Understanding God’s Word Ministry

Obedience to God‘s Word pt. 2

Obedience to God‘s Word

Romans 6
THE CROSS
WHAT shall we say then? (This is meant to direct attention to Rom. 5:20.) Shall we continue in sin, that Grace may abound? (Just because Grace is greater than sin doesn’t mean that the Believer has a license to sin.)2 God forbid (presents Paul’s answer to the question, “Away with the thought, let not such a thing occur”). How shall we, who are dead to sin (dead to the sin nature), live any longer therein? (This portrays what the Believer is now in Christ.)3 Know you not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ (plainly says that this Baptism is into Christ and not water [1 Cor. 1:17; 12:13; Gal. 3:27; Eph. 4:5; Col. 2:11–13]) were baptized into His Death? (When Christ died on the Cross, in the Mind of God, we died with Him; in other words, He became our Substitute, and our identification with Him in His Death gives us all the benefits for which He died; the idea is that He did it all for us!)4 Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death (not only did we die with Him, but we were buried with Him as well, which means that all the sin and transgression of the past were buried; when they put Him in the Tomb, they put all of our sins into that Tomb as well): that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (we died with Him, we were buried with Him, and His Resurrection was our Resurrection to a “Newness of Life”).5 For if we have been planted together (with Christ) in the likeness of His Death (Paul proclaims the Cross as the instrument through which all Blessings come; consequently, the Cross must ever be the Object of our Faith, which gives the Holy Spirit latitude to work within our lives), we shall be also in the likeness of His Resurrection (we can have the “likeness of His Resurrection,” i.e., “live this Resurrection Life,” only as long as we understand the “likeness of His Death,” which refers to the Cross as the means by which all of this is done):6 Knowing this, that our old man is Crucified with Him (all that we were before conversion), that the body of sin might be destroyed (the power of sin broken), that henceforth we should not serve sin (the guilt of sin is removed at conversion, because the sin nature no longer rules within our hearts and lives).7 For he who is dead (He was our Substitute, and in the Mind of God, we died with Him upon Believing Faith) is freed from sin (set free from the bondage of the sin nature).8 Now if we be dead with Christ (once again pertains to the Cross, and our being Baptized into His Death), we believe that we shall also live with Him (have Resurrection Life, which is more Abundant Life [Jn. 10:10]):9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more (means that His Work was a Finished Work, and will require nothing else); death has no more dominion over Him (because all sin has been Atoned; inasmuch as Christ is our Substitute, if death has no more dominion over Him, it has no more dominion over us; this means that the power of the sin nature is broken).10 For in that He died, He died unto sin (the sin nature) once (actually means, “He died unto the sin nature, once, for all”): but in that He lives (the Resurrection), He lives unto God (refers to the fact that all life comes from God, and that we receive that life by virtue of the Cross and our Faith in that Finished Work).11 Likewise reckon (account) you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto (the) sin (while the sin nature is not dead, we are dead unto the sin nature by virtue of the Cross and our Faith in that Sacrifice, but only as long as our Faith continues in the Cross), but alive unto God (living the Resurrection Life) through Jesus Christ our Lord (refers to what He did at the Cross, which is the means of this Resurrection Life).
Swaggart, J. (2005). The Expositor’s Study Bible (p. 1978). Baton Rouge, LA: Jimmy Swaggart Ministries.

