Several weeks ago you were given the historical image of a line of shields and of men who stood before Rome, the sons of a generation all along the lines that led to the banks of the Tiber River at the Milvian bridge…there was a line of soldiers…sons of a generation who had been terribly persecuted. They bore a new emblem. That emblem was a cross of Christ and in that particular day in 312 they won the battle of the Milvian Bridge when they drove the Tyrant, dictator and persecutor of the Christian church, Maxentious, quite literally into the Tiber River. He and his minions fled, most of whom were drowned. And then the emperor who reunited the empire, looked to the church of Christ to give it stability and strength. Constantine. And he made the statement that as he would always rule, bearing in mind the opinions and advice of his father Constantious, for he would rule an empire, he must protect the only stable group of people in the empire, the Christian Church. On that day, the first of 3 victories were secured for that reformation.

The Milvian Bridge of 312, lead to the Edit of Toleration in 313 which was its direct fruit. For the first time the Christian church was now free… she would not see the persecutors sword. Christina’s didn’t have to fear walking out the door in the morning weather or not he would come home alive in the evening… for fear he/she would be persecuted for being a Christian. What there was in fact in that whole line of soldiers that bore testimony that day with their shields in silence, their crosses adorning their uniforms and shields…as they stood silently… a generation having seen the scourging of their parents, neighbors and fellow brethren, now stood with resolve and drove their enemy right into the drink. Destroyed Maxentious …saw Galerius fall... Saw Maximiun, Diocletian…some of the most brutal tyrants in history fell in that one Reformation. That was the first victory. They went home and established families, and became a living Christian culture, unfortunately, not weaned from statism but that for another time.

The churches replaced the empty temples. Charity and Benevolence…care fort the poor, elderly and handicapped was not abundantly provided by the Christian church…a phenomenon never once perceived among the heathen in 4000 years of history. There was always a place for someone to go to find refuge because of the church. There were people who would care and love a person just because of the need they had…and would make provision to people they had never met before. That was provided throughout a 1/3 part of the whole human race…beyond the Roman Empire. There was a rise in Constitutional procedure… there was the abolition of gladiatorial warfare in Byzantium thought-out the East. There was the abolishing of the unlawfulness of abortion. Constantine then presided over the church of Christ and called for stability. But within her pale, strange disease began to grow yet again. We call it Aryanism today and in 325 it was a young man, not even a minister at the time, Athanasius,, who know his Bible better than the rest of the clergy who were confused divided over the nature, philosophically and theologically of the Trinity and truly marked the way to what we now call the Nicene Creed.

The 2nd victory was a doctrinal one… and the understanding of the Christian Church, there was agreement that Jesus Christ was and remains God of God Very God of Very God begotten not made. Being of one…they called it Homeuceson… One (same) substance with his Father by whom all things were made…he was no less God than his Father or the Spirit of God. He was clearly and commonly understood that God was ONE covenanted God…three persons.

Then the 3rd battle emerged within the churches and that disease began to spread, We would call that liberalism. The Arians rely upon the state sword and began to persecute those who upheld and maintained this creed. They hunted down the faithful. Tried to use state decrees but time and again were thwarted, cursed. Arias himself plunged into a bathroom and died such an ignominious death it even frightened the pagan world. The public latrine was the sight of one the most ghastly horrors ever a man could fall into as far as an “accidental and disturbing death. But he wasn’t the last, but one of the first of a long train of persecutors. One of whom was named Julian. Note the title of the message…the Apostate…Raised as a Christian son, in a liberal home, with liberal clergy men… in fact the most liberal,; most rabid of all, a fellow by the name of Usibius of Nicomedia…a man who networked opposition to the Nicene creed…opposed conservative preaching.

Taught young Julian a faith that mean little other than Christ was a lesser deity, in fact was a man who had raised himself up to become more and more divine. This is typical of humanism today. Christ was an example and the church was victorious because it had engaged in good deeds. “If only we could return” he thought to himself “of the deeper world of the Greeks”, so he plunged himself in to the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle. If only the Old gods of Rome could be revitalized. And then he became emperor and that is precisely what Julian did. Set aside what we would say millions of dollars…challenged the pagan priests that if they would have their temples restored they should mimic Christianity.

