Can We Live By Every Word Of God?

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After fasting for forty days the adversary tempted Christ to turn stones into bread. Christ responded by telling us all:

Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Considering the well known fact that much of the words which proceed out of the mouth of God, throughout the scriptures, concern the curses for disobedience and the fury of God’s wrath upon all of the unrighteousness and ungodliness of mankind, we need to know how it is possible for us to keep all of those very negative words, and still be able to claim the blessings which are promised to all who are granted to be a part of the body of Christ in this age.

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

How is it remotely possible to distinguish between the curses which are promised to the wicked versus the blessings which are promised to the righteous and still maintain that “all things are ours”?

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

We will demonstrate with the scriptures how this is accomplished in the lives of God’s elect, here and now and how, in God’s own time, this will be accomplished in the life of every man of all time. But first let us ask a few more questions about certain scriptures which seem to be completely contradictory.
Just how is it possible, for example, to ‘believe on Christ and never die’ and still be able to say “I am crucified with Christ”. How is that accomplished?

Joh 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Christ told the Pharisees:

Joh 9:41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Yet he told his disciples this:

Mat 13:16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

How do we live a life which confesses that we are blind, and also claim to have eyes which have been blessed to see?
Finally, how is it possible to both ‘lose your life’ and thereby ‘find it’???

Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

This is no great mystery at all for those who have indeed been given eyes to see and ears to hear. Nevertheless most Christians who claim to have those ‘eyes that see and ears that hear’ cannot understand how we can read and claim that “we are not appointed unto wrath”, and at the same time say that we are the temple of God, and we must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and must keep the things which are written in the book of Revelation.

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
1Th 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come
1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

“Jesus… delivered us from the wrath to come”, and “God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ”. And yet we are told this also”

Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Rev 15:7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

We want to “enter into the temple”, and we are told: “Jesus… delivered us from the wrath to come”, and “God has not appointed us to wrath”. Yet we are also told “No man is able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels… full of the wrath of God… were fulfilled.”
These are total contradictions to our natural man. “They are foolishness to him” (1Co 2:14). These apparent contradictions have caused many, who perceive themselves as having spiritual eyes and ears and who think of themselves as able to see and understand spiritual matters, to nevertheless deny that the words ‘man… shall… live… by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’ actually mean what they say. These Christians who seem to understand so much, simply are not yet granted to understand how it is possible to read 1Th 1:10 and 1Th 5:9 and still confess that they must live by every word of God, including the words referring to His wrath, and confess that they cannot enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels have been fulfilled and kept in their lives. They cannot agree with the apostle that “things present and things to come are ours”. At this point they begin to twist God’s word to say ‘We deserve the wrath of God’, and ‘We deserve to be children of wrath’, inferring that though we ‘deserve it’, it will never ever come anywhere near God’s elect.
In the end they prove themselves to be “unlearned and unstable” and they find themselves adding words to the words of God, and “wresting” the words of the apostles, “as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction”.

2Pe 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

So while the ‘mind of the spirit’ is given to understand “the things of the spirit”, those “things of the spirit” are nothing less than foolishness and contradictions to the “unlearned and unstable”, who simply don’t like what the scriptures reveal to be the truth.

“Two men… the first man Adam… the last Adam”

There is a principle of “two men”: the first man Adam” and “the last Adam”, which we find throughout scripture. It is this principle which clarifies every single verse which seems to contradict any other verse of scripture. So what the scriptures teach, literally from Genesis to Revelation, and what we are saying, is that our “first Adam”, our “old man”, has indeed repeatedly been tempted beyond what he could resist. What the scriptures teach and what we are saying is that God’s faithfulness is not promised to save our old man. Our old man is indeed doomed. That is what he is promised. He is not told that God will deliver him from the wrath to come. He is nowhere told that he cannot escape the wages of sin, he has utterly failed, and he will be utterly destroyed by the fire of our Lord’s wrath which will come upon all the unrighteous and ungodly works of our old man.