Applying the Word of God

Romans CHAPTER 6(A.D. 60)
THE CROSS
WHAT shall we say then? (This is meant to direct attention to Rom. 5:20.) Shall we continue in sin, that Grace may abound? (Just because Grace is greater than sin doesn’t mean that the Believer has a license to sin.)2 God forbid (presents Paul’s answer to the question, “Away with the thought, let not such a thing occur”). How shall we, who are dead to sin (dead to the sin nature), live any longer therein? (This portrays what the Believer is now in Christ.)3 Know you not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ (plainly says that this Baptism is into Christ and not water [1 Cor. 1:17; 12:13; Gal. 3:27; Eph. 4:5; Col. 2:11–13]) were baptized into His Death? (When Christ died on the Cross, in the Mind of God, we died with Him; in other words, He became our Substitute, and our identification with Him in His Death gives us all the benefits for which He died; the idea is that He did it all for us!)4 Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death (not only did we die with Him, but we were buried with Him as well, which means that all the sin and transgression of the past were buried; when they put Him in the Tomb, they put all of our sins into that Tomb as well): that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (we died with Him, we were buried with Him, and His Resurrection was our Resurrection to a “Newness of Life”).5 For if we have been planted together (with Christ) in the likeness of His Death (Paul proclaims the Cross as the instrument through which all Blessings come; consequently, the Cross must ever be the Object of our Faith, which gives the Holy Spirit latitude to work within our lives), we shall be also in the likeness of His Resurrection (we can have the “likeness of His Resurrection,” i.e., “live this Resurrection Life,” only as long as we understand the “likeness of His Death,” which refers to the Cross as the means by which all of this is done):6 Knowing this, that our old man is Crucified with Him (all that we were before conversion), that the body of sin might be destroyed (the power of sin broken), that henceforth we should not serve sin (the guilt of sin is removed at conversion, because the sin nature no longer rules within our hearts and lives).7 For he who is dead (He was our Substitute, and in the Mind of God, we died with Him upon Believing Faith) is freed from sin (set free from the bondage of the sin nature).8 Now if we be dead with Christ (once again pertains to the Cross, and our being Baptized into His Death), we believe that we shall also live with Him (have Resurrection Life, which is more Abundant Life [Jn. 10:10]):9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more (means that His Work was a Finished Work, and will require nothing else); death has no more dominion over Him (because all sin has been Atoned; inasmuch as Christ is our Substitute, if death has no more dominion over Him, it has no more dominion over us; this means that the power of the sin nature is broken).10 For in that He died, He died unto sin (the sin nature) once (actually means, “He died unto the sin nature, once, for all”): but in that He lives (the Resurrection), He lives unto God (refers to the fact that all life comes from God, and that we receive that life by virtue of the Cross and our Faith in that Finished Work).11 Likewise reckon (account) you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto (the) sin (while the sin nature is not dead, we are dead unto the sin nature by virtue of the Cross and our Faith in that Sacrifice, but only as long as our Faith continues in the Cross), but alive unto God (living the Resurrection Life) through Jesus Christ our Lord (refers to what He did at the Cross, which is the means of this Resurrection Life).
SANCTIFICATION
12 Let not sin (the sin nature) therefore reign (rule) in your mortal body (showing that the sin nature can once again rule in the heart and life of the Believer, if the Believer doesn’t constantly look to Christ and the Cross; the “mortal body” is neutral, which means it can be used for Righteousness or unrighteousness), that you should obey it in the lusts thereof (ungodly lusts are carried out through the mortal body, if Faith is not maintained in the Cross [1 Cor. 1:17–18]).13 Neither yield you your members (of your mortal body) as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin (the sin nature): but yield yourselves unto God (we are to yield ourselves to Christ and the Cross; that alone guarantees victory over the sin nature), as those who are alive from the dead (we have been raised with Christ in “Newness of Life”), and your members as instruments of Righteousness unto God (this can be done only by virtue of the Cross and our Faith in that Finished Work, and Faith which continues in that Finished Work from day-to-day [Lk. 9:23–24]).14 For sin shall not have dominion over you (the sin nature will not have dominion over us if we as Believers continue to exercise Faith in the Cross of Christ; otherwise, the sin nature most definitely will have dominion over the Believer): for you are not under the Law (means that if we try to live this life by any type of law, no matter how good that law might be in its own right, we will conclude by the sin nature having dominion over us), but under Grace (the Grace of God flows to the Believer on an unending basis only as long as the Believer exercises Faith in Christ and what He did at the Cross; Grace is merely the Goodness of God exercised by and through the Holy Spirit, and given to undeserving Saints).15 What then? (This presents Paul going back to the first question he asked in this Chapter.) shall we sin, because we are not under the Law, but under Grace? (If we think such a thing, then we’re completely misunderstanding Grace. The Grace of God gives us the liberty to live a Holy life, which we do through Faith in Christ and the Cross, and not license to sin as some think.) God forbid (every true Believer hates sin; so the idea of living under its dominion is abhorrent to say the least!).16 Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey (the Believer is either a slave to Christ, for that’s what the word “servant” means, or else a slave to sin, which he will be if he doesn’t keep his Faith in Christ and the Cross); whether of sin unto death (once again allow us to state the fact that if the Believer attempts to live for God by any method other than Faith in the Finished Work of Christ, the Believer will fail, no matter how hard he otherwise tries), or of obedience unto Righteousness? (The Believer is required to obey the Word of the Lord. He cannot do that within his own strength, but only by understanding that he receives all things through what Christ did at the Cross and his continued Faith in that Finished Work, even on a daily basis. Then the Holy Spirit, Who Alone can make us what we ought to be, can accomplish His work within our lives.)17 But God be thanked, that you were the servants of sin (slaves to the sin nature, what we were before we were saved), but you have obeyed from the heart that form of Doctrine (Jesus Christ and Him Crucified; understanding that all things come to the Believer from God by the means of the Cross) which was delivered you (the Lord gave this “form of Doctrine” to Paul, and he gave it to us in his Epistles).18 Being then made free from sin (being made free from the sin nature; it has no more power over the Believer, but only as we continue to look to the Cross), you became the servants of Righteousness (whereas you were formerly a slave to the sin nature, you are now a slave to Righteousness; if Faith is maintained in the Cross, there is a constant pull of the Believer toward Righteousness).
Swaggart, J. (2005). The Expositor’s Study Bible (pp. 1978–1979). Baton Rouge, LA: Jimmy Swaggart Ministries.