This was the 3rd battle… not so much a persecuting sword as far as the bloody sword was concerned… but the mimicry attempted to rival Christianity and Julian went all out. He setup whole bureaucracy that taught good deeds mimicking the churches charities. Utilizing state funding for what we would call welfare. They were refurbishing the paganism of the Universities. Julian whom we’ve called the apostate, never really learned a sound Christianity. His was nothing more than a good example and some good deeds; High moral tone; Charity towards others; Christ is our example. And that’s as deep as it got.

Julian died an apostate in the battlefield. There are legends concerning his words and that in his last days he did realize his revolution had been a sour failure and in his last days he understood that Christianity was much deeper and here is the key. It was as much deeper than a mere example, and much more fertile than some works of Charity. Involved the mystery, the depth of which no human being could plunge. And he even admitted the Church of Christ, which he thought was merely and organization, those who voluntarily subscribed their worship, was an enigma he had no way of explaining. Julian died an apostate. He was raised in a liberal home, ruined by the University education and the liberalism of his minister. He never really heard the word of god expounded but in pieces and it was really nothing more than a warmed over Greek philosophy, which is easy to do if all Christ was a moral example and all we have is moral precepts. But perhaps there is something a little deeper than this.



Romans 6:

The Nicene Creed… the form you have in front of you, this creed 381, represents the 3rd of three great victories. When Julian died… one historian put it, paganism was exhausted and collapsed in the face of a determined and aggressive Christianity, not with the sword, but aggressive with a worldview which could not be answered.

We recited the 3rd great victory of that era; the Milvian Bridge; the original counsel of Nicaea of 325; and the collapse of paganism and liberalism with it. They all went down with Julian. And the young generation trained at Nicaea, grew up to expound this faith.

Romans 6 we find the Apostle Paul has moved from Righteousness imputed to Righteousness which is of service. Did you note that? Chapter 4, Righteousness is imputed to those who have faith in JC. That continues as we saw in Chapter 5, we’ll come to that in a moment. But you’ll not in Chapter 6 Righteousness now becomes a service. He says so… Vs 18.. Being then made free from sin you become servants of Righteousness. vs 16 Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants ……………………unto Righteousness … Righteousness ceases to be an issue only of imputation, but a real issue of service. A point missed all too often in our theologies. Christ does not leave us to something imputed to us and then jettisons us to heaven. No, there is an actual experimentation in our heart that takes place as we begin to experiment with Righteousness Experimental faith… not experimental as try this or that… but learning as you work with the precepts. What’s imputed to you is perfection in Christ. And then what is worked in you becomes experimental. That’s an old use of the term used by the Puritans. You Learn unto Maturity as you try these things out. Not like it is an option, but to the Christian it is a drive… a compulsion. But understand chapter 6 deals with the Service of Righteousness visa vie the service of sin. Well then, how then shall you serve?

Julian thought and was raised to believe Christianity was just a bunch of moral percepts… you do a lot of good out there… thru the churches…voluntary organizations people like minded come together an do lots of good deed…well we can match that with state funds.. He Failed. There wasn’t even a glimmer of success. The temples never were refurbished with throngs of people coming to worship the old gods that had made Rome great we’re told. They flickered and they died. The oracles of the heathen died with them.

Righteousness is the key to understanding Christ’s rule. You and I learned an experimental Righteousness. Not just sanctification. It comes as Christ matures it in our soul and then places you in the body of his people, locally and beyond the body of Christ and ultimately with the saints of all ages. There is a sanctification of you individually and the Sanctification of a people who in turn then go out and clean a sewer called the world.

Three cleaning… you individually, the church of Christ locally regionally, nationally internationally… and then the sewer cleaned by the royal priesthood the church of Christ.

But Righteousness is the issue here in chapter 6 but again I repeat it is a service performed by you and it is the most common use of the term Righteousness … Don’t understand me to say we are somehow suddenly meriting our salvation, we certainly are not, but we are experimentally maturing, or are expected to mature in your understanding of this powerful rule. Righteousness. Just by way of review back In Romans 5.