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Do we really think that our “old man”, our “first man Adam”, with all of His unrighteousness and ungodliness, will escape “the wine cup of the wrath of God”? We will come back to these verses, but let’s look at them right here. Here is what God has to say to all who cannot understand this “two men” principle as it is applied to all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men, including your old man and my old man.

Jer 25:15 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
Jer 25:28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.

What the scriptures are teaching us is that it is through that failure and destruction and death of our old man that our new man is born.

Mat 10:39 He that findeth his [ old man, first Adam] life shall lose it: and he that loseth his [ old man, first Adam] life for my sake shall find it.
Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, [ and through “the seven plagues of the seven angels”, Rev 15:8] to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Heb 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

So it is through the death and destruction of our old man that our new man will ‘endure to the end’ and ‘will not be tempted above what he can bear’, and is not ‘appointed to wrath’. It is through God’s wrath upon “all the unrighteousness and ungodliness” of our old man, and through his destruction, that our new man is not to be appointed to wrath and will be given salvation.
It is the old man, our old man, who most assuredly will not endure to the end because he is but sinful flesh and blood which was never designed to endure to the end, and it is that carnal, old man who “cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. That is who is destroyed in the fire of the wrath of God.

Eze 21:31 And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy.

The scriptures teach that it is through the destruction of our old man that our new man is created. That is what “He that loses his life will find it” means. It is only our new man who is not appointed to the wrath of God which has been poured out upon all of the unrighteousness and ungodliness of our old man who is appointed to this destruction. Here are “the things which are written” on this subject:

2Pe 2:12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

Is this verse not speaking of you and of me? Is it someone else who is “made to be destroyed”? Or is this not speaking of our own old “brute beast”? Our own “first man Adam”?

1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

This “two men” principle is one of those “things of the spirit” which are foolishness to our ‘natural man’, our “old man”, our “first man Adam”.

1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

“We have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God” What is it that is “freely given to us of God”? Do we even want what is “freely given to us of God”? Do we really? We need to be careful what we ask for, and we need to “count the cost” before we “take up our cross”.

Luk 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

The cost of being Christ’s disciple simply does not compute in the mind of the natural man, our “first man Adam”. For example, here is what we are “freely given… of God”:

Php 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

Let’s go back now to Luk 14, and look at what it means to ‘bear our cross and follow after Christ’.

Luk 14:25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
Luk 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

There it is. That is “the cost”. “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” In other words, God demands wholehearted service to Himself or we are not worthy to be His disciples.
Matthew’s account of this statement demonstrates that “Hate not his father and mother” means ‘love them less than Me’. Here is that verse:

Mat 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.

So, what else is “freely given us of God”? Luk 14 doesn’t really sound like we have been delivered from the wrath to come at all. That sounds more like a guarantee of much more ‘wrath to come’.
When are those “seven plagues of the seven angels” to be fulfilled, so we can “enter into the temple”? Is that also “freely given to us of God”? Are Rev 15 and 16 which speak of filling up the wrath of God; Are they part of “the things which are written therein” which we are enjoined to “read… hear and keep”? You “try the spirits”, and you decide.
We mentioned these verses earlier, but here they are again because these verses show us a little more of what is “freely given to us of God”. As it turns out, there is nothing which is not freely given to us by God:

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

“The world… death… things present, or things to come: all things are yours”. So what happened to ‘you are not of the world’?

Joh 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

“All things… to come are ours”? What about that promise that we have been “delivered from the wrath to come“?

1Th 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

“Death… is ours”? But did not Christ promise to Martha that “Whosoever lives and believes on me shall never die”?

Joh 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

The spirit of Christ sees no contradictions here at all, and those who have “the spirit of Christ” have no problem with anything being said in any of these verses. The reason for that is that the spirit and mind of Christ knows instinctively when that spirit is referring to our old man, “the first man Adam”, and when that spirit is referring to our new man, “the last Adam”.
It is based upon this ‘two Adam’ principle that another principle operates when we are reading the Word of God. That other principle is “the sum of thy Word is Truth”.

