Hypocrites and Backsliders-006

1. Hypocrites and Backsliders-006 Adam and Eve: Part 1 - Why are We Here?

2. The Antagonistic Environment: Angelic Conflict • The revolt of the angels: the beginning of the angelic conflict. • What God had anticipated came about and the highest ranked angel expressed negative volition toward God and sinned. Ezk. 28:15-16a, 17a, 18a 12/02/07

3. The Antagonistic Environment: Angelic Conflict • According to Isaiah 14:12, his name was Lucifer (Latin).
The shining one. This was because of his magnificent beauty. • As a result, God removed Lucifer from his heavenly position. Ezk. 28:16b • He also pronounced a permanent judgment on this angel who was now to be known as, Satan, which means adversary.
 • The judgment pronounced was the lake of fire. Ezk. 28:18b-19; Mat. 25:41 12/02/07

4. Angelic Observation • When Satan sinned against God, he was sentenced to the lake of fire for all eternity. Ezek. 28.19b; Mt. 25.41
 • Mt 25:41 Then He will say to those at His left hand, Begone from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels! • Satan's ultimate goal to win escape from this sentence is to totally discredit and destroy the character and viewpoint of God so as to displace Him as the sovereign of the universe. 
Is. 14.14 12/02/07

5. Creation • Lucifer's sin was pride which caused him to promote himself above God and to violate the divine trust assigned to him. Ezek. 28:16a, 17a, 18a. • When this sin emerged, Lucifer was removed from his heavenly duties and personally condemned to the lake of fire. Ezek. 28;19, "you will be no more." 12/02/07

6. Creation • In this promotion of self and criticism of God, he persuaded 1/3 of the angels to follow him. Rev. 12:4 • All the angels who followed Lucifer were indicted by God and given the same destiny of the lake of fire. Mat. 25:41. • At this point, Lucifer protested and postulated his doctrine of love and fairness, "how can a loving God cast his creatures, who he loves, into the lake of fire?" • This is an attack on divine righteousness and justice, thinking that love supersedes them. Job 4:18.2. • Thus, for God to be perfectly fair, he must demonstrate the perfect compatibility between all three of those attributes, without compromising any of them. 12/02/07

7. The Antagonistic Environment: Angelic Conflict • When this final judgment was pronounced on Satan, he then devised what he thought was a "God-proof" escape plan. • We can call it, Satan's Appeal of Love and Fairness: • It is impossible for a loving God to cast His creatures into the lake of fire. • It is unfair to judge a creature for failing when you put into him the capacity to fail, ie, volition. 12/02/07

8. The Antagonistic Environment: Angelic Conflict • The Angelic Conflict • But these concepts are expressed from the viewpoint of a creature who now has a "distorted" mentality and wisdom. Ezek. 28:17,"You corrupted your wisdom" • The fallen angel now has a distorted, corrupt, evil "nature." • In his corruption, he failed to consider the absolute nature of God's righteousness and justice in conjunction with the "impartiality" of His perfect love. 12/02/07

9. The Antagonistic Environment: Angelic Conflict • This understanding of Satan's "protest" is based on four factors. • That Lucifer’s title was changed to Satan, or Adversary, Accuser, Attorney. • The expression of this very viewpoint by a demon (fallen angel) who visited Eliphaz at Job 4:12-21.
(God is unfair and unloving) 12/02/07

10. The Antagonistic Environment: Angelic Conflict • Job 4:12-21 Now a word was brought to me stealthily, And my ear received a whisper of it. Amid disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men, Dread came upon me, and trembling, And made all my bones shake. Then a spirit passed by my face; The hair of my flesh bristled up. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance; A form was before my eyes; There was silence, then I heard a voice: Can mankind be just before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker? He puts no trust even in His servants; And against His angels He charges error. How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before the moth! Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces; Unobserved, they perish forever. 
Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them? They die, yet without wisdom. 12/02/07

11. The Antagonistic Environment: Angelic Conflict • The "fact" that Satan’s sentence was pronounced in Eternity Past, yet he is not NOW in the lake of fire; the fact that man was createde after the pronouncement of his sentence; the fact that angels are so interested in humanity, and that Satan has such an interest in the Fall of Man and the prevention of his Salvation, requires a "reasonable" explanation as to "why?" • The expression of this very viewpoint throughout the history of the human race under the influence of Satan's revolution. 12/02/07

