CHRIST CAN BECOME YOUR REALITY NOW
Were It Not For Jesus Christ, We Would Have Nothing And Be Nothing. Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin.
We begin this morning with some of the blessings and accomplishments that our Lord’s ascension, descension, and session were about to be mentioned and supplied by our Lord’s victories upon the cross.
This is a reference to our Lord's ascension into heaven following His resurrection and His position at the right hand of God the Father for when He arrived into Heaven He heard those magical words which were quoted from Psa 110:1; Mat 22:44; Mar 12:36; Luk 20:42; Acts 2:34‑35; Heb 10:12‑14.
Psa 110:1; Mat 22:44; Mar 12:36; Luk 20:42; Acts 2:34‑35; Heb 10:12‑14. “Sit down at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”
This is a passage that describes the Doctrine of the Session which is a doctrine of Christology that pertains to the glorification of our Lord's humanity at the right hand of God the Father.
For when our Lord received the title that He did to sit down at the right hand of God, He was beginning to experience the ultimate glory of everything He could ever imagine that was about to happen to Him.
Things like 1CO 2:9 "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him."
Or things like 1PE 1:12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven‑‑ things into which angels long to look.
This is also a time in 2CO 5:10 when each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
In 1Co 3:14, It will also be a time when winner believers shall receive a reward.
The point is that the Doctrine of the Session is that doctrine of Christology pertaining to the glorification of our Lord's humanity at the right hand of the Father.
If TLJC remained on earth, He would have a limited glory, but when He went to the third heaven He became superior to all creation, and therefore He received unlimited glory.
Look how the apostle Paul put it beginning with COL 3:1 If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
So in COL 3:2, he writes Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
It’s interesting that the word he used for mind is the present active imperative of the verb phroneo which is a word for loving with affection.
Why?
Because in COL 3:3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
COL 3:4, and When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
This reveals the fact that upon arrival in the third heaven, our Lord was seated at the right hand of God the Father which is one of the many blessings of the Doctrine of the Session.
Then He received His third royal title "King of kings, Lord of lords, the Bright Morning Star."
This was this time that the human race was elevated higher than the entire angelic creation; Heb 1:14; Heb 2:7; Psa 8.
Then Paul says back in COL 2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf, and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face,
COL 2:2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in impersonal unconditional love, and attaining to all the wealth [that is the riches] that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge [or epignosis or metabolized doctrine] of God's mystery, that is, the mystery doctrine of Christ Himself,
COL 2:3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
It’s interesting that the word for treasure is the Greek noun thesaurus which means a treasure chest of almost anything just like the English word is used to describe anything that can be used or has meaning.
COL 2:4 I say this in order that no one may delude you or deceive you with persuasive argument.
COL 2:5 For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith or doctrine in Christ.
Therefore, in COL 2:6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord yourselves [as Eph 2:8 says, by grace, through faith; and not of works], so walk in Him,
COL 2:7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
Now, according to PSA 8. originally, man was created higher than the animal creation and lower than the angels.
PSA 8:1 (For the choir director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of David.) O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Thy name in all the earth, Who hast displayed Thy splendor above the heavens!
PSA 8:2 From the mouth of infants and nursing babes Thou hast established strength, Because of Thine adversaries, To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.
PSA 8:3 When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, The moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained;
PSA 8:4 What is man, that Thou dost take thought of him? And the son of man, that Thou dost care for him?
PSA 8:5 Yet Thou hast made him a little lower than God, And dost crown him with glory and majesty!
PSA 8:6 Thou dost make him to rule over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet,
PSA 8:7 All sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field,
PSA 8:8 The birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
PSA 8:9 O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Thy name in all the earth!
Now, when our Lord arrived in heaven as a member of the human race, He was rewarded by God the Father for His strategic and tactical victory in the angelic conflict.
And. He was also given a brand new title for this strategic victory.
That brand title that He did not possess before He became a member of the human race is “The King of kings, the Lord of lords, the bright and morning star.
This was His third royal title.
His first two titles were the Son of God and His Royal Family was God the Father and God the Holy Spirit so that all three members of His Royal Family were god or deity.
His second title was the son of David and His Royal Family was made up of Jews or the Davidic Dynasty the Son of David.
However, because His third royal title had no Royal Family, the age of Israel was halted or paused and the Church-age was inserted for the calling out of His third Royal Family called the [ekklesia] or the Royal Family; 1Pe 2:9.