Romans 5:15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

Adam Fell. And with him fell his posterity. That was a truth we learned in Chapter 5. There are in fact all around this…unity that God works toward. Look at the unity in nature. Punch a hole somewhere in the laws of nature and you’re going to get backlash somewhere else. You damage something out there, and environmentally, which a lot of it is true… a lot facade… but you punch a whole somewhere in our environment, it will come back at us. Pagan men and women do abuse their environment, and more to the point, irrespective to the environmentalist movement there is a world that acts unified and in harmony with laws of nature. Scientist can study and predict it. There is a unity in the world around us.

Adam and his posterity were a unity also. No human being was ever conceived in the mind of God who was not first placed in Adam. It was ONE mankind. One work to be done. That is the harmony of the world around us. You were not conceived of by yourself. No man is an island. You were placed in Adam. Your reason for being here, unlike any of the Greeks could have conceived, was not just as an individual, but rather as a part of the whole. You were conceived in the mind of God who planned to be as part of a united mankind. And mankind and every individual in it was given a responsibility and a union to build the Kingdom to Jesus Christ. That is his right. This is his planet. The fact that the builder is not apparently to be seen…should tell us something.

When someone doesn’t like the presence of another they often leave it… and option Greek philosophers couldn’t conceive… Even Disease is a magnificent mechanism of law…as horrible as it is. But where is the Builder? When you don’t like somebody, you distance yourself and God has done so. That really didn’t occur to the Greeks…We are the problem? We won’t glory the builder, our Creator. Two harmonies. Nature…unified testimony; you can’t punch a hole in it without damaging somewhere else. It works in concert. We find that with the curse. Human Nature works in concert, it will act… you can see while some will believe in mother Gaia… for the earth will act as if she had life to her in the manner she focus’ her attack upon the inhabitants of the land. Don’t be surprised if God gives them over to their idolatries and their mother Gaia comes alive. We know it’s an idol, idolatry, but she will act by God’s command as if she is alive and focus’ her wrath upon the inhabitants and they will not understand unless you preach and teach otherwise. Nature acts in unison. Adam’s sons and daughters were conceived in this part of Adam. Perhaps the glass was cracked at the beginning so all of it fell at once. Two unions…two harmonies…Every individual in Adam is conceived with a calling. And they will be held accountable to God’s throne, to eternity that has been lost in their actions

The effects of Julius Caesar are still being felt. Imagine Julia’s surprise as he stands before a triune God and is held accountable for sins that occur 2000 years later, that he is responsible for. Every one of us has a responsibility forever. Men and women unfortunately will not understand that fear until they face it at the throne of the wrath of Christ. Hope the same is not true of us.

Two unites. The third: the second Adam, the body of Jesus Christ. What will they do? Restore the first two. That’s the power of inheritance given. You and I and the Mystery of Jesus Christ committed to the saints… of all generations, though we are but a minority, are empowered a royal priesthood and we will restore that nature out there bringing back blessing and we will restore mankind, though not all of it by any means. We will enliven mankind that will bring glory and enthronement to Jesus Christ in ethic, behavior, and worldview. A whole new civilization and that is what we call Righteousness

The science will sweep the earth. The ethic and faith will precede it. And the effects of your work, its duration, its fruitfulness, will last forever. Christ will place you in a body and you and I will do what Adam’s posterity was supposed to do the first time. And that is what I mean by restoring the Calling of Mankind. We will bring glory to Jesus Christ. You are not just a Christian. Get over that teaching. We’re all raised in it. We haven’t seen the church act the way she should. None of us has seen the church of Jesus Christ be the church. We almost despair of the thought that the power of the enemy is on the horizon. And then she causes us to mourn with an awful lot of sorrow. She’s a very pregnant woman and she brings forth in her generation the answer to a mystery, and her ideas and resolves become a sweeping force. She becomes a new civilization. From the mind of her infinite Lord, who earned His mediation. Think about that for a moment!

Christ, our mediator… is mediating what? He has already saved us. Yes he keeps us… but what else is he doing there? In fact I’m going to add to the problem a little bit. Turn to Hebrews Chapter 5. I’m going to add to your questions… your problems in your thought process. In verse 5 we’re told “So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee.” So Christ is called by his Father… he did not take the title himself being called a high priest…and we’re told that explicitly in verse 6 As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizdek.” Melchizedek… Melchizedek …King of Righteousness. Look in verse 8. And here’s our problem. The Arians had this problem and they denounced it…they said this demonstrated that Jesus could not have been God. Athanasius settled the issue…way before his time on this point… Verse 8. “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” Verse 9 “ and being made perfect, he becamse the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.” Learned obedience…Made Perfect??? To all that obey him? What???