The Laodicean Church - God Chastens Those Whom He Loves

The Laodicean Church - Revelation 3 pt. 2

Church in Laodicea - Rich, Increased with Goods and Have Need of Nothing

LAODICEA
14 And unto the Angel (Pastor) of the Church of the Laodiceans write (this is the “Apostate Church”; we do not know when it began, but we do know it has begun; it is the last Church addressed by Christ, so that means the Rapture will take place very shortly); These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness (by contrast to His Church, which is not faithful and true), the beginning of the Creation of God (Jesus is the Creator of all things);
15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot (characterizes that which is prevalent at this present time): I would you were cold or hot (half measures won’t do).
16 So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot (if a person is lukewarm towards something, it means he hasn’t rejected it, but at the same time he has by no means accepted it; in the Mind of God, a tepid response is equal to a negative response), I will spue you out of My mouth. (There is no prospect of Repentance here on the part of this Church, or Restoration. In fact, there is Divine rejection.)
17 Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing (they equated the increase in material goods with spiritual Blessings, which they were not); and knowest not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (the tragedy lay in the fact that while this Church gloated over material wealth, she was unconscious of her spiritual poverty; again indicative of the modern Church!):
18 I counsel you to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich (what they needed to “buy” could not be purchased with money, but only with the precious Blood of Christ, which price has already been paid; but the modern Church is not interested!); and white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness do not appear (refers to Righteousness which is exclusively of Christ, and is gained only by Faith in Christ and the Cross; this tells us that the Laodicean Church is extremely self-righteous; not having the Righteousness of Christ, they are “naked” to the Judgment of God); and anoint your eyes with eyesalve, that you may see. (The modern Church is also spiritually blind.)
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten (implies a remnant): be zealous therefore, and repent. (The modern Church desperately needs to repent for its rebellion against God’s Divine Order [Christ and the Cross] and for following cunningly devised fables [2 Pet. 1:16].)
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock (presents Christ outside the Church): if any man hear My voice (so much religious racket is going on that it is difficult to “hear His Voice”), and open the door (Christ is the True Door, which means the Church has erected another door), I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. (Having been rejected by the Church, our Lord now appeals to individuals, and He is still doing so presently.)
21 To him who overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My Throne (the overcomer will gain the prize of the Throne, which can only be done by one ever making the Cross the Object of His Faith), even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His Throne. (This presents Christ as our Substitute, going before us, and doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.)
22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the Churches. (In plain language, the Holy Spirit is saying, “come back to Christ and the Cross!”)
 