1Pe 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for {God's} own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
However, there would be a fantastic change made from David's Psalm in the book of Hebrews.
For example, in HEB 2:6 But one has testified somewhere, saying, "What is man, that Thou rememberest him? Or the son of man, that Thou art concerned about him?
That's a quotation from PSA 8:4 What is man, that Thou dost take thought of him? And the son of man, that Thou dost care for him?
Now look at HEB 2:7 "Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels; Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, And hast appointed him over the works of Thy hands;
HEB 2:8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet.
That's a quotation from PSA 8:5-6, Yet Thou hast made him a little lower than God, And dost crown him with glory and majesty! Thou dost make him to rule over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet,
However, notice what is added in Heb 2:7, "Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels;
Only for a little while.
David never said that?
Why?
Because Old Testament were not elevated higher than angels because they were not in union with Christ like New Testament saints.
So, HEB 2:8 says Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. "For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.
HEB 2:9 But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
HEB 2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
So, because of our union with Christ and because of the ascension and session, Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God and you and I are:
EPH 2:6 Raised up with Him, and seated with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus,
HEB 1:13 says But to which of the angels has He ever said, "Sit at My right hand, Until I make Thine enemies A footstool for Thy feet"?
God the Father never said this to any angel, but only to Jesus Christ.
It is very significant that God the Father said this to the humanity of Christ in a resurrection body.
This means that although we are now inferior to angels in our human bodies on earth, in the future in resurrection bodies we will be totally superior to angels.
Then concerning the elect angels look at HEB 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
Now, all of this is why this doctrine of ascension and session is the missing link between the resurrection of Christ and the Christian way of life.
Something new had to be created to accompany this new third royalty of Jesus Christ, a new royal family.
His new royalty had to be a new spiritual species, as per 2Co 5:17.
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
In ROM 6:4, we are given a newness of life; Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
In ROM 7:6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
In GAL 6:15 For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
In EPH 2:15, we are now called one new man, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, {which is} the Law of commandments {contained} in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, {thus} establishing peace,
In EPH 4:24, we are commaned to put on the new self, which in {the likeness of} God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
Look at COL 3:9 Do not lie to one another or do not live in the lies of the cosmic system, since you laid aside the old self with its {evil} practices,
COL 3:10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him
COL 3:11 ‑‑{a renewal} in which there is no {distinction between} Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
In HEB 8:13, we have "A new {covenant},"
In 2PE 3:13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
1JO 2:8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.
REV 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer {any} sea.
Look at all the new things we are to look for.
REV 21:5 And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He *said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true."
So, these two doctrines of ascension and session combine to form the climax of the strategic victory of Christ in the angelic conflict.
While the angels were still talking our Lord was already in the third heaven.
He traveled billions and billions of light years in just a few seconds.
After His ascension, His session fulfilled the prophecy of Psa 110:1 "The Lord [God the Father] said to my Lord [God the Son], `Sit down at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.'"
So, the strategic victory of Jesus Christ in the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union is related to the award of His third royal title.
His first royal title is related to His deity.
His title is "Son of God."
His royal family is God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
His second royal title is related to His humanity.
His title is "Son of David."
His royal family is the Davidic dynasty.
His third royal title is related to His resurrection and ascension.
His entire title is "King of kings, Lord of lords, Bright and Morning Star."
His royal family is in the process of being completed, made up of every Church-age believer.
You are not simply a child of God; you are a royal child of God.
So, the ascension and session is not only related to the Hypostatic Union, but it also to the angelic conflict.
With the resurrection of Jesus Christ, all angelic creatures including fallen angels, are subordinated to Him in His humanity.
In His deity, Jesus Christ is the creator of angels.
In His humanity, He was made lower than angels, Heb 2:7.
But now in His resurrection, He is higher than angels in His humanity.
And some day in our resurrection body, we will share that same privilege experientially.
Being in union with Christ, we are already positionally higher than angels.
But in resurrection bodies, we will be experientially and physically higher than angels.
Eph 1:22, "And He [God the Father] has subordinated all [angelic creatures] under His feet. Furthermore, He appointed Him [Jesus Christ] ruler over all things to the Church."
After studying the ascension and the decension, we are now ready for and the importance of understanding the Doctrine of the Session.
This lead’s us to one more major doctrine that is extremely important and that is the Doctrine of what is known THE BIG GENUFLEX.
The big Genuflex is the interim event between the Rapture and the Judgment Seat of Christ when every knee will bow before TLJC.