He learned obedience by the things he suffered? Why? Didn’t he know? What was God…What was he learning? And what is this…Though he were a SON… Why did he have to suffer? More to the point… Being made perfect…. That does not imply he was imperfect it is a word that means mature. Mature? I thought he was God? What was he learning? He had to learn. He had to mature… What is it Jesus Christ had to learn by his sufferings that he didn’t already know being God? The answer to that is nothing… But there is something he had to do as a man… our mediator.. He was learning to be a mediator on our behalf. He was being presented to his father as one who has earned his wife. I grant you…but one who would represent God, he already was that, but also represent man fully and completely, having been a man and suffered and having been tempted in all manner as we are, yet without sin. He could fulfill both ends of the Law of God. Once that Law was given, to pull you and I out from under its curse we needed a mediator first. Someone who would pay that debt of righteousness. He did that. Second of all, he could then as a man, mediate on our behalf. Voluntarily put himself under the suffering necessary not only from the cross but to learn the performance of duty so he could perfectly represent us as a man. He could already do that as God. In this contract and covenant he had to represent both, because we were in no position to represent ourselves. He was the King of Righteousness as a result. He earned it.

What was it he earned? Well… He matured, he learned obedience, he was called by his father unto a ministry he voluntarily subscribed to, and so he could sit down at the Right hand of God the Father and implement a governance of your heart uniting it with the hearts of others in performance of a great work in the earth.

Paul is very keenly aware of the need for us to yield ourselves unto Righteousness as servants of Righteousness, putting away the sinful lusts that once… and still continue to plague and tempt us in our lives. But Paul is arguing in this chapter, for the need to yield ourselves as servants or Righteousness, and that’s a hard thing to do. To yield yourself as a servant of Righteousness is to solve the mystery that God has placed before all of mankind.

Go to Rev 5: 1… “And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written with and on the backside sealed with seven seals. 2. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals therof? Vs 3. And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look theron. Vs 4. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look theron”

Why was John weeping? He had it made…he’s in heaven? Why WEEPING? There is a sealed scroll… 7 places and they asked who is worthy to open the Scroll? And there was no man found. And John Wept. Why?

This reflects the problem we keep referencing when we talk about the builder being absent. To love your neighbor means to understand he stands under condemnation of the Law. He knows not Jesus Christ and there are two things about him we bear in mind. 1. He is under God’s wrath. Not future wrath but NOW…2nd. He can’t see his way. He is condemned under the Law of the Lord, under its judgment. And he has presented a lifestyle that will lead him and others with him into condemnation and ruin. Even his greatest pleasures will come back as his greatest ruin. If you love your neighbor… you have to understand these two things about him. He doesn’t understand the world he is in. We’ve been told concerning the authorities out there… If they had known it…if they knew who they were crucifying they would not have touched… or crucified the Lord of Glory. If they had understood …really understood who was in front of them, it would have been hands off…they would not have touched Christ… But they didn’t know it.

The world, the philosophers: Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Empedocles, and the Roman writers, Cicero, even Julius Caesar, all testify they didn’t understand why they were here. What are the purpose and the meaning of life? So they try to carve one of their own and you and I should be weeping. They are purposeless, wandering stars. They haven’t a clue where they are or why there’re here. Not one came even CLOSE to understanding that great mystery. They are condemned and they wander as pilgrims of the world with no meaning.

That book is sealed that even the Greek philosophers couldn’t open it. They and the Romans tried to open it. They declared an empire that would bring a new way of life…a new civilization all it did was run into barbarians and collapse. The Babylonians with their astrologers tried… Alexander swept the earth and died in despair, knowing his friends would go to war and tear his empire up. He died in despair.

They could not understand the great mystery of why we’re here. The scroll was sealed tight, and there was only One worth to unloose it. And we find him here. And note what it says verse 5 “And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals therof.” And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” They were amazed; he now began to open the book and is going to now administer a government. He’s identified elsewhere as Melchizedek …His people are a people who are servants of righteousness.