Swaggart, J. (2005). The Expositor’s Study Bible (pp. 2187–2188). Baton Rouge, LA: Jimmy Swaggart Ministries.

The Church at Philadelphia - The Opened Door to Evangelism

PHILADELPHIA
7 And to the Angel (Pastor) of the Church in Philadelphia write (is referred to as the Missionary Church, and had its beginning in about the year 1800, and continues unto this hour); These things says He Who is Holy, He Who is true, He Who has the key of David, He Who opens, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens (refers to the fact that Christ has total authority);
8 I know your works: behold, I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it (this “open door” refers to the way being made for the Gospel to be sent to the entirety of the world): for you have a little strength, and have kept my Word, and have not denied My Name. (“Little strength” is not an indication of spiritual infirmity, but of few in number. However, these few [speaking of those who truly know the Lord] have touched the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.)
9 Behold, I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie (proclaims the fact that God doesn’t recognize the spiritual claims of national Israel); behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. (This refers to the coming Kingdom Age, when Christ will rule Personally over the entirety of the Earth, with Israel restored. Israel will then bow at the feet of Christ, Whom the Gentiles accepted.)
10 Because you have kept the Word of My patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them who dwell upon the earth. (The Church will be Raptured out before the Great Tribulation.)
11 Behold, I come quickly (again refers to the Rapture): hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown. (The Devil will use religious men to try to move us away from our Faith in Christ and the Cross.)
12 Him who overcomes will I make a pillar in the Temple of my God (the “overcomer” is the one who trusts explicitly in Christ and what He did for us at the Cross), and he shall go no more out (refers to a constant position in the presence of God): and I will write upon him the Name of My God, and the Name of the city of My God, which is New Jerusalem, which comes down out of Heaven from My God: and I will write upon him My new Name. (At the Cross, Christ identified with our sin by suffering its penalty. Now he identifies with our most excellent Blessing, as He is the Source of all.)
13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the Churches. (The Spirit is saying we must be ready for the Rapture, which can only be done by Faith constantly exhibited in Christ and His Finished Work.)
 
 

The Church in Sardis - Watchfulness pt. 3

CHAPTER 3
(A.D. 96)
SARDIS
AND unto the Angel (Pastor) of the Church in Sardis write (the Sardis Church is referred to as the “Reformation Church,” which began about A.D. 1500, and continues more or less unto this hour); These things saith He Who has the Seven Spirits of God (represents the Holy Spirit in all His fullness and capacity), and the Seven stars (refers to the Pastors of these Seven Churches); I know your works, that you have a name that you live, and are dead. (Our Lord begins with words of censure, i.e., “dead spiritually.”)
2 Be watchful (this Church is exhorted to look into its real condition), and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die (they need to come back to the Cross, or they will lose their way completely): for I have not found your works perfect before God. (Their works were based on a dead Faith, which always produces bad works.)
3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard, and hold fast, and repent (go back to the Cross). If therefore you shall not watch, I will come on you as a thief, and you shall not know what hour I will come upon you. (Judgment will come, but Sardis will not see or hear due to spiritual deafness and spiritual blindness.)
4 You have a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments (the Lord always has a few); and they shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy. (We are made worthy only by our Faith in Christ and the Cross.)
5 He who overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment (the Righteousness of Christ, gained only by Faith in Christ and the Cross); and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life (proving that names can be blotted out), but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His Angels. (The key to this great “confession” is Faith in Christ and His great Sacrifice.)
6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the Churches. (The Spirit is saying that Righteousness cannot be obtained without Faith in a spotless Sacrifice.)