Right after the rapture or the resurrection of the church and before the judgment seat of Christ where winners will be rewarded, there is a period of time when TLJC will be worshipped by all believers in their resurrection bodies.
Therefore, the big Genuflex is both the glorification of the Father's plan and the recognition of our Lord's victory over sin and Satan which was bestowed on Him at His session.
At this time, the entire royal family is present, and they confess to the victory of TLJC over sin and over Satan.
This explains passages like PHI 2:9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the title or title which is above every other title.
It is also found in PHI 2:10 where the apostle Paul says; that at the title of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth.
PHI 2:11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Now, we must have a resurrection body as He does because we are His family.
And, in resurrection body, the entire royal family will identify the Head of the family, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father.
In our moment of greatest happiness we will be talking and singing about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our greatest moment of happiness will be thinking and talking about our Lord.
This also explains the relationship between Rom 14:10-11 and Phi 2:9‑11.
Look at Rom 14:10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.
ROM 14:11 For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to God."
ROM 14:12 So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Now, the big Genuflex is the moment of maximum +H which is perpetuated forever.
It is followed by the Judgment Seat of Christ.
And we make that happiness meaningful by receiving our eternal rewards and decorations.
However, you won't lose this fantastic happiness at the Judgment Seat of Christ even if you receive no reward, due to your failure in life.
We can understand the confession of the royal family immediately following the Rapture based on the concept of Christ's battlefield royalty, for we will be in total awe of Him.
This moment will be the fulfillment of all our doctrine, and the realization of the purpose of our new birth and why we lived for Him while on earth.
We will each personally praise the strategic victory of the angelic conflict and relate it to our very purpose for living, Rom 14:11.
Blessing and rewards which glorify Christ fulfill prophesies in the Old Testament, Isa 53:12b, "Then He will distribute the spoil or the blessings to the great ones or the mature believers."
Christ was willing to suffer on the cross that we might share in the plunder or spoil of His victory.
So, the big Genuflex, our acknowledgment of Christ in eternity, will be the greatest moment of worship in history, full of great singing.
In time, we acknowledge Christ by our daily intake of doctrine.
In the eternal state, we will acknowledge Him through our worship.
Now, something very interesting is said about our Lord in Phi 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,
The phrase that "every knee should bow" is the recognition of the Celebrityship of Christ by both believers and unbelievers.
This is a reference to unbelievers who did not do it the easy way.
The easy way is through the communication of doctrine by the pastor-teacher to his congregation, so that they can reach super-grace and occupation with the Person of Christ, our unique Celebrity.
The hard way is described as the unbeliever on his knees at the end of time.
He has rejected Jesus Christ.
He has used the Name of Christ in profanity and derision.
Or he has ridiculed Him or has been passive and indifferent toward Him.
But the time will come when the Celebrityship of Christ will be manifest to all creatures in the universe.
PHI 2:11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
God the Father had a plan that He made billions and billions of years ago—sometime in eternity past.
And the epitome of the expression of God's Plan is the God-Man-Savior.
Prin: A perfect Plan from a perfect Father glorifies a perfect Son.
His Plan was that all creatures would come to recognize the Celebrityship of Christ.
First of all, by the Gospel, leading a person to Phase One (salvation).
Next by reaching super-grace in Phase Two (the believer in time), we are now able to glorify the Lord.
Now, where does this leave believers who are ignorant of doctrine and who do not recognize the Celebrityship of Christ?
They are completely missing out on the Plan of God for their lives, and thus they are losing out on the greatest and most wonderful blessing life can offer!
And this need not be the case in any believer's life.
Christ CAN become a reality NOW through doctrine.
"Christ is all and in all" (Col. 3:11), or literally, "Christ is all things because He is the source of all things."
COL 3:13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
COL 3:14 And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
COL 3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.
COL 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
COL 3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
Beginning with doctrine, He is the grace source of everything we have of value.
Were it not for Jesus Christ, we would have nothing and be nothing.
Bible doctrine in the soul counteracts the old sin nature, demon influence and every other adverse circumstance in life.
It is the basis for reaching the capacity to love.
And when we have maximum capacity for Category One love under super-grace living, then we have a new focus, a new concentration, a new motivation, a new happiness—in short, we have a fantastic life!
As for unbelievers, before they get to the Lake of Fire, they will recognize and finally acknowledge, the hard way, that Jesus Christ is the ONLY CELEBRITY of the universe.
Even unbelievers are going to hell on their knees saying "JESUS IS LORD!