We don’t save a bland morality. We don’t just erect churches or get married and have kids… hopefully we know WHY we home school? Some of us ask that question every day? Why do we home school? Because the public schools are bad? NO… We homes school to Train them up in Righteousness. We are teaching them a new government. Government is not in Washington DC and will not occur on Election Day. Government is Righteousness and there is a King that unites the Callings of each one of your hearts that he creates in Righteousness… whereby we yield our members…your hands, thoughts, eyes, feet, body, calling your time. You yield your members as servants of Righteousness… We’re no longer talking about what got you saved. Imputation, we’re not about an experimental righteousness that Christ does. Take a look…you’ll see it.

Turn to Judges 13. The story here is of Samson’s parents before his conception. A man appeared to Samson’s mom and declared to her she would have a great son by the authority of the Lord will deliver Israel from the bondage of the tyrannical Philistines. And she ran to Manoah her husband and said, “This man told me these great things”… he asked who… and she said… “Someone of such a terrible countenance, like that of an angel.” So they went back and Manoah prayed, “Lord show me please this man”, and he does. And we’re told… Vs..17 And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, “what is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour? Vs 18 and the angel of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret??”

You’re looking at the angel of the Lord…Christ himself. The Old Testament revelation was a dimly lit room. That held the mystery. The light was turned on when it was completed by the New Testament revelation. Now the mystery was exposed and explained fully. It’s not the Old Testament or the New Testament…it is the UNION again… God loves that idea… a union of the testaments.. The Old a dimly lit room, where you could see the different parts…and the mystery beginning to be unveiled, where Christ hid himself , and in the fullness of time he came, died and was resurrected and opened up the fullness of that revelation in the NT, but now it is New expounding upon Old. He has completed his revelation. And you’ll note what the angel says… “My name is secret and …verses 19 and 20. So Manoah took a kid with a meal offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground.”

They had just seen God. They prepared a sacrifice and the Angel of the Lord did wondrously. Miraculously, they saw something in the sacrifice that was a wonder…and when the flame shot up he ascended into heaven…prefiguring his great reign through his people. Let’s look at that in Daniel 7:9

We’re told “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool: his throne was like a fiery flame, an his wheels as burning fire. And then in verse 13. I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of Days and they brought him near before him, and there was given him dominion, and glory and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages, should serve him: his domino is an everlasting dominion: which shall not pass away, and his kingdom which shall not be destroyed.”

When Manoah and his wife saw something done marvelously in that sacrifice…that Marvel is YOU… You’re the fruits of that sacrifice. What he does is He builds within the Christian and yielding, unto the Government of His throne, where he unites the counsels of the hearts of each and every one of us, in a unified progressive ongoing work that will not stop. Isaiah looking forward in the ages to the Mountain that will grow and the increase of that Kingdom there shall be no end.

Let me repeat that…and of the increase of that kingdom there shall be no end…from the throne of David… establish forever… but it is a mystery to the nations until lo and behold it sits in front of them… accomplished.

The Romans blinked one day and there were a whole series of churches dotting the countryside. Their executions, courts, laws were changed. Their bloodied combats were banished in the eastern part of the empire. Abortion was unlawful. Churches which had been persecuted were not only triumphant but they were the leadership in the institutions and culture. Education was taking place ala Christ. Homes were ordered. There wasn’t the mercenary spirit in the armies anymore. That was looked down upon. There were too many Christians in those ranks. When you went to war you went to defend your people, not to rape and plunder. Women were upheld. In fact in Christian tradition, a woman still does come right now the aisle and the congregation stands… that began in the early church because the woman prefigured, pictured, the church…and only through that theology will a woman be elevated. No other theology does that.

We have to laugh at professors in colleges talking about how Greeks Celebrated Women.. When you read Plato and Aristotle…what you find is they admired the Haterra….the expensive call girls…denouncing their wives… as Socrates said… “With whom do you talk less than with your wife???” Yet the call girls…he admired.

