ONENESS AND THE EXAMPLE OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

Thursday, March 18, 1999
Bible Study

There is a great truth that we need to recognize which incorporates all the christian life.

2Joh 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

Jesus came into this world not live like God.

He was God manifested in flesh.
To deny the humanity of Jesus is to deny that Jesus came in the flesh.
God was not becoming God in the incarnation.
Nor was God becoming man.
Jesus came as God manifested in man.
God Manifesting through man.

John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared [him].

The amplified says: "He has revealed Him; He has brought Him out where He can be seen; He has interpreted Him and He has made Him known."

Phil 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

He was born a human being.

Jesus humbled Himself.
And that means He emptied Himself.
Lowered Himself.
Made Himself of no power and in need of help.
Totally dependent upon another.

Not only did Jesus do this, but it was essential in order to save mankind.

Hebr 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto [his] brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things [pertaining] to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

Amplified says "IT WAS ESSENTIAL that he be made like His brethren...."

We see what Jesus said about Himself and can thereby see what flesh really is and what God in flesh means.

John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life.
John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
Matt 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed [is] willing, but the flesh [is] weak.

WEAK: Greek = "Asthenes": impotent.

Jesus' Flesh :

profited nothing,
could do nothing of itself,
and was impotent.

Over eight times the Book of John says the same thing:

John 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
John 7:17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or [whether] I speak of myself.
John 8:28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am [he], and [that] I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
John 12:49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
John 12:50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
John 14:31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
John 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

All of these verses stress the Son's dependence upon Deity.

Sin is the idea that MAN does not need God.

Eve was lured to eat knowledge of good and evil and live upon doing what was right and avoiding what was wrong within her own power.
To live without God, but only with knowledge. Jesus was a man.
And it is antichrist to even think that Jesus as a man did not require deity to strengthen Him.

Jesus came from God as a means of the Father manifesting Himself.

We do not have anything that we can live with alone without God's help.

In fact, man was not created to be able to live without union to God.
That is why the world is in such a bad state.

Everything jesus did was the result of the Father working through Him.

He did not want His flesh glorified.

John 8:50 And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.
John 7:17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or [whether] I speak of myself.
John 7:18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. [Jesus sought the glory of the Father who sent Him.]
Matt 19:16-17 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is], God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
Acts 2:22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

Jesus did miracles BY THE SPIRIT.

Matt 12:28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.

Jesus did not come in his own power:

John 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
John 17:7-9 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received [them], and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

Jesus was SON OF GOD, not a separate God from God the Father.

1Joh 4:15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

We miss the whole reason He came if we say only that Jesus was God.

He came to be flesh.
He simply had no sin as we do.

And His humanity is an example of our humanity:

Phil 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Jesus was in perfect reliance always to the Father.

If we could do that, we would never sin again.
We trip up when we try to do things without relying upon God.
This error of thinking got into us.
Any true christian will feel a pull towards God when the truth and understanding of reliance upon Him and manifesting Him is mentioned.

We are complete in Jesus Christ.

If we start thinking that we need to respond to God or cooperate with God, then we see ourselves as being incomplete, and this leads to bondage.
Satan fooled Eve to think about personal ability

1Cor 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Not even Jesus' flesh.

Flesh is created to contain God's Spirit and manifest it.

Prov 25:14 Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift [is like] clouds and wind without rain.

We are vessels.

And when we think we have ability of ourselves that is sufficient, we are boasting of a false gift.
And we are clouds without water.
Nothing is contained, and what good is that?
We are wind without rain.
Nothing containing.

John 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Flesh is noted in contrast to God.

Flesh is placed over against that which is of God.
How can we think that flesh that is created can perform works that are godly and holy?
We are meant to be vessels.
The Bible compares man to a branch, a servant and a wife.

SERVANTS:

Roma 6:18-20 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

BRANCHES:

Roma 6:21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things [is] death.

WIVES:

Roma 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, [even] to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

TEMPLES:

1Cor 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

But we miss the whole thing when we try to make ourselves do good, and act as wives trying to bear children without a husband, and branches trying to bear fruit without a vine, and temples trying to be God instead of house God, and servants trying to accomplish work without direction from a master.

Everything Jesus did was an expression of the Father.

This is man's role.
Until we see this and stop trying to not be an expression of God through trying to mimic what we think are good deeds, then we will be bound.

Jere 10:23 O LORD, I know that the way of man [is] not in himself: [it is] not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Psal 119:105 Thy word [is] a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Psal 37:23 The steps of a [good] man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

The Baptism of the Holy Ghost is the reception of the ONE SPIRIT of God. It unites all believers into one Body. We do not receive three spirits! We do not manifest three persons! We manifest ONE SPIRIT and ONE PERSON. In fact, you could say the Person of God is the only real person in the entire universe!! We manifest His person. And the Son of God is not a person aside the Father, but rather a human person intended to manifest God's Spirit.

Jesus was the express image of the Father's PERSON.

Hebr 1:3 Who being the brightness of [his] glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Jesus did not manifest his own person, but the person of the Father.

John 14:9-10 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou [then], Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

And the practical truth about this most Oneness concept of Jesus is that we, too, must manifest the person of the Father.

John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared [him].
1Joh 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Though Jesus is God manifest as a man, and the Almighty Himself, He was yet totally man at the same time. And as man, He new His purpose was to manifest the Father within Him. That is our purpose.

For the present, the manifestation of God lets the unsaved world see God. As we love one another, the world indirectly sees God. But the eternal purpose of this manifestation of God through humanity is so that God will be "all in all."

1Cor 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
Ephe 1:22-23 And hath put all [things] under his feet, and gave him [to be] the head over all [things] to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

When it is all said and done, God desires to fill all in all. He wants to be all and He wants to be all "in all".

There is no eternal Son because the only purpose of a Son of God is to have a human in this earth who manifests the person of the Father. God needs a vessel for His Spirit to indwell in this physical plain. Adam was called a son of God (Luke 3:38) for this very reason. Romans 5:12 reads that Adam was made after the likeness of him that was to come. God knew Adam would fail, and when Adam was created, Adam was made with the plan in mind for a future Son of God who would be none other than God Himself manifested in flesh.

Jesus perfectly expressed the Father to such a degree that He said, "If you have seen me you have seen the Father." The fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him. The one Single Person and Spirit of God Almighty dwelt in that human. Jesus is the express image of the Father. These statements clearly reveal the truth and implications of the Oneness doctrine. The Church is now God's Temple, whereas Jesus Christ was the temple before the cross. Though they destroy the temple, in three days He would raise it again and it would multiply!!! Together, we house the single Person of God.

Why else would Jesus as "Son of God" hold the same title that all true believers have as "sons of God"? Why else would Jesus be not ashamed to call us "brethren" (Heb 2:11)? We do not manifest three persons. Just one. There is One Spirit and One Body and one hope of our calling. These three units are relative. The one Body manifests the one spirit, and as members of that body, we each have the same single hope of being called to manifest God that He might be all in all in this world.

To believe in three eternal persons of the Godhead is to confuse the beautiful clarity of the expression of the Single Person of God's Spirit through humanity. What a ploy of hell to sidetrack man from victorious living! If our eyes could be removed from looking at Jesus as our complete and entire example of how to manifest God's Spirit, then we would be rendered weak an ineffective having not fulfilled our purpose.

It is antichrist to deny the flesh that Jesus came in and to recognize its dependence upon deity.

And we can see how that any doctrine or spirit that denies this key point of incarnation, is Antichrist, and is a spirit that goes against our very purpose of being created -- that we might be vessels!

Thank God for Oneness truth!