The Volume of the Book

CHAPTER ONE

I have received a mandate from the Lord to teach the truth to the people of God and to the world. It seems to be a simple enough commandment except for the fact that it is the people of God whose hearts have been hardened against the truth. It is the Body of Christ that needs to repent and return unto the way of the Lord.

As I endeavor to teach a gospel that will bring liberty and power, I must entertain mindsets that oppose that liberty and fight for the right to remain bound to the desires of the fleshy mind. It is a sad, but unavoidable position to minister from. I asked the Lord, “Why is it that the disciples did not have such wars among the twelve? Why did they find it so easy to submit to the life of persecution, hard trials, cruel mocking, lack and need?” What is it they had that seems to be missing in us?”

Well, the Lord is always faithful to answer the cry for holiness. He said that I should consider the following: From the time Jesus was able to comprehend who He was, He was taught by the Father. He studied under the tutelage of perfection. There were no false doctrines to unlearn, just the purity of the mind and heart of the Father.

The disciples likewise were taught the truth from the beginning. They passed those truths in their purity on to the early church. The disciples did not become motivational speakers who led the church around in circles chasing the good life. They did not come off with another doctrine of faith for “things” instead of faith towards God and godliness. They did not lift up their hands and their voices toward heaven and cry, “money cometh.”

This truth produced saints who were willing to die. Many lost their lives contending for the righteousness of the gospel. Compromise was not an option with the twelve. They were fully persuaded by what they had seen and heard. We have been given the same opportunity to believe and obey. If we are going to effect change in the Body of Christ, then we, too, must come in the Volume of the Book. We must believe as the scripture has said.

Once again the Word is being preached in purity. It is time to lay hold on the truth and denounce all that is not of the faith. To know the truth is to be held accountable.

SIDE STEPPING THE TRUTH

Many saints constantly do a mental comparison between themselves and our Lord Jesus. They see Him as holy and basically incapable of sin. I dealt with this in my book, “The Cost of the Field.” One of the most successful tactics of the enemy is to keep the Body of Christ bogged down in worthless debates concerning issues and doctrines of the bible.

This is very dangerous for the saints because it allows those who have not resigned themselves to obedience, to find cracks and crevices to crawl into and hide. These debates gender foolish justification for not walking in the power of the Spirit.

Recently, during weekly discipleship sessions, the question as to whether the new creature could commit sin surfaced, as it usually does. Mind you, some who have been privy to the teachings on the new man for over 10 years debated this question. As I listened to the discussion, which indeed turned into a debate, I noted something in my spirit. In order for born again believers (who have studied the new creature for years and have ministered truth concerning him) to ask or assert that the new creature cannot commit sin is quite alarming, especially when they themselves confess to be new creatures, but yet have committed sin since they have been saved.

This simply means that they also have not embraced the truth. They consider themselves to be two people, thus possessing a dual nature. The simple truth is that they refuse to embrace the fact that the new man is a free moral agent. He was not created a robot. He is free to choose to serve or disobey his creator. He can choose to sin against himself and his God.

The failure to embrace this originates from a misconception of Christ Jesus. The fact that He committed no sin does not eliminate the fact that He was capable of committing sin. Nevertheless, He chose to obey.

BEGOTTEN OF GOD

Jesus was born of the Holy Ghost. He was indeed the Son of God at conception, for the Scripture declares that He was not born of the will of man. We also know that He was the Word made flesh to dwell among men. He was made liken unto His brethren for the suffering of death. Nevertheless, God declared Him to be the Son of the Living God. Consider the following reference Scriptures that support this fact.

Luke 1:35

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

Matthew 2:14-15

14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:

15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

Matthew 3:17

And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Matthew 4:3

And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

Matthew 8:29

And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

As you know all of these testimonies and/or acknowledgements were made before the crucifixion of Christ. Now I want you to also consider the following verses. .

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Acts 13:32-34

32 And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,

33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

34 And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.

Paul declares that God the Father has fulfilled the promise He made to the forefathers concerning Jesus, when He raised Him from the dead. It was that day in which He was begotten by the Father, as well. Why was there a need for Christ to be begotten by the Father a second time? Note the reason this question is pertinent is because the script did not simply say that God raised Him from the dead, but that in the process He was begotten again.

Jesus was born of God and walked the earth thirty-three and one-half years, tried and tested, but never committed sin. The time came for Him to fulfill His destiny. He came to die for the sins of the world. This meant that all the sins of the human race, both past and present were laid upon Him. The Spirit of God departed (He gave up the Ghost) and the Body of Christ hung on the cross for the sins of this world.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Romans 6:9-10

9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

In dying, Christ the Light of the World had to submit to the powers of death. He died the death of a sinner and suffered the penalty of a sinner. The powers of hell proceeded to chasten Him.

DEATH, BURIAL AND RESURRECTION

Now the drama unfolds.

2 Samuel 22:5-20

5 When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid;

6 The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;

7 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.

8 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth.

9 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

10 He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.

11 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.

12 And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.

13 Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.

14 The LORD thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice.

15 And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them.

16 And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

17 He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters;

18 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.

19 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.

20 He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

The Father allowed His Son to become the very thing He hated (sin), in order to save those who hated Him. What sort of love is this? It certainly is not of a human sort.

Now the death of Jesus is important in our acquisition of the knowledge of God, in that He died in sin. I remember Him commending His Spirit into the hand of God, thus giving up the Holy Ghost, which was His source of Life. Then He went into hell to pay the penalty for sin.

Matthew 12:40

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

This scripture establishes the fact that He was in hell three days and three nights. When the Lord came to retrieve Jesus from the powers of Hell, the Spirit of Life returned to revive that body. Having become sin and dying unto sin, I wonder with what nature was He resurrected with? Did Jesus rise with the divine nature of God or that of a sinner? Or perhaps He rose with both. Beloved, do not undermine the manifold wisdom of God. Jesus was begotten from the dead with the same Spirit of Life that made Him the first begotten of the Father.

Romans 8:11-15

11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

What else does the Lord have to say about this matter? We have received the same Spirit of Life as Jesus Christ. If it provided singleness of nature for Him, then surely it did the same for us.

2 Peter 1:4

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

It is the divine nature of God that has caused us to escape the corruption that is in the world. It has provided us with power over lust and all manner of temptations. Through this divine nature of God, we are free from sin and death.

As Christ is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17).