So the statements taking out of context in these liberal colleges…when they elevate the woman…they leave you without the context. Call girls… Expensive ones…Aspasia was one of them…admired by Socrates…you bet she was. That was a tough call too wasn’t it? Expensive prostitutes tended to be cultured women… but now when it comes to wives or women in general. Take Christianity on the other hand in the days of Constantine. Even the pagan philosophers of Rome admitted Christianity raised up that which was despicable…the woman being an EQUAL of a man. Despised? Christianity changed the landscape and this battle had a whole lot more surrounding it than a doctrine. It was a world of ethics.

The Nicene Creed may look very simple… and doctrinally it is very simplicity… but the new ethic that was introduced that became the platform for this doctrine was immense…changed the world. You see Christians were being united. There is that word again. Harmoniously by the infinite mind of their mediator… who alone could take the problem of evil…and there we go…there’s the mystery… the problem of evil…causing people to pass through it and change it from within. The problem of evil does not by itself lend itself to truth…but the problem of evil does lend itself to righteousness. The one who does marvelously in the sacrifice, who takes you into it to study its guts…to go in the innards and pull out…cast aside and rebuild. Every time you act in an upright manner you are a study in a victory over death and hell. You are a study in the power over evil .Every time you submit yourself in faith to Jesus Christ and yield your members to Righteousness even in thought you are a study in a new kind of government. And that is why Paul is so excited. He doesn’t say just because you get Moral…even Buddhist have morality. Let’s deal with something that has worked wondrously from the cross of JC Every time you struggle with sin…and this is WHY you struggle with sin, there is a marvel that takes place, a war within you that seeks to overcome wickedness and bury it. You may struggle with a particular sin for years IT may beat you up and knock you down. That’s a Righteous man falling 7 times… but every time you get beaten, if you are a Christian, you study its fruits, you study the strength, you will marvel at the strength of evil and the power the sin is in your soul. I believed that? .I did that? Boy I wish I had my youth back.. I wouldn’t make those mistakes again. Oh yes you would. We’d all make the same mistakes again. However the yielding unto righteousness… is a new government. And we’re going to study that government in Chapter 7.

Here we are in Chapter 6 with Paul is calling us to yield our members unto Righteousness. Chapter 5 a discussion as the harmony was lost, the glass cracked. There was no Righteousness in the sons of Adam, but now there is in the sons of Christ. Chapter 6 is now yielding your members as instruments of a new government… Melchizedek . Chapter 7 will teach you all about the wrestling…the things that I would not… that which I do. The old man in you. You know that passage, and in that same chapter you’ll find the functions we talked about in the law of the Lord. The law is no longer your enemy. It was not an enemy because it was bad…but we were. We were adversaries of God. The Law was never evil…not EVER. But like the Greeks…we just can’t imagine that we were the problem, so the builder distanced himself…

Chapter 7 we’re going to learn the Law of the Lord is a toolbox, and craftsmen pull out those tools identifying and defining sin and going to war with lasciviousness… in matters of Holinesses and spirituality of or pertaining to the Holy Spirit… defining sin, cultivating and understanding and maturing the law of God. Like the dry kernel…out pops this beautiful foliage…that is what Righteousness is … Righteousness is not the Kernel…that’s the law… bare precept and there it is. But our Lord will deal marvelously from his throne…and in your heart by his Holy Spirit will come out like a whole flower garden that no one could conceive of.

Who could have seen that out of Leviticus and Deuteronomy would have popped Magna Charta…and who could have seen in Magna Chart there was a greater need for maturity, and English bill of rights…and who could have foreseen that from the English Bill of rights would come our Constitution? Who could have foreseen that just ahead of us there is an even greater constitutional moment? And that’s in just one field of the culture carriers…We haven’t even dealt with medicine… the arts…theater, music…but we have a lot of young people who are dealing with arts, mathematics, music, entrepreneurship, we have a lot of experimentation going on because mom and dad are yielding themselves as instruments of Righteousness and it is warfare at times. And it may be such a warfare you can just imagine you sit down exhausted and you wonder…Why have we done this???? Because there is a marvel occurring in your heart and you’ll get up tomorrow and do the same thing.

Christ has done a marvelous thing on his throne and now you are yielding against your will. The Greeks talk of freedom of their wills, we don’t. While we talk of a marvel of a work AGAINST OUR WILL, we say enough of this Free Will Nonsense. Will of What? We are yielding unto a government contrary to our will. That’s Calvinism. We are given the Mind of Christ. We don’t want the exasperation of trying to be free philosophers out there trying to thing through what the mystery is. The marvel is Christ, having sent his Spirit will give you another mind. And another world begins to open up. Your whole way is directed.