12. The Antagonistic Environment: Angelic Conflict • When Satan rebelled against God, God established some kind of "confrontation" or "test period" for the other angels to determine for all time, which angels were on "God's side" and which wanted to follow in Satan's revolt.
 • After this "test period" the lines were drawn, decisions made and two types of angels were now in existence in the universe 12/02/07

13. The Antagonistic Environment: Angelic Conflict • The elect or un-fallen angels who adhered to Divine design.
Hebrews 1:6, angels of God . (1 Tim. 5:21) • The fallen angels, now in active and perpetual rebellion against God and aligned under the ruling authority of Satan to promote his cause. Satan's angels, Rev. 12:7; Mat. 25:41 12/02/07

14. The Antagonistic Environment: Angelic Conflict • Thus we determine that God has delayed execution of sentence on Satan in order to demonstrate to him and to all of creation that He is indeed perfectly fair, righteous and loving. • During this "delay of sentence" period, Satan is constantly attempting to overthrow God's sovereignty. • Only when the absolute sovereignty of God is neutralized can Satan' s volition be independent and unrestricted by God and His character. 12/02/07

15. The Antagonistic Environment: Angelic Conflict • The Angelic Conflict • In order to do this, Satan need only "prove" that God is really unjust and unloving. • To thus discredit God will make the divine verdict toward him to be invalid. • The plan of Satan is outlined at Isaiah 14:13-14 with the 
5 "I wills." • And he really thinks he can succeed. But that "optimism" comes from his distorted, twisted, self-centered mentality which was corrupted when he initially sinned. Ezek. 28:17, "corrupted." 12/02/07

16. The Antagonistic Environment: Angelic Conflict • God's vindication of His justice began with the creation of the human race on the very planet that Satan had once inhabited. • The earth. • It is likely that Satan had his original Headquarters on the earth, which at that time was inhabited by non-volitional life forms (such as dinosaurs, etc). 12/02/07

17. Creation • Because of his “Appeal”, Satan and his angels were given a stay of execution until such time as God demonstrates the validity of His judicial indictment upon them. • So God put a stop to Satan's possession of the earth and totally destroyed its surface by covering it with water and ice. 2 Pet. 3:5-6 • This is described in Gen. 1:1-2 in general. • The earth became: The verb is, hAyAh which is frequently translated, "became." (Gen. 2:7; 19:26; Isaiah 66:2) 12/02/07

18. Creation • Formless: a waste = tohu
Cf. Is. 45:18, it was not created this way. • And empty: bohu - lit., emptiness • Physical non-volitional life forms destroyed.
 • Satan and angels were forced from its habitation. • And then God (possibly immediately or some unknown time later) began re-forming the surface which is described in detail at Gen. 1:2b through 2:4.5. • Thus the 6 days of "creation" are actually 6 days of "restoration." • (Note the Holy Spirit "brooding" over the surface; the Holy Spirit is always involved with restoration projects.) 12/02/07

19. Creation • This is called the “gap”, the period of time between the original creation and the restoration of the earth. • The length of the gap is unknown and can be speculated about through geological discussion. • But the existence of this "gap" is both reasonable and necessary in view of the revealed details of the angelic conflict. • God made the planet earth "unusable" for Satan by turning it into "a wasteland and empty," (Hebrew - tohu and bohu).
CF. Isaiah 45:18; Jer. 4:23-26; Psalm 18:7-15 12/02/07

20. Creation • The earth was then restored and prepared for God's new creation, the human race. Gen. 1:3 through 2:4. • Man was created with the same capacity of volition and given the clear choice between acceptance or rejection of Divine policy. Gen. 2:16-17: • "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it dying you shall die”. 12/02/07

21. Creation • Adam and Eve became the subject of the “Appeal”, the "test case" for the perfect character of God. • As they remain faithful to divine policy, God's righteousness, justice and love are vindicated. • If they reject divine policy, God's justice is restated and affirmed. "You shall surely die." 12/02/07

22. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • God was Creator, and Adam created; therefore, God was sovereign, and Adam subject. • While Adam had complete liberty to develop in every way in line with God’s eternal purpose and for his own eternal benefit, he must remain within the circle of God’s beneficent will to establish God’s Justice, Righteousness and Love as consistent and overthrow Satan’s Appeal. • To establish the sphere of His will for Adam, God set forth a single condition. 12/02/07 22

23. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • Genesis 2:16-17 (YLT) 16 And Jehovah God layeth a charge on the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden eating thou dost eat; 17 and of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou dost not eat of it, for in the day of thine eating of it dying thou dost die.” • In order for Adam to develop into a responsible and loving companion to God, not a mere automaton or slave, it was necessary that God give him a choice: to accept God’s will -- the way of eternal life; or to reject God’s will -- the way of eternal death. 12/02/07 23

24. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • When one realizes the only possible relationship between perfect Creator and creature, and the unbelievable consequences of creature rebellion, there was no choice on God’s part but to lay down the ultimate for sin. ･“Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, mine Holy One? Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look upon iniquity” (Habakkuk 1:12, 13). 12/02/07 24

25. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • Any deviation from the will of God is lawlessness; it is sin. And, of necessity,“the wages of sin is death”(Romans 6:23). • God is so utterly holy and pure that the result of sin must be eternal banishment from his presence. • At first thought one might be tempted to think that God was extremely harsh and unreasonable with Adam. • Death for just one disobedience, and the first one at that? • Why, God didn’t even say, “That’s one!” 12/02/07 25

26. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • Let us look at Satan’s interest in Mankind, beginning with the first Man and Woman. • Genesis 3:1 And the serpent hath been subtile above every beast of the field which Jehovah God hath made, and he saith unto the woman, 'Is it true that God hath said, Ye do not eat of every tree of the garden?’ • Here we see Satan injecting himself into the lives of the first Humans. 12/02/07

27. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • Satan knows that Humans are to determine his fate -- Lake of Fire or Vindication of his claim of unfairness against God. • So he immediately sets about to win the Appeal by enticing the witnesses to join him in rebellion, to “testify on his behalf”, or, at least, to enlist the new creatures in his army. • Let us look at his attempt to corrupt the 1st witnesses: 12/02/07

28. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • Genesis 3:1 And the serpent hath been subtile above every beast of the field which Jehovah God hath made, and he saith unto the woman, 'Is it true that God hath said, Ye do not eat of every tree of the garden?' 2And the woman saith unto the serpent, 'Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we do eat, 3and of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said, Ye do not eat of it, nor touch it, lest ye die.' 4And the serpent saith unto the woman, 'Dying, ye do not die, 5for God doth know that in the day of your eating of it -- your eyes have been opened, and ye have been as God, knowing good and evil.' 12/02/07 28

29. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • 6 And the woman seeth that the tree is good for food, and that it is pleasant to the eyes, and the tree is desirable to make one wise, and she taketh of its fruit and eateth, and giveth also to her husband with her, and he doth eat; 7 and the eyes of them both are opened, and they know that they are naked, and they sew fig-leaves, and make to themselves girdles.8 And they hear the sound of Jehovah God walking up and down in the garden at the breeze of the day, and the man and his wife hide themselves from the face of Jehovah God in the midst of the trees of the garden. 12/02/07 29

30. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • 9 And Jehovah God calleth unto the man, and saith to him, 'Where art thou?' 10 and he saith, 'Thy sound I have heard in the garden, and I am afraid, for I am naked, and I hide myself.' 11 And He saith, 'Who hath declared to thee that thou art naked? of the tree of which I have commanded thee not to eat, hast thou eaten?' 12 and the man saith, 'The woman whom Thou didst place with me -- she hath given to me of the tree -- and I do eat.' 13 And Jehovah God saith to the woman, 'What is this thou hast done?' and the woman saith, 'The serpent hath caused me to forget -- and I do eat.' 12/02/07 30

31. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • “Of course, the ultimate reason for all aging and death is the curse on all creation (Genesis 3).ﾊ Adam was told that if he disobeyed God, ﾔdying, you shall dieﾕ (literal Hebrew).ﾊ Adam immediately died spiritually, and began to die physically on that same day, just as we are all dying today.ﾊ Modern genetic research shows that we all inherit the inevitability of aging and death.ﾊ When we look at our encroaching wrinkles in the mirror, it should remind us of the awfulness of sin in the sight of a holy God.ﾊ And, it should cause us immense thankfulness that God has provided a way of escape from His own righteous judgment on sin, through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Dr. Carl Wieland, published in the Sept.-Nov., 1999 issue of Creation Magazine 12/02/07 31

32. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • Romans 5:12 because of this, even as through one man the sin did enter into the world, and through the sin the death; and thus to all men the death did pass through, for that all did sin; • (17 for if by the offence of the one the death did reign through the one...) • (18 So, then, as through one offence to all men it is to condemnation...) • (19 for as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were constituted sinners...) • 1 Corinthians 15:22 (YLT)22 for even as in Adam all die 12/02/07

33. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • Now we see the absolute genius of God! • Instead of creating billions of Humans and letting them all be an identical test to that of the Angels, He reversed the test, creating just one pair of Humans and allowing them to fall and to turn against Him, so that ALL of their offspring would be born on Satan’s side with the “free will” choice to choose God’s side out of the weakened position of Satan’s dominance. 12/02/07

34. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • Now we see the absolute genius of God! • Instead of creating billions of Humans and letting them all be an identical test to that of the Angels, He reversed the test, creating just one pair of Humans and allowing them to fall and to turn against Him, so that ALL of their offspring would be born on Satan’s side with the “free will” cjhoice to choose God’s side out of the weakened position of Satan’s dominance. • Romans 5:12 Corrected and Expanded ･ Just as through one man [Adam] the sin nature entered into the world and the death [spiritual; resulting in separation from God] through the sin, and so the spiritual death [separation from God because of a sinful nature] spread throughout all men [by means of human procreation at conception], because all mankind [seminally] sinned when Adam sinned. 12/02/07

35. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • (Why is it that the Man was to be the source of “The Sin” and “The Death” to all his progeny and not the Woman? • 1 Timothy 2:13-14 (YLT) 13 for Adam was first formed, then Eve, 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman, having been deceived, into transgression came) 12/02/07 35

36. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • Romans 5 is a clear exposition of this plan: • Paul describes the manner in which The Death entered the world, through The Sin, and the manner in which it spread to everyone, also through The Death. • The Death is universal; it is part of every individual born alive into this world. • The Death is the absence of Spiritual Life. • Its natural consequence is Physical Death. • That is, when death entered the species, it went throughout the species, affecting every cell of everyone. • The reason why death affects all, Paul says, is that all sinned genetically in Adam. • Here Adam is looked upon as the federal [genetic] head of the race, and that when he sinned, all of humanity sinned in him. 12/02/07

37. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • 1 Corinthians 15:22 (YLT) 22 for even as in Adam all die, so also in the Christ all shall be made alive, • 1 Corinthians 15:45 (YLT) 45 so also it hath been written, “The first man Adam became a living creature, the last Adam is for a life-giving spirit, • It is Adam’s initial sin that constituted him a sinner in which all human beings participated, and which brings death upon all. • In other words, we are sinners, not because we have committed acts of sin, but because Adam sinned. (Wuest) 12/02/07

38. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • Romans 5:12 ･“Therefore (because of this),”[dia touto]). ･ Because of what? • Romans 1-8 ･ • From 1:1 to 5:11 form the first half of a unit and the three-and-a half chapters from 5:12 to 8:39 form the second half. • A careful reading will show us that the subject-matter of the two halves is not the same. 12/02/07

39. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • For example, in the first section we find the plural word “sins” given prominence. • In the second section, however, this is changed, for while the word “sins” hardly occurs once, the singular word “sin” with the definite article. “the”, is used again and again and is the subject mainly dealt with. • Why is this? Romans 1-8 • In the first section it is a question of the sins I have committed before God, which are many and can be enumerated, whereas in the second it is a question of “the sin” as a nature working in me. 12/02/07

40. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • No matter how many sins I commit, it is always “the sin” that leads to them. • I need propritiation for my sins for my salvation, but I need also deliverance from the power of “the sin”, or else I shall ever be a Hypocrite and Backslider. • The former touches my salvation, the latter my spiritual life and in the latter, the issue of Hypocrites and Backsliders. 12/02/07

41. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • I realize I have committed sins before Him; but when once I have received propitiation of sins I make a new discovery, namely, the discovery of “the sin”, and I realize not only that I have committed sins before God but that there is something wrong within me. • I discover that I have the nature of a sinner. • There is an inward inclination to sin, a power within that pull me to sin. • When that power breaks out I commit sins. • I may confess and receive forgiveness, but then I sin once more. 12/02/07 41

42. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • So life goes on in a vicious circle of sinning and being forgiven and then sinning again. • We appreciate the blessed fact of God's forgiveness, but I want something more than that: I want deliverance from that cycle. • I need forgiveness for what I have done, but I need also deliverance from what I am. 12/02/07 42

43. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • Thus in the first eight chapters of Romans two aspects of salvation are presented to us: • firstly, the propitiation of our sins, and • secondly, our deliverance from the sin. • In keeping with this fact, we must notice a further difference.Romans 1-8 • In the first part of Romans 1 to 8, we twice have reference to the Blood of the Lord Jesus, in chapter 3:25 and in chapter 5:9. 12/02/07

44. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • In the second, a new idea is introduced in chapter 6:6, where we are said to have been “crucified” with Christ. • The argument of the first part centers on the aspect of the work of the Lord Jesus which is represented by “the Blood” shed for our justification through “the remission of sins”. • This terminology is however not carried on into the second section, where the argument centers now in the aspect of His work represented by 'the Cross', that is to say, by our union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. 12/02/07

45. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • Herein lies a great problem, the key to the issue of Hypocrites and Backsliders; the failure to learn the difference between “the blood” - our salvation and the “crucifixion”, our death to the Sin Nature. • We shall see that the Blood deals with what we have done, whereas the Cross deals with what we are. • The Blood disposes of our sins, while the Cross strikes at the root of our capacity for sin. • We begin, then, with the precious Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and its value to us in dealing with our sins and justifying us in the sight of God. 12/02/07

46. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • This is set forth for us in the following passages:“All have sinned”(Romans 3. 23). ･“God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath of God through him”(Rom. 5.8, 9). • Sin enters as disobedience, to create first of all a separation between God and man whereby man is put away from God. ･ God can no longer have fellowship with him, for there is something now which hinders, and it is that which is known throughout Scripture as ﾔsinﾕ. • When therefore the Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross, He was crucified as the last Adam - the end of an old kingdom. 12/02/07

47. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • All that was in the first Adam was gathered up and done away in Him. • We were included there. • As the last Adam He wiped out the old kingdom; as the second Man He brings in the new kingdom. • It is in His resurrection that He stands forth as the second Man, and there too we are included. • For if we have become united with him by the likeness of his death, we shall be also by the likeness of his resurrection(Romans 6. 5). 12/02/07

48. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • We died in Him as the last Adam; we live in Him as the second Man. • The Cross is thus the power of God which translates us from Adam to Christ. • ﾒthrough one manﾓ･ Adam, who disobeyed God’s command in the Garden of Eden not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17, 3:6Romans 5:12 • Paul says thatsin entered the world through one man. • He does not name him until verse 14, but there is no doubt that he is referring to Adam. 12/02/07

49. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • He emphasizes his point by putting “as through one man” first in the clause. • This one man, and indeed one evil deed of this one man, is very important and underlies the whole discussion. • Twelve times in verses 12-19 we have the wordone;repeatedly Paul refers to one man Adam (and to one sin of that one man), and opposes to him (and to it) the one man Jesus Christ (and his one work of grace). ･ The one man and his sin and the one Savior and his salvation are critical to the discussion. 12/02/07

50. Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian Life • In what sense is it to be understood that through Adam’s fall sin entered the world? • Is it in the sense that everyone learned to sin from Adam and became sinners like Adam? • Or, is it that those who were born inherited their sinful nature from Adam, and as a natural result, committed sins? 12/02/07