Psa 119:160 The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ESV)

It does not read ‘Some, s- o- m- e, of thy word is truth’. It says “the sum, s- u- m, of thy Word is Truth”. So there is never any need to twist or attempt to wrest God’s word to say such unscriptural thing like ‘Even our “old man… the first man Adam” is “not appointed to wrath”. Why would we do that when the scriptures make it so clear that we all “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God?
When we see the incredible number of verses, including the bulk of the book of Revelation, which declare that God’s wrath is poured out on “all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men”; When we see that we must live by every word of God, keep all the things written therein, drink the wine of the cup of the wrath of God, and fulfill the seven plagues of the seven angels which fill up the wrath of God before we can even enter into the temple of God, then we know that 1Th 5:9 refers to our “new man”, the “last Adam”, and all those other verses speaking of drinking of the cup of the wine of His wrath, refer to our “old man”, our “first man Adam” who “will certainly drink”.
We quoted these verses earlier, but here again is what our Lord has to say to those who are not given to understand and to apply this ‘two Adam’, “two men” principle, and who continue to insist that God’s wrath never has, and never will “abide” upon them:

Jer 25:15 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
Jer 25:28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.

Is this all just referring to a particular number of evil people, or is not this the end of “all flesh”? What do the scriptures teach us?
Jeremiah is very clear that “the wine cup of this fury at [ God’s] hand is not sent to only certain wicked men. We have already read the verse which declare that “there are none that are righteous”, and that all men are wicked. Here God makes Himself crystal clear about those who will receive of His wrath upon their unrighteousness and ungodliness:

Jer 25:31 A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations [ our old man, “the first man Adam”], he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked [ our old man] to the sword, saith the LORD.

Isaiah before Jeremiah had made this very same crystal clear, explicit prophecy:

Isa 66:13 As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem
Isa 66:14 And when ye see this [ this “two men” principle], your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants [ our new man only, “the last Adam”], and his indignation toward his enemies [ our old man].
Isa 66:15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
Isa 66:16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.

So much for those who think their old man will never know the wrath of God upon their unrighteousness and ungodliness. No one who has never been a child of God’s wrath, needs to be comforted. But what is the one thing we do know about that wrath?

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

“All ungodliness” is found in “all flesh”, and that is where God will “render His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire”.

1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

It is in and through these “two men” with us all, that we can truly “live by every word… keep the things which are written therein… confess that all things are ours, and that “all things come alike to all”, and not just death coming alike to all. ‘Death’ and ‘the world’ are indeed ours, but so also “all things are ours”, because we are all our old, unrighteous, ungodly, “first man Adam” upon whom all the curses and the wrath of God are poured out, before we can even enter into and become the temple of God, and come out from under all that wrath of God.

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

These ‘two men’ are the subject of one of our Lord’s parables. Notice how these “two men” parallel the two spirits with which we are dealing.

Luk 18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
Luk 18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
Luk 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. [ Men who deserve the wrath of God]
Luk 18:12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Luk 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. [ I am chief of sinners, and my old man is deserving of all of your wrath]
Luk 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

“Two men went up into [ our] temple…”. These are the same ‘two men’ found throughout the scriptures. The ‘seed of the woman’ and the ‘seed of the serpent’ in Genesis four are both within every man in every age. That is the doctrine of our Lord, which is also the doctrine of the apostles. It is the doctrine we will find throughout His Word, and that is the doctrine of His Body and the doctrine of His elect.
“If they refuse to take the cup… say unto them… Ye shall certainly drink”. That is what I am saying to you, and to me, and to all who will hear or who will ever read these words, “You [ and I] shall not be unpunished”. God “will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth… we shall certainly drink“, and our old man will be slain by that ‘sword’ of God which is “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”.
It is our “new man” who will, in the end “be alive in Christ”.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam [“the first man Adam] all die, even so in Christ [“the last Adam”] shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

“In Christ, at His coming” can be ours at this very moment in down payment form:

Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

I will close this study with some of the things which are written therein which our “new man”, our “last Adam”, must “keep” at this time within, and which he will also keep outwardly at the time of “the redemption of the purchased possession”, that blessed and holy first resurrection:

Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
Rev 2:28 And I will give him the morning star.
Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.


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