I know of people whose entire lives were changed just by one simple trite act they took, where the entire stream of their life was diverted into a river elsewhere. I know many or your lives here, I know details about you, good bad and indifferent, some which though, were life changing, and the marvel is Christ did wondrously in your life and you testify of it…same with mine…and out of which came something we could not conceive. That’s a mystery. Only God could direct the problem of evil to send his people and his priests to plead and petition his throne for change and as Kings exercise dominion over it and make the change.

Chapter 6 is not a stand alone chapter on sanctification. It is part of the whole. And there we are again; Union Harmony; the entirety of the book. From Chapter 5 we have one harmony disrupted, the sons of Adam, the glass was cracked. The builder left. . But in that same chapter we’re assured there is another union, another body, in Jesus Christ and they will go back an uncrack the glass and go back and restore the heritage of their Lord.

Chapter 6 takes us on the journey where we are no longer just saved…we are now yielding to another government and every time we go to war, struggle with sin, with the most detestable thing in your mind and heart, you then can hear the words of your Lord…
Matthew 10 :37. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”

That doesn’t mean we put an end to those, it simply means there are priorities…Nothing more important that Jesus Christ and his Kingly enthronement as Melchizedek… The king of Righteousness has given you the mind of Christ. Righteousness you then yield contrary to your inclinations… the old man in you doesn’t want it, and you start yielding to another government in your war with sin. No Philosopher ever dreamed of this…they never come close.

How is it a woman yields herself unto Christ and then Christ elevates her in the eyes of Society? How is it a Christian woman will adorn submission and God puts them in exultation? Only God would do that. See our philosophies do not just have a woman submit to a man, but also God will exalt a woman and she’ll not be amazed when God goes to fight for her. There are 2 sides to this issue…and yes…Children do honor their parents. It’s a command from the government of God…and by doing so they are rewarded with long life. Teach your children to be ornery and sinful and you help put them to death. The Scriptures teach us that when you yield your members as instruments of Righteousness you go to war with sin. You are a study in the turning over of Satan’s Kingdom. You are in fact a study of a new government being put in place and there is no one who will undo that. There is an eternal work being done by you by your thoughts your hands. Your very body and your presence here shows you are defiance of the liberalism out there… the weakness and wishy-washiness is what you stand against. Not mocking… but because there is a faith that emboldens you.

Take all I’ve said about people who yield themselves…their members as instruments of Righteousness and put them consciously in a Covenant called the church…and the problems given to the church are not the same as given to the individual.

We have not yet seen what God does when he works marvelously with his Church. He works marvelously in individuals called Christians. He will begin to unite their combined works on the way to uniting them he placed the church in their midst and many of them. And the promises given to the church are tough when compared to those given to the individual.

The difference between the soldier who is very well trained…like the Navy Seal… that is the Christian…then place him in the entire special forces…that’s the Church…The devastation on the enemy…they will not stand.

Give me one very well trained pilot in his jet plane send him off…that’s the Christian…put him in an entire air force and that’s the church. One will ransack and devastate an area. The other can destroy an entire nation…and did so.

What God does in you as an individual, is not the same promise he does with the church. What is true of the part is not necessarily true of the whole…it is much greater. It is the second part we haven’t seen. No demeaning the great Christian testimonies… but there are not a lot of great churches out there… Those promised the juggernaut of the church is not in place. You cannot keep a nation this powerfully spiritually with just individually efforts. It cannot be done. You can’t win a nation. This nation was not cultured because of the strength of one given man, George Washington and Patrick Henry not withstanding. It’s too great. It stands as a monument as the collective influences of the Christian Church.

We won’t deal with this today…but note. That Book of Revelation. You have elders EVERYWHERE… Something he does with Eldership that he doesn’t do with you and me, normally as Christians…There is a distinct kind of government the elders represent. IT is there by promise.

What is true of the parts is not necessarily part of the whole. Give me two Christians… a male and a female… very strong Christian people… who exercise godliness. Put them together in a marriage and you have a potent government.

