAUE, a distinction
that had formerly been associated only with the Hebrews; but the Hebrews had
lost that distinction through their faithlessness and pursuit of pagan
deities. Now they are looking at the
people they called “dogs” enjoying an amazing relationship with IAUE.
The purpose of this was to make the Hebrews
remember IAUE and to remember the special relationship from whence they had fallen. It was to turn their hearts back to the time
when the Hebrew people were the people of IAUE.
Today, Jews comprise a significant portion of the atheist
population. Many are not atheist, but they
are also not spiritually minded. Many
are simply bound up in religious tradition but have no real sense of
relationship with IAUE. For the wisdom
of IAUE to bear His intended result, it requires the disciples of Yahushua to
live and walk in the spirit, in the New Man; so the Hebrews can see
that we are the people of IAUE; and they can realize what they are missing as a
result of their faithlessness.
It sounds like the Gentiles are being “used”
doesn’t it? Well, you got that
right. We are. We were NOT a people; but now we ARE the
people of IAUE. We had NOT received
mercy; but now we HAVE received mercy.
What difference does it make that we have become His people and have
received mercy because IAUE wants to use us to redeem those who were FIRST to
be His people? We are now blessed to be the people of IAUE and can be a part of
restoring the Hebrews to their first love.
Romans 11:12 Now
if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the
riches of the Gentiles; how much more
their fulness?
15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of
the world, what shall the receiving
of them be, but life from the dead?
30 For as ye in times past have not believed IAUE, yet have now obtained mercy through
their unbelief:
31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain
mercy.
The part we have missed in this transaction is
back in our first verse.
1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an
holy nation, a peculiar
people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
We are to demonstrate by our lives and our
words the praises of IAUE. Hosea said it
like this:
Hosea 2:23 …and they
shall say, Thou art my Elohim.
If we know who we are; if we know we are the
children of IAUE; if we know we are the redeemed who have been translated out
of darkness and transferred into His marvelous light; if we know we have been
purchased by IAUE, we are to walk in holiness and declare that we are the
people of IAUE. We shall say unto IAUE, “You are my Elohim.”
We know who we are. Can we proudly declare to
others in our current lifestyle, attitudes and behavior that we are the people
of IAUE? Or would that be embarrassing
to attribute to IAUE ownership of our lives the way they are currently being
lived?
“Who am I?”
We are the people of IAUE. Unto
us has been given ALL THINGS that pertain to life and godliness. We are the people of IAUE. Say it.
Declare it. Live it.
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
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