Prin-There is nothing greater that a believer can do during the course of this life than to live in the sphere of the Celebrityship of Jesus Christ—the highest status in experiential Christianity!
We also need to note The Necessity for the Humanity of Christ.
Why did Christ have to become a human being….eight reasons?
Jesus Christ became true humanity to do the will of the Father, Heb 10:5-10.
Heb 10:5, Therefore, when He entered the world [at virgin birth], He said [Psa 40:6-8], `You [God the Father] do not desire sacrifice and offering [soteriology of the ritual plan of God for the dispensation of Israel],
At that time [virgin birth] I said [from His deity], Behold, I have arrived; (in the scroll of a book it stands written about Me [Old Testament prophecies] to accomplish Your will, O God.
After saying the above, `Sacrifices and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You been propitiated by them; (which sacrifices are offered according to the law), then He said,
”Behold, I have arrived to execute Your will, He has abrogated [taken away] the first [the Mosaic Law] that He might establish the second [PPOG for the Church].
By which will [purpose, plan] we [new spiritual species, royal family of God] have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.
So, when our Lord says in Heb 10:7, “I have arrived to accomplish Your will, O God, it was spoken from the deity of Christ in Hypostatic Union.
It refers to the election of Jesus Christ related to the salvation or the incarnation plan of God.
And when verse 9 says; He takes away the first in order to establish the second; it means the PPOG for the Church Age supersedes the ritual plan of God for Israel.
The new spiritual species of the Church Age replaces the new racial species of Israel, i.e., until the second Advent, when Israel will again become a client nation to God.
The substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross and resultant efficacious unlimited atonement fulfills and abrogates the ritual authorization of the Mosaic Law.
Jesus Christ had to become true humanity to be the Savior of the world, Phi 2:7-8; Heb 2:14-15.
As God, Jesus Christ could not have anything to do with sin except judge and reject sin.
Sovereignty is not subject to death.
Eternal life cannot die, and physical death was necessary for our Lord’s resurrection.
Only humanity could bear our sins.
So, Jesus Christ had to become true humanity and perfect
humanity in order to receive the imputation and judgment
of our sins on the cross, 1Pe 2:24.
1Pe 2:24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on
the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
Jesus Christ had to become true humanity to be the
mediator between God and man, Job 9:2,32-33; 1Ti 2:5-6.
He had to be equal with both God and mankind to be a
mediator between both parties.
Therefore, Jesus Christ had to be both undiminished deity
and true humanity in one person forever.
Job 9:2 In truth I know that this is so but how can a
man be in the right before God?
JOB 9:3 If one wished to dispute with Him, He could not
answer Him once in a thousand times.
JOB 9:32 For He is not a man as I am that I may answer
Him, that we may go to court together.
JOB 9:33 There is no umpire between us, Who may lay
his hand upon us both.
1TI 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator also
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
1TI 2:6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the
testimony borne at the proper time.
Jesus Christ had to become true humanity to be a
High priest for the human race.
Jesus Christ had to become true humanity to be a
Priest for the human race.
A priest must be a man in order to represent man
before God.
Jesus Christ became true humanity to be our high
priest after the order (or pattern) of Melchizedek, Heb
7:4-5,14, 28; 10:5, 10-14.
HEB 7:4 Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the choicest spoils.
HEB 7:5 And those indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest's office have commandment in the Law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their brethren, although these are descended from Abraham.
In HEB 7:14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.
In HEB 7:28 For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.
In HEB 10:5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, "Sacrifice and offering Thou hast not desired, But a body Thou hast prepared for Me;
In HEB 10:10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
In HEB 10:11 And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins;
HEB 10:12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,
HEB 10:13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet.
HEB 10:14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
Jesus Christ had to become true humanity to be a king
and rule forever.
He had to be the son of David to fulfill the Davidic
covenant to Israel, 2Sa 7:8-16; Psa 89:20-37.
These definitions presume your understanding of the
Hypostatic Union and they closely related to and based on
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
1TI 6:16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in
unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see.
To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.
And when He says "He takes away the first in order to establish the second," it means the PPOG for the Church-age supersedes the ritual plan of God for Israel.
The new spiritual species of the Church Age replaces the new racial species of Israel, i.e., until the second Advent, when Israel will again become a client nation to God.
The substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross and resultant efficacious unlimited atonement fulfills and abrogates the ritual authorization of the Mosaic Law.
These definitions all presume your understanding of the Hypostatic Union and they closely related to and based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.