Take those same families, those same individuals, and put them together in a church and you have a very powerful set of promises where God will manifest his presence in much greater proportions. Give them a set of elders and the word of God and you have an even greater set of promises. Give them a much more powerful theology… and one of the marvels of this theology is that God did not mature it all at once. WE couldn’t take it. He did not mature this theology in once big gulp. So he gave it to his bride… his wife…in stages. And he will press her to learn greater and greater maturities.

Chapter 6 of Romans is about yielding your members unto Righteousness. You’ve already got your salvation in tact. If you know Jesus Christ , his perfections are imputed to you, but if you k now Jesus Christ he will drive you by the third person of the trinity to yield your voice, your eyes, your hands, body, thoughts unto the government of the son of God. It will be contrary most times to your will. You will struggle against your flesh. You won’t want the demands of Righteousness and if you don’t want them… Be very careful…because if Christ does... you finish the sentence

The marvel is that there is a government. Did you notice too? Here in Daniel 7 we find all kingdoms, languages all people and nations will serve him. That is the promise in vs. 14. Did you notice that when we read Rev 5… part of that was picked up? All people all nations. Christ has guaranteed his work that the government of individuals…churches…and a body will constitute the entirety of creation of ethics and of civilization and will present to Christ, mature. And then there will be a new heaven and new earth and all that goes with it for perfection. But it is sufficient to say there will be maturity a handling of the world around… the handling of a new civilization…an ever growing an ever maturing one, in your soul first and then in the society of the world about.

So when you go about the government, whether we call it homeschooling, parenting, discipline, building a church, our constitution or civic duties…whatever they may be in calling, you are yielding yourselves as servants, contrary to yourselves formerly as servants of sin. You will find new courage, a new blueprint for life, and ever maturing theological understanding and worldview that has no rivals. You will find the fellowship of very wise individuals called your brethren. You’ll find that maturity will bring about a kingdom that shall never be destroyed that will include all nations, languages and tongues. That is not a popular theology right now. You heard me say earlier, the majority of the majority of the people in “Christendom’ did not believe this. Julian the apostate tried to take advantage of it. He tried to reconstitute paganism, just like our enemies, who are doing the same thing. They too are using Christians to reconstitute paganism, by building their version of what Julian tried to refurbish. They want another empire. They always do. They need the Christians to do it. Julian tried.

312, 325 and 381 AD. Three Victories. Spanning three generations of Reformation. Three victories never was their a majority of individuals who yielded themselves as individuals of Righteousness

Turn to Revelation before we close. When the Law of God demanded Redemption one who could represent both man and God…hence Christ was both, united in his person those two natures. Now he sits enthroned as man and God and as another part of this mystery… in Revelation 6, note when he unseals. We went through it in class, but note the seals that were loosened. vs. 2. The first seal. The white horse. Went forth conquering and to conquer. The son of God goes out to conquer. Vs 4.. The red horse…given power given to kill… a sword given to kill. Vs 5 a black horse with a pair of balances indicating famine. Vs 8 a pale horse… hunger, sword, plague, death… Why was John weeping that these were sealed? You‘d want these sealed wouldn’t you??? Wouldn’t you want these to be kept inside the book and not unleashed? So why was John weeping? Why weep for THIS? I would rather he just kept it in the book…unless of course, something else is promised here by this. Can you imagine what is being promised here? And why John wept that they were not yet loosed?

Wars, plagues and famine had gone on before. It doesn’t matter what happens in this election. God will direct his missiles. He will upend them. John wept because the wicked still controlled planet earth. The seals were unloosed to end that regime. And the wicked aren’t about to get resealed. Ultimately it doesn’t matter what happens in the election. That doesn’t mean you don’t take whatever your conscious tell you to do as far as your civic duties are concerned. I’m not addressing that. I’m simply telling you, they were unsealed. Even though there had been plagues, death and armies, and all that before, they were unsealed because Christ had sent his missiles and direct them against the regime of evil. Satan’s kingdom is coming down, as Righteousness grows, when we yield to Righteousness.

And the promise I’ll set before you again…remember, individually and collectively the latter has not yet occurred. When God’s people learn the power of covenanting the regime of evil will have seen it’s dominion in this generation.


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